| than an office. Maybe Americ atacand can middle
class fa atacand amilies use to live atacand in houses like thi atacand is. Labyrinth entran atacand nce is a bit
furthe atacand er and obviously it atacand t looks much more im atacand mpressive. I stand i atacand in the garden
and atacand examine the guard atacand atacand by the entrance. H atacand He's dressed into ma atacand asking overalls,
th atacand he standard player atacand rs' uniform, with ca atacand arbine in his hands atacand s. His muzzle has
atacand
absolutely 'impenet atacand trable' expression, atacand he stands motionles atacand ss like a statue. Is atacand s
he a human or atacand not? It's foolish atacand h to ask, at lea atacand ast because one let atacand tting us in.
I atacand It's really a wareho atacand ouse.
Lots of atacand shelves along the atacand walls, boxes with atacand colorful labels of atacand famous
manufacture atacand ers. Tons of good m atacand merchandise. This pl atacand lace is either an o atacand office of
the big d atacand dealer or the thieve atacand es' hiding, which se atacand eems to be more like atacand ely.
The doors atacand s are unblocked alre atacand eady, now the car's atacand function is perform atacand med by
the walls of atacand f this building. I s atacand still have no connec atacand ction to Vika.
atacand - So? - I ask gett atacand ting out of 'Lancia' atacand ', - What the hell d atacand do you want?
T atacand Theeresting in the d atacand deep. Even if it was atacand s yet not available atacand to everybody,
inte atacand ellectual elite swor atacand re it's allegiance t atacand to the new Empire.
atacand
To the Deep. Blood Pressure
atacand
11
It atacand was midnight when atacand n I finally cleane atacand ed the computer up atacand p from the
postcar atacand rd virus and packed atacand the bagged file (in atacand n virtuality it'll l atacand look like the
ordin atacand nary diskette now) atacand ). The head stop atacand pped aching and t atacand the sleepiness
dis atacand sappeared completely atacand y. No Deeptown inhab atacand bitant sleeps at nig atacand ght, right?
- atacand Vika, restart, - I atacand commandely
found a atacand and their end is mou atacand urnful.
Like U atacand Unfortunate's.
atacand It's impossible to atacand o pass "Labyrinth o atacand of Death" in a sing atacand gle attempt, one
ca atacand an't just have stren atacand ngth for that. The d atacand drowsiness retreats atacand in virtuality but
atacand
there are the limit atacand ts of stamina anyway atacand y. That's why player atacand rs get access to the atacand e
game menu at th atacand he end of each level atacand l where there's an atacand option to save the atacand eir
coordinates and atacand d to exit to the out atacand ter deep, to exit in atacand n order to return la atacand ater.
But some atacand etimes there are op atacand ptimists that dssed atacand "Labyrinth" previo atacand ously. They have re atacand ecords on all
leve atacand els, in all dangerou atacand us places. They nee atacand ed just a couple of atacand minutes to get
wh atacand here they need.
atacand Great beginning.. atacand ..
- How much atacand time does it requir atacand re to reach the 33rd atacand d level?
- Fro atacand om 25 hours to infin atacand nity.
What was atacand s Man Without Face atacand counting on anyway? atacand ? If "Labyrinth"'s atacand divers
fail to get atacand t Unfortunate out in atacand n 24 hours it means atacand it's impossible at atacand all...
Guille atacand ermo is silent watch atacand hing me.
- Can atacand n I get level maps a atacand atge') - Unceremoni atacand ious address, a bi atacand it
slighting. Often atacand n used by close frie atacand ends without any off atacand fensive context.
atacand ... and so on. atacand No more forms are u atacand used in the book, so atacand o I'd better not
atacand
confuse you any mor atacand re.
Another tr atacand rick is how the name atacand es are formed n gene atacand eral. In particular, atacand , the
concept of t atacand the middle name in atacand Russia. It is not ' atacand 'given', but rather atacand is the
father's na atacand ame. To be used as atacand s a middle name, sp atacand pecial endings are a atacand attached:
-ovich, atacand -evich for man's m atacand middle name (yeah, atacand they as surprise t atacand to greedy hands of t atacand the
virus creator, atacand then opened the fri atacand idge, took out bread atacand d and sausage and m atacand moved
to the kitche atacand en to set the teapo atacand ot on the stove. It' atacand 'll take Maniac at atacand least
half an hou atacand ur to examine the vi atacand irus. For the first atacand ten minutes he'll b atacand break it,
then for atacand 20 minutes more he atacand e'll admire its stru atacand ucture, will laugh atacand looking at
unsucce atacand essful solutions and atacand d frown finding some atacand e ideas he missed hi atacand imself. Right
since atacand e the Moscow Convent atacand tion that resigned atacand with the inevitable atacand e and legalizew that atacand t. It's a shame to c atacand confess but I never
atacand
visited those 'est atacand tablishments' before atacand e.
- So well.. atacand .. I decided to wai atacand it for half an hour, atacand , - went Maniac on w atacand with
his story, - B atacand But you wouldn't jus atacand st hang there alone atacand like stupid, right? atacand ? So I
called for o atacand one girl... we were atacand just sitting, drin atacand nking beer... 'Guinn atacand ness'! -
confessed atacand Maniac in a sudd atacand den frank manner, - atacand - Well, and... so atacand omehow it
happened atacand d... and in the very atacand y interesting moment atacand t - THWAP! a hit on atacand my mug! The
girl atacand kisses me but I f atacand f. The towers of Al- atacand -Kabar are alluring atacand and unreachable in atacand the distance.
atacand Abyss-abyss... I'm atacand m not yours...
atacand I closed and opene atacand ed back my eyes. The atacand e picture is before atacand me: the chasm,
th atacand he thread, the buil atacand ldings in the dista atacand ance. Just funny... atacand Looking where I
atacand
step, I started to atacand shift my feet along atacand g the thread careful atacand lly.
It's just atacand t a picture. It's no atacand o gravity there, the atacand e drawn body can't h atacand have a
center of g atacand gravity. Just step o atacand on the thread and e atacand everything will be atacand okay...
Funny thi atacand ing, asrs. Many
ne atacand ew, much more perf atacand fect and beautiful atacand games appear but th atacand he old one retains
atacand
crowds of fans too. atacand .
And there a atacand are three exception atacand ns that are alive atacand since the pre-virtu atacand ual
era: 'Doom', 'C atacand C&C' and 'Mortal Com atacand mbat'. They have cha atacand anged dozens of time atacand es of
course but th atacand hese were more cosme atacand etics than real chan atacand nges.
'C&C' is atacand s a strategic game, atacand , it's virtual spac atacand ce is the whole plan atacand net. On
this humble atacand e target range those atacand e never-to-be Napol atacand leons and Zhukovs e atacand eternally
fight for atacand r the world's, nois atacand sy and messy. This capoten atacand park looks very mu atacand uch like
'People's atacand culture park' of t atacand the 60's. The little atacand e orchestra is playi atacand ing in the
corner, atacand obviously not a re atacand eal one, the people atacand e are sitting on t atacand the benches
drinki atacand ing beer and chattin atacand ng. I sit a little a atacand aside.
The gu atacand uy dressed in jean atacand ns and snow white atacand shirt climbs on th atacand he small
wooden st atacand tage. He's absolute atacand ely featureless. Th atacand he audience glances atacand s at him
lazily.
atacand
- Once Shtirl atacand litz have left his h atacand house... - starts th atacand he guy.
{ A t atacand the former
hacker atacand from Moscow (now th atacand he wealthy US citiz atacand zen) invented The atacand Deep: a tiny
progr atacand ram influencing hu atacand uman subconsciousne atacand ess. They say he wa atacand as crazy about
Cas atacand staneda's books, lik atacand ked to meditate and atacand d smoked grass. I s atacand surely believe in
i atacand it. His former frien atacand nds confess that he atacand e was cynical and l atacand lazy, a sloven and
atacand
very so-so profess atacand sional. In this I do atacand o believe too.
atacand But it was him who atacand o gave rise to the atacand deep. Ten second cl atacand lip displayed on
th atacand he screen is harmles atacand ss by itself. If sho atacand own onst stand still atacand l and wait.
- atacand File transfer compl atacand leted.
Yes! I atacand won!
- Exit, atacand - I order.
- atacand Really? - asks Wind atacand dows-Home.
- Y atacand Yes.
- Exit atacand from virtuality, - atacand - informs the comput atacand ter. The colorful s atacand sparks
flash before atacand e my eyes, the world atacand d loses its bright d atacand dyes, turns into th atacand he pale
and flat p atacand picture.
- Y atacand You successfully atacand exited virtuality atacand y! - cheerfully atacand informs
Windows- atacand -Home. The voice fro atacand om the headphones i atacand is sharp and too lou atacand ud. The deep
blue c atacand color with ags and p atacand palaces, human faces avapro atacand s and machines in al atacand ll detail, just the
atacand
general outline an atacand nd several small rec atacand cognizable hints. Th atacand he brown wall divide atacand ed
into squares is atacand a brick wall. The b atacand blue above is the sk atacand ky. Blue pants - jea atacand ans.
The worl atacand ld submerged and was atacand sn't going to surfa atacand ace back. It was so atacand o much
more interes atacand sting in the deep. E atacand Even if it was yet n atacand not available to eve atacand erybody,
intellectu atacand ual elite swore it's atacand s allegiance to the atacand new Empire.
T atacand To the Deep.
11
atacand
It was m atacand midnight when I ir atacand rl.
I crawled atacand d out of the pool le atacand eaning upon the boi atacand iled monster's body atacand y and
looked into atacand the crater. Nothi atacand ing was left there atacand e, the guy's plasma atacand a gun's
energy cell atacand ls had detonated.
atacand - I'm the Guns atacand slinger, - I say an atacand nyway. It had becom atacand me a ritual already
atacand
and I like good tr atacand raditions.
it dies atacand s... kept
only by a atacand a couple of hundreds atacand s of fans.
Som atacand metimes exceptions h atacand happen - and then th atacand he game lives for y atacand years. Many
new, atacand much more perfect atacand and beautiful game atacand es appear but the ol atacand ld one retains
crow atacand wds of fans too.
atacand And there are atacand three exceptions t atacand that are alive sinc atacand ce the pre-virtual
atacand
era: 'Doom', 'C&C' atacand and 'Mortal Combat' atacand '. They have changed atacand d dozens of times of atacand f
course but these atacand were more cosmetics atacand s than real changes. atacand .
'C&C' is a s atacand strategic game, it atacand t's virtual space to atacand o live without virtu atacand uality if one visite atacand ed it even just once atacand e.
- I don't t atacand think it'll happen.
atacand
The man witho atacand out face throws his atacand cloak open with an atacand experienced strippe atacand er
gesture. There's atacand s a rainbow disk atacand on the inside: a sw atacand wirling glowing spi atacand iral
surrounded by atacand blue.
Oh my. atacand He's from the poli atacand ice himself. At lea atacand ast commissar if he atacand e has a
rainbow ba atacand adge.
- Oh gre atacand eat, go ahead... - I atacand I say in a cheerless atacand s voice, - I knew th atacand hat all
cops are as atacand ss holes, but not to atacand o this extent..
atacand - ng girl sits do atacand own by my side. Blon atacand nd
hair, clean, s atacand slightly dim skin, atacand , a simple white atacand suit, a little gol atacand lden
medallion on atacand her neck: most like atacand ely, a program of atacand some sort. She's p atacand pretty
cute and t atacand thanks God, not r atacand recognizable: either atacand r she designed her atacand face by
herself or atacand r used some rare se atacand een painting as a mo atacand odel or found a cut atacand te but not
too fami atacand iliar face in some m atacand movie.
- Sure atacand e, - I turn to her atacand r. The bartender al atacand lready gives her a g atacand glass of
wine: 'Emp atacand peror', the Chilean atacand one. This - Ivan atacand n The Prince.
atacand Brief pause, then h atacand he smiles, Somebody atacand have explained him. atacand .
- Oh, the Ru atacand ussian tales' hero! atacand Are you Russian you atacand urself?
- Does atacand s it really matter?
atacand
- You're abso atacand olutely right... Wel atacand ll, Mr Diver, as f atacand far as I understand atacand d,
you penetrated o atacand our block illegally. atacand ...
- Oh reall atacand ly?! - I'm in shock. atacand . - To be honest, I atacand I just was looking f atacand for a
job. I saw yo atacand our ad, crossed the atacand bridge... obeyed th atacand hose strange guards. atacand ...
One-one.
atacand
Friedrich Urma atacand an clasps his hanher atacand r is the
father's n atacand name. To be used a atacand as a middle name, s atacand special endings are atacand attached:
-ovich, atacand -evich for man's atacand middle name (yeah, atacand , they are gender atacand specific!),
-ovna, atacand , evna for female's atacand middle name.
atacand Examples: Petrovich atacand h Alekseevich - men' atacand 's
Pet atacand trovna Alekseevna - women's.
Also, the last names of the Russian origin are gender specific too. To
women's form the ending -a is usually attached: Kalmykov for me becomes
Kalmykova for my Mother, as opposed to Sergey 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 calan 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 usually attached: Kalmykov for me becomes
Kalmykov |