– A choice stuff, – says Unfortunate putting the cup aside, – I think.
– Can you feel the taste? – inquires Vika.
– Yes.
– How comes? Taste in virtuality is nothing more but the memory about what we tried in the real world! If you aren't human, then…
I can feel her aggressiveness growing, but can't do anything.
– I'm trying to imagine whether so much salt should improve the coffee's taste or not. I think not.
– Did you try something like coffee before?
– Only when visited you. I… – Unfortunate looks at me and hesitates,
– I can't even say that I eat at all.
Looks like it's some threshold beyond which Vika loses patience.
– You're lying, – she says with conviction, – Look, you're just lying! You know what? Just go to the Viner Square, it's the UFOlogists' club there! They'll be so glad to meet you! They'll believe you!
– I don't ask you to believe me. – replies Unfortunate softly.
I jump up:
– That's enough, both of you! Vika, I believe him!
– Lenia, you are just convincing yourself! – Vika deliberately ignores Unfortunate. – You aren't the specialist in computer technologies, are you? You couldn't trace his signal and believed in all that? He's human, his behavior and knowledge are human! He's human! Can you prove me wrong?
Unfortunate gazes at the wall.
– I can't. He can. – I look at Unfortunate's face, – Tell her, I beg you. Prove it to her.
– I can't prove anything.
– You helped me to get away from the trap, – I whisper, – I don't know how, but you did give me a part of your strength, your abilities, remember? Please, do the same for Vika!
Unfortunate raises his look at me.
– Leonid, I gave you nothing. I don't have a right to meddle into your life.
– But…
– You could do it, yourself. You only lacked the faith in this to be possible. You needed the goal worth fighting for. You had met me and got this goal, you believed that everything is still ahead, that the world won't crumble as a house of cards, won't crash down into the deep. I only helped you to find your faith.
I shake my head, no, I couldn't! I couldn't do it myself!
Unfortunate doesn't avert his gaze.
– I gave you nothing Leonid, nothing but troubles. I'm really sorry. I don't have right to make such presents.
– Listen fellow, don't take me in, okay? – says Vika sharply.
– Unfortunate… Alien… – I put my hand on his shoulder, – But you'll have to prove who you are anyway, you'll have to explain, maybe not to us, but to the scientists and politicians…
I stop at the half-phrase. Unfortunate shakes his head.
– I won't explain anything to anybody, this is senseless and not needed.
– But the contact…
– What IS the contact? – he smiles, – A shiny starship on the lawn by the White House? A long legged blonde presents flowers to the purple crocodile in a space suit? The holds full of machines and devices, the galaxy encyclopedia recorded on 1001 synthetic diamond? The cure for cancer and the means to control the weather? Or, rather… something else. Flying saucers burn cities, the mankind leads a guerilla war against the intelligent jellyfish? You'd rather believe in this Leonid, isn't it true? Just remember the man in command of star armies, remember "Labyrinth"! Are these – the contacts? You believed in me, you decided that I'm an alien, that the moment of contact have come…
– But if you came to us, – I shout, – Then there IS something! You do want to say something to us!
– No.
That's it. I understand and it makes no sense to talk any further.
– I just live here. You can't even imagine Leonid how different we are. I'll never step on the ground – I have nothing to step with, and I won't be able to shake your hand – I don't have any.
– But you're human here! – says Vika.
– Yes. If you want to know the sky – become one. If you want to know the star – become the star… – Unfortunate glances at me and smiles, – If you want to know the deep – become the deep. I became the human, as much as it was possible.
– It's your method of knowledge? – asks Vika ironically.
– Yes.
– What for, if we are so different? If we don't need each other?
– I'm tired. I was alone for too long. – Unfortunate either apologizes or tries to convince her, – I needed this memory… the city and the people, the taste of coffee and the smell of fire. It all was alien for me but now will stay forever. Your distrust and Leonid's faith. Those who were killing me and those who were rescuing. I didn't mean to cause any trouble for you, I didn't want to meddle. This is a norm… not to cause harm.
– Your norm… – I say.
– Yes. You live according to the different laws. It's not for me to judge which ones are better.
– Then you found the best place to appear on Earth, – I nod to Unfortunate, – The freedom and no interference, all life's colors, from black to white.
– Of course.
– For some reason I thought differently, – I say, – That you could not only take from us… the tastes and smells, the words and colors… but also to teach us at least something… No, sure not how to extinguish clouds or to cure flu… At least – kindness.
– Leonid, kindness is just a word. I can't kill a living creature. But it's not a moral, it's more of a physiology.
Now it's really finish.
I wished to find an answer, an ideal, to find a miracle which didn't have a place for it on Earth for a long time. The one that came from the stars or was born by the Net – it doesn't matter. Maybe Man Without Face understood that when he offered me to go into "Labyrinth".
But the miracle doesn't care about us, it's completely alien and its kindness is not more elevated than a contented belch.
– If I try to explain you my ethics, – says Unfortunate, – I'll have to switch to the language of Physics laws and mathematical formulas. If I try to explain science – I'll have to write poems and to paint. Do you understand? The difference is not in the level of development but in the basis itself. We have nothing to take and nothing to give to each other. Whatever I've got is just memories, emotions. But do you really think they'll retain their human form?
– Yes, so I thought.
– It was a mistake, Leonid. I'll leave you soon and everything will change. I'll change myself, and so will my memory.
I step from the table and look into the window, at Deeptown's illumination flashing outside. Man Without Face, maybe you were right? It's impossible to approach Unfortunate with human measures. I tried – and look what came out of it.
– Let's assume, – says Vika behind my back, – that you're not lying. You're really an alien. The one from the stars, let's say, the one who has nothing in common with humans. Then tell me…
Maybe Vika really starts to believe. Now, hiding behind the words "let's assume" she will try Unfortunate about his ethics and culture, about his ship's construction and interstellar journey principles. Good idea too…
– I'll leave you for a minute, – I say without turning around.
Vika doesn't protest, probably she thought I gonna exit the deep temporarily.
Nope…
The drawn wall, the drawn window – I break through them, make a step and find myself above the city. Buildings, neon signs, pedestrians, cars… I'm not here anymore, my body have vanished, I just glide in the air, as if hackers' dreams and Hollywood directors' fantasies have become true, it's the virtuality as it must be, the freedom of directions and forms.
Further… further…
I make a round around Microsoft's palace, a huge, monstrously bloated building all covered by windows, descend trying to determine the direction towards the Elvish server. Just along this street…