A hubbub is rising in the studio, the audience in the hall is whistling and hooting, bursts of laughter are rolling, the presenter is running around and trying to calm everyone down. The camera captures Dr. T'Soni as a young Azari sits with tears in her eyes and crumples a handkerchief in her hands. A professor and a political scientist are arguing bitterly in the background.

M: "Gentlemen! Gentlemen! Please calm down! What are you, like children, really?!"

P: "When, at your very insistent request, Miss Allers, I accepted an invitation to your show, I had no idea that you would think of inviting a half-educated journalist with the intelligence of a hamadryad as an expert! Who, instead of normal arguments, can only insult his opponents! I'm really sorry, but Dr. T'Soni and I have nothing else to do on your show! I have the honor! Come on, Liara, we don't belong here."

And, taking Azari by the hand, the archaeologist, amid whistles and laughter, quickly leaves the studio.

Suddenly, the holovision goes out. Everyone is looking at Eugene, who has a remote control in her hands.

"Zhen? Why did you turn it off?" Vasil asked.

My little sister is sitting all drooping, with a dull look.

"There's nothing else to see. And I don't feel like playing anymore, so I'm going to my room. Forgive me..."

Getting up and shivering, Eugene walks around his grandfather, who is standing in the aisle, and goes upstairs.

"What's the matter with her?" Grandfather asks.

"It's strange! Everything seemed to be fine, then this show with archaeologists... these `Reapers'! What did these archaeologists say that made her react so strangely?.." Vasil speaks softly.

"Who will understand the Seer? It feels like she knows something! He knows, and he keeps this knowledge in silence," Ray picked up.

"Those dreams of hers!.." heard from Dayan.

"And what about dreams?" Grandma asks.

"I'll talk to her," the grandfather says.

"No, Grandfather!" I stop him. "I'd rather."

"Let Hame do it, she trusts him the most," Denis tells his grandfather.

I go upstairs and click on the hologram of my sister's room door opening. She is sitting on the carpet by the window, as she says, "in Turkish." I walk over and sit behind her, hugging her. She snuggles up to me and starts talking in a low voice.

"They can't hear, Hame! They don't want to hear anything that doesn't fit into their usual worldview! Like ostriches, they stick their heads in the sand and think there's no danger! But it's there! Do you hear, brother, they will come and fall on our heads like a punishing sword. Cold and ruthless laboratory assistants in black armor, and we are like mold in test tubes! They will come and wash us away, as they washed away the Protean, Inusannon and many, many before them.... And politicians will keep saying until the very last moment that people like Liara and Professor Yankulovsky are fanning the panic and talking nonsense! Well, prominent scientists thousands of years ago proved that this is how it is — and nothing else! Even when they see everything with their own eyes, they will say that this cannot be, because it can never be! And trillions will pay for their stupidity and blindness. Trillions, do you hear, Hame?! There will be no safe place for any of the races in our entire galaxy."

"Who are they, Eugene? Who are you talking about?"

"They are the true masters of this galaxy, it was they who built the Citadel and the repeaters, they created our civilization, they created it within the framework they needed! They know everything about us... just everything! And when the time comes, they will destroy us! I do not know their self-names, the Protheans called them Reapers."

"Why are they doing this?"

"I don't know! No one but themselves will answer this question. What for? Why carefully cultivate civilizations, nurture, elevate... and then ruthlessly destroy them?!"

"When? When will it all start? Do you know, Zhen?"

"In a little over twenty years, and I'm the key to our victory or defeat, me or Vanka. Only the two of us can decide our common fate."

"You?"

"Hame, if I die, be by Ivan's side when it all starts! You'll understand when things come to a terrible end, you'll understand! Let me go for a while."

She got up, went to her desk, opened a drawer, and rummaged through it, pulling out a piece of paper. She came and sat in front of me, and I hugged her again.

"Look! If you see reports of a huge ship that looks like this... He gives me a sheet with a strange leaf-shaped object painted on it, with six thick paws sticking out from the bottom. This strange ship (upon closer inspection, it became clear that the object was artificial) was black in color. "So that's it! If you see reports of such a ship, know that there are three years left before a full-scale invasion, or a little less, maybe a little more, but not much. All right, Hame?"

"All right, Eugene! What makes you think you're going to die? Why such terrible thoughts?"

"I'm scared, Hame! Very, very scary! The most terrible war in the history of the galaxy is inevitably coming upon us! It will be so monstrous that we cannot even imagine! And anything can happen, the galaxy is a dangerous place...."

"But maybe we should tell the adults?"

"And what are we going to tell them, Hame? That I have nightmares in which an unknown race of machines destroys all sentients in the galaxy?! They didn't believe the scientists! Did you see? Scientists! They were booed and ridiculed. And they'll just roll me into a madhouse and feed me pills like crazy."

"And the parents?"

"What about the parents? I don't want to pin this on them — let them live in happy ignorance. Can you just imagine what it's like to know that your children are doomed to fight an enemy that is almost impossible to defeat? To a war in which they will most likely all die?!"

"Will I be able to carry it around?"

"I'm sorry, but I just can't carry this alone anymore! And you're the only one I can tell this to! You'll believe me and you'll never tell anyone what you've learned. You, the one who loves and trusts me! He trusts you even more than everyone else! And he loves you more than anyone else, too...."

"But... how can I help you?"

"I don't know... but in some of my dreams I see you-you're next to me, out there in the burning galaxy. In the midst of pain and death, in the realm of despair... I see you next to me! My older brother, my Hame..."

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