– Hello! – they said.
– Hello," Ruthra replied.
– We came to find out our mode of operation," said the first one and smiled strangely.
Ruthra replied in surprise:
– What, you get to choose? This is a restricted facility, there are regulations and shifts. Excuse me, who are you?
– Your assistants.
– Then let's get acquainted," Ruthra suggested.
– My name is Katya.
– It's a pleasure.
The girl hiding behind her said she was Yulia, the next one called herself Olesya. They smiled.
– What's so funny? – Ruthra asked.
– There's nothing funny," Katya said. – Can I come in?
– Come on in.
She came close and asked almost in a whisper:
– Did he ask you about the Jews?
Ruthra looked at her in surprise.
– Do you know what his last name is?
– No, I don't know.
– Did he scold or praise the Jews? – she asked.
– I don't know, I don't care. He just asked.
– I hope I didn't offend you.
Rutra looked at the girls and thought, "What are busty young women doing here? What kind of professionals are they?"
– No," Ruthra replied. – Let's talk about work. Tell me all about the center. I haven't been very involved. What did you do before my appointment?
– Analyzing the situation," Yulia said. – We work in Europe and the United States. You also have our senior manager Kristina, financial analyst Natalia and the administrator of the center, who is not in the staff at the moment. Or rather, this position is vacant. There are also specialists of the hall, but they are subordinate to us, according to the direction of activity. They are in another hall, there are 20 of them. The rest of the departments, of course, and their heads are directly subordinate to Yury Vasilyevich.
– What do they do?
– They are engaged in primary processing and analysis of information coming through the lines of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GRU, SVR. They analyze everything. Not only how, for example, the serial production of memristors will affect the computing power of data centers, but also, for example, how soon the chicks will hatch in a factory in Denmark.
– What, is that a big deal, too?
– Of course. Every situation counts. You have to do all sorts of gibberish. How will the creation of the ionistor affect the consumption of energy resources and, consequently, their procurement, extraction, production, processing, delivery? How many banks with minus balances, what is changing in bankruptcy law in Liberia, for example, how many cattle will calve, how much grain will be harvested, how tobacco is growing there, the lifespan of satellites, the prospect of using unstable elements, the consumer focus group in fifty years, and so on. Who is registered offshore, which ones, why there and not others? Transfers of finances around the world, analyzing the work of stock exchanges, the reasons why quotes change depending on the time of day and weather. Everything matters.
– I understand," Rutra interrupted. – What does Yuri Vasilyevich do?
– He is exercising temporary control. He's here temporarily and is very nostalgic for his past activities. He doesn't know much about economics. He is a fighter of the invisible front, he came to us from the SVR," explained the woman who appeared in the doorway of the office. – Hello. May I come in?
– You can.
– My name is Natalia and I am a financial data processor.
– It's a pleasure," Ruthra replied.
She smiled and said:
– We're used to everything here, especially after Yuri Vasilyevich.
– To what, exactly? – Ruthra asked.
– To the fact that real first and last names, even our own, we have almost forgotten. But one still wonders why people take those particular ones.
– I didn't just ask about Jews," Katya said and added: – Do you know what his last name is?
Ruthra looked at her questioningly.
– Zhidkov," she said.
Yuri Vasilyevich's voice was heard outside the office door.
– Not at all," he said.
The girls looked at each other and quickly left. Discipline had taken its toll. Yuri Vasilyevich's age, rank, and record spoke for themselves. Zhidkov came into Rutra's office, as if he had been standing somewhere close by.
– I went abroad under the surname of Zhemchuzhin, and when I came here, my documents were still old, so they make fun of me. I worked in Palestine and Israel for a long time, so that's why I've been there. No one trusts anyone there. And how can you trust when you're going to die every day? Everyone hides behind a Janus mask to survive. In order for you to understand what happens in such a serious organization, now we will go by departments and you will get acquainted with everyone and everything.
So began Rutra's first day of work at the new place. Basically, except for the fact that Center Zero was the coordinating center between the secret services and the intelligence agencies, he knew everything else. This was not news to him, as he was aware of the capabilities of the intelligence services.
In the modern world, cynical rationality and the most absurd chaos are intertwined in the most bizarre way. The special services of the world's strongest states can easily track all the actions and movements of a law-abiding citizen, but are unable to prevent major terrorist acts. The Large Hadron Collider has brought science closer to understanding the origin of the Universe, but at the same time domestic obscurantism has reached a level that would have been marveled at even in the Middle Ages.
All this creates the most hothouse conditions for the growth of all sorts of conspiracy theories that explain everything that happens in the world as the result of deliberate actions of malicious forces or simply insidious plans of secret groups – from sects and special services to Freemasons and demons. Conspiracy theories have not ignored high technology. You bet, because it is such a tempting way to find simple explanations for the most ambiguous and new events and phenomena!
Subconsciously, most of us seriously and not without reason suspect that all these global elites, governments and big business are manipulating technology for their own interests, in an effort to maintain and increase their power and influence over ordinary people.
One of the claims of conspiracy theory adherents is that "social networks are created and operated with the participation of intelligence agencies." This is the most popular and easily provable conspiracy theory.
Special services and law enforcement agencies really enjoy taking advantage of the information that users voluntarily post on Facebook, VKontakte and other social networks.
At the same time, the press regularly reports that the management of networks directly cooperates with secret services. Take for example the recent scandal with the management of VKontakte, which was accused of links with the FSB, the K Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the notorious "former gray cardinal" Vladislav Suchkov. It is hard to say how credible such reports are, if even without contact with the owners the special services have all the technical means to monitor social networks.
Another of their claims is: "Your laptop, TV and game console are spying on you". All electronic and radio-technical devices are capable of spying on their owners: hidden microphones and cameras, as well as schemes for transmitting encrypted signals over the Internet or into the radio air have been repeatedly discovered in them. It's no secret that laptop or smartphone cameras can