Path part 1-6

These are specially bred genetically modified cats, with improved skeletons, intelligence, life expectancy, and a total list of improvements on three A4 sheets. Moreover, there are two models, civilian and military, differing only in color. Military cats are gray, while civilian cats are red.

It would be quite easy to get such a cat, there would be money, they cost from 300 thousand credits, like a branded flyer from Illum manufacturers. And the Azari are wildly popular. His parents were given a folding carriage by his father and his mother's colleagues from the hospital.

// The cats from Oleg Divov's novel K-10 are taken as a sample.

I have a backpack full of disposable paper dishes on my back, and there's an album there, by the way, the album is not made of paper it's a plastic sheet, very flexible and durable, used everywhere instead of paper. And repeatedly. All offices on the planet are required to maintain document management on it and hand over the used ones for recycling and reuse, for violation they are punished. And disposable items are made from easily degradable materials such as paper or rapidly oxidizing metals. It is enough to throw an empty tin can into a campfire, and there is no can. Although bonfires are not allowed in the city park, everyone uses electric fireplaces. Deniska carries two buckets of pickled meat besides me, while Vasil walks next to us, still giggling periodically, followed by Ham with Nino on his shoulders, and carries two folding chairs. Ivan sits proudly on Leshka, twirls, fidgets and periodically screams:

"No-No the horse," at the same time covering Leshka's eyes with his palms, noticed that his older brother was hissing

"Little guy, take your hands off, you can't see anything!" At the same time, his hands are occupied with a folding table. There's a girl walking behind them with Gina on her shoulders, she periodically bends over to one of Tam's ears and then the other and whispers intently about something with him, she probably wants to order someone's portrait from Gina, I can even guess whose! So the holography of the instrumentation went into use. What will they pay with? Wow, a box of Azarian colored pencils in 200 colors, with a set of spare pencils. Yes, and Tamil knows how to interest our little artist! Everyone shook hands.

Dad and Uncle Tael are carrying a portable barbecue and a power unit to it, Vasya has skewers and a huge bucket with all sorts of greens, Uncle Duck has been loaded like a camel with a backpack and even bags with all sorts of goodies. Women carry all sorts of small things.

And here is our place, according to the folder, families have been coming here for 11 years, I really only remember twenty times. In front of me, the city lake with the poetic name "Blue Mirror" stretches in all its glory. This lake, which has an almost regular oval shape, is surrounded on three sides by trees in a park area and the narrow side rests against urban development. This part of the lake is clad in a granite embankment, the pride of the head of the municipality. There is also a hefty summer stage from where fervent rhythms are now pouring and an urban ensemble is playing. All the urban youth between the ages of 14 and 25 hang out there now.

I quickly take off the "uniq", it's such a combination of durable, beautiful fabric, almost everyone wears comfortable clothes in them, and in my swimming trunks I run to the lake, followed by all the other offspring of all families, hooting, screaming and screaming. Despite October and the air temperature around plus 20 Celsius, the water in the lake is 37 degrees because it is fed by hot springs. We fly into the lake, and it's just a fairy tale. Imagine a bathroom the size of the Luzhniki stadium, with crystal clear and warm water, in which colorful fish of different sizes flash at depth, algae sway, amazing-looking arthropods crawl, and the beauty is breathtaking. And yes, I taught Nain to swim!

When we returned to our BG in September, on our next visit to the pool, I had an argument with her about the fact that Turians can't swim, but only drown! So I told her that the body of any organic is lighter than water, and it simply cannot drown, and since the lung volume of Turians is larger than that of humans and the bones are tubular, drowning them is generally an almost impossible event. She made it up quite CONVINCINGLY! And then I offered to help her learn to swim. But take Nain and agree! Oh, how!

In general, I used the technique of my swimming coach from my first life, first holding Nain by the back of her head, taught her to lie on the water breathing calmly, with relaxed legs and arms, then to hold her breath properly, and most importantly to overcome fear. That's where my empathic gift came in handy! In general, after a month of tinkering, my clever Turian began to swim quite tolerably, and since Turians have a small membrane on their feet and hands between their fingers, like cats in appearance, and their toes are also much more mobile than human ones, it's harder and harder for me to catch up with her in the swims. It looks like even our Azari won't be able to compete with her in this soon. When Nain began to swim well, she told her father everything, which made Uncle Duck extremely perplexed, and came to the kindergarten to make sure. He Was Convinced! He muttered to himself, something about malicious racial stereotypes that all sorts of little red-haired men just don't notice out of ignorance! Ha ha well, he's right, actually!

While the fathers are celebrating with a barbecue and tasting vodka extracted from a portable refrigerator, Uncle Tael, by the way, drinks it through a tube (brr.. I shuddered), and the mothers, hooked on tongues, discuss all the latest news from urban to galactic, my brothers and I dive into the depths, everyone has masks, including Nain, made in 'made in Tael's garage' and are well made, made of transparent fiberglass and molded industrial sealant. We all have enough. Wes is swimming next to Nain, just in case, I think it was her Kaadi and Ray who most likely suggested it, the reinsurers. Ham and There, together with Ivan and Polkan, are chasing a big red ball through the shallow water. And from time to time they cast pleading glances at me, how silly the little sister is, how she can do the unthinkable! Swim! And they're two cool older brothers, NO! Oh, the horror and the shock of the basics! I pretend not to notice these glances, and the general despondency with a hint of desperation is getting stronger from the Turians.

That's all, it's already becoming unbearable, and I go up to my brothers and declare that I'm ready to try to teach them how to swim in the school pool. And we will study early in the morning while there is no one there, so that no one interferes with us!

"The savior!!!" Ham shouted and hugged me.

"The Deliverer!!!" She echoes him there and presses me on the other side.

"Crush it!" I'm wheezing, trapped between two Turians.

"Ha hahaha!" Vasil's sonorous laughter echoes over the water. "So Eugene, squeeze them out more!" The comedian damn, but she came up with the right idea, what would you squeeze out of them?!

Four hours have passed.

It's twilight, Me, Nino and Gina are sitting on an inflatable mattress lying on the shore, huddled close to each other wrapped in a big fluffy blanket. Inside, everyone is digesting a substantial portion of shish kebab, and a large mug of compote. Pyrotechnics are busy on a cargo platform in the middle of the lake, they're going to make fireworks, and we're in the front row, beauties! My father comes up from behind and hugs the three of us, asking softly:

How are the little ones not freezing? It's okay, Uncle Mish. This is Nino speaking.

"We're warm!" And she snuggles even closer to me. I'm not talking. And Gina is silent.

And it's really good and warm, the emotions of my friends are joy and anticipation of the spectacle, and my father has love with notes of care, and for all of us about equally. That's how he was a captain, and he's still there! The main thing is the crew!

Бух, фррррррррршшшш — БАБАХ! Бух-бух, фррррршшшш — ТАДАДАХ! Rockets are flying and exploding, AAAAAAAAAA, UUUUUUUUU! The crowd of young people on the other side of the stage is screaming.

And we sit huddled together and look up at the sky, and only multicolored flashes illuminate our faces, there is a Badger sitting under a blanket, he came and climbed, and just like us he looks up at the sky, purring loudly. I feel so good! I wish I could just sit there!

Chapter 5. Something about fear!

November 9th, 2358

The Whisper Ranch

So the real autumn has come, it's already very cold at night, leaves are falling off the trees, and their color is incredible. Silver-green, lighter on top and darker on the bottom in summer, now they have acquired a bright golden color. Sunny on the one hand and red gold on the other, the forest looks amazing. A sparkling sea of gold. I am sitting on the fence facing the yard, in my hands I have a carbon fishing rod requisitioned from Leshka, to the end of which is tied a long piece of nylon twine with a fluffed piece of synthetic insulation at the end, similar to a white pompom. I swing the fishing rod to the right, left, up and down, the pompom at the end flies after my movements, and behind it, a Барсик rushes around with childish delight, pirouetting, bending, bouncing, in general, like an ordinary cat behind a piece of paper on a string. At the same time, he periodically stealthily casts a glance in my direction, but isn't his little two-legged friend tired of this occupation?! At the same time, he periodically stealthily casts a glance in my direction, but isn't his little two-legged friend tired of this occupation?! No, I'm not tired! Умряя!! And my supercat rushes on.

Gina is sitting next to me with her usual sketchbook on her lap, drawing. By the way, they moved their whole family from the city to our village, Uncle Coel's brother bought the apartment, and the older Natols bought the land next to us, where there is now a modular house like ours. As soon as the house was installed, Uncle Coel kept walking around it, touching his hands first to the wall, then to the carved metal porch railing, then to the window drains, and there was a wave of such strong conflicting feelings from him, as if he couldn't believe that this house was his now, and this was HIS HOME! How lousy it must be in the Hegemony for such a common thing for the colonies as a modular house to cause such a storm in the soul of a reasonable person! At the housewarming party, Aunt Saer got so emotional that all the women in the village could barely calm her down, Aunt Ray even had to run for a sedative. That's how we live.

Suddenly, there was a rustle behind him, the cat made a stand on the fence and his gaze became fiercely tense, the fur on his spine stood on end, and his tail fluffed out and became as thick as his mother's leg. A wave of such primal horror came from Gina that I turned sharply in my friend's direction and saw bulging eyes and a mouth distorted in a grimace, staring somewhere behind me. Turning to the other side and looking down, I saw a nightmare come to life! From a distance of about five meters, a hefty rat looked at me, about a meter tall, covered with dense black fur, a body two meters long, and an equally long furry tail with a tassel at the end! A typical rat face with glowing red eyes was decorated with a mouth studded with a palisade of long needle-shaped teeth. The creature opened its mouth, stuck out a long purple tongue and made a SNUFFLE sound...?! She trotted towards us. A wave of anticipation came from her, and I clearly realized that they wanted to DEVOUR me! My memory went on in spurts, and now I see Gina jumping off the fence and screeching on the verge of ultrasound as she runs away to her house. Here is our courtyard tree in front of me, I jump up, grab the lower branch, pull myself up and quickly climb up to the top, while there is some kind of ringing in my ears. Once again, Gina jumps onto the porch with an incredible leap, hits the door opening sensor and, without stopping screeching, disappears into the house, slipping through the crack of the barely opened door. There is silence. Only rustling and sounds can be heard from the road -snuffle, snuffle, snuffle.My throat is scratchy, my arms and legs are shaking, and a Bars is sitting on a branch next to me with its fur on end, making a low throaty hum interspersed with a powerful hiss.

A few seconds later, the door of the neighbor's house opens and Uncle Coel falls out in sweatpants, an elongated T-shirt and slippers on bare feet, but with a hunting carbine in his hands.

"Zhenya", he says softly, "Where are you, Zhenya!"

"I'm here," I hiss back, On the Uncle Kol tree.

"What's wrong with your voice?"

"I don't know!"

"What scared you?!"

"It's over there, behind Uncle Kol's fence!"

"Who is IT!?"

"Well, this one! Well, snuffle(2)!"

(Magnaflesheter (Snufl) is a medium-sized scavenger predator on Mendoir, except for its creepy appearance for adults, it is almost not dangerous, due to its slowness and stupidity. It has good dense short dark-colored fur, and is an object of the autumn-winter hunting season. Snufkin is nicknamed for the characteristic sounds he makes.)

"SNFL in our village?! How did he get through the fence?"

"I don't know!" I hiss. "We've already seen him on the street. Over there!"

Meanwhile, snuffle had almost reached the intersection in the center of the village and Nino jumped out to meet him! When Nino saw the creature, she somehow crouched down, screamed, and with incredible speed, gnashing her claws on the smooth bark, climbed up a tree growing in the middle of the intersection, only the leaves fell down. Snufl froze in indecision, Uncle Coel came close to the fence, put his elbow on it, aimed and fired. The creature took a few steps towards the tree and buried its nose in the ground, but its hind legs continued to move forward, its spine arched, and the animal fell to one side while continuing to twitch convulsively.

"Ready!" Uncle Coel said.

"Come on, get down, Zhenya."

"Now, I wheezed." And she began to unclench her clenched fingers. I was still shaking a little.

When I passed by the neighbor's house, the door opened and Gina looked out from behind the jamb.

"Zhen", she asked in a whisper, "Where IS THAT SCARY GUY?"

"Your dad shot you", I whispered. "It's lying at the intersection. Let's go take a look!"

"I'm really scared! Jean whispers."

"Don't worry, he's dead, and your daddy's with us, and he's got a carbine."

"All right, let's go", Gina whispers, comes out of the house and clings to my arm like a tick.

We slowly approach the snuffle, a heavy smell of an animal and some kind of rotten meat comes from the creature, the Badger presses his ears in a half-bent circle around the container, Uncle Coel slowly walks next to him, holding it at gunpoint. The animal does not move, the mouth is slightly open, the tongue has fallen out and a puddle of blood has flowed onto the grass.