"341". Part 1

From the author

I want to share with you my little story. Initially, I invented the world for a computer game, but after the nth attempt to create at least something, I decided to put it all on paper. And maybe that's why it turned out with an entertainment bias. I really hope you enjoy the world of "341".

Chapter 1. Una

09.05.21 *
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Eris is a small planet on the outskirts of the Empire. Rich in rare earth metals. Settled 03/18/15 BCE by the ore mining company Red Line. 11/05/16 * - passed into the possession of the Syndicate.
The population is 1.1 billion people.
Period of circulation - 25h 32m 7s
The period of revolution around the star - 321 days
Gravity - 0.8 g.

* -Date recorded in the format DD.MM.GG. The beginning of an era is considered the death of the previous Emperor. After this event, a new single calendar was adopted, consisting of 12 months, each of which has exactly 28 days, and a day duration of 32 hours.

The girl closed the page of the open encyclopedia. Perhaps it was the shortest article about a populated planet that she had ever seen. No one in the Empire would even pay attention to it, but recently there have been frequent reports from the observation post about energy anomalies in this sector. The scouts discovered numerous faults and sent an official request to the Order to eliminate the anomalies. Una was the closest of the inquisitors of the Order and the first to respond to the request.

The ship was landing, its engines began to slowly subside, until they completely stopped. The hull shivered slightly when the supports of the ship touched the landing pad. There was no strong jolt, artificial gravity still acted and stifled most of the impulse.

The floor under her feet began to slowly descend. Light cut through the darkness of the hangar and fell on the toes of her shoes. The strip of light was expanding, and in the opening that opened we could see the lonely terminal of the spaceport. The door hit the hard ground, and the girl almost fell from a sharp jolt. Recovering, she went outside. The landing area was covered with shabby concrete slabs through the joints, grass was punching between them. And this is in the era of the widespread use of composite materials, replicators and nano-robots.
It is unlikely that these plates could withstand something heavier than the battleship, even now they were already at the limit. Cracks scattered across the concrete from one of the ship’s rear landing supports, and under the other the slab visibly sank into the ground.

“I hope they do not make me compensate for the damage,” she thought.

Her ship stood out sharply from the general landscape, like an island of technology in a sea of ​​stagnation. "Music" took up almost a quarter of the entire parking lot and was larger than the spaceport terminal. Besides “Nota”, there were only two obsolete transport shuttles on the site. One of them was preparing for takeoff, and people were crawling around on loaders near him. It is surprising that such a rarity in general could take off.

A port worker approached the girl. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit, and he was holding an electronic tablet in his hands. A large logo in the form of a half star is printed on the chest. "Red Dawn" - read the inscription under it.

- My name is Alexander, and I am glad to greet you in a hole called Eris. He greeted, smiling.
Una nodded back.

- Are you all so welcome? She asked irritably.

- No, only respected representatives of the Empire.

It sounded like they did not consider themselves part of the Empire.

- Want to refuel? Or maybe wash your ship? he asked.

- Yes, you have absolutely nothing to do here, since you propose to wash the ship. However, I was just looking for fuel. How many for 5 standard cells of antimatter?

- Ten thousand imperial credit cards.

- Ten thousand?! Using express delivery, will be released no more than three.

- Antimatter in our area is very rare, and imperial services do not work here.

Una tried to call the delivery window, and for the first time saw the message “Attempting to establish a connection ...”, followed by “Connection error!”.

“What the ...” burst from her.

- What, tried to connect to the global network? - the interlocutor laughed. - It has not been working for two years.

Her job was becoming duller every minute.

- Are we exactly in the Empire?

The lack of communication made her doubt that.

- It seems like, but your here is almost not visible. Shuttles - the only thing that connects us with the outside world. Without our governor, we would be completely bent here.

He uttered the last phrase with a certain awe that they were all alive only thanks to this “governor”.

- Well, so you take the cell?

- Not. I have already ordered.

- In terms of? - on his face was a genuine surprise.

- Used the ship's antenna as a repeater. He has a stronger signal than enik. This was enough to communicate with the nearest imperial base.

- Enik? he asked.

- ANI - “N” and “I” mean a neural interface, but what it means to “A” I can lie, but it seems something like adaptive.

- So you're talking about your gizmo on the neck, which allows thoughts to control the technique?

- Yeah, she is.

In fact, it was only one of his many possibilities, but she did not go into details.

“Late for 20 seconds,” she mumbled softly.
After some time, a metal capsule of express delivery landed near the ship. Una took the capsule and headed back inside the ship.

- May I come in? - Alexander called her. - Never seen warships from the inside.

“I don't mind,” said Una, with a shrug, and continued on her way.

Alexander went after her. A landing ramp led straight into a dark warehouse hangar that occupied almost the entire bottom of the ship. Numerous racks were piled high with a variety of junk.

- You can look around a bit, but for now I’ll do something.

His attention was almost immediately attracted by a weapon rack.

“Boys are the same at any age,” she thought, while she went to the bike.

Having reached the place, the girl put the capsule on the floor and attached her identifier to it, a message appeared about writing off five thousand per cell and another one for delivery. Delivery was twice as expensive as she expected. After withdrawing funds cap capsule opened. Inside were ten energy cells. She began to take them out one by one, laying them on the shelf of the nearest rack. The last three cells she installed in the bike. And the waste cells together with the capsule were thrown into a separate pile of trash.

- Do not they need to pass for recycling? - Alexander asked.

“Sometime later, the next time I'm on Prime.”

- Have you been to the capital ?! He asked in surprise.

- Actually, there is the headquarters of the Order.

- So you're the executioner?

“Ehh ...” “Una sighed sadly,” the Order is worth mentioning, and everyone immediately starts to consider you a bloodthirsty killer. Here are just the Order consists of three parts: these are the executioners, inquisitors and scouts. We are united only by the fact that we are directly subordinate to the Empress.

“Then you must be here because of Hell's Gate.”

“Hell's Gate” - apparently, the local called faults.

- So you saw them? - In her voice sounded genuine interest.

- No, but I heard the stories of people when the gates just appeared. They described them as a red cloud hovering above the ground. And they all mentioned strange sounds and stench.
“It can only be brains. Enough is not much, but it is already easier. ”

“Thank you,” she thanked him.

- What is this for?

- For information, for what else.

A quiet rumbling of the engine filled the room, Una started the bike. Nevertheless, the guys from Panazia knew a lot about sports bikes. Its Ninja XR can accelerate to 510 km / h and still remain almost silent.

- I was wondering where his wheels were.

- Do you happen to have flying vehicles banned?

- In the city you can not rise above 5 meters, but about other restrictions, I have not heard anything.

She rechecked all available information on the network, but there were no other restrictions.

- The city does not interest me. Still going to stay away from him. I do not like to stand out too much.

- And in your mind can not be said.

Una approached Alexander and hung over him in his entire rather big growth.

“What's wrong with me?” Do you not like purple hair?

A pause dragged on, and she tried to get him out of her stupor: “Better give me a spear and that black rifle.”

- A spear? - Alexander was confused.

Instead of answering, she herself took a small silver club, and she broke up into a long spear with a massive blade on the end. Una waved it in the air, then folded it back to its original state and hung it on the belt.

- This is called the beam spear.

- And why is it radiation? - Alexander was surprised.

- It is necessary to charge it with energy, and it can penetrate almost any armor. I will not show, it can penetrate the hull of the ship.

“I suppose the rifle is not easy either.” he said, holding her rifle barrel forward.

Una caught the rifle in a lightning movement, and then scolded him:

- Never direct the barrel of a weapon at a person if you are not going to shoot. Though it is on the fuse, but anything can happen.

Una picked up a large black bag from the floor, which was lying next to the weapon stand, and began to throw various supplies into it. On some of them stood the imperial coat of arms, and on others the two black letters “WI”. When she had finished, she threw her bag along with the rifle into the trunk of the bike.

The imperial corporation is one of the largest monopolists in such key areas as energy, medicine and the military-industrial complex, but recently its position has been shaken by the young corporation Warp Initiative, which has conquered the market with the high quality of its products.

- You are walking?

- And ... - only Alexander said and followed her.

Una led the bike to the exit. He floated easily and silently. At the very exit, she removed her helmet from the wall and hung it on the steering wheel. On the street, she handed over two credit chips to Alexander. On both of them there were two and a half thousand credit cards.

- The first is the parking fee, and you can keep the second.

- Thank you, but I will need your ID.

Alexander took a tablet from his pocket and held it out to her. Una raised her left hand with an identification bracelet to the reader on the tablet.

ID: 4153EEC7-5A09-4D90-9BE2-1F807795755C
Name: Una
Surname: -
Rank: 121

- There is no last name.

- I refused it.

- Like this? - he was surprised.

- Long story. Better let's tell after work, is it?

- Well, then until next time!

- See you, she answered him quietly.

Una pulled her helmet over her head and deftly jumped onto the bike. Then she switched the enik interface to combat mode, and weapon status indicators and target markers appeared before her eyes. She flew higher and headed for the nearest marker.

It's been an hour since Una left the port. The surrounding landscapes were striking in their monotony. Forests were replaced by plains, plains by ravines, and those again by forests, and only occasionally there were small settlements. What a surprisingly boring world, even music did not brighten the way. There was still half an hour to the goal.

The music subsided, and an incoming call message appeared. An experienced user didn’t even need to open his mouth to talk on an enik, it’s enough just to think about what you want to say. And the fact that she was rushing at a speed of 300 km / h did not prevent her from answering the call.

- Hi sister. - A familiar voice sounded intermittently in my head, and even a bad connection did not prevent her from recognizing her brother's voice.

- Hello. Can not hear you very well.

- That's better?

His speech completely lost its intonation and began to resemble a machine voice from old films.

- The connection is not so bad, the quality is higher.

- And now?

This time the voice sounded quite usual, only small distortions indicated a decrease in signal quality.

- Well.

- Not much distract?

- No, I was just dying from boredom.

“I see, it means you're still on Eris.”

- Eh, the surprise did not succeed, I wanted to visit you after work.

- Already managed to find a victim?

- From you can not hide anything.

- A little more than an hour on the planet, and already engaged in seducing local.

“We just talked ...”

- Let me guess, and you invited him to drink., - he interrupted her. -Sorry, but I am too well aware of your hectic personal life, I would have tied up already.

- Unlike you, I do not fall into despondency after the first failure.

- By the way, for a long time in our area? - he changed the subject.

“At least two days, a very neglected case,” said Una. Then she continued doubtfully, “As if no one touched the rifts for several months.

- Most likely, it was. Syndicate would not once again resort to the help of the Empire. The order to close the rifts came from the Empire, am I right?

- Yeah. What is wrong with this Syndicate?

- Syndicate is a semi-legal grouping, and someone may call their methods not entirely humane. Therefore, they do not need extra hype, especially with the involvement of agents of the Order.

- How can something like this exist in our Empire?

- People themselves allowed them to come to power, and you yourself know the rules very well. The outer worlds of the Empire are themselves determined by their government. And we can do nothing as long as they do not violate the Imperial laws.

- The attack on the inquisitor can be a sufficient reason for intervention?

- Do not even think about it! Just do your job, I will fly to you soon and help you. Long time I have not been on the other side of the faults.

- What are we going to do with the Syndicate?

“I have one idea ...” he began thoughtfully.

“That scares me, your ideas seldom end well.”

- I love you too.

- Hey, do not go away from the topic!

- Everything, I have to go, I'll see you again. Do not do anything stupid.

She wanted to say: “don't do it yourself,” but her words went nowhere, he managed to break the connection earlier. Always he goes from uncomfortable questions.

There was very little left before the rift, and she began to feel his oppressive presence. It felt like the opposite of life itself. The air temperature rose. Nature around gloom. The grass was all dark and withered, and from the grove in which the rift should be located, only the charred trunks of the trees remained, and a blood-red haze shone above them. Such a landscape she liked more. He said that she was back in her world.

Una stopped the bike at the first trunk, which was once a tree. The system warned her about air pollution and turned on her helmet respiratory filters. She took the weapon and went straight to the rift. The soles of her shoes were drowned in a layer of ash. Guests from another world have not yet shown. When she reached the rift, it became clear why there is not a single firehead here, the portal has not yet been fully formed, despite its huge size. There was no question of trying to close the rift from this side.

"We'll have to help them a little!"

Picking up her rifle, she held her left hand forward, and a small light of violet glowed in her palm. The small light reached for the rift cloud, turning into a continuous stream of energy. Approaching the rift, the stream darkened and acquired a purple hue. The rift cloud began to shrink until an oval portal formed inside it.

“It seems Red-haired called it the event horizon,” Una suddenly recalled one of Lilian’s lectures.

Two burnt figures flew out of the mirror smooth surface of the portal.

"And here are the guests!"

Their bodies were covered with burned skin, through cracks in which living flesh peeped. The vegetation was completely absent, and the eyes covered something like black tar. The hollow of noses and the absence of auricles completed the horrific picture.

The guests were clearly confused. They looked around nervously and tried to understand where they were. Taking advantage of their confusion, Una fired a pair of shots from each rifle. The weapon indicator blinked, and now the figure 4996 appeared beneath it. The chest was punched first and the arm was torn off, and the second one was blown apart.

Going to the portal, Una turned on the rifle's target camera and slid the barrel into the portal. Through the camera she saw the street of the ruined city. A black sun hung in the sky, and only a small fiery disk around it illuminated the ruins. The buildings squinted from time stretched along the road. On the broken sidewalks quietly rolled their heads. And the exit from the portal was guarded by a small detachment.

Una threw an AM grenade into the portal and bounced aside. After a couple of seconds, stone fragments and pieces of flesh flew out of it. Replacing the rifle with a spear, she flew into the portal. At the place where the group stood, there was only a small crater from the explosion, but the rest was only slightly wounded by shrapnel. In total there were a little more than a dozen.

One of the survivors rushed at her, snarling something. Una struck him with a reversal. The blade, meeting absolutely no resistance, cut the victim's body into two parts. The heads only look ominous, but in fact their bodies are rather fragile. The rest, after attacking, pounced on her in a crowd.

"Well come on."

Una spun the spear, the tip of the tip began to sing, cutting through the dry air. She cut down the enemies one by one until there were only two of them left. They tried to escape. She caught up with the first one and cut it in half, but the second managed to go too far. Raising her spear, she let in a stream of energy. A dazzling beam burst from the spear, piercing the fugitive through.