Cubes. Vadim Simbarskiy. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Vadim Simbarskiy
Издательство: Издательские решения
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Год издания: 0
isbn: 9785006558113
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to do in this situation, at least it seemed

      so to me.

      A minute later, we found ourselves in some quarter,

      consisting of completely identical small red square

      houses, separated by straight, even passages

      between them.

      “We’re here, come in,” the stranger offered,

      opening the door. “Oh, by the way, my name is Stel.

      And you?”

      “Okay, Ben,” I muttered and added: “I was definitely

      him this morning,” but without waiting for a

      reaction to my apparent joke, I entered the house.

      Inside, everything was laconic, simple, clean, and

      without any excess. Again, the same strict geometric

      proportions, squares, and rectangles. A minimal

      set of furniture provided significant free space

      in this very small house, which generally resembled

      an enlarged shoebox, inside which a room had been

      neatly made.

      “Sit down, and I’ll organize dinner. And since

      you’re from the elite, you have taste sensations,

      right?”

      “I don’t know what elite I’m from, but I could tell

      honey from horseradish this morning,” I joked again.

      “Yes, I’m afraid if you’re not from the elite, then

      you’re definitely not below the green level. Well,

      if you don’t want to talk, that’s fine, let’s eat

      first. Today is Tuesday, and in our city on Tuesdays,

      you can order organic food.”

      Stel approached a large monitor, pressed some

      button, and the monitor’s voice asked: “What would

      you like for dinner?”

      “What will you have?”

      “Sushi,” I answered automatically without thinking.

      “Ooh,” Stel drawled, “you’re definitely from the

      elite if you’ve eaten sushi.”

      “Well, yes, of course. Haven’t you?”

      “Well, sushi, sorry, is out of my budget for now.

      But if I move to the blue level and get a blue

      cube, then I’ll try these sushi. For now… Do you

      like beans?”

      “Beans?” I asked. “I like them.”

      “Well, that’s great. Beans,” he said into the

      monitor.

      I watched all this, apparently still in shock or

      at least not over it. And so I just tried not to

      panic and to listen and observe more. A minute

      later, there was a knock at the door – a messenger

      brought dinner. Stel quickly set the table, and we

      began to dine. The dinner, I must note, was not

      bad. Beans with peppers, some juice, in general,

      not like I imagined from science fiction films,

      where they usually have plastic for dinner. I said

      this out loud, but there was no reaction to it. No

      reaction, just like last time. Stel began to say

      something and ask questions. And I tried to catch

      his thought, but my eyelids were getting heavy and

      simply sticking together. Stel, noticing this,

      silently pointed to the bed. I tried to mumble

      something like an apology, but my speech was

      incoherent, and I trudged to the bed, fell on it,

      and sank into a dead sleep.

      I don’t know how long I slept. I only woke up, it

      seems, at night, and since it was dark and quiet

      around, I began to turn yesterday’s events over in

      my head. Events or a dream? Could it have been a

      dream? If a dream, it was very realistic. And

      immediately I catch myself thinking: in that case,

      where am I now? I remember being at the construction

      site, falling, and then all this… dream or not

      dream?.. But Stel’s peaceful breathing and the

      flickering light of the lamps brought me back to

      the fact that I still seem to be in an unclear

      place. And I engaged in what is called “reasoning.”

      Well, it does look like the future. In any case,

      it’s definitely not Honduras or Antarctica. But

      how? How is this possible? Okay, whatever happened,

      if it happened to me, then it must be for some

      reason. And it’s interesting here, actually. Only

      Stel is somewhat strange, seems like a normal guy,

      but, truth be told, he never smiles and doesn’t

      react to jokes. Why? And he talked about some

      levels, cubes. What levels, what cubes? And the

      objects are strange, all square, rectangular. And

      how could all this happen? I’m in the future!

      Fantastic!

      Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice how morning

      came, and sunlight penetrated through the lowered

      blinds, filling the room with morning light. From

      the rustling coming from the other end of the room,

      I realized that Stel had woken up.

      “Are you awake already?” he beat me to the question.

      “Yes,” I answered and quickly got out of bed.

      “Good morning,” Stel greeted me and, gesturing to

      the side, said that the bathroom was there.

      I found the door behind which was the bathroom,

      but it seemed to be locked and didn’t yield to my

      attempts to push it in both directions. Returning

      to the room, I explained that the door was closed.

      To which Stel replied in surprise:

      “That’s impossible, as the house control system

      recognizes you and the door opens automatically.

      Well, as usual, don’t you have it like that?”

      We approached the door, he grabbed the handle, a

      red light lit up on the handle, and the door opened.

      “Well, you see, everything works.”

      I grabbed