Path book 1 Igor

It's getting light, but the sun hasn't risen yet. We form into a column, followed by a light breakfast and final packing. After we leave the camp, there is an equipped kitchen under a canopy and reed canopies for sleeping. If they don't come in handy, then in a year it will just be a pile of trash. The sleeping bag is rolled up and put away in a backpack, next to it is Azanti's sleeping bag, there are also skins, a flask of water and two albums — Azanti and mine, but the latter is also half-painted by a friend. There are only albums in her backpack, and there are five of them!

"Squad! Let's go!" My grandfather's voice is heard from the front of the column, and we set off. Here is the ferry — two synthetic cables stretched over the canyon of the river, a Rattlesnake boils ten meters below, a fine suspension of water hangs over the river, creating rainbows. Everyone is crowding onto the shore and slowly, one by one, they are moving to the other shore. After waiting for my turn, I go over. Almost everyone has already moved on, only Feron and one of the adults, a Salarian, remain. Feron slowly crosses the bridge, the cables creaking strangely, like crumpled plastic. But the fiber of the cables is flexible and can't creak like that... Nasar distracts me, and I miss the moment when the cable snapped — I only heard a click and, turning around, I see Feron falling, clinging to a piece of cable. There was a collective sigh, and everyone rushed to the cliff.

"Feron! Feron! Do you hear me?" Sayomha screams.

"Yes, I hear!"

"I can see him!" a Salarian is shouting from the other bank. "He's holding on to a piece of rope and lying on a rock above the river!"

Grandfather takes off his backpack, a sling with a carbine, and a jacket and begins to try on the lower cable.

"Wait!" the Salarian shouts. "The lower cable is also damaged! It can tear from the weight of an adult and a child at the same time!"

Grandfather stopped, and I clearly realized that Feron would not be able to hang on the cable for long, and if he fell off... Drell are heavier than humans, their muscle and bone tissue are denser, and he will simply drown in cold water. Even if he is lucky, swimming in icy water will end up with Kapral syndrome for a classmate, and this is the same death, only stretched over several years.

I walk to the edge of the cliff and cling to the nearest boulder with a safety rope. I sit on the edge and start the combat mode, creating a telekinesis spell. She outlined the object of Feron's influence and, turning, set the exit point. If only everything would work. It's been a long time since I've worked with air, and more and more with water charms. Launch. My nose is bleeding from exertion, and Feron is thrown into the air and falls heavily next to me. I lean back on the ground and turn off combat mode. Oh, I don't feel good.

Dahi Tanir (city hospital, Leonov).

The day is still taking the place of a fading summer morning, but it's already hot outside-even by my Turian standards! I don't even want to think about what it's like for people, and even more so for Asari. The climate control unit is making noise, and Ratnait is clicking keys at the next table, writing a paper on comparative traumatology of different races. Although I am considered a co-author, I shamelessly dumped all the "paperwork" on her. Ever since I was in the Navy, I've been allergic to "paper" stuff, and you can't dodge it, if you're supposed to, then just sit and write. People have taken over this paperwork, and our staff, as they say, really liked the fact that there is a "piece of paper" for any movement. So now the entire tsiduli fleet is writing for every sneeze, and even the Spectr are now being forced to write reports... they've reached it! I'm sitting reading a new article on burnout in human biotics.

The remote control flashed with a yellow hologram — an alarm, an accident with a victim! I'm turning on the connection:

"The medical service is in touch, Paramedic Tanir! What's the matter with you?"

"This is Sayomha! Dahi, our cable broke at the ferry, and one of the children hit a rock hard, now they will pull him out, and we will need your help."

"Understood, we're leaving."

Conversations and children's voices can be heard on the intercom. The thought is in my head: "How can a twelve-millimeter polymer cable burst? They can lift the shuttle!" I remember my morning conversation with Nasar, who said in an enthusiastic but sad voice that they were going home. At the same time, in the background, children's voices sang loudly in chorus: "В Африке горы вот такой вышины." This simple song has already spread throughout the colony and has become incredibly popular among hiking enthusiasts. A thud is heard from the intercom and a child's cry of horror is heard: — Igor!

Sayomha screams behind him:

"Dahi, Igor pulled Feron onto a cliff with telekinesis, and he passed out. I'm afraid he's burned out."

There's a cold lump of fear inside, I jump up, the chair flies into the corner, and I see Ratnait's eyes wide open in front of me. The hand itself taps on the hologram of the red alert. The voice of our pilot Vadik Dobryakov is on the loudspeaker:

"What kind of car should I cook, Dahi?"

"Get the lifeguard ready!" I'm already running, shouting. Corridors, corridors, Ratnait is running nearby. Spirits, how slowly the doors are opening! We run into the hangar, the rescue pilot is already hanging in the air. Jump in.

"Where to?" Vadik's voice.

"To the suspended ferry on a Rattlesnake. Hurry up, Vadik, at maximum speed!"

Here the ferry appeared, near it a crowd of children mixed with adults. I see the admiral waving at me. We're descending.

There are two bodies lying on the cliff. One of the drills is broken. It is visible that the arm and the right leg next to the foot are broken. Igor is already naked in a small pool of blood nearby. They give him panacelin, but it's useless to pull it out with a regenerator in such cases.

Retnate rushes to Feron with a first-aid kit. And begins to conjure. I grab an undressed Igor and drag him into the flyer, where one regenerator is installed just in case.

Igor (City Hospital, Leonov, two days later).

I'm standing on the edge of a precipice. An icy desert stretches around as far as the eye can see. Ice, a strange bluish-yellow color, was everywhere! I have an equally strange costume... although, it's more like armor, judging by the glove that I saw through the helmet visor. My left arm is hanging like a whip, and I can hardly feel it, I can't even really move it. Behind him, on the ice, lies a ship — it is twisted and broken, the hull has burst in the middle, and the ship has folded almost in half. I see protruding hull frames, bundles of wires hanging, burst pipelines sticking out. The deck rooms are visible. The outer part of the hull, a strange, anthracite-black color, is now covered with fused wounds, in some places the thick-looking skin is melted through. I turn around and walk towards the wreckage of the ship. Among all the debris and twisted pieces of hardware, there is an eight-wheeled APC, the two front wheels on my side are cut off like a razor — you can see the protruding suspension elements with a shiny cut. I walk up to the APC and click on a small circle glowing green on the armor. A piece of armor comes off and opens, revealing a плёнка of force field. I turn around and look around the panorama of the icy world again, it's terribly quiet, and I realize that I'm here — alone, all alone!..

At first, the pain came, it seemed to be everywhere, everything hurt: arms, legs, body, skin burned with fire. The pain throbbed in his head like a booming drum. It seems that my body has begun to rebuild due to stress.

A child's voice woke me up at night:

"O Amonkira, mentor of hunters! Help her find her way into our world! Give her back her strength and health! Help her, I beg you, O Amonkira!

I open my eyes and next to the bed I see the top of Feron's head — he is sitting on a chair with folded arms and bent over, whispering prayers.

"I didn't know you were such a believer, Feron." The guy started and looked up at me. In the dim light of the bedside lamp, they looked amazing — a purple iris on an anthracite-black white, a slightly glowing light pupil. There is joy and relief in his feelings.

"She has heard my prayers!" Feron said and smiled.

"I don't know about Amonkira, but I definitely heard you!" I speak with a smile. "How are you?"

"Everything is fine — the knees have already healed, and the bruises are almost gone. Even the bone in my arm has already healed, although there is still a retainer on my leg. And how are you?"

"Well, as you can see, it's already much better! My head really hurts."

"I owe you, Igor, and someday I will repay this debt!"

"I know you will! Even though it's not necessary," I understand that it will bring you back. I don't know when or where, but it will happen for sure. Damn it! Feron gets up, goes to the door and, opening it, turns around:

"I'm being discharged the day after tomorrow. And you get well soon — we're all waiting for you, the whole class!"

The next day, I felt completely better, and I tried to sit up in bed, but a bunch of wires wouldn't let me. The instrument rack next to the bed began to chirp hysterically, and Ratnait and Dahi flew into the room. They saw me, half-sitting, entangled in wires, and breathed a sigh of relief. They came up, began to remove the sensors, turned off everything, pulled the needle and tube out of the vein and rolled back the rack.

"How are you feeling?" Ratnait asked.

"I'm hungry. No, it's not like that.... I'm HUNGRY! Even Nazumi would have eaten it right now!"

"Ha ha ha! Well, then I'll get it now!" says the folder and leaves the room.

"Doc, maybe you can take off my diaper at last."

Ratnait went to the closet and took out her underwear and pajamas, then returned.

"Let's get dressed? By the way, the toilet is behind the right door."

I got dressed with the help of Ratnait, the hospital pajamas here are thick and soft — a comfortable thing. And with her help, he hobbled into the bathroom. Then back to the small table. Dahi returned with the bowls, put them on the table and opened the lid — the smell almost choked me with saliva. He swept everything away and, stupefied, leaned back in his chair. Both our doctors looked at me with a smile, resting their heads on their hands.

"Yes, you're really feeling better! I had such an appetite that I was hungry too," Ratnait said.

"Yeah, we were afraid that you were completely burned out. Such a strain on the nervous system in childhood."

"Do you have any other suggestions?" Dahi asked.

"Doctor, can I go to the hospital park and sit on a bench?"

"No problem!" I went and got hospital shoes from the same closet.

I put on these slippers and went to the exit of the ward, but after a few meters my legs began to stumble, and I stopped, grabbing the closet.

"Take your time, hurry up! Come on, I'll carry you," Dahi said and took me in his arms, so we went to the park and left. Ratnait stayed on duty, and Feron, who was injured by me, is in the hospital. We are sitting on a bench in the hospital park, and I see a large group of reasonable people coming into it — my whole family. Tanira and Shepard with Senior Hackers are with them, her best friend and Bina are on Basma's arm. The little ones see me next to the dock and, uttering an Apache yell, the whole crowd runs towards us.

I was squeezed into the state of a teddy bear, doused with tears, scolded, praised, I learned a little more about myself in a variety of expressions.... And when I was completely exhausted from communication, Dr. Dahi, having somehow calmed the noisy crowd of my relatives, led them to the exit, saying that I was supposed to rest. Only my grandfather remained. I sat down next to him, hugged him and snuggled up — he was full of love and tenderness.

"I'm so sorry!"

"For what?" he was surprised.

"For scaring you so much! There are new wrinkles around the eyes, and the beard has turned completely gray."

"That's right, you scared me a lot! And they did everything right."

"Hurry up! The partisans had a rope, it was necessary to be safe. And to climb on the rope, I would pull Feron onto the stone. But I was afraid that the damaged cable wouldn't hold the two of us. It was safer to pull it out with biotics.

Dahi returned and sat down next to her.

"You're going to sit here for another half hour, and then, Arthur, you're going to bring her to the room for lunch, okay? He doesn't walk very well himself. I'll go — I have to be on duty, in case something happens again — he gets up and leaves."

"Grandfather!"

"М-м-м?"

"And why did the cable snap?"

"From bird shit, Igor."

"How's that? It's polymer!"

"And that's it. The shit of the local birds is painfully fluid and sticky, soaked the cable, it became hard — and simply broke due to kinks."

"Holy shit!"

"Igor!"

"Ouch! I'm sorry, Grandpa!"

Chapter 10. The clouds are gathering.

Igor (Mendoir, June-July 2366)

Holidays, vacations... Just as I was happy about this time in my previous life, now everything has faded away, there is no joy at all. There is a movement at school, there are comrades and mentors, there is new knowledge and friends with common interests. On vacation, there is silence and emptiness, only hunting, fishing, open-air performances with Excitement and an album, and exhausting morning workouts with my grandfather and like-minded people.

Five years have passed since I performed my stupid feat at the ferry. I doubt that this can be attributed to my achievements, but I became the star of the school. A difficult, exhausting role... for six months, for some reason, the whole school considered it normal to come up and ask: "Hey, Shepard, what does it feel like to be a hero?" We calmed down only after I had to loudly promise trouble to my fans, and then deliver a few harmless but painful blows with water spheres to the fastest ones.

That year Denis flew to Earth. To the Zhukovsky cadet school. Then, in the summer, the exam tests came, and my brother, in the presence of the governor of the colony, as a guarantor of the honesty of the exam, solved them all, and perfectly. How Bina roared when we saw him off — that's when it became clear that she wasn't at all indifferent to Denis, and azari, it turns out, are able to hide their emotions from empaths! Although I didn't really read it as empathy. I only use empathy when working when the patient's psyche needs to be restored. But the further you go, the more interesting it gets — blue ladies are not very simple... And they know how to use pheromones, and they treat you so that you get pumped.