| ight, - sighed Maniac drearily, - A pleasan cholesterol nt voice,
advices about amount cholesterol of 'brains' and hardware quali cholesterol ity... Pah!. No need to
think a cholesterol at all, just drag the arrow along cholesterol g the screen and gaze at the picc cholesterol cies.
- And what about you? cholesterol ? Still fooling with 'poluos' '? cholesterol {OS/2: 'half-os'}
- Why ' cholesterol 'fooling'?!, - said Maniac with i cholesterol indignation, - It's the best OS
cholesterol
if not to count UNIX! I've inst cholesterol talled the new version 2 days ago cholesterol o, it rocks!
- I hear this cholesterol cordarone every time I visit you, - I sai cholesterol id, - than from our enemies. W cholesterol We're too
valuable merchandise: cholesterol : a depth fish, freaks shimmering cholesterol g with a magic glow, any
shark d cholesterol dreams to try our taste...
cholesterol - Did you manage to get the appl cholesterol le out? - asks Roman.
- It' cholesterol 's fine, - I fling my jacket open cholesterol n and flop on the shirt's pocket, cholesterol , -
the trade article's in place cholesterol e.
The Werewolf relaxes a l cholesterol little.
- What about the bu cholesterol uyer?
I check my watch:
cholesterol - In ten minutes. At the rive cholesterol er bank nearby.
- Let's go? cholesterol ? - Roman takes his glass.
ke app cholesterol pears and starts widening. Som cholesterol me
guards run into it and 'drow cholesterol wn', disappear without a trace. cholesterol Others stop on
the bank helpl cholesterol lessly. All comm channels are bl cholesterol locked completely in this area
o cholesterol of virtuality. It'll be impossibl cholesterol le to pass here for at least two cholesterol more hours,
then the lake will cholesterol dry.
- Where have you got cholesterol these thingies? - asks the wolf. cholesterol .
- From Maria The Skill cholesterol lful, - I answer after a second cholesterol of hesitation.
Honestly, it was cholesterol s that nickname that gave me an cholesterol idea of todayhed us quick, gues cholesterol st, - says the bald one. He has cholesterol s a friendly
face of an Arabic g cholesterol guard from the production of "Sin cholesterol ndbad The Sailor" done for
kids. cholesterol . The second one looks grotes cholesterol squely Arabic too, but is muc cholesterol ch more
sinister, he flashes hi cholesterol is eyes and holds the sword hand cholesterol dle tightly. Oh great,
the only cholesterol thing I ever missed is the battl cholesterol le virus in my computer.
- cholesterol The others were slower?
- cholesterol Nobody ever crossed this bridge cholesterol e before, - kindly informs me the cholesterol e bald
guard, - It's impossible cholesterol fouality. It means nothing t cholesterol though. Some companies, like Mic cholesterol crosoft for
instance offer whole cholesterol e palaces for their employees to cholesterol o work: it's cheap and
effect cholesterol tive. Some others do with such pu cholesterol uny little rooms that one can wo cholesterol onder -
what is virtuality here cholesterol for at all.
Obviously Al-K cholesterol Kabar is one of those. I peek in cholesterol nto the window of the low
stone cholesterol e building that we pass by.
cholesterol Equipment... too unfamiliar on cholesterol ne to identify, several people cholesterol e by the
tables. One of them ho cholesterol olds a test-tube in hist and put cholesterol t it on the table, by the
keyboa cholesterol ard. The familiar woman's face ap cholesterol ppeared on the monitor.
- L cholesterol Lenia, are you interrupting t cholesterol the immersion? - came out of cholesterol f the
speakers.
- No. Hold cholesterol d on.
In the real world my cholesterol y room is the same as in the v cholesterol virtual space. The
difference i cholesterol is though: it's not a warm Deep cholesterol ptown's summer evening behind the cholesterol e
windows but the rainy St. Pete cholesterol erburgh autumn. It's drizzling ou cholesterol utside, the car
honks in the dis cholesterol stance. I opened the fridge and cholesterol took a caandrians are probably cholesterol y right: we have turned the virtu cholesterol ual world into
the parody of the cholesterol e real one, but parodies are neve cholesterol er better than the original,
the cholesterol eir goal is different: to mock it cholesterol t, to show its awkwardness and st cholesterol tupidity.
But we can't chan cholesterol nge the world, and this parody ma cholesterol akes no sense. It's not
a dash f cholesterol forward but just a step aside.
cholesterol - Vika...
- Yes Lenia? cholesterol ?
- Stop me a cab...
cholesterol - Okay.
Maybe it's worthy cholesterol to ride around the city, or to g cholesterol go to an entertainment
center.y. cholesterol .
I mumble, - Ignore it, - cholesterol watching the man that walks alo cholesterol ong the street.
Gee, this is s cholesterol something! The mixture of young cholesterol ger Arnold Shwarzenegger and
ol cholesterol lder Clint Eastwood. Very funny. cholesterol The man notices my sarcastic cholesterol c look and
walks faster.
cholesterol I raise my hand and the yello cholesterol ow limo stops by the sidewal cholesterol lk in an
instant.
- Lenia, cholesterol , your complaint was ignored!
cholesterol - Nevermind...
This can cholesterol n go forever, but I have no time cholesterol for games now... I get into the
cholesterol
car, the driver, - Very good. cholesterol . Spend 15 minutes to talk to t cholesterol the porter and you'll save
much cholesterol h more. Happy sailing!
- Ha cholesterol appy sailing! - says admired novi cholesterol ice behind me. It's so nice to be cholesterol e an
old-timer...
I wink cholesterol to the porter and nod towards ' cholesterol 'Stallone' in case he'll cholesterol be too
cholesterol
shy to ask for help himself and cholesterol d leave the hotel. I raise my han cholesterol nd and the cab
stops immediately cholesterol y: this is not reality...
- cholesterol - Deep-Transit is glad to welcome cholesterol coumadin e you, Gunslinger! - says the dri cholesterol iver.
- To "Labyrinth of De cholesterol eath", though in order to sett cholesterol tle the
scores with me but in th cholesterol he deep he would be extremely pol cholesterol lite.
I've never seen the cholesterol Medal with my own eyes before. cholesterol I know that Dmitry
Dibenko rec cholesterol ceived the same one in his time cholesterol e: for the creation of the deep cholesterol p
itself.
One must accompl cholesterol lish something vitally importan cholesterol nt for all virtual space
for any cholesterol y of his actions to be considered cholesterol d right from now on.
- It w cholesterol will wait for you on this table, cholesterol - says Man Without Face, - You'l cholesterol ll
get it... in case of yog to o cholesterol our
code.
For the first ti cholesterol ime I admit that I'm diver. Har cholesterol rdly my interlocutor had
any dou cholesterol ubt about that though.
- O cholesterol One problem have arose in "Labyri cholesterol inth"... and those two can't man cholesterol nage
it... - Man Without Face be cholesterol ends across the table, takes a pi cholesterol iece of paper and
writes the cholesterol short address. He does right tha cholesterol at doesn't try to give me the
cholesterol
business card, I'd never take a cholesterol a file from him. - These are my cholesterol coordinates.
After you visit " cholesterol "Labyrinth", offer your service t cholesterol to the managemeon all their troub cholesterol bles and quarrels.
- Hi, - cholesterol I said.
- Lenia, do you ha cholesterol ave cigarettes?
I'm at leas cholesterol st 15 years older than him, but cholesterol these guys keep me as almost
on cholesterol ne of their age, maybe because I cholesterol I'm not married and empty beer ca cholesterol ans prevail
in my garbage.
cholesterol - Hold on.
I'm not smokin cholesterol ng myself, but there's always a cholesterol pack or two of cigarettes
at ho cholesterol ome for
visiting hackers. Smoki cholesterol ing is their professional trait. cholesterol The guy waited by the door patie cholesterol ently
while I put the canister o cholesterol on nfuse an unaccustomed Western
cholesterol
reader, and b). to explain the cholesterol e names in the novel for those w cholesterol who managed to
overcome the conf cholesterol fusion. {G}
And the last th cholesterol hing:
5). Any feedback wi cholesterol ill be greatly appreciated! Any cholesterol questions/opinions
are welcome cholesterol to mohatu@ameritech.net. Hate ma cholesterol ail/flames will be ignored. Thank cholesterol k
you!
______________________ cholesterol ___________________
cholesterol
"Labyrinth of Reflections" by cholesterol Sergey Lukjanenko
* PA cholesterol ART 1. The Diver *
0
cholesterol I want to close m underwat cholesterol ter and they both vanished in
t cholesterol the fiery swirl.
I crawled cholesterol d out of the pool leaning upon t cholesterol the boiled monster's body and
l cholesterol looked into the crater. Nothin cholesterol ng was left there, the guy's p cholesterol plasma gun's
energy cells had de cholesterol etonated.
- I'm the Gunsli cholesterol inger, - I say anyway. It had b cholesterol become a ritual already
and I li cholesterol ike good traditions.
ot yours... cholesterol .
The car's interior is on cholesterol the helmet's screens. Wow, draw cholesterol wn great: this
is well recogniz cholesterol zable sporty 'Lancia'.
I la cholesterol aid my hands on the keyboard, t cholesterol typed in several commands, pres cholesterol ssed
Enter.
It worked.
cholesterol deep
Enter
I'm i cholesterol in the car again. The driver loo cholesterol oks back at me cautiously. I spi cholesterol in
the revolver in my hand tho cholesterol oughtfully: it's loaded again, an cholesterol nd the pocket is
weighed down by cholesterol y a grenade.
- The parcel w cholesterol was received? - asks the driver.
cholesterol
Now
'frozen' computer, a cholesterol glitching program, an acescent cholesterol beer, a trolleybus that
had lef cholesterol ft the stop just at the moment cholesterol you arrived... In this case - su cholesterol uch an
intense pursuit. We do cholesterol on't have time to copy the d cholesterol data from the apple
comfortably cholesterol y and to dissolve in the thin cholesterol n air afterwards. We must run an cholesterol nd
tangle our traces.
My p cholesterol partner in the wolf's hide can do cholesterol o it perfectly.
We rush a cholesterol across the desert, then turn i cholesterol into the forest. The blurry
sh cholesterol hadows run behind - the guardsa s cholesterol step away, then
stops, - Tell me cholesterol e... how is coreg it: to be a diver?
cholesterol - It's very simple, - repl cholesterol lies Roman, - One just needs to cholesterol o know that
everything around i cholesterol is just a game, a fantasy.
cholesterol Shellerbach nods and pulls his h cholesterol hands apart:
- I can't, ala cholesterol as...
He walks away along cholesterol g the path, we watch him leaving cholesterol g. Then I fill our
goblets:
cholesterol - For the luck!
Roman cholesterol obviously haven't yet understo cholesterol ood the scale of what have just cholesterol t
happened, he silently looks at cholesterol t the goblet in hiers
and monst cholesterol ters. In order to win one must cholesterol reach the 50th level, the ancie cholesterol ent
cathedral in the downtown a cholesterol and to destroy the alien ruler. I cholesterol It's very hard. I
did it before cholesterol but since then "Labyrinth" have cholesterol e changed at least ten times:
cholesterol
new buildings, weapons and mons cholesterol sters were added. And of course, cholesterol , new players
have arrived: game cholesterol e addicts who can't imagine their cholesterol r lives without shooting on
the cholesterol streets of Twilight City.
cholesterol It's an interesting game, m cholesterol mainly because it requires c cholesterol consta deep on.
Fiery spa cholesterol arks before my eyes. Yes, cholesterol do I abuse turning the
su cholesterol ubconsciousness on-off today. cholesterol Severe headache, heartbeat an cholesterol nd general
feel-down are guaran cholesterol nteed tomorrow. Nevermind. Good i cholesterol if I manage to live until
tomorr cholesterol row at all.
And here are th cholesterol he welcomers - now in the normal cholesterol human form.
- You reached cholesterol us quick, guest, - says the bald cholesterol d one. He has a friendly
face cholesterol of an Arabic guard from the prod cholesterol duction of "Sindbad The Sailor" d cholesterol done for
kids. The seco comes cholesterol through and falls down under the cholesterol e
wall.
- Do you want me t cholesterol to calm you down?
His voice cholesterol e is ice cold and doesn't promise cholesterol e anything good.
I sit down cholesterol n on the floor, squeeze my head w cholesterol with hands and whisper:
- A cholesterol Assholes... Fucking assholes..
cholesterol - We don't care about your p cholesterol pranks in the Deep, diver. The th cholesterol heft is bad,
but it was high tim cholesterol me for Urman to get knocked on th cholesterol he nose.
I'm whining quietl cholesterol ly, rocking from side to side.
cholesterol Man Without Face ignores my cholesterol performance.
Sergey Lukjanenko. cholesterol Labyrinth of reflections
__ cholesterol _________________________________ cholesterol _______
* Yuri Kalmykov. Tr cholesterol ranslators notes *
About th cholesterol he Author:
Sergey Lukjan cholesterol nenko, 30, is one of the today cholesterol cozaar y's most popular Russian
Sci-F cholesterol Fi writers. His first works w cholesterol were published in 1988. Curren cholesterol ntly his
bibliography includes m cholesterol more than 40 titles of novels and cholesterol d short stories. The
Author de cholesterol efines 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
Petrovna Alekseevna - women's.
Also, the last names of the Russian origin are gender specific too. To
women's form the ending -a is usu |