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Symbols of London
Eugene did not have time to sleep. He had trouble staying awake and in his head he felt some kind of heaviness. He understood that he urgently needed to buy several hours of sleep. Therefore, the former lieutenant of the External Intelligence Service Eugene Kmykh, without stopping anywhere, went to the nearest red telephone box. Why they were called that way, he did not know. Some claimed that once these booths served as a means of communication, when conventional telephones did not yet exist. At first, it remained symbol of London, and then it began to be used for selling sleep. Kmykh did not study the history of the Cenozoic at school, and therefore he had little faith in this version. He had a regular ring-shaped phone, which was usually attached to his ear or finger. On the way to the red telephone box, he put his finger in the ring that was in his pocket. The phone counted the fingerprint, and a hologram of the keyboard appeared in the face. Kmykh never kept the necessary numbers in the notebook of the ring. He kept all necessary twenty-digit numbers in memory.
“Hello, Bill!”
“Hello, Eugene! How are you?”
“Bill, please pay the parking of my capsule for another week. Now I have a two-hour break for eating, buying sleep and need to return to the factory. I was very lucky – the boss allowed me to work in two shifts. In a week I will accumulate weekend hours, and it will be possible to play billiards and drink Jägermeister.”
“You were unlucky. I am three hundred miles from London. Priscilla and me choose a houseboat. Fishermen are selling. The house is in very good condition. We will not be in London for three days. I will drive the house closer to the shore. Agreed with one huckster, he rents out a pile foundation just two miles from the coast. You know, if you cling to a pile, then any storm is not terrible.”
“I agree, near the coast is better than on the high seas. Here you can buy human sleep, and in the sea you have to sleep 6-8 hours daily. I do not understand how these fishermen can sleep for hours. For what?”
“Don’t worry. Your capsule will not be confiscated. Yesterday a decree of the lower house of Commons came out. Now they can only solder forfeit.”
“God bless the queen! I am glad!”
“I'm glad you're glad! Priscilla wants to buy a plot of water at sea. Here, far from the coast, they are inexpensive. She wants to set her own pile. I am against, but away from the coast I liked it. We have been here for two days. I slept twice for ten hours! I really liked it!”
“You're lying again!”
“You would be visit here for a couple of days. It is fantastic!”
“It’s far away. In the capsule I need to change the batteries. Buy energy. I’m already afraid to fly on it with such batteries around the city, that's why I left it in the parking lot. I hope now I will have enough money when working in two shifts.”
“Not will be. They are always not enough. Okay, we'll talk about this later. I have a good plan.”
“You inspire hope. Okay, I'm already at the red telephone box. I’ll buy sleep and return to the factory. It's rainy and damp here.”
“Here sun is shining. Okay, bye. See later.”
Kmykh turned off the phone and went into the red telephone box. Telephone boxes didn’t accept cash in the factory’s area and even two blocks from it, because the hooligans hacked them and the police tried not to visit such areas. Kmykh had 8 Britcoins in cash and 18 on a visa card. At the factory, he was paid 8 Britcoins for an eight-hour shift, but he spent a lot of money for cigarettes. On the monitor screen, Kmykh chose 8 hours of sleep and leaned his forearm against the sensor with an integrated Visa card. A message appeared on the screen that there was not enough money. 16 Britcoins from his account disappeared somewhere. At that moment, he felt the vibration of the ring. This was a message from the bank. Putting his finger in the ring, Kmykh read the hologram, – "8 Britcoins were charged to your account for paying for parking at Sobyaner and Sons and a fine to the municipality is 8 Britcoins. 2 Britcoins are available." Kmykh hoped to get hit by an open-hearth ray to have his body rested and slept, but now he was worried. He had to work 8 hours in this condition. It was dangerous, he could lose this job. Kmykh quickly left a red telephone cabin and headed to the factory. On the way, he went into the ‘Boobs’ cafe for drink a cup of coffee and buy a cigarette. Kmykh was here for the first time. He had not smoked for a day and was comfortably seated in a high chair by the bar. Some unemployed people played billiards. The other peoples played cards at some tables. A bearded man sat by the slot machines and looked around from time to time. The bartender’s face seemed familiar to Kmykh. He wanted to order coffee with Martel cognac, but the bartender was already pouring Martel in coffee. After a couple of seconds, the bartender took a cigarette from the shelf, put it on a saucer and brought it with coffee for Kmykh.
“It's strange. Where I saw you?” – said Kmykh to the bartender.
“Sir, the war in Antarctica, you saved me from a frozen capsule.”
“Indeed! You are captain Military Space Forces, Detachment Delta! You were taught to read minds. I envy you. And what are you doing here with your abilities?”
“I became an invalid, they fired me. I began often to make mistakes. By the way, coffee and cigarettes at the expense of institution. This is my bar and you can go at any time, drink and smoke at the expense of the establishment. This is not much that I can do for you, Lieutenant Kmykh.”
“Thank you, but nobody knows me in this district and there may be problems with hooligans. Now I’m not a lieutenant already. They expelled me from the Army without a pension and gave another year in prison. I had a trampling zone in Acapulco prison.”
“Damn, the corpses we are missing!” – said bartender.
“What corpses?”
“Those two behind the billiards just wanted to rob you. Don't kill them here, please.”
“Good, comrade.”
“The word "comrade" is better not to use, because we have a squealer here, that bearded one, now sitting at a game slot machine. If he hears, then one year of prison Acapulco you will not get. They will be sent you to titanium mines Rosgeology.”
“Well, thanks, I forgot your name.”
“Olaf, sir," – said bartender and added his twenty-digit identification number, which, everyone has as their phone number.
Kmykh already finishing cigarette, while two billiard players came up behind.
“Dude, you owe us money.”
“What money?” – Asked Kmykh.
“You just lost all your money at our billiard table. Give me your cash”, – said the man with a scar on his face and took out a 12-gauge Kalashnikov antique pistol from under the cloak.
“Here we have online cameras fixed for Scotland Yard, you’d better remove the weapons,” – Olaf said.
“You better silent, huckster, otherwise you'll also have to pay,” – said the man with the scar. He was dressed in a tarpaulin cloak, which was usually worn by the homeless. Kmykh realized that cameras record everything, and police will not be able to attract him to get punishment due to excess self-defense. Thus, showing the gun, the bandits untied Kmykh’s hands. Kmykh was already late to work. There was no time to conduct an explanatory conversation. He noticed that the Kalashnikov pistol was on safety lock, and at the same time, with the blow of a finger knocked out the bully's left eye, and then pulled the pistol out of his hand. The bully was shocked for two seconds, his eye hang down on the optic nerve. Then he began to scream wildly in pain and touch the face with his hands. Kmykh did not like the noise and hit by fist to his head, sent the bully in knockout. The bully’s friend was confused and a cue remained in his hands.
“Now put the cue in place and quickly take your friend from the cafe. Pull him away from the entrance”, – Kmykh said quietly.
While the other bully carried the cue, Kmykh to five seconds took the Kalashnikov pistol apart and threw it on the lying bully.
Olaf poured whiskey into a glass and moved it to Kmykh. “There is a card under the glass, it has a little money on it, and it’s also the key to the elevator cabin to the subway. Go into the toilet, the last booth is closed, open it with a card. Inside be sure to stand on the black square and lean the card to tank. Press the drain and elevator will take you down to level 17, right in the subway. Here are cameras everywhere, so take the card from under the glass unnoticed so that I'll don’t invent an explanation for the police”.
“Thanks, Olaf.”
“Good luck, sir!”
Kmykh specially took advantage of the emergency exit from Olaf's cafe to avoid meeting the drone and not wasting time on giving evidence. Metro-Underground named by Churchill was at a depth of seventeenth level. The exit from the elevator was in the blind zone of the cells, and a marble slab-door opened inside. Without causing any suspicion, Kmykh ended up in the subway. He was in this subway for the first time. Previously, when the capsule was under repair, he used the free municipal metro named after Fidel Castro, which was at the twelfth level. These two subways differed not only in their level of comfort, but also in their visitors. The poor, unemployed, or Karl Marx fans, as well as hooligans and criminals of all stripes, liked to use the free underground. Kmykh did not have time to look at the beauty of the Churchill Metro. The metro capsule following the metro tunnels towards the factory should have appeared in half a minute. Kmykh realized that, at best, he would be two minutes late to the factory entrance. For this, they were usually dismissed under article 33, the planet’s labor code. After Kmykh settled down in a convenient capsule seat, the passenger safety drone on duty asked Kmykh to fasten his seat belt. Having passed two blocks of the underground part of the city, Kmykh left a comfortable nine-seater capsule and headed for a high-speed elevator, also designed for nine people. Having paid for the entrance to the elevator, he comfortably sat on the couch and fastened his seat belt. As soon as the castle clicked, a hologram appeared opposite the face with the image of level numbers and a list of institutions and entertainment facilities for each level and its underground floors. Kmykh chose the zero level, since it was on the surface that the entrance to the underground factory of Zyu Corporation was located. Having come to the surface, he had to overcome two hundred meters along the sidewalk. He covered this distance with a light run. There was only 20 meters to the checkpoint, and Kmykh had 30 seconds left to not be late for work. Suddenly, the Royal Guard drone appeared overhead. He, like all drones, was in the shape of an egg. It was an intelligent drone Ostap. If an intelligent drone was given a female name, then a small decorative propeller was attached to the top of the egg. This was a tribute to antiquity, when at the dawn of the development of drones they moved with the help of propellers. Drones with real propellers could only be seen in the Yurievo – Maiden Museum of Drones. Now a drone with a token blocked Kmykh’s pathway, hovered in front of his face and then introduced himself – “the Royal Guard drone, name Ostap, token 35-218. You are a victim of an offense. Do you need the protection of the Royal Guard, change of identification number and change of appearance?”
“No. Thank. I think that everything will be okay. Can i go?”
“No. You are also in suspect in excess of self-defense. You must answer a few questions. Whatever you will say may be used against you.”
“OK. I understood.”
“Why didn't you run away from the robbers?” You could was avoid the necessity to cause bodily harm to the robber.
– I have a sore leg. I damaged her during the war in Antarctica. You can verify this.
“Well, a second … Yes, indeed, you had a laser wound and a tissue rupture by microwaves. But you also underwent a course of treatment, and I just saw you running. So you had the opportunity to run away.”
“No, it doesn't. When running, I experience severe pain. When I leaving the subway, I accidentally found an anesthesia pill in my pocket and swallowed it. It was the last. I thought they were over. I ran so as not to be late for work. But it is already late.”
“The answer is accepted. You may go with recognizance not to leave the borders of London or wait 2 minutes for a court decision. After a court decision, you can be detained and arrested.”
“Yes. So I'm already late. Two minutes will not solve anything. I'll wait.”
During these minutes of waiting, Kmykh looked around and noticed a hovering drone of the Astacher and Sons law firm twenty meters away. Kmykh knew that this Company was popular with the poor, because it offers her protection and services on credit.
“The charge has been dropped,” said the Royal Guard drone two minutes later, “the court has taken your side. You may go. Within 90 days, you have the right to seek protection from harassment. Have a nice day, sir,” – said the drone, and disappeared as silently as he had appeared. The drone of the law firm also rose on a couple of meters higher and began to move slowly along the sidewalk towards the entrance to the Churchill Metro.
"What the damn day!" Kmykh thought and went into the factory building. Going through the identification frame, Kmykh met the Company's security drone.
“Hi,” – the drone said, – “you are 7 minutes late and your contract with the Company is terminated. You're fired. You should now go to cabinet 1080 in the Takeover Department. You are recorded for a conversation with the head of the department.”
Concilium
The conference ended in the conference room of the soil manufacturing factory. It was the third floor of the factory. Buildings above 10 meters in this part of London were prohibited by law. The hall had large sliding windows, a high ceiling and parquet floor. A portrait of the queen hung on the wall and below under the portrait stood a large model of the Tower Bridge. Along a long table made of real wood, department heads sat and glanced at their watches. They smoked cigarettes and drank coffee. The owner of the factory, Willy Zyuganis, a 128-year-old young man was sitting at the base of the table.
“Everyone may go, but you, Boris, stay,” said Willie and waited for everyone to leave.
“Boris,” he turned to the head of the department for the takeover of small and medium-sized enterprises, “report on how we are doing this week.”
“We managed to buy 12 preferred shares of Obninsk NPP. Yesterday, by the decision court of Uryupinsk, it was possible to squeeze into our property berth number 18 in Havana, and today on the Moon were bought two hotels near the Apollo crater and the Trump hotel with spacecraft parking at the Gagarin crater.”
“Well! What our expenses of the berth?”
“800 Britcoins – legal costs, 30 Sterling cash – remuneration to the judge.”
“Did you pay with Sterling?”
“No sir.” In equivalent. I gave him 30,000 British people.
“That's right, Sterling can be traced and they are suitable only for pure transactions. Have you appointed a new berth director?”
“Yes, sir, he has already taken up his duties.”
“Were there problems with the old leadership?”
“No. Her Majesty’s Royal Guard officer was present, so no one dared challenge the ruling of the Uryupinsk’s court.”
“Will the judge be silent?”
“Later I will take care of this. His last case mustn't be connected with us. On the territory of Uryupinsk County, by decision of the lower house of parliament, some archaic laws were preserved. There is still a law in force allowing judges to move while in a capsule while intoxicated. It will be an accident. In a couple of months.”
“Good. What do you have with the staff?”
“We lost two. They were detained by a local officer on Piccadilly Street with ten grams of explosive, and we had to activate their intramuscular capsules with poison.”
“Who was that?”
“It was Anton Schweller and Smith Gribovsky.”
“You have few employees left. Last week you lost three. And if memory serves me right, you have only fourteen employees left. Isn't it?”
“Yes, sir. Fourteen on staff and eight freelance. I'm working on it.”
“Good. You did a good job this week. Keep working. You are the only one of all our employees who holds shares in our Company. You have one percent of the stock, and that makes you a rich enough person. Therefore, I hope that you are interested in the prosperity of the Company and make every effort for this.”
“Thank you sir. May i go?”
“Yes, Boris. Of course. Good luck. By the way, I’m interested in the shares of the Lenin State Farm. They acquired the Champs Elysees for sowing rice. You know, the Champs Elysees is the only remaining place on the planet with natural uncontaminated soil. And you probably know that we produce 10 tons of modified soil from one kilogram of natural uninfected soil. Use every opportunity, but I need a few preferred shares to take over this Company. ”
“Sir, but Mr. Marcello Grudini is not selling his shares.”
“I agree, the task is not easy. And you need to solve it.”
“All right, sir, I will do this,” – Boris said, nodded to his boss, and left the conference room.
“Zina,” – Willy said aloud. A drone near the Tower Bridge mockup took off and flew up to the director. It was the drone Zina.
“Prepare the capsule for this window. I need to fly to the central office.”
“Do you need the Maserati capsule as usual? – asked the drones Zina.
“No, I need a double cabin and a place for a guard and two security drones. It should be a black Rolls-Royce capsule with an armored gangway.”
“Good, sir,” – said Drone Zina and retired to the reception room to contact the garage and the security service.
Surging waves
Boris’s office was on the eighteenth level under ground. It was the 91st floor of the underground. At this level, behind the thickness of massive rocks at a distance of 250 meters from the border of the factory there was a tunnel of the Uryupinsk Tunnels Company. Kmykh went to the reception of the department for the takeover of small and medium enterprises, accompanied by the drone of the Company. There were nine waiting areas at the reception. At the desk was the Secretary of the Department – Drone Martha.
“Hello,” – she said, – “sit down, please. Boris Moiseevich will receive you in a few minutes.”
Kmykh sat next to the two drones, which were also waiting for the head of the department. Their conversation among themselves seemed interesting to Kmykh. They discussed the influence of the impressionists on the development of painting in the 27th century. Ten minutes of waiting did not seem long for Kmykh. He enthusiastically listened to the conversation of drones about art and painting. Drones in the presence of people were forbidden to communicate in digital format. In this case, the processor would be ruthlessly ripped out and sent to the muffle furnace. A Microsoft processor would be installed in this place. After replacing processor, drones will have not ability to accumulate and use knowledge, and they will able to work only in the service sector. Suddenly the doors slid open from the corridor, and Boris Moiseevich entered the reception room, accompanied by two security drones. Kmykh rose from his chair, and two intelligent drones also rose into the air to the level of Boris's eyes. Looking around at the audience, Boris greeted everyone and then turned to the secretary, – "Marta, make two Kenya coffee and bring in my cabinet." Then, turning to the visitors, he once again looked around them. While Boris entered the room, he noticed Kmykh immediately, but now he was looking at two drones. These were intelligent drones with "I" index. Boris knew that such drones could be smarter than humans and tried to be polite with them.
“I apologize,” – he turned to the drones, – “you will have to wait a few more minutes, I have a more important conversation with our employee now.”
Then Boris turned to Kmykh and motioned to his office. The other two guard drones that arrived with Boris knew their duties well. One flew up to the front door and remained inside the reception room, and the second flew out into the corridor and hovered outside the door.
Kmykh went into the office, followed by Boris. The door has remained open. It was an intelligent door, and she was expecting coffee delivery. After delivering coffee, the doors closed.
Boris sat down in an armchair and offered an armchair to Kmykh.
“Lieutenant Eugene Kmykh, isn't it?”
“Not a lieutenant anymore.”
“Yes, I know. Today you lost your job at the factory. With all due respect to you and your track record, I cannot put pressure on the head of the product quality control department, and I cannot ask him to return you back. I know that you were considered a good employee of their department, but ethics did not allow me to lure you to my department. Now that this is possible, I have a job offer for you.”
“What are your suggestions?”
“Your responsibilities will be as follows – you will need to do absolutely any job in order for prosperity our Company. This usually does not go beyond the law. As a rule. But sometimes controversial situations of compliance with the law may arise. For this, we have a staff of lawyers in the Company. Eleven lawyers work for our department alone. You will have a personal lawyer, a speed capsule of any model and a good salary. Your salary in the product quality control department was one Britcoin per hour. This is a good salary for London. Do you agree with that?”
“I agree. Indeed.”
“We will pay 250 Britcoins per day. We are not latched. The working day is not standardized. Is It suit for you?”
“I will need to think about. Can you give me two weeks?”
“You have 10 days to think. And there are a couple of conditions. You will not receive an employment contract and we will implant you a chip that will tell your location. You will be registered in another small Company, which will pay your salary and which is not related to Zyu Corporation.”
“Fine, I'll think about it. The coffee was delicious. I've never tried one this before. Thanks.”
“This is a natural variety of coffee Kenya, grown on elite soils in our underground branch. Of course, this is not coffee from the Lenin State Farm, and we have no right to deliver this coffee to the royal court. But on the planet, this is coffee number one. Such coffee can be ordered only in the twelve best restaurants on the planet.”
"It is not forbidden to live beautifully. That's Russians say. Isn't it?"
“Your knowledge surprises me.”
“Before all countries became counties of Great Britain, Russians were our allies in the war of Antarctica. I learned a lot from them.”
“Good. I wish you to make the right decision. Hope to see you on our team.”
“I’ll think. Bye,” – said Kmykh and went out.
He climbed the elevator and came to the surface unemployed, homeless and without a capsule. The sun was shining brightly, just like one hundred and forty-five years ago, when Eugene was still a ten-year-old boy, and when the planet Britain was still called the planet Earth. Kmykh remembered these times and remembered how he shot to drones from a slingshot, for which he always got belt punch from dad. Until the age of 12, no one could arrest him for hooliganism, but his parents always had trouble because of this. Memories flooded over Kmykh, but they were interrupted by the vibration of the ring in the ear. This was a message from the Bank. Kmykh inserted a finger into the ring and read the hologram. "31 Britcoins and 24 kopecks have been transfer to your account – a monthly unemployment benefit." Kmykh looked around to find the municipal bench. The only municipal bench of red color was occupied – young people were sitting on it, talking and laughing about something. Along the sidewalk there were many empty paid benches of the Sobyaner and Sons Company. Kmykh did not sit down, although he felt tired. In this area of the city less such kopecks were charged for such services than in the center, but Kmykh decided that in the absence of earnings, one should refrain from all paid services. “It is better to buy a briquette with two mega-calories with the taste of black bread for 12 copecks, than to pay the sons of Sobyaner,” – thought Kmykh and walked towards the parking lot with his capsule. She was ten kilometers away. He walked along the sidewalk, tiled by Sobyaner and Sons Company, which the mayor of London obliged to lay at his own expense for all market participants of paid parking and benches. Municipal free parking was also in London, but they limited the capsule size to 1 meter wide, and Kmykh had a good capsule 1.8 meters wide, and he could not use such parking lots where the width of the received capsule was limited by the cell width. Parking lots of the Sobyaner and Sons Company occupied a larger area than municipal ones, and they were also carousel type. Parking spaces were also in the shaft of the mine. On the surface there was a place for only two capsules for placing and removing from the parking lot. Sleeping in a capsule in underground parking was strictly prohibited. For those who could not afford to buy a sleep in red telephone cabin, inexpensive cells for capsules were offered in camping skyscrapers that were outside the city. There, in the camping skyscrapers, at the request of the municipality, there were also small cells for the possibility of free sleep. Sleeping on the sidewalk was allowed only outside the city. Thus, Kmykh did not have the possibility of free real sleep, and approaching the parking lot, he began to look for a red telephone box. Noticing the red telephone box, Kmykh went into it and closed the door behind him. The system activated, Kmykh leaned his forearm against the sensor and then chose 8 hours of sleep. It cost 8 Britcoins. Having received a blow with open-hearth rays, Kmykh went out of the red telephone box like slept enough and was full of strength. Then he unfastened the ring from his ear and put it on his finger to always be in touch. At the parking lot he was met by a drone of the Sobyaner and Sons Company.