Project "Eye" p.20

_{Photo: AV Photography}

Gentlemen, here is the jubilee, twentieth part of the Oka. Behind almost a year of work \ reflections and half a million strokes on the keyboard.

As requested in the comments to the previous installments, as well as in the group, under the cut, I will leave a small memo on the characters for those who read it in the mailing.
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For new readers, inside there are links to all previous chapters , combined into one file, in reader formats . Collected all Renat Nasrіdinov , for which a special thanks to him.

References to the previous parts and appeal to those who see the Oka publications for the first time:

Eye - my personal literary project, the work on which I started in May of this 2015. From a small sketch, he turned into a science fiction work, the chapters of which I post, as I write, on GT.

Previous parts:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19

Those who have not read the “Eye” before, it is highly recommended not to open the spoiler below.

All nineteen previous chapters in reader formats:

.azw3 .epub .fb2.zip .mobi .pdf

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Deimos and Adikia took refuge in one of the houses of the inner ring, the upper floors of which were abandoned.

The girl had long and soundly slept in the corner, putting a duffel under her head, but she did not go to Deimos.

“You’re having a good time here,” Henry showed up as usual, from nowhere.

Deimos noted that over time, the more damage EP-22 inflicted on his brain, the more real was his alter-ego, his past personality. Now it seemed to him that Henry, by that name, he was now calling for his hallucination, which had recently been a charred corpse, would soon be able to move objects.

- And why are we sitting here? - Again he spoke. “You know that we don’t have much time, and then, my friend, we will merge in the ecstasy of unity.”

Henry grabbed himself by the shoulders, as if hugging, and twisted from side to side.

“You're waiting for this, Deimos?”

“Not that very much,” said the latter.

The hallucination erupted into hysterical laughter, which echoed through the empty apartment.

This is only in my mind, Adikia will not hear, thought Deimos.

- Of course in your mind, captain! Just think about it: maybe you are a schizophrenic who has gone so far that now you are playing a mini-performance, hastily changing places with yourself, and the fact that you are sitting there at the window is the main part of the hallucination? - Henry squinted slyly, disappeared into the air and slowly, as if on purpose, materialized close to his “master”. - Do you want to die? Man, you're a prankster.

- Why is that?

“Those who do not want to die are not going to serve in the army, you are my hardheaded,” replied Henry, “and you have cursed you to the whole captain!”

Deimos said nothing.

- What are you up to? - Henry squinted as if trying to find out something. It looked doubly strange, considering that he and Deimos had one head for two.

- Why do these questions? You yourself know everything.

“Schizophrenics tend to talk with themselves, it seems,” a part of his consciousness replied, “and you are schizophrenic?”

“Shut up,” Deimos snapped.

Henry just shook his head and looked up from the floor, soaring up. Deftly turning over, the ghost touched the ceiling with his feet, stomped a couple of times and began to stroll around the room, as if getting used to a new position in space.

“We agreed not to violate the laws of physics,” said Deimos.

- Yes, I wanted to put on these agreements, man, - the vision responded, - you are limp, you doubt that we must do!

Henry moved to a corner of the ceiling and leaned against the wall. With all his posture, he tried to show that this is how it should happen, which further irritated Deimos. Even his clothes stretched upward, rather than crawling downward, as if his own gravitational field acted for this part of his consciousness, which kept the hallucination in a similar position.

“We can intervene in the course of other people's lives, Deimos,” said Henry, “I have already told you that fate, instead of lost life and sanity, gave you the Golden King, a figure that will change the lives of millions.” But I see that you are not self-confident, you push me away, ignore me whenever I try to direct the course of events in the direction we need. What were all those lisping in the center? Why did you ask me to pull Oliver Steele out of the dead? Another safety net at that moment, when you dissolve, and only I stay?

The fruit of Deimos' inflamed consciousness jumped from the ceiling to the floor and again approached his “master”.

- Sooner or later, Deimos, you will sink into oblivion, and only I will remain - as the only one worthy of existence! I feel the shell of your mental defense, the barrier erected by your new “I” Deimos, from your true “I” - me, bursting. You, created to subjugate millions, dictate the will of your puppeteers, are now even afraid to touch the mind of Adika to find out if she is sleeping or not!

“Adikia is not afraid of me, I know that,” Deimos replied, “and she is sleeping, for that I don’t need to use the Eye.” Henry, I'm not afraid to use my power, it's just too early.

- Seriously, sleeping? And you take it and touch it, as then, on the activation! I know that you enjoyed this power, this sadistic, absolute power, granted to you by providence! What is it, Deimos? Every person inside is a sophisticated sadist. And you crossed this line a long time ago. We can plunge this city into a sweet, utopian dream, become the masters of the world, two gods in one body, if you stop giving up on me, stop running away!

Deimos silently looked out the window. In front of his gaze lay the high rises of the Inner Ring. Lanterns burned in the large streets, life was in full swing somewhere. Then he planned to spend five days, wait until Friday, then it will all start. But, apparently, it will be a very long five days. Perhaps the longest five days in his life.

The main thing is that Adikia should not suspect anything.

“For me, it's not you who should worry, but Adiki,” Henry said viciously. - It seemed to me, at some point that you accepted me, accepted your fate. I agreed with your original plan, but now it’s unclear what you are doing! You want to influence the fate of the world, but you cannot even use the Oka module! “Henry switched to screaming,” instead of a trained fighter, you now look more like a boy, who fell into the hands of an automatic rifle from heaven when everyone else is fighting with sticks and stones! You do not know the limit of your power, but he is! How do you know, Deimos, that if Adikia, Astraea, and another five operators do not drive you under the mental "press", will you withstand it?

- What do you want from me? “Deimos asked tiredly.”

“I want,” Henry replied more calmly, “that you start using your module as the telepath believes.” Judging by Ivor’s calculations, we have plenty of time — two more weeks, but only need five to six days. So stop hiding and ignore your own module!

Deimos flinch. After activation, he suppressed the perception bestowed on him by the Oka module, and now he felt himself half-blind: as if he always looked out from under half-open eyelids, afraid to open his eyes wide.

“Henry is right about something. Why not? ”Thought Deimos.

He relaxed, inhaled several times deeper and stretched the Eye in all directions.

A wave of images swept the former captain. Thought thousands, tens of thousands of people in homes around, their dreams, hopes, emotions. Deimos felt at the center of the roaring stream that surrounded him from all sides.

He made another effort, increasing the radius of coverage.

"Farther! Next! ”- he nagged the voice of Henry, which sounded right in Deimos’s head, -“ Stop hiding! ”

The deeper Deimos penetrated the minds of people, no matter if they are sleeping or awake in the neighborhood, the more aggressive the flow becomes. He felt the hidden fury, anger, greed, repressed desires and heavy memories of those whose mind he touched. The river of thoughts tried to dislodge it, crush it, destroy it.

Here, a bright arrow flashed one of his fellows, the operator, here's another one. But, unlike the mindless river of the consciousness of ordinary people, these realized that they were faced with someone's invasion. Deimos felt like they were trying to reach him, to find, to understand who it was and where it was.

A wave of panic swept over him: if they find it ahead of time, the end is over. Even not fully aware of what he was doing, Deimos mentally lashed two bright threads of another's consciousness, to which he had inadvertently touched.

They blinked like old light bulbs and went out.

***

- Where are we going?

Astrey had to try to keep up with O'Connell. The colonel may have been lame, but he moved with agility that any completely healthy young man would envy.

“First, we’ll go to the techies, and then we’ll do some business,” he answered without even turning his head.

Judging by her tone, Astrea realized that it was pointless to continue questioning. The module gradually restored its work after the overload, which was arranged for him in the chamber. For Astrea it was expressed in tingling in the neck and the beginning of a slight headache. But now she could again feel the presence of people around her.

The only thing that worried her was that she did not hear O'Connell that he was not here.

Just like Deimos, she thought, and shuddered at her own thoughts. “This is impossible, I am absolutely sure of it. He is not Deimos, no. ”

They reached the elevator and, having climbed several floors, continued on their way along the winding corridors of the department. When Astraea had already begun to think that walking around this labyrinth would never end, O'Connell turned for the last time, and they ran into a large metal double door.

The colonel stopped and looked at Astrea for the first time from the moment they left the cell.

- I ask for the last time: are you with me? If you doubt, you can return to your cell, I will not blame you.

- And what will happen to me later?

O'Connell thought for a moment.

“Your fate will be decided by a military tribunal when it's all over.”

- And if I go on?

“Then you can stay in the department.” It’s hard to find loyal people and I’ll do everything to keep you from being touched.

“Well, then the choice is obvious,” she said.

The colonel smiled and shook his head.

“I have very tough methods,” O'Connell warned, already pushing the door with his hand.

“After the implant implant surgery and the meeting with Deimos, nothing is scary,” the girl replied.

O'Connell did not answer and entered the room, followed by Astrea and her inside.

“These are our technical specialists,” not without a hint of pride, O'Connell presented the girl with three men and a woman in civilian clothes, “I heard that you took part in the ghetto raid?”

“Yes,” she answered.

“So, new combat suits, to a greater extent - their merit,” said O'Connell, “they prepared something for you, yes, guys?”

A short man, whom Astraea would never call a senior, nodded in the affirmative for everyone.

“Yes, sir,” the scientist added, “we all prepared.” You have no problems with the baby doll?

- What baby doll? - asked Astraea, because she thought she had misheard.

O'Connell silently took off his tunic, throwing it back in the nearest chair, and began to unbutton his shirt. A peculiar, thin metal collar, smoothly shifting to the shoulders, with a brightly glowing green indicator, appeared to Astonia who did not understand anything.

- What is it?

- PPUSAP - one of the lab workers spelled for O'Connell, - Personal Portable Device for Creating Electromagnetic Interference, although between ourselves we call him an anti-camera collar.

Before the girl began to reach, albeit slowly.

- So it is because of him ...

“Aha,” fervently, as the boy O'Connell, who was enjoying the situation, answered, “so I safely let you out of the cell.” Admit, these guys are wizards. By the way, almost does not rub, - he added for the scientist.

“Let's make the pods softer,” replied one of the men.

“Yes,” agreed the colonel, “it would be nice.”

“That is,” Astrea intervened in their sweet conversation, “do you want to muzzle a muzzle on me?”

“No,” replied O'Connell, “something less cumbersome than mine, but no less effective.” Sit down - he pushed one of the chairs and told Astrey to sit down.

Without any fuss, laboratory workers removed a thin metal hoop from one of the boxes.

“This,” began one of the scientists, “is a paired device to Colon O'Connell. It works at a distance of ten, up to fifty, in the theory of seventy, meters, depending on the environment, the presence of ceilings and other obstacles. When creating these devices, we used one of our developments in the field of fuel cells ...

“Shorter, please,” interrupted the scientist O'Connell.

“Ah, yes, of course,” the man stopped, “in general, he has one function — deterrence.” The collar, after activation, will continuously receive biometric data from Colonel O'Connell. In the absence of data for more than a minute, it will go into liquidation mode. Also, the colonel can activate the liquidation mode in manual mode several times in the right order by turning his head in different directions.

- So, I'm a hostage now? - Astraea was frantic. How could she even believe intelligence?

“Not exactly,” O'Connell had already fastened his shirt and put on his tunic, “this is insurance against betrayal.” I do not believe you, remember?

- Well, - the girl wanted to jump up and punch on this smug cuticle, - and what happens if this one turns on, like his? Elimination mode?

Scientists hesitated, O'Connell's face remained impenetrable.

“Your head will be torn off,” he finally said. - Inside the collar - explosive charge. Chances of survival are zero.

- Perfectly! Just amazing! - Astraea was beside herself. “And you want me to let a bomb on my neck?” Seriously?

“Yes,” O'Connell didn’t look like a man who was joking, “and you’ll wear him, Astraea.” Only in this way and nothing else. One operator-maniac is already walking about in the city, I didn’t have enough of the second telepath after him in strength to wander around where it was unclear.

Their battle of views lasted literally the moment in which O'Connell won. Astraea silently dropped the jacket in which she had been all this time and lifted her hair.

“Let's just be quick,” she said dryly to the scientist.

The collar lock clicked somewhere behind, at the level of the place where the Oka module was sewn, and Astrea felt the coolness of the metal case of this deadly device on her neck.

"That's all. I myself stuck my head in a trap. And he slammed, she thought.

After the lab had completed the calibration, Astraea went out into the corridor, where O'Connell waited patiently for her.

- satisfied? - she launched a finger between the metal hoop and neck, as if trying to stretch it.

“Well, not very much,” replied the colonel, “for I can be caught in shrapnel.”

He enjoyed the expression on Astraea’s face, and then laughed softly, but absolutely sincerely.

- Come on, just behave yourself, and I personally will take this rubbish from you, - he tried to calm the girl down, - let's go.

They silently moved through the corridors of the department, now somewhere down. For a moment Astraea’s head flashed the thought that now she would be returned to the cell, but this was not so: the rooms were unfamiliar to her, and the thoughts of living people were farther away, which was not observed at the “prison level”, as the girl dubbed for herself the floor, where she was kept.

- Where are we going? - She asked the colonel.

- In the morgue.

“I'm tired of your jokes, Colonel O'Connell.”

- And who said I'm kidding?

A few minutes later, they actually turned out to be in the morgue. They were met by an old pathologist, to whom O'Connell simply shook his hand.

“Steve, show me the last ones that I examined, my assistant,” he didn’t even bother to introduce Astraea, although, apparently, it wasn’t necessary.

The pathologist motioned to follow him, to the cold rooms where the bodies were kept. He opened two of them at the belt level and brought to light the bodies of a man and a middle-aged woman.

To Astrey, they seemed to be something remotely familiar, although she could not figure out where she came from.

- Steve? Repeat what you told me.

An old morgue worker went around the bodies in a businesslike manner and began in a lecturing tone:

- Two, a man and a woman, thirty-two and thirty years, respectively. They died five days ago, on the night from Sunday to Monday. I would call the cause of death an extensive stroke, but, to be honest, I have never seen such serious defeats. Both served in the military. At the opening of foreign objects found in the neck.

- In the neck? - Repeated following Astrea, - you want to say, they were operators?

- What other operators, girl? - I asked the pathologist.

“This is it, don't pay attention,” O'Connell interjected, “what else do you say?”

“Well, I will say that it was all very strange, I will say this,” answered the old man, “they were young enough and completely healthy.” Such strange cases, and even two at the same time ...

- Do you think a coincidence? - Astraea asked hopefully, although deep down she knew perfectly well why they were here.

“What are you saying, girl,” the doctor laughed, “I have been living and working in this place for too long to believe in coincidences.” I do not know how - he rubbed the bridge of his nose - but someone killed them. How is the question good, but I see no other options.

“Thank you, Steve,” O'Connell said, “keep track of such incidents, please, I will give all the necessary orders.”

Medic nodded shortly in response and sharpened, the usual movement sent the pallets with the bodies back to the cold rooms.

They left the morgue and in five minutes Astraea was already sitting in the soft guest chair in O'Connell's office.

- So what do you think? - Asked the colonel, who had already settled on his meeste, priostiv stick to the edge of the table.

“It was Deimos, there is no one else,” answered Astrea.

- Why did you decide so?

Astraea was silent, wondering what to answer to O'Connell.

“Astraea, we are in the same boat,” the intelligence officer reassured, “tell me.”

“Well,” the girl agreed, “you asked why I decided that this was Deimos?” The strength of the operators is divided into several categories, depending on the level of synchronization with the Oka module. The higher the level, the clearer the operator’s brain waves are interpreted when applied to the target, and the stronger the signal. , , . 83%, – 78%, , , 97,3% .

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- What do you mean? - O'Connell now looked like a hound, which took the trail; he tried to show with all his appearance that he was absolutely calm, but something in the expression of his face betrayed extreme interest and even boyish impatience.

- According to the calculations of Dr. Ivor and Dr. Price, the test subjects received a certain list of possibilities depending on the level of synchronization. Zero level - before implanting the Oka module - the ability to feel someone else's presence. I was tested as a volunteer. In a completely dark room, I could say for sure how many people are in the room besides me. Over time, she also began to distinguish between sex and mood.

- Seriously?- The colonel did not hide his emotions and it was obvious that he was surprised - and this is only the zero level? And how many of them?

“There are five levels in total,” answered Astrea, “each subsequent one includes the previous one, but with the best characteristics.” Achievement of the “level” depends on the initial cognitive abilities of the test subject, how he completed the course of EP-22 injections and how successfully the module was synchronized with the brain and nervous system.

- Nervous system? What for?Tell me in detail what we are dealing with. Of course, I received documentation for official use, but it was more like an operator’s manual than a description of the technology.

“I'll explain now,” answered Astrea. - About the nervous system. The brain is a complicated thing, so the module is designed so that it can interpret any operator actions while focusing. My sister and I have developed a method of combat use to increase efficiency in extreme situations, for example, in the conditions of hand-to-hand combat.

“That is,” the colonel interjected, “can you simultaneously strike with your hand and the module?”

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Astraea nodded in agreement.

- They had no chance. We simply walked around the building after the building and destroyed the enemy without any resistance.

“Nice,” the colonel remarked, “what did you say about levels there?”

Astraea was silent for a moment, picking up the words, and then continued:

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- What is your goal limit? - Colonel asked, - how much can you control at the same time?

“I don’t know,” Astraea shrugged, “during the Ghetto stripping, I had to intercept control at the same time from a dozen, I guess.

“I see,” the colonel took the cane and began twisting it in his hands, “and two more levels?”

“The fourth is control of consciousness and appeal to memory,” the girl said, “but notice that reading instant thoughts and swarming in memory are different things. The latter is much more complicated. Almost no one can climb deeper than what lies on the surface. About memories of childhood or half-forgotten - I generally keep quiet.

- But you are capable of it?

“Of course,” a note of pride flashed in Astraea’s voice, “until Deimos appeared, I was the strongest telepathist of the program.

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There was silence in the office.

- So, you can’t get close to him, he hears everyone. This should be kept at a distance of one hundred meters ... - Started Colonel.

“One hundred meters is the active radius of Adikia,” Astrea interrupted again, O'Connell, “mine is already one hundred fifty. So in the case of Deimos, I would speak of a conscious kilometer, or even two or three.

- Are you serious?!

“More serious,” the girl replied.

This is bad.O'Connell heard about a sniper who could put a bullet at a distance of fifteen hundred meters, perhaps he will be able to two, if the weather is calm. How to eliminate the goal, and even in the metropolis, if it can detect you before you make direct visual contact?

Where not to throw - everywhere a wedge.

“Can you confront Deimos in a mental fight?”

Astraea thought.

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At that moment, the door to the office opened and his assistant, who O'Connell was constantly tempted to call an adjutant, stepped inside, but he was holding back. In the modern world we live.

- Colonel! .. - I started it was a young man, but seeing a strange woman in the office, I stopped.

“Speak freely, everything is in order,” said O'Connell, implying that Astrea is not an outsider.

The assistant continued:

- There are news of your leads, Colonel! “He handed O'Connell a tablet and several papers,” the first was that Counselor Harris went beyond the boundaries of the Capital, we considered this suspicious and decided to report.

“Well done, all right,” Richard complimented his subordinate, “do you know where you went?”

“Yes, sir,” the man answered, “to the research center, which you also ordered to observe.”

O'Connell just shook his head.

“Curious,” he muttered to himself, looking at the papers of the report and the writing on the tablet, “and what’s the second?”

“Sir,” continued the man, “the video surveillance systems spotted a man who was identified as captain Henry Johnson.”

- Somewhere on the outskirts? - O'Connell was pleased with himself, all the fishing poles he was throwing in the surveillance plan were pecking now.

"Adjutant" swallowed.

“No, sir, within the inner ring.”

- What?!- Richard snapped and jumped up from his seat - how long ago ?!

“About two hours ago, sir.”

- Why haven't they reported for so long ?!

“Sir, we double-checked the data, since the captain was paired with a woman, and you said that he would act alone.” Plus, the place is very strange ...

- What a place ?!

“The central casino, sir,” the man answered.

- Your mother! - O'Connell was not to know. Now adrenaline was boiling in him, and there was no trace of the restrained and rational intelligence officer.

- What? - Astrea took an interest - what could Deimos forget in the casino?

O'Connell sat down heavily in his chair.

- Henry, you son of a bitch, tricky.

- What is that ?! - not managed Astraea.

- In the central casino of the inner circle, some high-ranking army officials and members of the council meet once a fortnight. Playing cards, drinking and having fun with women after the game, ”O'Connell replied,“ this party is not particularly advertised.

- How did he find out about her? - asked Astraea.

“I,” O'Connell rubbed his eyes with his fingers, “I once, with a year ago, brought Henry there as a friend. We urgently need to go there, Astraea.

Richard got up from his seat and, after giving a few brief instructions to his assistant, picked up his cloak and moved toward the door.

- You are walking? He asked Astrea.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” the girl replied.

“Something tells me that by the time we arrive, he will not be there,” O'Connell replied, “but we must be there first.” Perhaps Henry will leave some message of his intentions.

“Okay,” Astraea agreed and followed the colonel, “and what about that second one, Harris and the center?” As I understand it, this is our carrier base?

“Yes,” O'Connell replied, “but it will wait.” First - the casino.

---

In order to keep readers abreast of the pace of work, and just to chat without fear of being hit by a banhammer on a GT, or else, if you do not have an active account, I created a group in the VK open spaces dedicated to the “Eye” project . We are already one and a half thousand people!

Welcome.

Criticism, ratings, discussions and feedback in the comments, as always, are extremely welcome.

Part 21