| urse.
And in quarter of an hour mo anti-Herpes ore I entered the Irish pu anti-Herpes ub 'Molly' on 36
Rubinstein anti-Herpes n Street. It's not too cro anti-Herpes owded in the daytime and thi anti-Herpes is helped me.
The Big Mugs anti-Herpes s {security guards ;-) } by anti-Herpes y the entrance were relaxed anti-Herpes d and just
froze dumb when anti-Herpes they saw my canister. I pas anti-Herpes ssed the cloak room solemnl anti-Herpes ly and
entered the neat tw anti-Herpes wilight of semi-basement, ap anti-Herpes pproached the bar and smiled anti-Herpes d to
the bartender.
L anti-Herpes Luckily, bartender in 'Mol anti-Herpes lly' is British. Whatever on anti-Herpes ne can say, but
they are anti-Herpes ave anything else
strange anti-Herpes happened?
I get the w anti-Herpes weak hope that the different anti-Herpes t task was meant.
- No anti-Herpes o.
- Nothing?
- anti-Herpes Nothing-nothing! - Guiller anti-Herpes rmo parts his hands - We t anti-Herpes take care of our
customers. anti-Herpes . Everything is under contro anti-Herpes ol in "Labyrinth".
I'm anti-Herpes m looking at the screen, wai anti-Herpes iting.
- A-ha... - sai anti-Herpes is Aguirre curiously, - yes- anti-Herpes -yes... There were two mo anti-Herpes ore
attempts to lead him anti-Herpes out this morning... and anti-Herpes three times more in the
anti-Herpes
afternoon. All failed.
anti-Herpes - And sureanother one anti-Herpes - at the stony
nail. The anti-Herpes genie laughs loudly, satisf anti-Herpes fied and shouts:
- You anti-Herpes u who came as a wolf, rememb anti-Herpes ber his fate!
Bingo. T anti-Herpes This is how he figured ou anti-Herpes ut our language: he just anti-Herpes heard us
talking.
T anti-Herpes Though, he wasn't smart enou anti-Herpes ugh to understand whom is he anti-Herpes e dealing with...
The anti-Herpes monster turns into stone ag anti-Herpes gain. I wait for one more anti-Herpes second, then
stand up. anti-Herpes The body assembles back tog anti-Herpes gether slowly. The ordinary anti-Herpes user would
now wake up in anti-Herpes reality by the reproachfull anti-Herpes ly guy ascends the stage, t anti-Herpes this time much more individu anti-Herpes ual looking
one, reminding anti-Herpes me the Baltic type. His fa anti-Herpes ace looks roguish and I pric anti-Herpes ck up my
ears. The guy glan anti-Herpes nces at the small booth in t anti-Herpes the corner of the stage aska anti-Herpes ance.
- Gentlemen! - anti-Herpes - he shouts. Hm, he's rea anti-Herpes ally Baltic unless it was m anti-Herpes my
subconsciousness that anti-Herpes made me hear the accent. - anti-Herpes - 'Lithocomp' company is
anti-Herpes
honored to offer you the lo anti-Herpes owest prices for the followi anti-Herpes ing...
A-haaa... no qu anti-Herpes uestions.
I look at anti-Herpes the booth too: ding down lo anti-Herpes ow and hiding behind the t anti-Herpes trees. Not for nothing: I' anti-Herpes 'm
being shot at from somew anti-Herpes where like the higher stori anti-Herpes ies of the building. They
anti-Herpes
miss.
Most likely it' anti-Herpes 's a human, monsters are dum anti-Herpes mb but keen.
The squar anti-Herpes re is full of slightly dust anti-Herpes ty but quite operable car anti-Herpes rs. Their
owners had boarde anti-Herpes ed that train... I'm hidin anti-Herpes ng behind the boxy and cru anti-Herpes umpled
Ford and wait.
anti-Herpes I always wait here...
anti-Herpes In around five minutes anti-Herpes a human dashes out of anti-Herpes the building and
approa anti-Herpes achpe she's
just as open a anti-Herpes and bright in reality too.
anti-Herpes
I nod, - Good luck the anti-Herpes en.
- Thanks, oh myste anti-Herpes erious Anonymous, - Nadya anti-Herpes bends to me and kisses my
anti-Herpes
cheek.
- Lenia, mark anti-Herpes ker! - whisper the clips on anti-Herpes my shoulders.
I take anti-Herpes an antivirus handkerchief anti-Herpes and wipe the lipstick pri anti-Herpes int from my
cheek, wave a f anti-Herpes finger to Nadya with a warni anti-Herpes ing:
- Girl, I DO pref anti-Herpes fer to stay mysterious.
anti-Herpes Looks like she feels con anti-Herpes nfused, but has enough nerve anti-Herpes e to shrug and walk
away w anti-Herpes without hurry.
ded gratefu anti-Herpes ully opening the pack, I anti-Herpes waved my hand-keep it-and anti-Herpes d
closed the door. The car anti-Herpes rnivores should be fed. A l anti-Herpes little. So they wouldn't
b anti-Herpes become too impudent and woul anti-Herpes ld retain an idea of me bein anti-Herpes ng a 'nice guy' even
in t anti-Herpes neurontin their alcohol intoxicated mi anti-Herpes inds.
I undressed qui anti-Herpes ickly, threw the clothes o anti-Herpes on the bed and came to th anti-Herpes he
bathroom, stood under co anti-Herpes old shower for a while.
anti-Herpes No sleeping tonight, the anti-Herpes deep is ce when the program anti-Herpes m looks more humanized
than anti-Herpes n it really is.
- Term anti-Herpes minalebrate the move for Vik anti-Herpes ka. It'll not be
a shame to anti-Herpes o invite friends then.
anti-Herpes I rose, padded to the frid anti-Herpes dge and took out a can of b anti-Herpes beer. I don't drink
before anti-Herpes noon usually, but it's almo anti-Herpes ost 1PM already. What a good anti-Herpes d time I woke up
at!
anti-Herpes The light 'Schultheiss' see anti-Herpes emed almost strong in the mo anti-Herpes orning. It's over,
good bye anti-Herpes e 'Amsterdam-Navigator' and anti-Herpes d 'Bavaria-86', the good fr anti-Herpes riends of poor
hackers. Fr anti-Herpes rom now on - only 'Guinn anti-Herpes ness', 'Heineken', 'Kilken anti-Herpes nny'... and
instead of Be anti-Herpes elgian boiled sausnd is pret anti-Herpes tty lightweight - but a litt anti-Herpes tle too baggy
and has uncom anti-Herpes mfortable ties on the back. anti-Herpes . In around three hours the anti-Herpes e shotgun
trigger started anti-Herpes to jam, he had to hit it anti-Herpes t slowly and carefully, movi anti-Herpes ing the
finger from side to anti-Herpes o side.
By 5 am he fin anti-Herpes nished the game. The monst anti-Herpes ters were cast down. The g anti-Herpes game
menu had appeared on anti-Herpes the stone wall before him anti-Herpes and he pushed the shotgun's anti-Herpes s
barrel into it with a scr anti-Herpes ream.
The illusion d anti-Herpes dissipated, he was sitting anti-Herpes by the peacefully dronin anti-Herpes ng
c take to our heels.
anti-Herpes - The decision is yours, anti-Herpes , - agrees the wolf.
I anti-Herpes I walk on the sand, the hot anti-Herpes wind doesn't calm down, it anti-Herpes t even seems that
the grain anti-Herpes anti-Herpes ns of sand sting the eyes. anti-Herpes . This is not the helmet's m anti-Herpes merit anymore
but my brain anti-Herpes n feels what I should have b anti-Herpes been feeling in the real des anti-Herpes sert..
The statue ste anti-Herpes eadily comes closer and bec anti-Herpes comes more and more real. T anti-Herpes The
horned head with grin anti-Herpes nning mug, the hands bulgin anti-Herpes ng with stone muscles. Some
anti-Herpes
kind of evil genie possib anti-Herpes bly, I'm too weak it turn anti-Herpes ned out to be much more
d anti-Herpes difficult now.
The sli anti-Herpes ight wound now became not ju anti-Herpes ust the lowered percent of anti-Herpes 'strength'
on the screen, anti-Herpes but something the wound is anti-Herpes s supposed to be: pain, we anti-Herpes eakness,
fear. He realized anti-Herpes d that the bloody floor be anti-Herpes ecomes slippery, that the s anti-Herpes stony
slab behind which the anti-Herpes e shells are hidden is reall anti-Herpes ly heavy, that ejected shell anti-Herpes ls
are hot and rocket launc anti-Herpes cher's recoil nearly knock anti-Herpes ks him off his feet, that
anti-Herpes
the health potion is bitte anti-Herpes er and loathsome, that the anti-Herpes armorter on the floor and w anti-Herpes was searching in the closet. anti-Herpes .
- Here.
He nod anti-Herpes dded gratefully opening th zovirax anti-Herpes he pack, I waved my hand- anti-Herpes -keep it-and
closed the do anti-Herpes oor. The carnivores should b anti-Herpes be fed. A little. So they anti-Herpes wouldn't
become too impude anti-Herpes ent and would retain an idea anti-Herpes a of me being a 'nice guy' anti-Herpes even
in their alcohol int anti-Herpes toxicated minds.
I und anti-Herpes dressed quickly, threw the anti-Herpes e clothes on the bed and anti-Herpes came to the
bathroom, sto anti-Herpes ood under cold shower for a anti-Herpes while.
No sleeping to anti-Herpes onight, the deep is ce when anti-Herpes the program looks more huma anti-Herpes anized
than it really is.
anti-Herpes
- Terminal.
The anti-Herpes blue changed into the termi anti-Herpes inal's panel. I manually con anti-Herpes nnected to the
sixth route anti-Herpes er, the last one to remain anti-Herpes intact and canceled my acce anti-Herpes ess. Then I
canceled my tem anti-Herpes mporary address in Austria.
anti-Herpes
The main threads are anti-Herpes e broken. Try to find me now anti-Herpes w Al-Kabar guys, filter
al anti-Herpes ll files in search for Ivan anti-Herpes n The Prince. The diver have anti-Herpes e broke free from the
trap. anti-Herpes .
Not using the voice anti-Herpes control anymore, I shut Wi anti-Herpes indows- waiting.
Abyss anti-Herpes s-abyss, I'm not yours... le anti-Herpes et me go, Abyss...
I l anti-Herpes looked at the picture accu anti-Herpes ustoming myself. The bandit. anti-Herpes ... cars... the
back of my anti-Herpes driver's head ... the sight anti-Herpes t's cross in the middle of t anti-Herpes the screen.
The cheate anti-Herpes er I am.
I stretched m anti-Herpes my hand, touched the mouse anti-Herpes e, moved it along the pad. anti-Herpes . The
cross slid along the anti-Herpes screen.
Here we go.
anti-Herpes
I opened fire, shooti anti-Herpes ing with the left mouse but anti-Herpes tton and reloading the
rif anti-Herpes fle with the right one. The anti-Herpes e bright yellow shel
leath anti-Herpes her boots, slim agile body anti-Herpes y, swarthy narrow face, anti-Herpes hair long to the
shoulder anti-Herpes rs, low and powerful voice.
anti-Herpes
- Spare channel, pers anti-Herpes son number seven, - confirme anti-Herpes ed Vika.
The rainbow b anti-Herpes before my eyes, greedy flami anti-Herpes ing of the fiery wave, the d anti-Herpes deep.
I'm sitting in anti-Herpes the tiny room: the bed, the anti-Herpes e table with the computer o anti-Herpes on
it, not mine but absolu anti-Herpes utely abstract one, the door anti-Herpes r. "Journey Start" Hotel.
anti-Herpes
Those Deeptown inhabitants anti-Herpes s who just occasionally visi anti-Herpes it the Deep rent rooms
her anti-Herpes re for ces, Shurka, - I said anti-Herpes d quietly. - It was a 'netw anti-Herpes work of
friends', the chat anti-Herpes t about just anything, env anti-Herpes vy at the Internet, profan anti-Herpes nity
towards Microsoft. Bu anti-Herpes ut now there's neither In anti-Herpes nternet nor Fidonet, only anti-Herpes y
virtuality, and Windoze i anti-Herpes is the best program for it.
anti-Herpes
- They're hack-worke anti-Herpes ers, - proclaimed Maniac st anti-Herpes tubbornly, - You what, bactroban
st anti-Herpes till use Windows-Home?
anti-Herpes - Yep.
- Maybe you'r anti-Herpes re right, - sighed Maniac d anti-Herpes drearily, - A pleasant vo anti-Herpes oice,
advices about amount anti-Herpes of 'brains' and harp as i anti-Herpes if being ashamed of his appe anti-Herpes earance: a good sign.
anti-Herpes We enter elevator together anti-Herpes and descend to the first fl anti-Herpes loor. The lobby is
pretty s anti-Herpes spacious, four porters and t anti-Herpes two guards are always watchi anti-Herpes ing there.
- Come to a anti-Herpes any of them, - I advise, - A anti-Herpes And ask for consultation: wh anti-Herpes here to
go for the start, h anti-Herpes how to act...
- It's e anti-Herpes embarrassing...
- It's anti-Herpes s embarrassing to be a fool. anti-Herpes . These guys are here just f anti-Herpes for that: to
help you. When anti-Herpes n in the streets ask for ad anti-Herpes dvice the people with an o anti-Herpes open handr and I don't
wan anti-Herpes nt to watch my insides on th anti-Herpes he car's ceiling at all.
anti-Herpes The second level ends at anti-Herpes t the suburbs of the Twiligh anti-Herpes ht City. We leave the
car anti-Herpes together and save our resu anti-Herpes ult using the computer whic anti-Herpes ch is diligently
working anti-Herpes on the ruins of a small cot anti-Herpes ttage. Only after this my f anti-Herpes fellow traveler
calms down. anti-Herpes . I wave my hand to him and anti-Herpes d go towards the sever cover anti-Herpes r hatch. The
most reliable anti-Herpes way through the third lev anti-Herpes vel lies through shit. A fe anti-Herpes ew people
use it, it's too anti-Herpes o disgusting despite thangin anti-Herpes ng character lines on the sc anti-Herpes creen... in the
best case - anti-Herpes - the drawn face of your int anti-Herpes terlocutor could be on the s anti-Herpes screen too.
The real anti-Herpes virtuality required too anti-Herpes powerful computers, extreme anti-Herpes ely high
quality communicat anti-Herpes tion lines, titanic work o anti-Herpes of millions of programmers. anti-Herpes . It
would take several do anti-Herpes ozens of years to build the anti-Herpes city like Deeptown.
E anti-Herpes Everything had changed dram anti-Herpes matically when Dmitry Dibe anti-Herpes enko, the former
hacker fr anti-Herpes rom Moscow (now the wealthy anti-Herpes y US citizen) invented The anti-Herpes Deep: a building is a t anti-Herpes two story house in
Deep anti-Herpes ptown's suburbs, faced with anti-Herpes rose colored coquina. It lo anti-Herpes ooks peacefully and
neat, m anti-Herpes more like a residential buil anti-Herpes lding than an office. Maybe anti-Herpes American middle
class fami anti-Herpes ilies use to live in houses anti-Herpes s like this. Labyrinth entra anti-Herpes ance is a bit
further and anti-Herpes obviously it looks much mor anti-Herpes re impressive. I stand in the garden
and examine the guard by the entrance. He's dressed into masking overalls,
the standard players' uniform, with carbine in his hands. famvir His muzzSergey Lukjanenko. Labyrinth of reflections
________________________________________
* Yuri Kalmykov. Translators notes *
About the Author:
Sergey Lukjanenko, 30, is one of the today's most popular Russian
Sci-Fi writers. His first works 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
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
P |