The Place Where

by Rodion Pretis

  - A double circuit ... - The player was already in full swing scanning the sphere inside which she was sitting and, as if nothing had happened, continued to play their target.

  “It is necessary to break both contours at the same time, otherwise nothing will come of it,” Alyosha frowned slightly noticeably. - Something tells me that we are running out of time.

  - Heck! I can't cope with two such tasks, ”puffed out the Player, whose fingers flew right through, doing his job.

  “One of yours, give me the other,” Alexey connected to the second circuit and set to work.

  The wolf slowly moved and opened his eyes: Carolina was sitting next to him, the Destroyer and Nick blocked the doors, and the Player and Alexei worked enthusiastically at computers.

  - How are you? - Lina asked a little hoarsely.

  “Immortality is a good thing,” the Wolf tried to joke, overcoming pain in his whole body and trying to rise. “Have they been trying to break the barrier for a long time?”

  “Already about 15 minutes,” the Destroyer rumbled. “Well, you scared us.”

  - Wolf, are you okay? - Nick noticed the pallor of a friend.

  “I will live,” he grunted. “Give me a couple more minutes, and I'll be fine.”

  At this point, the active power barrier with a loud click disappeared. It smelled of burning wiring. The girl stopped playing and looked with hope at the Destroyer, as the most massive in the group:

  - You came for me? Her voice was melodic and quiet. “Will you take me home?”

  “Yes,” Alexey smiled encouragingly at her. “We will take you home.”

  - I won't go with you! She hissed and proudly straightened. “With anyone, but not with you!”

  “Well, it has begun,” the Wolf sighed heavily.

  - This is such a program. I will try to crack it. ”The player reached for his computer again.

  “Nothing will come of it,” the girl laughed. “I cannot be reprogrammed.” If you try - fail the task. I will just disappear. You came here too quickly, broke into the protective field too easily. Therefore, additional protection and complication of the task were included.

  “I will not be able to get around the self-destruction of this program,” the Player stated after several attempts.

  “I warned you,” the program girl said arrogantly.

  “And what shall we do now?” - the Destroyer expressed a general question.

  “I have an idea,” Alyosha flashed a smile. “We will do so ...”

  Chapter 4

  Acting on the plan, the Destroyer, Nick, Player, Carolina and Alexei were the first to go down in the elevator. Following them, on the other elevator, the Wolf and the program girl descended in a light fluttering silver, pearl gray dress. Breaking through the monsters, the team members in the same order took two cars and tore off. For some time they managed to break away from their pursuers, and more than half the way they drove quite calmly. But another pursuer appeared, with each passing moment getting closer and closer. When a little less than a third of the way was left to the finish line, the team decided to split up: one car went straight, and the second, where Wolf was with the program girl, turned left at the intersection ...

  Alexander noticed this maneuver and smiled. This will not give them anything, he thought. - Once I just stop them from taking the program to the finish line, all their attempts at team play lose all meaning. Although one cannot but give them their due, the idea is great. It is enough for someone from the team to finish the program, and all its members will automatically be in the final. But this is not in my interests. For me, it's better to select players one at a time. So, go ahead for the program, ”and he turned after the machine in which he noticed the girl-program.

  ... The car rushed at maximum speed, winding between the houses, trying to throw off the "tail". Here, around the bend, the road abruptly cut off, and the car flew out into the wasteland ... The wolf barely managed to slow down before a wall that came from nowhere: the car shook pretty much, it died out and did not want to start anymore.

  - Heck! - Wolf shouted in hearts. - We almost had time! - he got out of the car and noticing that the pursuer, having blocked the only exit with his car, went to add him. “Well then, you have to break through.”

  - Give me the girl and you can roll! - threw Alexander Wolf, noting pallor, dark circles and fatigue in the eyes.

  “Fuck you,” the Wolf grinned and fired without warning, and, slipping out of the car, the program girl opened her eyes incredibly wide and screamed:

  - watch out! - but didn't have time, the pursuer's return shot was incredibly accurate: the Wolf collapsed, and his clothes instantly dyed with blood.

  The program girl froze for a moment, then glanced at her watch and took a breath: they showed 00:07:00.

  “Hi, Alexander,” the contours of the girl program blurred, and Alexei appeared in her place.

  “How ...” the man was clearly shocked.

  “Mimicry,” Alyosha smiled at the corner of her lips.

  “Well done,” Alexander praised.

  - Thank you.

  “So I have nothing to do here.” The target is in another car. ”He turned, about to leave. - I still have time to catch up with them.

  “I don't think so,” Alexei blocked his path.

  - What are you doing? - he was surprised.

  “I won't let you go.” I need to win quite a bit of time. ”She looked directly into his eyes, filled with confusion.

  “You have no weapons ...”

  “This is not a problem,” Alexey charmingly smiled. “We can just chat for a bit.”

  “This is not acceptable, I'm leaving,” he tried to remove her from the road, but, having no time to understand anything, he was lying in the dust.

  “You can try,” she was serious again. “But you will have to kill me for this.”

  Having decided only to “disconnect" Alyoshka, Alexander threw the gun away and attacked her. But she was a fighter even wherever, and no tricks took her, she did not miss a single blow, not a single hook. He felt that time was running away, and then decided to demonstrate all his knowledge and skills. Alexei missed a few hits and fell to the ground. “I have no right to surrender now,” she told herself and jumped to her feet, refusing to obey her body, which did not want to put up with the continuation of the battle. Second by second, minute by minute, she won time for her team. She had less and less strength, but Alexander no longer had surprises. They stood opposite each other, breathing heavily.

  - A draw? - suggested Alexey.

  “We won,” he answered, pointing a gun at Alexander, the Wolf.

  - But how? - marveled at Alexander. “I brought you out of the game, I killed you.”

  “Immortality,” Alyosha smiled tiredly.

  “Immortality ...” the man said grimly. “So the stakes are very high ...”

  Alexander suddenly sharply threw out his hand in the direction of Alexei - with his fingers a knife flew out with lightning. The girl managed to only slightly deviate from surprise, and instead of a heart, the knife was thrust into the shoulder: the force of the blow was such that it was thrown back. In her ears, the whistle of a knife and a shot merged into one sound ... She looked at the man in surprise, he slowly sank to the ground, a bloody stain spread across his jacket on his chest ...

  - What for? - Alyosha went up to Alexander and looked into his eyes.

  “I didn't want you to get to the finals,” Alexander leaned his back on the car and tried to catch his breath. “It will be too dangerous.” Rates suddenly increased too much.

  “I myself am able to assess the degree of danger and make a decision,” the girl pulled out a knife and grimaced - the pain pierced her shoulder with a red-hot needle.

  Alexei, it's time for us to leave, ours delivered the program to its place, - the Wolf, limping, went to the car.

  “Congratulations, you are in the finals,” Alexander breathed with difficulty.

  “Thank you,” Al
exei bent and lifted the man. “Wolf, help me get him in the car.”

  “Nursing with him,” the Wolf muttered, still helping to lift and put Alexander in the back seat of the car.

  - Wolf! Quickly behind the wheel and to the finish. Something is wrong with Alexander, - the girl jumped into the car and bent over the man. - He is unconscious.

  “Before the exit, no more than five minutes,” the Wolf took the driver's seat, and the car rushed off ...

  * * *

  After leaving the game the Destroyer, Nick, the Player and Carolina met live and looked at each other with interest, carefully hiding their surprise. Characters duplicated their creators to the smallest detail.

  - Wow! - the player laughed. - Who would have thought, we all initially created our characters the same way. By the way, Lina, does Alexey look like her character?

  - Poured out! - confirmed Carolina.

  - Has anyone seen the Wolf in life? Asked the Destroyer.

  “I saw,” said the Player, “we met at dinner yesterday.” He is similar too.

  “It turns out that our entire team drew a character from ourselves,” Nick flashed a smile.

  - Then, where did Alexei and the Wolf go? After all, if they look, like their characters, we could not miss them, ”the Player was alarmed.

  “I hope nothing happened to them,” Carolina expressed general thoughts.

  - What can happen to them! - Discharged voltage Destroyer. “They have immortality!” I think they will appear any minute.

  “Destroyer, you are a miracle,” Caroline smiled slightly. “I completely forgot about immortality.”

  “But it turns out that you also have brains,” the Player said with a “very serious” look, and everyone laughed.

  Light banter helped relieve stress and wait for friends. Alexey and the Wolf appeared together, but not on the side from where they were waiting. They looked tired and alarmed.

  - We went to the finals, - these were the first words of the Wolf, after the general joy of the meeting. - Lists have already appeared.

  “Carolina, you also reached the finals,” Alexey turned to her friend.

  - I don't want to go to the finals. The semi-final was enough for me, - Carolina cringed.

  “You can refuse,” suggested the Wolf.

  - How to do it? - seized the opportunity Lina.

  “We must go to the organizers and write a written refusal,” Wolf explained the procedure.

  - I ran! - the girl wanted to break away, but she was stopped.

  “Wait, let's go together, we need to get new contracts,” Alexey smiled at her friend, and the team went for contracts.

  By writing a written refusal to participate in the finals and receiving my winnings, to which was added compensation for the inability to get into the finals, because according to the rules of the Game only 5 players could become finalists, Carolina said goodbye, wished her friends good luck in the finals and went to collect things. She was to return home today. Alexey, Wolf, the Destroyer, Nick and the Player received new contracts and delved into their study. The contracts, in fact, did not differ from the previous ones. The only significant difference was that the contract was with the team.There were just a few oddities: never in the contract was there a mention of a game, final or finalists, the contract was limited to 3 years according to the internal world calendar, and early termination of the contract was not provided at all.Be that as it may, the team members decided to sign a contract, the final attracted them very much ...

  Chapter 5

  The final morning arrived, and the participants gathered at the restaurant for breakfast. They had fun from the heart, although they felt some excitement before the decisive game.

  - Alexei, how is your shoulder? - The last to come Wolf was a bit paler than usual.

  “She no longer bothers,” the girl smiled dazzlingly, but when she saw the complexion of the Wolf, she instantly became serious. - What's the matter?

  - You won't believe it! - grinned wolf. - The tan is gone.

  - What?

  “Yesterday morning, and today no longer,” the Wolf shrugged. - I myself could not believe it - looked in the mirror and was stupefied.

  - It's strange ... - The player focused his eyebrows, looking at the wristwatch and solving one clear task for him.

  “Yes, it is strange,” Alexey agreed.

  “Guys,” the Player said, looking up from his thoughts. - Yesterday I forgot to remove the watch before entering the Game, and in the afternoon they showed a completely different date. I thought she accidentally went astray. But after what Wolf said, it seems to me that the date has not gone astray, we just live in the Game according to a different time.

  “Yeah,” the Destroyer snorted, “a split time.”

  “My watch also went crazy yesterday,” the girl said after a moment's pause. - Before that, everything was fine. According to my watch, yesterday we were in the Game for two weeks.

  - Wow! - whistled Nick. - Then the clause of the contract regarding the time that we will have to spend in the Game in the final becomes logical.

  - And what if it is not a game? - the girl looked around the guys. - What if before it was not a game?

  “Then it becomes clear why I can do this.” - The wolf slowly lifted off the floor and swam to the ceiling. “And not only that,” he added, returning to his place.

  “I think each of us understood that he had acquired in life the same skills that the character received in the game,” Alexey continued the conversation. “If you take this into account ...”

  “That becomes obvious,” the Player continued for her, “that the whole previous Game was actually a kind of training, and yesterday we passed the exam brilliantly.

  “There is only one question left,” the girl rose from the table and straightened. “Whom and why did we cook?”

  “Mercenaries,” the Destroyer answered calmly and smiled at the corner of his lips. - And why - we will find out in the finals ...

  Everything went according to the script. One by one, they signed a contract and entered the bus, where Alexander met them.

  “Welcome finalists.” His dark eyes were impenetrable. - Here the final begins for you. Treat everything you see there as absolutely real events. Much will depend on this. Perhaps even your life. Remember that you can receive paid tasks only while the contract is valid. In that world you will be met by a person who will be your guide and liaison. Good luck

  The players occupied a kind of booths, along the walls of which ran through the waves of the rainbow, and the doors behind them smoothly closed. Alexander entered the cab and, sitting in the driver's chair, opened the hidden control panel - his fingers accurately selected the course, and ... the bus turned into haze and disappeared in front of amazed spectators.

  * * *

  The players ended up in a small rounded room, where Alexander appeared a second later, literally from the air. In his hands he held cards of black plastic with a strange gold emblem in the upper right corner.

  “These are your identification cards,” he explained, handing out cards to the team, “here they are an identification card, a pass, and a means of payment, as they are directly related to your account.” Of course, there is cash here, but I don't advise using it yet, ” he grinned.“ The robbers are really cool, and you don't have time to blink an eye at how you will be left without cash. And they don't touch cards like yours, even they can't get around the protection of these identification cards. Before receiving your first assignment, you should check into the Grassora Hotel, which is located in a prestigious area of the city, this will help you get a better deal, and very quickly. Maybe even tomorrow.If necessary, I can always contact you through the group commander's computer. Everything that you may need, you will find in these suitcases, - at that moment five suitcases appeared, and Alexander continued, - in the future you will purchase equipment yourself. Always be on the lookout. Good luck, the suitcases disappeared, and behind them all the players, except
Alexei, disappeared.

  “If I need a direct connection with me, anytime, anywhere,” the man handed the girl an electronic watch.

  “Thank you,” Alexey put on a watch on her wrist and, looking into Alexander's eyes, noticed a serious alarm in them.

  “Be careful,” he said a little hoarsely, “this is not a game.”

  “I know,” the girl smiled, “and I am always careful.”