Path book 1 Igor chapter 7

"We wish you good health, Mr. Admiral!"

"Well done, you can see right away that the right children are growing up!"

My father just looked at us all with love and quietly suggested:

"Come on, I'll introduce those who haven't met yet, and we went to get acquainted." We go around the flyer and see mom hugging a short woman with dark brown hair, dressed in a standard uniform. Next to him stands a tall, gray-haired and bearded man in an Alliance uniform without insignia. He looks at us, and I see the classic "Admiral Hackett," only without the scar and with steel-colored eyes.

"Liv, turn around, they're here!" He speaks softly.

Two weeks later

We're seeing Uncle Steve off from vacation. He, his father, Dakar, Tael, and his grandfather had a good "ride," so good that his uncle has a distinct roll to starboard and speaks with exaggerated diction. Tael stands swaying, with his hand on his uncle's shoulder, and says something to him with fervor. I'm sure my uncle's vacation turned out to be much more interesting and intense this time.

It started with the fact that they, the whole company, that is, in general, all our adults, went to our club. Men want to play preference, and women just relax and dance. And there, as luck would have it, a company of stray spacemen was resting, it's unclear who released such freaks from the port. As a result, the vacation turned into a scandal, which turned into a huge brawl on the square. When the ancestors returned, our surprise at what we saw could probably be spread on bread. His father sported split lips and a split eyebrow, his uncle flashed a hefty blanche everywhere, Dahy had braces on his left mandible, and he was walking somehow... askew. Ratnait's dress was torn when she tried to pull Dahi out, who was knocked out. Aegich had a swollen nose, and the entire glass of his helmet was dotted with small red dots. In general, we had a good walk! Grandfather walked along, shaking his arms belligerently.

"Well, what freaks! Yes, I would rot them in the punishment cell for such behavior during their dismissal! And he would have demoted the captain and sent him to the eternal duty in the household unit! For cleaning droids to be in charge and waving a mop, that's where it belongs! What an audacity, to say such things to a woman! I wish we didn't have duels, otherwise I would have called that bastard out and seen the color of his guts!

"Arthur!"

"What is "Arthur", what did I say wrong?"

"Dad, don't swear!"

"Don't swear"? How dare he tell my family friend that! And that you held me! I would have smashed this freak's brazen face, even though he's old!"

"He would have smashed it! That moose would have trampled on you and not noticed! After all, Arthur, you are no longer twenty years old to participate in such fun! And there was someone to stand up for Kasia's honor. This bastard won't be able to say nasty things for a long time now! As Stephen said, it's hard to talk with a broken jaw."

"My son remembers what honor is, and that bastard beautifully flew out the window with his head!"

We looked at it all... and were quietly blown away! So that there would be a fight in Leonov?! And our parents, who are so correct, took a direct part in it?! This day will definitely go down in the annals of the city's history... I wonder under what name? I quietly shared my thoughts with all my brothers and friends, which caused growing laughter. And Azat, consolidating all the statements, said:

"This day will be called "The Day of the battle at the club"!"

And it turned out to be right, that's what they called this day later! Half the town got into a fight, can you forget that? We also celebrated this event at the club on the anniversary....

After taking a break for a few days after the fight, the elders decided to go on safari. Our continent is divided by mountains into two unequal parts. Our colony is located on the smaller one, which is mostly overgrown with silver-leaved forests. The animal world, despite the abundance of forests, is quite sparse — it is mainly represented by nazumi, a large number of birds and muklikami. Mukliks are local rabbits or ground squirrels, they look like a rabbit, but they have the habits of a ground squirrel. In general, the goal of the general hunt, including the colonists, is for excellent fur and delicious rabbit-like meat. I just love to eat them fried or stewed with a preliminary marinade for a day. But beyond the mountains, steppes stretched across most of the continent, about two-thirds the size of Eurasia, and life was in full swing in them. Huge herbivores, of the most incredible sizes and species, roamed in colossal herds. There were predators to match them. The smallest were maned wolves — these huge, really somewhat wolf-like animals reached one and a half meters at the withers!

And the local king of beasts would not have left any chance for an earthly one.... The six-meter-tall creature most resembled a fur-covered tyrannosaurus, but with large and powerful-looking front paws ending in a four-fingered palm with half a meter saber-shaped claws. An adult can easily fit into its mouth, with a whole set of powerful teeth. And standing up. One of them is on display in the planetary museum, in the form of an effigy. Scary, creepy! God forbid, you'll shit yourself in a dream! I went with our whole group to the museum last year. So there are a lot of interesting exhibits about the planet.

The adults agreed with our gamekeeper, who, by the way, Feron's father, Toliyat Tanris, works for them! A colonial gamekeeper is not someone who protects nature from the intelligent, but on the contrary, the intelligent from nature. They make sure that dangerous animals do not enter the colony, conduct search and rescue operations — in general, they are experts in the wild part of the planet. My uncle fixed the stereo camera eyes on a lightweight cork helmet, everyone took their weapons, boarded an open Toliyat flyer and flew away. They returned four hours later, as if they had been hit by a dust bag. They slowly got out of the flyer, exchanging nervous laughs, and looked at each other.

"How was safari?" Mom asked.

"It's unforgettable, daughter! But you know, I'll never go on safari here on Mendoir again."

"That's for sure! I've never traveled, and I won't go again, it's not for me!" Dahi shrugged his shoulders.

"Fuck it, it's a safari! Actually, I want to live! No one else will lure you...." With a wave of his hand, Anker ran towards him.

"Anaarre Bosch"Tet! (2) Kila! What was I even thinking about?" Aegich exclaimed, knocked on the glass of his helmet with his fist and went to his room.

2. Anaarre Bosch' Tet (Quarian) — (anaarre — elderly, seasoned, aged, mature, old — according to the context), (Bosch"Tet is a fool, a blockhead, a scoundrel, a scumbag — also in the context, literally "an empty helmet") in this case, Aegih said "an old fool".

"I was recording it, we'll show it tonight," Uncle Stephen said.

"Please send me a copy, Admiral! I'll use it as a guide for fools who want to go to the plains." He asked for a loan and flew away.

The adults dispersed, and we were left wondering what the strong and brave men with guns saw that looked frankly scared.

"What did they see there?" Leshka said aloud.

"We remain calm and wait. We'll see in the evening" Azat replied.

In the evening, having pulled out the holoprojector and speakers, the adults brought chairs to our front garden, Uncle Steve did some magic with the instrumentation, and the viewing began.

You can see that they were filming in flight, you can hear the men talking, they laugh, they ask questions to the huntsman. A hand periodically appears in the frame, pointing at one thing or another. The foothills ended, and the seemingly endless steppe began. Tall, almost as tall as a man, the grass swayed in the wind like the sea.

"See the dust for two hours?" Toliyat's voice will be heard.

A dusty cloud appears on the horizon and someone's blond head appears in the frame — either grandfather or father.

"We'll catch up in five minutes— there's a herd of hornbills coming. There are always predators following him. If you're lucky, look at the maned ones, or maybe even at the tyrannodon!"

Silence in the car, you can hear the wind whistling and the mass converter humming. A huge swaying herd is becoming more and more clearly visible on the horizon.

"At nine o'clock— the maned wolves leave the herd. I'll start now, and we'll take a parallel course. Watch and record on camera, just don't shoot! They'll see it, they'll lie down, we won't find it in the grass."

"Understood, master!" The men answered in a discordant chorus.

The same steppe is in the frame, now huge, beautiful animals are galloping along it with an incredibly smooth gallop. Their running is silent and swift, powerful muscles rolling under their shiny black-and-gray striped skins, manes fluttering. The flock, about twelve individuals, stretched out in a sharp wedge and goes towards the foothills.

"What beauties!" someone's admiring voice is heard.

"Why are they leaving, Master?"

"Someone scared them off."

"Who can scare someone like that? They're bigger than a polar bear! Mother of God, what beauties! Steve, did you get it?"

"Yes, Dad."

"On the plains, the maned ones are afraid of only one thing — the tyrannodon. So he probably scared me off."

"Is it that... that hairy tyrannosaurus?"

"Ha ha ha! Precisely! He..." The flier makes a turn, and the flock stays away, and the approaching herd is visible again. A cloud of dust hangs over it, and the roar of many animals can be heard. A brown sea of backs, with horns sticking out like a stockade. HE's stomping behind it all! Even from a distance, the creature made an indelible impression. She reeked of such power and danger that everyone sitting in front of the hologram gasped.

"How scary he is," Azanti whispered, clinging to me. "Huge!"

"What can you shoot him with? He can't even scratch himself with carbine bullets like duck shot."

"You can probably use anti-aircraft guns!" Denis muttered.

"The beast from the anti-aircraft gun? You're a barbarian!" Azat laughs.

Nervous laughter rushes through the front garden. Let's look further. The flier cuts circles around the tyrannodon, but the beast does not care about him, he slowly wanders around the herd. The steepthorns are huddled together: in front of them are large males, two and a half meters at the withers, followed by females, and in the very center of the herd the cubs are plaintively roaring.

"What a colossal creature! Master Tanris, may I fly closer?"

"Don't worry, Admiral, he's massive, but he's very nimble, if he hits, we can fall, and that's certain death."

"Then maybe we'll land in those bushes over there, he'll pass by, twenty meters away, and we can take pictures in peace. He won't even notice us. How do you see it?" the grandfather asked.

"You can, of course. But, Mr. Admiral, you simply have no idea how dangerous this is. Tyrannodon's eyesight and hearing are not very good, but its sense of smell is like a dog's! If he smells it, he'll have to run very fast. Aren't you afraid?"

"So is he going to fall for us instead of the coolheads?" My father asked.

"Tyrannodon is curious. If he smells it, he'll go figure it out. The coolheads aren't going anywhere, and the new smell... maybe it's delicious? Who would he be afraid of on the plains?"

The men started talking, argued, and finally decided to sit in the bushes. Bushes appeared in the frame — not very large from a height, up close they turned out to be two-meter thick thickets of thorny tangled branches with thin needle-shaped leaves and long, sharp and scary-looking spines. There was a small clearing inside, slightly larger than a flyer.

"Like a refuge in the steppe!" Dahi said, looking around.

"Yes, it looks like it," the father agreed.

The camera swings and periodically jumps from one to the other, it is clear that the uncle is wearing a helmet. They squeeze through the bushes, and the standing herd becomes visible. The Tyrannodon enters the frame, and it's even scarier from earth. Someone groans softly from my uncle's side.

"Hush!" someone is whispering. The creature's footsteps echo clearly on the ground. It can be seen that the camera shudders slightly with each step, or the uncle along with the camera. I can feel Azanti shuddering with every step on the hologram and pressing closer and closer to me. The beast walks slowly, not taking its eyes off the herd. He stopped, lifted his head, and sucked in a deep breath. One, two, three. He starts to turn around.

"Spotted it! Let's run to the car, quickly!" Toliyat whispers loudly.

The camera shows that the men are running: Tael's back looms in front, and his father is snuffling on the right. When they jumped into the flyer, my uncle fixed the helmet on an arc and turned it towards the herd. The tyrannodon's head appeared above the bushes, and almost the whole thing appeared, the bushes up to its belly. She stared with crimson eyes at the flyer, the mouth opened — and the beast let out a low throbbing roar.

"Kila! He's going to eat us up!" Aegich shouted hysterically.

"Toliyat, take me away, quickly!" The father speaks loudly.

The beast moved forward, the bushes crackled. The men in the car screamed in fear, and so did everyone watching the holo. The car got up and flew away from such a dangerous place with increasing speed. The Tyrannodon watched her go with attentive eyes and roared again at parting. The recording ended, silence hung over the front garden, and after a short pause, Mom said in a quiet, calm voice:

"Men, you are all frostbitten fools!"

The men were dejectedly silent. I felt that my mother was supported by absolutely all the women sitting next to her.

"Have you noticed the oddity?" Uncle Steve asked.

"Which one?" several voices answered at once.

"Look at this!" uncle rewound the recording and started it at a slow speed.

"The tyrannodon did not climb into the bushes at all — there are thorns as long as a finger and even it can be scratched, and any wound is dangerous for a wild animal. He just scared us, roared, pressed his chest against the bushes and waited for us to break into the steppe, but we couldn't get away from him in the steppe."

"Well, Tolyat, well, the bug! Tricked us! And we believed it.... Note that such islands of bushes are scattered quite often across the steppe. Obviously not for nothing!" said the grandfather.

"As if someone had planted it on purpose.... But who? They're obviously not colonists or game wardens," Dahi says, sitting with a thoughtful look.

"This planet is full of mysteries, and I don't know if we'll solve them all. The colony is only 15 years old", A quiet Quarian voice is heard.