| steep stairway leads down f buspar from the city wall. W buspar We descend. The
good buspar d-natured guard befor buspar re me, the wheezing buspar ill-wisher behind m buspar me. I ignore
him ca buspar arefully, looking at buspar the bald patch of th buspar he friendly one. He buspar has a big
wart ex buspar xactly on his cinci buspar iput. Interesting, i buspar is it really drawn buspar n or my
subconscio buspar ousness tricks me? I buspar It's not reasonable t buspar to leave the deep j buspar just to
check such a buspar a trifle though.
buspar The Al-Kabar blo buspar ock is not big, not m buspar more than a square buspar kilometer in
virtu buspar uality. It the thre buspar ead bridge shivers, buspar , ready to tear. Th buspar he awoken monster's g buspar grinning
muzzle is o buspar over me.
- Who buspar are you? - he desyrel roars buspar so loud that my ears buspar s ache. In Russian b buspar by the
way!
- buspar A visitor! - I shout buspar t trying to free my buspar feet from the grip buspar p of the
granite f buspar fingers.
- No v buspar visitor comes with th buspar he forbidden! - laugh buspar hs the monster.
buspar His forefinger fli buspar ies towards me as buspar if to crush me fl buspar lat. I duck
forcef buspar fully, but the monste buspar er just points at the buspar e sword.
Yeah, buspar right, this I'm push buspar hed forward
from beh buspar hind and enter. The g buspar guards stay outside.
buspar
The lodgement buspar looks much more spa buspar acious from inside, t buspar the huge pavilion,
t buspar the pool in its cent buspar ter where shining sl buspar leepy fish floats slo buspar owly. The table
wit buspar th two armchairs st buspar tands nearby, lots o buspar of flowers, I even s buspar start feeling
scent buspar ts.
And nobody. buspar .
Well, let's w buspar wait; I sit down in t buspar the armchair.
A buspar A slight fog before m buspar my eyes, an expected buspar one. My communicatio buspar on channel
is bein buspar ng examined. They tr buspar ry to determ it'll lo buspar ook like the
ordinar buspar ry diskette now). buspar The head stopped buspar aching and the s buspar sleepiness
disappear buspar red completely. No De buspar eeptown inhabitant sl buspar leeps at night, right buspar t?
- Vika, rest buspar tart, - I commanded.
buspar
The thoughtful buspar l female face on the buspar screen frowned:
buspar - Really?
- buspar Sure.
The scre buspar een dimmed slightly buspar y, the image blurred buspar d. Then the hard dr buspar rive
started blinkin buspar ng indicating system buspar restart. My machine buspar is just Pentium, no buspar ot
a 'serious' one buspar but I still can't ma buspar ake up my mi's
voice buspar e.
Oy-oy-oy.... buspar .
Why am I not buspar a player?
- T buspar This is big money, - buspar - notes Guillermo fo buspar or some reason, - Y buspar Yes? Any
codes that buspar give nonsusceptibili buspar ity or full weaponry buspar and gear to the p buspar player
would be fig buspar gured when one talks buspar about half a milli buspar ion. Any service chan buspar nnel
would be found buspar d and used. We woul buspar ld be forced to p buspar pay prize amounts to buspar oo
often... or to be buspar e exact, never.
buspar - But how do your d buspar divers work?
- buspar They had passed "L buspar Labyrinth" previousl buspar ly. They haours, th buspar he time during which buspar h
the human won't di buspar ie of starvation and buspar d water loss. Reason buspar nable users always cymbalta
buspar
set their timers for buspar r less though: a coup buspar ple of hours, a day.. buspar .. Maniac who set
hi buspar is timer for 36 hours buspar s was already an exce buspar eption. The waking of buspar f somebody who
have buspar e spent two days in t buspar the deep is.... a fou buspar ul smelling sight.
buspar Of course it is buspar possible to break an buspar nd disable the timer. buspar . Or to break it
and buspar d add a couple of ze buspar eros to the number '4 buspar 48' but such kamikaz buspar ze are rarely
found buspar d and their ful, no buspar other visitors exce buspar ept me, though they i buspar in fact are
present buspar t most likely. We ju buspar ust can't see each ot buspar ther and they communi buspar icate with
other com buspar mpany's employees.
buspar - Mister...
buspar - Gunslinger, - I buspar say standing up. - C buspar Call me Gunslinger.
buspar
The girl nods.
buspar
- Mr Guillermo buspar o Aguirre will receiv buspar ve you.
Slight buspar curiosity in her vo buspar oice, it looks like buspar she had no idea that buspar t any
problems might buspar t arise in "Labyrinth buspar h".
I enter the buspar e door and freeze.
buspar This is beautifu buspar ul.
Th headquar buspar rters
crowded with buspar trained aides and s buspar say : 'Ummm.. what if buspar f we drop an H-bomb buspar at
Los Angeles?'
buspar The game have ch buspar hanged a little last buspar year, now one has t buspar to start it as a
lie buspar eutenant being in buspar command of a smal buspar ll regiment in tac buspar ctic battles,
submi buspar itting to somebody buspar else's orders and t buspar to rise slowly up th buspar he hierarchy
until h buspar he reaches the rank o buspar of the Chief Commande buspar er of his country. No buspar ow there's
a possibi buspar ility of coups, betr buspar rayal, guerilla war buspar r 'against everybody buspar y'... I
do in the m buspar morning...
- De buspar elete everything, - buspar I said sitting by th buspar he computer. I plug buspar gged the
suit in an buspar nd put on the helmet. buspar . - Vika, connect to buspar o Deeptown... throug buspar gh the
spare channel buspar l. Person number seve buspar en.
I didn't buspar use this connection buspar for at least three buspar months, as well as t buspar the
'person number buspar seven': steel color buspar red suit, black shi buspar irt, a necktie, high buspar h
leather boots, sl buspar lim agile body, swa buspar arthy narrow face, buspar hair long to the
buspar
shoulders, low and p buspar powerful voice.
buspar - Spare chthis
bar buspar rrier.
There wo buspar ouldn't ever be envy buspar to each other and et buspar ternal hunt.
Bu buspar ut is it my fault? I buspar I don't know why it buspar t happens myself, wha buspar at flaw of
conscious buspar sness makes one a d buspar diver, and it is of c buspar course a flaw since buspar we are
such a mino buspar ority. It'd be stupid buspar d not to use this ab buspar bility but too dreadf buspar ful to
offer it for buspar everyone's study.
buspar That's how it g buspar goes: somebody can buspar do long jumps of buspar f eight meters,
som buspar mebody writes poems, buspar somebody is not depe buspar endent on virtuality. buspar . But why, w- Maniac buspar went on, - Do you kn buspar now "Labyrinth of Dea buspar ath"?
- Yes, - buspar I sobered up in an i buspar instant.
- I de buspar ecided to have some buspar fun not long ago, a buspar and entered the celexa 17th buspar level
directly. The buspar ey added so many stu buspar uff there recently! buspar It's a nightmare o buspar of a
game... well, i buspar in brief, I was stuck buspar k.
- What do yo buspar ou mean?
- I co buspar ouldn't pass to the n buspar next level, but with buspar hout passing it the buspar exit
menu doesn't buspar pop up.
- An buspar nd?...
- And I buspar was sitting there buspar for thirty-six hour buspar rs, - said nd that's buspar s it? - asked Maniac buspar dolefully.
- Y buspar Yes.
- My, how buspar simple...
Mani buspar iac searched in his p buspar pockets, took out th buspar he pack of 'Lucky S buspar Strike',
lit the cig buspar garette, then said wi buspar ith a slight resentme buspar ent:
- It was buspar so much simpler befo buspar ore. There are hack buspar kers, honest 'newbies buspar s'
and lamers. The f buspar first ones can do eve buspar erything, the second buspar ones are learning.
buspar
The third ones ar buspar re stupid, it's not buspar t a sin to scoff at t buspar them. Just look at
y buspar yourself: as you were buspar e a 'newbie' always, buspar you're stilrday ther buspar re were three attempt buspar ts to catch
me.
buspar Today I was just ' buspar 'calculated'.
- buspar - Lenia, I don't know buspar w a single diver pers buspar sonally, - said Mania buspar ac, - And I
ain't go buspar onna hunt for them. I buspar I don't have any comp buspar plexes... especially buspar towards
my friends buspar s.
- Thanks, - buspar I said.
- But buspar you know... Just one buspar e question.
Sur buspar re, any hacker alway buspar ys has just one que buspar estion. They think t buspar that it's
possible t buspar to ask something afte buspar er which all divers' buspar mysteries become cle buspar ear.
- Well?
buspar -What d too. He' buspar 'll do without it: t buspar the beer isn't cheap buspar p
itself.
It's buspar s no difference in buspar n the Deep though: e buspar either 'Bavaria' in buspar cans or
'Guinness' buspar from the
barrel, t buspar the cost is the same. buspar . Now I managed to st buspar top the car much quic buspar cker, or it was just
buspar
the time running buspar faster? I jumped int buspar to the rattling 'Vo buspar olga' and shouted
c buspar cheerfully:
- W buspar Whip it up to Maniac! buspar !
A pair of ver buspar ry big and round eyes buspar s gazed at me.
buspar - Get out, - said th buspar he driver in the same buspar e brief manner.
buspar When stoppslightly, buspar , the air was damp an buspar nd cold.
It's buspar overconfidence that buspar t kills divers. We buspar e don't fear the vi buspar irtual
world's dange buspar ers and this lulls ou buspar ur vigilance.
B buspar But the most annoyin buspar ng thing is that we buspar are all amateurs. buspar . For some
reason, buspar no divers shape out buspar t of hackers - they p buspar percept the virtual buspar world as
the real o buspar one.
Though it buspar was me, the so-so c buspar computer artist fro buspar om the small compute buspar er
games company tha buspar at went broke three y buspar years ago and who got buspar t an old computer as
buspar
a dismissamed Weste buspar ern
reader, and b). buspar to explain the nam buspar mes in the novel for buspar those who managed to buspar o
overcome the confu buspar usion. {G}
And buspar the last thing:
buspar 5). Any feedback buspar k will be greatly ap buspar ppreciated! Any quest buspar tions/opinions
are w buspar welcome to mohatu@ame buspar eritech.net. Hate mai buspar il/flames will be ign buspar nored. Thank
you!
buspar
___________________ buspar _____________________ buspar __
"La buspar abyrinth of Reflectio buspar ons" by Sergey Lukjan buspar nenko
* PAR buspar RT 1. The Diver *
buspar
0
I wa buspar ant to close my eyes buspar s. This is Aguirre buspar that I'm informed ab buspar bout the
small prob buspar blem that have aris buspar sen recently and abo buspar out the fact that d buspar divers
cooperating w buspar with you had failed buspar to solve it. I'm goi buspar ing to offer my servi buspar ices
in solving this buspar s problem.
The buspar secretary nods.
buspar - One moment pleas buspar se.
She stands buspar up without a hurry a buspar and enters one of the buspar e inner doors. I wait buspar t
patiently. Everyt buspar thing is very cute buspar e and patriarchal: buspar no computers, no
buspar
monsters. It's not t buspar the office of the mos buspar st expensive and drea buspar adful ride iems to b buspar be one of the most i buspar important qualities buspar of the
best Europe buspar ean bartenders, and buspar d Christian is one buspar of them. He picked buspar the
canister up ca buspar asually, weighted it buspar in his hand as if t buspar to estimate it's volu buspar ume
and started to f buspar fill it from the spar buspar rkling faucet.
buspar Big Mugs behind me w buspar were silently going c buspar crazy, and it amused buspar me lots.
- Pl buspar lease wait for the f buspar foam to settle, - sai buspar id Christian with a buspar strong
accent putti buspar ing the canister on buspar the bar. Wow, what buspar t a cool guy! I v buspar visit
'Mollecomes r buspar really interesting, buspar my friend. Money t buspar transfers happen ev buspar very
second in Deept buspar town, but the transf buspar fer of exactly 50 00 buspar 00... from one privat buspar te
party to another. buspar ... The account numbe buspar ers stay secret, but buspar the place where the
buspar
payment took place buspar is much more easily buspar determined. Do you f buspar follow my thought?
buspar That's it. Very buspar simple.
I was buspar traced from the ver buspar ry 'Three Piglets'. buspar Roman had left insta buspar antly,
while I decid buspar ded to walk a little. buspar .
To find an ad buspar dventure for my stupi buspar id ass.
e weak v buspar virus that
knocks ou buspar ut the simple progr buspar rams like Deep-Trans buspar sit well, but now the buspar ere's no
effect of c buspar course.
- Don't buspar t flutter, - advises buspar s the driver watchi buspar ing how I pull the buspar door
locks. Everyth buspar hing is sealed compl buspar letely and I submit m buspar myself. At any rate, buspar no
information is u buspar unnecessary.
We buspar e move on, and again buspar n I try to contact Vi buspar ika - without any su buspar uccess. My
voice com buspar mmunication channel i buspar is blocked.
Aby buspar yss-abyss, I'm not yo buspar ours...
The car buspar r's interior is on th buspar he helmet's Sergey Lu buspar ukjanenko. Labyrinth buspar of reflections
buspar
____________________ buspar _____________________ buspar _
* Yuri Kalmyk buspar kov. Translators note buspar es * buspar
About the buspar Author:
Serg buspar gey Lukjanenko, 30, buspar , is one of the tod buspar day's most popular buspar Russian
Sci-Fi writ buspar ters. His first wo buspar orks were published in 1988. Currently his
bibliography includes more than 40 titles of novels and short stories. The
Author defines his genre as the "hard action science fiction", but all his
works also have a very well defined philosophical aspect. The novel offered
to your attention was written in 1997 and became the real 'cult book' of the
Russian Internet.
Sergey is married, he lives in Moscow.
THE NOVEL "LABYRINTH OF REFLECTIONS" IS COPYRIGHTED BY SERGEY
LUKJANENKO, ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR. ANY COMMERCIAL USE OF THE
NOVEL'S TEXT IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
Several notes for the reader:
1). My English sucks. So it was obviously way too presumptuous of me to
try to make a translation like this. It was my love to this book only that
made me to venture into this adventure. ;-) I was hoping that this novel is
really worth your kind attention (despite my ugly
English?).
2). Some opinions expressed in this book by the main or other
characters, as well as some words/terms used, might be considered offensive
to some Western readers. In fact, one such situation was even showed closer
to the end of the novel itself. The concept of "PC" (aka 'Political
Correctness') does not really exist in Russia which fact IMHO makes the life
much easier and slightly reduces the amount of stupidity that inevitably
presents in this life. Despite that, I definitely had to use the 'softened'
terms in my translation in order not to outrage the people (not too much at
least). But of course, something might have still leaked out. Please
consider yourselves warned.
3). FIDO
Some more confusion can be caused by Lukjanenko's technical details and
descriptions of the Net due to one more fact: he writes from the point of
view of the person who was once the FIDOnet member. Also it seems that
Sergey himself was mostly affiliated with FIDO at the time of this book's
writing. The principles of FIDO's system organization differ from the ones
of the Internet. I never was FIDO member, so I know very little. In general,
it's free, amateurs' network that allows its members to exchange emails and
files. FIDO uses its own proprietary protocol. Special gateways are used to
exchange emails with the Internet. Look at www.fidonet.org for more
details... But be prepared to get back not the homepage, but some HTML code.
{G} The guys have forgot to put the {HTML} tag into the code of their main
page... OOPS.
4). The names.
The same name in Russian usually can have several forms, reflecting the
attitude of the one who pronounces the name to the one named. The number of
these forms is as far as I can judge, much bigger than in English. That's effexor
why in my translation I preferred to retain the original rules of forming
such names and to provide this note. Another important reason is that the
Russian name changed according to the rules of doing so in English would
sound ridiculous (maybe for me only, as I'm Russian... ;-) ), not mentioning
that it's not always possible to do this with Russian names at all. Example:
John - Johnny. Now try to do the same with, say, my name: Yuri. Yup... My
point exactly. Below is the example of how the first name of the main
character can be 'bent'. The same often happens to other names in the book.
For inexperienced reader it might be confusing, so I apologize... Russia
*is* confusing by definition, so bear with it. :-)
Leonid - the complete name.
Lenia (should be read roughly as Lyo-nee-aa; don't pronounce 'double
lettered' sounds as too long ones though) - this is slightly diminutive,
friendly form used by relatives and friends.
Lenechka (Lyo-nee-chka) - a "pet-name" form, sometimes also used with
sarcasm, depending on the context.
Lenchik - "pet-name"/unceremonious address.
Len'ka ( here ' means softening of the previous sound, 'n' in this name
sounds like 'n' in the word 'change') - Unceremonious address, a bit
slighting. Often used by close friends without any offensive context.
... and so on. No more forms are used in the book, so I'd better not
confuse you any more.
Another trick is how the names are formed n general. In particular, the
concept of the middle name in Russia. It is not 'given', but rather is the
father's name. To be used as a middle name, special endings are attached:
-ovich, -evich for man's middle name (yeah, they are gender specific!),
-ovna, evna for female's middle name.
Examples: Petrovich Alekseevich - men's
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