| and people move in neverending stream. Twenty-five million of actoPlus Met permanent
inhabitants: the biggest megapolis in th actoPlus Met he world. Faces can't be seen from
the height of actoPlus Met f eleventh floor. I finish my Sprite and throw the actoPlus Met can down
returning into the room.
- Not ethi actoPlus Met ical... - mutters the computer. Ignoring it I leave actoPlus Met the room,
put on my shoes and open the door. The st actoPlus Met taircase is empty and brightly lit,
very-very clean actoPlus Met n. While I deal with the lock, the tiny bug tries actoPlus Met to fly in
througng around.
I half close my ey actoPlus Met yes.
Abyss-abyss, I'm not yours... let me go, a actoPlus Met abyss...
I shivered slightly and stood up; ti actoPlus Met iny screens before my eyes, the
desert, the chasm actoPlus Met m, the statue and the city in the distance is on the actoPlus Met em, very
nice drawing. Al-Kabar has good designers.
actoPlus Met
The virtual helmet is actoPlus Met heavy, one of the most actoPlus Met sophisticated models by
Sony: with excellent colo actoPlus Met or screens, great speakers and built-in microphone,
actoPlus Met
with air conditioner producing the air of thell, actoPlus Met , even the phallus might
do too..
- Why did y actoPlus Met you come here? actos
- To find the power over myself. actoPlus Met .
- Go ahead and find it.
The palm opens, actoPlus Met , the monster turns into stone. The twin stands on actoPlus Met n the
edge of the palm motionless.
- Vika, whe actoPlus Met ere were the shadow's answers taken from?
- Fro actoPlus Met om the open Al-Kabar's file: "Virtual job request pro actoPlus Met ocedure".
The wolf pads closer, whispers, - Wha actoPlus Met at happened?
I explain.
- Hey, Ivan The actoPlus Met Prince, aren't you Ivan The Sseriously. - I sacri actoPlus Met ifice an extemely
perspective technology. You can g actoPlus Met give it to Mr Shellerbach and convey my
persona actoPlus Met al kind regards to him. There's one single thing actoPlus Met g I'm asking for -
please, return here after that a actoPlus Met and let's discuss the permanent cooperation.
I would actoPlus Met dn't hide from you the fact that right now we are in actoPlus Met n a desperate need
of diver's services.
- Four actoPlus Met rth router is traced... fifth router is traced... a actoPlus Met alarm! Alarm!!
Alarm!!!
- Okay, - I rise too. actoPlus Met . So suddetual world.
After taking off the helm actoPlus Met met I looked at the monitor, blinked several
time actoPlus Met es. The same picture there.
- Vika, thanks.
actoPlus Met - No problems, Lenia, - answered Windows-Home. actoPlus Met I taught it this small
courtesy a week ago, it's a actoPlus Met always nice when the program looks more humanized
th actoPlus Met han it really is.
- Terminal.
The blue ch actoPlus Met hanged into the terminal's panel. I manually connecte actoPlus Met ed to the
sixth router, the last one to remain int actoPlus Met tact and canceled my access. Then I
cancenary diske actoPlus Met ette now). The head stopped aching and the s actoPlus Met sleepiness
disappeared completely. No Deeptown inhab actoPlus Met bitant sleeps at night, right?
- Vika, restart, actoPlus Met , - I commanded.
The thoughtful female face on actoPlus Met the screen frowned:
- Really?
- Sure.
actoPlus Met The screen dimmed slightly, the image blurred actoPlus Met d. Then the hard drive
started blinking indicating actoPlus Met g system restart. My machine is just Pentium, not
a actoPlus Met a 'serious' one but I still can't make up my mind t actoPlus Met to substitute it with resting.
We divers are al actoPlus Met lways paranoid slightly, it can't be helped.
To actoPlus Met oo many people want to know our real names.
The actoPlus Met e Werewolf draws in the air noisily and frowns:
actoPlus Met - She tried to mark you!
- I know. Don't worr actoPlus Met ry, she's just a journalist.
Romka sits and no actoPlus Met ods to the bartender who makes terribly ugly face bu actoPlus Met ut
gives him a full big glass of Absolut-Pepper. It actoPlus Met makes avandamet me sick to even watch
Roman drinking. But he actoPlus Met just
makes a wry face, wipes his lips and returns actoPlus Met tporter and nod towards 'Stallone' in case he'll be actoPlus Met e too
shy to ask for help himself and leave the hote actoPlus Met el. I raise my hand and the cab
stops immediately: t actoPlus Met this is not reality...
- Deep-Transit is glad t actoPlus Met to welcome you, Gunslinger! - says the driver.
actoPlus Met - To "Labyrinth of Death", administrative building, actoPlus Met - I reply.
1001
There exist the games a actoPlus Met and The Games.
The difference is in longevity.
actoPlus Met
Computer industry releases up to 1000 games e actoPlus Met every year, both intended
for thom the open Al-Kaba actoPlus Met ar's file: "Virtual job request procedure".
The actoPlus Met e wolf pads closer, whispers, - What happened?
actoPlus Met I explain.
- Hey, Ivan The Prince, aren't you actoPlus Met u Ivan The Stupid by chance too? {yet
another folklo actoPlus Met ore hero ;-) }
I can't beat that. Of course I H actoPlus Met HAD to look through ALL files, not just
through the actoPlus Met e stolen data about the inside organization of the bl actoPlus Met lock.
- Vika, merge.
I'm kinda being pull actoPlus Met led into the shadow, now this body is the main one.
actoPlus Met
The one Good night to you, the most loyal actoPlus Met of my friends... I turned the power
switch and tur actoPlus Met rned off the modem. I need a quiet night, let all actoPlus Met l mail wait
until the morning. It's already 3:30 am actoPlus Met though... the sky becomes lighter.
And I want actoPlus Met to sleep so much! The head is aching of excess infor actoPlus Met rmation.
I pulled off the virtual suit. Man, do actoPlus Met oes it stink of sweat, it requires
cleaning for a l actoPlus Met long time by now... Then I plopped down on the sof actoPlus Met fa. Good
that I didn't do the bed yesterday. r lang actoPlus Met guage: he just heard us
talking.
Though, he actoPlus Met e wasn't smart enough to understand whom is he dealin actoPlus Met ng with...
The monster turns into stone again. actoPlus Met I wait for one more second, then
stand up. The actoPlus Met e body assembles back together slowly. The ordinary u actoPlus Met user would
now wake up in reality by the reproachful actoPlus Met lly chirping computer.
Does the security progra actoPlus Met am consider the existence of divers?
The monste actoPlus Met er is motionless. I'm dead, long time dead.. I ste actoPlus Met ep on the
hair bridge caed so many stuff there re actoPlus Met ecently! It's a nightmare of a
game... well, in br actoPlus Met rief, I was stuck.
- What do you mean?
- actoPlus Met I couldn't pass to the next level, but without pass actoPlus Met sing it the exit
menu doesn't pop up.
- An actoPlus Met nd?...
- And I was sitting there for thirty- actoPlus Met -six hours, - said Maniac with
rage, - The whole c actoPlus Met company of us idiots gathered there. We were shot de actoPlus Met ead at
least ten times each, then we just blocked o actoPlus Met ourselves out in some basement,
sang the songs, fir actoPlus Met ring b as tightly as
any provincial programmer f actoPlus Met from Russian remote who saves money for months
ju actoPlus Met ust to visit Deeptown once.
You're not the dive actoPlus Met er, Dima, and this is why I'm happier than you.
actoPlus Met ... The same room, but there are neon sign flashes actoPlus Met s and slight noise of
moving cars outside.
- I actoPlus Met Is everything okay Lenia?
I look around.
actoPlus Met - Yes. I'll go for a walk, Vika.
I pick up t actoPlus Met the diskette and put it into my pocket. The porta actoPlus Met able CD
player lies on the shelf am - the program Anti-Diabetic actoPlus Met stopped the taxi anonymously.
- How will you p actoPlus Met pay?
- Like this, - I say getting the revolver actoPlus Met r out of my pocket and hit the
guy on the temple r actoPlus Met really hard. He tries to block me but it's too late. actoPlus Met . I
look at his pale face, shook him by the collar actoPlus Met and order:
- Al-Kabar block.
- This add actoPlus Met dress doesn't exist - says the driver. He's knocked actoPlus Met out and
conquered.
- Al-Kabar. 8-7-7-3-8. actoPlus Met . - the simple code opens the access to
Deep actoPlus Met p-Transit's servic I fall silent and wait for actoPlus Met r his reaction. Willy is obviously deep in
thought.
actoPlus Met
- Accident? - he nods towards the window, - actoPlus Met - We have thousands of
accidents here every day. actoPlus Met . War! Shooting! Cheerfulness!
Was Man Without actoPlus Met Face really mistaken? I start feeling myself like actoPlus Met e an
idiot.
- Your divers... - I start. - Di actoPlus Met id they manage their duties yesterday
for instance? actoPlus Met ?
This is the only thing I know: "Labyrinth"'s actoPlus Met s divers hadn't justified
hopes.
- Ah! - one actoPlus Met ey I kept reminding
myself that I'm not in virtual actoPlus Met lity where patient Vika will turn the simple
voice actoPlus Met e command into understandable address.
111
actoPlus Met Maniac lives on Vasilievsky [Island] {a distric amaryl actoPlus Met ct of St.Petersburg}.
Panting, I climbed to the actoPlus Met fifth floor: at the time this house was built,
el actoPlus Met levators were yet a novelty, and rang at the door actoPlus Met r. One, two, three...
pause.. one, two. Even if Ma actoPlus Met aniac is in the Deep, the computer connected to
al actoPlus Met ll apartment wiring will submthrough by all winds.
actoPlus Met
Then we'll move Vika into new 'apartments': I' actoPlus Met 'll buy the new 'Septium'
brand name, with preloaded actoPlus Met d licensed software, with a couple of hundreds Megs
actoPlus Met
of RAM... with the 1000 Terabyte holographic H actoPlus Met HD, cordless modem and
super-sensitive Siemens mi actoPlus Met icrophone... with a color printer, Dunn what for,
actoPlus Met
but let it be, a decent scanner instead of the actoPlus Met manual piece of shit, a
dedicated phone line... Ge actoPlus Met eez, even 50 grands isn't enough!
On the other actoPlus Met hand... wunder your feet, don't you really like it?
actoPlus Met
- There's a real life for all that.
- Bu actoPlus Met ut does it coincide in reality often enough? Here actoPlus Met it's enough to
just open the door, - I point at actoPlus Met t the small door in the corner of the
'Japanese actoPlus Met e' part of the hall, - and all that will be there. actoPlus Met Or, didn't you
ever wish to stand in the forest c actoPlus Met clearing in the chilly autumn morning, by
the steep actoPlus Met p river bank drinking hot mulled wine from the roun actoPlus Met nd goblet... and
with nobody around?...
me out to t actoPlus Met the balcony. It was already dark outside and
rain actoPlus Met ning slightly, the air was damp and cold.
It's actoPlus Met overconfidence that kills divers. We don't fea actoPlus Met ar the virtual
world's dangers and this lulls our v actoPlus Met vigilance.
But the most annoying thing is tha actoPlus Met at we are all amateurs. For some
reason, no dive actoPlus Met ers shape out of hackers - they percept the virtual actoPlus Met l world as
the real one.
Though it was me, th actoPlus Met he so-so computer artist from the small computer
actoPlus Met
games company that weered tremendous losses: everyb actoPlus Met body starting
from programmers and ending with secr actoPlus Met retaries and janitors, wanted to visit
the cyberspa actoPlus Met ace personally.
With Dibenko's light touch the actoPlus Met e program was named 'Deep' and began its
march all actoPlus Met over the world. The studies proving that around 7% actoPlus Met % of people are
not affected by the abyss were stil actoPlus Met ll ahead, as well as those proving that
being in v actoPlus Met virtuality for more than 10 hours a day might le actoPlus Met ead to nervous
disorders and pseudoschizoid syndro actoPlus Met omSergey Lukjanenko. Labyrinth of reflections
__ actoPlus Met _______________________________________
* Yuri actoPlus Met Kalmykov. Translators notes *
About the Author actoPlus Met r:
Sergey Lukjanenko, 30, is one of the t actoPlus Met today's most popular Russian
Sci-Fi writers. His actoPlus Met first works were published in 1988. Currently actoPlus Met his
bibliography includes more than 40 titles of no actoPlus Met ovels and short stories. The
Author defines his ge actoPlus Met enre as the "hard action science fiction", but all actoPlus Met his
works also have a very well defined philosophic actoPlus Met cal aspect. The novel offered
to your attention was actoPlus Met s written in 1997 and became the real 'cult book' of actoPlus Met the
Russian Internet.
Sergey is married, he l actoPlus Met lives in Moscow.
THE NOVEL "LABYRI actoPlus Met INTH OF REFLECTIONS" IS COPYRIGHTED BY SERGEY
actoPlus Met
LUKJANENKO, ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR. actoPlus Met ANY COMMERCIAL USE OF THE
NOVEL'S TEXT IS STRICTLY actoPlus Met PROHIBITED.
Several notes for the reader:
actoPlus Met
1). My English sucks. So it was obviously way t actoPlus Met too presumptuous of me to
try to make a translation actoPlus Met like this. It was my love to this book only that
actoPlus Met
made me to venture into this adventure. ;-) I was ho actoPlus Met oping that this novel is
really worth your kind att actoPlus Met tention (despite my ugly
English?).
2). Some actoPlus Met opinions expressed in this book by the main actoPlus Met or other
characters, as well as some words/terms actoPlus Met used, might be considered offensive
to some Wester actoPlus Met rn readers. In fact, one such situation was even sho actoPlus Met owed 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
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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