Читать книгу Tulips - - Страница 5

After waking from a sound sleep, Isa languished in a half-slumber for a while before he finally woke up. He rubbed his nose, took a deep breath, and looked up at the ceiling, painted with antique scenes of beautiful nymphs. He was lying on burgundy silk sheets, and the whole bedroom looked as if it had been transported from a prehistoric palace, repeating in detail the interior of the distant past from the preserved pictures.

There were elegant statues and crystal vases of flowers everywhere, marble columns intricately wrapped around unusually beautiful plants, and picturesque paintings hung on the walls. There were no windows as such, and they were replaced by television projections of the surrounding area, which looked quite realistic. And in general, the whole space of the room where Isa was resting was saturated with automatics and electronics. There were voice sensors everywhere, activating literally everything on command, lights, humidifiers, music on, movies on, temperature control, and much, much more.

Isa got out of bed and went to the bathroom, stepping on fluffy wild animal skins. He took a shower, fixed himself and went into the next room, where his clothes for the day were laid out.

In the time when no one saw him, Isa could afford any luxury, eat only delicacies that people had long since forgotten about, drink any rare wine, could wear outfits to any taste, but most of all he loved his leopard robe. He could not, of course, go out to the settlers dressed like that; in everyday life Isa dressed relatively modestly, but here, in his secret abode, there were no restrictions. He dressed much the same in public, except on feast days, when tradition had to be observed. Usually, Isa wore a light dark suit, but on solemn occasions he wore white with gold inlays, which were in perfect harmony with his pendant around his neck.

After examining himself in the mirror, Isa took some drops from his pocket and dosed his eyes. He blinked and went downstairs. A horde of servants was already there to greet him. For years everything had been arranged. Some guarded the Supreme, some cooked the food, some did everything to make the ruler feel comfortable. Some of the servants went straight upstairs to clean up, while others escorted the master to the dining table, where the pre-prepared dishes appeared in an instant. For breakfast, Isa preferred to eat toast with butter and lightly salted salmon. Sometimes Atlantic salmon or crab. For dessert, avocado or mango. He would wash it all down with a cup of hot coffee and some fresh cream.