Hello blogs! I haven’t been https://leader-betcasino.co.uk/mobile-app/ around for a long time, maybe someone noticed it,
or maybe not. I didn’t post anything new because I was busy with business. Poems will be available as soon as I play something inspiring and exciting, by the way, you can advise in the comments, thereby helping. Now enjoy the story. I submitted my story to a literary competition, but unfortunately didn’t win. If you like it, don’t be shy – give it some positives, because I’m thinking of writing a sequel. Thanks friend for your help with editing!
The world has ended. That is, completely. No, people are still alive, but the life of humanity is over. And there’s nothing here. There were no shots, no fires, no explosions, and there were no. Before humanity perished, there was no war as such. The earth did not plunge into a series of conflicts; life on it gradually faded away. People’s minds have gone blind.
Once majestic buildings have turned into ruins. The time has come for post-apocalyptic architecture. Harvest time.
– How much longer do we have to go?? – asked a female voice inside the macrocircuit.
“I think a little,” answered the girl standing on the concrete slab.
– We definitely need to go there? That is, I just don’t understand why all this? You could have stayed in the shelter.
The girl looked at a piece of silicon alloy stuck into the concrete. Rectangular shape, similar to a Roman legionnaire’s shield, sharpened edges, bright red seal on the malachite surface. A bright yellow light glides around the seal, hinting to the girl that the macrocircuit is waiting for an answer.
— Ann? Are you here? Maybe it’s back after all?
The girl, returning from thoughts to the real world, straightens her hair. Starts looking around – they’ve been standing for too long. It’s time to go.
– Sofia, stop whining. I have already explained everything to you, and, in my opinion, more than once.
– You understand that this is pointless?
Anne, not paying attention to the words of the macro diagram, took it by the clasp and hung it behind her back. Taking a running start, she jumped down from a height of several dozen floors. It seemed that the remains of the concrete frame, which was once a skyscraper, were soaring up at the speed of a rocket, rather than falling to the ground. Having flown halfway through the skyscraper, she took out the shield from behind her back and rested her feet on it, as if on a snowboard. Ann felt strong tremors. Sofia slowed her fall, and literally a moment before landing, the macro circuit was again behind her, and Ann sank to the ground as if she had jumped from her own height.
— Sofia, what is the level of information pollution??
The lights ran along the channels of the silicon board, assessing how dangerous it was to be here.
— Safe time for you to be here: about three hours.
– So we need to hurry up.
Ann’s operating system has long been unable to monitor her body and surroundings, so she has become even more human-like, perceiving the world in a purely humanly inaccurate way.
The path, laid out in the camp, passed through ancient, non-digital areas. Asphalt roads, houses and skyscrapers made of concrete and steel. Rusty cars from the era of internal combustion engines are scattered along the streets. Remaining electrical wires hanging in places. Doesn’t look very nice, even scary. However, Ann has not been to digital cities for a long time. Last time – a year ago. She remembered the endless glass surfaces, the smooth greenish semi-stone surfaces of houses and roads. Cities now represented a kind of system of microcircuits. Everything is interconnected, and information passes through everything: roads, building walls, people. Full connection.
It is not surprising that the custodians left the reserve Library here – the old area was empty for a couple of hundred years. It is impossible to connect to the “infoworld” from here, and it was this area that was first captured by the plague. Walking along the faceless streets, Anne felt it with her entire high-tech body. The plague tried to crawl under the silicone skin, dig into the biomuscles, penetrate the neural network.
“The entrance to the library will be 10 blocks away,” Sofia said with feigned politeness. She tried to suppress her fear of the silence surrounding her friends, trying to start a conversation with Ann.
— I’m wondering: how can you activate the Library?? Just don’t tell me that this old, useless piece of junk, which you consider a keeper, explained everything to you in detail. Sometimes he can’t even put two words together, but here he gave you all the necessary instructions?
— Atan was the guardian! And you know he suffered so much protecting the Library from the guides.
Ann was clearly not in the mood to talk. She fell silent. Trying to be more vigilant, Sophia nevertheless distracted her, and Anne plunged into memories of that very day. Drone Atana called her to his room. When Anne arrived, they sat for a long time in silence, looking at each other. The old keeper only spoke words occasionally for as long as Anne knew him. Sometimes they didn’t even make sense. After a long silence, Athan extended his hand to Anne, and she hesitated and extended hers. An avalanche of images covered Ann’s head. She saw the past as it was, saw the present as it already is, and the future as the present will become. Saw Libraries. How the plague slowly consumed all the knowledge of mankind.
Ann, remembering, did not notice a group of shadows walking behind them for about an hour and a half. The conductors surrounded them at the crossroads. Humanoid figures covered with black clots of plague. Few who survived a meeting with guides said that inside them you can see how flows of information run: ones and zeros.
Anne had already grabbed the macro circuit from behind her back and was preparing for battle. Taking a stance, she assessed her chances of winning the fight. They weren’t there. Too many conductors for her alone.
They stood motionless. Ann didn’t even look at them – she felt them, that was enough. Let them attack first. Just as Anne thought this, the figure on the right rushed towards her. Turn right, plant your feet, push. The sharp sound of an energy wave broke the silence of the streets. The golden glow that burst out of the macrocircuit met the advancing enemy like a wall. Having come into contact with the body of the conductor, the charge threw him back, burning black pieces of plague on him. Another turn, return to the original stance, another energy blow. The conductor standing in front of her is also blown away by the golden light. It’s time! Now they will all attack at once. Ann’s entire biomuscular apparatus exploded in a jump, jumping out of the ring of conductors. She rushed forward. It took her a second to break free from the broken circle. Another second – and she steps on the face of the lying conductor who stood in front of her. All this time the conductors also stand motionless.
When Ann runs a few meters away, the guides fly up without any effort. They seem to have no weight of their own. Flying in a parabola, they land in front of Ann, standing in one line, blocking her retreat.
Ann is not going to stop: she turns the shield on her hand so that the long edge is parallel to the ground, and again delivers an energy blow. Two conductors are thrown back. Anne’s feet push off the ground and she jumps over a line of black statues. However, now the conductors do not allow her to run more than a meter. One of them throws his hand forward, which immediately turns into a whip, entangles Ann’s leg and pulls. Ann trips and falls. The rest of the guides had already drawn their swords and began to approach her. Without thinking twice, she turned on her back and crouched down, taking the macro circuit with both hands. The blow of the shield cuts the whip. The swords of the guides are already near. They swing and make a simultaneous strike. Ann puts her shield forward, and the full force of the blow enters Sophia. The swords seemed to merge into one huge hammer. Ann can barely withstand the pressure. She pushes away the conductors with all her strength and does a backflip. Turning around in flight, she runs forward again. The guides were expecting easy prey and at first wanted to play with it, but now they just want to kill it. Anne is not one of those wandering wanderers who wander here unknowingly. They run after her.
They have a clear advantage. What to do? Ann feels tired. She’s afraid.
“I, of course, wouldn’t want to interfere with your fun, but you need to hide from them – you can’t defeat so many,” Sofia prompts.
Ann is silent. No, she doesn’t save her breath. She doesn’t need to breathe. She is simply focused on the problem, and there is no time to be distracted by Sofia.
— There are eight hundred meters left to the Library. If you get to it, you can hide there.
That’s right, Library, there should be an automatic security service.
– Thank you, Sophie.
Sofia, who did not expect such courtesy, felt pleased. It’s been a couple of days since Anne called her Sophie. Now, it turns out that it is necessary for this cold girl to be gentle and kind again – a mortal danger.
Ann, having formed a plan in her head, quickened the pace. Running didn’t seem to cause any inconvenience to the conductors at all. They quickly caught up with her, immediately starting to strike with their swords one after another. Ann hid from everyone, exposing a macro-circuit in the direction of the sword. The conductors furiously beat on the surface of the shield. The frequency of strokes increased. When is the Library? Ann is exhausted. She’s definitely going to miss a hit soon, her movements are starting to slow down.
– We are there.
During. Anne, barely dodging the conductor’s blow, suddenly braked and somersaulted backwards. The conductors continued to move by inertia.
Anne took a quick glance outside, but did not see any entrance or opening leading to the Library. The same gray empty houses, with an asphalt road separating them. A group of guides stopped and rushed towards Ann.
The girl was confused. Where is the entrance?
– Down. Hit the asphalt. Let’s! – Sophia’s voice rang out in Ann’s ears.
Ann got ready to jump. Directing all her will into the springs and the muscles in her legs, she soared upward. Jumping, Ann swung and quickly flew down. The blow from the shield from the height of one’s own height was so strong that it punched a hole in the asphalt. Anne fell underground and fell into a spacious hall. Green walls with gold veins of contacts spoke only of one thing – this is the Library.
The guides followed her down without stopping. At the end of the hall there was a huge gate – Anne rushed towards it. She ran the entire hall and pushed the gate doors at speed. They were closed.
– And how to open them? Sofia?
– I should know this? Atan spoke to you.
Ann was confused. The conductors, having descended into the hall, were already approaching her. Ann saw a seal on the side, similar to the symbol she had on the macro circuit. She brought Sophia to the seal. Doors activated. Streams of light ran through the golden veins of the hall. Ann pushed the gate, but it was too heavy. The guides are too close. Ann turned around, trying to buy herself some time, and stuck the macro circuit into the green floor. By pressing the panel on the back side, a stream of light burst out from the macrocircuit, burning the conductors. She has ten seconds. Pressing her whole body against the gate, she pushed the gate just enough so that she could squeeze through with Sofia. Grabbing the shield, which was still spitting out light, she squeezed inside. The stunned guides came to their senses and rushed into the opened passage. Closing the door was much easier. Ann applied the macro circuit to the seal that was on her side, and the doors automatically slammed shut in front of the conductors. The blows of swords made dull sounds through the thickness of the gate.
Ann almost fell off her feet. After walking a little, she sat down against the wall. Deep inhale and exhale. Does an android need breathing exercises to come to its senses?? She can’t breathe. Sophia was sometimes perplexed by Anne’s actions. She’s not human.
The girl, taking a breath, under all the incessant dull blows of swords on the gate, walked inside the Library. A huge space opened up before her. From the corridor leading from the gate, she went into the central hall. Similar to a tribune, with a pedestal in the center, the room was round. All surfaces were smooth: no protrusions, only the access console in the center stood out against the smooth green floor.
Sofia broke the silence:
– Just one room? No wonder. She’s a backup. Actually, there should only be a console here. There is no need to train anyone, there are no students, archives are automatically updated. A pathetic sight.
Then Athan showed Ann how to activate the Library. Fragments of memories of how he once did it himself. But everything he shared was more like a slideshow rather than full instructions.
Ann walked over to the console and pulled out a digital access card from the pouch on her belt.
-Where do you get access from?? I thought there weren’t even one card left. Was Atan able to save her from the plague??
Ann silently inserted the card into the console slot. Everything began to come to life. The dim green light of the walls became lighter. As if someone was shining a spotlight from inside the walls. The darkness began to go away. The console quietly crackled and beeped. But after a couple of seconds everything disappeared. The glow is gone. Everything turned off. Darkness covered the central hall again. Ann rearranged the access card. Didn’t help. The library has gone dark.
The girl was confused.
– What happened?
“I don’t know,” Sofia answered, “you saw that it started to turn on, but the process was interrupted.”. Wait, see the hole behind the console?? Put me in it.
Anne walked to a thin hole in the floor, exactly the same width as Sophia. Using a short edge she inserted the microcircuit into the floor. Lights began to play on the surface of Sofia, throwing pulse-like streams of energy into the hall.
– Everything is clear.
Sofia stopped highlighting. The small golden light was still circling around the seal, saying that she had finished her work.
— The library was formatted. There’s nothing left. Empty.
— Sterli?
– Yeah. Clean up. Also, by the way, some kind of virus was allowed inside, so that if the console turns on again, the virus will kill all running processes in the Library. Actually that’s what happened. Everything was deleted remotely. I bet it was the plague.
Ann didn’t expect such a failure. What to do? She took a step back.
– Why all this, Ann?? Tell me why it was worth coming here? What did Atan show you??
– Future……
– And what’s in it?? Let me guess: we’re all going to die, right?? Isn’t it clear?? There are actually no people. Everyone who survived has either gone crazy or is starting to go crazy. Androids have forgotten everything – the plague has erased their minds. Some went wild, some became more like a lifeless piece of metal, and some, there, became conductors. Thank you, Atan, I already knew all this. Also my keeper. Where were they all before?? Where?
Anne continued:
– A future where everything can be fixed. He showed me that you can restart the world, all at once: people, androids, nature – everything. Reboot. Only he didn’t show how. He gave me direction and said that I should start from here, from the reserve Library. Gave me the key and that’s it. What to do?
Ann’s voice was quiet, as if a dead man were whispering. She was depressed. Sofia knew that Anne had been looking for a way to get everything back for a long time. She is one of the few who did not despair and decided to resist the plague, but it was painful to look at her now. The girl’s face froze, losing human features, turning into a silicone mask.
Sofia had nothing to say. She, too, was devastated by what Ann told her. She began looking through the contents of the Library again to take her mind off these cruel thoughts.
– Anne, there’s a file here. It is hidden so far away, and besides, it requires certain access. The plague apparently couldn’t hack it.
Sofia tried to open the file. After requesting entry, she saw the process inside the Library being activated. Next to the console, another pedestal rose from the floor, but only with a hole for the palm pressed into it.
-Look, Ann!
The girl approached the pedestal and hesitantly began to examine it.
– What are you waiting for?? Come on, put your hand!
Ann put her hand into the hole and felt a slight tingling sensation. Sofia saw that the file immediately opened access as soon as Anne touched the pedestal.
— I display it on the screen.
A map appeared on the green wall. Map of the world that was once called Earth. Ann asked:
– What is this?
— As I understand it, a map indicating the location of all the Libraries that were built by the guardians. Look – there we are, in the reserve.
Ann looked at the map:
“Maybe that’s why Atan sent me here.”? Maybe we need to go to one of them?
– Ann, are you absolutely sure that what Athan showed you was not the delirium of the old guardian??
– Yes. Listen. He showed where the guardians went and what happened to them. How the plague appeared. But everything is fragmentary, incoherent. He also showed the Libraries he had been to. I’m sure we’ll find the answers there. Copy the file.
Confidence began to return to Anne again, Sofia heard it in her voice. She loaded the card into the microcircuit memory. Strange feeling. Now Sofia feels like she is part of something important, something bigger than herself. She had not experienced this feeling for a long time, since the time when she lost her body when the plague came.
– Went. How much time do I have left?
— About half an hour, I’ve already worked out the route. We need to hurry.
Anne grabbed the microcircuit from the hole and hung it behind her back. An elevator appeared from the floor next to the wall – the only way up. The only way to salvation is to find out everything.