Читать книгу Ruby Chef. Prose in English - Natalia Patratskaya - Страница 4

Rimma wedged herself in the morning with one stroke of her long eyelashes, as if they had inherited from the big people from her sleep. The sky, covered with monotonous gray clouds, tuned to a calm mood. She walked along an asphalt path, surrounded by bright foliage of civilization, sharply different from meadow grass. Ten steps one way from the trail would guarantee dense thickets of bushes, five steps to the other side would lead to a highway with rounded cars, and only a clean asphalt path was dominated by rare pedestrians.

Life is beautiful, but there is no place for deep laziness and tremendous speeds in it, therefore the path is what makes life prosperous.

Is it difficult to understand simple logic? No, she has her own statistics on the life and condition of people. A person’s condition is not determined by his financial condition, it is determined by his physical condition, which cannot be bought, but can be improved.

Prudence – a thin thread that determines human well-being.

No, Rimma is not perfection itself, but there is something non-trivial about it. She is slender, flexible, with hair slightly below the shoulders, the color of which depends on the mood. Rimma is little different from ordinary people, except for one strange phenomenon that appears in her in moments of laughter or anger – these are rays of light coming from the corners of her eyes. If she laughed, then her eyes shone with rays.

People sometimes deliberately made her laugh to see fireworks of funny rays. But if she was angry, the rays of light changed, they concentrated in the pupils and began to emit strange energy. Sometimes there was a feeling that these rays pierced a person through and could cause irreversible phenomena in his body. She remembered how it all began.

Then the computer Rimma received new data on the state of the banks of the Oriole – the river flowing through the district of Grad. It was then that today she walked past the Oriole car, which simply blocked its way. And on the screen of the monitor appeared the shores of the Oriole, plastered with country houses. Normal coastal landslides split one house or sank another ten meters below the ground.

Rimma could never understand those who built houses on the coastal strip of oceans and large rivers.

The coast can be strengthened by grass, shrubs, small trees, but houses have always contributed to the destruction of the coast. It is clear that the underground forces of the earth are enormous and the shifts of the earth’s crust are normal, but people love to live on the shore, and nothing can be done about it.

Rimma had a strange feeling that the earth’s wife, Aphrodite, was present on the Lord God on Earth. It is she who does not allow swallows to live in the coastal zone. You might think that the processes in the earth’s crust occur by themselves, but you can think differently, and this has its reasons.

What does Mrs. Aphrodite look like? This question unwittingly interested Rimma. I wonder how old she is? As much as Earth? What did she do in the time of the dinosaurs? Then surely no one built houses on the coastal slopes of the Orioles.

Here, on the East Peninsula, he scored a new geyser. And everything is simple: Mrs. Aphrodite liked the man who followed her geysers, and during his lunch she threw out a stream of water in front of his beautiful eyes. This is certainly the work of a woman!

Rimma shivered involuntarily when her leader, a man of no age named Andrei G. Shchepkin, approached her. He looked at the monitor screen, noticed geysers instead of landslides on the bank of the river and looked at Rimma in surprise.

– Rimma, explain where geysers come from on the river bank? – He asked, leaning closer either to the monitor, or to the golden hair.

“Andrei Georgievich, the thought came to me that landslides on the river bank were the work of Mrs. Aphrodite and geysers were hers,” Rimma said, defending the geysers on the screen.

– Exactly! And how no one had ever figured it out before! – Andrei Georgievich cheerfully exclaimed, radiating ridiculous rays around the eyes, and strictly added: – Your job is to predict landslides, when and where they can be waited and warn the population of the planet about the danger!

– So I am about that! – exclaimed Rimma. – It is necessary to find Mrs. Aphrodite and ask her what else she is going to do, where she outlined earthquakes. Why does she like to shake the earth?

– Here’s a smart girl, you can not collect everything in one pile. Although with me there was one case. You want – believe, you want – no, but it happened in the same house, now destroyed by a landslide. My friend and I arrived on a regular business trip to a city located on the banks of the Orioles. We settled at the young mistress, a very perky little lady. I tried to flirt with her, and she said only two words: “Sleep alone.” The next day there was a strong earthquake in the village with the same name.

– Here! And I’m talking about you! – exclaimed Rimma. – So it was Mrs. Aphrodite herself! You saw it yourself! And I do not believe that it exists. “In some cases, the layers of earth, located on the sides of the fault, approach each other. In the others, the earth falls on one side of the fault, forming discharges. In places where they cross river beds, waterfalls appear. The vaults of underground caves crack and collapse. It happens that after an earthquake large areas of land are lowered and flooded with water. The tremors shift the upper, loose layers of soil from the slopes, forming landslides and landslides, “Rima remembered these words, but someone is in charge of this! “You wanted to get close to Mrs. Aphrodite on the evening of December 6th, and she arranged a massive earthquake!” Andrei Georgievich, you are a monster!

“Exactly, that was exactly then,” Andrei Georgievich said in surprise, lifting his hair with a dyed gray hair.

– I just want to ask: what did you do on April 25? To whom did you pester the young man? – assertively asked Rimma.

– Rimma! In the spring I was full of strength and energy. I was a passionate, recalcitrant, unbroken stallion. But I remembered! I was then carried away by one girl, very similar to that lady from the bank of the Orioles, but much younger.

– Ale, Andrei Georgievich! I’m scared! Have you met her again? What is her name? – scared asked Rimma, realizing that in front of her was the man who had personally seen Mrs. Aphrodite. Whatever name she hides. – And now she reminds you of herself by landslides on the banks of the Orioles!

– Not! – with fear in his voice exclaimed Andrei Georgievich. – I am afraid to meet her, she will say two short words – and then destructive earthquakes occur.

– Andrei Georgievich, you are a great connoisseur of the dynamic chaos of the Earth with a butterfly effect, introduce me to Mrs. Aphrodite! – exclaimed Rimma with eyes burning with admiration, sparkling from the rays of her own light.

– Rimma, do you think that you offer me? Where will I find Mrs. Aphrodite? And why do we need it? Turn on the news, fast! – Andrei Georgievich looked at the screen and exclaimed: – THIS IS IT!

“Etna,” she said. – Look in the credits. Then there was a volcanic eruption. Now I know what Lady Aphrodite looks like!

Andrei Georgievich perfectly knew Mrs. Aphrodite. He felt her through time and distance. But what to say, they were always familiar. This Rima has good abilities, she is a very insightful person. How she deftly caught the chain of events, which he himself guessed, but he was afraid to draw an analogy!

Schepkin once graduated from university. At that far time he was smart and handsome, and then he met Mrs. Aphrodite. How clever Rima figured it out! Aphrodite at a time when Andrei Georgievich had only the right to drive, had a luxury car. Where she took it – not known, but it looked marvelous. The last thing he thought about was that she was involved in earthquakes, and he still didn’t think about it until he heard from Rimma.

It was Aphrodite who gave him the bright car Oriole. Andrei Georgievich was happy and loving as much as he could. Aphrodite appeared before his eyes rarely and disappeared for a long time. He was not sad without her, but worked in a scientific institute where she attached him.

At the right moment, he received a message from Aphrodite and predicted disasters on Earth, which is why he was known as an indispensable employee. There was nothing unusual in this; his conscience did not torment him. Andrei Georgievich believed that everything that happens on the surface of the Earth happens by itself or depends on the Moon and the Sun, but not on him and Aphrodite. Therefore, with a clear conscience, he went to the sea in his car.

There were few cars on the highway, and Andrei Georgievich alone drove into the tunnel, which was not on the map. Somewhere in the center of the tunnel under the wheels there was a smooth obstacle. The car stopped. The light from the two sides of the tunnel disappeared. Darkness has come full. Obsessive fear got into the soul. “Somewhere we went through it,” he thought and turned on the interior lighting, but the light did not come out.

Everything was quiet. Silence. Darkness.

Suddenly there was a feeling that the engine was working, but not a car, but a jet. Andrei Georgievich felt a wiggle, then as if he had been taken off the ground. There was a feeling of flight and fear of uncertainty. Soon the light appeared. He slapped his forehead, realizing that he was inside a cargo plane, immediately saw Aphrodite herself! Who would doubt it.

“Andrei Georgievich, get out of the car,” said the charming lady, smiling at the dazzling whiteness of her teeth, radiating streams of penetrating light from her eyes.

Andrei Georgievich left his unreliable shelter and joined Lady Aphrodite. They left the cargo hold of the aircraft and found themselves in a pretty sweet cabin.

Mrs. Aphrodite explained:

– We are flying on a dormant volcano. Why do you need to go to the sea if you can relax on the warm slope of a volcano? Do not worry, Andrei Georgievich, next to the volcano there is a mountain range with a beautiful mountain river. I have a small portable house, it is transported on a cargo plane and put where I need it. I must be in the center of the earth’s crust. The aircraft is reliable, with a large supply of fuel. It will hang in the right place, releasing the propeller from itself and launching it.

Soon the plane hovered in the roar of the propellers. Andrei Georgievich’s hoofs were shaking from resentment, precisely from resentment at his own powerlessness. He could not do anything with this powerful woman, commanding all the cataclysms of the crust. He rode to the sea, and he was thrown on a volcano. Lafa.

The house was quite tolerable for life with biological amenities. Moreover, Mrs. Aphrodite made him crawl and climb on the surface of the volcano, saying that his feet and hands should be used so that they do not hurt. But they simply languished from unusual muscle pain.

So what to do? Senior teams must be performed. What Aphrodite did in the volcano is unknown, Andrei Georgievich had a feeling that she was talking to the spirit of the volcano. After a week-long volcanic holiday, they left the hospitable volcano, which soon earned, as the media wrote and said.

Andrei Georgievich did not lag behind the media, he designed his stay on the volcano with a creative mission and became a hero of a scientific institute. He is the only one in the world who predicted the eruption of this particular volcano.

Rimma was not surprised that Chief Andrei Georgievich once again showed the wonders of insight. He did not let her at all to the topic of volcanoes, so it was difficult for her to judge his scientific feat.

Rimme was given problems of moving plates on the ocean floor, which are located far from the coast. In these places, the huge waves did not bother anyone, and her predictions were of little concern to anyone.

Rimma became a free girl. Sits, works. The winter outside is not worse than in the north. He thinks, maybe go on a cruise? What keeps her in one place? She does not have a passport and a foreign companion. And she went the way of single women: she began to buy and read romance novels. If the novel is successful, then over the weekend one book can be read, from love novels, it was transferred to female detective stories. Been reading novels! Rested without a cruise. Thoughts about the trip disappeared by themselves. And she immediately calmed down, the second time I felt the emptiness around me. Everything, I decided, it’s time to become a man, and simpler – a woman.

I remembered that there is a solarium. Once a week I went to be illuminated with light from a huge number of lamps. Tanned a bit. Then she went to the hairdresser for ten facial massages. Her appearance has changed slightly. Loneliness is a dreary thing. The artist agreed to paint her portrait. Again a few sessions – and she is in the portrait. Go to the north though…

Information about the rocket appears on the computer. Over the past three years, this is the ninth failure. Rima read the news about the fall of the rocket, she re-read about the fall of eight missiles.

Thoughts of two appeared: either the space developers lost their ability to launch, or someone systematically causes missiles to harm at the start, or before the launch.

The city of Stepnoy is located on the banks of a gorgeous river, the place is beautiful, so people live in the city very smart. There is a technical institute in the city, where wonderful specialists teach and advanced students study. Rimma herself studied at this institute, and she knows who is now studying in it. One must also remember that rockets are made in one country, and they are launched on the territory of another country.

There is no need to quarrel between countries, but it is precisely that which happens when someone from a series of well-educated people wanted to get money is possible. That is the motive for the crime. The Internet has generated widespread communication between people; information, previously well-classified, has ceased to be secret number 1. In theory, no one should know anything about missiles, about the time of their launch.

Rimma can imagine how the rockets themselves are designed and manufactured. Constructors and developers are no longer becoming every year, the frames accumulated over the years have retired. New developers are sometimes cut off from the design archives. Previously, secrecy was above all else, which prevented the dissemination of accumulated knowledge.

Consequently, spaces in the manufacture of spacecraft are possible. And she knows how to verify the making of a spacecraft.

Rimma visits the factory – a ship collector under the guise of a designer. She talks to technologists and developers. She stands at the machine tools, she attends the board making workshops, she is looking for gaps in production. She is looking for those who could accidentally or deliberately harm.

The very manufacture of engines, which are often blamed for cosmic catastrophes, is not very familiar to her, but she is looking for people who understand this problem. Fuel, its quantity and quality, but here everything can be checked. It seems that the entire fabrication of a spacecraft is covered in solid mystery. Rimma unwinds any secret for little clues.

And finds a group of people. Friends of the institute, there are five of them. They need money for human whims, but the salaries of engineers do not suit them. They speak languages, they know how to find in the network all the information about factories working for space. They themselves understand the technique.

Four guys and one girl united in a union called Turquoise. Rimma is looking for and finding them. She learns about the fate of the girl, through her goes to the four guys who have found support outside the two countries associated with the development and launch of spacecraft.

The girl looks ordinary, wears turquoise. The guys on the rings – turquoise, this is their distinguishing mark. Turquoise is a symbol of the sky, into which spacecraft should not take off, in their opinion. Unexpected support was found by a group of people “Turquoise” among the believing elders, who looked like poor but rich in soul. The elders have a strange power of influence on people, these are veiled psychics. Rimma visited one of the sponsors of the group “Turquoise”, whose goal was not to let the spacecraft to God, that is, to the sky.

The group “Turquoise” has found sponsors among those who wanted to humiliate the company “Rus”, launching the spacecraft. Rimma found those who for three years did not let the ships take off. There are streams of rain on the windows, in this weather no one flies. Before the rain, the birds flew through the windows and flew around the room with rage until Rimma let them out through the window.

The group “Turquoise” took into the development of powerful hands of special people. But the tenth spacecraft did not take off.

What is the matter? – thought Rima. – Or not the whole group “Turquoise” is known to her, or there are other groups that do not allow them to explore space. The city was checked by special people at this time, but something did not suit them. The worm of doubt wore a turquoise hue. Turquoise. Gyurza! – dawned on her. – We must look for the group “Gyurza”.

And she turned her attention to a new message.

Rimma looked at the news of the sunk ship. Sometimes the otgadka of events develops in her head, and even now, when she read that mostly elderly people had sailed on the ship for seventy years. Rescuers saved only 5 people and then from the team, and 400 people disappeared into the depths of the sea.

These people were clearly in the “Last Breath” society. They bought tickets for one ship as tourists, they were also given several guides, like they went on a tour. The last way under the water was their tour. The ship was swept by the wave and overturned into the depths of the sea.

The captain knew about this, he knew how to escape from a sinking ship. He did not save anyone, there were two of them who knew about the sad fate of the tourists, and they were saved. The captain of the ship did not sink. He and his assistant successfully escaped from an instantly sunk ship during a tsunami.

Monstrously? Rescuers descended to the bottom of the ship and heard a knock from the inside of the ship. They were answered by their knock. But they could not save the passengers of the ship. The ship is not a submarine, it does not have a camera to go from the water into the room. Rescuers arrived – three thousand, but twenty people could not be saved.

Rain is coming. Network turned off. Gloomy sky Electricity went out and caught fire. Rimma is a normal girl, without big ambitions, with a good level. She can fall in love and is capable of falling in love with herself. In the old days, people got married, in modern times they are trying to teach people to meet and marry through the media. The overall standard of living has grown, more people of old age have appeared. And there are few people who want to start a family and live independently. Why? Lazy.

For the survival of people, financial priority is not always located in the newly formed family unit. It is clear that families are the basis of any state system, but families have become the cells of society that are able to survive with the least resistance. What else. There were very rich people who reduced the middle class, capable of producing offspring. There were natural palaces, often childless. It’s okay

The news reported that the policeman shot himself for being demoted and divorced with his wife. And the director left the journalist. And the apartment is a mess. Rimma fed the animals, swept the floor, went into the bath and washed off the dust. And forward and with the song.

Rimma changed cafe. And the friend who helped her to another cafe helped her in this, and also fed her. Rimma had to speak out. There are ordinary people, and there are people above average.

Friend Rimma is a graceful lady in whom there has never been more than 50 kilograms. They have almost the same height, but the weight is different. Olga fell 30 million rubles. She held them in her hands. Rimma does not represent such a sum of money, and Olga let money through her hands. And the money turned into a lordly plot with a house, and she became his mistress. Good lord Where did people get such money – Rimma didn’t even think. She has no money, and Olga – easily! Why be surprised.

Olga now has more and more: both the apartment and the bar area. Therefore, they began to meet on a neutral territory, namely in the cafe.

Rimma generally had the feeling that she was not a person, but big ears, on which everyone hung up the noodles of her life. Guys do not like her, but they ask:

– Rimma, I’m sorry, haven’t you had a man for a long time?

What does she have on her forehead that her husband has found a woman thicker than her?

Such men ask her questions:

– Rimma, do you have a man?

No shades of gray. Although sometimes asked:

– Rimma, did you read the book “All shades of gray”?

“I read,” answered Rimma.

What is in this book that everyone reads it? The book is full of texts from the correspondence of heroes and a lot of repetitions. And there is little love, more intrigue of a closed room, causing horror. Rimma once fell into the trap itself. Then she was alone, though, she had a flirt with one young man.

The guy was good: a tall blond with a flexible figure. Rimma herself was good, the weight is not more than 60 kilograms with an average male height. She was wearing a light trouser suit, sandals and two more clothes. Hair to shovels shimmered cleanliness. They had a business meeting. She had to go to him on business. And went. And here she was seized with passion at the sight of a blond who, apparently, had embraced him too. They forgot why they met. Clothes from them flew the only way. All shades of beige and gray flew in all directions. It happens, but rarely or never. Not love, but passion in its purest form. They never met again, as if a one-day rose had bloomed and faded.

The seashore is amazingly conducive to friendship turning into love. Only sea and sand, but how many emotions they cause! The man on the beach relaxes completely from touching the earth – mother and bathing in the sea – father. It is renewed, its skin is smoothed, the skin color becomes pleasant from sea tan. The man is almost naked to see other people, but he does not care. The feeling of stiffness disappears, it becomes part of nature.

Rimma would love to sprinkle all with silver, but it remained in the submarine. So, she and the captain secretly left the submarine. The team members fell into the hands of pirates, between them a serious brawl ensued. There were no losers, as well as winners. They all died. The submarine has a huge size, it is a whole house, it is quite fit a small village or village.

In the heat of the moment, the crew set the ship on anchor, which they could not pull back. They had no choice but to live some time in a submarine and dry their laundry on the observation deck. The captain was afraid to call for help, he did not want to incur new pirates or detractors.

People lived alone in a metal house, which had enough water and food in it. The relationship between the woman and the captain was friendly and nothing more. They sat on silver, but ate with metal spoons. Deserted shore did not bring surprises. Nobody came to them, did not arrive. The planes flying over them could see a heap of stones, so successfully they disguised the boat with artificial stones. All lived quietly and modestly. They had a radio. They listened to the news without giving a distress call.

They occasionally told in the news that the submarine, whose task it was to get silver from the ocean floor, lying in a boat sunk 70 years ago, was missing.

Sometimes the voices of anxious relatives were broadcast. The captain became gloomy at such moments, he was responsible for the crew and the boat. But the team was gone, and the submarine grew into the bottom. The weather only pleased, she was immensely good. The sun was shining. The wind was blowing weak. The sky exuded blue.

Two weeks later it became boring. All rested, it was time to act. A boat can be moved by two people, but how to move a house? Rima admitted that she was an adventurer, and it would be time for her to return home. The captain was beginning to get angry at her, because it was she who dragged him into a silver adventure.

From an abundance of surging sadness, Rimma sat on the beach and began to look at the submarine disguised as a rocky island. They couldn’t wind up the mechanical knot stuck in the bottom. Waiting for the tide. Rimma noticed a change in the size of the waves. Then she felt that the ground beneath her shuddered, then it threw up. Instead of running into the depths of the mainland, she ran to the ship. The captain stood on the boat. He waved her hand. And they, without saying a word, entered the boat. Batten down the hatches. Launched, finally, the lifting mechanism of the earth anchor.

The ocean came to life, breathing powerfully and hysterically. People with all their hearts felt tremors. A huge wave caught their shelter and threw it into the open ocean. It was a real miracle. The submarine was afloat again. The captain coped with the management of a giant boat, and Rimma decided to go around the cabins. And in one cabin she saw a sailor. He lived alone in the remote part of the ship, ate himself. He wanted to run from her. And then she realized that this man is not from their team. It was one of the pirates! But he pleased her. She smiled at him, took her hand and led her to the captain, who needed helpers.

The captain spoke to the sailor in a strange language; there was no hostility between them. Therefore, Rimma went to the galley to cook food, portraying a diligent cook.

Believe it or not, believe it or not, but the submarine stopped over the place from which the silver was raised. And the captain made a strange decision – to return the silver to its place! Thanks to the mechanical conveyor and all the mechanics and electronics. The captain pressed the buttons, and everything happened in the reverse order.

People returned the silver to its former place, but they could not bring the team back to life. The submarine surfaced. They saw – the ship of pirates and on it the whole crew of the boat. It’s hard to believe, but they were all alive! And maybe there was no fight between them, and Rimma missed something while she was leaving the ship through the lower deck with the captain?

Later, she learned that the pirates were not pirates, but soldiers of the country to which they moored. So silver just smiled at them.

The captain became her friend, but they did not marry. Rimma had a feeling that if she became the wife of the captain, everything would work out like with silver and she would have to return him to the place for order.

Now you can think about silver, which 200 tons at the bottom of the ocean sank 70 years ago. Rimma wore silver earrings twice on her ears, they are good until new ones, and then darker. You can imagine what silver looks like at the bottom of the ocean! In fact, she can not even imagine such deposits. Can a palace be made of silver, and if it gets dark? She already knows the price of marble, she sat next to him. She saw silver and two pennies. You can imagine a marble palace with silver chandeliers and wrought iron railings. Ware all silver.

It remains to raise the silver from the bottom of the ocean. Diving to him is useless. You can swim in a submarine. From the compartment to release the dome, which tightly covers the precious metal. Why is it up? For the submarine. It must be rented for two pennies of silver. Such a thing Rimma thought up until silver was raised by those who found it. Where can I get an ocean map with a cross? This is a solvable question. If silver is found, then you need to find those who found it.

From the media, Rimma knew who had found the treasure, she needed to be liked and the matter was in her hat. I had to register on their forum, put my photo, show activity, gain confidence. Place finds themselves and not hide. With laughter and for two pennies of silver, Rimma received a silver reference point in the ocean.

The ocean is now far away, and the frost is near.