Система Доставки / Unique Delivery System: Глава 14

Chapter 14

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 16:07

The system knows how to persuade.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:04

It just turned off the display of the return path. The tab became inactive as if hinting at the consequences of failure. Out of sheer stubbornness, I tried to poke somewhere, yelled "abort!" in different voices, and generally behaved indecently. Then I sat down on a fallen tree and wondered.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:21

No, on the one hand, I don't have to go anywhere. I'll stay here, settle in, get naturalized. I already have a status, and I'll go around the local towns and sell small things. And in three days, on the fourth, in strict accordance with the contract, I will be disconnected from the system, I was warned. Although I have a head and it even works, I will not disappear. But anyway...

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:23

I got up, sighed, and glanced at the description of the quest. I was supposed to walk through some strange places, and the recommendation was to button my cape and raise my hood. So I did. And I poked resolutely at the screen.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:23

+Warranty is connected.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:24

It didn't get any calmer, and I didn't feel any difference. Maybe, though, if I turned it off, I would know right away. But no, not this time.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:27

Point the scanner at the nearest bushes and follow the indicated path.+

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:27

Picked up the phone, caught the bushes with the lens; the app, blinking, drew the trail. How did delivery guys walk in the days when phones were wired? Did they hold on to the wire? Or were there none at all? That inter-world couriers have only now appeared, I don't believe. It's more likely that they just had different names. The Abstineсу, he's a Warlock, so there could have been.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:28

Something was tingling in my head, just like that, on the very edge. At first I tried to catch the thought, then I pretended not to be interested in it at all, and when the fugitive froze, I thought it over sharply.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:30

Damn it.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:30

I am a "Messenger" of the fifth level.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:31

Messenger of the damn Delivery System!

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:32

She is not human, she has no names, she has terms!

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:33

I am a messenger. That's my status, I chose it myself. I used to be a "courier" and lived peacefully, but when I changed it to something more resounding, everything started to turn around! Or did it? No, that's when I was given a system housing with a surprise, and in general, all hell began. And after all, I could have guessed something when I looked at my colleagues - the "sage", for example, sitting and sharing his wisdom. Instead of wandering around in the wilderness! Or Brute, he's a "slacker" in his class, isn't he? That is the reason to sit and do nothing - strict compliance with the title. It's not clear with "beginner succu," but here I may just not know something.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:41

Thirteen steps along the ridge, drive right down the slope...+

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:48

Yeah, it's right there, in that cleft between the dunes.

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:48

I looked around, saw myself in the middle of the desert, standing on a sand dune, shrugged, and began to count my steps - one, two, three...

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:51

Why does the System need Succubi? Sub - under, cubare - to lie down. If my Latin is correct... Cursed be classical education forever and ever, with its bloody Latin and Greek!

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 17:53

Now, what was I talking about?

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 18:01

Follow the dried up stream to the fallen rocks.+

Camrad_RIP 22.02.22 в 18:03

It's a rough terrain here. The sun burns with such force that it almost drives me into the sand. Aha - did my colleagues know the nature of the names? No, I could be wrong, of course, but something tells me they did. Classic succubi are genderless, and Tomboy... she's either a girl or a boy. Who knows what she was before she came into the System? Or what.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 14:45

+Wait out a gust of dark wind.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 14:45

I leaned against the boulder and immediately jumped away - it was hot, the bastard! It even burned through my sleeve! And was it just me, or did that whirlwind really slow down as it flew by?

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 14:46

+Move on, trying to look up at the sky.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:01

With a doubtful look at the trail, though flat but still with stones, I moved.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:03

So, I'm a "messenger" and I'm being sent. What do I know about messengers? Well, the first and textbook one is "angelos," which is exactly what it means. Somehow I'm wrong, though; they're supposed to be sexless, hairy anorexics with wings if you believe the artists. Or incomprehensible crap of ineffable appearance, if the primary sources are to be believed. May be invisible. Can be transported instantly. Can see things that aren't there. Capable of destroying cities and peoples... It's a work in progress, but I don't think it's that complicated. After another year of work, I'll save up points and buy a flaming sword at the Auction.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:05

There are also angels who have fallen...

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:06

However, I may not be Abrahamic kind, right?

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:07

Okay, to hell with the mystique.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:07

Buzz.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:07

+Try to think less about evil forces

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:08

Okay, fuck the mistique.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:09

A messenger is also an ambassador. A power too great to interfere. Since there are so few of us, the work is not for everyone, and our work is dangerous. What does that mean? That we can demand higher wages!

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:30

I listened, but the phone pretended not to overhear my thoughts. O-ok.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:30

+Destination reached.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:31

I wiped the sweat from my face and wished I could pull my shirt off and wiggle it around to cool out my belly, so I turned my head. Apparently, the "point" was those rocks over there? They are very different from the rest, standing like... like... Menhirs? Stonehenge, only ten times bigger, half the stones fell and some kind of grove growing inside. It's the kind of African vegetation where there are a lot of branches and not much greenery.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:35

And among the menhirs people...

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:35

Shaking a drop of sweat off my nose and wiping my face once again, I regretted the two half-liters I had sold at such a bad time, and moved forward over the rocky ground.

Camrad_RIP 24.02.22 в 15:49

There was a movement among the rocks, some shouting and waving of hands. I looked around: the surface was as flat as a table, with stones, sparse stiff bushes up to my waist, and gray-brown earth. No grass, no life, only a haze of hot air rising. Apparently, it was from this haze that I emerged.

Camrad_RIP 27.02.22 в 11:55

"Over here! Come to us!"

Camrad_RIP 27.02.22 в 11:55

Just to be sure, I pointed scanner and looked closely. No, they were ordinary people, and they were clean. I was looking at the scanner for a dozen or twenty people, but there were half a hundred of them, and they all looked just right. Their heads are wrapped in rags, they keep in the shade, and the lady over there has an umbrella made of a jacket on a stick.

Camrad_RIP 27.02.22 в 11:57

Well, where do we start?

Camrad_RIP 27.02.22 в 11:57

I stopped before I reached the rocks, about ten paces away.

Camrad_RIP 27.02.22 в 12:10

Even in that office, where I brought twenty free pizzas, I was not greeted as cheerfully.

Camrad_RIP 27.02.22 в 12:10

"Come here, by the stones! It's not safe there!"

Camrad_RIP 03.03.22 в 18:08

I looked around at the man in his forties in a suit, who was screaming and moved toward him.

Camrad_RIP 03.03.22 в 18:08

"Hello!"

Camrad_RIP 03.03.22 в 18:09

It is mandatory, the instructions say that any communication begins with a greeting to the client.

Camrad_RIP 03.03.22 в 18:09

"Who ordered delivery?"

Camrad_RIP 03.03.22 в 18:09