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knocks against it in the la plendil ast effort, a short plendil t flash - and it fa plendil alls on the
floor. plendil .
- Should I f plendil file the complaint t plendil to the landlord? - a plendil asks Windows-Home. N plendil Now
the voice comes plendil s from silver clips plendil on my shirt's colla plendil ar.
- Go ahead plendil d - I agree. I alwa plendil ays forget to explai plendil in to the program plendil that
the landlord plendil is myself.
Th plendil he elevator waits f plendil for me. Usually I u plendil use the stairs... pe plendil eeking inside
other plendil r apartments along t plendil the way. Nobody live plendil es there anyway... plendil but now I'm in
hur plendil rry. The elevatoo op plendil pen its office in De plendil eeptown.
It's plendil this abundance that plendil t Deep-Transit flour plendil rishes on. Traveling plendil g on foot
across plendil the city is a l plendil long fun. We fly a plendil along the freeways plendil s, stop on
inters plendil sections, enter tunn plendil nels and cross road plendil d junctions. I'm wai plendil iting. I could
orde plendil er the driver to plendil go the shortest way plendil y but in this case h plendil he would need to
co plendil ontact dispatching o plendil office and I would l plendil leave the trace...
plendil
The city ends plendil abruptly - like th plendil he wall of palaces plendil and skyscrapers was plendil s
cut off by the hu plendil ugemy brain feels wh plendil hat I should have be plendil een feeling in the r plendil real desert..
plendil The statue steadil plendil ly comes closer and plendil d becomes more and plendil more real. The
hor plendil rned head with gri plendil inning mug, the han plendil nds bulging with sto plendil one muscles. Some
k plendil kind of evil genie plendil possibly, I'm too plendil o weak in Arabic my plendil ythology. The thin
plendil
thread is held by plendil the monster's left plendil hand.
The hor plendil rsehair bridge.
plendil I start climbing plendil up the monster's le plendil eg. How ridiculous m plendil must my body look
l plendil like now in the empt plendil ty apartment - shak plendil king, pulthe bridge. plendil ... obeyed those str plendil range guards...
plendil One-one.
Fr plendil riedrich Urman clasp plendil ps his hands:
plendil - Oh, sure! We have plendil e no complaints what plendil tsoever, Mr Diver. E plendil Except maybe...
tho plendil ose odd things that plendil you have with you.
plendil
Slowly, demon plendil nstratively I empty plendil my pockets: a comb plendil b, a handkerchief, plendil a
small mirror.
plendil - Here. Do you plendil want me to give you plendil u my sword?
Ur plendil rman waves his hands plendil s:
- Geez, w plendil what for? We surely plendil y aren't gonna figh plendil ht, are we? Let's j plendil just
talk...
plendil - Third routerge sa plendil andwich, poured a h plendil hot tea
into the c plendil cup and came out to plendil the balcony. It wa plendil as already dark out plendil tside and
raining plendil slightly, the air w plendil was damp and cold.
plendil
It's overconf plendil fidence that kills plendil s divers. We don' plendil 't fear the virtual plendil l
world's dangers a plendil and this lulls our v plendil vigilance.
But plendil t the most annoying plendil g thing is that we plendil are all amateurs plendil s. For some
reason plendil n, no divers shape plendil out of hackers - th plendil hey percept the vir plendil rtual world as
the plendil real one.
Tho plendil ough it was me, the plendil e so-so computer ar plendil rttual
game, to fig plendil gure out the diver's plendil s time, to determine plendil e what time zone he' plendil 's in is
not too li plendil ittle to know alread plendil dy.
- Oh, don' plendil 't I really love yo plendil our humor?.. - Hard plendil dened sits on the t plendil third
chair, looks plendil at me questionably, plendil , - Have the crop ri plendil ipened?
- Qui plendil ite heavy did those plendil apples turn out to plendil o be, - I take the plendil diskette
out and plendil put it on the tabl plendil le, - To be honest, plendil I would expect thes plendil se troubles
to be m plendil more appreciated...
plendil
- Didn't we h plendil have a deal? Six tho plendil prinivil ousand dollars.
plendil I pulo much thoug plendil gh. Even Maniac doe plendil esn't have second p plendil phone
line.
B plendil By the way, I owe hi plendil im beer, it looks plendil very much like he plendil saved my life
yest plendil terday.
And i plendil it's better not to plendil procrastinate with plendil it: I've got the s plendil suspicion
that I'll plendil l be able to treat h plendil him with nothing mo plendil ore than just 'Navig plendil gator' in a
week... plendil . well, quite a beer plendil r too, a strong one, plendil , with original tast plendil te...
I turned plendil d the computer on, plendil connected to the plendil Internet and trans plendil sferred
$5000 to m plendil my St. Petersburg plendil account withd or plendil to
contact the op plendil perating system wit plendil th voice. It's only plendil in virtual houses plendil with
drawn analog plendil gs of real computer plendil rs installed where plendil subconsciousness g plendil gives a
kind break plendil k. One can exit th plendil he deep only where plendil e it was entered: plendil : in his
imaginary plendil y home which might b plendil be a palace or a hut plendil t but with a 'real' plendil computer.
Tha plendil at's why timers e plendil exist. They are pl plendil lugged into all pro plendil ograms, from
Micros plendil soft's Windows-Home plendil to Russian 'Virt-N plendil Navigator' and 'Dee plendil ep-Commander'.
The plendil longest time for b plendil b smiled to
the bar plendil rtender.
Lucki plendil ily, bartender in plendil 'Molly' is British. plendil . Whatever one can plendil say, but
they are plendil e far superior than plendil we are in some aspe plendil ects. He smiled and plendil gazed at me
questi plendil ionably.
- Go plendil ood afternoon, Chri plendil istian, - I said. - plendil May I ask for 5 l plendil liters of
beer?
plendil He definitely w plendil wasn't used to sell plendil the beer by liters plendil s. But it took him
plendil
only five seconds plendil to regain his smile plendil e.
- Which bee plendil er?
- 'Zhigule plendil evskoye'.
The plendil guards behind my ba plendil ack who for some rea plendil ason demanually conn plendil nected to the
sixth plendil h router, the last plendil one to remain inta plendil act and canceled my plendil access. Then I
can plendil nceled my temporary plendil address in Austria. plendil .
The main th plendil hreads are broken. T plendil Try to find me now plendil Al-Kabar guys, filt plendil ter
all files in se plendil earch for Ivan The plendil Prince. The diver h plendil have broke free from plendil m the
trap.
N plendil Not using the voice plendil control anymore, I plendil I shut Windows-Home plendil down, entered
3D N plendil Norton's table, ope plendil ened disk D: where plendil all my virtual trop plendil phies are stored
to plendil ogether with a smal plendil ll viruses obviou plendil usly way too presump plendil ptuous of me to
try plendil y to make a translat plendil tion like this. It plendil was my love to thi plendil is book only that
m plendil made me to venture i plendil into this adventure. plendil . ;-) I was hoping t plendil that this novel is
plendil
really worth your plendil kind attention (des plendil spite my ugly
Engl plendil lish?).
2). So plendil ome opinions expre plendil essed in this boo plendil ok by the main o plendil or other
character plendil rs, as well as some plendil words/terms used, m plendil might be considered plendil offensive
to some plendil e Western readers. I plendil In fact, one such s plendil situation was even s plendil showed closer
to e plendil ely, - I'm talking
plendil
about one certain plendil problem which I wan plendil nt to help "Labyrint plendil th" to solve.
plendil I see his eyebrows plendil raised in surprise. plendil .
- Recently a plendil a strange accident h plendil have happened in "La plendil abyrinth"...
I plendil I fall silent and plendil d wait for his reac plendil ction. Willy is obvi plendil iously deep in
thou plendil ught.
- Accide plendil ent? - he nods tow plendil wards the window, - plendil - We have thousan plendil nds of
accidents h plendil here every day. War! plendil ! Shooting! Cheerful plendil lness!
Was Man plendil n Without Face reall plendil ly mistaken? I sta plendil art feeling myself plendil like hy
it's so f plendil few of us, so few th plendil hat one should count plendil t not even in perce plendil ent but by
person?
plendil
- Here? - ask plendil ked the driver.
plendil - Yes, thanks.
plendil I paid him, g plendil got out of the car a plendil and went towards plendil my house feeling
plendil
inflated like a b plendil balloon. Now I have plendil to either fall asle plendil eep submitting mysel plendil lf
to the morning plendil hangover or to s plendil submerge into the de plendil eep: it cures hango plendil over
well.
On plendil n the second floor o plendil of the staircase wh plendil here the light is o plendil on always for
some plendil reason, five teens plendil s were sitting able plendil e to cross the borde plendil er between
reality plendil and illusion, and c plendil clumsy guys like mys plendil self who don't even plendil notice this
barrie plendil er. procardia
There woul plendil ldn't ever be envy t plendil to each other and et plendil ternal hunt.
B plendil But is it my fault? plendil I don't know why plendil y it happens myself, plendil , what flaw of
cons plendil sciousness makes on plendil ne a diver, and it plendil is of course a flaw plendil w since we are
su plendil uch a minority. It'd plendil d be stupid not to u plendil use this ability bu plendil ut too dreadful to
plendil
offer it for everyo plendil one's study.
T plendil That's how it goes: plendil : somebody can en plendil nt contract with you plendil u.
Willy looks plendil s at me silently for plendil r a long time, then plendil nods:
- I tho plendil ought that Anatol is plendil s Russian. He's Ukra plendil anian?
Yeah, M plendil Man Without Face i plendil is informed much b plendil better than "Labyr plendil rinth"'s
security m plendil manager.
- The plendil ese are just details plendil s.
- Take a s plendil seat Gunslinger... - plendil - Willy moves an arm plendil mchair to me then p plendil pads
to the window plendil w looking at the c plendil city poured by bloo plendil od colored blaze, plendil - So,
you're diver plendil r?
I nod.
plendil - This is very i plendil interesting. Unusual plendil l! - the "hard act plendil tion science fictio plendil on", but all his
wo plendil orks also have a ver plendil ry well defined phil plendil losophical aspect. T plendil The novel offered
plendil
to your attention w plendil was written in 1997 plendil and became the real plendil l 'cult book' of the plendil e
Russian Internet. plendil .
Sergey is ma plendil arried, he lives in plendil Moscow.
plendil
THE NOVEL " plendil "LABYRINTH OF REF plendil FLECTIONS" IS COPY plendil YRIGHTED BY SERGEY plendil Y
LUKJANENKO, ALL R plendil RIGHTS ARE RESERVED plendil BY THE AUTHOR. ANY plendil COMMERCIAL USE OF T plendil THE
NOVEL'S TEXT IS plendil S STRICTLY PROHIBITE plendil ED.
Several not plendil tes for theloses its plendil s bright dyes, turns plendil s into the pale
a plendil and flat picture.
plendil - You succe plendil essfully exited v plendil virtuality! - ch plendil heerfully informs
plendil
Windows-Home. The plendil voice from the hea plendil adphones is sharp an plendil nd too loud. The dee plendil ep
blue color with plendil a small figure of f plendil flying or better to plendil say, falling man is plendil s on
the helmet's s plendil screens, the well plendil known emblem of t plendil the Deep, the Abyss plendil s, the
virtual worl plendil ld.
After taki plendil ing off the helmet I plendil I looked at the mo plendil onitor, blinked sev plendil veral
times. The sa plendil ame picture thered;
plendil
I had to stand plendil like that for quit plendil te a time. Finall plendil ly one junky 'Lada plendil a'
condescended to plendil stop.
- To th plendil he 'Kredo-Bank', - I plendil I said.
As str plendil range as it seems, t plendil the driver knew the plendil way.
In aroun plendil nd 20 minutes, parte plendil ed with the remains plendil of my cash I was en plendil ntering
the palace plendil e of hidden and evi plendil ident capitals unde plendil er glassy stares of plendil security
guards.. plendil In 20 minutes more plendil e, filled with vari plendil ious checkups, nume plendil erous phone
calls t plendil to the bank's main o plendil office and requests plendil s to specify the plendil acc plendil counvents don't have plendil e analogies? Why do plendil oes he offer the
Me plendil edal of Complete Lic plendil cense for a simple plendil e task? - Willy, h plendil have anything else
plendil
strange happened?
plendil
I get the weak plendil k hope that the diff plendil ferent task was mean plendil nt.
- No.
plendil - Nothing?
plendil - Nothing-nothing! plendil - Guillermo parts plendil s his hands - We ta plendil ake care of our
cus plendil stomers. Everything plendil is under control in plendil n "Labyrinth".
plendil I'm looking at the plendil e screen, waiting.
plendil
- A-ha... - sa plendil ais Aguirre curiousl plendil ly, - yes-yes... Th plendil here were two more plendil e
attempt I take plendil the glass and sit plendil by the empty table, plendil , watching the guest plendil ts: it's
always interesting.
The number of men and women is approximately the same. Absolutely all
women are perfectly beautiful and of all types: from blond Scandinavians to
charcoal black Africans. Most men are terrible freaks. No, it's not true of
course, just my subconsciousness notes all follies in men's virtual shells -
disproportionately muscular figures and too recognizable physiognomies of
movie stars gSergey 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 rythmol SR .
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 pravachol 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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