The banging on the door stopped. All the screens came on. They blinked: "Evacuate immediately. Ready in three minutes."
There was silence in the laboratory. A light melody cut through it.
– They're the ones listening to the music," Irene explained.
YatSan finished her dance, Rutra leaned back in his chair and removed the 'blindfold' from his eyes, YatSan was still swaying gently.
– What's going on here? – Ruthra asked excitedly when he saw the siren light and the writing on the screens.
He hurriedly pulled the balloons out of his ears.
– NaRiKA, where are you?! – Ruthra shouted in a low voice.
– So it's not headphones. That's how she blocked the connection. They're special jammers, frequency blockers," Ruthra explained his hunch here.
"That" Ruthra jumped up, lifting YatSan with him, looked at her sternly, took her off him, and sat her on the edge of the table.
– NaRiKA, what's going on!? – he yelled again.
– I'll put it directly into the audio? You'll be able to hear their dialog," Irene said.
– Turn it on," Ruthra said.
YatSan sprawled out on the table and started laughing, throwing around everything in sight. Then she stood up and began to get dressed with an indifferent look. Rutra began to dress as well, only hurriedly and nervously, listening to the artificial intelligence's explanation.
– A pre-prepared version of your response is executed," NaRiKa explained.
Her voice was as calm, poised, and even in timbre as Irene's.
– What's the answer?! – shouted Ruthra.
Then he stood motionless, silent for a few seconds, asked:
– Why – did the system start up?
– No. There was no system startup. You personally initialized the startup for no reason. The command was clear through all channels," NaRiKa explained to Rutre.
– I didn't… I didn't… I didn't give…
Ruthra stopped and looked at YatSan, who was almost dressed. Then at the screens. Alarms were going off over the image of the launchers, the door began to bang powerfully again, the sonic siren roaring. With a rattle, the lock of the huge doors broke, the doors opened. At the entrance stood the head of security with several officers, several ministers, and a couple of unknown individuals. Their affiliations, names, ranks were indicated by NaRiKa pointing to their uniforms. They stood in a mute stance, looking at Rutra, and he at them, then they all turned to the screens.
The same question ran through the minds of those watching in the lab: Is this really happening there, or is it still happening here? If there, will it affect us? And if so, how?
In the yellow-gray steppe, the ground shook with staggered cells. Throwing the ground aside, the shafts of the launchers opened. On other screens, similar things were happening in the taiga, in the icy desert, on submarines. The first to fly out were the launchers with landing gear, followed by the giants from the underground mines. The dance of death rose in a round dance.
– Did you confirm my orders? – Ruthra asked quietly as the siren went silent.
– Absolutely. They have gone through all the confirmation programs," the defense minister replied.
– Damn it, why did this happen. Bring her back! This can't be happening. YatSan on the contrary should have prevented this," Ruthra shouted in the laboratory hall.
– It must have been reflected in them from that world, and now it may be reflected in us," the scientist explained his logic.
– So I say, knowing the chain of events, it is necessary to stop it all somewhere, in some world. Some version of the catastrophe will happen here. Bring back Yat-san!
– How will it affect us? – Andrian asked, pointing at the screen.
– I don't know yet. When I was there, the same thing happened, only we don't have anything yet. Maybe it manifests itself in other worlds," Ruthra said.
– Maybe you're wrong after all. Maybe it'll blow over. – Iulia said guiltily.
– But because I saw you there first… and here we found you in the same setting, time and place.
– Uh-huh?
– What did you think? I'm telling you, the worlds are exactly the same.
– Well, not exactly," Iulia shook her head and parried.
– Almost," Catherine told her. – Here Ruthra is one of the leaders of the world, he is an important person there too.
– Yes," Ruthra confirmed her interpretation. – It doesn't look exactly the same, but it's very similar.
– Or maybe you should be president here, and then this-" Iulia pointed to the screen where YatSan was running down the stairs, followed by Rutra yelling "stop, what's wrong with you today" and everyone else who was.
– Let's get her back! – Ruthra repeated.
– How? It should at least be at rest. She's going to break. I think it's because there's been a merger or an overlap… or a split personality. That YatSan over there, she's in her, in ours," said the scientist.
– What makes you say that?
– Our YatSan would hardly make such a race, and the behavior, I tell you, Mr. President, oh-oh.
– What are you all so crazy about? Cause you don't do stuff like this.
The ladies were embarrassed.
– That's not really what I'm talking about.
– Well, why not," Iulia said, and she and Catherine laughed.
– Nice job you have," Parmen said jokingly.
– Bring back YatSan!!!
Everyone got serious again.
– Can this really happen? – Andrian asked again. – Why don't we see what happens next?
– I know what's going to happen there.
– Or maybe it's not so terrible," Parmen said, turning to everyone.
The image disappeared the moment YatSan got on the bike and raced through the courtyards of the Kremlin. The screen went blank.
– First of all, you were in some other world.
– Yes. The timeline of events was different in that world. And history, too. Though… maybe everything after those events? – Ruthra said.
– No. One event in time, in chronology, is a beacon. What should happen there now and what happened there are one and the same event, it doesn't matter what chain of events led to that particular result. And besides – we're already confused. Conclusively.
– What's wrong?
– I mean, come on, it's not like it's a recording. Neither are those.
– So?
– Those events have already happened. This is a new world with new events. The only thing that can happen is that events in some world affected this world, and this world will affect ours. That is, what we see now will somehow be repeated in ours. Do you understand?
– Of course you are. That's what I'm saying. How did we even miss this?
– Since we're here, since you got us into the program – explain it to us too," IuLia asked with mild indignation.
– Okay, sit down, I'm tired of standing. While YatSan returns, while her consciousness is being restored to her brain, I'll show you the recording of our original experiment. The first human flight to parallel worlds. My flight.
– Now