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Chapter 5. So different and so close.
Eugene (Mendoir, June 2360)
The Hectic Year (part one)
June 10, 6:00 a.m.
I do gymnastics by the window in my room, Deniska does the same thing in the courtyard, only his complex is much more complicated. Weights, a metal pole, and heavy dumbbells are used. For the past six months, my older brother has been torturing himself in the morning. This is called preparation for admission to the cadet corps of the Alliance Air Force. Boys and girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty are accepted there, and they are chased in the tail and in the mane. Those who have gone through to the end become toothy wolves in the service of humanity. Four Naval cadet corps train the elite of the Terran Air Force. Next year, the older brother will follow in his father's footsteps, gnawing on naval science.
Slow movements of the arms and legs, flexibility exercises, weights on the arms and legs have long been familiar to me, sweat is running down my back in a cold stream. A voice with a pleasant double sub-harmony is heard from the street — Ham has come! Now the boys will run away for the morning cross-country, five kilometers along the forest paths. My best friends, rivals, and ringleaders of all the pranks in the town are my siblings and sworn brothers. They are standing, laughing, flashing white smiles in the morning sun. The gate slammed, they ran away.
I sit cross-legged in the middle of the room, placing a box of colored glass balls in front of me. A small emotional shield banishes morning languor, makes the mind clear and clean. Reaching out with consciousness to the stream of power spread around, the dark stream penetrates into consciousness, fills the body with a hum, makes the nerves ring like strings, a barely visible blue-green halo flashes around the body. I look at the balloons, making them fly up one by one and circle around the room. Now all the balls are spinning around me, coiling into a spiral. The main thing is to stay focused. I carefully monitor my feelings for each of them, a moment of loss of concentration can result in all the balls falling to the floor. And yes, I am a biotic after all... and this is on my long-suffering head.
It came out a month ago. That day, my father decided to replace the seal on the window in my room: the old one had cracked and started leaking. He brought a folding ladder from work, put it against the house — it was just enough to reach the roof — took a bag of tools and climbed. The girls and I were sitting in the courtyard, Gina and I with albums, on folding chairs, and Nain, hugging a Bars and a Polkan, right on the grass. We had a plein air — our artist and I painted Nain from life. Although the difference between my work and Gina's is like the difference between propaganda posters and Raphael's work. I just got a Turian girl hugging a cat and a dog, and Gina's looks like they're alive, just frozen for a moment: the Barsik squinting with pleasure, Polkan raising his head and opening his mouth, spreading his paws, exposing his light belly, his eyes rolled back, and a pink snake came out of his mouth. His tongue lolled out.
Suddenly, I felt a growing sense of fear. Glancing at the house, I saw how the folder, along with the glass, began to slowly but surely fall. Apparently, he removed the fasteners from the glass, and the huge panoramic double-glazed window was simply squeezed out by the pressure drop, and his father could not hold it. I clearly realized that if my father fell, a double-glazed window would crash on top of him, and it was scary to even think about how it might end!
For the past six months, somewhere on the edge of my perception, I noticed something incomprehensible, strange, some kind of hazy dark haze, which clearly smelled of something incredibly ancient and powerful. It all went through my head in a split second. Horrified, I jumped out of my chair, knocking it over, and reached for that haze, which in response reached out to me, touched me... Pain shot through my nerves, it seemed as if a mighty, rumbling stream rushed inside me, my whole body was filled with strength, it seemed to me that I could lift the whole house!
I held out my arms, and they shone faintly but clearly, even in the light of day, with a blue-green light. She pushed this force from herself to her father, who was pressed back together with the glass. The father did not lose his head, snapped the locks back on and took a deep breath. I could clearly feel his relief. The force continued to seethe in me, demanding an outlet, and I, not knowing what to do next, pushed it into the sky. A roaring stream of power hit the clouds from me, and a clearly visible circular gap began to form in them. The flow went on and on, and with it the pain grew, when it became unbearable, the flow somehow thinned and dried up. I screamed in pain and fell to my knees. My father turned around on the stairs, looked at me and understood everything. After sliding down the stairs, he ran towards me.
"My daughter! Hold on, my little one!" I heard it through the growing buzzing in my ears. Black flies flew into my eyes, turning into black spots as I walked, and everything was covered with darkness and silence.
It seems that she was unconscious for a short time. When I woke up, I felt myself being carried in my arms, my father's cheek with the hairs of stubble clearly visible loomed before my eyes, my father was filled with fear and despair. He was coming up the stairs to my room, and I could hear my mother's sobbing voice and Ray's alarmed voice coming from the kitchen. "He's probably calling an ambulance," a thought stirred sluggishly in my head. There was a terrible weakness all over his body, there was no pain, but even breathing in required some effort. My father turned his face to me, and there were tears in his eyes.
"Daddy, don't cry," she whispered. "I'm fine."
Dad pressed his lips to my cheek,
"Thank you, honey.", He carried me into the room and laid me on the bed, and Gina and Nain immediately appeared next to me. They're both crying.
"We were so scared for you! You fell down and you're lying like dead, Uncle Misha is shaking you, but you don't care," Gina said, sobbing.
"And she was glowing all over, just like Vasya in biotics training!" This is Nino.
"And she dispersed the clouds!" Gina again. "You're a biotic too, I guess, but I've never heard of them being able to disperse clouds!"
"Be quiet, you babblers!" My father hissed at my friends. "Just sit here quietly for a while, okay?"
"Yes, Uncle Mish," they answered in unison. My father nodded and looked at me with sad, reddened eyes.
"You scared us so much, my daughter."
"I'm sorry, Daddy, I didn't mean to!" I whispered back. He smiled sadly.
"Of course I didn't want to! You saved me, I would have broken down if it hadn't been for you, or even at all...."
The door opened, my mother ran in, saw me on the bed, met my eyes, came over and somehow folded herself, burying herself in my legs. Her shoulders shook, and she burst into tears. I could hear the words through the crying.
"Also this! As if it's not enough for you... it's not enough for someone out there... Oh my God, oh my God! My daughter, my little daughter..."
I touched my mother's head with my hand, which weighed like a couple of pounds, and whispered:
"Don't cry, Mommy, please, everything will be fine!"
Next to her, hugging each other, her friends were crying in six eyes. Well, that's what it's all about for them! It's like some kind of ass, the further you go, the darker it gets!.. I felt sleepy, and I blacked out.
In my sleep, I heard a quiet conversation between Ray and mom: our blue doctor was explaining to mom that nothing irreparable had happened to me.
"Severe nervous overload, Dayan. I'm actually surprised that at that age it all showed up! But, surprisingly, everything worked out! She'll be fully recovered in four days."
"But, Ray, she's a biotic, she's about to get an implant! And they're so imperfect, they have side effects all the time."
"Why does she need an implant?"
"What for? They put them on all biotics!"
"Not at all! Implants are needed to improve memory and concentration, so that the biotic can better control his strength. But Zhenya doesn't need either for nothing, she has her own best."
"But that's right. But what about next?"
"And what's next? He will go to secondary school, study with our girls, and by the age of 17-18 he will become one of the strongest biotics of people."
"Really! How she clouds something!.. I still can't believe it, what kind of force did she create?!"
"I've only read about it, only Ardat Yakshas were capable of impulses of such power."
"What a horror! Is she by any chance?.."
"Calm down, Dayan! She's a human being! There are no Ardat yakshas among people."
"That's how it is! But still, it's kind of scary...."
"Calm down, my friend, let's go have some tea rather than sit here!"
"Peace is her best medicine right now."
"But..."
"No buts! Remember, she's an empath!"
"Oh, that's right! Let's go."
Mom came up to me and kissed me on the forehead. She whispered:
"Sleep my little one, get well soon."
I woke up suddenly, and my body felt increasingly uncomfortable. I looked up at the bedside table — it was 5:00 on the small alarm clock. Wow! I did it well, for as long as twelve hours in a row! However, the discomfort was getting worse. I pushed back the blanket, hmm, my hands seem to be working. She noticed that I wasn't wearing anything, so she sat down. My head started spinning, black dots flashed in my eyes, and I fell back down. The discomfort got worse, and I started to panic. Then I noticed a chair standing by the window. It's strange, I don't have chairs in my room.... They brought it, apparently, but why? Then I realized that someone was sleeping in the chair. In the uncertain light of the morning twilight, I saw blonde hair. Only my father and Deniska have them. But the Daddy, with all its desire, will not be able to sleep in the chair, and the sleeper got into it with his legs.
"Disya!" I called softly. "Disya, wake up!"
"Eh? What? Who's there?" My brother jumped up. "Little fox, is that you?"
"No, it's an old Vorka shaman! Disha, help me! Hurry up, I can't take it anymore! Disya!"
"Yes, yes, I'm coming."
My brother came up to the bed, saw me, and, most importantly, my "suit", stopped, as if he had run into a wall, turned away, his ears and neck darkened, his emotions were filled with embarrassment and for some reason shame.
"Disha, what are you doing? Is this the first time you've seen me like this?"
"Eugene! I'm going to get our mom now!"
"Stop, you idiot! She probably stayed up half the night, and you're going to wake her up! Don't you dare, go ahead and carry it yourself. Moreover, while you're running, I'll flood the bed! Well, hurry up!"
My brother, red as a boiled mud crab, and with great embarrassment in his feelings, quietly picked me up and carried me to my private bathroom. He brought me in, sat me down, and I immediately began to fall over, my brother immediately stopped being embarrassed, anxiety and fear flared up in my feelings, knelt in front of me, took me by the shoulders and straightened my roll.
"Is that okay, Little Fox? Just don't fall down, okay?"
"Here you go," I whispered.
I did my job and told my brother to take it back. He took it. He laid me down and covered me with a blanket, no longer embarrassed at all. He sat on the edge of the bed and began running his fingers through my hair.
"How are you, Little Fox? We were all so scared for you! Ham, as soon as he heard, he even fell off his bike, he was in such a hurry to get to you."
I smiled,
"Daddy is Ham."
"Heh, heh, heh! That's right, Little Fox," my brother laughed. "I'll tell everyone tomorrow!"
"Don't, Dishia. After all, Vaska will torture him. And Nino and Gina won't stay away!"
"Whatever you say, sis."
My brother leaned over and kissed me on the temple:
"Go back to sleep! Ray says sleep is your first medicine. I'll sit in the chair and look after you."
The door banged.
"Oh, the head nanny has come!" My brother said with a smile.
A red muzzle floated into view, and a long tail loomed in the background.
"Mr-ru?"
and anxiety in the feelings, they say, "how are you, you wayward human cub?".
"Mrrr?!"
"Come here, my cat!" I slap the bed with my palm. The cat jumps on the bed and immediately lies down next to it. I hug him, bury my face in his soft fur, and, with a loud rumble, I fall asleep again.
The second time, I was woken up by the sun peeking through the window. A Bars is sleeping next to him, stretched out at full length, with a bright head visible in the armchair. He'll look after it, of course! He sleeps like a groundhog. It's 10:30 on the clock. The door hisses, I feel someone crawling on the bed, I turn my head and meet the gaze of attentive gray eyes. A moment passes, and I'm doused with intense joy!
"Hello, Vanya!" I whisper.
"Eugene!" and children's arms wrap around my neck. "Are you awake yet?" Junior whispers. "I made you some tea and made you some sandwiches. By myself!"
I slowly sit up in bed, my head is spinning, but it's bearable.
"Vanya, help me get dressed."
My brother rushes to my locker and pulls out a pair of swimming trunks and a light sundress. I'm getting dressed somehow with the help of my younger brother. I hug my brother, and we slowly go downstairs to drink tea. Deniska never woke up, the eldest was dying.
We are sitting in the kitchen with Vanka, drinking tea. His sandwiches are mighty chunks of bread with mountains of piled ingredients. It is clear that the younger one tried, even if not very skillfully, but with all his heart! I feel that tea and sandwiches give me strength. My head is not spinning at all, my mood is climbing up. Vanka, seeing my smile and contented look, just blossoms.
"Did you like it, Eugene?!"
"Yes, Vanechka, you're just great!"
My brother was already blooming, a blush flushed on his cheeks.
"I tried so hard! Did you really, really like it?" No, well, what a charm my youngest is, because he's only five years old, and there's enough care for everyone!
"I really liked it, Vanya!"
My brother's vivid feelings blow out the remnants of my melancholy, we sit and silently smile at each other. The door hisses, and the kitchen is flooded with surprise, which is very quickly replaced by a feeling of intense relief. I turn my head and see my mom. She's leaning on the doorjamb with her right hand, her left hand is pressed to her chest, and there are tears in her eyes again.
"Mommy, I made breakfast!" Vanka shouts. "And I fed Zhenya!"
"Hi, Mom," I say softly.
She doesn't say anything, just comes up to me, squats down and hugs me, I snuggle up to her. We are silent, words are superfluous, everything is already clear. Vanka ran up to us, hugged both of us and said softly:
"You're the best, my mom and my Zhenya!"
We look at him, and his gray eyes are serious. Suddenly he smiles, and from his smile the whole burden of worries falls off mom like a husk. She laughs and kisses her brother.
"You are our darling, Vanya! What would we do without you!"
"We were hungry!"
Loud laughter fills the kitchen, Mom laughs, I laugh, Vanka laughs loudly. Along with laughter, the fear and tension of the last 24 hours go away.
My father comes into the kitchen, and I can feel his joy at the sight of my laughing face. He comes up to me, picks me up and hugs me tightly, I hug his neck and forcefully press against his unshaven cheek. I whisper:
"I was so scared for you! How did you do that?! You're an engineer, you said so yourself!"
"Oh, don't tell me, sweetheart! And there's a hole in an old woman, as they say! I owe you my life now, daughter!"
"You don't owe me anything, Daddy!"
"Why is that?"
"Because! Because you're my daddy, and that's enough!"
The sun is shining brightly outside, flooding the world with warmth. I feel like I want to go out in the sun, sit in an armchair and bask. I tell my father about it. He takes me out into the courtyard, sits me down in a chair. I'm sitting and basking in the greenish rays of our star. There is peace all around, our tree is quietly rustling its leaves, whistles are squeaking in the branches. Insects are flying with a loud buzz. There is a clanging sound from the neighboring plot, it's Uncle Coel who pulled out the lawn mower and was about to take care of the lawn. He saw me, his eyes flew open, and his emotions were one of surprise, joy, and relief.
"Eugene! I see you're feeling better."
"Yes, Uncle Kol! Here, I'm basking in the sun. Call Gina, please."
He goes to the door of the house, opens it and shouts inside:
"Gina! Ginaa! Come here, Eugene is in the yard."
Gina flies out of the house like a disheveled sparrow, peering at me, joy in her emotions. He runs up to the chair and throws his arms around my neck.
"Eugene! Eugene-e! I was so worried, I didn't sleep half the night, I kept thinking about you! Are you okay?!"
"Well, almost! If you don't get off me, I'll fall, and it's still hard for me to get up."
Gina recoiled and blushed deeply.
"I'm sorry, Zhenya! I was very happy about it! You sit for a while, and I'll get some berry juice. Won't you have some juice?"
"Of course I will! Bring it on!" I say with a smile.
"I'll be right there, I'll be quick!" my friend rammed the raid and disappeared into the house.
Coel strapped a plastic grass tank to the lawn mower, checked the battery charge, flipped the switch, and the lawn mower rattled its knives softly. Slowly pushing her in front of him, whistling and dancing, he walked across the lawn in front of the house. Walking along the decorative fence separating our plots, he stopped, turned off the mower and asked me.
"What do you think, Eugene? Will I be able to make... what's his name... an English lawn?"
"Uncle Kol, but according to the British, any lawn becomes "English" if it has been regularly mowed for two hundred years. The British themselves say so."
"Hmm... we Batarians have been living for quite a long time, so I have every chance to verify this statement!"
I tilted my head to my right shoulder and nodded slightly. Uncle Coel smiled, returned my bow, turned on the mower and, whistling, continued his interrupted occupation.
Gina slowly came out of the Natol's house, carrying a round tray on which stood a pot-bellied decanter with a blood-red liquid and two tall thick-walled glass glasses. My friend slowly walked towards me. It seems to be a heavy tray. Gina carefully looked at her feet and often stopped. Deniska appeared on my doorstep, stretched himself sweetly until he crunched, looked around, saw me and smiled. What a beautiful smile my brother has, beaming, Gagarin! My brother looked at Gina hobbling along, chuckled, shook his head, went over to her and took the tray away.
"Tell me, little one, why are you carrying such a heavy load? Just a little more, and she would have fallen or dropped the tray."
"This is a juice for Eugene! I said I'd bring it, and I was carrying it, but for some reason it turned out to be so heavy. Ugh."
"Well done, Ginny! You are a true friend!" My brother said loudly.
He put the tray on the grass, poured the juice into glasses and handed it to us, drank the rest himself, straight from the decanter. I sat and savored the berry juice. Sweet and sour, reminding me of a mixture of raspberry and redcurrant, slightly astringent, leaving a pleasant light aftertaste. It is made from "ground berries", large berries that grow in the foothills, on creeping bushes that seem to spread out on the ground. It is collected every year with the help of collection robots. Juice is made from most of it, and wine is made from the rest. As our blue doc says, "This is not juice, but a straight vitamin and micronutrient cocktail." The local Azari called it "The Gift of the Goddess."
I hear heavy breathing on my right, I see our bear, a shaggy monster, sitting, looking at me, breathing fast, tongue hanging sideways. I must have been hunting again, and there's a happy face. For some reason, I don't feel well as a dog, unlike a cat. He lay down on the grass, put his paws under the chair, put his head on my feet, and took a deep breath. He lies there, only his eyebrows moving when he glances at me. I started stroking his forehead, scratching behind his ears, he squeezed his eyes shut, and I could faintly feel his joy and pleasure. Another shaggy head is thrust under his left arm, there is a slight feeling of jealousy and expectation of affection, a soft "mrrow" sound: "Haven't you forgotten me, little friend?" I haven't forgotten, my cat!
Gina squeaked,
"I'm just!" — and flew into the house, flew back a minute later.
She holds a sketchbook and pencils in her hands. She sat down in the second chair, putting it in front of her. His gaze became thoughtful and detached, his emotions calm and focused. Her brother stood behind her, leaned on the back of the chair, and watched the process. The further he went, the more his delight was felt, because it's so great to watch a truly talented reasonable person work, and no matter what he does. How, seemingly out of nothing, or out of the most ordinary things, beauty arises. I'm sitting with my eyes closed, basking in their emotions.
The gate creaked, and I was overcome by some wild, unbridled joy, thin arms wrapped around my shoulders, the cold tip of her nose was pressed into my neck, I felt a slight bite on my shoulder and a hot, slightly rough tongue went through the same place. Resentment flashed through the feelings, and in a quiet girlish voice in Turian they said:
"Promise me! What! You! Never! You won't do it again! You will never scare me like that! And yet! Promise me you won't die! You are close to me, in my heart!"
I turn my head and meet Nain's blue-blue eyes, like Dakar's. It flashed through my mind that Turians have bites and such licking is a manifestation of very tender feelings! Only between relatives! And close. And the last phrase is an appeal only to a brother or sister. I look into her eyes and answer in the same low voice in the same Turian:
Jane promised, Nainerr Taanir, that she would do everything so that her eyes would not see Eugene's death. "You, cherished by my heart!"
Nain beamed, snuggled up to me, bit me softly again, and sat down next to the chair on the grass, leaning against the hot side of the couch.
He's here! He wrapped me up with his feelings like a warm terry blanket, he's the only sensible person in the village. A four-fingered hand touches my shoulder, the other one strokes the redhead, the cat calmly puts his head under the caress. He is squatting on his haunches, anxiously looking at me with his sky-light blue eyes.
"I heard what you said to Nain" a soft voice in Turian.
"Do you want me to say the same words to you, Ham?"
"Yes, I do! Will you tell me?"
"You're close to me in my heart," and I look straight into Ham's light-blue eyes. I lean into his face and whisper. "Daddy Ham!"
In response, there is joy in emotions.
"I have heard you, cherishing you with my heart! My sworn sister," He sits down on the grass next to the armchair. He looks in front of him, continuing to stroke the Bars. We sit in silence for a while. The meaning of what happened slowly dawns on me. Turians make such decisions with the whole family.
"When will the parents come there? And when did you decide?"
"At night. Yesterday, we all suddenly realized that you mean much more to us than just neighbors and friends. The rest is empty. Everyone agreed. And they're coming any minute now."
"It's unexpected, but very pleasant! So now I have two more brothers, two sisters, and a couple of caring parents to boot. I'm rich!"
"Just like me!" He takes my hand in his. How warm his hand is...
Kaadi and Dakar enter the gate, with Saleen, the youngest of the Tanirs, born on January 20th last year, waddling next to them. The little one sees Polkan and runs to him with a squeak, sits astride, hugs him. That's it, now he'll be sitting on our dog for at least an hour.
Mom stands on the porch and looks at Kaadi coming up to her, holding a glass of juice in her hands, a smile on her lips. He goes down the stairs, puts an unfinished glass on the top, turns around. Kaadi approaches, takes his mother's right hand in his left hand, covers it with his right hand, leans close and says something. Mom's amazement is visible to the naked eye, her left hand is pressed to her chest, and her emotions are a real storm. It's not every day that Turians make such an offer to people... I don't think I've ever heard of it. Although, of course, they don't shout about this on all corners. Mom tilted her head to the left, tears glistened in her eyes, she hugged Kaadi and whispered something in response, there is no doubt that!
"Did I miss something?" Deniska's voice came from the left. He was already sitting on the grass next to Ham.
Nain got up, walked around the chair and hugged her brother, whispered a phrase in his ear, Ham bent down and repeated it after his sister. Denis sat in silence for a few seconds, just clapped his eyes wide open.
"Are you serious about this?" emotions are in turmoil. He just can't believe it!
Turians look serious.
"This is not a joke, brother!" I say. "What do you say?"
He hugs Nain tighter, bends down and hugs Ham with his other arm:
"I hear you! Those close to me! Cherished by my heart!" the brother whispers a ritual phrase in Turian. I watch as Dakar approaches Mom, the ritual repeats, but Mom continues to stand, pressed against the Turian's chest. He raises his head and looks intently into each other's eyes. I read lips:
"Thank you, brother!" Mom speaks in Russian.
His father, Leshka and Vanka come out from behind the house, his father has a folding table in his hands, Leshka has two folding chairs, Ivan, puffing, drags another one. Seeing the gathering on the lawn, the father smiled broadly. Slightly surprised, Kaadi approached him, ran her hand over his cheek, bent down... The table that had fallen out of his father's hands clattered loudly. Her father took Kaadi by the shoulders and fixed his gaze on her face. He looked at her for a few seconds, smiled broadly at her, hugged her, and answered. Then he pulled away, walked up to Dakar, the men held each other's forearms, looked into each other's eyes, said the ritual phrase softly, and then hugged tightly. Nino broke away from Deniska and skipped over to Leshka, who put down the chairs and bent down. Nain hugged his neck, his brother straightened up and picked up the girl, she bent over to his ear ... from what she heard, Leshka's eyes became — well, just like an anime character. He hugged the Turian tightly, answered, and just stood there for another minute, hugging Nain tightly.
"Have you forgotten about me?" a clear voice from the right. I turn around and meet Tam's shining green eyes. Behind all this, Coel watched with a smile, barely hiding his delight. And Gina, who manages to sketch something in an album with incredible speed. Then Ray and Vaska came, and Azari gave me a box of glass balls, saying that this was the best simulator for a beginner biotic.
In the evening, I heard my parents talking in the kitchen.
"Mishka! Is everything going to work out for us! Is this whole multi-species colony thing really going to work?"
"Yes, Dayan! Now I'm absolutely sure of it!"
"You were right! You're right! It's a pity that my father doesn't see it. All his arguments would have been shattered in dust!"
"Contact Steve, let him bring the old people to visit, and he hasn't come for a long time! My best friend completely forgot about me."
It looks like my dad is at the origin of the colony. So it's not easy! I'll have to ask him and the other seniors about it!
I emerge from the depths of memory, forcing the balls one by one to dive into the box. The gate slams, loud laughter is heard from the lawn, interspersed with heavy breathing. I go to the window, and the brothers are lying on the grass with their arms outstretched. Deniska's skin glistens with sweat.
"13:50, Hame! We have improved our time!"
"Oh, yes! I thought at the end that I would just fall and die!"
"Look, Eugene is looking at us!"
"We see you, Little Fox!"
I look at the vacationing brothers, and an amazing meeting that took place last June comes back to my mind. A meeting that finally set the record straight, gave me amazing knowledge, taught me how to control my empathy, and allowed me to feel this world much more deeply. I realized with all doom that I would have to face a living nightmare... the Reapers!
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