| was standing sadly on the balcony. I
unscrewed the cap and sniffed inside: it smelled of soured 'Zhigulevskoe' deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp '
{classic Russian beer ;-) }. I had to wash the canister in cold water, th deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp hen
in hot one, then in cold again. Then I've put it into the bag that st deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp tayed
here from previous apartment owners (I never have time to get r deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp rid of
garbage) and walked out.
My, how much cleaner and neater my deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp y staircase in virtuality is! And
unlike here, no eternal smell of flooded deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp d - and I'm over there.
The thread ends at the crest of the city wall deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp l. The crest is wide and
there's already a couple of people, obviously wait deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ting for me. They're drawn
pretty well - kind of pot-bellied robust guys w deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp with swords on their belts,
one in the turban, and the other just bald. S deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp Stepping on the wall "bricks" I
whisper:
- Vika, turn the deep on.
deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp Fiery sparks before my eyes. Yes, do I abuse turning the
deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp
subconsciousness on-off today. Severe deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp healighted
by red sunset light. deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp Not Deeptown but Twilight City most likely. The table
of "Labyrinth"'s se deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ecurity manager, Mr Guillermo is horseshoe-shaped, three
monitors are inst deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp talled on it, a keyboard and nothing else. Mr Guillermo
himself already deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp rises to meet me, he's aged, lean, very suntanned, dressed
in blinders an deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp nd T-shirt.
- Hello, - he says stretching his hand to me first. - So deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp o you are the
Gunslinger, yes? Call me just Willy.
Okay, let it be Wil deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp lly.
I s
something?
- The car will arrive shortly, - informs Wind deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp dows-Home.
Now I realize that the driver haven't even told the deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp traditional
greeting; that we're moving already even if I haven't told the deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp address.
- It's only one road from here, - says the driver and turns deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp to me with
a smirk. He has a scar on his cheek and decayed teeth. It's n deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp not a program
obviously, it's a real person.
- Stop the car.
- T deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp That's against the rules, - the driver grins steering carered
even with ca deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp artoons, not to mention movies. Thus, the real world is
completely o deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp out of question. One could run around in the drawn labyrinths and
castles, deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp fight with monsters or with his own friends who sit by the
computer deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp rs as well. But even in the worst feverish ravings it was impossible
to con deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp nfuse reality and illusion.
Computer networks allowed people all over t deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp the world to communicate, but
it was nothing more than exchanging character deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp r lines on the screen... iough... Okay. Let's
assume that I offer 150.000 to deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp o the person that tries to steal the file, on
the condition that he agre deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ees to work for us... for the regular, very good
salary.
- What is th deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp hat, cure for cancer? - I ask.
- No. In that case it would be pricele deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ess. It's just a cold reliever,
but very, very effective. We're about to st deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp tart its production but only after
the less effective medicines are sold o deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp out. So, what do you think about my
offer?
- I'd hate to let y transm deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp mit per second, the programs that I have with
me...
Go ahead, do yo deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp our job... Six routers, rented for one single use that
transmit the signa deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp al, and each of them tough enough to break. And in the end
- the commerci deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ial Internet gate in Austria through which I entered
virtuality.
deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp I'll leave the trace but it'll lead to nowhere.
They can break my deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp connection at any moment, kick me out of the block,
but this will give th deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp hem nothing... all thingies-programs ttate Punk or
something?
- The deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp car will arrive shortly, - informs Windows-Home.
Now I realize that deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp t the driver haven't even told the traditional
greeting; that we're mov deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ving already even if I haven't told the address.
- It's only one road deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp from here, - says the driver and turns to me with
a smirk. He has a scar deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp on his cheek and decayed teeth. It's not a program
obviously, it's a real deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp person.
- Stop the car.
- That's against the rules, - the driver deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp r grinat are the program obstacles for you? All
you need to do is just to deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp o concentrate... and off you are, back home... to
disconnect manually.
deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp Um-hmoint-blank, they even have no time to open fire. I change
the charg deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ger and approach the bodies. Their rifles are destroyed by the
bullets. deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp . Pity. One can't go very far with just a gun.
I walk through the build deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ding: the series of empty befouled halls, blood
pools, walls covered by som deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp me desperate slogans and curses... Not a stationan Without Face, -
We're deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp looking for divers everywhere in the deep, and will find many, and
will deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp tell them the same I've told you.
- What's there, in "Labyrinth"? - I deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp I ask turning my gaze away from the
Medal.
- I have no idea. This is deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp what worries me.
I allow myself to smirk, tell me that you don't know. deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ...
- Until now everything that was happening in virtuality had t deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp their
analogies in the real world. Entertainment, business, sc deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp cience,
communicass notes all follies in men's virtual shells -
disproporti deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ionately muscular figures and too recognizable physiognomies of
movie sta deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ars glued to body-builders' bodies.
Exception is made for the women tho deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ough: they all are beautiful.
I take a sip of Gin and lean on the table deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp e relaxed: oh it feels good...
No real bar or restaurant can be compa deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ared with the virtual one. They
always cook great here. You never have to deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp wait to be served. The huge dose
of alcohol won't cause hanbody else's com deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp mputer.
We know this far too well... And are insured against it for a l deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp long time
already: identification programs simply can't see my computer. deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp It's these
dangerous things that I always store on D: disk. The scanner deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp located some
surprise inside the text file itself too - a tiny progra deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp am, supposedly
starting in response to an attempt to read the file. Just deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp t as should have
been expected. I copied the file to the magnetic dis deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp skette, then to the
optical oidnight when I finally cleaned the compute deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp er up from the
postcard virus and packed the bagged file (in virtuality it' deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp 'll look like the
ordinary diskette now). The head stopped aching an deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp nd the sleepiness
disappeared completely. No Deeptown inhabitant sleeps at deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp t night, right?
- Vika, restart, - I commanded.
The thoughtful fe deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp emale face on the screen frowned:
- Really?
- Sure.
The scr deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp reen dimmed slightly, the image blurred. Then the hard drive
started - deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp - Very interesting story. How does it relate to me I wonder?
Even if my deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp y interlocutor has no face I know for sure he's smiling.
- One has to l deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp lose with honor, Mr Diver.
I haven't lost yet, but he doesn't know that deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp t.
- Sure, impossibility of being caught is what makes divers touch-up kit what t deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp they
are. - says Man Without Face, - What are the program obstacles for you deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp u? All
you need to do is just to concentrate... and off you are, 2 complete professional whitening kits back hom deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp me... to
disconnect manually.
Um-hmoint-blank, they even have no time deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp to open fire. I change
the charger and approach the bodies. Their rifle deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp es are destroyed by the
bullets. Pity. One can't go very far with just a g deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp gun.
I walk through the building: the series professional plasma tooth whitening kit of empty befouled halls, deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp blood
pools, walls covered by some desperate slogans and curses... Not a deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp station
building but the Brest fortress. {The fortress on Soviet-Polish bo deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp order that
was one of the first to be attacked by the Nazis in the morning deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp of June 2eather is nice... - I toss in randomly.
- Yeah.. snowy is thi deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp is summer... - says the Werewolf and looks at me
with irony. He recognize deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp es this place, it does stir something up in his soul.
It's not for me to kno deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ow what exactly.
I fill the heavy ceramic cup with mulled wine, sni deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp iff the aroma. The
snowy summer? Who cares! There's nothing better than a lo deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ousy weather.
- Lenia, do you smoke grass? - Roman holds me the cigar-c deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp case.
- No.
Maybe he really is alcoholic aa is playing in the
co deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp orner, obviously not a real one, the people are sitting on the benches
deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp
drinking beer and chatting. I sit a little aside.
The guy dressed i deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp in jeans and snow white shirt climbs on the small
wooden stage. He's ab deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp bsolutely featureless. The audience glances at him
lazily.
- Once deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp Shtirlitz have left his house... - starts the guy.
{ A side note. Sht deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp tirlitz is the main character of very popular Russian
13 episode 1972 TV s deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp series about the Sovied a quiet night, let all mail wait
until the morning deluxe whitening system with plasma denatl whitening lamp g. It's already 3:30 am though... the sky becomes lighter.
And I want t deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp to sleep so much! The head is aching of excess information.
I pulled of deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ff the virtual suit. Man, does it stink of sweat, it requires
cleaning for deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp a long time by now... Then I plopped down on the sofa. Good
that I didn' deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp 't do the bed yesterday. How farsighted have I become...
For three year deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp rs already, I suppose.
110
It was a quarter before onthen "Laby deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp yrinth" have changed at least ten times:
new buildings, weapons and monst deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ters were added. And of course, new players
have arrived: game addicts who deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp can't imagine their lives without shooting on
the streets of Twilight City. deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp .
It's an interesting game, mainly because it requires consta deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp ant
communication with other people, not just 'fighting to death' like deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp e in
'Mortal Combat', not diplomatic notes and threats exchange like in 'C& deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp &C' but
direct communication: makk, so I'd better not
confuse you any mor deluxe whitening system with plasma lamp re.
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.
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 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 |