House in orbit.
- Zavirdyaev opened his eyes. He was still surrounded by the interior of the passenger compartment. Landskricht was hanging in the air nearby. The sounds of some TV shows were coming from the command compartment - somehow it evoked the atmosphere of the morning in an ordinary apartment - night outside the window, light inside, the TV on.
- How long did I sleep? - Zavirdyaev said with a slurred tongue.
- About five hours, or so. Not bad for the first time in zero gravity.
- And you were here all this time?
- No, of course. There, in the command compartment. You can watch TV there.
- You somehow woke me up unnoticed. Just like you put me to sleep...
- I didn't wake you up. You slept as long as you needed.
- And how did you guess that I would wake up. Also extrasensory perception?
- Almost. Generally by ear. I can hear a little better.
- Was I snoring or something?
- Want a joke?
- Well?
- Farted. Then they stopped, and I realized you were awake. Seriously, by your breathing, of course.
- Very funny. You never behaved like that on Earth before. You made an impression... In general, you were, as expected, but now... You wouldn't have said such stupidity before.
- We used to be at a distance, but now it's somewhat shorter. Well, do you remember how you fell asleep?
- No.
- Of course! As for the stupid humor - this is how I prepare you for your future fame, Mr. "Big Brother". Otherwise, you will be traumatized by folk art in the future. Get yourself in order and fly to the command module. You will read your appeal. It's time to throw out the warheads. If we hold out, we will have to stretch the orbit and increase the duration of the flight. I don't want the MDS to shoot them down. You all get it, right? The warheads fly away from Earth to the apogee of the orbit, then fly back and pick up speed. That's how all satellites that fly in elliptical orbits behave. Only the warheads will be aimed at Earth. They won't reach it and will explode at orbital altitudes. The increased speed will provide them with protection from missile defense.
- Yes, I remember, muttered Zavirdyaev, looking around.
- And don't put on your spacesuit, your tights will do just as well. Look at me, I'm in the same as usual. In this matter, no superpowers are needed. Here is your speech, - she showed a sheet of paper trembling as if in water.
Having tidied himself up, Zavirdyaev crawled into the command compartment and headed for his chair.
- No need to learn it by heart, say it all in your own words, the key points are highlighted with a felt-tip pen. Remember them and build your speech around them.
- I'll try, answered Zavirdyaev, straightening out the sheet of paper in front of him.
- You need to look like you've gone crazy in front of the camera, just starting out. You're not exactly yourself after your participation in the memory blocking program anyway... But you need to do something different. Speak in a voice and tone as if you were hungover. Or like a drug addict. You've seen it, right? There are plenty of them everywhere. As well as real mental patients.
- I can't do that, - answered Zavirdyaev, not looking up from the note, the meaning of which was that Zavirdyaev, having moved away from the warring Earth into some distant space, felt at peace and decided to disarm his ship by throwing out the warheads. It was also necessary to think out loud about the fact that maybe it would be worthwhile to turn on the engines and leave the Earth for good, entering orbit around the Sun, in order to eventually mummify himself, and for the people of the future, having become much more worthy, to find him and revive him. Quite a suitable speech for someone going crazy.
- What nonsense! - Zavirdyaev said, smiling slightly.
- Well, it's easy to remember, isn't it?
- Yes. Not so difficult, - Zavirdyaev agreed.
- Well then. Say it into the camera. And no reading from paper or from the screen. The AI that is there, on Earth, will analyze your speech in no time, will figure out that you are reading from a piece of paper and will determine that you have not gone crazy in such a primitive way, but have planned something, that is, there is still something wrong with you, but on a more subtle level. It is now in our interests for the organizers to become as deeply disappointed in you and the project as possible - if you start to show an unhealthy appearance on a purely external, more primitive level, then this will be just right. It will look like a gross miscalculation of the specialists who were working on you. After that, the organizers will moderate the rampant super-federalists. They will take a pause to harness a new horse, a new leader, to this super-federalist cart. Do you understand now? You will watch the news now, I feel that you are interested in this. But first, a screen test. Landskricht settled down behind the instrument block, located in front of Zavirdyaev's workplace, extended her hand and tapped her finger on one of the lenses of the ship's video system.
After the signal, Zavirdyaev began to talk his nonsense into the indicated chamber. Landskricht, who had been in his field of vision the entire time, nodded every now and then.
The announcement of the intention to disarm the ship and the subsequent reasoning took about five minutes at most.
- Your emotions are wooden, Mr. Zavirdyaev. For our video, we need neurotic ones, not wooden ones. Okay, it'll do for the first time. I made you some coffee.
She pointed toward the block-cabinet, which was a high-tech kitchen and a storage for some edible trifles at the same time. Opening the lid at the top of the cabinet, she pulled out a flat paper bag from its depths and gently pushed it toward Zavirdyaev.
- What is happening on Earth anyway? - Zavirdyaev asked, catching the bag.
- Make yourself comfortable and watch. Artificial intelligence has made a selection for you. This is my AI, it knows its business better than a regular one.
- Is it in your computer?
- No, it is a component of the entire system. That system has interlink, UCE and other communications. The computer is just my pocket keys to all of this.
She did something on her dashboard, and the screensaver of the European ENN appeared on the monitor of the computer-laptop, which Zavirdyaev had already forgotten about.
- If the leaders of the self-proclaimed civil defense corps units do not abandon the demands they have put forward, then the storming of the Reichstag will have to begin within the next half hour, - said a sepulchral female voice, commenting on the gloomy gray picture illuminated by yellow flame.
- Wow, - Zavirdyaev muttered.
- It is reported that they are pulling artillery. We cannot provide exact data, since most of the drones at the disposal of the Berlin editorial office were destroyed. Government forces have consolidated their positions in the western part of the city. As far as we can judge from the available data, the parliament building is located on the edge of this government-held area, which includes…
- Ideally, the river could play the same role as in the Superfederant, but so far it hasn't worked out. And in some places you can practically jump over this Spree, - commented Landskricht. - How do you like it? You liked the soldiers there, right?
Next came Paris, shrouded in smoke, in which a tower, crooked from a long-ago nuclear strike, was drowning. Oppenheimer, according to the report, left on board one of the headquarters. The footage of the passage of what was presumably this headquarters was a stunning and eerie sight - the giant glided over some Swedish town at an unusually low altitude, no more than a thousand meters. It is not clear what was more impressive - the headquarters itself or its retinue, which included dozens of air defense and AWACS aircraft, flying somewhere in the distance, and some right over the streets of the ancient city, shaking from the roar of countless engines.