Artist Valery Shamsutdinov
It was wet that day. It was damp, dank and cold. It was already dark. I walked home along a thin path through the undergrowth. I walked and thought about the Motherland. I thought how much the Motherland gave me and what I can give it. A slight rustle distracted me from thinking, I started and looked to the right. I can’t imagine where she came from there. Later, when I recalled this meeting, I decided that she came from the Big Forest, but at that moment I was confused. She sat on the ground leaning against a tree. She sat and smiled. Imagine smiling ... Smiling at me! I immediately realized that she was an ice. Huge sparkling eyes, slender arms, black, shoulder-length hair and an amazing gray jumpsuit. No, she could not be human. She could only be an ice. I realized this in an instant. I stood and looked at her. She, not ceasing to smile, raised her hand and waved to me. I started, but there was no danger. Yes, she could not be dangerous. She was an ice, and besides a woman, what could she be against me? All this flew through my head in an instant, and I also knew for sure that it was necessary to call the sanitary service.
The girl stood, holding on to the tree trunk, she was slightly staggered. She was struggling to stand on her feet and she clearly needed help. She whispered something illegible and held out her hand to me. When she stepped out into the moonlit circle, I noticed that her hair on the right side of the temple was stained with something sticky and dark. Blood. Apparently, someone hit her in the head very hard. Well, that is not surprising. She's ice.
We are taught to be merciless to the enemies of the motherland, but merciful. I was merciful. And I really wanted to make myself an ice, even if it was unregistered. I held out my hand and touched her palm. Her hand was surprisingly soft and cold. She froze. I felt sorry for her, I threw my jacket over her thin shoulders and beckoned for me.
Slamming the front door shut, I leaned against the wall and began to think what to do next. She sat on a chair and watched me without a break with her huge gray eyes.
-Well, what's your name? I asked with squeamish interest.
She, without taking her eyes off my eyes, shook her head casually. I felt rage begin to boil in me, but I restrained myself. What to take from her, she's just an ice. I poked myself in the chest with my finger:
- Ray. Ray, ”I repeated, and looked at her questioningly.
The girl shrugged bewilderedly and touched her head.
“Ray ...” she repeated softly.
- What's your name? Name?
Misunderstanding silence. Here are those on. He doesn't even know the name. Absolutely wild. Or maybe ... I thoughtfully looked at the bloodstained head. Or maybe I forgot from the blow. It happens ... it seems.
I should have called her somehow. I looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. I was filled with some strange feeling, not of joy or pleasure, but of some indifferent smug omnipotence:
- I will call you Leia. Do you understand? - I touched her hand, - You - Leia, I - Ray.
The girl nodded carefully and whispered:
- Leah.
I smiled and nodded approvingly:
“How did you end up here?” Where are you from?
The girl shook her head in confusion and made a strange gesture, as if raising her shoulders. Does not understand…
I repeated slowly, spelling:
- Where are you from?
“Where are you from ...” she repeated just as slowly.
Probably still illiterate, from the wild. Are there such people? Stop. But where did she get the jumpsuit from then. After all, she does not even know her name! Maybe she was kept at home, but not taught. It’s strange. Maybe she is from the islands? But how did she end up here in the center of her homeland? Solid riddles. Well, suppose she’s wild, she doesn’t know our speech. She picked up her clothes somewhere in the garbage dump. Once again I looked at her jumpsuit. Surely, the sleeve is torn off, there’s a hole in the leg, all dirty. Then I guessed that she came from the Big Forest, and calmed down a bit. At least everything fell into place. Oh, now you have to tinker with her while you wash. Yes, she’s probably still scratching and biting. And then learn and teach. I sighed heavily, but there was nothing to do. Do not call the sanitary service in fact. Mercy must be supported by responsibility. And I did not want to shift the responsibility for this creature to my homeland. Sam got involved - yourself and answer.
I sighed heavily and walked over to the girl. She got up. I pulled the gates of her overalls:
- It's dirty. Poorly. - I said loudly, trying to pronounce the words as clearly as possible.
“Dirty, bad,” she repeated surprisingly distinctly and correctly.
I smiled approvingly and nodded. Savvy. Perhaps it will be possible to do without a rod. Previously, I did not believe that ice can be raised without a rod. And now I believe ... almost ...
“Let's go,” I waved invitingly and led her into the bathroom.
The view of the bathroom did not frighten her at all, but rather the opposite. I breathed a sigh of relief:
- Water! I said, and opened the tap.
“Water,” Leia repeated, and put her hand under the tap.
I took the collar to unfasten her jumpsuit. She flinched slightly and looked at me questioningly. That's stupid.
“Water,” I repeated. “We have to wash ourselves.” Leia is dirty.
I could not manage to cope with her clasp. Amazing design. She gently pulled my hands away. I sighed in frustration, apparently I still could not do without a rod.
She held out her hands to the collar, yanked something, and the seam of the overalls began to diverge in a strange way. I was surprised to consider this design and did not immediately notice its gesture. She touched me and pointed to the door. I shook my head in bewilderment and held out my hands to help her undress. For a few moments, she looked at me strangely, but then she obeyed and took off her clothes. I examined her body with curiosity. I saw a naked woman for the first time, no, of course, I saw educational films, I was in the museum ... But so, very close. So that you can touch, to feel the warmth of this body. This has not happened to me yet. She was not at all as dirty as I expected. And much more beautiful than I could have imagined. It is much more beautiful than in a museum or on educational films. For some reason, I even sucked in the stomach. And I suddenly felt some inexplicable embarrassment. Although what was embarrassing? She's just an ice. Nevertheless, I carefully examined her. Nothing unusual - very nice to watch. The stigma was nowhere to be seen. Well, what else to expect from a wild ice.
Leia got into the bath and began to sort out the bottles with curiosity, I put her shampoo and washcloth. I wonder if she will figure it out or not. I realized.
- To wash. Good. - I repeated loudly and went for a towel.
We sat at the kitchen table and looked at each other. Leia climbed into a chair with her legs, propping her bandaged head on her hand. Ice - he is the ice, what can I say. Then I will wean. I did not want to speak and even move after a well-fed dinner. Still, it’s good that she came to me, I thought, and beckoned her to the bedroom. The bedroom is on the second floor, you won’t run away from there. I pointed to the bed:
- Leia, sleep. It is necessary.
Leia sat on a soft bed and yawned sweetly. I stood in the doorway, and I did not want to leave. She looked at me questioningly.
“Good night,” I said, leaving the room.
“Good night,” she repeated. I flinched. Her words sounded as if meaningfully, as if she understood the meaning of the words, and not thoughtlessly repeated the sounds she heard.
I hurriedly slammed the door and turned the key in the lock. Well, I just have a sofa in the living room. Tomorrow I’ll take care of her education. Still need to think about how it can be legalized. I’ll call my father, as a last resort. But it’s good that she came to me.
***
All day at school I didn’t go on my own. I was thinking about her all the time. I wanted to drop everything and see how she was. It was stupid, but could not help it. The last lesson I generally spent on pins and needles. The sixth experimental class used to lead me to a white heat, but now I generally hardly tolerated their naive primitive questions. Whether it’s the sixth special class. What kind of development of flexibility of thinking do these guys from the education committee think with all their experiments, if this leads to social maladaptation.
Only I told the basic principles of the policy of universal happiness, raises Mickey's hand and asks:
- Is it possible to talk about universal happiness, if the concept of happiness is individual for each person?
Well, child, what to take from him. This is the task of the teacher. Explain, prove, convince. This is a difficult job, not in vain I still chose it. And although I am still a very young teacher, I have been working for the first year, but I already realized that I had made the right choice. Neither in the army, nor in state security, nor in the government, where my father so persistently called me, can I do for the Motherland as much as can be done in the most ordinary provincial school, explaining to such fools like Mickey the obvious truths.
- Of course, Mickey, the concept of happiness is individual for each person. But the task of the state is to unite, maximize, collect all individual ideas about happiness. Moreover, to maximize, without harming anyone, not a single person. This is a very difficult task. Universal happiness is born in agony, in the tireless work of every person and for every person.
- What about ice?
A quiet, innocent question jumped out and extinguished all the sounds in the classroom, the children fell silent, looking at me with fear and curiosity.
I even closed my eyes at the flood of hatred:
- Aces are not people. They lost the right to be called people when they tried to enslave humanity. They killed dozens - hundreds of millions of people. Our grandfathers and fathers were burned in furnaces, poisoned with gases, shot, destroyed. It took all the power of a united humanity to destroy their damned state. We were entitled, in absolute moral right, to completely erase them from the face of our world. But people should be merciful, we must give them a chance to atone ... ”I stopped. Stop. Enough. Why repeat the facts known to all. But how not to repeat them? Is it possible to forget this? How can this be forgiven? What if they, our children, forget about it? Suddenly they can forgive them?
And suddenly I remembered Leia. A beautiful, warm body and such a clean, innocent look. And then I remembered the camp. Vague childhood memories. Gray endlessly dull barracks extending into the distance. Black human mass slowly creeping in the dust. And piercing dull languishing hunger. I scratched my left wrist reflexively. EN-5471. These letters and numbers have long been extinct from my body, but they still live in my memory, scratch, and make me jump in the middle of the night. I was breathing sharply and noisily. It was necessary to recover, but the bell rang.
***
She studied or remembered unusually quickly. Only ten days passed, and I could already have meaningful conversations with her. One of my guesses was confirmed. She lost her memory. Absolutely. I did not even imagine that this is possible. She did not know who the ice was, how they differed from people and what their fault was. But she did not know other, much simpler things. Despite all my hatred and disgust, I still felt some inexplicable attraction to her. And it’s not even that she was a beautiful, affordable and submissive woman. Something in her was like that, either in her eyes, or in a quiet calm voice, something that haunted me. Something that constantly made me think. Thinking ... thinking not of her. Rather, not only about her, but about everything. About the world, about freedom, about justice, about love and ... and about ice.
She asked questions, hundreds, thousands of questions that required hundreds, thousands of answers. When I told her about ice, she cried. Small transparent tears rolled down her cheeks. They dripped onto the dress and spread like dark gray spots. I talked about the bombing, about the camp, about hunger, about death. And finally, I said that she is an ice. She seemed not surprised, she seemed to be waiting for this.
“Did you know that?”
- No ... But ... By the way you treat me ... I expected something like that ...
“Am I mistreating you?”
“Good, but ... You treat me like I'm not quite human.”
I even choked on indignation. Of course she is not a man, she is an ice. How all this is silly and disgusting.
“Am I disgusting to you?”
I was completely at a loss. Aces are disgusting to me. But Leah ... Is she disgusting?
“But why did you help me, why do you put up with me, why do you need me?”
“I have shown mercy.” People must be merciful!
She looked at me sadly and was silent.
***
Finally, my father helped me make a registration for Leia, and I was able to take her out into the street.
“I don’t understand why the hell this rubble has surrendered to you,” he grumbled grimly, handing me a yellow registration ticket.
I looked down and muttered something in excuse.
There was an empty formality - to put a stigma and that’s all: after Leia will become a normal legal ice.
All the way she looked around in amazement. Passers-by squinted at us. At first glance it was clear that she was an ice. Four times we were stopped by a patrol. Finally we got to the sanitary station.
The inspector squeamishly looked at Leia and ordered her to undress. Suddenly, I felt inexplicable embarrassment and even anger, but why and to whom? I don’t know ... Leia undressed. The inspector conducted an examination and entered the credentials into a computer. It remains to put a stigma. I blushed and looked at the floor quietly turned to the inspector:
- Mr. Inspector, but you can still not on the forehead, but on the arm.
The inspector looked at me contemptuously and giggled pointedly:
- Understand…
Out of shame, I was ready to fall through the ground.
- Well ... Well ... The instruction allows ... But after all, patrols torture you ... But by the way, as you know. In any case, if desired, the brand can be duplicated.
Ringing with glands, he dialed the number on the marker and turned on the heat.
I looked at Leia. She stood in the corner. Naked, shrunken in goosebumps. My heart threw pity. It seems that she still did not fully understand what was going to happen. I turned away.
The readiness indicator squeaked. The inspector beckoned to Leia:
- Come here!
She cautiously approached.
- Hand on the table. Palm down.
She looked fearfully at the inspector, then at me. Her haunted gaze nearly knocked me down.
- Well, you fool! Do not twitch. Help me!
I went.
- So, hold it, here.
She didn’t break out, I felt her muscles tighten and saw her bite her lip. It smelled of burnt meat.
- So ... Well done! Good girl - the inspector condescended to praise and patted Leia on the cheek approvingly. - You can get dressed.
“I recommend sterilization,” he advised me goodbye and shook his hand tightly.
She was a little chilled. I helped pull her dress on and anointed the stigma that had been pre-stored with ointment.
“Thank you ...” she whispered softly.
We went outside. A cool autumn wind blew into his face. I cringed and looked at her.
- Cold?
She shook her head silently. We walked for a long time without saying a word. And this viscous, sugary silence seemed to offend me. But why and why? Anger began to boil in me.
- Why are you silent?
- The hand hurts.
I stopped short. Anger disappeared, left a worthless bashful pity.
- It was necessary, you know, this is a mandatory procedure for ice.
- Understand…
We silently walked another two blocks. It was necessary to hurry, before the beginning of the curfew there was very little time left. I did not know what was wrong with me. It happens. It seems to have done nothing wrong, but some strange feeling does not allow me to calm down. I started to get angry again.
A sudden cry and the clink of broken glass made us turn around. A black-haired teenager jumped out of the house, limping behind him, followed by screaming, a bellied man rushing out with rods. I grimaced squeamishly. Oh these ice, they really can’t do anything. The man kicked the guy down, he flew a few steps and fell into a puddle right in front of us, spraying us with dirt.
“Ah, you lousy,” the Fat Man roared, “I will show you ...!”
Whistling rods.
A black-haired boy looked up at us, a mark stained his forehead. I grimaced squeamishly and pulled Leia to the side.
- Do not touch him! - I heard a quiet calm voice.
The fat man was taken aback.
We both looked at the girl at the same time. She bent down and grabbed the boy with a healthy hand.
- Leah! I whispered in a terrible voice. - What are you doing!
The fat man was staring at us pointlessly. This was beyond his comprehension. Finally, his gaze slid over her black hair, the stigma on her hand, and he exploded in rage:
- Oh you bitch! Where are you going ... - he found words with difficulty. Choking on saliva, he attacked me.
I muttered timidly an apology and pulled Leia's hand.
The fat man kicked the guy and waved the rods. But he could not hit. I did not understand how this happened. But the next second the fat man was lying in a puddle next to the boy and, piercingly screaming in pain, held his hand. The rods lay nearby. There was a loud trill of a police whistle. I started, trying to run, but it was too late. Two outfits were approaching us from different ends of the street. They waved clubs and shouted. Leia looked at me. Her movements became somehow elusively slow and graceful. She narrowed her eyes slightly, crouched slightly, raised a healthy hand and took a deep breath. At the same time the police ran up. And then the nightmare began. Leia somehow moved in jerks, I still could not keep track of her, but after each jerk of her, another policeman fell. Without screaming and without movement. It all ended before I managed to recover. Seven immobilized bodies and above them Leia is concentrated, beautiful and calm.
“You ... you ... did you kill them?”
“It seems not ...” she seemed to first notice this terrible picture of immobilized human bodies.
“But what ... How ...” I stammered, trying to find words. Suddenly, an icy wave of horror swept over me. Ice! What else can you expect from ice? She can do that to me!
One of the policemen moaned weakly, somewhere in the distance a siren howled. I shuddered:
- Run!
She ran to the boy, helped him up and pulled along.
- Faster. Let's run! I shouted and we ran down the street.
II
A huge gray gloomy city slowly sailed under the belly of a reconnaissance boat. With one hand, Dima casually jerked the helm, with the other, he quickly tapped the keys for controlling the external view. Vanya hastily read the information:
- A small interstellar boat. The crew is one person. Hyper drive crash. Emergency exit from subspace. Bailout. The emergency beacon recorded the coordinates of the landing of the lifeboat. The reconnaissance probe sent to the landing site did not find anything.
“It is understandable,” said Dima. - Planet of the fourth or even fifth level. Boats in such cases self-destruct. The pilot switches to autonomous existence, before the arrival of the rescue team. But apparently something happened. The pilot in the emergency kit has a walkie-talkie, even two ...
- Eh, would you like to know more about the pilot? Age, name, gender, finally.
- I have already sent a request to the Center, the next hyperlink window will be in fifty hours. Then, I hope we get the full information. So far, we are working on the third option ...
- Look at that lane, increase ... Yeah ... To the left ... Closer to the park.
- You watch how they fly!
- Hmm ... strange ... Enlarge more dumb ...
- Well then, maybe we can grab these three? The place is kind of quiet.
- Such a rapid movement implies the presence of a chase ... There is no need for us to contact these fugitives, we will find someone more calm.
- Come on! We’ve been hanging around here for an hour, well, what's the difference, in the end. Yes, and the chase is not particularly visible. Maybe they have a game like this.
- Yeah ... The game ... Salads, not otherwise ...
- Maybe they have some kind of holiday, so they sit at home?
- Unlikely. The streets would be decorated ...
- Well, look! There is no one around. Take it?
Vanya hesitated for a second, but this continuous flickering on the screen made him tired. Well, what's the difference in the end? Chasing them, not chasing, maybe, on the contrary, they’ll make contact easier. Nevertheless, the voluntary cooperation of the natives is much more convenient when taking mentograms, and in general it is easier to get an idea of the general picture of the world.
- Okay. We take these.
Dima pulled the helm and the boat quickly fell into a protracted peak. On the screen, bursts of soporific grenades blossomed with whitish clouds, and after a second a cool, moist breeze of an alien world burst into the boat. Vanya adjusted the oxygen mask and jumped to the ground. Three immobilized natives lay on the ground. Vanya immediately picked up the girl, he could not calmly look at her beautiful limp body, dressed in a thin white dress. He carefully passed it to Dima and went after her companions. The whole operation took a couple of minutes.
Dima touched the helm and the boat quickly jumped up. Gravity compensators hummed strainedly, prisoners quietly sniffed in the back of the passenger seats, and the boat, with a roar breaking the clouds, carried its load home, to the ship that was here in this strange alien world, a particle of a good and strong Earth. A land that never abandons its children.