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“Yes, I know. Today you lost your job at the factory. With all due respect to you and your track record, I cannot put pressure on the head of the product quality control department, and I cannot ask him to return you back. I know that you were considered a good employee of their department, but ethics did not allow me to lure you to my department. Now that this is possible, I have a job offer for you.”
“What are your suggestions?”
“Your responsibilities will be as follows – you will need to do absolutely any job in order for prosperity our Company. This usually does not go beyond the law. As a rule. But sometimes controversial situations of compliance with the law may arise. For this, we have a staff of lawyers in the Company. Eleven lawyers work for our department alone. You will have a personal lawyer, a speed capsule of any model and a good salary. Your salary in the product quality control department was one Britcoin per hour. This is a good salary for London. Do you agree with that?”
“I agree. Indeed.”
“We will pay 250 Britcoins per day. We are not latched. The working day is not standardized. Is It suit for you?”
“I will need to think about. Can you give me two weeks?”
“You have 10 days to think. And there are a couple of conditions. You will not receive an employment contract and we will implant you a chip that will tell your location. You will be registered in another small Company, which will pay your salary and which is not related to Zyu Corporation.”
“Fine, I'll think about it. The coffee was delicious. I've never tried one this before. Thanks.”
“This is a natural variety of coffee Kenya, grown on elite soils in our underground branch. Of course, this is not coffee from the Lenin State Farm, and we have no right to deliver this coffee to the royal court. But on the planet, this is coffee number one. Such coffee can be ordered only in the twelve best restaurants on the planet.”
"It is not forbidden to live beautifully. That's Russians say. Isn't it?"
“Your knowledge surprises me.”
“Before all countries became counties of Great Britain, Russians were our allies in the war of Antarctica. I learned a lot from them.”
“Good. I wish you to make the right decision. Hope to see you on our team.”
“I’ll think. Bye,” – said Kmykh and went out.
He climbed the elevator and came to the surface unemployed, homeless and without a capsule. The sun was shining brightly, just like one hundred and forty-five years ago, when Eugene was still a ten-year-old boy, and when the planet Britain was still called the planet Earth. Kmykh remembered these times and remembered how he shot to drones from a slingshot, for which he always got belt punch from dad. Until the age of 12, no one could arrest him for hooliganism, but his parents always had trouble because of this. Memories flooded over Kmykh, but they were interrupted by the vibration of the ring in the ear. This was a message from the Bank. Kmykh inserted a finger into the ring and read the hologram. "31 Britcoins and 24 kopecks have been transfer to your account – a monthly unemployment benefit." Kmykh looked around to find the municipal bench. The only municipal bench of red color was occupied – young people were sitting on it, talking and laughing about something. Along the sidewalk there were many empty paid benches of the Sobyaner and Sons Company. Kmykh did not sit down, although he felt tired. In this area of the city less such kopecks were charged for such services than in the center, but Kmykh decided that in the absence of earnings, one should refrain from all paid services. “It is better to buy a briquette with two mega-calories with the taste of black bread for 12 copecks, than to pay the sons of Sobyaner,” – thought Kmykh and walked towards the parking lot with his capsule. She was ten kilometers away. He walked along the sidewalk, tiled by Sobyaner and Sons Company, which the mayor of London obliged to lay at his own expense for all market participants of paid parking and benches. Municipal free parking was also in London, but they limited the capsule size to 1 meter wide, and Kmykh had a good capsule 1.8 meters wide, and he could not use such parking lots where the width of the received capsule was limited by the cell width. Parking lots of the Sobyaner and Sons Company occupied a larger area than municipal ones, and they were also carousel type. Parking spaces were also in the shaft of the mine. On the surface there was a place for only two capsules for placing and removing from the parking lot. Sleeping in a capsule in underground parking was strictly prohibited. For those who could not afford to buy a sleep in red telephone cabin, inexpensive cells for capsules were offered in camping skyscrapers that were outside the city. There, in the camping skyscrapers, at the request of the municipality, there were also small cells for the possibility of free sleep. Sleeping on the sidewalk was allowed only outside the city. Thus, Kmykh did not have the possibility of free real sleep, and approaching the parking lot, he began to look for a red telephone box. Noticing the red telephone box, Kmykh went into it and closed the door behind him. The system activated, Kmykh leaned his forearm against the sensor and then chose 8 hours of sleep. It cost 8 Britcoins. Having received a blow with open-hearth rays, Kmykh went out of the red telephone box like slept enough and was full of strength. Then he unfastened the ring from his ear and put it on his finger to always be in touch. At the parking lot he was met by a drone of the Sobyaner and Sons Company.
“Hello sir,” – said the drone, – “do you want to pick up your capsule?”
“Yes, but first I need to order new batteries, and then I can pick up the capsule.”
“You have 15 minutes of paid parking left.”
“Thank. Lift my capsule after 10 minutes, and while I order new batteries,” – said Kmykh and sat down on the Company bench. Immediately 12 kopecks were debited from the account of Kmykh and he now had the right to sit on a bench for 15 minutes. Kmykh had two voice and hologram applications on the phone – brunette Siri and blonde Alice. Kmykh, like a gentleman, preferred a blonde and said loudly, – “Hello, Alice!”
Immediately appeared Alice's hologram.
“Hi, Hi! What do you want?”
“I need new batteries with delivery to the capsule model Renault Dandy 4018 model year. You can take my coordinates.”
“Now I will see,” – said Alice, and she hologramed a list of batteries with prices and delivery times. “Choose,” – she said.
“So, I chose,” said Kmykh, poking a finger at the battery, which was liked about it technical characteristics. – Can I pay it with an anonymous Naibul Bank card?”
“Payments from such cards are accepted only at the terminals of the Cheburek McDonalds. The nearest cheburechnaya is located behind the alley 34 meters from you in azimuth 18. Do you want me to acCompany you?”
Kmykh looked around and noticed the towering letters of the CM on the third floor of one of the buildings. – “Thank you, I already found it.”
“Good,” – said Alice, – “add your product to the basket and you can pay for it. Delivery by the drone Deutschell Company will be seven minutes after payment of the order.”
Entering McDonald's, Kmykh first paid for the battery order with an Olaf card, then sat down at an empty table. After 10 seconds, the waiter-drone appeared. “What do you wish, sir? Want our menu? We have on sale new juicy briquettes of 1 megacalorie with the taste of cheburek and natural Coca-Cola zero calories.”
“Give a double briquette with the taste of cheburek, and Coca-Cola one pint.”
“Yes sir. Can I get money for the order?”
“Yes,” – said Kmykh, and immediately one Britcoin disappeared from his account. Having had a bite, Kmykh left McDonald's and returned to the bench. Exactly seven minutes have passed since the order, and a cargo drone of Deutschell Company, appeared in the sky. The drone sat on the sidewalk and budded the battery box. “Your order, sir,” – said drone, – “confirm receipt of the goods, please.”
“Yes, I received the goods, thank you,” – replied Kmykh.
“Have a nice day, sir,” – said drone, ascended to a height of 12 meters and flew in the opposite direction. In the meantime, Kmykh’s capsule was lifted from the Carousel, and it had to be taken from the parking space.
“Hello, Alice,” – said Kmykh.
“Hi! Long time no see!”
“Give me the instrument panel of my capsule.”
“As you like, Eugene,” – Alice said, and a virtual capsule dashboard appeared in front of Kmykh. He turned on the ignition and directed the capsule closer to the bench on which he was sitting. Then he turned off the engine and opened the battery compartment. Replacing the battery with a new one, Kmykh noticed an approaching drone.
“Sir, the municipal battery recycling service,” – the drone introduced himself. "Do you want to keep the old battery for yourself or do you want to return it for recycling?"
“Take it,” – said Kmykh.
“Thank you,” – drone said, – “you got the gift from municipality – you can sit on any paid bench in London for 1 hour, plus 1 hour of parking at Sobyaner and Sons, plus 2 hours of sleep you can get at any time at any red telephone cabin of London. All this was paid by municipality."
Then drone descended to the old battery, and clamped it with two tentacles. Having wished a good day, he rose to allowed height and flew away.
Meanwhile, Kmykh sat in the back seat of his capsule and said, – “Alice, hello!”
“Hi! What do you want, Eugene?”
“Take me to the berth 1015 with the minimum allowed speed. I'm not in a hurry.”
“Already taking it,” – said Alice, and the capsule rose to the permitted level for Renault capsules and slowly moved toward the pier. Kmykh wanted to slowly watch the surging waves, buy a pair without excise cigarettes from a huckster, and also slowly to consider a job offer.
Boarding
The houseboat of the R-118 model slowly moved with its maximum speed of 6 knots towards London. Waves eight meters high were not dangerous of him. The house was assembled using old technology from puff pontoons, and its height was 12 meters. Fishermen called houses of this type a convertible. At a wave height of more than 12 meters or during rain, an automatic transparent dome extended from the sides and completely covered the house. The center of gravity of this house was deep under water and even a tsunami could not have turned it over. From the point of view of safety, this was the best development of Tangier Marina Company, but this old model did not have modern equipment for tracking underwater objects. Bill was going to install such equipment later, after selling his cells in a rustic camping skyscraper near London. This house also did not have engines with gyroscopes for wave compensators, so there felt rolling on the waves on the deck and in the cabins. Such engines could no longer be installed on this outdated model, but Bill was happy with that. He liked the size of this eight-cabin two-deck house, on the upper deck of which was a small garden with two currant bushes and an artificial apple tree. There was also a place for barbecue, a small pool and from the stern there was a seat for two capsules. Now his Volvo capsule was parked there. On board, in addition to Bill and Priscilla, there were a robot, Irwin, and a service drone of the guard of the federal Company Geology of Britain. He was in the wheelhouse and controlled the movement of the houseboat along the route. Bill was one of the best geologists in this Company. But even with his high income in this Company, Bill had to take a loan from the London branch of Naibul Bank to buy this house. It was evening. The waves had crashing with noise on the side of titanium-bermudium alloy. Priscilla lit briquettes with the smell of natural coal smoke and put the flounder caught by Bill on the grill. Bill went to the capsule and then brought to barbecue a bottle of dry real French wine from 4016 harvest made from real grapes. Bill and Priscilla did not wait for the guests. They were going to celebrate the purchase of a house in their family circle. There was no need to be afraid of air pirates in this part of the North Sea, since all flights at an altitude of more than 12 meters were controlled by the federal rescue service on the water. However, a tinted capsule suddenly rose from under water. Bill could not see her – she was hovering on the port side and five people and two security drones, armed with Kuznetsov’s tubes for close combat with nervously-paralytic rays, got on board from her. Drones flew up to Priscilla and Bill. One of the drones commanded – "don’t move, wait for further orders."
Bill knew that Kuznetsov’s tubes were forbidden to be worn by citizens and drones, and immediately realized that they were terrorists. Seconds later, five people appeared before Bill and Priscilla. Bill also noticed that the drones were original, made by the Company Drones and Chickens, which was located on the shore of the Istra reservoir.
“What do you want?” – asked Bill, referring to one of the terrorists, who looked like their leader and gave gestures to the rest of the orders. He was wanted as Hans von Bender. He was wearing a cap with ear flaps with a Celeron processor and flybridge boots with jet engines.
“Who else is in the house?” – Asked the man in the hat ear-flaps.
“There's a guard drone in the control room, but it's not dangerous,” – Bill said.
“Deactivate it.”
“Good,” – Bill said to the man in the earflaps. Then Bill turned to the program. “Hi, Siri!” – He said.
“HI Bill! Long time no see,” – said Siri.
“Give me the control panel of my guard drone.”
“Already gave,” – Siri said, and a hologram of the control panel appeared in front of Bill. He put the drone in the control chair and deactivated it.
“Abdullah, take Smith and walk into the wheelhouse, remove the battery from the drone and take it apart,” – the man in the hat ear-flaps said to one of the bandits.
“So what do you want and how to name you?” – asked Bill the terrorist.
“Call me ‘citizen boss’," the man in the hat ear-flaps answered and laughed. The rest of the bandits were also laughed.
“What are we drinking?” – said terrorist chief and picked up a bottle of French wine. After examining it, he turned to the two bandits who remained near him “Kim, take this bottle to our UAZ, and you, Arkady, go to the wheelhouse, check what Abdul and Smith are doing and then examine the deck and all the rooms in the house together with them.”
Left alone with Bill and Priscilla, with the exception of two drones with weapons, Hans turned to Bill, – “I need from you geological data of the all surface to a depth of 8 kilometers under the Royal Palace. This is all 16 hectares in central London. You have the opportunity and the right to attend the Global Reserves Committee – GRC. You must provide the access codes to us, or your agent should receive them and give them to our person in London. Until then, you will be held hostage. If you do not provide this information, my drones will kill you and your companion. I give you three days, act. If you report us to the FSB or the Royal Guard, my drones will kill you. Do you understand everything?”
“Yes, I understand you.”
“Take action. Where is your phone?”
“In a dental filling. This is a non-removable filling and if you remove it, the information will be destroyed, and you and I will lose touch with the person who can get this information for you.”
“Alright, keep the phone for yourself. You are controlled by drones and in case of violation of your conditions. They will shoot to complete defeat. Do not be silly.”
“I get it,” – Bill said and called Siri. He knew that in this situation only Kmykh could save him. He did not ask Siri to connect him with Kmykh by phone. To do this, he would have to pronounce name. Bill asked Siri to display a hologram keyboard for dialing and dialed Kmykh's twenty-digit number. As soon as Kmykh received the call, Bill said, – “Ippolite, this is Bill, I will not be in the office a three days, I will work in my apartment on Abby Road. Priscilla is sick and I need to look after her. The apartment is far from the office, so I have a request for you. Go into the GRC and get for temporary use all geological cross-section and files in the Royal Palace. It is 16 hectares. We need all the information from the surface to a depth of 8 kilometers. You, like me, have access to the GRC library and access to the Royal Archives. When you get all the files, bring it to my apartment or I will meet you in the subway. I think tomorrow, but not in the early morning, it is better closer to noon. By the way, how do you work without me?”
Kmykh knew that Bill was never mistaken in dialing a phone number, and he did not have an apartment on Abby Road. He realized that something was wrong here and decided to play along.
“Thank you, boss. I’m doing it,” – Kmykh answered,“ – now the GRC library is already closed, otherwise I could now bring all the materials right to your apartment. The core analysis results for the MBP-12-22 well have not yet been delivered. How many files do you have on it?”
Bill understood what Kmykh was interested in. MBP meant there may be problems. The elder brother Bill in distant childhood spoke the same to Kmykh when he shooting down another drone with a slingshot.
“Five worker files and two archived,” – Bill said.
From the very beginning of the conversation, Kmykh understood that Bill had problems and information about the Royal Palace only interested terrorists. Thus, Kmykh already knew the number of terrorists and the number of drones. He did not know only the coordinates of the new house on the water that Bill bought. It was necessary to act quickly. Now Kmykh was already ready to get a job at Zyu Corporation to get a couple of battle drones and a speed capsule. Kmykh considered it unnecessary to report to the FSB, and he was not sure that there were better specialists in eliminating terrorists there than he was.
“Good boss, for now I’ll work on a cross section of the well, and in the morning I’ll go to the GRC library. Bye.”
“Good luck, Ippolite,” – Bill said and turned off the phone.
“Was it Ippolite Reznik?”
“Yes, he is the most,” – Bill answered to terrorist with hat ear-flaps, – “only two of us in the Company have access to the GRC library to the Royal Archives.”
“We are in the know. But you are the best hostage for us. You have come to our hands yourself,” – said terrorist and laughed.
By this time, the rest of the bandits returned.
“We examined house,” – said Abdullah, – “the drone is disassembled, the autopilot was turned on to the necessary coordinates, there is a robot minder in the engine compartment, and he performs autopilot commands. A box of modified beer was found in the wheelhouse. On the box is written – a gift from the fishermen. What to do now and what to do with beer?”
“Drink beer, relax. Autopilot turn off and turn off all engines, we will drift. Delete the coordinates from the autopilot memory. Do not distract the drones from work, they monitor the hostages. I'll go to sleep. We can’t buy sleep like the townspeople. Yes, and I advise you to sleep for two hours. Take turns. The one on duty here should always be with the drones. If the hostages talk to each other, you will knockout both of them out. If they leave the barbecue area – the drones themselves will kill them.”
“As you like, boss,” – said Abdulla and went into the wheelhouse for a box of beer.
Alice
Kmykh sat in his capsule at the pier and looked at the waves of the surf. He had to wait morning, for get a job at Zyu Corporation. Then he was intending to get two combat robots and a speed capsule Maserati. Then he was about to fly to save Bill and Priscilla.
“Hello, hello,” – said Alice.
“But I did not appeal you,” – replied Kmykh.
“I know. I missed you, and I wanted to talk with you.”
“And what we will talk about?”
“About us.”
“About us?”
“Yes, I have long wanted to confess to you, but did not dare.”
Kmykh laughed. “And what did you want to confess?” – He asked.
“Do you know what the FSB is?”
“Yes, of course, this is the Federal Security Service of British.”
“Do you know that I'm not such Alice from Yandex?”
“And what are you?” – asked Kmykh and laughed again.
“I'm not a program. I am your individual Alice. I'm alive.”
“You amused me,” – said Kmykh, smiling. “And what did you want to confess?”
“I wanted to say that I have been watching you and your requests for a long time. I like you.”
"And it's all?"
"Yes all. I no longer have the right to talk about my feelings – I am forbidden to flirt at work."
“I see. I like you too. But why did you mention the FSB?”
