– I don't know yet, – he concludes. Then adds in apologetic tone, – Most likely, good.
It's better not to stop the talk. I carefully take Unfortunate's hand and say:
– Do you understand that everything around is virtual reality?
– Yes.
Perfect. This is half of success.
– Hey kid… What is your name?
– I can't say, – he confesses with obvious regret.
– Are you sure?
– I can't.
– Kid, you're in virtuality for one and a half day already. this is much, very much. Your body is tired, it requires rest, food, water…
I really hope that my voice sounds insinuatingly, like hypnotizer's.
– I need to exit, – he agrees.
– I'll help you, – I promise again, – We're already close. but if something goes wrong, it'll be easier to help you by other means.
Unfortunate swallows the remains of sandwich and looks at me questionably.
– Tell me your Net address, – I ask, – "Labyrinth" will inform your providers, they will send a guy who will eject you from the deep manually. There's nothing shameful in this, I swear, it can happen to anybody.
– No, this is impossible.
– Listen to me… If you are so shy about what happened, or fear something… I'll personally come to you. Wherever you might be. I'm a private party. I don't care about "Labyrinth". I just want to solve your problem! Do you believe me?
– Yes.
– Then tell me the address… – for a moment I think that I've won. I'm really ready to jump out of the deep, to buy the plane ticket and go to Unfortunate's home, even to the Sakhalin [Island] or to Magadan.
– No.
Annoyed, I hit the wall and hurt the finger bones.
– Then stand up! – I command.
The exit from Disneyland is made inside the mirror labyrinth. The labyrinth inside "Labyrinth"… I start feeling dizzy imagining this inclusion of virtual spaces.
– Okay… – I say when we pass the stone statue of the moustached old man with the pile of some sort of ad brochures in granite fingers. The statue watches exiting players sadly. – I'll go in front of you. You'll keep close behind, okay? And try to notice the enemy first, you have keen eyes.
– All right, – says Unfortunate.
We enter the mirror labyrinth. In the beginning it's just a corridor with mirror walls, then it begins to branch, alternating with columns and I lose orientation completely. There's ten pairs of divers and Unfortunates around me. The world breaks into pieces, rotates and flows.
Shit.
It's absolutely different from the mirror labyrinths they like to show in cheap sci-fi movie tales. It's impossible to confuse reality and illusion, no matter how directors try.
Here it's no difference.
I think about leaving the deep, though it'll not help: the detailed illusion will be replaced with the schematic one, that's all.
– Careful, Unfortunate! – I warn, mechanically calling him by the name invented by Guillermo.
He doesn't protest.
We wander in the labyrinth for twenty minutes and finally enter the big hall.
It's a mirror one also: 13-edge prism. Computers are installed along the walls. It's the exit!
And just under the ceiling there are small balconies where monsters stand in pairs. I haven't seen those before – big bulging eyes, long hands holding carbines firmly, scaly bodies.
Except this, they're quite human-like.
– Get back! – I shout, and Unfortunate seems to try to jump back into the mirror corridor.
But at this moment monsters open fire.
Bullets pierce the mirror floor, sharp needles stick into my body. I shoot at random at one of the balconies, clearly understanding that only one of them is real, all others are just reflections.
The fiery whirl, the hall overcasts with a smoke. The shots are thundering, my right hand is wounded, I jerk with pain, throw the heavy tube of the launcher at the left shoulder. I don't even have time to exit virtuality.
And Unfortunate rushes back.
We stand side by side, shooting at the damned mirrors and they shatter with mocking jingle. I'm wounded one more time, scream but continue shooting.
The last rocket doesn't find its aim too, I throw the launcher up, at one of the still intact balconies, hit it – the glass!… – grab the plasma gun and make the hard choice between the last two targets.
Wrong choice.
The blue fiery blast hits the dimming mirror.
The energy cell is empty.
One of the monsters is dead, either hit by the shot or just badly cut by the shattering glass. But the second one continues shooting. His carbine is aimed straight at me and he hits the trigger.
Unfortunate covers me with his body.
The whole volley hits him and he sinks down. The monster recharges his carbine, quickly, with experience…. and I stand frozen, unable to comprehend what happened. And anyway, I don't have anything to answer with, I don't have any loads.
The shot thunders right above my shoulder, deafening me. The fiery sphere flashes on the balcony, burning the monster down to ashes, splashing tenacious threads of charges in all directions trying to find any other target.
BFG-9000.
The weapon that I failed to get in my hurry rush through the levels.
I even don't look who was shooting and bend down to Unfortunate.
His face is a bloody mask, the chest is torn by the bullets but he's still alive – five farewell seconds given by the game.
– Reflection… – he whispers.
I wipe the blood from his face and rise.
The husky guy in full armor stands behind me, weapons hang on him like ornaments on the Xmas tree. His face is dry and calm, breathing filter pulled down on his chin.
– It's hard to kill the Alien Prince's escort guards. – he says. The voice is quiet but one can feel boiling emotions under this calmness.
– You're the diver… – I say.
– You too.
The armored giant doesn't look like the guy who was watching us before.
– Anatol'?
He nods and I remember divers' courtesy rules.
– Leonid, – I introduce myself.
"Labyrinth"'s diver nods, throwing the bulky "BFG-9000" on his shoulder.
Most likely we had met at some gathering, he just was in some other body, as well as I was though.
Anatol' pads to the Unfortunate's body, looks into his face and nods again.
– As always.
He slightly kicks him as if making sure that Unfortunate is really dead.
And then I hit him on the face, hit so hard that Anatol is thrown against the wall.
1001
Dick, the second "Labyrinth"'s diver, whom Unfortunate called a 'nice guy', is the one who pulls us apart.
We fight for around five minutes, without intention to kill each other, just venting out the rage and hate. Dick pushes the barrel of his "BFG-9000" between our bodies and informs quietly:
– Three more hits and I shoot.
Anatol looks at him askance, lets me go and then hits me under the ribs in a short blow. I catch my breath and kick him in the groin. Now it's Anatol's turn to writhe in pain.
Dick calmly waits for the third hit but we stand still.
– Good, – decides Dick lowering his weapon. He speaks Russian, clearly and almost without accent, – D-divers… motherf***ers.
– This imbecile lamer… – hisses Anatol, – This asshole…
– Cool down, – advises Dick. – He went well, I was watching. Not always honestly, but always well.
Dick is not high, lean and lithe, but in this pair he's the boss. Anatol calms down and starts wiping the blood from his face. I get busy with the same.
– You played well, – says Dick, – but everything isn't that simple.
– I understood that, – I agree shifting my gaze from the Unfortunate's body, – What's going on?
– Explain him, An, – throws Dick out and sits on smoked shattered glass of the floor.
Anatol winces as if was asked to eat a handful of leeches but submits himself.
– Did you weirdo really think we're playing the fool here? – he asks.
– You know better, – I growl.
– We try to drive him out every hour! – screams Anatol, – I led him seven times! And Dick – eight times! Do you understand, dumbass? We know every corner here! We can smell when something changes! Understand?
I start to understand.
– Had Guillermo told you that we're trying to pull the guy out? – asks Dick in a dull voice.
– Yes, – I sniffle with my broken nose.
– Great! – cheers up Dick, – Then why the… – he swallows the swear and just waves his hand tiredly.
– Who is this guy for you? – asks Anatol looking at me with a heavy gaze.
– Who?
– Unfortunate! – shouts Anatol'. He obviously wants to kick the body one more time to illustrate his words but stops just in time. – Your brother? Your brother in law? Who is he? You're what, in really dire straits that signed for doing our job?
– Well, I can see how YOU do it.
– Anatol' asked right, – notes Dick, – Who is he for you?
– Nobody.
– Listen man, if you know his address, it's better to drag Unfortunate out manually.
– I don't know his address, – I say, – Can you believe me? This is just a customer. I was hired to save him.
– By whom?
– I don't know either. The guy had no face.
I watch their reaction, but there's none. They took my phrase about Man Without Face as a figure of speech.
– No better, – says Dick.
– No easier, – Anatol' mechanically corrects him, – No easier. {
The Russian saying was here… Impossible to translate adequately. :-/
}
– Thanks, – Dick looks at me askance, – What's your name, man?
– Leonid.
Dick nods.
– You know me as Crazy Tosser. {
same in Russian original
} I just blink. Crazy Tosser is one of the oldest and respected divers, an aged cheerful pot-bellied guy… at least he has this appearance on the gatherings. So this is where Crazy earns his living…
– Guys, I ain't gonna take over your job, – I say. – I have a definite request – to rescue Unfortunate. I couldn't refuse.
Both divers soften instantly. Looks like yesterday's stir and my headlong journey through "Labyrinth"'s levels have planted certain apprehension into their minds.
– You're doomer, right? – asks Anatol' – One of the old ones…
– Yes.
– Oh well… You were going fine… – says Anatol' turning away. – I heard the stories. Even if a half of those is bull…
– Thanks, – I say. Nice words are pleasant even for a newbie… {
remake of another Russian saying…. ;-) It gets harder…
}
– It's impossible to save Unfortunate, – says Dick.
– What? – I feel lost.
– Impossible.
– Dick is our fatalist, – smirks Anatol, – Okay. Sit down, I'll explain.
We sit around the Unfortunate's body and Anatol' starts his story. I listen, skipping details and remembering the main facts.
Unfortunate doesn't tell his name and address.
Unfortunate is a perfect shooter… and would he be more lucky he could pass "Labyrinth" in one day and get all the prizes.
Unfortunate never shoots at other players.
– What? – I ask.
– What you've heard. He doesn't shoot at the players. He kills the monsters in a snap, -mutters Anatol, – One feels envious seeing it… But he didn't shoot at humans even once. When I was dragging him out for the first time, it was the thing why I failed. I was sure he'll help…
– He "flows"… – I say – He considers what's going on real… well no! He said it himself that it's virtuality around…
– Um-hmm, – agrees Anatol – He didn't lose orientation but the humanism is his quirk.
– Religion? – I guess, – Pacifist?
Anatol just shrugs.
– So it were the players who killed him each time?
– The fate killed him, – Dick enters the talk, – He was killed by players, by monsters, by ruined ceiling, by ricochet, he drowned in melted asphalt and fell down from the height. Fifteen deaths, all different.
– It's impossible, – I note. – Unless he does it himself.
– If he's suicidal, then he must be very-very cunning, – Dick doesn't agree, – Everything looks like an accident. It's just too many accidents already.
– Dick thinks it's his karma, – says Anatol – He had earned this fate somehow. And whatever we do, it's impossible to get him out.
– Crazy, this is bull, – I say. Dick just smiles, – Guys, isn't there ANY mean to shut the player down forcefully? Without knowing his address?
"Labyrinth"'s divers look at each other.
– Don't hide it, – I beg, – It's serious..
– There was a method, – confesses Dick. – Anatol have tried it.
I look at Anatol waiting for explanations.
– Thirteen deaths in a row, – he answers reluctantly, – If the player perishes thirteen times in a row with interval of less than five minutes, the program kicks him out without notice. This is a barrier for absolute dummies.
I still don't understand.
– I tried it this morning, – says Anatol, – I haven't drag Unfortunate through the level, just stood at the beginning of it and started to kill him. Thirteen times, then two times more, I thought that I did a mistake in count. And nothing happened!
– Stop! – shouts Dick jumping up, – Leonid, one more step and I'll kill you. This is a game, understand?
I retreat from Anatol. Dick is right, one can't measure what's going on in "Labyrinth" with the real world's or even Deeptown's measures. This is deep within the deep.
– How did he respond? – I ask.
– I explained everything to him before! – Anatol hardly refrains himself too, – Don't think I enjoy that! I explained everything, was shooting at his head with the carbine. I thought maybe he'll resist somehow, but in the beginning he tried to hide, then just sat and waited!