Крип / Kryp: Эпилог

Epilogue

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:17

"Hello, hello, my friend!"

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:17

Inquisitor Ordo Malleus, named Lazar Carnot Wimpfen, was sitting in a chair amidst mountains of equipment and racks of records, looking like a junkman. And he was smiling, looking at Kryptman through his glasses. The Inquisitor was cordial, affable, and polite beyond belief. And very strange.

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:18

Outwardly, the demon hunter looked like an acolyte who sat in the master's chair as a joke. Older, rather untidy, like a man so busy that he might be glad to look after himself, but was deprived of such an opportunity. Vast baldness crept up to the top of his head and ran to the back of his head, leaving jagged strands of gray hair above his ears. His beard and mustache seemed to have been more or less trimmed, but ineptly and long ago. His eyes, half concealed by swollen eyelids, were hidden behind spectacles, and, as far as Kryptman could tell, they were real, with impressive diopters.

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:19

On his skinny body hung a technical overall as old as the owner's, long and painstakingly modernized for the owner's needs. Some details, boxes, and pouches were glued to the dense grey-brown fabric, and connectors and plugs protruded in different directions. A transparent tube of drip was peeking out from under the neck hoop, sticking the trunk of a needle with a piece of plaster into the cervical artery. Above the Inquisitor's ears were twisted vox headset wires, not just cut, but torn, as if they had been chewed.

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:21

"I pay my respects and..."

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:21

"And everything else, too," Lazar waved his palm carelessly. The fingers on the glove were unevenly cropped. "Throw the folder... well, somewhere, see for yourself where it won't fall. When I'm in the mood, I'll read it. Sit down."

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:22

Fidus could barely keep from shrugging his shoulders and complied with the instruction. Finding a place to sit proved difficult, and in the end, the young inquisitor vacated one of the chairs, placing directly on the riveted floor a bundle of very old papers, yellow and brittle with time. The chair, like everything else here, including the master of the room, gave the impression of being hastily made, strictly for a specific task - simple, rough, functional, with no attention to appearance, much less any harmony.

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:28

"Well," Lazar rubbed his palms together, rustling the rough cloth. "Well, this is it. By the way, I knew your father."

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:29

"A lot of people knew my father," Fidus pursed his lips.

Camrad_RIP 29.12.21 в 20:31

"A spiky little fellow," Wimpfen smiled with thin lips, and the chewed wires bobbed on the sides of his head in time with the movement. "Spiky. I like that."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:41

Kryptman, ready to make a vigorous speech about how tired he was of comparisons of a talentless descendant to his great father, closed his mouth and looked at the old sage in surprise.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:42

"Let's get this straight," Lazar said, businesslike. "I've been assigned to investigate what happened in Beacon, as an outside observer who's not attached to anything and is looking at everything with a new eye. Probably won't find anything, but it may be the other way around. You were accordingly urged to work with me, and you thought it prudent to agree. This shows that your steady reputation as a feeble-minded epigone is, at least in the first instance, wrong."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:43

Fidus pressed his lips together and stared at the Inquisitor's shiny top under the lamp.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:43

"You think of me as a penance," Lazar continued as if nothing had happened." A way of rewarding you, and getting you out of the Ordo Hereticus at the same time. To avoid..." Wimpfen indefinitely twiddled his thumbs in the void. "This and that. Right?"

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:45

Fidus nodded silently. From behind a stack of papers as high as Kryptman's chest came a wonderful beast, shifting on short legs. It looked like a cat, but it was about a meter long, with very long ears and a "beard" tied in a neat pigtail. Its long fur, once orange, now shimmered in every shade of dull brown, camouflaging the beast perfectly against the cabinet. The beast lost its whiskers, and a long, curved fang protruded from one side of its mouth. It looked as if the cat was one-eyed, too, for symmetry, and a blue ball glowed in the reflected light on the side of its face where the fang was missing.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:46

The animal looked at Fidus, and the young inquisitor flinched slightly. Kryptman had heard of jirinks, but this was the first time he had seen one. Kryptman knew that Eldar cats were not intelligent, but... the look in the bright blue eye with the triangular pupil seemed very strange. Not animal-like, attentive, or evaluative.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:49

"Ah, there you are, Horus," Lazar was clearly delighted. "Come here, you bastard."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:50

Kryptman merely shook his head, refraining from commenting. Jirinx staggered to the chair and climbed onto Lazar's lap, clawing at him with his hooked claws. The animal moved with difficulty, overcoming either pain or old flesh, but it did so with extreme determination.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:51

"Yes," the old inquisitor replied cheerfully to the unspoken question. "Surprisingly wicked creature, so I named him to match his character."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:52

Horus finally climbed onto his host's lap, looking at his guest with a look that made Fidus feel like the most insignificant and despised creature in the galaxy. Jirinx yawned, showing a set of long but thinned teeth by at least a third, and fidgeted to make himself comfortable. Curled up, the Eldar "psy-cat" was surprisingly compact and easy to stroke. Lazar did not fail to start stroking and scratching the insolent beast behind the ears.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:53

"I'm used to him," the inquisitor smiled. "He's a vile beast, but we've seen so much together... Be warned, he pisses in the boots of those he doesn't like. And Horus dislikes everyone, so be careful what you wear."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:55

"Where did he come from?" Fidus asked, feeling as silly as an adult at the morning recitation of prayers by schoolchildren "for the glory of the good Grandfather Emperor.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:56

"A gift from an Eldar witch," Wimpfen explained. "We had an affair that turned into a joint investigation. Or vice versa... it's hard to say, it was... complicated. It's always like that with the Eldar, an amazing race, they turn the simplest things into a ritual of unthinkable intricacy. I was young and... shall we say... careless. However, I must say, it turned out well. In every sense. You have to admit, not everyone can say that he slapped Horus in the face."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:58

"Ah..." Fidus noded.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 07:58

"But we were distracted," said Wimpfen, businesslike, as he continued stroking the shoe defiler. "What were we talking about?"

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:02

"The penance," said Fidus. "Which I was subjected to."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:02

"Yeah, that's right."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:03

Lazar grinned, and for a moment Kryptman felt uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable. He remembered at once that the funny and slovenly grandfather sitting across from him did not have any high-profile cases, saving entire sectors, battles with the champions of Chaos, and other great deeds in his biography. But Wimpfen is one of the first, if not the first, in his Ordo in terms of rank-and-file, unremarkable, and accomplished investigations. A man-combatant, nicknamed "The Emperor's Grinder" for his single-mindedness and unwavering output in any condition.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:04

"So," Wimpfen continued as if nothing had happened. "In fact, you pulled out a lucky ticket to a happy future."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:06

"Yeah?"

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:06

"Yeah. You just haven't realized it yet because you're young and stupid."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:07

Kryptman was silent again. Lazarus scratched the exorbitantly long ear of the girinx and continued with sudden seriousness:

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:07

"Let's just say that your transfer to our Ordo was really an exile. A compromise, to be exact. That's a fact. But, fortunately, I've come to your attention. A boon, you might say."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:09

"Thank you," Fidus lifted his chin. "I'm ready to get down on my knees and lap the heel of my benefactor."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:10

"Good intention," the old man nodded graciously. "But we're not on Seferis Secundus, so we don't have to do this nonsense. So, my friend, I've read your case carefully. Again, I knew your father. And I wondered why his descendant was so far from success."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:10

Fidus clenched his jaws and remained silent.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:10

"Don't grit your teeth," Wimpfen advised. "I'm not trying to insult you. Now we're talking strictly business and very substantive."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:11

The old man moved, shifting his position. Horus opened his eyes in displeasure and silently dug his claws into his master's thigh, showing his displeasure.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:20

"I told you, mean creature," Wimpfen said, tugging at the cat's ear. "I'll make a rug out of it someday. Or scarecrow, I haven't decided yet. Yeah... so there you go. Kryptman Sr. was a very nasty man. They used to call this sort of man various words like "asshole" and other unflattering things. But he was effective. Extremely effective. Yes, you can argue about methods and collateral damage, but your ancestor achieved his goals, and they were so meaningful that even the stacks of corpses that Fidus piled up in the process looked like a very moderate price to pay. And in tandem with the morally deprived Schmettau, Kryptman was invincible. What's wrong with you...?"

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:22

Fidus Junior thought the question was rhetorical, not requiring an answer, and it turned out to be.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:23

"It's all on the surface," Wimpfen said thoughtfully. "On the surface... You're not a bad inquisitor, my young friend. Not bad, indeed."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:23

"Many people would disagree with you," Kryptman said with unexpected bitterness.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:24

"Fuck them," the old man brushed them off with glorious indifference. "A good investigator has to look at the root of things, to see the essence of things. I am a good investigator because I always look further and deeper."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:25

Fidus again felt a chill slide down his spine. Under the unblinking gaze behind the thick glasses, it became uncomfortable and unsettling, like an insect in a test tube.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:25

"And I see your point," Wimpfen continued. "Nepotism is not as bad as most people think. It has some good points. But it also has disadvantages. Kinship can bring the wrong man to the right place. Or bring the right person, but... too soon."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:27

"Too soon?"

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:27

"Yes. You have all the gifts and capabilities to be a great protector of the House He built."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:27

Lazar blessed himself with an aquila, and Kryptman repeated his movement like a shadow.

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:28

"But you became an inquisitor too soon. Too soon you were hidden by your father's glorious shadow. You are now like an imago, just waiting to spread your wide wings and soar toward the sun."

Camrad_RIP 30.12.21 в 08:31