Anomaly Frango - a fantastic novel with real people from IT

I am glad to present you my novel Anomaly Frangú. Genre - adventure science fiction. Carefully, you can meet familiar people as characters!

The fact is that in the spring of 2016, I decided to write a story about a brawl during a space race. I invited my friends on the social network to participate as a character. The idea was to try to put real people in an unreal-fantastic world. Twenty people responded. I mentioned this idea in my article on Habré two years ago.

These are mainly representatives of IT, game development and science. With a high degree of probability, you will meet familiar names in the novel.

Two years later, this book appeared. Pure typing time on a keyboard is two months, if you count an 8-hour working day. Coming up with ideas and storylines took probably another six months.

Before publishing the text, I gave him a closed beta test in my social network. Judging by the reviews, the novel turned out to be fascinating. Hope you like it too!

Electronic and paper versions of the book are available on Liters, Bookmate, Amazon and other sites. Annotation of the book:

Henri is a veteran of the space fleet and the best pilot of humanity. Trying to break the record in the intergalactic race, he gets involved in the confrontation of the powerful forces of the universe. The space fleet, cyborg pirates and artificial intelligence will come together in a fight, trying to use Henri to their advantage.

While writing the book I made several musical compositions that can be considered as a soundtrack for the novel. Using my ASCII ART style graphics, I prepared several videos. They are distributed evenly throughout the text.

The volume of the novel is more than 400 thousand characters. I decided to break it into four parts. I hope this format will be acceptable to readers on Habré.

PART 1. Cosmopark, present

CHAPTER 1. Henry Rider

Have you seen a new Mind Jump Reader? Looks like this is exactly what I was looking for. Its main feature is a wireless connection to the thought centers of the cerebral cortex. Now I no longer need to use the occipital connector, which I generally want to remove - outdated. I put a new reader in my pocket, activated it - and you can safely listen to the metabook while working. And I, guys, work as a pilot of the Attraction No. 8 in the space park “Space Park Frang”.

Most likely, you have not heard about our space fleet, because it is located on the outskirts of the studied Universe, next to the planet Frangō, right in the center of the anomaly of the same name. As my friend Timur Khmelkov, called Experienced, says, we are terribly popular ... among the local group of galaxies! Think park is empty? As if not so - the park is visited by one hundred million tourists a year, each of which spends a bunch of π-asters on the road and paying for an entrance ticket. Just in the universe damn the people.

My shift has just begun. My rider had no visitors, as, however, most of the other pilots of the Attraction No. 8 did. Only a few riders, loaded with tourists, were heading for the gateways of the dome to enter the track. Soon the tourists will get what they came for millions of light years - an extreme race amid the chaos of asteroids with the risk to life.

I activated the reader, leaned on board the rider and went deep into the settings. In the next hour, a communications ship should arrive on the planet with a new portion of data from the global network. There will be metabook news. It is necessary to set up AI - the artificial intelligence of the reader, so that it automatically requests and begins to download the metabook of the subject I need. The problem is that when the arriving communications ship connects to the planet’s network, hundreds of millions of people will begin to pump out exabytes of information. Wow and the brakes will be! But let the AI ​​of the reading room deal with this, you just have to tell him your genre preferences.

In the midst of a mental conversation with AI, I heard a very real timid female voice:

- Hello...

Looking up, I saw four visitors in front of me: two girls and two men. A smile on duty turned on my face. Not that I smiled to everyone I met, rather the opposite, but the space fleet has its own code of personnel behavior with visitors. And having felt the dumb reproach of the workers' surveillance cameras, I tried to make the smile more convincing and began to sound the text I had memorized before vomiting:

- Welcome to Attraction number 8! The most extreme attraction in the whole universe! Only here you can experience extreme loads in 10g, passing dizzying turns along the ancient routes in the real rider of the colonists of the planet. Riders are driven by human pilots!

It was the key phrase, after which it was supposed to pause. The fact is that in all developed civilizations of the Universe, technology is controlled exclusively by SupremeAI — artificial intelligence with self-awareness. They are several orders of magnitude superior man in piloting. Over thousands of years of operation, their skills have been honed many times. People already could not imagine that a person can control the equipment himself!

But on my home planet, Frang, SupremeAI could not function because of the anomaly surrounding the planet. Anomaly disables any quantum processor. The processors on the Frangō ships were transistor! No SupremeAI can work on such schemes. Only a primitive AI that hardly copes with the calculation of a small number of trajectories of asteroids flying wildly in the anomalies. From my very childhood I flew this antediluvian technique, until I got into the space fleet and flew off the planet ...

Put three seconds to pause for the tourists to understand the information ended, and I sighed, happily continued:

- The ship on which we are going to fly now is a modification of the rider-ship of the first colonists of the planet, who two thousand years ago managed to get through to the planet through the infested mass of asteroids anomaly Frang. Our four-hour ride will be similar to a roller coaster, only every next turn will be random. Neither I nor the onboard AI can calculate the trajectories of asteroids flying from all sides more than a second ahead. Our life depends on my reaction, as well as on the computing power of AI, because a collision with an asteroid is one hundred percent death!

Now it was necessary to pause a little longer, so that tourists would realize the risk and begin to feel fear for their lives. By and large, the tourists went to us precisely for this. Our rides gave people two things. Firstly, this is the feeling of an animal's fear of death. Secondly, the understanding that their life is in the hands of another person. Neither one nor the other could be felt in developed civilizations of mankind, two thousand years of not knowing wars, where any danger of human life is excluded as such. Technologies and artificial intelligences SupremeAI carefully protect the body and human consciousness in the society of central civilizations. Here, on the outskirts, right in the center of the anomaly, weak AI could not fully insure a person from his mistakes, as well as from the mistakes of other people and technology. I continued:

- But do not worry! I am an experienced pilot who graduated from the Yuri Krasilnikov Flight School - the best pilot school in the Universe. One millionth of a percent is just such a chance. What we. Today. We'll die ... Ha ha ha!

It was with such foolish laughter that every pilot had to finish the opening speech for the visitors of the attraction. If only they knew how many pilots died on these tracks before they built a space park here.

Previously, on the octahedron, the asteroid, on which the spacepark was built, the training base of the flight school was located. Pilots of different degrees of training trained on the tracks of varying difficulty. The most difficult was the route number eight. Eight hundred years ago, legendary pilot Yuri Krasilnikov set a record of passing on it, which no one can still beat. Although there were many attempts. More than seven thousand pilots died trying to exceed the time of Yuri. Someone died from overloads - did not calculate the acceleration power during maneuver. Someone crashed on an asteroid - the onboard AI did not have time to calculate the approaching stones. Someone went missing ...

The marketing service of the space fleet fully used the tragic history of the tracks for advertising purposes. Immediately after the discovery, forty years ago, a prize of fifty billion π-stars was announced to the race that beat the eight-hundred-year record. The prize will be divided equally among all participants in the race, including the pilot. In the forty years of the attraction's existence, there have been only thirty attempts to set a new record. Two ships crashed.

To my regret, the past few years have not made any attempts to set a record. The fact is that, according to the established rules of the space fleet, a full load of the ship by visitors is necessary for participation in a record race. The smallest rider accommodates four passengers. Everyone has to pay a million π-asters for participating in a record race. And yes ... The probability of being killed to death is almost 7%. This is an extreme level of risk for most people in modern civilizations of humanity.

By the way, my rider can only accommodate four passengers. And if you ask why I, the best pilot of the Universe, are sticking up in this place and babysitting with fastidious tourists, think about my share of ten billion π-stars. Decent reason? It remains only to wait for "tourists suicide." Well, still break the record.

For example, these four. Another of the thousands of majors, who decided to add pepper to their lives? During the years that I work here, visitors have long ago merged into a gray mass for me. Duty smiles, duty words, boring slow flights ...

- Daddy! Stop pouring water. We were told that you are the most powerful driver here. I paid a million π not to listen to any shnyaga. Harnessed yes went for the prize!

This unexpected tirade was issued by a tall, tight guy in his thirties. I forced myself to focus on the approaching four because the phrase was not typical. Having considered better-matched visitors, I realized that today would be a different day.

- The fact that I am the best pilot, you certainly did not cheat! However, you said that you paid a million π-asters to participate in a record race?

- Well, yes, that's what I said! Or your anomaly cuts off more and the rumor among the Aborigines? Although why should the driver hear? Ha ha ha!

The guy was definitely rude. Suddenly, the intercom of the space fleet sounded in my head, and I recognized the familiar voice of Byvaliy:

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . Listen, Henri, we ran here completely and forgot to warn you ... hmm ... now four visitors will come to you, they all paid for a record run. Imagine, laid out a million π-asters! There is turmoil already. Television has arrived. Clear the track in about twenty minutes. You are this, roll them a little faster, let everyone experience their own π-asters. But without fanaticism, ok?

Ha, without fanaticism. Of course, without fanaticism. For several years I was preparing for the day when four passengers would approach me like this for a record-breaking ride. And now everything will go according to my plan, which will begin to be implemented ... right now:

- @ | Henri . Of course, Experienced, everything will be Chiki-tiki. Do not worry.

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . Henri, I know your desire to break the record and get a prize. And respect the reasons. But you understand that this is impossible. I never noticed your suicidal feelings. Be a good boy. OK?

- @ | Henri . I will deliver passengers safe and sound. But be on the blocker!

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . I don’t like it ... well, here strange guests came to the control room. [End of communication]

A disconnect signal has sounded. About the blocker - this is me, I joked. The fact is that on each rider a lock was installed. At any time, the control room could activate it. In this case, control of the ship passed to the backup pilot in the control room, who, of course, could not continue the race at the same pace due to the signal delay. His task was to return the ship to the launch point in case of problems with the pilot on the rider. Such a backup pilot in the control room was every pilot in each race. Since Experienced contacted me via the official intercom from the control room, it means that he will most likely be my backup pilot.

Do you know what I did in the first place after talking to Experienced? Launched a script that quietly unlocks the lock from the rider control interfaces. I need complete control. But who are these “tourists suicide bombers”? It's time to meet you.

- The dispatcher has just confirmed that you all paid for participation in the record race. This is a bold step that no one has long taken. You have signed a contract in which you remove responsibility from the space fleet for possible injuries and death. Before we get on a rider and try our luck, let's get acquainted.

I straightened my shoulders and turned on the holography of orders received at the space fleet. Those who in the next hour with a probability of 50% will get serious injuries, and with a probability of 50% will die, deserve a respectful attitude. Yes, and rewards ever come in handy.

“Let me introduce myself, my name is Henri, retired cosmoflot lead-pilot. I am sixty years old, although you are unlikely to give me more than forty, and I myself more than twenty. Some people consider me the best human pilot in the universe, but I would argue with that. But no, I will not.

I fell silent and looked inquiringly at the tourists. They looked at each other. The word took a tall, tight guy who called me dad:

- Well, I - Anton Karpenko, a businessman from Andromeda. My business was excellent, but then it did not work out ... ha-ha! Ten yards will fix the situation anyway. I heard the chance to break is 7%. Ready to put life on the win, 93% - a good deal.

It seemed a cheerful, smiling guy, Anton. Only here his strange tenacious gaze was not combined with mock hospitality.

The next word was taken by a pale girl with a chiseled figure in an elegant black dress:

- My name is Evgeny Kolobukhov, I am an actress. In your hole ... Oh. On your planet about me, of course, did not hear. I argued with friends that I would participate in the race. Money does not really interest me.

So, it seems, it is a bored celebrity, there are a lot of these.

I looked at the lanky, unshaven dark-haired man with glasses.

- Call me Ivan Gerasimchuk, the rest ... does not matter.

Here the lanky was wrong. For me, it is just desirable to know who will sit behind me. But Ivan was silent and did not intend to report anything else.

The last tourist was a tall figure skater, the owner of a shy voice:

- I’m Victoria Shishkin, I just need to prove something to someone.

Yes-ah, a strange company, not like ordinary visitors. On the other hand, visitors coming for a record run cannot be normal. It's time to tell what they will:

- Dear passengers. Now we will sit in the rider, connect life control devices, put on wearable gravity suits and fasten the latches. Our route number eight crosses almost the entire semi-stable zone. We have to get to the extreme asteroid, which is the finish line. If we get there faster than twenty-five minutes and fourteen with a little second, we get ten billion π-asters. We will go to the limit. Possible short-term overload in 150g. The main task is not to lose consciousness for a long period. Now we sit in the rider, and I will continue the briefing.

Now the passengers are worried. The number 150g, of course, scares. The truth is that with such a maximum overload it is impossible and close to get to the record. Overloading will be significantly higher. But I have a plan for how to set a record and leave as many passengers as possible.

The guys started to come on board. The horror was read in the eyes of the brunette Vika. The rest were calm. Too calm. I did not like their eyes. This is the eyes of professionals. It is unlikely that they are ordinary businessman, actress and generally it is not clear who. But I was by and large all the same. The main thing is that the clamps work reliably, the life support catheters are connected to the circulatory system of the tourists and they do not carry anything on board. But to check the latter, I had a special apparatus.

Every tourist arriving at the space park runs a lot of cordons. There are so many that bringing weapons, explosives or other prohibited items is unrealistic. Sensors installed throughout. They continuously scan passing passengers. And nevertheless, I installed an additional scanner on my rider - I grabbed it from a battle cruiser.

The total report of the space fleet scanners for my passengers showed four zeros. However, the AI ​​of my on-board scanner showed “moderate alertness” status. This was the first time. It was necessary to search the passengers, which I did, helping to wear gravity-compensating suits. I did not find anything.

Maybe through the catheters of the life support system to add the serum of truth to them and ask around? I had such systems on the rider, do not be surprised. But, after weighing all the pros and cons, I abandoned this thought - the serum introduced to all passengers could cause a conflict situation. You never know, they will begin to tell. All I did was turn on a more stringent operating mode of the fixers, in which it was difficult not to get anything, it was difficult to move my hands.

The Mind Jump Reader is suddenly activated. Probably, started downloading metabooks from the communication ship. But instead of the download report, I heard the voice of Byvaliy:

- # 0 . Henri, don't be scared, this is Experienced. I connected to you through your new reader. My message is like a metabook. You hear me, I do not - you. One of the passengers is a saboteur hired by the competitors of our space fleet. He or she wants to do something bad. Cancel your check! The administration has forbidden to tell you this information. Here in the control room is also the military from the space fleet. They just want you to start the race. Please do not start. You have that right. Here something is not clean! I hope you hear me ...

Of course I hear, my friend. But even the presence of a saboteur does not change anything. I need to set a record, and you know why. To find out what happened forty years ago.

The brave pilots she kills,
Best pilots - currently takes.
Folklore of the planet Frangō

CHAPTER 2. Dispatching space park

The director of the space park, Natalya Matveeva, walked briskly into the huge hall of the control room and headed straight for the Experimental console. Nearly a dozen of millions of tourists are now having fun on an area of ​​eighty-six square kilometers. All eight faces of the octahedron — the asteroid on which the spacepark is located — were filled by more than 90% of visitors. Ensuring the safe operation of all attractions is what the hundreds of employees in the control room every day. But today was an unusual day.

- Hello, Timur, - turned Natalya to Experienced.

- Greetings, director.

- Thank you for interrupting your holidays at my request!

Natalya sat in the next chair, stretched her legs and continued:

- Do you already know that four people paid for participation in a record race?

- Of course, everyone already knows about this, even the last AI of the cleaning robot.

- Well, do you understand what our task is? We need a big event!

- If they break today - it will really be a big event.

Natalia frowned. For five years of work in the space park, she achieved a two-fold increase in the number of visitors and a three-fold increase in profits. The park was literally bursting with rich tourists. Everything was fine until the moment when a competitor park "Lux Space" opened at the neighboring star. The competitors calculated the place and services well, firmly adhering to the flow of tourists to the space park. "Lux Space" - an ordinary luxury park. Yes, the tourists, as before, went to the space park on Frangō for the extreme, but ... at the same time we stopped to dive in for a while into the familiar luxury of the successfully located Lux ​​Space.

The last two months, the growth rate of the number of tourists has become negative. Worse, the revenue per visitor began to fall, because the average residence time was reduced from a month to three weeks. Natalia was planning a new advertising wave, but she needed an event. And the dramatic race for a huge prize, which nevertheless will end without sacrifice, well ... maybe with some injuries - exactly what you need!

- I offered you many times, let's organize a record-breaking race. We will select tourists. Let's make a colorful picture.

- And then the journalists from the center will get to the truth, and everything will collapse! It’s not for me to tell you what wolves work there and what powers the journalists have now.

- Where did these four come from so well then? Three years there was no one, and here once - and immediately four paid a million.

Natalya thoughtfully looked at Byvaliy, deciding what part of the information it would be beneficial for her to disclose. Instinctively lowering her voice, she decided to tell almost everything:

- A week ago, a record appeared on the Extreme Univers global network of a certain Anton Karpenko, a bankrupt businessman from Andromeda, who was looking for three companions to participate in our record race. Surprisingly, after a couple of days there were three more willing. And today they met, filed an application and immediately paid for it.

- Suppose they really gathered on their own. Then this is just good luck for us. But something disturbs you. Something is wrong?

- And how not so! In the application, they filled out the optional item "Pilot of arrival." Guess from one time whom they indicated?

- Oh ...

- That's it. We talked with them gently, but they insisted on Henri!

Natalya leaned toward Byvaliy and spoke even more quietly:

- Timur, you know Henri from the school itself. You were his mentor. Please talk to him. It is necessary that he just shook these tourists a little stronger than usual and calmly brought them back. Let him forget about his record! I'll write him a big prize! Very big!

Timur Khmelkov, nicknamed Byvaliy, was really Henri's mentor at the flight school forty years ago. That is why he knew that it was impossible to manage Henri.

- Ok, Natalia, I will contact Henri now and talk to him. But you understand ...

Timur was interrupted, as two military men in the form of a cosmo fleet, a man and a woman, approached his console. Their holographic insignia showed that the real generals stood before him. And their faces were familiar to Bvaliy. Turning to Natalia, the man spoke:

- Good day. We are looking for the director of the space park, Natalia Matveyeva, is that you?

- Yes it's me.

- Allow me to introduce myself, Vladimir Katalov, general of the cosmo fleet, commander of the eighth legion of long-range intelligence. Next to me is General Alla Khramtsova, head of the analytical department of long-range intelligence.

Natalya, who clearly read on her face: “Only the military was still not enough,” stood up, shook hands with the generals, called out two bot chairs, and said:

- Please, sit down and explain to me what is due to the visit of such important guests.

While the guests were seated, Byvaly conducted a silent dialogue on the intercom with Henri, who promised that everything would be chiki-tiki. Catching Natalia's skeptical look, he realized that she had heard the conversation and didn’t believe Henri one iota. He did not believe it either.

Meanwhile, sitting comfortably in his chair, General Katalov turned to Natalia and Byvaliy:

- As you know, according to the law of the commonwealth of central civilizations of mankind, the space fleet can introduce a state of emergency during special operations. If you, Natalia, now look into your mailbox, you will see the corresponding official notification with the importance of "absolute".

It took a second for the director to mentally enter his mailbox, read the emergency notice and verify his authenticity. Her face stretched out in surprise. The general continued:

- The state of emergency is introduced throughout the space fleet. Management passes to us. At the time of the special operation, I will be the main one here.

Experienced quite loudly hemmed. What did these madcap from the "crazy four" start again? More than forty years ago, Timur Khmelkov, a graduate student of the school of flights, nicknamed Byvaliy, was appointed as a mentor to four young teenagers: cheerful Vladimir Katalov and good Alla Khramtsova, who now became generals of the cosmofloat, troublemaker Henri, and purposeful to fanaticism Ekaterina Kirik. Oh, and made a rustle of "crazy four" in the school of flights. What they just did not get up! That will steal new experimental aspirated - go around the planet at a speed of 30,000 km / h. They will have a picnic on the forbidden stable zone of the anomaly, to which even professional pilots were afraid to fly. Others would have been expelled a long time ago, but the guys had what was most valued on the planet Frangō the most - innate talent. Experienced friends with the four and covered their pranks as he could. Until the release. Until that ill-fated race.

Meanwhile, the director of the space park, Natalya Matveeva, asked in an agitated voice:

- What is the special operation?

- You do not worry! This is a small operation in which only those gathered here will participate, the general said in a soothing voice.

Experienced looked around and asked:

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CHAPTER 3. Cosmopark Security Office

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- So, trainee. New job. On board a record of arrival is one or more saboteurs. Your task is to calculate them! Get started

“Yeah,” Yana said cheerfully, and with a battle look, plunged into the data of the monitors.

Paul decided to come in from the other end. Just because the general space fleet will not paralyze journalists. So, you need to know who they are. The request to the global database through the communications ship is long, so Pavel decided to act in the old manner. He put on a holster with a punch, seized special equipment and rushed to the subway. We must pay a visit to the room in which the journalists settled. See what's what.

Minute journey on the underground conveyor ended at the elevator shaft minus the fifth floor of the desired hotel. Another minute went on waiting for the elevator and the ascent to the fifty-seventh floor. Approaching the “57.264” number, Pavel touched the door with a universal key that opens any locks in the space park buildings. The lock did not open. But it was already very suspicious. Pavel activated the intercom:

- @ Kvazar Star Hotel | Pavel Moskvin . Yana, open me the number "57.264"!

- @ Office Sat | Yana Fomin . Of course, boss! Just a second ... Oh, there is a defense installed there, now I will launch a couple of my scripts ... Oh, there is a strong defense there! I was messing about somehow writing an unlocker with AI, launching ...

The door squeaked and drove off to the side.

- @ Kvazar Star Hotel | Pavel Moskvin . Well done! Just in case, I do not disconnect.

Pavel turned on an effective, but very energy-intensive personal protection of the second level, pulled out a piercer and threw forward a swarm of sensor-drones. A second later, a report came: there was nothing suspicious in the room. Without losing time - the battery charge would last only ten minutes of protection work - Paul carefully moved inside.

It was a room with two bedrooms and a living room. Moving quickly and silently, Pavel examined all the rooms. The drone sensors scanned things. The only difficulty they have caused some object in the bathroom. Reports showed that the subject was not translucent on some scan ranges. Pavel went into the bathroom and saw an upside down business card on a shelf under the mirror. Scanners showed that this is plain paper, but ... unusually not translucent. I wanted to turn it over, which Paul did.

On the back of the business card was written some address that Paul could not read. He suddenly swam in his eyes. His legs buckled and he fell to his knees. What the hell? Protection of the second level blocks the penetration of any particles larger than an atom. It also blocks any powerful electromagnetic radiation. The forces left Paul, he put his hands on the floor. Balls of drones fell lifelessly around with the sound of crumbling beads. Paul knew only one theoretically existing device capable of penetrating the defense of the second level, a neuroprogrammer on a directed beam of gravitons. His creation was attributed to pirates. If this is it, then he has only a few minutes left until the personal defense of the last forces blocks the main force of the neuroprogrammer. Unable to resist, Paul fell on his side and lost consciousness.

- @ Office Sat | Yana Fomin . Boss, is everything okay?

...

- @ Office Sat | Yana Fomin . Boss??

CHAPTER 4. Henry Rider

Record schedule [00.000]

- Is everyone ready? ... Then let's go!

Feeling a pleasant excitement somewhere in the abdomen, I undocked the rider and headed for the airlock, located under the very dome of the space park. The passengers settled down in a semicircle behind my back, securely fixed in comfortable capsule chairs.

- The countdown will start at exactly 8 hours and 30 minutes. Therefore, we will now exit the airlock into space and wait a bit. If you have questions, now is the last chance to ask them ...

There were no questions.

- Guys, our race is a great event for the planet Frangō. Hundreds of millions of people are watching your faces right now. Entry will see at least half a trillion viewers from other galaxies. Smile, wave your pen, say something to the Universe!

As for waving a pen - this, of course, I bent. Gravity compensator costumes began preflight training, leading to muscle tone and the circulatory system. A small blood modification was made through the catheters, and the capsule chair was checked for rotation systems. Considering also the strict operating mode of the latches, it is unlikely that they will be able to wave the handle.

Here, theoretically, they could still say something, although the system of forced respiration has already injected increased pressure in the lungs to resist overloads, which made speech difficult. It only remained to smile, but in the four video frames of the passengers on my monitor there was not a single smile, only the vital parameters were optimistically glowing with a green status.

Intercom sounded:

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . Have a good flight, Henri! Do not forget to include the reader of metabooks. Everyone knows that you are listening to metabooks during a flight because it’s already boring to carry passengers on an attraction!

- @ | Henri . Haha, thanks for reminding, Experienced! I will turn on the recording of your lecture “Piloting Romance”, it takes just half an hour.

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . Then you do not have time to listen to the time of arrival. The record is twenty-five minutes, and the last five minutes in my lecture are the most interesting.

- @ | Henri . The fact that your lectures can be interesting is unexpected news for people from the studied part of the Universe.

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . You're still the same Losers, Henri! Good luck! [End of communication]

I activated the reading room, having estimated that Experienced would hardly have just mentioned it. After initialization, the playback of some nameless metabook started, and I again heard the voice of Byvaliy:

- # 0 . Henri, we need to establish a secure communication channel. Please turn on the co-editing mode of this metabook. So we can send messages to each other. This Seer hacked your new reader. You can say hello to her - she will see all the correspondence.

Considering that the additional communication channel with Byvaly hardly interferes with my plans, I turned on the joint editing mode and made the first edit-message:

- # 1 . Hello everyone in this chat!

Almost immediately I received the answers:

- # 0 . Happened! Fine!

- # 2 . Hi, Henri, long time no see!

- # 3 . Hello everyone, take a stranger.

The first voice belonged to Byvaliy, the second I recognized almost immediately - the Seer. But who owned the synthesized voice from the last message, I have no time to find out.

- Ten seconds before the start!

Capsule chairs have adopted the optimum tilt for initial acceleration. Passengers introduced a cocktail of releasing hormones to help combat the body with stress. After checking the availability of all systems, I turned on autostart. Initially, there will be a full 0.73 seconds of acceleration in a straight line ... Start!

Record schedule [00.000]

Wow, great! My body responded pleasantly to an initial overload of 70g. We, the pilots of the planet Frangō, are special people. One hundred generations of adaptation to constant overloads have changed our organisms. And the genetic correction, when it was still resolved, also played a role, although it is not customary to recall this now. Our muscles, bones, internal organs and blood vessels could function under tremendous acceleration. But most importantly, our brain not only maintained performance in a stressful situation of piloting, but also turned into an efficient shunting computer, comparable in performance to the first SupremeAI on quantum circuits with convolution.

Record schedule [-00.016]

We accelerated in a straight line a little faster than Yuri Krasilnikov in his record race eight hundred years ago. But the first overclocking had little effect on the result. The main thing is to go through three difficult sections.

The first of these is the area of ​​small asteroids. Billions of asteroids with a diameter of a kilometer of erratically moved at great speed. It was impossible to calculate the law of their movement. However, it was possible to accurately predict the direction of motion at short distances and in a short period of time.

Imagine that you went into the labyrinth garden and slowly, walking, found a way out in a few hours. Now imagine that you were swept up there at a speed of 200 km / h. You need to find a way out in conditions where you do not know the maze plan, the walls are moving wildly, and if you touch even one leaf - you will die.

The faster the pilot wants to go through this segment, the faster he must respond to the predicted trajectory of motion of the nearest asteroids using the AI. The predictions of AI with increasing speed became less and less accurate. The passage corridor became narrower and sometimes disappeared altogether. In this case, everything was decided by intuition - the main weapon of the pilot Frangō. I never complained about my intuition and drove it to the full, having passed the first segment in five minutes.

Record schedule [-00.023]

Not bad! I was ahead of the record schedule by more than twenty thousandths of a second. It was possible to take a breath and check the passengers. For them it was not the most difficult part, but he was the first, and the passengers were in shock. I asked the medical AI to evaluate their physical condition. The resuscitation program was launched only two times, eliminating small hemorrhages, both times in a young girl, Victoria Shishkina. The rest were surprisingly prepared passengers.

- Guys, we overcame the first part of the route and became five minutes closer to the pile of billions. Go ahead a little ahead of schedule. After a couple of minutes, a more serious test will begin. Do not forget to perform the exercises that I told you about. Tighten all your muscles first ...

I was interrupted by an intercom call:

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . Henri, are you all right there? Cameras turned off inside the cabin. Only external work.

- @ | Henri . Yes, everything is fine. Apparently, the camera could not stand the chatter.

- @ Dispatch | Timur Khmelkov . Well, keep us up to date. [End of communication]

Most likely, something broke when sending a signal from the cameras to the control room. The cameras themselves worked well, because I kept seeing all the passengers on my monitor. Peering more attentively, I noticed that the elbow fixation in Anton Karpenko's capsule chair could not stand the load and burst. It was not very good. Now passengers will experience acceleration beyond their limits. If Anton fails to put out his hand, the bone can not stand it. And he just started to move his hand.

At the same time, the ship’s protective AI system issued a warning: “An unauthorized connection was recorded!” What kind of nonsense? On-board communication came to life in the voice of Anton:

- So, Henri, look at me in your monitor and do not twitch!

In the hand of Anton, a punch appeared from somewhere. When I zoomed in on the image, I whistled: It was the Mongoose bio-piercer. It is not detected by sensors, since it is a living cell. Such an experimental weapon is very difficult to get, and its value exceeds the value of my rider.

- Do you understand what is in my hand, Henri? … I can not hear.

- Yes, I understand. And what's next, buddy?

- From this distance, I do not miss on the back of your head, even with a million g. Continue the flight and swamp to the fullest. But contact with anyone is not necessary, I already control the intercom. All clear? We do not want the valuable brains of the pilot Frangō to spread around the walls of the cabin?

Protective AI issued a warning: “Could not prevent unauthorized connection! The download of the uninstalled script has begun! ”

- Dad, if I asked a question, I expect to get an answer to it. I'll ask for the last time. Is it clear?

- Do not worry, buddy, I understood everything. My brains are still useful to me. And now everyone is ready, in a few seconds the second difficult segment will begin.

Then something strange happened. Anton's hand shattered into the spray along with his punch, covering the entire cabin with small drops of blood mixed with fragments of flesh. Having quickly glanced over the video frames of the passengers, I saw another biological test tube in the hands of Evgenia Kolobukhova, directed at Anton. Clamps today work to hell! On-board communication sounded Eugene's calm voice:

- Anton, if you want to live - do not twitch!

Then Evgenia turned to me:

“Henri, I am a contracting party of the mercenary guild.” I was hired by your employer to prevent possible sabotage of the rival Park "Lux Space". There were reports that a saboteur for rider hijacking would be introduced at a record-breaking race. Now it is neutralized. Stop arrival and return to the gateway ...

Late, Zhenya, late. An overload of 200g with a stone slab leaned over the passengers. We raced through the asteroid stream. The diameter of many of them reached 1000 km! In addition, they rotated and touched like gears in a giant mechanism. Now the main thing is not to kill the passengers. They had a long test of severe overload. The capsule chairs rotated wildly, choosing an angle so that the acceleration vector inflicted as little damage as possible. Gravity compensators and life support systems worked to the limit, trying to minimize irreversible injuries.

It was intense piloting. But despite this, I diverted some of my attention to the conversation with Experienced. Many strange things happened. I did not tell you, but for a moment before entering the second segment, I saw that the ulnar clamp had burst in the Ivan Gerasymchuk capsule chair. In his vacant hand, another Mongoose bio-piercer was formed, which he, however, immediately hid. Too many "Mongooses" on the rider today!

The defensive AI showed the message: “The malicious script has been downloaded by 30%!”. And I started to edit the message in the metabook:

- # 1 . On board at least three passengers with punches. Anton Karpenko first pulled out the piercer and threatened them with me. He was neutralized, but did not kill Yevgeny Kolobukhov. She claims that she is the contractor hired by our park, and Anton is a saboteur. Another passenger, Ivan Gerasimchuk, also pulled out a punch, but decided not to intervene yet. And yet, I did not tell you that someone is uploading an uninstalled script to the ship's system?

Almost immediately the answers appeared:

- # 0 . Understood, now I will try to deal with the counterparty. The director is sitting next to him.

- # 2 . Henri, connect the reader to the onboard network with maximum privileges, I will try to block and examine the script.

- # 0 . Director Natalia Matveeva confirmed that Evgenia Kolobukhova is the counterpart hired by her. This is our man. Tell her to keep all the passengers on the fly! And slow down and return to the base!

There was no point in saying something to the passengers, they were all unconscious, but they were still alive.

- # 0 . There is information from the security men. The passenger Victoria Shishkina seems to be the daughter of one of the generals who are in command in the control room. I didn’t want to tell you, but these military are our friends in flight school. This is Vladimir Katalov and Alla Khramtsova. Just like in the old days, Henri ... You, the "crazy four", are stuck in history, and the Seer and I save you.

So this young passenger girl is Alla's daughter. What the hell is Alla doing here, and why did her daughter sign up for a "death" ride? I had neither time nor resources to analyze the situation.

Before the rider jumped into the calm area of ​​the track, the reader with a synthesized voice reproduced another message:

- # 3 . You almost broke the record, Henri! Will you back down?

Record schedule [-00.280]

Jumping into a calm zone, I first checked the condition of the passengers. Monitors showed that they were all unconscious. Resuscitation program with might and main worked on the restoration of damage. Survival predictions were good.

Judging by the testimony of the defensive AI, the malicious script was downloaded by 97.3%, but its download speed dropped drastically. Apparently, the Seer succeeded in blocking him. Maybe still work out!

- Not bad, let's go! - it sounded suddenly on the onboard network.

I glanced at the monitors and found that Ivan Gerasimchuk, the most silent passenger, is looking straight into the camera, slowly flexing his muscles. The extra clips were unbuttoned, and his movements were not holding back. The monitor showed that Ivan was unconscious, but here he is - turning his head, inspecting the rest of the passengers and holding the biological pest in his hand.

- Yes ... I got the guys. But there is still a "turn" ahead.

Ivan's movements were relaxed, his face was impassive, with a hint of a smile. The punch was not aimed at me, but I physically felt the threat from Ivan. His calm, unhurried voice could not deceive me. Ivan could act with lightning speed - it was a professional. After a brief pause to understand the situation, I said:

“You know the track well, Ivan, and you are transferring overloads.” Just like a professional pilot from the planet Frangō.

“Got it,” Ivan smiled.

Before the finish there was only one difficult part of the track. Taking off at an enormous speed from the asteroid tunnel, you come across a wall of a huge asteroid. You need to turn at an angle of almost ninety degrees. Turn at high speed. Actually, this turn was the main difficulty, because in order not to lose pace and break the record, it was necessary to withstand a short-term load of 490g. There were no chances for passengers to survive. They knew about it, but many were silent, but ... in the event of a record being set, the pilot will receive his share of the prize, even if he has four corpses behind his back, or ... there will be no one at all.

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- Fire alarm! Quickly run up the stairs! Do not enter the elevator! Alla, make sure that the professor gets out safely!

The alarm sounded. Alla rushed upstairs behind Nadezhda, who was hiding in the doorway, but stopped when she saw that the professor was still standing still.

- Professor, rather!

- Alla, you run upstairs, I’ll gather my strength and start climbing after you. See you at the top.

- No, that will not do! I will be with you. Let's begin to slowly rise. Only seven floors - and we are safe!

But the professor continued to stand alone on the landing, amid howling sirens and blinking fire alarms.

- You do not leave me a choice ...

Alla looked at the professor with incomprehension, but then she gasped when she saw a piercer in his hand, aimed directly at her head.

- Alla, surveillance cameras have just stopped working. By the way, as well as intercom and other types of communication. Contact with anyone you can not. I'm very sorry, but we will have to continue the tour.

- But the fire ...

- Do not worry! Fire does not threaten us. Most likely, AIDA made a farewell gift to Nadezhda, warning her about the explosion.

- What kind of explosion?

- Come, I'll show you.

The movement of the piercer, the professor showed that it is necessary to go down. Although he was thin and shorter than Alla's height, he behaved confidently. The punch lay in his hand like a glove. Alla decided not to take active steps. She began to descend. The professor walked two meters behind.

- Let's go down to the bottom.

Alla went down to the lowest floor and entered the large hall. Thousands of supercomputer racks filled the room with rows. The professor went a little ahead, holding Alla at gunpoint.

- The explosion will be carried out using a swarm of microbombs. The destruction will not be very strong, but the building most likely will not survive.

With these words, the professor took off his jacket and put it on the floor. After a second, the jacket began to creep into a stirring black mass, which was then divided into millions of small black cockroaches. Some of them began to spread across the racks of a supercomputer on the lower floor. However, most of them crawled in the direction of the landing in order to get to the other floors.

- Do you want to kill AIDU? - looking around, asked Alla.

- AIDA - a sensible bioraider captured by a space fleet. Her brain was dissected and placed ... here, - the professor looked around the hall, - in this prison.

“But bioraider is the same ...”

- Pirates. Yes, this is our technology.

Alla shocked looked at the professor.

- Centuries of propaganda have made us monsters in the heads of the inhabitants of the community of civilizations of humanity, so the horror in your eyes is quite understandable. But then ask about the real story of the appearance of pirates - you will be surprised.

The professor looked around, there was not a single cockroach on the floor. All were in their places - in the racks of the supercomputer.

“The prison of Aida must be destroyed.”

Sighing, the professor took off his tie and threw it at Alla's feet.

- Please put a tie on your neck. This is the first level protection, it will save you from the explosion and give a signal to the rescue robots. You will be pulled out from under the dam for a maximum of ten minutes. Things did not go exactly as planned. You need this tie, despite the fact that I also do not want to die.

Slowly dropping down, Alla raised her tie and hesitantly began to wear it. As soon as she stuck her head, the tie was firmly drawn around her neck. At the same time, a translucent cocoon began to form around Alla.

“Think, Alla, who is the real enemy of a person,” the professor said sadly at parting.

These words were the last that Alla heard. The cocoon became completely soundproof, but remained translucent. Suddenly, thousands of fiery flashes swept the room, and Alla shook so that she lost consciousness.

###

Thank you for reading the initial excerpt of my novel! Hope you like it. Now I am preparing the next part in the form of an article on Habré. I format, arrange soundtracks and worry - how you will perceive the further text. The plot there begins to spin more famously.

After reading my text several times for editing and proofreading, I stopped to perceive it. I do not know if you are familiar with such a feeling - I no longer feel the novel when rereading. I would be very grateful for the feedback and criticism. Thank!