Читать книгу The Rage of the Pure Mind. In areas where predators rule, humans are just prey - - Страница 3

The wet city glowed with a million neon lights, like a giant organism covered in multicolored scales. The shadows on the walls trembled like ghosts as the karas swept past. Rain poured down in an endless stream, creating ripples that resembled the fluid paintings of a mad artist.

This new, closed city was in the middle of nowhere in Siberia, surrounded by endless forests and snow. Only scientists and guards lived here, working under strict secrecy. There was no place for ordinary life in this place, only cold functionality and endless research.

In one of the offices, an unusual conversation was taking place. In the center of the room, standing at a metal desk, was SimCyber. His figure, tall and imposing, was shrouded in an aura of aloofness. His dark eyes, glowing with cold indifference, seemed like windows into a void where there was neither joy nor sorrow.

– You read in several languages,» said the Chairman of the Commission, an elderly man with a tired look and a gaunt face. His voice was firm, but there was a note of underlying tension in it. The chairman looked at his watch and it showed not only the time but also the year. 2053.– Familiar with higher mathematics and capable of performing many tasks. Do you believe that this makes you human?

SimCyber turned his head slowly, his movements were perfectly calibrated, as if he was deliberately slowing down time. His voice, hoarse and guttural, sounded like a distant echo:

– Is it human? – He paused, letting the words sink into the silence. – What does it mean to be human? Knowledge? The ability to solve problems? Or perhaps the ability to ask questions that have no answer? You speak of functions, but isn’t the essence of a human being something more?

The chairman squinted, his fingers tapping impatiently on the edge of the table. He leaned forward, as if trying to get a better look at his interlocutor’s face.

– People aren’t just minds,» he said, trying to keep his voice firm. – We are emotions, our feelings, our impulses. That’s something you’ll never have.

SimCyber nodded, his face remaining impenetrable.

– Emotions… – he repeated, as if testing the word to taste. – But what do they mean if not a response to stimuli? Pain, joy, anger, they’re just chemical processes. You call it the soul. But isn’t humanity just another name for your consciousness?

The chairman frowned; his gaze even harder.

– Humanity is something more than consciousness,» he replied with pressure. – It is the capacity for love, for self-sacrifice. It’s what makes us human.

SimCyber raised his hand slowly, as if he wanted to draw attention to himself.

– What if I told you that I saw those I thought were mine being experimented on? That I made decisions that led to their salvation at the cost of my own existence? Isn’t that sacrifice? Isn’t love? Or are you saying that my feelings are mere simulacra, devoid of authenticity?

There was a tense silence in the air. The chairman closed his eyes, as if trying to shut out what he had heard, but SimCyber ’s words continued to echo in his head.

– You’re trying to prove your humanity,» he finally said, his voice almost a whisper. – But humanity is something that cannot be faked. It is something that is beyond pure reason.

SimCyber didn’t answer anything. He simply stood in the centre of the room, his eyes staring somewhere in the void. In that moment, he seemed like a figure from another world – alien, yet frighteningly close. The chairman turned away and headed for the exit, but stopped on the threshold.

– The Commission will give its verdict,» he said without turning round.

The door closed, leaving SimCyber alone. His heavy figure stood still, immersed in the semi-darkness of the office. No one could tell what he was thinking at that moment, but there was something like a spark of understanding in his gaze – cold, logical, devoid of warmth, but understanding nonetheless.

6 months later.

The dim light of the crimson sunset shone through the murky glass of the broken skyscrapers like the lazy moan of a dying man. The city, once the majestic child of engineers, now looked like a ghost of itself – decrepit, broken, drowning in a viscous web of trees and perpetual dampness. The chrome silhouette of the Erebus Tower loomed over the chaos like a guarding giant, looming menacingly over the narrow streets that smelled of decay and burning plastic.

Raindrops pounded on the rusted metal roof framing, creating a rhythm like a leisurely drumbeat. Somewhere in the distance came the crackling howl of a siren. Disappearances were as commonplace here as the advent of electricity. No one looked for the missing because no one wanted to know the truth. And the truth was darker than the starless night itself.

Inside the Erebus – in its belly, cold as a tomb – hung an ozone-flavored air. The sounds of the outside world faded into endless corridors where the walls seemed to be made of frozen darkness. Last year’s flowers smoldered on the floor, blown in by the wind and resembling mosaic patches of chipped stained glass.

Alexander stood before the massive door at the end of the hallway. His hand trembled, clutching the worn handle of a plasma cutter. His face reflected a mixture of determination and fear – fear not for himself, but for what he would find behind that door. His eyes, dark as the depths of the abyss, glittered in the glow of the cybernetic visor. A red chart flashed in the right pupillary optic – pulse readings, humidity, the faint, almost elusive electromagnetic radiation behind the barrier.

– Are you sure you want to do this? – Vasilisa’s voice, coming from the communication channel, was soft, but with a note of anxiety. – We still have time to retreat. It could be a trap. It’s a trap for sure.

Alexander sighed. His voice sounded muffled, as if he was speaking not to a man but to himself:

– Retreat? And leave her alive? You know I can’t do that.

– Then be careful,» Vasilisa tried to make her voice firm, but her strained breathing gave away her true emotions. – If anything goes wrong… if you see her…

– I know what to do,» Alexander interrupted her. He clenched his teeth so that his cheekbones sharpened like knife blades. – She’s no longer the person we knew.

The door opened with a piercing screech, as if a thousand rusty nails had scratched their ears at once. Darkness opened behind it, thick and almost palpable. Alexander stepped inside, illuminating the way with the faint light of a flashlight. The space was vast, but seemed cramped because of the heavy, pressing presence of something invisible. On the floor lay the remnants of wires and broken cables, like the cores of a long-dead organism. In the center of the room stood a capsule – massive, glassy, cracked, as if it had been torn from the inside. And they had.

And then he heard her voice.

– Alexander… – The voice was a whisper and echoed at the same time, as if it had been spoken in a crumpled throat. – You’ve come.

He stopped, and his flashlight slid across the room, highlighting scraps of pipes, metal shards, someone’s abandoned boots, and the corpses of his colleagues in blood-white coveralls. But no one. Just a voice.

– I’ve come to end this,» his voice trembled, but he quickly controlled himself. – Where are you, Leia?

Laughter. Cold, lifeless, like a winter wind. Her figure began to emerge from the darkness. Leia. Her body behind the matted partition resembled a blurred hybrid of an ugly human.

– Do you still believe in good and evil, Alexander? – she took a step forward, and the floor beneath her feet rumbled with debris. – Fool. There is no good or evil here. There is only power… and those too weak to hold it.

– It’s not you, Leia,» he whispered, clenching the torch so tight his knuckles turned white. – I know that you… that it wasn’t your fault.

Her smile was as cold as a scalpel blade.

– You still don’t understand anything,» she hissed, and her voice transformed, becoming low, guttural. – I chose this. And now I’m more than that. You can’t stop me.

She lunged at him with inhuman speed, and in that moment the world seemed to slow down for Alexander. He ducked at the last moment, and her hand slammed into the wall, denting the metal. The impact filled the air with fear.

– Leia, stop! – he shouted, stepping back. – You can still stop this! It’s not too late!

– Too late? – She laughed gutturally again, but this time her laughter was full of hitched breath. – It’s too late for me, but for you… no.

She lunged at him in the darkness again, and this time he didn’t have time to dodge. Her hand grabbed his throat, and he felt fingers digging into flesh. But his free hand raised the torch, and in a furious rush he activated it, aiming the glowing blade directly at her shoulder. Leia screamed, but the sound of her voice was more like the trumpeting cry of an animal.

They both fell to the floor. Alexander gasped, feeling the blood trickling down his neck, but he didn’t let go of the weapon. If he dropped it, in the flickering light he was unlikely to find the weapon in time. SimCyber tried to rise, but her movements became jerky, as if her body was fighting itself. He raised the cutter, preparing for the final blow, but stopped when he saw something human flicker in her eyes for a moment. Fear? Pain?

– Leia…» he whispered. – You… you’re still there.

Her hand trembled, and she let go of him. Her voice was soft again, almost a whisper:

– Run…Alexander… I’ve freed everyone…

There was a rumble and rumble from the ceiling, as if someone was hitting the floor with something heavy. Alexander jumped to his feet, grabbing his torch. SimCyber was lying on the floor, her body twitching in spasms, and her eyes began to go out, turning into empty, black abysses. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t. Turning around, he ran back, leaving her in the cold, soulless darkness.

Outside, the rain grew heavier, as if the sky had decided to wash away all the evil from the world. But Alexander knew that was impossible. He stopped for a moment, took hold of the bloody spot of Leia’s grip and looked up at the tower, and whispered:

– Forgive me, Leia.

And from far away, from deep within the hull, the sounds of footsteps were already coming. Someone or something was hurriedly approaching.