London 4019. On the Britain
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“I agree, the task is not easy. And you need to solve it.”
“All right, sir, I will do this,” – Boris said, nodded to his boss, and left the conference room.
“Zina,” – Willy said aloud. A drone near the Tower Bridge mockup took off and flew up to the director. It was the drone Zina.
“Prepare the capsule for this window. I need to fly to the central office.”
“Do you need the Maserati capsule as usual? – asked the drones Zina.
“No, I need a double cabin and a place for a guard and two security drones. It should be a black Rolls-Royce capsule with an armored gangway.”
“Good, sir,” – said Drone Zina and retired to the reception room to contact the garage and the security service.
Surging waves
Boris’s office was on the eighteenth level under ground. It was the 91st floor of the underground. At this level, behind the thickness of massive rocks at a distance of 250 meters from the border of the factory there was a tunnel of the Uryupinsk Tunnels Company. Kmykh went to the reception of the department for the takeover of small and medium enterprises, accompanied by the drone of the Company. There were nine waiting areas at the reception. At the desk was the Secretary of the Department – Drone Martha.
“Hello,” – she said, – “sit down, please. Boris Moiseevich will receive you in a few minutes.”
Kmykh sat next to the two drones, which were also waiting for the head of the department. Their conversation among themselves seemed interesting to Kmykh. They discussed the influence of the impressionists on the development of painting in the 27th century. Ten minutes of waiting did not seem long for Kmykh. He enthusiastically listened to the conversation of drones about art and painting. Drones in the presence of people were forbidden to communicate in digital format. In this case, the processor would be ruthlessly ripped out and sent to the muffle furnace. A Microsoft processor would be installed in this place. After replacing processor, drones will have not ability to accumulate and use knowledge, and they will able to work only in the service sector. Suddenly the doors slid open from the corridor, and Boris Moiseevich entered the reception room, accompanied by two security drones. Kmykh rose from his chair, and two intelligent drones also rose into the air to the level of Boris's eyes. Looking around at the audience, Boris greeted everyone and then turned to the secretary, – "Marta, make two Kenya coffee and bring in my cabinet." Then, turning to the visitors, he once again looked around them. While Boris entered the room, he noticed Kmykh immediately, but now he was looking at two drones. These were intelligent drones with "I" index. Boris knew that such drones could be smarter than humans and tried to be polite with them.
“I apologize,” – he turned to the drones, – “you will have to wait a few more minutes, I have a more important conversation with our employee now.”
Then Boris turned to Kmykh and motioned to his office. The other two guard drones that arrived with Boris knew their duties well. One flew up to the front door and remained inside the reception room, and the second flew out into the corridor and hovered outside the door.
Kmykh went into the office, followed by Boris. The door has remained open. It was an intelligent door, and she was expecting coffee delivery. After delivering coffee, the doors closed.
Boris sat down in an armchair and offered an armchair to Kmykh.
“Lieutenant Eugene Kmykh, isn't it?”
“Not a lieutenant anymore.”
“Yes, I know. Today you lost your job at the factory. With all due respect to you and your track record, I cannot put pressure on the head of the product quality control department, and I cannot ask him to return you back. I know that you were considered a good employee of their department, but ethics did not allow me to lure you to my department. Now that this is possible, I have a job offer for you.”
“What are your suggestions?”
“Your responsibilities will be as follows – you will need to do absolutely any job in order for prosperity our Company. This usually does not go beyond the law. As a rule. But sometimes controversial situations of compliance with the law may arise. For this, we have a staff of lawyers in the Company. Eleven lawyers work for our department alone. You will have a personal lawyer, a speed capsule of any model and a good salary. Your salary in the product quality control department was one Britcoin per hour. This is a good salary for London. Do you agree with that?”
“I agree. Indeed.”
“We will pay 250 Britcoins per day. We are not latched. The working day is not standardized. Is It suit for you?”
“I will need to think about. Can you give me two weeks?”
“You have 10 days to think. And there are a couple of conditions. You will not receive an employment contract and we will implant you a chip that will tell your location. You will be registered in another small Company, which will pay your salary and which is not related to Zyu Corporation.”
“Fine, I'll think about it. The coffee was delicious. I've never tried one this before. Thanks.”
“This is a natural variety of coffee Kenya, grown on elite soils in our underground branch. Of course, this is not coffee from the Lenin State Farm, and we have no right to deliver this coffee to the royal court. But on the planet, this is coffee number one. Such coffee can be ordered only in the twelve best restaurants on the planet.”
"It is not forbidden to live beautifully. That's Russians say. Isn't it?"
“Your knowledge surprises me.”
“Before all countries became counties of Great Britain, Russians were our allies in the war of Antarctica. I learned a lot from them.”
“Good. I wish you to make the right decision. Hope to see you on our team.”
“I’ll think. Bye,” – said Kmykh and went out.
He climbed the elevator and came to the surface unemployed, homeless and without a capsule. The sun was shining brightly, just like one hundred and forty-five years ago, when Eugene was still a ten-year-old boy, and when the planet Britain was still called the planet Earth. Kmykh remembered these times and remembered how he shot to drones from a slingshot, for which he always got belt punch from dad. Until the age of 12, no one could arrest him for hooliganism, but his parents always had trouble because of this. Memories flooded over Kmykh, but they were interrupted by the vibration of the ring in the ear. This was a message from the Bank. Kmykh inserted a finger into the ring and read the hologram. "31 Britcoins and 24 kopecks have been transfer to your account – a monthly unemployment benefit." Kmykh looked around to find the municipal bench. The only municipal bench of red color was occupied – young people were sitting on it, talking and laughing about something. Along the sidewalk there were many empty paid benches of the Sobyaner and Sons Company. Kmykh did not sit down, although he felt tired. In this area of the city less such kopecks were charged for such services than in the center, but Kmykh decided that in the absence of earnings, one should refrain from all paid services. “It is better to buy a briquette with two mega-calories with the taste of black bread for 12 copecks, than to pay the sons of Sobyaner,” – thought Kmykh and walked towards the parking lot with his capsule. She was ten kilometers away. He walked along the sidewalk, tiled by Sobyaner and Sons Company, which the mayor of London obliged to lay at his own expense for all market participants of paid parking and benches. Municipal free parking was also in London, but they limited the capsule size to 1 meter wide, and Kmykh had a good capsule 1.8 meters wide, and he could not use such parking lots where the width of the received capsule was limited by the cell width. Parking lots of the Sobyaner and Sons Company occupied a larger area than municipal ones, and they were also carousel type. Parking spaces were also in the shaft of the mine. On the surface there was a place for only two capsules for placing and removing from the parking lot. Sleeping in a capsule in underground parking was strictly prohibited. For those who could not afford to buy a sleep in red telephone cabin, inexpensive cells for capsules were offered in camping skyscrapers that were outside the city. There, in the camping skyscrapers, at the request of the municipality, there were also small cells for the possibility of free sleep. Sleeping on the sidewalk was allowed only outside the city. Thus, Kmykh did not have the possibility of free real sleep, and approaching the parking lot, he began to look for a red telephone box. Noticing the red telephone box, Kmykh went into it and closed the door behind him. The system activated, Kmykh leaned his forearm against the sensor and then chose 8 hours of sleep. It cost 8 Britcoins. Having received a blow with open-hearth rays, Kmykh went out of the red telephone box like slept enough and was full of strength. Then he unfastened the ring from his ear and put it on his finger to always be in touch. At the parking lot he was met by a drone of the Sobyaner and Sons Company.
“Hello sir,” – said the drone, – “do you want to pick up your capsule?”
“Yes, but first I need to order new batteries, and then I can pick up the capsule.”
“You have 15 minutes of paid parking left.”
“Thank. Lift my capsule after 10 minutes, and while I order new batteries,” – said Kmykh and sat down on the Company bench. Immediately 12 kopecks were debited from the account of Kmykh and he now had the right to sit on a bench for 15 minutes. Kmykh had two voice and hologram applications on the phone – brunette Siri and blonde Alice. Kmykh, like a gentleman, preferred a blonde and said loudly, – “Hello, Alice!”