How did the life of all these people, once dear to Zina, go on? She cut the connection with everyone. She felt different, new. Life has changed forever. But how exactly, Zina did not yet know herself…
Today's incident with the bear knocked over not only the basket of strawberries, but also the whole temporary inner peace of Zina, which she had been building so carefully for several months! She needed time to think, to learn to live with her new, extraterrestrial talents.
Then on the Island, Zina killed the huge mutant Ray, although she did not want to. Now she stopped the giant bear! This means she can send signals just by a glance.
What else can she do? Levitate like Ray? Throw lightning? To invent unprecedented devices like flying submarines, as Ray did together with Denis and Scott?
Denis assured her that, most likely, Ray had something like the memory of generations, that the knowledge of his late alien father, the Golden Zandolie, was passed on to him. Maybe she, Zina, too received some sacred knowledge from her distant alien ancestors?…
A basket of strawberries remained in the forest. And in a small wooden great-grandmother's house, Zina pulled out her laptop from her backpack, which she had never taken out since she arrived into this long-extinct village… Of course, the laptop could not be turned on. The cell phone was also completely discharged.
Zina seemed to wake up from a deep, lethargic sleep. What was she doing here, without electricity and communication?! Why did she need this stack of children's books with scattering pages? Why does she need these stubs of candles, a smoked stove with a pot, bunches of dried flowers and mushrooms? What did she hope to find here, burying herself alive in the wilderness?
True, Zina has noticeably lost weight. Long walks in the woods and a diet “whatever God has sent”, healthy sleep in the same schedule with the sun and in general “life without the Internet” gave their beneficial results. Zina became healthier, stronger… and even more confident in herself.
Quickly collecting her simple belongings, she went on foot towards the nearest road to catch a bus or a ride to the city.
… Finally, Zina was at home. She carefully stowed the hunting rifle in the safe, hastily pulled out the laptop and put it on the charger. Then she stood in the shower for a very long time!
And then for a while Zina stared at herself in the mirror, which was unusual for her. Too tall for a woman, broad shoulders, large breasts, brown eyes, long very curly dark hair, straight nose, small mouth and high forehead. Not a beauty, of course, but not a freak either!
Zina had a husband quite recently, a programmer, just like her – Denis. But that was already in another life.
Ever since she found out that she has blue blood, Denis and the rest of her friends seemed to have moved to a parallel world for her, lost their significance… Why? Zina had no answer…
Now she was waiting for her laptop to finally work and thinking about her ex-husband and ex-friends. She didn't help them remember everything.
Then on the Island that old pirate Roger remembered everything, but easily agreed with Zina not to remind anyone of anything… She wondered, if he let himself to blab during all this time… and where and how the fates of Denis, Julia, Scott, Olga, Vladimir, Jean-Paul developed…
Jean-Paul! Did he manage to prove the existence of hybridomorphic creatures on the Island of Golden Zandolie? He had his notes, photographs sent by Denis, reagents with blue blood of mutants… and Zina's… Was this enough to make a revolution in anthropology? Did Jean-Paul manage to remember based on all these sources? It was imperative to find out about everything and help him, if possible!
Was Zina under such severe stress that she fell out of real life for such a long period of time? Maybe she felt like a monster after killing of mutant Ray?
…Suddenly, another memory from life on the Island knocked her from her feet. Here she is in the dungeon of Scott's fort house with two machine guns at once, chaotically shooting a huge solid door to the maze of lava tubes and yelling strong obscenities, frightened by the approach of black mutants… Yes, she was very scared then, on the island.
…And here were even more ancient flashes in memory, also creepy ones, when she looked directly into the orange eyes with a vertical pupil – the eyes of the alien, Golden Zandolie…
She didn't lose her memory… that's probably why she almost lost herself!
… Now she managed to rest, improve her health, recover. The laptop finally logged on, updated all apps.
And finally, Zinа's mailbox opened up. There were so many letters, but mainly of work correspondence, some orders for new IT projects!
Zina also found some personal letters. And all from Denis, her ex-husband and colleague! It's funny! Ah, well, of course, he sends her the new work…
And here is one letter from Denis, very heavy in weight. Photos? Yes! This one was of Zina sitting at a table in a restaurant on the waterfront “Fort Charles”. She was smiling, in front of her was a tall glass of some kind of cocktail with a straw and a paper umbrella. Behind her ear was a huge red hibiscus flower. Here she looked like a typical young girl in love. Denis photographed her himself. Probably, they did have some kind of love…
But what was it!?!?! In the background of the image, tables with visitors to an open restaurant were not clearly visible. And someone's face, very blurry, only an oblong bald skull in profile with tattoos and abundant piercings sparkling in the sun…
This is Golden Zandolie himself – a legendary alien, who seemed to have died later on in a duel with his brethren-aliens there, on the Island…
Then it seemed, that the end of the world had come, when a hurricane and a volcanic eruption coincided with a UFO invasion. Explosions, earthquakes, clouds of smoke and dust… Huge pieces broke off from the Island and went under water forever… Forest fires, shifting rivers… The Island changed forever… and Golden Zandolie had vanished…
Zina wondered if Denis sent her this picture on purpose. Did he remember the alien who, with the help of piercings and tattoos, tried to impersonate an eccentric earthling? Probably not. There were several more photographs attached in the letter: Zina on a catamaran with her friends, Zina driving her old army jeep, Zina fishing in the mountains…
What was Denis writing about? And here were just a few words, saying, that he found old photos, maybe Zina will be pleased to remember life on a beautiful tropical island… It's a pity, that he himself remembered nothing much… He always dreamed of extraordinary adventures, but it looked like he was met on the Island only work and beautiful landscapes.
Only in dreams does he see UFOs and some kind of aliens. But, of course, nothing like that exist in real life, but he really missed his friends and the sun of the tropical island in his native, small Siberian town…
She needs to tell Denis; she needs to tell him everything! Zina felt very ashamed! She, simply, stole from all her friends the memories of several years of their lives – about the brightest, unprecedented times that one can only dream of… or see in your dreams in bed!
Denis was the most courageous, even insane dreamer and the source of the most “out of this world” hypotheses, who always led them all in search of the truth, and he himself discovered a lot He always dreamed of aliens, and he finally found them!
And she, Zina, stole his discoveries from him… and from everyone else! It seemed to her then, that this was a humane act. They all went through a lot of terrible things together! Zina herself wanted to start life from scratch…
And she gave her friends a second chance too… Did she have the right to decide for them?
She deceived Denis by not reminding him of their marriage.
She did not tell Julia that in the past she wrote great science fiction novels, so that she would not find hints of her past strange adventures in her books…
She did not remind the French anthropologist Jean-Paul of a number of amazing discoveries that he had already made