It didn't end there.
10/27/2120
Zavirdyaev woke up from his sleep and immediately, though with some difficulty, opened his eyes. Behind the bright light that had struck him, although it wasn't quite daylight, he saw a silhouette positioned to the side of him. A split second later, everything fell into place and his vision adjusted. It was still Haldoris Landskricht. Zavirdyaev didn't know whether to be happy about it or to experience butthurt once again.
"I thought you killed me," he began without thinking much.
"No, I didn't kill you," she answered calmly. "Hypoxia wasn't the most elegant solution, but you didn't want it any other way. Now you've rested and slept well. I hope you won't go crazy anymore." Zavirdyaev bent his neck and tried to examine himself. He was covered, or rather, wrapped in a blanket and tied to the bed with the same flimsy straps.
- Did you tie me up or something? - Zavirdyaev grumbled.
- It was to make it more comfortable for you to sleep. I even made you breakfast - she showed the bag that she had been holding in her hand all this time.
- Sorry, I'll try to make sure that this doesn't happen again, - Zavirdyaev said.
- Don't worry about it, - Landskricht answered good-naturedly. - I can always handle you, - she added.
- They didn't shoot at us anymore?
- No, they didn't. Now, for some time, no one will be able to launch anything with precision. Launch it here. Better take a look at what happened, - with these words she headed towards one of the windows.
Zavirdyaev meanwhile untangled himself from the blanket and straps and pushed himself away from the bed.
- Fly here, - Landskricht beckoned.
There was something shimmering in the window, some kind of translucent green haze.
Having flown up to the window, Zavirdyaev saw that the entire Earth was now shrouded in some kind of constantly shimmering, ion-like cocoon atmospheric layer.
- What's this? - Zavirdyaev said in a strangled voice.
- Well, I told you about the electromagnetic superstorm. Here it is. Look at the poles, - she pushed off the bulkhead and rushed to the other window.
There was something in the other window, upon seeing which Zavirdyaev shuddered and groaned. Then he silently turned his head and stared at Landskricht.
- What have you done? - he squeezed out.
- Why are you so worried?! It's harmless. These are just irregularities in the outer layers of the atmosphere, which repeat the outline of the lines of force of the Earth's magnetic field. Look, it's beautiful.
- Yeah. Such beauty that you can even... Get scared, - Zavirdyaev said slowly.
- And imagine, when it all just started, they were growing upward before our eyes. From the base and further upward and into the distance. You know that the atmosphere actually extends very far. There, the number of particles per unit volume is insignificant, but they are there. And the magnetic field additionally formed flows.
- So our entire atmosphere will fly away.
- Don't worry, the amount of matter there is measured in units of tons. The Earth will immediately catch what is missing, even from the same solar wind, it will catch maybe a little more. These are all drops in the ocean.
- And what about people?
- With people, everything is the same as always. They sort things out with each other. True, now the fronts are frozen and all front command, manual command from strategic staff levels is paralyzed. There is a military coup in the Asian Bloc, and Oppenheimer continues to cut through his headquarters and pretend that he has everything under control. All administration has been transferred to the Doomsday Situation. Enterprises have been blocked, the rest are left to their own devices. So far, they have not done anything particularly bad. Sometimes it is worth, if not believing in people, then at least giving them a chance.
- How long did I sleep? - Zavirdyaev finally asked the question that had been intriguing him since he woke up.
- About a day, - Landskricht answered. - Actually, this is quite a long time and even abnormal. All because of the biochip and its extraction. The garbage that was thrown into your head will gradually be destroyed by your consciousness, or rather, subconscious. Such processes happen especially well in sleep. You should already be much better than before.
- Yes, it was fine for me then, - Zavirdyaev answered, only at some moments...
- You don't have to continue. We will be landing soon.
- How? Is it possible in such conditions? You yourself said that the superstorm is blocking radio communications.
- We'll land manually on an island in Antarctica and stay there for a few days.
- Sounds like something! - Zavirdyaev responded with distrust.
- Don't worry, everything will be fine. I'll be doing all this, not you.
- As always tactfully, - Zavirdyaev noted.
Landskricht silently slapped him on the stomach with a bag of food and pushed off towards the hatch leading to the command compartment.