Chapter 10

 Somerset ran down a path that passed through some bushes and jumped out onto a street with a wooden pavement. This was something new. He had never seen such sidewalks. Again he found himself in this unfamiliar city, full of seedy and not so seedy places and normal women. There was more than enough money, but there was no access to it, to the money.

 - What the hell! - Somerset thought angrily, - Why can't one thing go with the other?!

He needed to go home and finally get a phone with all the necessary accounts or unlock the biometrics.

 - But this is somehow similar to a dream, - the thought flashed through his head, - I've been here more than once before... Although to hell with it, is it worth occupying your head with thoughts about some dreams.

 A transport slowly floated in the sky. It was a transorbital ship of the Rutherford class. Who would have thought that they could fly like this...

 - This thing is not without reason, - the inner mind made a businesslike conclusion, - Although what do I care.

 Somerset walked away from the sun rising in the east. Or setting. What the hell difference does it make whether it is morning or evening.

 - You forgot everything again! - a voice was heard behind him.

 Somerset turned around.

 - Of course I forgot. I always forget everything, - he began to jump.

 A pretentious-looking tall woman in white and with a crown on her head stood with her hands behind her back, and not without some malice watched Somerset's actions.

 Somerset hung in the air.

 - So you see how it happens! - he said triumphantly, - No one can do that.

 - Do you remember me?

 - I see you for the first time, - Somerset answered, remembering that the question was not asked without reason.

 - What's wrong with you! - the woman suddenly screamed, - Are you doing this on purpose?

Hysteria was at its best. If there was one thing I needed in my life, it was this...

 - Why, when you're hanging like this, can't you fly where you need to? - Somerset thought with irritation. - Imagine that I have a rocket engine. No, I'm a bird.

 He glanced toward the roof of one of the houses. By a lucky coincidence, he was being blown there.

 The woman continued to yell something. It was funny. It would be even funnier when he stabilized his flight and then landed on the roof. And then he'd fly to the next one.

 The hysterical "Snow White", in turn, turned out to be not as simple as it seemed. Suddenly stopping howling, she crouched down a little, and then quickly jumped straight at him.

 She covered the distance of fifteen meters at a height of five meters too energetically - with reduced gravity, people simply float around the compartments, and here... Somerset was not in the mood for such games - he needed to get to his home and his payments, and then...

 Judging by the speed of the flight, the gravity was comparable to that of Earth. There was a small hope that "Snow White", as it was most logical to call her, would fly past. But she was going exactly.

 Clutching Somerset, she pulled him further along the trajectory, now descending. They crashed somewhere, either on the lawn or just in the bushes. Somerset lay with his back on the ground and could not move a single finger.

 - Wow! - he muttered, trying with his last strength to demonstrate the remnants of his spirit.

 The offensive woman knelt down, staring into his face. She pressed one hand with her palm spread against his chest and, oddly enough, it was enough to prevent Somerset from even fluttering a little.

 - I am a disease, I am viruses. Is it so hard for you to understand? - she said in a characteristically dejected tone, as if trying to convey something.

 - I remembered, - the thought burned, - I have heard that before.

 - Yes, it is hard for me to understand, - Somerset admitted quite honestly, this time out loud.

 - You people always think very primitively, - Snow White answered in a calmer tone.

 - Yes, I know, - Somerset answered, - We are like that.

 - Now you are giving in, - she answered with another capricious note in her voice, - Don't you really want to know?

 - Know what?

 - Okay, I won't try to convince you again... Listen, I'll just tell you this. Your brain consists of nerve cells. They are connected, and this is how your brain works, continuously self-organizing. All thanks to the fact that the cells are connected.

 - How informative, - Somerset thought casually, but said nothing.

 - And imagine that instead of cells there are other formations. Also connected, but more physically independent. Cells need nutrition and they are protected, at rest. But what if instead of cells there is something else. There are bacteria, there are even better ones - viruses. They live independently. You think that nature created you as the only carriers of reason, but this is not so. Viruses can be connected to each other. They have complex molecules, where there are molecules - there is atomic mechanics, and where there is atomic mechanics - there is quantum physics. That's the mechanism of communication. It is not necessary for there to be nerve cells and for these lines to stretch from cell to cell.

 - I didn't think that science was capable of this. And I have never heard such an expression as "atomic mechanics," - Somerset answered in a rather tactful voice.

 - What does your science have to do with it? - Snow White grimaced. - It would be easier for you to think that I am from another planet. From another star system. And it would not be a lie. So do you understand?

 - Okay, okay, I understand.

 - If you ask me now if I am made up of viruses that can assemble into a person, then you know what I will do? This!

 She bent down, froze, as if peering into his face, and then bit his nose.

 The compartment was still in artificial twilight. The fan hummed. Someone was chatting with someone. Both voices were weak, like those of patients. Instead of the doctor on duty, there was some blockhead in the uniform of a Junior Specialist. Or rather, there were two of them. The second was no better. Now they were having some kind of sporting fun, invented for the occasion - throwing a ball made of something incomprehensible, climbing back and forth on the ladders on the central column, laughing, imitating each other. They were speaking in their native English, adding popular and understandable Russian swear words. They were definitely having fun. In general, in zero gravity conditions, any such sporting nonsense was only beneficial, but there was a separate space for this. Apparently, the least thing that interested the new duty officers was the condition of those lying there. There were only three doctors on the ship, and now a replacement had been found. Excellent.

 One of the neighbors also woke up. He was excessively energetic - bent over, raising himself above the bed. Barely moving his tongue, Somerset only asked if he had had dreams. He answered that he had not.

 - And I have a whole series here, Somerset thought, but kept silent. After watching the monkey-like competitions, Somerset fell asleep. His last thought was that he had forgotten to do something.

Again the evening sun was breaking through a small gap in the purple clouds. Again the city. Somerset had already gotten used to this. The trouble was that, almost realizing that this was a dream, he could not remember what was really happening. The princess in white was right there. Without expressing any particular emotion, she energetically walked up to him and slapped him. A light slap, but a slap nonetheless.

 - That's because you thought that I only came to you on the condition that you watch that stupid movie about motorcyclists. How did you have the brains to come up with that?!

 - Exactly, I forgot, - Somerset admitted innocently. - I was just thinking about it. I had to turn on the movie. Where he was when he wanted to watch the film again, he still couldn't remember.

 After his words, Somerset received a second slap, but it was even a little lighter than the first.

 - You're not thinking straight, - Snow White said in a businesslike tone, clearly without any intention of teasing, - That's why I can't talk to you in a normal modus.

 - What words, - thought Somerset

 - Nevertheless, it's already getting better.

 - I remember that you, Madam, are made up of viruses, - Somerset answered, portraying what seemed to him to be the most intelligent and businesslike tone.

 - Yes and no. It would be wrong to say that you, a human, are made up of nerve cells. You are, but not only of them. We, like me, are made up of both physically material objects, that is, microorganisms, and of another component. There is another world, it is around everything that is endowed with life. Now we are not in it. To be in it, you need to be on Earth, but around the ship there is the same space. Well, or almost the same.

 - And where are we now? What kind of ship is it anyway?

 - Listen, - she continued, ignoring the question about the ship, - When you people communicate with each other, for example, with words or even text, you transmit information to each other, and each one of them builds in his own consciousness, if not a world, then a fragment of some picture. Pictures on a given topic.

 - It's somehow philosophical, to be honest. I'm a technical specialist. I probably said...

 - Yes, I have, and more than once. But do you understand what I said?

 - Yes, I understand.

 - Well then. At the suggestion of the interlocutor, you create a fragment of a picture in your consciousness. Since I can do a little more, then at my suggestion you create all this in your head. This is a little more than at the suggestion of...

 - So that's how it is, - Somerset turned his head to the side, wanting to better examine the insides of his consciousness. For some reason, the very thought occurred to him that these were the insides of his consciousness.

The buildings and trees began to be shrouded in some kind of blue fog. It was a night fog in everything. Then his head was grasped by two spread palms. The head turned towards the purple sunset with lights scattered across the horizon.

 - That's always the case, - a voice sounded behind him, - It's okay, I'll hold you back.

The grip was just right.

 - Can you tell me something outside of this... - Somerset stammered.

 - Outside of what? I know what you mean. Can you say it in your own words? I'll talk to you outside of this too...

 Who he was talking to. Somerset didn't remember. Then he noticed a row of trash cans. To hell with them, but one of them had rhodium ingots neatly stacked. Somerset, not believing his luck, walked calmly towards the place so as not to attract attention. Judging by the markings, these were full of impurities - such were obtained as a by-product during purification. They were sent for a new cycle, but for some reason they decided to throw them out! Despite all the impurities, it was still the most valuable rhodium. Having stuffed the wealth into the sagging pockets of his jacket, Somerset went behind a row of containers and was stunned - there was a descent into the lowland. The entire slope was strewn with platinum bars, twenty kilograms each. How many times had one or another of his acquaintances entertained fantasies about how nice it would be to grab a couple of bars, which were being carried around on carts like bricks, and here it was! He needed to call an old friend to come here in his car. Or rather, to fly, and he would have to go on the way back. If only no one showed up here...