Path book 1 Igor

All the air seemed to have been drained from the old man, he hunched over, lowered his gaze and whispered:

"We don't see a way out yet. We don't see how we can defeat the ENEMY."

He turned and shuffled off towards the ore truck.

"Keeper." I shouted. "If events turn out the way you saw in my memory, if I need help, can I ask your people for it?"

Vorka shuddered and stood for a while. Then he straightened up, squared his shoulders, and looked around.

"If that's the case, and you call us..." His eyes seemed to glow, "We will come to you and stand next to you."

Looking at his back, I thought. Would human have been able to deliberately drop their entire race from the heights of civilization into complete and utter barbarism with their own hands? Turn the race into astronauts and explorers, diggers and bandits? And all in order to win someday?

What remains in my memory is how the Reaper platforms, when they came to the Hashtag, saw only the destroyed and abandoned orbital infrastructure and rabid hordes of savages hacking at the surface for everything. The monsters left without touching Vorka. But smart machines have not been able to sense how closely they are being watched from the surface by a similar, but only organic mind. I have seen how for thousands of years Vork has been searching for the mysterious Center — the heart of the machine mind. They're looking for him and they can't find him, and there aren't even any clues as to where he is. But the Keepers showed me exactly what it is. And it wasn't a Citadel. I saw through the eyes of the Guardians the full power of the station's mind, but at the same time, its absolute subordination to someone else. And the Reapers themselves are just platforms controlled from the outside, completely devoid of independence, scary, powerful... and yet pitiful slaves.

The old man was leaving, and it became crystal clear to me: the Harvest was waiting for me, and there was no way to escape or hide. My new childhood is over, now I have to evaluate my every action from the outside. To calculate how he will help me in the future, whether he will strengthen me or weaken me.

I took out my flute and started playing a sad melody. I was so carried away that I didn't even notice the tears running down my cheeks.

Date

June 10, 2360

Deniska's voice pulled me out of my memories.

— Snake, we're coming. We're doing everything as agreed. Are you okay?

— The best of all! — I get up on the seat and kiss my brother on the cheek. — Don't mess it up yourself!

— No way!

We sit down behind the store, Vaska and I take seats against its wall and wait. About ten minutes later, we hear footsteps and some kind of rattling. I look around the corner and see a young Turian woman wearing a short jumpsuit skirt and a white T-shirt with a dragon's face. She walks thoughtfully down the path, wearing sandals, but that doesn't stop her from kicking an empty plastic beer can in front of her. Her gaze is fixed into the distance, detached and thoughtful. Bina and I hide around the corner and start giggling with our hands over our mouths.

"Shhh!" Deniska hisses at us. — Be quiet, you'll scare me off! — he comes over and also looks around the corner. A second later, he hides, looks at us, a malicious smile on his lips. — You're as accurate as ever, Snake! Another lover.

— She's coming out now, and your party begins. Binochka, make a serious face! Snake, I'm counting on you! That's it, let's go.

The first part of the plan went like clockwork. Under the double pressure of Bina and me, Noverry gave up after two minutes. Our blue one put her on her bike, we all flew together to the Rinaris for a swimsuit for the tourist, and we warned her parents that she would be with us in the Mirror.

We arrived at the lake. There was already a table, blankets, and a steaming cauldron on the heater. All our noisy crowd of small fry were shouting and chasing a ball through the shallow water. Azat was not observed.

Ali stood on the shore and looked after the younger ones. He turned around, saw us, green eyes flashed, raised his hand.

— Hello everyone again! Basma, hello!

-Hello, Ali,— the Turian replied. There was confusion mixed with curiosity in her feelings. She looked around, looking for someone.

— Basma, Basma! Look at the mud slaves we've caught! The younger ones ran up in a noisy group.

"Come on, we'll show you," Azanti says and takes Basma by the hand.

— Yes, yes! We'll show you! Nasar takes her other hand.

— Let's go quickly! Vanka shouts, jumping up.

"They're so big, and they've got claws!" — the younger one shows a fishing gesture. Basma laughs, changes her clothes and goes to watch the catch. He's in shallow water, in a netted dish.

The bike is humming, and Azat has returned, with a hefty bouquet strapped to the seat behind him. He gets off the bike, unfastens the bouquet and goes to the water. The feelings are confusion, determination, and a little bit of fear.

Basma turns around, sees Azat and smiles, he smiles back at her, but inside there is a real panic. The girl approaches, without taking her eyes off her brother. He hesitates, standing at the water's edge.

— Hello, Azat.

— Hello, Basma. I flew to the foothills here.... Well, anyway... you are... here.

"What's that?" Azat?

— This is for you! — says the brother and hands her a bouquet.

-Thank you,— the girl replies softly.

It's getting late. I'm sitting cross-legged on the bedspread, and Bina is sitting next to me. We look at Azat and Basma walking along the shore, they are holding hands and talking quietly about something. The Turian has a fluffy wreath on her head, which we wove for her from her own bouquet. Their feelings are like the sea — I'm rocking on them, I'm sitting and enjoying myself with my eyes closed. Deniska sits down between us, hugs Bina and me, and says softly, "We're doing great! Yes, boys?

— Yeah! Well done! — I answer. Bina snorts indignantly. She doesn't like being addressed in the masculine gender. Then Bina silently laid her head on her brother's shoulder and was quietly sad.

— Let's get ready! It's going to get dark soon, and we haven't even cleaned up the trash yet," says Deniska.

In about fifteen minutes, having collected everything and fixed it on the bikes, we are going home. Basma gets on a bike to Azat, he will take her himself. Saying goodbye, we fly away.

It's completely dark, and I'm sitting on the fence outside my house, looking up at the sky. It's bright and starry here. There are two moons, but they are both much smaller than the earth's. One is bluish, the other is bright yellow. A shadow flickers and a growing buzz is heard. Azat arrived, ahead of him flies a feeling of happiness, joy and some kind of ... inspiration. A real storm! He puts the bike next to me, and I jump off the fence and sit next to him. He turns around.

"Saw you off?"

— yes!

— How did it go?

"You know, I told her everything."...

"You confessed?"

— yes! And she said that too!..

My friend scoops me up and hugs me to him. I hug him back.

— Thank you, Snake! You're my best!

— You're welcome, Azat.

— I feel it will be an unforgettable summer! — He says and starts laughing.

Chapter 7. The grandfather.

Igor (Mendoir, August 2360)

Admirals of the Fleet

August 4, 7:00 a.m.

Morning workout is our everything. It's been raining outside for a week now, everything is wet and damp, my father put away his bike, and flies to work on the family flyer. Such weather is rare on Mendoir in summer. It usually rains at night, although it is heavy, but it is short, and by morning it is almost dry. But sometimes a cyclone creeps over a rocky ridge, and then it pours until it all pours out, sometimes for two weeks. This is exactly the case now, and we are all sitting at home together, it's good that we have a big company, we don't get bored. It's quite stuffy at home from the dampness, I opened both vents and the front door, and I'm still sweating mercilessly from the stuffiness. Deniska is panting in the foyer of the second floor, studying in the front garden now is like torture, he almost slurps from the water, like a swamp.

Polkan came out from under the house, darted like a gray shadow behind the house — there he had a small nook with sand as a toilet — he was gone for a minute, maybe two, and our dog, casting a sad glance around, disappeared back. The impudent red muzzle knows how to use the toilet perfectly well, so he stays at home in bad weather.

Somehow he decided to take advantage of my personal push, but he's a child, so he's short and small — koteyka got a big bummer. Looking at how the redhead was sitting on the toilet, which was obviously too small for him: one or the other hind legs fell off, there was nowhere to put the front paws, and if they were left on the floor, it became difficult to do business — I laughed so hard that I woke up my older brothers. When they fell out of their room and looked at me, they followed my hand and saw the same picture, where the stubborn muzzle did not give up trying to perch on my potty. A moment later, the three of them were laughing, and they fell to the floor.... The redhead, having failed, made a face with a brick, and ran off to the first floor, to the parents' bathroom. And we walked away for another five minutes, periodically breaking down. Now he sleeps on my desk, occupying it entirely — after all, I have a healthy cat. But sleeping with him is awesome!

I recently learned great news: my Grandparents and Uncle Stephen are coming to visit us. He persuaded the old people to come to us. Even before I was born, my parents went to visit them on Earth to show them their grandchildren. But this time the senior Hacketts will come to the viewing. And his father's parents died while batya was still studying at the academy. Being complete spacemen, they went on an expedition, and their ship made an emergency exit from the relay. That is, he entered the relay as expected, but where did he leave?..

Yes, there are two admirals on one small ranch! My uncle was given an admiral without the prefix "counter" and immediately appointed chief of Staff of the Fifth Fleet. Actually, I've already seen Uncle Stephen — he came to visit us on vacation in the fall of '57. I remember perfectly well how my brothers and I returned from school, and a man I didn't know was standing in our yard. For some reason, it's not customary to keep photos and stuff here, so I've only heard of my uncle a couple of times, but I haven't even seen holographs. The brothers saw him, flew off their bikes, and yelled,

"Uncle Steve has arrived!"

They hung on to him. Laughing, he hugged them both. After that, the guys took him by the hands and led him to me, saying that they were going to introduce him to someone. He came over, and I looked at him carefully. Well, he doesn't look much like a gaming Hackett. A fairly young man, without a beard, with a wheat-colored mustache on a tanned face, eyes light blue like the summer sky, and a deep straight scar running from his right eyebrow down through his cheek, cutting through his upper lip. He was wearing a white turtleneck and jeans, and had Cossacks on his feet.

"Allow me to introduce myself, young sir! Rear Admiral Stephen Hackett, your uncle."

I got off the bike and tried to make an elegant bow, as much as possible in a unique way.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir! Igor Shepard, your nephew."

In general, I liked him, a real man: honest, direct, with a good sense of humor. There is a real English hardness in him — the hardness with which they conquered half the world and proved that the sun never sets over the British Empire. My uncle and father have been friends since the first year. We sat at the same desk, received praise and punches together. We went on layoffs and went to work. We even sat together in the punishment cell. Steve, after the death of the older Shepards, brought his father to his home and introduced him to his parents. The elder Hackett accepted my father as his own son, in fact, the Hacketts replaced the father of the parents. At the same time, my father met my mother, but it took thirty-five years before my father proposed to her. And all these years the men have been friends! While making a career, we helped each other in every possible way, sometimes even with weapons! There were even jokes about them in the Fifth Fleet, like: "If you see Shepard, then be careful — Hackett is here somewhere!"

After another barotrauma, I don't know what kind, as the cosmologists say, "inhaled the vacuum," daddy was completely written off. They said that if he tried to breathe vacuum one more time, then no hospital would help him. As I already know, barotrauma is the most common cause of death in the navy. Not wounds, not burns, either ordinary, chemical or cryo, but the most common consequences of depressurization. A small hole in a COCOS (1) — and now your blood is already boiling, and if you also hesitate, then that's it, you're ready!

1. COCOS — csuit or Compensation suit (English) — a compensation suit, a lightweight and soft spacesuit with power protection elements worn by ship crews in combat conditions. Amphibious and contraband teams wear armor.

After retiring, my father proposed to my mother, and the old people breathed a sigh of relief, otherwise they had already despaired of waiting for their grandchildren. My parents lived on Earth with my elders for a while, but the realization that there were no real career or professional prospects put a lot of pressure on my father. So Rosenkov Materials' proposal to participate in a joint poly-species colony project for all races of the Citadel (peace is allocated by the Republic, scientific support is provided by the Salarians, financing is provided by RM and the Hierarchy) was accepted by my father without hesitation. My grandfather then said that this was complete nonsense, and RM would not succeed. He and his father had a big argument, as Uncle Steve and Mom say, and they got personal. At the end, Grandfather said, they say, words are empty! Prove it by deed!

"I'll prove it!" dad replied then, and with his whole life he was able to convince his grandfather, and his strong friendship with the Tanirs complemented the picture!

A month and a half ago, my father sent allergy modifiers for the elderly to Earth, they will not be able to live here without them. Otherwise, it's a month of adaptation of the body under the influence of the modifier, and, voila, you can live on Mendoir. There is food here, drink water... and not only water. In the canon, I've always been amazed at how intelligent people can run around planets with a developed biosphere without fear of anything. Okay, here people have such a wonderful thing as a bioblock, developed at the very dawn of the era of colonization. This is a symbiotic virus that makes humans immune to 99.9% of the microflora, both terrestrial and alien! After bioblockade vaccinations, people simply stopped getting sick, and the chance of dying from inflammation caused by wounds is almost zero. I'm used to wandering around other worlds under the spell of the magic of life. Or with a set of artifacts for protection from the biosphere. But something needs to be eaten. And here, even succubi don't even have such spells. The Azari who.