After that, a briefcase was placed on the table, which, unfortunately, blocked everything that was happening on the table from me. I fidgeted and whined, leaning to the right and then to the left in an attempt to see what was happening on the table, but all in vain. So I didn't see anything. When it was over, Leshkin's hand was wrapped in a cool white scarf.

"Okay, Michael," the doctor said, "You'll arrive at the hospital in two days, we'll remove the retainers there, and it's better not to strain your arm for a week. Do you understand everything, young man?" She turned to Leshka.

"Got it," my brother squeaked.

"And no bike racing! I'll rip off my piston and put it in today, too." Dr. Duck said.

"Mish, sit down, we'll arrange it, it's an accident anyway!" called Father Azari.

"Let's go," the doc said, "is the victim's name?"

"Alexey Mikhailovich Shepard."

"Age?"

"7 years old."

"Date of birth?"

"July 22, 2348."

"Place of birth?"

"Leonov City, Mendoir colony."

"Parents, Father?"

"Mikhail Alexandrovich Shepard."

"Age?"

"65 years old."

"The mother?"

"Hannah Diana Shepard."

"Age?"

"63 years old."

"Home address?"

"Leonov City, Strawberry Street 2, Whisper Ranch."

"Okay," the blue doctor said, "I'll fill out the rest myself."

Then the Turian Duck came up to me. I looked at him with undisguised curiosity, wide-eyed, and there was a lot to see. First of all, he looked like a game Turian and didn't look like one at the same time. He did not have so-called "mandibles", just his lower jaw was covered with cheeks with horny plates growing on them, with pointed ends curving closer to the chin below the chin itself and fused with the lower lip, under which fangs were hidden, looking down, four centimeters long. That's what I understand, teeth... The lower canines were much smaller: two and a half centimeters. The figure was dense, proportionally built, beautiful even to a human eye, and not that squalor — a product of Biovar designers. The hands are four-fingered, with the little finger thicker than the index and middle fingers, and only slightly shorter than the first. All the fingers on the hands ended in powerful, slightly curved claws. The Turian's skin was golden brown, his face had a colorful tattoo of white and blue lines woven into a complex pattern, his eyes were deep-set, with dark gray whites and an incredible, simply glowing bright blue iris around a round pupil. Curiosity radiated from him like a wave. I stretched out my hands and clenched my fingers into fists several times.

"That's right!" My father said with a smile. "Not a drop of fear, he immediately asks to be picked up."

"Yes, we can easily do that." Duck replied. "Come here, little one."

And he pulls me out of the chair. I didn't see anything repulsive up close, on the contrary. I ran my hand over the Turian's cheek: the skin was smooth, velvety to the touch and hot, about forty degrees, he already squeezed his eyes shut with pleasure and made a strange, purring sound, which was immediately picked up by our cat standing in the hallway.

"Are you going to Aunt Ray's?" I heard it from the left. Turning, she met the gaze of the Asari. She was smiling, which made her face even more attractive. Although, somewhere else! I reached out to her and was immediately taken away from Duck. The Turian laughed.

"That's right, Ray, everyone sticks to you, even the kids!"

I looked at the Asari with interest. Blue skin, soft and silky to the touch, appendages that slightly bounced under the fingers, a pattern of pigment spots, in the form of a complex pattern, around the amazing color of lilac eyes. By the way, the Asari had eyelashes, although there were no other types of vegetation on the skin. Strange.

"And what is your name, young lady?" Ray cooed.

"Zhenya," I replied. Wow, it turned out to be clean to say!

I see my father's joyfully surprised face, and my mother's already big eyes are wide open. Oh, to be naughty, so naughty! Poking my finger under Asari's chin, I said:

"Ray."

Then Azari's eyes got big, like two animeshki with her mom. She turned to Duck and pointed at him:

"Duck."

The Turian's jaw dropped, and I was overwhelmed by a wave of amazement. The adults were stunned into silence.

"Well, what's my name?" My father asked as he approached.

I smiled at him with all my twelve teeth and said:

"Misha's dad."

"Just look who's talking!"

My father said, laughing.

"I'm going to my hous!" Dr. Duck hurried on. "I need to examine my senior. Ray, let's go."

"Bye guys!" Azari said, and the medics gathered their things and left.

Chapter 2.1 This world, is everything wrong here, or is it...?

Eugene (Mendoir, April — June 2358)

April 11, 2358

The slowly rising sun illuminated the peaks of the mountains in the east, they are clearly visible from the window of my room in clear weather. It's been four years since I've been in this world, the world of a computer game that has come to life, so similar and at the same time completely different! It's been a year since I got my hands on a desktop terminal, and I've started a real brainstorming session. I managed to find answers to almost all my questions: They had never even heard of the Reapers here, there was a huge pile of contradictory information about the Protheans, and most importantly, everyone was absolutely sure that they had built both the Citadel and the repeaters. So what does that mean? The canonical events did not happen! But the most important thing is that there is no certainty that I am connected with them. However, "John" Shepard, like "Jane" Shepard, exist in reality, and the most amazing thing is that they are members of the same family!

Yes, on May 22, 2355, my younger brother was born, and my dad, according to the old Russian tradition, named his youngest son Ivan! He is very original! Mom, laughing, told him so. Well, my parents are retired military personnel: my dad is a captain of the first rank (or captain in the Anglo-American rank system), and my mom is a major in the Navy medical service. Plus, I'm a colonist from Mendoir, just like in the game, but in a crowd. And as far as I could remember, in the game, the colonist's entire family is killed, after which he (she) goes into the army. I'll get out of my skin, but I won't let them kill my family!

After Vanka was born, they pushed taking care of me onto my older brothers and our wonderful cat! The brothers were not particularly pleased, but the redhead seemed to be just happy. The mustachioed babysitter followed me around the house, played, slept, and accompanied me on trips to the center of the town. And after the brothers were allowed to take me out with them, Barsik and I became as much a part of the children's company in our village as my brothers, their Turian friends, Hamon (Ham) and Tamil (Tam), the sons of the same Dr. Duck, their Azari girlfriends named Vasil, the daughter of Dr. Ray, and a small Turian woman my age, Nain, the younger sister of Ham and Tam. Last September, I went to the local kindergarten equivalent, where a lot of amazing discoveries awaited me.

The clock on my desk read 6:30 a.m. Although a day on Mendoir is longer than a day on Earth by as much as 9 minutes, a year is shorter by 7 days. So we live by the time of the Alliance of Systems, that is, Greenwich Mean Time on Earth, plus a sunset-sunrise correction. The clock is periodically adjusted according to the signal of the planetary control virtin. The whole family is still asleep, but I get up earlier than everyone else and do exercises. Several yoga asanas mixed with classical gymnastics and weights on my arms and legs over two years of training have made me very strong for my age, improved flexibility, coordination of movements and motor skills. I remember well the weakness of the first year of my life and I want to be strong. Thank the extranet for the huge number of all kinds of video tutorials on physical education! The main language of the colony was Russian, although English was spoken by everyone, of course, the main language of the Alliance. Plus, they spoke in "basic" or basic galactic, aka "galact". It was developed by the Salarians, together with the Asari, as much as two and a half thousand years ago. Well, all the "strangers" spoke their native languages perfectly, a natural Babylon 5, not Mendoir!

And once, I bend my whole body forward, leaning on my hands, and twice, in the opposite direction. After all, a girl's body is much more flexible than my past, like rubber is straight. After six months of classes, I sat down on the splits completely, sitting in the lotus position also did not cause any unpleasant sensations. In general, everything is very good so far, except for one small disadvantage: an extremely low pain threshold. But I attribute this to a child's body, and I hope it will pass with age. I heard noises on the ground floor, probably mom got up and went to cook breakfast, and it's time for me to take a shower, brush my teeth and generally get ready. My brothers will take me to the garden soon.

Five hours later

There are also a whole bunch of youngsters from almost all races of the Citadel Space who go to my garden. And there are a lot of us in our, still junior, group: ten people of all colors and races, three Asari, three Turians (two boys and a girl), two Batarian girls! And, like the icing on the cake... the drell guy! That's such a gang of nineteen rodents-backs! Our group has two Azari teachers, both purple. The head of the group, Rien Vais, and her assistant, Taya T'dari. Since I'm considered a kind of child prodigy here, I've already kind of "learned" how to read. Looking at me, my whole group learned to read, after all, children of any kind have a very developed imitative instinct. They still read poorly, but that's not even four years old. As far as I've found out, almost all children develop about the same way, even Azari.

I asked our parents a question with my eyes wide open:

"Why is this, because Azari live a very long time and are considered adults from the age of one hundred?"

I received a very detailed response.

The Asari's maturation has three stages. The first stage, from birth to about fifteen years of age, is due to rapid growth and development, and intellectual abilities develop during this period of life. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, physical development slows down sharply, but does not stop, and a young Azari, who looks like a human girl of 13-14 years old, begins to improve intellectually. They study a lot, train, harden their mind and body, and this stage lasts up to about 45-55 years. Then the third stage of growing up begins: the young Azari begins hormonal restructuring, she grows up a little more, gets rounded in all the right places, and begins to develop mental abilities. It is at this time that Asari are taught to work with biotics and merge their consciousnesses in the so-called "embrace of eternity". Of course, the speed of development is very dependent on individual characteristics. Well, just like human.

The racial composition of the Mendoir colony is actually more extensive, but since Salarians or Vorks develop much faster than others, it was considered unnecessary to include their children in general groups. You're probably asking, where does Vorka come from? As the local online encyclopedia suggested to me, the vorka is actually a fairly advanced species, maybe inferior to humans and Turians in intelligence, but with a huge adaptation resource! In the Vorka Citadel Space, they are mostly employed in the mining industry, and as it turns out, they are excellent miners who are able to work in conditions where most members of other races simply die. That's why they work in the mines on Mendoir and live in large clans in mining villages. They rarely leave the villages themselves, and almost no one is allowed in, in general, they are recluses. And those thieves who hang out in all kinds of gangs are exiles from clans, complete outcasts and lumpens. For a Vorka, with a lifespan of thirty standard years, exile from the clan is the most terrible punishment. Because women are never expelled.

Our planet Mendoir actually belongs to the Asari Republic, and it is considered a human colony because the Rosenkov Materials Corporation has concluded a concession agreement with the Council of matriarchs for 20% of the total share of resource extraction. Since the corporation has little interest in the troubles of the Alliance of Systems Council, it hired staff for colonization, not really looking at race, but more at the professional qualities of the employees.

Wow, I've spread my mind over the tree... and they're going to congratulate me! So they built a round dance, put me in the center and, to the general screeching and squeaking, they began to sing: "As for Zhenya's name day, we baked a loaf..." Of course, I'm making a happy appearance, but I want to laugh, I won't save you! Oh well, I'll get over it. I am a recognized authority among our entire group, won in an unequal, from my side, of course, the Turians' struggle. Even on the first day at kindergarten, these two little ringleaders tried to build the whole group. And they built it, but they broke off on me. Well, it's not a small thing to compete with an adult in psychological pressure, even in a child's body. They recognized me as the head of the pack and calmed down (pack predators, damn!), and now with all their problems, the little ones first come to me, and then, if my solution does not suit them, to the teachers. To be honest, it bothers me beyond words....

By the way! I have two "girlfriends" here, although... they are really girlfriends. One is a Turian girl named Nain, the daughter of that very Dr. Duck. A great friend of Daddy's, a partner in the preference game. Actually, they've been friends since the Navy days, when my dad served as captain of the light cruiser Loki, and Duck (or Dakar Tanir) was the chief medical officer on the Turian dreadnought Smasher, and they, as it turned out, jointly chased Batarian pirates in the Skillian Reach. And they were catching up to the point that the father thundered to Duck in the infirmary, because the "Loki" infirmary was blown apart by a direct missile hit.

The second friend is Jean Batarian (full name is Gina Natol), and I met her at our ranch. Her dad is my assistant, and mine is the deputy chief engineer of the enrichment complex of the corporation. And the chief engineer at the complex is a Quarian named Tael'Rigar, and the corporation values him so much that they ordered him a special house, no less than ours, by the way, completely sealed, with air filtration and disinfection systems, and a huge glass bay window. It stands in our village on the second street called Strawberry, and Uncle Tael, having taken off his suit and put on a bathrobe, likes to sit in the bay window, admiring the life of the village.

1234

Предыдущая глава

↓ Содержание ↓