— I care about Aleph, because that's my job. She takes everything too close to heart.
They fell silent. The tracks were not very clearly visible, so to stay on track was quite difficult.
— I think — the co-pilot spoke again — that it was Dr Lugal.
— I think so too. He spent a lot of time here, and knows exactly where to go.
— I feel something strange. Like all these years, I was not at home.
Heth's dark green slanting eyes were filled with turquoise light.
Heck! El'Athar cursed himself for carelessness. Strange eye colour, the name from the ancient Semitic alphabet, atypical for a descendant of East Asia, and even a sense of presence. Thus, another Lamashtu.
— We need to hurry — said Heth. — I think he's not going back from there.
Chapter 17
— Dr Lugal, what are you doing?! Stop! — The co-pilot as quickly as he could descended into the mine, where El'Athar with Aleph had been only a few hours ago.
— I've been waiting for this for thirty years! — Trier Lugal took off his jacket and approached the well. — I have to be there!
— Dr Lugal!.. — Heth wanted to rush to the distraught scientist, but El'Athar stopped him.
— Mr Lugal — began the agent — we, all here present, know what you want to see...
— You do not know! — Doctor grabbed the frozen slippery handrails and glared at El'Athar. — You know nothing, Mr Chief Agent! From the fact that you pop your long nose everywhere, you do not get wiser. I've been here, I've seen! And this pretty punk, who you are so fond of — is not the one you think he is! He is not a defenceless teenager, he is a monster! And I know how to defuse him, I know where his cocoon is, and how dependent he is on it! As all of them are!
A shot rang out and Dr Trier Lugal slowly slid down the icy stairs. El'Athar hid the gun and pushed the scientist into the well.
— Since he wanted to get there so much... — the agent stood at the edge for some time, looking down, but the sound of a falling body didn't sound. — Apparently, he's stuck on something, this well is not so deep. Oh ... one more cigarette would not hurt.
Heth stood dumbstruck.
— Only the blind do not know now, that I have worked in intelligence. Ugh! — El'Athar turned to the second pilot. — Do not worry, I'm not a monster. But choosing between a fool and twenty-two innocent biorobots, I chose them.
Heth remained silent.
— All Lamashtu are dependent on Aleph, he is a prototype. If he dies, the rest would die too. You included.
He first began to climb the stairs leading outside.
— You know... — finally the second pilot broke the silence, — I would like to smoke too.
— You understand...
— Yes, I do. We did not have time to save him.
— Exactly.
Heth pulled out his pack of cigarettes and they smoked.
Most of the way back there was a silence, and only in front of the station El'Athar said:
— If you are in any doubt about what has happened...
— No, I think not — Heth was thinking. — Now I understand everything. My home is down the well, right?
— Yes.
— Well, you've got guts. Well, to do it...
— I have never hesitated to kill the bad guy.
— Three hours have passed, it will soon be all lighten up...
— So, do you think now there is not enough light? — El'Athar grumbled the rest of the way.
The living room was in dim light.
Tekhina was still sitting on the sofa next to the radio.
— And you cannot sleep too? — Asked El'Athar.
— Where have you been? — she said in response.
— Walking. — The agent was cold and distracted. He was tired, sleepy, and did not want to discuss their relationship again.
The co-pilot said that, perhaps, he will have a rest and wished them a good night.
— I understand that you are interested in me less than in my studies, but it does not help to sleep soundly at night.
— You are not right. — It frankly did not break the ice and the agent remained as detached. — But I am what I am. Either you take it or...
— That's clear. — Responded Tekhina.
— I and Heth had a rough night, so I want to get some sleep.
He turned around and left.
...voices. Caves vibrated from the powerful echo, there was so many voices. In the dark mines appeared bright blue reflections of light, creating bizarre fantastic patterns.
...voices. They reminded shamanic singing, crying to the gods so ancient that they preceded the creation of the universe.
...voices. They woke up.
Wee hour was filled with the voices of ancient times, the voices of those ancient times, when people worshiped demiurges. This worship helped the gods to continue to exist, when people began to forget their gods — they died. It was the beginning of ...
Aleph cried. His head seemed to be torn into pieces, he grabbed it, as if he could get rid of the pain, keep it inside.
El'Athar jumped up from his bed and still not fully understanding what was happening, rushed to his ward.
— Quiet, quiet... — he tried to wrap him in a blanket and sat down beside him.
— Someone broke the calm of the cradle — sobbed Aleph and lay down again.
— He cannot do any harm, he is already dead.
— So you did it.
— I protected you. All of you.
Aleph closed his eyes and made himself comfortable. The pain in the temples spread out all over the body, bounded him. It seemed that he could not move. He wanted to thank El'Athar, but could not utter a word. The boy was clearly aware of the approaching finale of his suffering. But which?..
***
— Liner "Omega" calling station "Sigma". Do you copy?
— Station "Sigma" copy.
— "Sigma", we have a problem. An oxygen leak, we need help, copy.
— "Omega", roger that. I'll alarm to Captain Obé.
— Station "Sigma" calling for liner "Omega", welcome!
— Liner "Omega" copy.
— We send technicians to you. Tell your exact coordinates.
— Sending coordinates. We are ready to receive.
— How many people do you have on board?
— Fifteen crewmen and eight thousand passengers.
— Are they sleeping?
— Yes.
— Liner "Omega", our technicians will arrive in forty minutes, over.
— Roger that.
Space station "Sigma" was located close to the Earth, orbiting Mars, being the outpost through which ships arrived with people heading to the Earth. The "Oὐροβόρος " project was started three years ago, and tens of thousands of enthusiasts had already moved on the restored planet.
Did people come back again to destroy everything?
Chapter 18
The morning was cold.
One should drink coffee immediately as it cooled right into one's hands. Aleph was walking through the station, wrapped in a blanket, but still could not get warm. Everyone was hushed because of the morning news about Trier Lugal.
— We still need to finish the job — Tekhina finished her coffee and began to get ready. — If I could find the same ancient microorganisms that Dr Lugal had found thirty years ago ... oh, I couldn't dream about something more.
— I would not mind rock samples too — geologist Dr Neal melancholically looked at the dark corners of the room.
— Who else is coming? — Asked El'Athar.
The others were silent.
— So, just three of us. — Agent dressed and glanced at everybody.
— Julius is unwell — Heth shrugged. — I think he's sick. I'll stay with him. Irinae must be on the radio, and Aleph... what will he do with you?
— I still want to sleep... — the blonde moaned and buried with his head in a blanket.
>
— Well... — El'Athar came out first — it will be a hard day for all of us.
The door closed.
Remaining people were relieved and everyone engaged in the routine: Aleph went back to bed, Heth kept company to Julius, Irinae took up the radio, trying to improve the signal.
The first pilot was really bad: he had a fever, he felt so weak that he could not get out of bed. Julius did not sleep, he dreamed strange dreams, where in the pitch darkness, he saw someone who spoke to him in an unknown language. That sounded like an echo out of nowhere, as if ... as if it wasn't a man talking to him, but everything around him.
— We need to call for help — Heth bent over his boss, changing towel on his forehead. — Medicine does not help. I think that it is an infection. Have you eaten anything suspicious?
— I do not know... — Julius opened his eyes for a moment — if until the evening I don't get better, call for backup, let them take us away. All of us...
Voice of the first pilot was more like a faint wheeze.
Convinced that Julius was asleep, Heth went into the living room to relax and have a little snack. Night events haunted him, it was surprising how just a spontaneous walk could change your whole life. The co-pilot remembered his childhood and early youth as something distant that had happened to someone else, unknown set of vague images didn't arouse neither emotions nor any specific events. There were only the facts of the case and the feeling as if he had existed in this world for only the last few years. Maybe now he would begin to understand what was happening to him?
Mine network was much bigger than anyone could imagine. Endless underground labyrinths connected the whole mountain range, some of the caves went many kilometers deep into the Earth.
— I wonder — Tekhina looked around — why did the expedition choose this place?
— They knew where to look — El'Athar grinned at her with that same indulgence, which he felt to Dr Amy all the time since their acquaintance. When his thin lips spread out into a crooked grin, it was clear that the agent was in a bad mood, and lately there were no other.
Tekhina noted to herself that she knew El'Athar much better than she had thought.
— What exactly do you need to find? I would like to return back today. — Special agent knew exactly where he wants to go, and waited for the rest to decide.
— It's difficult without a guide — Dr Neil sighed — I think I'm interested in the deepest mine, which could only be found.
El'Athar sighed and led them to the place where, in his opinions, scientists would love it. The agent knew he would not get lost there as if someone was showing the right way.
They walked for a long time, more than half an hour, to one of the most distant mines. No, El'Athar would not go with them. Yes, he was certain that it was quite deep, reliable, and they would certainly be finished in four hours. Yes, he left them all the water and food, and even a thermos with coffee that was still warm — for four hours, he would have time to go eat and go back to them, to take them out of there. Yes, exactly four hours later, at 13:45, he would take them and bring them back.
Then El'Athar went in the opposite direction from the research station. All the same invisible force led him to the place of the events of the night before. He himself should go down to the cradle, and see first-hand what Dr Trier Lugal was so afraid of.
***
— Mr Aine Soph, It's Mr Netsach.
— Hello, Mr NH.
— Mr Daath asks if you have found new Lamashtu?
— Of course. Tau, a girl of twenty-five, and twins, a boy and a girl eight years old — Zain and Kane. They are now together with Tharsis in his house.
— Is that all?
— No. El'Athar has found another one. Heth. Forty-two years old, the co-pilot of the private air agencies of Oor.
— Has they found the cradle?
— Yes. El'Athar knows what to do.
***
A year ago.
— Mr Aine Soph, It's Mr Geburah.
— Hello, Mr Geburah.
— Mr Daath asks you to look for a dossier of the former employee named Jack Getterbørgen in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
— Of course. Who is he?
— From this moment on — your right hand.
The personal file number 825
Real name: Unknown.
Date of Birth: Unknown.
Place of birth: Unknown.
Alias: Jack Getterbørgen
Notional Date of Birth: December 22, 2025
Notional place of birth: District №28 «Swansea," the British Isles.
(postscript: Conditional data not confirmed)
Education: Unknown.
Childhood: Unknown.
Special Officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the United British Isles from 2041. He served in the BAF from 2043.
Veteran of the North-Atlantic conflict of 2043. He was seriously wounded and was deported back to the district № 28. In November 2043 was marked with the decoration "For Courage", received the certificate of "Disability of the III degree."
After rehabilitation, in 2045 was returned to service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the British Isles to the position of Archivist. In a year passed the exam for the intelligence service.
He served as a special agent in the Mediterranean region.
In 2048, he was transferred to serve in the Department of Internal Intelligence of Elam.
Since 2051, is officially considered missing.
— Mr Aine Soph? It's Mr Geburah.
— Hello, Mr Geburah.
— Have you found the file of Mr Jack Getterbørgen?
— Yes. But I do not understand why I need a military intelligence officer, in addition a disabled one, Mr Geburah.
— He's the best man who Mr Daath could find. We need him.
— Do you know where he is now?
— A little patience, Mr Aine Soph. Mr Daath asked me to tell you that Jack Getterbørgen is very smart and talented. It is a prudent and cold-blooded man, and that is what we need. Mr Daath also requested that he was given the code name "El'Athar."
Chapter 19
Cold. It was very cold and slippery. El'Athar could hardly stand on the icy steps, where a few hours ago the body of the unfortunate Dr Lugal descended. Knocked off to the blood, cold hands clung to the ice, covered with frost. The well seemed endless. Just a couple steps and one could safely jump down, alive.
The agent thought he had not been so pissed for a long time: frostbitten fingers ached, his chest still ached from the cold and lack of air, it hurt to breathe, he was overcome with thoughts to remain in the well forever and not to see anyone ever again — neither permanently whining Aleph nor the unbearable fool, with whom he had to have a relationship for the right cause. In this most inopportune moment El'Athar finally realized that his life was completely unimportant to him that he was tired of all, and in the second of the insight he was overflown by all-consuming longing and his hand began to slide off the handrail of the stairs.
What a wrong time!
A bounce.
Damn, it seemed, he landed badly: ankle ached so much that it was painful to step on the foot. Limping, El'Athar went down the tunnel, without even turning to look at the already numb and blue corpse of the honoured employee of the research centre "Enki".
Very dark, little air, and cold, unbearably cold. But one could not give up, he should go further, while he could.
... I'm suffocating ...
***
A year ago.
A man in big black glasses and a black strict suit, a leather briefcase in hand, took an electronic key. He slipped a blue plastic card with a chip on the tape reading information at the gates of the huge silver sarcophagus. The sign at the entrance said "Old City. Museum ", but it was still closed to visitors.
The man went inside, and there he opened the whole world under artificial light: fragments of ancient ziggurats, palaces, mosques, churche
s, houses ... After a disaster "Tiamat" the giant puzzles were collected of whole neighbourhoods. It lacked only the trees and birds — but they would not survive without real sunlight. This problem was in the process of solution, and it was so empty without them ... It was understood even by a strange faceless man in glasses.
He passed one of the restored and renovated streets and having turned the corner of quite an ancient house made of mud, went in the miraculously preserved ancient church of the Eastern Rite. Inside there were magnificent mosaics and frescoes, that a more romantic person could not resist and would stop to admire, but the visitor was too pragmatic cold to everything that did not concern the case.
The centre of the hall was empty, but someone has thoughtfully brought a few office chairs and a coffee table, having put the glasses with water and an ashtray on it. Bright artificial light got in through the stained-glass windows in bizarre multicolored rays as if the sun was shining directly through the window.
The man was alone.
He sat down and lit a cigarette, even though he had never understood this human habit, but this was the way the things were done there.
— Mr Keter, you are always punctual! — Said one of the men who appeared in the hall. They all looked exactly the same to the man who came first: in strict black suits, sunglasses, but without briefcases.
— I am always happy to obey the order of Mr Daath — said Mr Keter and put his briefcase on the coffee table. The other nine men sat around him. The man who would see them for the first time, would have decided that that were twins in front of him, but it was not so.
Mr Keter took out a folder with papers out of the diplomat, and opened it.
— Mr Jack Getterbørgen — began Mr Keter — a scout, a war veteran, a cold-blooded assassin, and just a wonderful person.
— A favourite of women? — Asked Mr Tiferet.
— Of course, he is very handsome — said Mr Keter. — But women are unlikely to interest him.
— Men?
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