Contents

Note from the author

Dear reader, thank you for choosing my work, I hope reading it will bring you a lot of positive emotions and arouse interest in it.

For a more complete understanding of the events taking place in this universe, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the first part of this trilogy: The Mirror of Reality. Book 1. Fragments of the future.

The action of the novel takes place in a fictional version of the future and does not claim to be scientific and factual authenticity. Any coincidence with reality is random and created for a deeper immersion in the plot.

Happy reading!

Prologue

It was the twenty-second century of the human era. Sixteen years have passed since the fateful siege of the «Castle» for the entire «Resistance». The blow that the rebels suffered became heavy, but reparable, since Alex survived an unsuccessful approach to the portal and was not ready to retreat from his goal of taking revenge on Borovitsky. Together with Sergey, they revived the rebellion, but in a new world thanks to a storehouse of discovered technologies.

Catastrophes multiplied, the number of dissatisfied only grew until it reached a boiling point, and then, just in time, the Resistance turned up. Dyatlov helped to transport new rebels through the portal with the help of his device, and Ponomarev became their first unspoken, and then full-fledged leader, completely replacing Pythagoras, who tragically died under a missile attack from a fighter, in this position.

More and more intellectual and financial elite moved into a new reality, because Borovitsky promised «mountains of gold» here, and the entire Government apparatus finally moved here, which could not but affect the centers of attraction for people who want to bite off a piece from the common feeder, especially when it was originally created with a gem cut. At the same time, the situation on the other side of the barricades was getting worse every year: poverty, unemployment, despondency, high crime and a large number of homeless children — that’s all that the authorities achieved.

Anthony, too, did not waste time in vain and tried to develop a new world, based on the technologies kindly left by Dyatlov before his escape. Surprisingly, the inventions created in captivity were even ahead of modern ones, and not one of the «court» scientists could approach Sergey’s intellect in terms of level. The only thing they were capable of was adaptation and improvement. No news was to be expected.

After the terrible death of his wife at the hands of the rebels, who, although they did not plan to kill her, caused him incredible pain, scratching like cats on his heart, leaving deep, uncovered and unrecoverable marks for the rest of his life. He found consolation in alcohol and other women, but for Anthony, his daughter remained his main joy. Maria grew up too fast, so that her father did not have time to follow her growing up. Perhaps this was hindered by involvement in governing the country and an attempt to keep all power solely in his hands, or maybe this was due to his inability to establish healthy and human relations, but communication did not work out between them, and Borovitskaya moved further and further away from Anthony, fencing off annually with a large imaginary fence, through which it became more difficult to break through even the smallest gap. At sixteen, she was developed beyond her years, understanding the processes taking place in the world much more accurately, even better than many adults, which became the trigger for further events that changed her life before and after.

Chapter 1. Morning on high

Today, Maria woke up unexpectedly early, because she was awakened by a sudden strong knock on the window. Opening her eyes and turning her attention towards the frame, she noticed how a large ladybug the size of an earthly seagull spins around its axis, after which it turns around and flies off somewhere to the side.

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Borovitskaya felt for one of the buttons to the right of the bed, and the blanket immediately curled up and went down to her feet. The girl, without thinking twice, immediately threw her feet on the floor, threading them into oversized home sneakers. Feeling the presence of the owner, they quickly narrowed to the desired size and automatically laced up. These were exactly those gravitational shoes invented by Sergey Dyatlov to overcome the atypical gravity for the Earth, which did not allow walking without jumping a few feet up after each step. It was a different gravity that became the reason why the ladybug that flew by coincidence into the glass was of such huge size. At the same time, Maria spent almost her entire life in a new reality, so such forms of animals did not surprise her at all.

Throwing on a silk robe hanging from a beautiful carved metal chair, she took a deep breath and went to the window to open it. Decreasing the degree of dimming and reflection on the side of the menu, which caused such an unfortunate morning flight for the insect, she opened it wide.

A warm summer wind blew in her face, blowing through her chestnut curly hair. The girl was thin, of medium height, moderately beautiful, but she never tried to stick it out. Borovitskaya turned sixteen a month ago, and every year she looked more and more like her mother. From her father, she got only a proud and purposeful look, as well as a strong-willed chin. It was these physiological data, coupled with character traits, that made her behavior unbearable for Anthony, since he could not stand the young version of himself.

Maria’s gaze rushed far beyond the horizon, it was there that the enchanting and untouched nature that interested her was located. In front, on the contrary, there was a bored technological quarter of skyscrapers. They appeared relatively recently, about five years ago, and were basically regular geometric shapes made of glass and dapium — a new metal discovered in this world, which, after a few months, finally acquired its name. It was from him that the «prototype alpha» was made for the battle with the rebels, which could not be penetrated by ordinary laser beams.

This block of skyscrapers is located exactly on the site of the demolished palace of the «Council of Kings», which, after the murder of its members, completely lost all its functions, as well as several other neighboring land plots, from where the best view of the distant and green expanses opened. Anthony’s apartment, which was more like a whole house, was located in one of these buildings on the site of his first dwelling in this world, also destroyed, since over the years Borovitsky’s ambition to look down on everyone took on more and more ridiculous and strange forms. From the entrance to the roof, his property, as well as himself, was guarded by the same «Gamma group», which significantly expanded its staff and became the most formidable punitive force in both worlds.

Glancing out the window again, Maria pressed the side switch, and it immediately slammed shut and darkened to medium settings, after which the girl went to the bed and turned on the cleaning function. The berth immediately smoothed out and folded into a vertical position, hiding in a special secret hole in the wall, freeing up additional space in the room. After that, Borovitskaya went to the shower, and then to the pantry with things, so that a special robot would dress her and pick up today’s outfit.

Chapter 2. Prioritization

Anthony woke up from a signal that meant a knock on the door, but modulated synthetically with the help of a special button. His head was pounding, he had been seriously drunk yesterday, so any sound, even the quietest, could unbalance him.

Borovitsky slept right in his clothes, so he did not change clothes. Breathing heavily and catching his breath, he grabbed his head and headed towards the entrance. Opening it, Anthony saw Maria in front of him in a beautiful snow-white dress with red protruding buds of fresh flowers collected in the vastness of the new world, she hastily entered, closing the door behind her. After examining the room, she made a displeased face, assessed the state of her father, after which she said, «Was it necessary to get drunk like that?» Borovitsky again grabbed his head and, barely breathing, whispered, «Please speak more quietly, otherwise I will die». «Good», daughter answered him especially louder, additionally rattling a metal spoon on the table.

«And what is the reason for this action?» Maria still decided to clarify Maria. Anthony gritted his teeth in pain, but replied: «Yesterday was the anniversary of your mother’s death, I grieved.» «And she, as I understand it, consoled you?» — shouted Borovitskaya, prying the prostitute’s underwear with the nearest found cane of her father, after which she threw it in his face. He grimaced even more, but still said: «You don’t understand, you didn’t know her. She died almost as soon as you were born. And I was there that day, I saw with my own eyes how a photon charge explodes under her feet. Those rebel freaks took her from me. But I took revenge, I killed them all to the last, not even leaving their shameful trace in the history of our country!

There were tears in the girl’s eyes. «How dare you talk about her like that, thus denigrating my only childhood memory. I remember how we played with her that day, after which she abruptly packed up and left with you to die. It was you who was supposed to be in that car, it was you who was supposed to blow up the „Resistance“! It was you who did not provide her with proper protection, although you knew about the danger! And yesterday, on the day of her death, I trampled on the memory of her even more!» At these words, Maria sobbed and ran out of the room.

Anthony didn’t even try to stop her. This conversation was far from the first, but this did not prevent, in addition to the general disgusting state, an unpleasant lump in the throat from settling. Borovitsky walked up to the wall with the computer and asked his artificial intelligence assistant to give him some hangover pills. Almost instantly, a tray came out of the wall, on which lay two white capsules and a glass of water. Anthony quickly drank what was offered, after which the device drove back into the wall, Borovitsky sat down on the bed, pulling off all the remaining crumpled clothes. A couple of minutes and the headache is gone.

The ruler went to the window and pressed a button similar to the system set up in his daughter’s room, but with a slight difference. Instead of a skyscraper view from her room, he had a medium-sized cannon portal suspended from the ceiling like a projector. Scientists were able to assemble this device according to Sergey’s drawings, so a small revision for the existing tasks was not difficult. Anthony was well aware of the consequences for the Earth of the work of tools, especially in large quantities, but he had long ago become indifferent to the fate of any person, except for himself and, perhaps, his daughter. The cloud opened up a bird’s-eye view of the «Castle», since Borovitsky always liked to watch his capital from the sky. The only difference from Sergey’s design was the two-way force fields, which completely blocked the passage through the portal in both directions, because Anthony continued to worry about his safety no matter what.

Having once again looked at the dilapidated and partially lifeless city due to the action of a large number of cannons, the ruler went to change clothes.

Entering the robotic dressing room and choosing a business suit, he asked the assistant to set up a meeting for Gamma-1 in the throne room. A second, and artificial intelligence reported on the bracelet that everything was done. During these sixteen years after the extermination of the beginnings of the «Resistance», according to Borovitsky, peace has come. Somewhere in the background, the rebels attempted to unsettle him, but the Ruler considered the issue actually resolved. The need for so many mercenaries began to fall away. However, the chief of them was a cunning fox. He convinced Anthony of the need to save his team in order to maintain security from external threats, and later was able to significantly expand his staff, creating an alternative army with impeccable soldiers, each of whom was given Alpha Prototype armor, almost invulnerable. «Gamma-1» regularly and consciously inspired Borovitsky about imminent danger, about possible future assassination attempts, which dulled his mind and drove him crazy. That is how, ten years after the siege of the «Castle» by the rebels, the mercenary became the chief adviser to the Ruler and was, surprisingly, appointed by him to the position of the new prime minister. An unprecedented career growth from a militant in «hot spots» to the second person in the country, but his sharp mind and Borovitsky’s significant dullness did their job. Moreover, once «Gamma-1» noticed Anthony’s conversation with an imaginary friend — the deputy who died from his own hand — Boris Spassky, which prompted the mercenary to think about the opportunities opening up to him.

Borovitsky wanted to talk to him about affairs in the country, about what to do with members of the Government who, even after so many years, continue to poke their nose into the «GraviScrap» project, somewhere in which in the archives of the research institute there was a file with the destructive effect of his work. Anthony ordered to search the entire institute a long time ago, but found nothing. However, the knowledge of the fact that Pythagoras had somehow obtained this information even before Sergey’s escape made him nervous, although there was comfort in the form of bones found near the «Castle» that matched his DNA.

With these thoughts, Anthony finished dressing with the help of robotic arms, put on a sky-satin dream-blue suit and set off with a proud gait to the throne room to meet with his deputy.

Chapter 3. Friend

Maria ran down the long corridors of the skyscraper in tears. She could not believe that her father could not only be insensitive, but also indifferent to her mother’s heritage. Under the guise of love for her, he continues to do terrible things, and this does not only apply to the rebels.

Borovitskaya was aware of how Anastasia died, and what followed for the terrorists then, as on the orders of her father, everyone who was involved in blowing up her car was killed. This could be justified by a thirst for revenge, but what happened then was already difficult to explain. After the destruction of the «Resistance», Anthony searched for its remains for a long time, searches were carried out in all the apartments of its members, in the found abandoned premises of the research institute, which served as their headquarters, but not finding a source where anger could be released, the Ruler threw it out on ordinary citizens.

Under the pretext of fighting the rebels, a scattering of laws was issued that finally changed the political regime of the state from democratic to totalitarian. Repression of the disaffected became commonplace. For just one word addressed to Borovitsky, recorded on eavesdropping devices built into bracelets, more than a million citizens were arrested. Indiscriminately they were classified as members of the «Resistance» and included in the list of terrorists. However, they were not sent to ordinary prisons. All political prisoners were transported to a new reality, where they were engaged in the construction of a new city for the elite. For disobedience, the guards, who were later replaced by the Gamma group, which significantly expanded its powers, because their boss understood well how to make money on government contracts, immediately shot them. The work of prisoners turned out to be much cheaper than robots, although less efficient, therefore, without significant costs, a technological and logically designed city with a population of several million people was built from scratch on the site of scattered factories and houses of the former kings of this world.

With these thoughts, Maria ran into the elevator, trying to wipe her tears with her fingers along with the flowing makeup. It didn’t take long for her to realize that she wasn’t alone. A young man, her age, rode down with her. «Masha, what happened?» he asked, looking surprised at the tear-stained face. She turned her head and pulled away abruptly, immediately blushing in discomfort. «Hi Misha, no, everything is fine» Borovitskaya replied, trying to quickly put herself in order. «Really? It doesn’t look like it» her companion decided to ask again. It turned out to be Michael Pisarenko, the son of Paul, a student friend of Anthony, who told him about the betrayal of Boris Spassky, and then sent him to the research institute, opening this wonderful new world for him at the most necessary moment for this. The young man also recently turned sixteen, but his tall stature and physique could easily have been more than twenty. A pleasant appearance, combined with a good-natured and understanding character, always bribed Maria, with whom they had known and been friends since childhood.

Pisarenko and his father lived in the same building, but several dozen floors lower, since he was one of the few people whom Anthony still trusted. Michael’s mother died ten years ago from a stroke, but at that moment there was no one at home to save her, so she and Maria were relatives by common misfortune.

«Well, what happened anyway?» once again, hoping to hear a sane answer, he asked again. Borovitskaya breathed heavily and said, «Father drank again, and we again quarreled because of mother.» Michael became sad and tried to comfort her, but she continued to stand aloof and not react. At that moment, the elevator stopped and opened its doors to the first floor. «Where are you now?» Pisarenko decided to ask. «Wherever my eyes look, I don’t want anything, just a walk» Maria answered indifferently, heading towards the exit of the building. The young man caught up with her and decided to try again to defuse the situation, «You know what, I have an offer for you!»

The girl stopped and raised one eyebrow with interest. «You always wanted to get outside the city and get to know better what the real, pristine nature is like. I can arrange it,» Michael proudly declared. «How? You know that the capital is surrounded by a high energized fence around the perimeter, all the more guarded,«Maria objected, heading for the exit again. «Wait,» Pisarenko caught up with her, grabbing her hand, «yesterday at one of the construction sites near the border, a prisoner fell asleep at the wheel of an excavator and drove into the fence. He immediately fried, but damaged it, and now construction has been stopped for several days until the border is restored. If we want to get outside without permission, it’s today or never».

Borovitskaya thought. She had long wanted to see what was happening outside the city and daily looked into the distance from her window, but never had such an opportunity. When she asked her father to take her on a tour, he refused and strictly forbade anyone from trying to get there, because he believed that uncharted territories were dangerous.

«My dad will kill me if he finds out,» she said smiling to her friend. «And we will make sure that he does not find out,» Michael objected to her pleased.

Chapter 4. Conversation with deputy

Anthony confidently walked towards the throne room in his house. He simultaneously served as a meeting room, and a hall for solemn ceremonies in the presence of journalists, and a room that can amuse his ego inflated with power. While he did not reach the wearing of a crown and a scepter, but the gilded throne stood in splendid isolation between marble columns at the end of a long hall stretched along large panoramic windows. Against the backdrop of the general modern style, the echoes of the period when the king ruled in the «Castle» looked even stranger than they felt.

At the end of the room in a sad pose stood «Gamma-1» — the new prime minister. Seeing Borovitsky from afar, he straightened up to his full height and made a fake smile. «Anthony, how glad I am to see you,» the former mercenary began with sycophancy. The ruler gave him a menacing look, after which he replied: «Simon, let’s do without it, it’s already sickening.» «As you wish,» Gamma-1 persisted, «what is the meeting about?» «Members of the Government worry me,» Anthony said with a heavy sigh. «What’s wrong with them? — the former mercenary asked, — it seemed to me that everything had already been decided, the dissatisfied were working for the common good, and the rest joined the common idea that was beneficial to us. «That’s just the point, I’m worried about the group headed by Samoilov. They are already very actively digging into the affairs of the research institute, especially in the project called ««GraviScrap»om». I suppose they are trying to find compromising evidence on me, but there is nothing there anymore, I ordered everything to be found and destroyed a long time ago, «said Borovitsky, obviously a little nervous.

Noticing this, Simon went to the table next to the throne, found a bottle of alcohol and two glasses, poured twice as much into one of them as into the second, and then handed it to Anthony. He had been drinking the Ruler for many years, forcing him to do what was convenient for him. «Well, then maybe there’s nothing to worry about?» asked the prime minister with a mock smile. Borovitsky drank some more, after which, already clearly formulating his phrases worse, he replied, «But I am worried that for some reason I am telling you this information, and not vice versa. Why then such a large staff of spies, if they do not cope with the work assigned? At this moment, the Sovereign jabbed his finger into the chest of the former mercenary with an effort. This obviously touched him to the core, because these actions as a whole raised the question of competence, although he knew very well before that about the information communicated to him. «I know, but I decided not to tell you until I find out for sure,» he decided to try to somehow justify himself. «Nonsense», Anthony said in a half-drunk voice, «do not forget your place and where you got out from. One more slip like that and I’ll regret lifting you so high. You’re free for now, I hope I don’t have to repeat this again».

After that, not so confident gait, he headed towards the exit. «Wait», Gamma-1 called out to him. Borovitsky abruptly turned around on its axis and headed towards him. «I’m listening», the Governor asked. «This conversation also applies to Pisarenko» the former mercenary began. «And what about him?» Anthony raised an eyebrow. Making a picturesquely sad face, the prime minister replied, «I don’t even know how to tell you, my spies reported that he often communicates with Samoilov, and they were also together in the research institute building. Apparently he also wants to sniff out something and set you up.»

Borovitsky, in anger, with a tiger jump, shortened the distance between them, after which he pressed the former mercenary to the column and slightly raised him: «Once again I will hear slander against Paul, fly out of here, I will not allow my best friend to be slandered, to whom I am ready to entrust everything that whatever. I know that you had a conflict, but this is not a reason to try to blame him unfounded. «Did you hear me?» Anthony shouted. «Yyyess», Simon answered in a stuttering voice. «Well, that’s great», the Ruler said, pleased with himself, releasing him, after which he shuffled towards the exit from the throne room.