Tuesday. Today is Tuesday. He hardly kept track of the time, but he knew for sure that it was now 16:19, the fifth Tuesday since the start of the holidays.
There was, as always, enough work, and there was almost no free time left. Although when was it different?..
Putting down the scalpel, Kozet shook out his hands, reflexively clearing them of adhering blood. He walked away from the dissecting table and deactivated the additional protection.
A year until the, the medic had the most standard appearance for a person on whom plastic surgeons had worked well. With the exception of unpainted black nails and pale skin, like that of a corpse lying on the table nearby for several days, he looked completely normal.
The suit he was wearing now had been ordered for him by Keriz, who was now somewhere in the depths of his part of the house. Perhaps in his laboratory. Kozet wore it almost without taking it off: the thermoregulation system of his class of undersuit made it possible to wear any outerwear at any time of the year. The neutral dark blue, almost black color, was in harmony with his entire wardrobe.
Under this outer suit was hidden a second, black one. Even though the top one had a rather high collar, the second one still showed half a centimeter.
Kozet walked over to the metal desk and turned on the large screen. Having made a couple of notes in the already prepared table, he again turned to the corpse and took several frames from different angles and attached them to the file.
Having finished this, he activated a special freezing circuit on the table that preserves the body in its original state until decontamination.
Today he had a conversation with his father. This year he is graduating from the Academy and his father’s connections will be very useful in finding further employment.
Guest rooms, large living rooms - this house was once noisy. Now many doors do not open for months - only occasionally Kozet entered one of the rooms when he wanted to change the situation a little. Keriz's office, where he spent the afternoon, was on the second floor, at the end of the corridor from the left staircase.
Powerful protective contours are barely visible on the walls. Dark door with metal patterns.
Kozet knocked and entered without waiting for an answer.
“Keriz. “He greeted his father with a nod, approaching him.
Keriz sat at a large desk made of dark wood and examined the contents of the vessel standing on it. Kozet sighed - the head had been in this office for more than a year, or rather, he did not remember at all the time when it was not here.
“I’m talking about practice,” he began, looking from his head to his father. “Remember when you told me that your friend needed an assistant?” When will you introduce me to him? I have my last year left, and now I should start looking for a place to do an internship.
“Kozet.”
“Yes?”
“Could you put it away,” Keriz looked away and handed the black cloth to his son.
Kozet covered the vessel, carefully placed it on the top shelf of the far shelf, then returned and settled in the adjacent chair. There were always two chairs in the office. For Keriz and for him.
“Can we talk now?”
“Yes. Quite so. The person I told you about, her name is Darcia Markde. She is a good doctor and a regular at all kinds of meetings, conferences and private parties. Her connections will be useful to you. Now she is busy with the technical arrangement of a new laboratory and medical complex. She will not work in her main specialty for at least another six months, so I advise you to focus on your studies for now - maybe you will be able to find someone else before graduating from the Academy. If not, you will meet her. She will either take you on as an intern or pass you on to one of her colleagues.”
“And you?” From the outside, it seemed that Kozet was not interested in this at all. “What are you going to do?”
“Now I’m working on a project - additional devices for storing living memory.”
“ You refused to work with the team?” Kozet asked, either surprised or clarifying. “However, it’s none of my business. In recent years, the Council has become less and less interested in you, but this is no reason...”
Keriz quietly laughed.
“I know. I'm not going to act rashly.”
“So you're going to work alone?”
“Yes.”
Silence hung in the air.
“I will be coming sometimes during the year,” Kozet said quietly.
It wasn't a question. This was a statement of fact. They both understood this.
“So far, everything is fine,” Keriz said, as if making excuses.
“I know. And I want it to stay that way.”
They fell silent. Outside the window, silently for them, the sea raged.
Panoramic windows in the office overlooked the water from the back of the house. The house itself was a small mansion on the edge of the mainland. On one side stretched endless green and completely deserted plains, and on the other there was a high cliff, against which dark sea waves beat continuously day and night.
This region was not distinguished by sunny weather - almost the entire year it was cloudy and windy, but Keriz loved this weather. And Kozet, who lived here as long as he could remember, did too.
From the air, the mansion resembled the letter P strongly pressed on top; Kozet lived in the right wing, and Keriz lived in the left. Viewed from the plains, it was a three-story Gothic mansion made of dark brown, dark blue and black materials. Kozet was a medic, and all he knew about these materials was that they were very durable and covered with a whole network of different circuits.
Two floors above ground and two floors below ground were actively used by two of its inhabitants, but the third stood untouched. It was not empty, there was furniture there, just like everywhere else, and paintings hanging here and there. But Keriz could not be there. And Kozet simply had nothing to do there.
Dest lived there once. But all that Kozet knew about her was only that she was very dear to his father. And that she was his mother. But he didn’t remember her, and visual data about her was either not preserved or did not exist at all.
Laboratories were located in the basement of the mansion. Kozet's could be accessed either from his bedroom or through an inconspicuous door behind the house. Once upon a time, a narrow path led to the door, running to the very edge of the cliff, where along a stone spiral staircase one could go down to the water.
Now in its place grew slightly trampled grass - the Perrins rarely used this staircase - several years ago Keriz made a new way down, also a staircase, but this time leading from inside the house, starting on the second basement floor and going out not to the water, but to a stone ledge, where only a strong stormwater got in. Therefore, now underground on particularly windy days, when the sea was stormy, one could hear the echoes of waves crashing against the rocks.
“It’s time for you to return to your things,” Keriz said quietly, looking away.
Kozet sighed imperceptibly. Again. He nodded silently and left the office. He really had something to do.
The room was dimly lit. Kozet lay on the sofa, wearing black headphones with his eyes closed. Loud music drowned out all the sounds around him, allowing him to relax and take his mind off work. Everdin said that even if you don't feel tired, you still need to take short breaks - let your brain rest. Everdin, unlike his father, took care of his health, was always full of strength and energy, and, although he had a lot of work, he managed to find time for his other hobbies.
Everdin Sol-Orien was his supervisor and the Head of the Faculty of Medicine.
After some time, Kozet got up, put his headphones on the table and went to the basements.
The laboratory greeted him with a bright white light and an unpleasant smell from under the film on the table. He walked up to him and threw back the cloth: the body had already begun to decompose, and it was now impossible to work with it. Kozet went to the wall and pulled out a drawer into which he deposited the old body, and then, opening another, took out a new one.
The new corpse turned out to be a girl with an appearance of about twenty years old, dressed in a white medical research suit. In everything, this body was exactly the same as many before it: cadaverous pale, too-soft skin, blue lips, a complete absence of signs of life.
But one detail was significantly different - her black eyes. Completely black, no irises, no whites, as if someone had replaced her real eyes with polished chunks of frozen ink. Even small black smudges under the eyes were visible. Kozet looked closely: not only under the eyes: a drop of black liquid froze under the nose, and black accumulations also formed in the corners of the mouth.
Kozet tightened the guard on his arms and carefully opened her mouth. It turned out to be full of the same black liquid. The liquid was viscous to the touch, it stuck and stretched, but at the same time, some drops, breaking away from the total mass, scattered into small particles.
But there are no marks on her throat, and there are no particles of skin under her nails, as if she suddenly began to choke. This means that either death was slow, or, on the contrary, too fast.
Kozet took a long thin stick, like a dessert spoon, and scooped up some liquid. He poured it onto the glass, and only now, under the bright light, was he able to notice the particles of pollen. It wasn't liquid. It was soggy black pollen. This is bad. Very bad.
He hastily checked the protection and only then was able to exhale - not the slightest damage. He got lucky. Very.
But what is this body doing to him? Perhaps Keriz doesn't know about her? Using several circuits, he cleaned his hands several times and only then took out the screen, but then froze. Keriz said that this was not something the Council should know about. So, just in case, he shouldn’t use the screen right now. He'll have to find him personally.
Kozet cleaned his clothes with a contour and applied another protection, but not on himself, but on top of the first shield, so that if it suddenly did not clear, it would not spread the virus throughout the house. And he was just about to go, search for his father, when the door suddenly swung open and Keriz flew inside.
He instantly assessed the situation, erected several shields and motioned for his son to remain in place.
Approaching the corpse, he froze for a moment. He grinned. He lifted the body into the air and erected a capsule around it for transportation. He pulled out the cleansing blanks and completed them, applying the first to the entire room, and the second to Kozet.
“You can remove the protection,” he calmly allowed. “I see you already realized that you have encountered black pollen. My mistake - I had time to identify it, but I was busy with other things and didn’t even go downstairs in recent days. Everything is fine?”
“I hope so,” Kozet answered nervously. “Do you know her?”
“Yes. We... We once crossed paths at work,” he fell silent. “Should I send you another body, or do you have one for now?”
“I have some,” Kozet nodded towards the storage room. “Only places are running out. When are you going to burn it?”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“On the weekend. Should you pick them up or send them yourself?”
“Myself.”
“Okay,” Keriz nodded, approaching the storage facility and levitating the capsule inside. Closing the door, he sent the body to himself. “Do you still have a month before the start?”
“Month. Did you want something?”
Keriz wanted to say something, but he either doubted or felt guilty and couldn’t. Again. He sighed. Keriz seemed to be burdened by his presence. Kozet remembered well the relief on his father's face when he finally went to the Academy for the first time.
Keriz was tired of everyone, but unlike the others, Kozet was the only one whose presence he somehow had to endure. He did not give his father any problems, quickly learned new things, carefully watched his work, and subsequently began helping to examine the bodies and establish the cause of death. At some point, Keriz gave him his own laboratory and finally went to his wing, leaving almost half of the house to the fourteen-year-old boy.
At times, Keriz seemed to enjoy his company with Kozet. Sometimes. Most of the time he seemed to be tired of everything. He should have rested a little, but he only threw himself into work more.
He may have been different once, but all of Kozet's memories began from the moment when Willa had been gone for two years. He was ten years old then.
Kozet did not remember what caused such severe amnesia. I couldn't remember. But Keriz didn’t want to tell.
“Should I leave?” Kozet asked tiredly. “I'm bothering you?”
Keriz looked away and shrugged, as if apologetically.
“Ok. I will return to the Academy tomorrow morning.”
Keriz nodded gratefully and left, leaving his son alone.
Kozet distantly called his watch and looked at the time. Perhaps Everdin can help with material to work with? No, he will find something to do at the Academy, and let the corpses remain here for now.
Kozet spent the entire evening in the library, the evening and most of the night. The library was always replenished with new books; this was my father’s main and, probably, only hobby. He rarely left the house, but it was for new rare books that he left most often.
Sometimes, the next day, Kozet would find one thin book, sometimes a whole row of impressive diaries. Removable media took up much less space, and Kozet did not always notice that Keriz had brought something new several weeks ago.
But there was more to it than that - the library itself was quite large, and Kozet, although he could spend all his time here, still did not study everything. There were still a lot of information media that had been postponed, left for later, and did not hold his attention then.
However, despite the sleepless night, early in the morning he was already dressed. Keriz would have grinned, saying that the same black helmet was missing. But he wasn't here.
Rising into the portal hall, Kozet activated the platform and disappeared in a white glow.
Everdin's apartment greeted him with Everdin falling off the sofa. He was watching something with glasses connected to the screen. The head of the medical faculty laughed chokedly as he blindly tried to climb back onto the sofa. Kozet left the circuit and approached his curator.
“Everdin?” he called him. He sat up abruptly, turning in his direction, hastily waving his hands in front of his face. Looks like he paused some video.
“Everdin?” Kozet repeated. The curator finally took off his glasses and looked at his student in surprise.
“Kozet? What are you doing here?”
“Plans have changed,” Kozet shrugged melancholy. “And you are here?..”
“Having fun,” he put his glasses on the table next to the screen. “Would you like some coffee?”
“I won’t refuse,” Kozet smiled, sitting down in the chair opposite.
“What are you planning to do then?” Everdin asked, levitating cups towards himself, simultaneously brewing and pouring coffee.
“I don’t know yet,” the cup smoothly fell into Kozet’s hands. “Perhaps I’ll find something to read in the library.” If Kharin has already returned, perhaps we’ll start thinking about the competition entry.
“So you decided to try?”
“Yes. There were no serious difficulties with the model; last year we also did a joint project - we have experience working together. In the end, even if it doesn’t work out, it will count towards our final work, won’t it?”
“If you do it well, then yes. Will. Already have ideas?”
“Not yet. We were going to discuss it after the holidays. But perhaps he has already come up with something.”
“Are you looking forward to new ideas?” Everdin nodded understandingly. ”By the way, in the Mevinsky district, the construction of a new residential complex with upper bridges was recently completed.”
“Yes?” Kozet was not surprised by the completion. He was surprised a year ago when he accidentally discovered that work there was not only going on for almost a year longer than usual, but it was not even planned to be completed. - How long did they do all this there, four years?
“Three and four months.”
“Something special?”
“New construction technologies.”
“This explains the increased interest of the City Administration in the construction,” Kozet nodded. Passing by, he could often notice employees from the Department nearby: in large open windows, on roofs, on an alley that runs right along the border of Mevinsky with a couple of neighboring districts. Always in shape, but they didn’t do anything. How, however, everything turned out to be simple.
“I flew there yesterday,” Everdin explained and suddenly smiled sadly. “Still, things are shaping up interestingly – it seems like the school year hasn’t even started yet, but there’s only more work.”
“You are, after all, one of the representatives of the faction,” Kozet smiled sympathetically, and then asked with interest. “Is this even worth it?”
Everdin laughed quietly.
“Yes. Even though it takes up a lot of time, it is worth it.”
He said this with the same intonation with which Keriz spoke about his research.
They talked for some more time. Mostly it was the latest news from the world of medicine and science. Everdin briefly complained about how busy he was with family affairs this year, but it didn't go beyond a light mention. All Kozet knew about his family was that, theoretically, he had once been married. The topic was never touched upon or developed. Round trip.
When Kozet was about to leave, Everdin, putting his glasses back on at the same time, as usual, only waved his hand at him to close the door behind him.
Once down in the teleportation room, Kozet left the tower and went to his apartment.
When he entered the building of his faculty and there was only one floor left to the library, Kharin flew out from around the corner towards him. Kozet dodged, and his friend, flying forward a couple of meters, frantically waving his arms, trying to slow down his fall with a contour, still could not resist and stretched out on the floor.
A short gesture, and the abrasions on the chin and palms smoothly healed. Kharin stood up, clearing his clothes with the next gesture, and turned around to check if he had knocked anyone down.
“Hello,” he noticed Kozet. He watched him mockingly. “Already back?”
“Yes.”
Kharin smiled, walked up and hugged Kozet tightly.
“Glad to see you.”
“Everdin asked what we plan to present at the competition.”
“There’s still time,” Kharin pulled away. “Let's discuss ideas at the end of the week. You just returned, and Helen hasn’t seen you either. But I have something.”
“Where is she, by the way?”
“But I have no idea,” Kharin suddenly threw up his hands. “Yesterday she was still here – we had dinner together. But today, no longer,” he thoughtfully took out the screen. He chuckled. “I haven’t written anything yet. Maybe some things have come up.”
“Got it. Then it doesn't matter yet. Then what is your “something”?”
Kharin took out sheets of paper fastened with a temporary outline, waved them in front of his friend, put them back and handed him a file with the same contents.
“This is a rough description of how the network works for now. I made approximate cost calculations and calculated the efficiency.”
Kozet quickly leafed through the document and after a few minutes replied:
“So far, I see a replica at the exit,” he waited for the continuation.
“Yes, that’s what I took as a basis,” Kharin confirmed. “We will just need to modify it a little to pass the plagiarism check.”
“Don't want to do much again?” Kozet grinned.
“But of course,” Kharin agreed without hiding.
“Will not work. This topic is already taken.”
“Then how about taking our last year’s model as a basis, quickly modifying it for a specific substance and starting to study its effect on the body?” suddenly it dawned on Kharin. He wasn't very upset. Apparently, I expected that I was not the only one who found such a simple topic. He quickly took out the screen and enthusiastically quickly opened last year's presentation to his friend.
“An option,” Kozet agreed, after thinking. “We will need to look at new articles and, based on this, choose our substance.”
“Here! And also we have a gifted one,” he smiled broadly and pointed at himself with his thumb. “Moreover, he is a seer. And not-gifted,” now two index fingers pointed at Kozet. “Here goes our objective information. After all, it wasn’t for nothing that we spent the whole last year fucking with this fucking Swig[1] model!”
“I believed that our efforts were not in vain,” Kozet exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm.
“You just don’t want to admit that we could have chosen something simpler and not spent so much time on it.”
“Perhaps,” Kozet agreed without a drop of embarrassment. - But it was fun?
“Funny?” Kharin asked in mock surprise. “No-no!” he grabbed his face. “I didn’t have fun when I had to miss that party! I was sad! Okay, though,” he instantly calmed down, crossing his arms. “Yeah, you're right, it was interesting.”
“You know that we can screw it up, right?” Kozet clarified.
“Of course,” Kharin nodded frivolously. “But if we do everything right – whether we screw up or not – it won’t matter. We will have all the necessary calculations and the simple conclusion will be the temporary impossibility of creating our thing. Like, they screwed up, but that’s how it was intended.”
“Well. Then it's decided. I discuss it with Everdin and go approve the topic.”
Everdin just grinned at Kozet's statement but said nothing. Ulyana also approved of the topic, although Kharin mentioned a similar reaction - she also had fun. Kozet was not surprised by this reaction. He himself understood perfectly well that it was unlikely that they would be able to go further than corporations had been able to do in several decades. But the experience promised to be interesting.
Before the start of the elective, the guys approached the curator of their group.
“Professor Relvel, Kozet and I decided to take part in the IYM[2].”
“Everdin asked me to warn you,” Kozet explained. “We will conduct research on artificial blood using a customized Swig model.”
A slight smile appeared on the teacher’s lips. Relvel raised her head from her papers and nodded curtly.
“Fine. Then I will expect brief reports from you every month. If any difficulties arise, come and I will send you to someone who can help.”
The guys thanked her and went up the nearest stairs near the wall. On the first row, right in front of the professor, sat two of their class. The second, third and fifth, also the last, were already almost completely filled not only with doctors, but also with guys from other faculties.
The fourth, where Kharin decided to land, dragging Kozet with him, was half empty: as Kharin explained, about a week ago part of the temperature control system in this hall broke down. Since there is still a lot of time before the start of the school year, there was no hurry to repair it. Therefore, the row where the breakdown occurred remained noticeably overheated.
But this did not bother either Kozet or Kharin at all. As, apparently, did several other guys from this row.
Kozet glanced around the room and, making sure that Helen had indeed not arrived, took a place between Kharin and several empty tables.
“Will you come to see me in the evening?” Kharin asked, repeating Relvel’s outline. Almost half of the class had already passed, and the professor decided that it was worth moving on to practice. “I recently received new tapes, but I haven’t sorted anything out yet, and I wanted to ask you to help me.”
“Are you sure you only ordered tapes?” Kozet asked incredulously.
“Okay,” the friend didn’t try to make excuses,“ not only that. ”If only they wouldn’t have asked. There are a lot of things there that...” Kharin clearly didn’t know how to say it. “In general, I need them.”
“For what?..”
“Helen turns twenty this year. I want to start a party. I already talked about this with Ulyana - she gave the go-ahead, and Charlie also agreed to help us. I'll show you everything in the evening.” he assured.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kozet saw the door silently open. A girl wearing a blue sweatshirt entered the audience. Monica - that was her name... friends? Last year, wearing sparkling skates, she flew off someone’s balcony on the fifth floor. And four minutes later one of the doctors from the medical unit was next to her. Not a rare incident, however.
Kozet remembered her, however, not for this reason - her eyes seemed to be illuminated from within with a cold red light. The Head of the Faculty of spacers also had red eyes, but if that one had albinism, then this girl clearly had a different reason. It looked like one of the examples of the effect of the Gift on the body - Kozet had read about it in the Keriz library a couple of years ago. It was someone's reference diary with notes about the Gift's research.
“Professor Relvel, I’m sorry for distracting you,” the girl began quietly, drawing attention to herself. “Ulyana sent me. She needs Harin Avriel.”
“Kharin can be free,” Relvel said without interrupting the circuit.
Kharin looked at his friend in surprise, shrugged his shoulders, put the screen in the pocket of his tight trousers and went downstairs.
Monica said something quietly to him. Kharin took out the screen again and as he walked, already leaving the audience after her, he began to quickly type something. A notification about the message appeared on Kozet’s screen - Ulyana had the opportunity to show him something new. Well, his friend will probably be free by evening.
After a couple of days, Kozet was free again. And one. You could go up to your room and read the latest articles about Swig over a cup of coffee. Yesterday a new issue of the monthly magazine of the Medical Association was released.
However, having risen to the fourth floor, Kozet noticed a young man in a dark gray cloak standing at the window. He irritably crumpled the clue card for freshmen in his hands. The schedule for the first days was written on such cards, indicating the classrooms and the address of personal apartments.
Kozet was usually not known for altruism and was not eager to communicate with newcomers. But something about it grabbed him. And Kharin was now with his mentor, and Helen was missing in the city again. Besides, the school year hasn't started yet. In general, why not?
“Lost something?” he approached the guy. He turned around and tried to smile. It turned out wrong for him. He himself seemed to have already realized this, and now he looked as if he was trying very hard to control himself.
“My own apartments. By the way, could you help me? Number 4.156.S. ”
“S?” Kozet clarified.
“Yes, S. Is something wrong?” the freshman squeezed the card harder.
“This is building M.”
“Can you show me where S is?”
Kozet hesitated. He came up himself. Nobody asked for it. And something about this guy grabbed his attention. But he just couldn’t understand – what?
“Fine. Let’s go,” he smiled weakly at him.
exhaled barely noticeably .
“My name is Kozet,” he decided to introduce himself. “Faculty of Medicine, in whose building you were just located. Sixth year.”
“Are you graduating?” the guy clarified before introducing himself, “Jimi.” Spacer.
Kozet nodded silently.
They went down to the first floor and were now walking along the corridor that surrounded all the buildings. Now the park was on the right side. The freshman looked at the tower either in admiration or simply in surprise.
In awkward silence, having passed two buildings, they stopped at the same staircase.
“The Spacer Corps,” said Kozet, stopping. “Then you go up to the fourth floor and look for your room.”
“Thank you,” Jimi said with undisguised relief, looking around the garden with interest. He then took out the card and began to walk up the stairs.
This Jimi left behind a strange aftertaste, the reason for which Kozet could not understand. As if he was missing something. Something in his behavior was familiar to Kozet, but he just couldn’t understand what.
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[1]Swig - slang. SWIoG - Substances with an Impact on the Gifted; SWIoG group
[2]Annual competition “Inventions of Young Medics”. Young people – graduates, students, those undergoing residency. After completion of internship/residency, access to these competitions is closed.