16. HEIR

Paradigm Shift

«R» is a powerful sound, like a pile of other sounds… – someone whispered to him in his sleep. – Ray. This is power. The name will say everything about you… Destroyer.

Destroyer first of all himself.

Your aspirations and ideals.

I am a soldier of the Bale Empire. My code name is Destroyer. I answer only to Sixten Bale. My main task is to get into Paxbright territory and destroy Johann Shelter. I have no right to allow myself to die before Shelter’s death. The reward for Shelter’s death will be my own death.

Leclerc, noon.

University of Iridology, common room.

A lifeless face in a gas mask stared back at him from the eye-shaped mirror. Steel shape, cold machine gun, unusually broad shoulders. He looked more courageous than ever. Under the uniform hid a body withered from long-term hunger, under the gas mask – hated acne spots and gray-yellow eyes, empty like tunnels. The appearance of the Destroyer impressed Rey much more, so he began to associate his guise with the unwillingly taken image of a robot-like Sinister interventionist.

The Destroyer saw in the reflection how a plump woman in colorful robes approached him. She was noticeably worried at the sight of the interventionist and timidly looked away when she realized that the interventionist was looking at her.

– How can I help? – she asked in a trembling voice.

The Destroyer turned around and looked at the iridology teacher from head to toe. She was wider than him in size – the bulky Sinister uniform seemed boyish against the backdrop of the curvaceous form of the teacher.

– Are you 72372? – the Destroyer asked in a mechanical voice.

The teacher nodded as if she expected that the nod would be followed by some kind of retribution. The Destroyer, feeling 72372’s fear fill him with energy, slowly asked:

«What’s a woman with a Sinister name doing in Paxbright’s town?»

72372 began to tremble so violently, as if she was having an epileptic attack. «Her fears were confirmed, she heard what she feared most,» the Destroyer thought contentedly and, without waiting for any answer from 72372, asked the following question:

– Why is there no name on your forehead?

The Destroyer was sure that the question would remain unanswered, and waited for 72372 to faint from fear, but 72372 found the strength to answer this question.

– They took me to the Zionville clinic. Laser. I managed without donor epithelium.

– Do you know Elias Kritz? – the Destroyer immediately blurted out – and achieved the desired effect.

To avoid fainting, 72372 sat down on the floor and, after a moment of thought, her wide head swung first to the left, then to the right.

«Are you a follower of the teachings of the Great Liar?»

72372 wanted to answer something and had already opened her mouth to do so, but the Destroyer brought the machine gun to her very face, touched, and gently touched, her nose.

Surprisingly, 72372 has not yet thought about losing consciousness. The Destroyer lowered his voice, brought his head in a gas mask closer to the teacher’s fleshy ear and whispered:

«We both know that what you are saying now is not true.»

The Destroyer moved away from 72372 and looked searchingly into her deathly frightened eyes. Oh yes, 72372’s ability to read thoughts in the eyes seems so useless now! The Destroyer could only be glad that the gas mask hid the sadistic pleasure of the gray-yellow eyes, which 72372 would instantly recognize as Rhea.

«We know that you are in close contact with Elias Roderick Kritz,» said the Destroyer. – You could say he is your close friend. My master requires information about his current location.

«I don’t…» From lack of air, 72372 took several breaths intermittently. «I don’t know where Elias is.»

The destroyer pointed his machine gun at the teacher and pointedly touched the trigger with his finger.

– And so? So do you know where he is?

72372 began to breathe even faster, her voice became higher and more intermittent.

– Well… well, I don’t know either…

«Are you a follower of the teachings of the Great Liar?» – The Destroyer repeated loudly and pretended to pull the trigger.

72372 shuddered all over and after realizing that the shot had not been fired, she answered with some relief in her voice:

«I swear… I swear that I’m not lying!»

The Destroyer looked for a long time into the eyes of 72372 – into those narrow small slits in his unkempt, fat face. The longer the machine was pointed towards 72372, the more doomed her gaze became. But her fear of dying is nothing, an empty worry compared to his reluctance to live.

The Destroyer took his sights away from the teacher and placed the machine gun on his shoulder. He allowed Ray to intervene in his mind to ask the following question:

– When and under what circumstances did you see Elias?

72372’s gaze still did not leave the machine gun. She sighed slowly, looked back at the walls of the empty university as if she was trying to apologize to them, and then began to say:

«The last time I saw Elias Kritz was three days ago. He asked me how I was doing. I replied that everything was fine.

– Hmm, your «good» didn’t last long.

The Destroyer eloquently tapped his machine gun and asked a new question:

«Why did Elias come here?»

As if spellbound, 72372 stared at the Destroyer machine gun, as if the weapon had the gift of hypnosis.

Chomping in the Destroyer’s earpiece.

«Don’t delay with her,» said the master’s voice.

The body in the Sinister uniform grew cold. The warmth from the pleasure of fear 72372 disappeared. The Destroyer grabbed the machine gun and, aiming it at 72372, yelled:

– WHY DID ELIAS COME HERE? ANSWER THE QUESTION QUICKLY!

72372 shuddered and began to jabber in wild panic:

«He came here to take his friends with him.» He asked me to secretly keep an eye on them, because…» she sighed heavily and looked away, «since they are very young and uncontrollable.» Elias planned to go to Greeverse with them – in order to see… – 72372 lowered her voice – Chancellor Greeverse himself.

The Destroyer felt Bail’s ears perk up, but he decided to change the subject by asking:

«Is Elias not in Paxbright now?»

«I think not,» answered 72372, her voice still trembling. – And his friends are gone too. I was already interrogated by an employee of the UN Grievers Department. Apparently, Elias did something serious, since there are members of the Special Forces here in Paxbright.

«Don’t forget your main goal, soldier,» Bail hissed.

Once again it flashed through the Destroyer’s head:

My main task is to get into Paxbright territory and destroy Johann Shelter. I have no right to allow myself to die before Shelter’s death. The reward for Shelter’s death will be my own death.

– Where did Elias’s young friends live? – asked the Destroyer, realizing that such a question could entail the wrath of the master.

– In dorm. – Her narrow eyes widened, watching the machine gun pointed right at her face. – Opposite the university. There… no one lives there now. After the UN visit, the hostel is… not in the best condition.

«She’s useless, shoot her,» said a poisonous voice.

The Destroyer felt that Ray’s face was beginning to awaken within him. His new reflexes gave way to insane curiosity. He wanted to see the aliens’ home. To find Elias through the aliens. To get into the past through Elias.

To perhaps meet Athena there…

«Since I can’t kill myself,» Ray’s consciousness decided, «then I just need to disappear from this time…»

«Reflexes will force me to take care of my life… but will not enslave me completely,» believed the awakening Rey.

– SHE IS USELESS, SHE IS A FUGITIVE FROM SINISTER! SHOOT HER, SOLDIER!

The Destroyer had to submit. He opened fire and, amid the ringing screams of 72372, spent the entire clip. After which he hurried to leave the university. 72372’s shocked gaze bored into his back. As soon as the Destroyer disappeared, she looked at the eye-shaped mirror – or rather, at what was left of it. The shards of the mirror glittered in the enveloping lighting of the university.

****************

The Destroyer felt frightening changes within himself.

Ray’s subdued nature begins to awaken, and, worst of all, begins to rebel.

For the first time, Ray disobeyed Bail’s direct order. The Destroyer was ready to shoot the iridology teacher, but at the last moment Ray moved the machine gun to the side.

A new goal lit up in Ray’s mind. She suppressed the Destroyer’s reflexes. New goal. Sacred…

Disappear from this time – force Elias to send him back in time to Athena. Damn Bale, that fucking cannibal! Finally, he found something that will help him find happiness. Something that will cut the strings that Bale was happily tugging at his fucking body.

With an elastic step, the Destroyer (or Rey, he didn’t understand yet) walked towards the nearest dormitory – it was the only one in the area with the windows turned off.

But…

He stopped immediately. On the veranda, Ray saw three vague shadows. He decided to go around the back of the dorm so he could overhear what these shadows were saying. Perhaps what he hears will bring him closer to realizing his new desire…

The destroyer walked around the house and entered the backyard of the dormitory. Ray walked around an unusually huge ATV with an inscription on its side, bent down and looked out the window, hoping that unknown people would enter the house. Fortunately, this is what happened. The sound of boots on plastic grew louder. The Destroyer immediately bent down even lower – it seemed to him that one of those who entered was looking in his direction. A heap of voices reached him; it was impossible to understand anything. Ray decided to take off his gas mask – not only in order to hear better, but also simply because spending many hours in stuffy uniform was, to put it mildly, unpleasant. Suddenly the Destroyer heard the first more or less distinct remark. He pressed his cheek to the wall to hear better:

– Yeah!! Keep pouring!! Like, we couldn’t know that there would be four non-policemen, and now, like, we couldn’t know that they would get to them before us!!

– Shut up, Fonzy! – an irritated male voice was heard in response. Then a woman’s voice spoke:

– What do we do? Shall we call him?

Silence – apparently the man was thinking about something. Ray moved away and carefully looked out the window, a little glad that for the first time in a long time he was experiencing quite lively excitement.

There were three people standing in the hallway. One is a broad-shouldered man in a black vest with (Rey shuddered) a crossbow instead of a hand, loaded with multi-colored tridents. Next to him stood a woman of rather powerful build with an acid-pink mohawk on her shaved head. Not far from them, a skinny guy in a skirt was walking around, looking at the furniture and dishes that someone who had been here before them had managed to destroy.

«Iya, I don’t know what we should do,» said the crossbow-handed man, nervously stroking his crossbow over his bare and, as it seemed to Ray, steel chest. «He clearly didn’t predict that Greed would overtake us.»

«Are you sure these were Greed’s people?» – the woman asked.

«More than,» answered the crossbow-handed man, looking up thoughtfully. Meanwhile, the guy in the skirt managed to find brushes and paints, and was now sitting at the table and drawing something.

Crossbowhand looked at Iya with undisguised irritation.

«I won’t rest until you divorce this idiot,» he said quite loudly.

– Non-policeman Frank, I hear you!! Don’t discuss me with my wife!!

– Found something to do, Fonzy! – Iya said dissatisfied. – We’re actually on a mission.

– Which we managed to fail, ha ha!! Fonzy said, hunched over the table with the concentration of an artist.

– Rest assured that when my sister divorces you, you will taste tridents of all colors! – Frank growled.

Fonzy grinned.

– Ha, Frank, don’t be angry, it’s not my fault that you fail operation after operation!! Ha, I missed the thief who stole a whole batch of Lycids!! And now – ha – the damn police have ruined everything for you again!!

Frank wanted to attack Fonzy, but Iya stopped him in time.

– Your only skill is to fail everything, ha!!

«If you, useless worm, don’t shut up now, then rest assured, I’ll shoot you!»

Fonzy stood up from the table and turned to face Frank. He was squeezing something in his hand and smiling so annoyingly that not only Frank, but even the quietly peeping Ray was ready to break into the house and punch this idiot in his impudent face. Gray-yellow eyes lingered on the swamp-colored hair and green plaid skirt – all of this seemed vaguely familiar to Ray. He definitely remembered that he had seen this Fonzy somewhere before. At this time, Frank’s bass boomed in the living room:

– We’re on a mission, idiot!

Fonzy answered something quietly, after which Frank aimed his crossbow hand at Fonzy.

«One more phrase like that and my sister will become a widow.»

Fonzy raised his fist up and unclenched it. On his palm lay a grenade with a stupid face drawn on it.

– When did you have time? – Iya was surprised.

– Ha, when Frank the non-policeman assured you that I wouldn’t be able to steal her!! – Fonzy replied and laughed. – Nobody interferes with my fingers, not even the Sinister policemen, ha-ha!!

Frank and Iya looked at each other with faces as if the behavior of their husband-and-brother-in-law was something new to them.

– Let’s see what’s on the second floor? – Iya suggested.

Frank, whose fighting ardor had subsided somewhat, nodded in agreement and walked towards the stairs. Iya looked out the window – and Rei managed to duck his head at the last moment, catching his breath in relief. He heard the footsteps shaking the living room stop, after which it sounded:

– Iya and I will look around the second floor.

– Yes, my master non-policeman!! – Fonzy’s answer was full of irony.

Powerful footsteps sounded again, then Fonzy’s satisfied voice was heard.

– A grenade makes people polite, non-policemen, ha-ha, ha-ha!!

Ray raised his head slightly. Fonzy remained at the table to finish drawing the grenade. A pink mohawk flashed by the staircase opening made it clear to Rey that Iya was following her brother upstairs.

Ray sat down on the ground and began to analyze what he heard. Based on what he overheard now and heard from 72372 earlier, UN employees had already been here. With their shots they left the hostel in an unsatisfactory condition. «But since the UN interrogated 72372, it means they need information. And since they don’t have information, it means that Elias and the aliens from the past don’t belong to them either.»

Rey was delighted, but immediately dropped. He realized that he had no idea where his brother was now. Meanwhile, a phrase flashed through his head again, reminding Rey of his true essence:

«I am a soldier of the Bale Empire. My code name is Destroyer. I answer only to Sixten Bale. My main task is to get into Paxbright territory and destroy Johann Shelter. I have no right to allow myself to die before Shelter’s death. The reward for Shelter’s death will be my own death…»

He realized that even if by some miracle he managed to change time, he would not be able to get rid of the reflexes implanted by Bail. Realizing this thought, Ray grabbed his hands into the short-cropped lawn and tore out a handful of earth. It was stupid that he felt life again. Stupid and cruel at the same time. This is not his way. Even if he changes time, he will not be able to change himself. In addition, Athena has her own Rey in the past – Rey, who did not have time to go crazy from face addiction and the effects of sonic weapons.

His split brain was visited by a burning desire to destroy something. Powerlessness gives rise to aggression, aggression can provoke death, and death is something that he needs more than life and something that his damned body that does not obey him is programmed to avoid.

I have no right to allow myself to die before Shelter’s death…

Ray almost cried. He buried the back of his head against the perfectly straight wall of the house and began to look at the sky, in which the clouds were slowly gathering…

He heard loud footsteps. He realized that the brother and sister had finished exploring the second floor and thought that they would most likely want to explore the back yard. He stood up, holding the machine gun to his chest and looked at the gas mask, which remained lying on the grass.

«There’s nothing there, Fonzy,» said Iya’s voice. «Get your ass up, we need to get out of here.»

Ray perked up – it means these people won’t be looking around the backyard. And then he became depressed – he noticed a huge ATV standing nearby and realized that the trio most likely arrived on it.

«No, Fonzy will stay here,» Frank’s voice said with ominous undertones.

– Why? – Iya was surprised.

«Suddenly Elias, or the UN, or our friends from the past will come here.» Someone will have to wrap them up and deliver them to Lowdown.

– Why me, a non-policeman?! Why not you?!!

– Because my prosthesis and pistol cannot compare with your grenade!

Loud footsteps were heard, and then:

– Your husband, Iya, turns out to be a magnificent artist. Tell me, who does this mug remind you of?

Ray tilted his head slightly to watch what was happening in the living room out of the corner of his eye. Frank showed Iya Fonzy’s grenade; Fonzy himself was sitting at the table. He was twitching more than usual…

Iya stopped looking at the grenade and placed it on the table in front of Fonzy, giving her husband a frustrated look.

– This face resembles your face, Frank.

– That’s it. So, Fonzy, listen to me carefully. I order you to stay here for another twenty-four hours. In the event of Elias or the aliens appearing – in general, as soon as anything important happens, you immediately dial me. Clear?

– But, Frank, don’t be a policeman!! I’m not a member of your gang, non-policeman!! I’m just hanging out with my wife, nothing more!!

– What are you afraid of, Fonzy? – Frank asked, scratching his wide sideburns with his prosthetic. «You stole a grenade right from the Sinister interventionist.»

– That’s it!! – Fonzy jumped up from his chair. – I’m a pickpocket, not your six!

Immediately, Ray remembered why this Fonzy seemed familiar to him. He was the guy in the skirt who stole the watch glove from a Sinister official at Blake and Bliss in Lowdown.

Frank jabbed his prosthetic crossbow into Fonzy’s skinny chest. All of Fonzy’s twitchiness instantly disappeared and he froze.

«As long as you accompany me on my missions, you are my six.» Explain why?

Iya, upset that she had to see standing behind her brother, shook her head.

– No, non-policeman Frank!! Don’t explain!! – Fonzy answered looking at his wife.

Frank turned to Iya, looking slightly guilty. Iya silently turned around and headed towards the door that led to the backyard.

Ray picked up a gas mask from the ground, somehow placed it on his head and walked back to the bench, pretending that he was patrolling the area.

Door opened.

– I need to take a break from him for at least a day, nothing will happen to him…

– I understand…

Frank and Iya froze. Obviously, they did not expect to see a Sinister interventionist in the backyard of the dormitory. Frightened eyes, hidden by a gas mask, stared at Frank, who stared at him with suspicion and even hatred. Bright blue eyes fell on the disheveled ground, into which the palm of Ray, who had fallen into despair, had just recently clung to it…

Ray tightened his grip on the gun, confident that he had given himself away, ready to shoot if necessary. Frank, without taking his eyes off the machine gun, slowly walked up to the ATV and sat on it…

«I’ll be right back,» Iya said barely audibly and went back into the house.

Ray was afraid that his hands would begin to tremble from fear. He turned around and walked to the side, trying to give his unsteady walk a marching rhythm. He seemed to feel Frank’s suspicious gaze on his back, but calmly walked on until he stopped near the electric road – supposedly to patrol it. He walked along the road for about five minutes until he finally heard the noise of a motor and saw the ATV itself, on which the brother and sister were sitting. They took a long look at the supposed invader and only then drove out onto the electric road leading to the west – leading towards Grievers.

****************

– Who were you eavesdropping on, soldier? – The vile voice of the overlord made Ray remember that he is the Destroyer.

Realizing that various fears would haunt him for the rest of his life, the Destroyer replied:

– Gang. I thought they were looking for Shelter. I eavesdropped on them, and, to be honest, I didn’t hear anything important from them.

– Did you leave them alive?

The sound of forks and liquid being poured – judging by the loud hissing, diamond wine – made Ray strain his ears even more. He never thought that Bail could eat in a civilized manner.

«Yes, my lord,» answered the Destroyer. – They were armed.

– What are your next actions, soldier?

Again that nasty slurping sound. It might not necessarily have been the sound of human beings being eaten, but still, the sound was disgusting. Ray made a grimace of disgust and turned towards the University of Iridology. There were a crowd of young girls on bicycles, with sympathetic expressions on their genetically modified faces surrounding an incredibly curvaceous woman, and Ray knew which one.

«My lord, I need a car with a robot driver,» Rey said thoughtfully, turning towards the dorm.

– For what?

The Destroyer thought that it was impossible to lie to his master, and was about to tell the truth…

But…

Ray thought quite differently.

«I need to go to Sionville.» In order to find and eliminate Johann Schelter.

– How are you going to do this?

Ray, trembling all over, peered into the windows of the dorm. The first drops of rain appeared on the uniform. Greenish whirlwinds appeared in the sky. Poisonous winds – the raw material for Lavertian spirals – were approaching. The spirals that his wife so dreamed of seeing…

– I AM TALKING TO YOU, SOLDIER!

As usual, Rey flinched from such cries of the protector, but not this time…

– HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DESTROY JOHANN SCHELTER?

«Let this be a surprise for you, my lord,» said the Destroyer calmly. «I assure you that this time I will not let you down.»

«Keep in mind, soldier,» Bail began to growl, «if you don’t get to Johann Shelter this time, I will declare war on Paxbright.» Every Paxbrightite who catches the eye of my interventionists will be killed, every one – old man, woman, and child. And all this will happen through your fault. IT’S ONLY YOUR FAULT. You understood me?

«Yes, I understand,» said Ray, sincerely indifferent to the fate of every old man, woman and child on the planet.

– Wait for the car.

Silence.. and this slurping…

With a firm step, Ray headed towards the dorm. He was not embarrassed by Bale’s weaknesses, nor his cries, nor his threats to start a war. His mind – Ray’s mind – was filled with that one thought that had come to him while eavesdropping on the conversation of the strangest trio he had ever heard.

Frank, Iya and Fonzy know the place where the broken time machine is hidden…

And walking smoothly, like a robot, Rey – looking more like a soldier than ever – had no doubt that very soon he would find out where this place was…

Non-coincidences are COINCIDENT

«She is changeable and stubborn; More than once I saw how she bit her lips and deliberately tangled her hair with a comb.

Perhaps she is evil and deceitful, and in everything she is a woman; but even when she speaks slander about herself, even then she seems the most seductive.»