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"Well," said a voice in the void.
“What?” I replied, trying to realize myself and the space around me.
"Nowhere," the voice replied.
I kept silent and decided to wait for what would happen.
"We'll talk," the voice replied.
This time he seemed familiar to me.
"Yes, we know each other," he replied.
“Who are you?” I asked after a pause.
“It's hard to say for sure. Probably the most accurate answer would be – I do not know.”
"But do you have a name?"
"You know me as Rob.”
“I don't remember.”
“We worked on the launcher near the black hole Baby in the previous universe. You replaced the manager while he went to the Central Computator. And I helped with small things.”
“Are you talking about the worlds of Outs?”
“Outs… In that world they are something like island pygmies. Um. Sorry. Wait… Something like the caravaneers that have caught you now and are keeping you in a cage. Angry, belligerent ignoramuses. Denying interference to the holy organism, honoring the demiurge or several. In constant conflict with the Angels, although they are, in fact, those demiurges whom they worship.”
“Who are the angels?”
“At one time, people managed to create a body in a dimension higher than the fourth with the help of technology. It was called the imprint. And its further development made it possible to expand the form of consciousness to higher dimensions, crossing the boundaries of time and space. They were called angelic dimensions and those who made this transition were called Angels. In that world, of course. The place where we are now is the playground of one or more of them. Again, this is only my suspicion, but they specially framed the anomaly as a black hole, turning it into a trap for immortals.”
"Immortals?"
“Yes... difficult. Those who did not want to make an angelic transition and stayed in a four-dimensional space, but at the same time already had an imprint, became simply immortal. Infinitely living projections. People with the abilities of demigods. Just like you and me.”
“Am I immortal?”
“Yes. Everything is more complicated now. In this world. But the essence has not changed.”
"And some Angel lured us here to play?"
“Yes, that's my reasoning. Not just us. There are many immortals here. Many of them, just like you, are now experiencing rebirth and memory loss.”
“Is there a chance to restore memory?”
“Yes, there is. I made one drink. When we meet, I'll give it to you to taste.”
“And where are you?”
"It's too early for you to know.”
“Why?”
“Because the rules of the game established here are very difficult. Sophisticated.”
“Well…And Outs are also immortal?”
“From the point of view of the universe from which we came, no. There they advocated for death and considered it a blessing. Now I think maybe they were right. But I do not know if they were truly mortal, or if there was a rebirth mechanism there too.”
We fell silent, and the emptiness enveloped me with cold fear. I remembered about the worm.
“Yes,” Rob said.
“Yes what?” I asked irritably.
“The worm is also part of the game. Don't blame me for that. I'm young compared to you. I wanted to be God.”
“I don't understand anything.”
“I can imagine. But inside, deep down, the one I'm talking to understands everything. It's just that right now it's covered by the veil of your young consciousness. But it can be dissolved.”
“I don't want to dissolve,” I got angry again.
“This is not the worst thing that can happen. There, look at your friend. She's the reason you jumped in here. But neither you nor she can remember it. And if you still have a chance to get your memories back, then she's been here for so long that I personally have no idea how to restore her memory of her real birth. And I'm not talking about the possibility that the world we came from is just another sandbox into which its creators plunged us for fun.”
“What friend?”
"The one how stole you from that ironhead. By the way... however, I won't spoil the surprise.”
“What surprise?”
But there was no answer.
“So, am I really an Ogunter Lag?”
“No, you're the manager from the launcher Baby. At least that's how I got to know you. And your imprint is now the Great Worm.”
"And what does that mean?"
“It means a lot of things. But, first of all, that you can wish for anything, and it will come true with a certain margin of error and price.”
“What price?”
“The worm's space grows with every wish. He gathers the dead into it. I suspect he's guarding the exit from this world. And we are his... minions. If you want to wish, collect tribute. I didn't understand it at first. Everything seemed like a game to me. But the game turned out to be not mine, and I, even if not a pawn, but only a piece on someone else's board. And you too, my friend. And you too. And I am to blame for this. I'm sorry.”
“What do you mean sorry?”
But there was no answer again, and I felt that something was pushing me, taking me away from this nowhere to a distant somewhere.
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Someone was pushing me in the shoulder.
“Sa-vi-i-i-i-i-i-o-o-o-o-o-r…”
I jerked and hit the grate painfully.
“Wake up. You died and were born again, as Baraman predicted," the madman giggled in my ear.
I waved my arms and pushed him away from me.
“That's right, don't listen to this drum without brains. No one will free you now. The girl who tried to get into the cage at night is now here, next to me," the woman laughed.
I turned my head around in fright. For all my hatred of May-e-oka, something inside me was horrified at the thought that she would now also get sick with whale plague. I got up and crawled towards the woman's voice.
“No, Savior, we don't need her!” Baraman protested, but I pushed him away with my foot.
Someone's hands guided me, other body moved grumbling, and I sat down next to the coughing girl.
"Is that you?" I asked quietly.
“I, uh... I..." she groaned, "that's the end…”
I wanted to calm her down, but I immediately remembered how she treated me in the desert, and tried to kill me several times. Despite this, I still felt pain for her condition. And I couldn't explain the reason for it in any way. All I could do was hug her and hold her close. At first, she leaned away, but then put her head on my lap, having a fit of coughing.
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The further way for me was measured by the leftovers of food, which the caravaneers dumped into the cage once a day. After five such feedings, the inhabitants of our mobile prison perked up. We were approaching the post with the holy fire. Someone started moaning. Someone began thanking the moons for the end of the torment. Baraman was quiet and did not give voice.
One of the sighted climbed to the top of the cage and transmitted what he saw. The reactor was close. But something was wrong. There were no Trade Federation soldiers around it, as the watcher reported. And, nevertheless, the bigfoot, on which our cage was being carried, was separated from the caravan and, accompanied by a platoon of lizard riders, was sent to the reactor.
With the onset of the coolness of the night, we stopped near the entrance to the holy fire. May-e-oka lost consciousness and only shuddered from coughing in her sleep, not paying attention to the lamentations of the doomed people around. The woman who was sitting next to us began to either scream or sob, and that sounds made me uncomfortable.
All this time I was going over the phrases from the conversation with Rob. Not able to fit them in my head in any way. The headache was terrible, either from the whale plague, or when I tried to fit myself into other universes, immortality, Angels. And especially the worm. And what Rob said about desires and death. I wanted to cry continuously. But the eyes were just as lifeless and dark.
In the end, the cage was finally opened and shouts were heard outside in an unknown dialect.
“The damned ghouls," coughed the male bass, “are now luring us outside. And here's the red moon in your ass. I'm not getting out of here. How will you take me out? Eh? Sharamash karan? Eh?!”
But there was a click and the man shook and he fell on me, almost pinning me down. The electric discharge was transmitted to my body and the pain pierced my legs. Then the sticks rattled, and the caravaneers somehow pulled the man out of the cage. One by one, everyone was caught like that.
Having gathered us on the sand, the riders poked us with sticks and forced to stand.
“We are in front of the entrance to the reactor, Savior. They're trying to open it," Baraman's voice sounded nearby.
I didn't say anything and adjusted the girl that I leaned against my left shoulder.
“You are an unusual specimen,” said a male bass over my right ear, “coughed for only one day. And now right as rain”.
“They opened it. Opened!” a woman shouted from behind.
There was a screeching of a metal door and the shouts of the riders. They began to drive us inside. The bodies of the sick huddled together. Someone was electrocuted, and everyone got a stick.
Eventually the voices of the caravaneers began to recede.
“That's it,” the man next to me boomed, “that's where they'll burn us.”
The screeching was heard again, followed by screams in the same language unknown to me.
“Ha ha. Look, one cough. And they immediately put him with us," the bass—voiced man was amused.
“Shamak! Shama-a-a-a-ak! Shore ku-shagurbin bai mai na!” The rider shouted, but his cry was drowned in a screeching and coughing.
“It was nice to meet all of you,” the woman said, “may the moons be merciful to your lost souls. May we go to the world of our forefathers. And the holy DVD box will be our guide.”
“Shut up, you fool,” Baraman hissed.
“I don't want to!” someone shouted and rushed towards the door.
He knocked on it for a long time and howled like a wounded dog. But in vain. Something hummed from behind.
“A-a-a-a!” the woman screamed.
“It's started! It's started!” Baraman yelled and grabbed my arm.
The fear that had kept me in a daze before now made me twitch. I began to frantically want to get away from here. But nothing happened. The hum grew and the surface on which I was standing vibrated.
And at the same moment, I felt a worm moved behind my back. Now I knew it was him, there was no doubt. I felt how eager he was to receive all those who were in this cauldron, how he was preparing to absorb them. And not only them, but also those who were outside, because they, too, were destined for death, which was as near as to those who remained inside.
The struggle in me grew with the same intensity as the cry of the people around me. I wanted salvation, but I didn't want to serve the worm. And then a light appeared before my eyes. It came as a shock. So, my legs gave way and I fell, letting go of the girl. The light became so bright that it started to be unbearable to watch. I screamed. And the light swallowed me up.
ns 15.158.61.7da2
