Adults come out of the darkness in a line: first comes a tall dark-skinned Turian with a bright white, glowing tattoo on his face, followed by two Salarians — one with bright orange, the other with light green skin. Behind them are three people of the most ordinary appearance, light-skinned Caucasians, and purple Azari brings up the rear. Adults look tired, they walk hard, people and Asari are covered with sweat and dust stains, carbines are in their hands, Salarians have lungs, a slightly larger model than mine, and everyone else has a good old Karpov NK 330.

Grandfather came out of the darkness and in a calm, confident voice invited the guests to introduce themselves.

The Turian pulled himself up, followed by everyone else:

"Retired Admiral of the Fleet! The group of the senior pilot of the transport department of the Rinaris Corporation follows the route. The purpose of the task: to get out of the wild part of the colony to the area of the city of Leonov, without using electronic positioning devices. The group's personnel is healthy and has no injuries, and we are moving ahead of schedule."

After that, he listed the members of the group, and grandfather greeted everyone personally.

"Well done, Chief pilot! Make yourself comfortable, we'll feed you now.

And nothing like that, our Nova's daddy is a handsome man! And his comrades respect him, it's obvious.

"Squad! General construction!" Rien shouted.

We all ran together to the center of the camp and lined up. Grandfather came out of the darkness and stood in front of us, hands clasped behind his back in a classic English "at ease" stance.

"Children! That's where our exit ends. You and I have lived together these two weeks in the wild, almost on a forage. You have learned to live without the benefits of civilization, and now you know that a trained intelligent person can survive almost anywhere. You have learned how to hunt and fish, find edible plants, navigate the terrain, and I hope that you will always be able to find the right way! Well done! We'll wake up at dawn tomorrow, break camp and leave, so pack your things in advance, preferably right now. The adults will keep us company. I'm done, break up!"

The kids rushed to get ready, pack their things and get ready for bed. Slowly, everyone calmed down, had dinner and lay down, only the adults could be heard talking around the campfire, and the dishes rattled softly. Everyone sleeps like the dead, side by side, in sleeping bags under awnings.

Dawn is breaking, but the sun has not yet risen. 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 Gina's sleeping bag, there are also skins, a flask of water and two albums — Gina's and mine, but the last one is also half-painted by a friend. There are only albums in her backpack, and there are five of them!

"Squad! Let's go!" grandfather's voice is heard from the beginning of the column, and we moved.

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...I'm distracted by Nain, 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?" Rien shouts.

"Yes, I hear him!"

"I see him!" A Salarian is shouting from the other shore. "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 throw off my backpack, a belt with a carbine, a windbreaker, leave only a knife in a hip sheath, a communicator and approach my grandfather.

"Grandpa, let me try. I'm light and strong, I'll grab his hand and hand it over to you."

"Zhenya, the risk is too great. Look carefully, the cable is on the verge, it's about to burst!"

"We have to take a chance, Feron won't hang around for long. If he breaks down, he will die! I'm coming."

She grabbed the rope with her hands, threw her shoes one on top of the other, laying the lower boot on the rope, and, moving her hands, quickly slid to the center, to where Feron was hanging about a meter below the rope. Getting as close to him as possible, she looked down and met Drell's gaze. Fear and despair reeked from Feron, along with wild hope for a miracle.

"How are you, Fer? Are you holding up?"

"So far, yes, but my hands are already hurting."

"Calmly. We do this — now I'll wrap my legs around the cable and hang down, you'll take my hands, and I'll pull you onto the stone. You'll slowly climb up from the rock using a piece of rope. Understood?"

"Got it, I'm ready!"

I intertwine my legs with the rope, one after the other, and, releasing my hands, I hang down. Feron's face is about twenty centimeters away, and I grab his right arm tightly with both hands.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

And again! Straining my abs, I pull myself up, Feron rests his knee on the stone and winces — I notice that the stone under his feet is covered in bloody streaks. He broke his knees when he fell! How did you not lose it?! Strong, lizard!

I pull him up with all my strength, he puts his feet against the stone and slowly climbs out. I was able to grab my hand further behind the cable and finally got out. I let go of his hand and struggle to pull myself up to grab my rope. Feron lies like a jellyfish on a rock. I'm hanging on a cable, my legs are on fire, a red veil is in front of my eyes, and the heavy "BOOM-BOOM-BOOM" of my heart is in my ears. My hands are shaking! My God, he's so heavy-twice as heavy as Nain, and with a backpack and a carbine! And that's another six to seven kilograms of weight to his sixty-five.

"Feron? Feron! Get out quickly!" I hear my grandfather's voice. "Eugene? How are you, my girl?"

"I'm fine! I'm going to catch my breath and go back!"

"Hurry up! I don't like the way the cable crunches!"

I can feel the cable crackling in my hands. But the feelings are silent, so everything is fine. I intercept and release my legs, then flip them to the other side, laying one on top of the other and with the boot on the cable. I'm just about to start moving when there's a crash, and I feel like I'm flying. I pull my head into my shoulders... and then there's a blow in my back that blows all the air out of me! My hands unclench, and I fly like a fist, from a height of four meters, into a rushing river. The last thing I heard before the water closed over me was Gina's panicked cry:

"Eugene-e-e!"

The water burned. When I first fell, it seemed to me that there was boiling water around, but the rapid current did not leave me time for stupid thoughts. I was being carried, twisted, and spun, hitting the rocks. All my attempts to cling to something were in vain. The rocks rushing by were slippery, and my hands slipped off. I lost track of time, and only my rapidly fading strength showed me that if I didn't figure something out, I was finished. No, I won't give up without a fight! Somehow I concentrate and manage to use a full shield. Time slowed down, the sounds froze. I reach out to the force and take it into myself, I am completely in the water, and a rocky cliff is rushing past my gaze. What if you push yourself instead of the force? I wrap myself in a cocoon, intuition tells me — now! And I push, it seems that nothing is happening... but suddenly I was pulled backwards with terrible force, the water parted, and I was thrown into the air. The flight was short, and the landing knocked all the remaining air out of my chest, and I blacked out. I don't know how long I was out... waking up brought with it a wild pain in my chest. I rolled over on my side and threw up. Water was coming out of me mixed with breakfast, then I started coughing, it was unclear how long I coughed — it seemed like forever. My head was buzzing, blurred spots of color were floating in front of my eyes, and there was a hum and tom-toms in my ears. I got down on all fours and tried to look around. My vision was blurry, my body was stiff, and I could barely feel him. Slowly, my vision cleared, and I saw a narrow strip of pebble beach, brightly illuminated by the sun, and the stones were warm. Whimpering, I crawled through the shallow water, every movement was painful, but I knew I had to crawl, the heated stones were my salvation. The beach is getting closer and closer, and finally, there are Warm stones on the pebble beach under my hands. The remnants of my strength leave me, I fall, but I continue to crawl over the burning stones until everything is covered in a soft velvety darkness.

Chapter 9.3 Dakar 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, Ray 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 Spectres are now being forced to write reports... they've reached it!

I'm sitting polishing the nails on my hands with a nail file I begged from Ray. I also need to ask for a colorless varnish...

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

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

"It's Rien! Dakar, 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 Naina, 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:

"In Africa, the mountains are so high."

This simple song has already spread throughout the colony and has become incredibly popular among hiking enthusiasts. A loud click is heard from the intercom and a child's cry full of horror:

"Eugene-e-e!"

Rien is shouting behind him:

"Dakar, the second cable snapped, and Eugene fell into the river! Goddess, the water is icy, and there are rapids! Hurry up, Daka-a-ar!"

There's a cold lump of fear inside, I jump up, the chair flies into the corner, and I see Ray'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 to cook, Dakar?"

"Get the lifeguard ready!" I shout as I run. Corridors, corridors, Ray running next to me. 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 suspension ferry on a Rattlesnake. Hurry up, Vadik, at maximum speed!"

The wind roars in the open door of the flyer. I'm standing, holding onto the handrail, and peering into the misty haze over the river ahead. Here the ferry appeared, near it a crowd of children mixed with adults. I see the admiral waving at me. We're descending.

"She's got a communicator on her arm!" the grandfather screams. His face is gray, and all his features are sharpened. "Turn on the direction finder, Dakar! Save her, son!" I nod in response. I put on climbing gear, a suspended shoulder system for the injured, pull out the beam with a winch, pull out the cable and attach it to the gear.

"What is it, Vadik?"

"I can see the bearing — two kilometers downstream, no movement! Maybe she got ashore?"

"Come down and hover over her!"

"I'm doing it."

We are walking along the canyon, rocks are sticking out from below, fog is hanging. Height — thirty meters to the bottom... tow rope — twenty meters. `We won't reach the bottom!' one thought is beating in my head. `We won't get it!'

Bearing is right below us, descending.

I pull the switch on the winch and, grabbing my suitcase, jump out into the opening. The cable hums, unwinding, the surface is rapidly approaching... but the fall has slowed down and stopped altogether. I'm about nine meters from the shallow river, and I'm going to crash.

"Vadik!" I'm shouting into the headset. "Lower!"

"Nowhere lower! The cliffs are less than half a meter away! If we touch it, everything will collapse!"