Готовый перевод Хроники Аскета: Вторжение / The Ascet Chronicles: Invasion: Глава 6

Chapter 6

At eight o'clock in the morning, our three groups stood at the entrance to the Nest. Our group will go first; inside the Nest, we will always choose the rightmost passage, our task is to delineate the boundaries of the first tier. Two teams, Executor and Wicked, will climb into the labyrinth and cover for each other at all times.

I checked my gear one last time. The uniform consisted of a lightweight material unknown to me, capable of withstanding acid, it fits tightly with thick-soled boots and gloves, and a gas mask concealed my face beneath the helmet. The research section developed special gear after fighters began dying from corrosive spits or poisonous gases. The group was armed with machine guns with some kind of special bullets, one flamethrower, pistols, and, for the three of us, short swords. There were at least four grenades on each belt. I'm not sure all that would be enough to survive...

"Ascet!" The Student's voice distracted me from my gloomy thoughts, and I was only now surprised to notice the cold sweat crawling down my back. "Make the signs."

I nodded in response.

"Come closer to me. Try not to move too far away - the longer the distance, the harder it is to keep up the sign."

The Dust Helmet was considered more difficult to do, so I started with it. I was able to create the matrix fairly easily, and then attach it to Student and Hawk, but it was more difficult to tie the mark to the auras of the new fighters I was unfamiliar with. Eventually, the connection was secured, and I activated the sign.

"What the hell?!" The older of the soldiers, Slava, said, "It's like they put a sack over my head."

"At least you won't attack us now." Hawk alluded to instances where outsiders had subjugated fighters and force them to attack their comrades.

I thought it necessary to clarify:

"Not really. The sign can be broken through, it's just hard to do. In any case, I will sense someone else's attack beforehand."

Putting on the Air Wall was much easier, and within a minute Hawk was inside the Nest. I staggered a little at the entrance, hesitant to take the first step, but the trembling of the signs made me sway forward. For a brief moment, as the thin invisible film passed through my body, terror gripped me, and my legs gave out. A gentle nudge from Student chased away the sticky feeling of fear. I nodded appreciatively.

Strangely enough, when I entered the tunnel, I felt better. I didn't feel as disgusted as I had the last time, and that was a good thing. Maybe the Dust Helmet had helped, maybe I knew what to expect this time, and I was not alone. Anyway, the tension was gone.

"Ascet, condition?"

"The signs are working, but the Hawk has gone too far, the Wall can't cover it. The shell is seventy-seven." The Dust Helmet took ten units of potential, the Wall seven. I originally had ninety-two, but the shell had grown over the past five months or so as a result of my training. I was also able to use less energy to create signs.

"Hawk, come back."

The narrow passage began to widen: now we can walk two in a row without ducking. Ahead of them are Hawk and Ruslan, a fighter with a flamethrower.

Suddenly Hawk stops:

"Stranger, ten meters, 12 o'clock."

Ruslan stared ahead, though he knew it was useless - the visibility in the Nest was no more than three or four meters. I sensed someone approaching me, but I couldn't say anything specific: the signs made it hard to concentrate. Suddenly there was a strange sound, and the Wall shuddered from the lump of slime that had hit it. Hawk dropped to one knee in a swift, fluid motion and began firing his machine gun. The stranger's presence immediately weakened. Student commanded us to move forward - we walk, carefully avoiding the steaming puddle. After a few paces, we bump into the tattered corpse of the alien - a small ball twenty centimeters in diameter with a narrow tube sticking out from the front. Ruslan used a thin stream of fire to set the creature on fire.

The ceiling of the tunnel suddenly moved back, the walls widened, and now we were walking down a corridor eight meters wide and six meters high. At least, that's what my senses told me.

Suddenly the Student ordered us to stop:

"Hawk, spot on the wall, 2 o'clock two meters ahead."

Hawk took a long look at the faintly visible light bulge - it hardly stood out against the dark red background.

"Nothing. It's clean."

"Ascet?"

"Nothing. I'm holding signs." Hawk has always been more sensitive than me, and now that I'm concentrating on the signs, even more so.

The student nodded. He stood for a moment longer, scanning the stain, then raised his machine gun and fired a long burst. The stain twitched, a sense of an alien presence emerged in place of the previously smooth background, then the alien who had peeled away from the wall tried to jump at us. He didn't make it: Ruslan shot him down with a flamethrower.

Hawk scolded:

"Fuck! He hid! You saw him hide!"

"Take it easy." Student's calm voice soothed Hawk slightly. "We've known before that some creatures can hide their presence, and that's why Ascet is holding up the Wall. Enough of this nonsense, let's move on."

I noticed the next creature. To be more precise, I didn't so much notice it as feel its presence when something began to press against the Dust Helmet.

"Stop. Alien."

"Where?" The whole team began to turn their heads. Even Student and Hawk, though why would they?

"I'm trying to feel it."

Where, where is the source? The creature's aura was undetectable, so it was either too far away or well hidden. I had to slip my consciousness into the mental space.

Scientists have assigned this sonorous term to a strange state of mind in which the human spirit supposedly found itself in a certain space in which there was no place for a substance. However, some researchers have argued that this place really exists, and is not an artificially created projection by our subconscious mind. Being in the mental, one can easily notice any manifestations of spiritual activity. The reflections of human emotions, some cult objects, active signs - here it was also possible to communicate with the echoes of the souls of the dead, who for some reason had not dispersed with the death of the body, but had fixed themselves near their graves or favorite things. According to the rumors that came to me, scientists call the discovery of the mental "a link between knowledge of philosophy and religion".

The consciousness of the alien shone brightly: it was clearly visible - but what to do next? The notions of sides of the world are abstract here, and I wouldn't be able to explain to the others where the alien was. In the meantime, it seemed to notice my presence and threw a glowing tentacle in my direction - to check for intruders. I reacted more instinctively than consciously. I gathered my fear of aliens, my hatred, my pain, exposing all that was dark in me, and made it my weapon. Emotion is power: no need to waste it. More, stronger!

And then I threw the resulting sloppy lump at the stranger.

When I returned to the normal level of perception, the first thing I asked was:

"Did you get it?" I didn't want to go back into the mental space - my head hurt a lot. It was good that the pressure on the sign was gone.

"There was some spike in the side aisle - we'll check it out now."

In the middle of the passage lay a stranger. There was no sign of damage to its body, but it was certainly dying: its aura was fading right in front of our eyes. When Hawk put a couple of bullets in him, the body didn't even twitch.

"How did you kill him?"

"Burned out the brains. I didn't expect it to work - I just wanted to dismantle the protection."

We had no trouble wiping out the four strangers before we came upon the second-level jumper. This creature, with its powerful hind legs, could travel dozens of meters in a single leap, its narrow head with its bony growths piercing through the human body. We were saved by two things: the Air Wall, which I'd been holding on to the whole time, and Student's reaction. The first jump breached the Wall, and the creature ignored the machine-gun fire and was preparing to jump a second time when Student weaved a fireball at lightning speed and put it in the jumper's face.

After the jumper, the group walked another fifty paces before we noticed the marks people had left on the walls of the corridor. So, since we had walked about three and a half kilometers, it turned out that the tier was a little over a kilometer in diameter. Actually, it's strange: the area of the tiers increased with depth - the lower the tier, the larger the area. A kilometer in a straight line is too much for a two-tiered Nest, rather it is characteristic of three tiers. Apparently, the scientists got it right: the Nest is really going to expand. If it hasn't already expanded.

It's impossible to describe what a relief it is to come to the surface. The normal air is intoxicating, my eyes rest on the soft green tones, I just want to sit on the ground and enjoy the peace. The wild tension is released, my eyes slip on their own...

"Ascet," I turned my head to Student, "you have blood all over your face."

I ran my hand over my face, and it was indeed blood. It was probably the backlash from a broken Wall, as it often happened at the beginning of training.

"Where are the rest?"

"They haven't come out yet. It's harder for them: they're looking for a passageway."

"I'm going to go clean up - if they come out, call me."

"Ok."

On my way to the brook, I met Chizhov. His face was anxious but pleased. He should be: the first group had returned without casualties.

The second group emerged from the darkness about ten minutes later and brought the good news: everyone is alive. Beerbrewer's leg had been torn by a boneeaterBut despite the wound, everyone was glowing with joy. Working together, the others not only found the passage to the second level, but also destroyed the guards that guarded it - the two creatures of the third level. The aliens' passageways were always protected by strong fighters. One of the creatures got the Beerbrewer. Now the Executor's group remained at the passageway to shoot the creatures crawling from below. We rested enough to begin clearing the level. We now had a rough map.

Beerbrewer's injury made a change: I was paired with Wicked. Student's group went to replace the Executor party. While my new group was resting, I managed to get an extra hour of sleep. After the Executor's return, we went down again to clear the tunnels. Everyone was terribly tired, but they all knew they had to wipe out all the creatures on the tier as quickly as possible so the researchers could gut the Nest in peace. There was none of the romance often described in action movies: just dull, tedious, deadly dangerous work that had to be done. We had to do it, because in the past, without the use of psions, casualties among fighters were as high as twenty percent. And the first tier is considered the easiest - there aren't even any officers here...

At ten o'clock we cleared the tier, set up a strong guard post by the passageway, and then the Research Division people rushed down like ants. We weren't interested in much by then. We went through the tunnels twice; if there were any aliens left, the guards could do without us. All we wanted at that moment was to get to the tents, where hot food and a bed awaited us. Nothing else mattered.

The next day we rested. I slept until one o'clock in the afternoon, then lay there doing nothing, listening to the birds sing. Usually, the animals leave the area around the Nest, but the birds, apparently, thought they were safe around people. The rest were occupied with whatever else they could do: some just ate and slept, some went to the river, played soccer. Toward evening, limping slightly, Beerbrewer came in - his leg was almost completely healed.

"You had meat all over your body yesterday, so who fixed you up?"

"You're not going to believe this: your buddy Daniel. They dragged me to the nurse's station - he was there at the time. The medics wanted to stitch me up - thread and needles, and he said to me, "Let me fix you with my methods, it'll come out quicker. Of course, I will! He poked me in the neck with his finger, I fell asleep and woke up in the morning with a leg like that. What Daniel was doing, I don't know. I would have come sooner, but the doctors wouldn't let me go, they couldn't believe it. They felt my leg and almost studied it under a microscope."

It seems that Daniel wasn't bragging when he talked about his successes. We should talk more about treatment techniquesю I think if I mastered them, I could treat the wounded right in the Nest. I decided to talk now. There was no news from Chizhov, there was nothing to do, so I went to the camp of scientists.

"Hey," Daniel greeted me. "Look, how can you spend hours wandering around the Nest? My head started buzzing from the first minute. It still hurts."

"A matter of habit. Learn the Dust Helmet - it reduces the impact on the psyche. Aren't you busy?"

"No, I looked all over the Nest, there's nothing of interest to our department. I got some crystals, but we have them. I'm sitting here now, sorting them out. When are you going to the second one, tomorrow?"

"We don't know yet: the supervisor has to tell me this evening." I moved on to the question I was interested in. "Beerbrewer said you cured him?"

"Yeah, I fixed it up a little. But he can't strain his leg for a week anyway - his muscles are weak. So you'll probably go to the second tier without him."

"That's what I thought. In fact, I came to ask you how you treated him. If possible, I'd like to learn the basics myself. That kind of knowledge wouldn't be unnecessary down there."

Daniel looked flattered. As a man in love with his work, he could talk about it for hours - his good talent as a storyteller allowed him to explain complex things in simple terms. Then again, the guy was young and not spoiled for attention. Fortunately, we both had a similar set of skills, and Daniel often just led by example, without wasting too much time explaining. After this impromptu lecture, I believed in the great future of "non-classical medicine," as Daniel called it. In addition to directly healing the human body, the technique is shown indirectly allowed me to develop various useful abilities. Daniel - or rather, his older colleagues - had found a way to control the flow of inner energy, "chi" as they called it, and with its help enhanced the regenerative abilities of cells. Hence the direct road to full control of the human body's metabolism, which for us fighters meant immunity to poisons, strengthening of muscles and ligaments, and rapid self-healing of wounds. An extension of the human life span.

"Imagine, with time it will be possible to change one's appearance, cure any disease, even hereditary, poisons and viruses will cease to have any effect." Daniel gesticulated excitedly, constantly throwing back his long hair. "Of course, there is a huge difference between working with your own body and someone else's - different energy, after all - but you saw, I can do it!"

I could have listened for a long time if the call from Wicked hadn't made me get up. After agreeing to keep in touch with each other, the boy and I parted.

When I returned to the tent, I found the whole group ready to go. The guys looked refreshed: a short rest allowed them to relieve the tension, and now the group was ready to storm the Nest again. Almost immediately after me, Chizhov entered the tent.

"I have some news for you - good or not, you decide." He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "First of all, the command is pleased with the results cleanup of the first tier. Quite naturally, not a single casualty and only two wounded. They've already decided to create several groups, like yours. It will include mages, that is, psions, with a shell filling of at least sixty units. I think fifteen people will come, perhaps more."

"Second, tomorrow the cleanup of the second tier will begin. The scientists are begging us to clean it to the same condition as the first, i.e. to remove all the creatures and let them conduct all the necessary tests, experiments, or whatever else they need in peace. That's why we can't storm the queen's cell right away, we'll have to set up a blockade. Thank yourself for this decision: today's actions made too good an impression."

"The third news: tomorrow you go without Ivanchenko. Doctors are not sure of his final recovery, so you will go as follows: the first group - Semenov (Student), Borzov (Hawk). The second group - Salakhutdinov (Executor), Hegg (Whip). The third group - Konjushenyj (Wicked) and Korobov (Ascet). You go separately, try not to run into the camera guards - they will be the third level at least. The first group enters at eight o'clock, an hour to examine - then returns, the second at eight-thirty, also one hour spent on the tier - returns, the third waits for the first and only then goes inside. Two groups work, one rests. Be more attentive, help each other if you can. Questions?"

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