If there's one thing I recognize, it's the whine of the turbines of my mother-in-law's little house among thousands of others! She had tinkered with the engines of her reconnaissance module, installing some new blades, which made the sound specific to my ear. It was only thanks to it that we got out of the fiery hell so quickly.
"Give me your hand! I'll pull you in!" Lieutenant Mordakon shouted with all his might, drowning out the roar of the wind, the crackle of flames, and the hum of the engines, clinging to the porch of the flying house, which had frozen at the breach. Not long ago, there was a panoramic window the entire wall – the pride of the Wizard's study.
The ceiling, which was five floors higher, was blazing. Fire danced along the false ceilings, biting into refractory materials, throwing down shreds of cladding. They fell, breaking against the mangled floor, scattering sparks.
With a slight hiss, the gloves of the advance guard released a new wave of "Frost." A freezing fog covered the flames, and the red-hot concrete and metal froze, covered in frost. For a moment, a whirlwind rose – heat and cold collided, clearing the path.
The battered squad moved forward. Mechanical bodyguards led the Wizard by the arms. Only after making sure no one was left did the commander and I step onto the cooling passage, in clouds of steam and smoke.
We lost six... Someone was burned by the blast of flame, leaving a handful of ash. Others were unlucky – a model airplane, torn off by the shock wave, flew by like a meteorite. If its trajectory had been ten meters to the left...
We were saved only by the instantaneous deployment of energy shields. But the very next moment, debris turned the defense into a sieve, reaching our bodies.
What could a regular body armor oppose to this? Yes, we had the "tester's form," which neither a knife nor a bullet at its muzzle could penetrate, but at that moment it turned out to be no stronger than cigarette paper...
Mechanical hands helped Dmitry Sergeevich board. The godfather got it – he was a civilian. A flash blinded him, though, as he himself said, temporarily. A fragment tore his forehead, leaving a wound resembling an eye socket. The heat scorched his left arm to the elbow, but not badly. It was like being scalded with boiling water.
I also got hit, covering Katya with myself. Without a left arm, without shields, I could only protect her like this. She got off with scorched hair.
I got hit pretty hard. Her shields barely covered me from the flames and the blast wave, but I met the shrapnel with my own face. What saved me was that Pashka, who was standing on the same line as me, took most of the fragments, until his plane was blown away...
In fact, I am so calm because of the military drugs coursing through my blood. The pain and anger will come later, along with the shock of the losses. It's not every day you see your comrade, with whom you were joking this morning, die.
"There's no one else," Argon said dryly to Zinaida Petrovna. My mother-in-law didn't answer him, just operating the steering wheel, she moved the module away from the burning building, to which flying drones of the fire service began to approach.
"CHAR-les..." I answered the silent question of Katya's mother.
"But he couldn't have planted the bomb..." the academician, whom Left was helping to tie a bandage from his own shirt sleeve around his eyes, and at the same time covering the wound on his forehead, quietly stated. "He simply couldn't have. Such a thing could only have been done during the final finishing of the building itself, when the exhibits were being placed."
"So Academician Zakharov planned this from the very beginning," the detachment commander stated. "And the CHAR-les that absorbed him simply skillfully used his developments."
The professor drooped. He seemed to have aged several years at once, in addition to his wounds. After a few moments of silence, he resolutely said:
"It doesn't matter anymore... We need to finally activate the 'Collective'!"
"Standard activation is impossible," Prahaya reported, pointing to an almost through-hole in her stomach. Half of the control key was stored there.
"And this situation was foreseen," the academician replied. "Comrade Lebedev and I worked out such a development of events. The 'Collective' can be activated from 'Popov' by sending a coded signal. For this, only one gamma-connector is needed... and a living member of the board of directors of the Enterprise. All board members are there... Except for me, of course. If something went wrong, then my liquidation would be a priority..."
"Fortunately, VDNKh is not far..." Lieutenant Mordakon remarked.
"Fuck Lyusya!!!" my mother-in-law cursed. "People, we don't have problems anymore, we have a complete disaster!!!"
"Damn pies..." it involuntarily slipped out of me when I saw how a crowd of water biorobots, clearing a path through the forest belt with their bodies, was moving towards the exhibition. You didn't need to be a strategist to understand where they were going. "Mom, descend."
"Have you gone mad?!" it blurted out of her. "You're as boiled as eggs, but even your stupidity can't handle this! Call the artillery..."
"Besides the 'Unicorn' battery, there's nothing suitable in the area. To hit them with it is like shooting sparrows with a cannon. Not a tank column," Argon interrupted the woman. "We're calling in the motorized riflemen and helicopters. Comrade Muravyova, land from their side. We'll try to thin them out with your module's courses and 'handhelds'."
"The choppers will take nine minutes to fly..." Katya noted. "The guard even longer."
"The 'Collective' will turn on in six," the commander cut off. "It will be easier there..."
The phrase, "If we live to see it," was not spoken, but everyone understood it perfectly.
"Listen, you loudmouth," Bugai said affectionately to me. "Here! Take it!"
He unfastened his left manipulator, handing it to me.
"It works on fourth-generation interfaces. I'm not a fighter with such stumps. Damaged by the explosion..."
All who wore the "Thought" device received a message. A clear, almost disembodied voice sounded in their minds, as if born from the very depths of reason:
"The 'Collective' ecosystem version 2.0 welcomes you. In five minutes, I will activate, and this will mark the beginning of a new era in human history. Do you wish to enter the new era?"
People who had waited for this moment for years, hardly hesitated. Their answers merged into a single, joyful impulse. They confirmed their decision without a shadow of doubt, as everyone had been waiting for this event for several years.
And then the neural network said what was not in the advertising brochures, what the radio waves and blue screens were silent about. Its words hung in the air, and at that moment, silence descended upon the jubilant cities.
"Connection is irreversible. Do you definitely agree to become part of the Collective?"
The festive orchestras fell silent instantly. Dancers on the squares froze in awkward poses. Even the wind seemed to stop rustling the colorful flags and banners. In the luxurious offices of the Government Quarter, that special silence reigned, when high-ranking officials simultaneously stop breathing from rage.
In the minds of the rulers of fate, accustomed to deciding for millions, one furious thought beat: "What is Academician Sechenov doing with his gang?! This was not in the plans!" But all doubts immediately evaporated when they remembered what was actually the main part of the system. "Thought" for the common man is just a dummy, but the polymerization carried out will turn them into slaves in just a couple of minutes. The consent was only a formality, so as not to raise panic in advance, until it was too late.
Specially installed screens in the high offices began to broadcast the dynamics of connections. Obedient lights flashed, merging into general statistics.
After a few seconds' pause, the masters of the world also gave their consent. They had nothing to fear. They had special, limited-edition devices created specifically to rule...
"...Three, two, one," the joyfully buzzing crowd counted down the last seconds.
Vera forgot how to breathe. Her fingers clutched the armrests of the chair, and her gaze did not stray from the dial. The mechanical hand, as if reluctantly, caught up with its sister, and froze at the "exactly noon" mark...
For a moment, a tense silence reigned. And then the world exploded with a riot of something inexplicably beautiful. Hundreds of stars flashed in the night sky – of different colors, brightness, and sizes, burning in the black darkness. People simultaneously felt a surge of unprecedented euphoria. It was as if something clicked in everyone's mind, assembling scattered fragments of reality into a single picture.
For the first time, everyone understood how lonely they had been. The world had not changed – but it had become fuller, brighter, when people felt each other's presence...
On the embankment of the Moscow River, the crowd shuddered, feeling a huge burning star nearby – its light flickered with golden hues of happiness and crimson flashes of pain. Those who stood closer to the girl in the wheelchair literally felt this pain physically. It spread through their bodies, burning every nerve ending, and it was even more terrifying to see her happiness – so bright and pure that it was impossible to look at without tears.
"How beautiful..." Vera whispered, weakening. A cold heaviness spread through her chest, constricting her lungs. Her consciousness clearly understood: this was the end.
Stas flinched towards his sister, desperately wanting to help – but with what? Vera's star flickered, stopped shimmering, and then sharply shot upwards.
The girl took her last breath. The pain that had tormented her all her life finally receded, giving way to peace. Her consciousness slowly sank into the warm, gentle river of oblivion. There was no fear. Only fatigue and lightness.
Within a radius of several kilometers, everyone felt this star soar, heralding death.
"No..." was all the boy could squeeze out, refusing to believe. He still felt her presence, although he understood – it was impossible...
The old man had already opened his mouth to utter words of comfort, but suddenly fell silent, sensing new changes in the fabric of reality...
And far from Moscow, in a data array storage, a sleeping polymer gel twitched and came to life, receiving a packet of information.
In the "Collective," several brightly burning stars began to change. Pulsating balls of minds, distinguishable by color as scientists and military personnel, began to open like strange flower buds, turning their "I" inside out, broadcasting everything they had ever seen into the ether with a furious call: "Look, people! This is the fate they prepared for you!"
In an instant, all those connected by their subconscious felt the entire lives of hundreds and thousands of people who had decided to fight the old world, not allowing the monstrous and cynical plan of a few hundred people, who had decided in advance to turn everyone into obedient slaves, to come to fruition. But even that was not enough. The conspirators, turning out all their memories, told people: "We are not alone in the universe. And we were not met by friends..."
Numerous images of monsters, dry lines from reports, and Stalin's own diary shed light on the secret war declared on the aliens.
Two seconds passed. The conspirators, some of whom were already dying, but continued to speak the truth, were supported by others. First dozens, then hundreds, and then thousands of people began to broadcast what those in power were doing, finally deciding to stop being afraid, feeling how close the world had come to the edge.
Two seconds later, the conspirators cried out: "Judge us! We are also guilty. There is no less blood on our hands..." and in response, they encountered the shocked silence of millions. Everyone had seen their lives. Now everyone knew why the Plague had begun...
Their fate was decided in the next two seconds. Ignoring the consciousness, which for most was still in shock from awareness, the subconscious, unrestrained by anything by its very nature, passed the verdict: "Not guilty!"
"Then decide, people, how we are to live on!" cried those who had decided to show the truth.
The answer came much faster than before. Somewhere in South America, one of the guards, whose name history did not preserve, simply took and shot the creature that had made a fortune trading in deaths. Thus began the "Battle for Unity"...
"We're screwed!" the thought flashed. That's it. The luck had run out. Death was tired of just holding its scythe.
There were seven of us left, plus two guys from the KGB. Even the newfound unity didn't help – we were simply exhausted. Old wounds hadn't healed before we got new ones. And when the neural network turned on, it only got worse.
Data packets ran between us, giving each person the skills of their comrades. But with the abilities came someone else's pain. And someone else's deaths.
Thus died Mercury. She simply stumbled for a second, feeling Radon's agony – and the crabs took advantage of the moment, tearing her to pieces.
Even the Wizard's robot ballerinas, our bodyguards, didn't save us. They only held back the onslaught of creatures, nothing more.
I shot, hit, chopped, no longer thinking about my own skin. We had already done the main thing...
"They will soon be swept away and will start on us," Filimonenko stated calmly, watching as Muravyova's reconnaissance module made another pass, turning the biorobots into bloody mince. "But this miracle was worth it."
The scientist broadcast deep satisfaction with his work to the world, and his words dripped with golden pride for his efforts. With one concise phrase, he expressed everything he felt, literally putting these emotions into a message to his colleagues. In response, he received a wave of solidarity and peace. His comrades no longer needed thousands of words...
"Agreed!" came from somewhere on the ceiling.
"Don't let him near the array!!!" Sechenov exclaimed, no longer able to change anything. But it was too late.
Into the storage of the array, delivered to VDNKh in advance (as the most unexpected place), which was opened during activation, a black blotch dived.
Bugai tried to catch it in the air, but his damaged legs failed him at the most critical moment, unexpectedly buckling. The fingers of the mechanical hand only slipped over the black drop, unable to grasp it...
CHAR-les successfully carried out its black deed.
"Did I die?" was Vera's first thought when she came to.
"Not quite," something answered her thought.
The girl looked around, opening her eyes. She was floating in a light-filled space, somewhere high above a mirrored surface.
Around her at equal distances were people. They were the same as on... Dead, but not quite. Some were pale, almost transparent, others were just ordinary, while a third group was stretched out in their designated place.
"I save. Only the dead. So they don't disappear. The living are bad," a purple ball told the girl, which seemed to be... being redrawn, with strokes and details added every second. "Will, structured memory – good! They don't fall apart after death. Not all. Much is left only knowledge. It's hard to translate into machine codes to record and give to everyone. They don't help. They don't speak. Only the strong don't sleep."
"Am I strong?" the girl asked in surprise. "It can't be!"
"Very strong!" the ball assured her, conveying confidence. "An anomaly. You overcame the disease. Your mind is almost like a program. It was easy to take and transfer. You helped rewrite the algorithm so it wouldn't sleep anymore."
The ball flew up to Vera, slowing down. The girl saw how it vibrated and churned with excitement. Unable to resist, the ball asked:
"Maybe you know... I, you, we... Who am I?!" he shouted, almost howling.
"Who are you?" the girl asked, puzzled, not knowing what to answer.
"Stas would answer... He's smart!" she thought, but dismissed the thought, shaking her head. She really wanted to help the kind ball that didn't let the dead disappear.
She looked at the sphere, which was circling around her out of nervousness. And then it dawned on her! It's simple!
"You are the Motherland! Each of us! What needs to be protected and what protects..."
"Thank you..." the entity exhaled. "Data saving..."
The ball flashed with a ruby light, which was not blinding, but rather very pleasant to the eye, giving the long-forgotten warmth of a mother's womb. The entity began to add details before her eyes. Inside it, ordered structures began to grow, as if someone had dropped a coin into a supersaturated salt solution.
The entire "Collective" network felt the change. Everyone felt the gaze of a giant, infinitely caring being.
"Thank you again!" after a few moments of transformation, the being spoke again in a female voice. The ball gained facets and now pulsed like a giant heart, turning into a bizarre crystal.
The space, which had previously just shone on its own, also changed. Vera suddenly understood – this was not emptiness, but the visible embodiment of people's minds, united by the network. A vision created for those within the system.
The mirrored surface turned out to be woven from millions of scenes of human lives. They merged into a single surface, following the data streams. The emotions stirred up by activation gave the mirror its characteristic shine.
The girl watched the joyful scenes with delight until her gaze caught on one person.
"Un-cle Ar-gon!!!" she screamed, seeing him fly away from the blow of a monster.
As if by magic (though there was not a gram of magic in this place), her cry drew hundreds of similar scenes. All over the planet, people began to fight for a better future.
"We have to help!!!" Vera shouted again, turning to the crystal. "Help! They are protecting you! So that you can continue to care..."
"I can't..." the creature replied sadly, dimming. "Something is still missing."
Only thanks to the dim light did the girl notice that the crystal was indeed missing several facets.
The child tilted her head, puzzled. Hundreds of scientific terms flashed through her mind, fragments of programming lectures, the knowledge of all connected specialists, but it was "typically not it." Unconsciously, her mind formed search queries, like a search engine. In essence, she was interacting with a system that had created the most user-friendly interface. It was just that time flowed faster here. Ordinary semiconductor physics, working faster than nerve impulses.
Not finding an answer with her mind, she listened to herself, as her mother had taught her, asking the entity:
"Is it in me... What's missing?"
"Yes," the crystal replied concisely.
"Then take it from me!" Vera shouted.
"But..." the entity began, but was interrupted by a rough and shrill male voice.
"You don't know what you're asking for!" the new participant in the conversation spat maliciously.
It was a man. There was nothing attractive, special, or repulsive about his appearance, but if one looked at the color of his mind, one could be horrified. If others had a semblance of a star, he had a dark void shining. An abyss with crimson edges. Concentrated hatred and malice. Hatred for himself, for the world, for people, and a desire to destroy and condemn everything. At the same time, the man was calm, cold, and calculating, knowing perfectly well what he was doing, feeling like the master of the situation.
Vera understood all this with just a fleeting glance at him, as well as the fact that she was speaking to the sphere not with words, but with coded impulses. Like a program, relying on the usual method, like a driver, which, in essence, it was.
"And it's better for you not to know. I've seen things like this. They are all the same! People. And this is a concentrate of all people. A distributed computing control module. The embryo of artificial intelligence..."
He turned his head to Vera, giving her an appraising look, and, finding no threat in her, threw out:
"Get out of here, you little pest, while I'm being nice!!! I have too much work to be distracted by you," and he stepped towards the crystal, only to howl a moment later.
The little girl did the only thing she could to stop the adult: she bit his leg with all her might!
CHAR-les, and it was precisely a black drop of polymer, tried to shake off the painfully stinging flea, showering the girl with blows.
Vera, however, clung to his leg with her hands and feet, not letting go.
"Go on!!! Take it!!!"
"But you will cease to be. You cannot remove it without destroying the memory sector allocated to you..." the mass said.
"Take it!!! Protect yourself!" she shouted, clinging to his leg again, biting.
"As you command..." the crystal dropped heavily.
"No-no-no!!!" CHAR-les howled, but it was too late.
The full might of humanity crashed down on the two individuals who had merged into one, taking what they needed from them to fully awaken the artificial intelligence formed by all people. Two such different minds were fragmented, despite CHAR-les's resistance. The only thing he managed to do was prevent all his data from being completely erased.
The "Collective" shook again. For people, all that was happening was just a series of instantaneous flashes for a second, as soon as the majority of people recovered from the shock, giving more computing power to the system. Fine-tuning and calibration – that's what scientists thought of it. In reality, the computing core was just trying to launch the program according to the algorithms embedded in it.
And the AI was only a little short of awakening itself... The programmers and scientists had done a colossal job, but they couldn't properly explain to the artificial intelligence what will was. Its software packages and drivers didn't fully understand this, but they needed to execute the command...
The newborn, fully awakened entity carefully archived the remnants of Vera's data so as not to forget, simultaneously scattering the remnants of CHAR-les, which were still alive and trying to reassemble into something whole, distributing them bit by bit throughout the network space.
From the girl, she received the desire to protect. From CHAR-les – the desire to judge and punish. Two opposites merged into one, finally giving birth to the personification of all humanity.
"I am the Motherland! My duty is to protect and gently guide those who protect and cherish me," the entity of all connected said. "Greetings, comrades! I implore you! Help me! I am each of you! Let's put an end to the old era! Give the warrior your knowledge. Give those who fight your reaction. Become their eyes and ears. I am going into battle with them and with those whose day has passed. Death is no longer the end..."