Баффер / Buffer: Глава 4

Chapter 4
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Camrad_RIP 13.04.23 в 20:21

"Hello everyone, good morning!"

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:32

All three of my fellow couriers, with sad expressions on their faces, did not share my enthusiasm at all. Orders at this pharmacy were dispensed in the early hours of the morning, and there are so few larks in the world, or lucky people like me, who need hardly any sleep.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:33

"Mikhalych, your package is ready!"

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:34

"Thank you, Allochka, you do everything in time!"

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:34

I picked up my orders, signed for receipt, and started going through the forms. Luckily, nothing in different areas of the city, and two orders were even within a ten-minute walk of each other.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:35

Right, now my list.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:36

"Alla, beauty, there's talk." I shut the door to the next room with the couriers. "Remember when you were putting together that big kit for those geeks, the 'survivalists'?"

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:37

The woman nodded and blinked her thickly tinted eyelashes.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:37

"I've got a customer who needs two of these. But he needs to be able to deliver them by about three o'clock. Can you help me? And personally, make me a six-pack of Feritin, will you?"

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:38

Alla picked up the cash from the table and immediately began to assure me that everything would be done. I wouldn't have believed anyone else, but here I was reassured that she would get it together, do the paperwork, and do everything right. She was an exceptionally obliging woman. If she had not been a divorcee with two children, I would have been able to... but no, she would.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:42

Today's orders were added to yesterday's in my trolley bag. I pulled out my tablet and mapped out today's trip, then took turns calling the addresses, only one of them unreachable. Talk to people they love it... and tip.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:43

Once I entered the metro wagon, I quickly dashed to the door opposite, ignored the empty seats, flicked my bag frame, quickly reclined the chair, and immediately sat down on it. Once again, I had to look like a brick when an elderly woman stared at me with indignation: //How is it possible to have a chair and a man on it, but you can't get the man off and sit down yourself?

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:46

There you go. You have to have your own.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 06:46

Pulling my tablet out, I began to wonder what I had forgotten to do today.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:26

The servers have been down for the fifth day now, which means that, given the sluggishness of government machines, it's been two weeks since a wizard roamed the world. The videos in various social media can be passed off as a flash mob, an advertisement, or a leak from a sci-fi animation festival, but it's easier to disable the ability to watch these videos. They have already been disabled.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:27

Blogs!

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:27

A quick check confirms that Facebook is no longer available, and so are the VK, Odnoklassniks, Live Journal, and his comrades are forwarded to one page asking for understanding and forgiveness. There are, of course, various forums of interest and communication sites, but the rate of rumors spreading is slower there. In addition, due to the "trunk line accident", only the servers located in the Russian Federation are available.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:29

How would I request, so as not to show that I'm the guy in know?

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:30

"Magic in real life" - the search engine came up with two million answers. Hmm, well, that's something to think about. Wait, what do I even want? Magicians are out there. I'm an example of that and not an isolated case. Otherwise, there would have been no such scale of disconnection. But, strangely, the rumors haven't gone out to the people. No one has disabled the phones yet, and the internal networks won't be able to block them. Can ISPs be forced to shut down their local servers? Damn, that's what I don't know about all this computer shit! They probably can. There has been talking about all traffic being monitored. Shouldn't intelligence services have some way of controlling it?

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:33

So, screw all the requests. Otherwise, there's a bot sitting on some channel, checking everything, and sending my data to the major with tired but kind eyes. All he has to do is push a button, and they come after me... nonsense. Can't count 'em all, can't check 'em all.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:38

What would I do if I were writing a book about something like this? I would make a list of everything related to games and push it. A few addresses most relevant to the subject would be left under control. Idiot. Three sites on the download, and there's no way to cansel it.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:39

So what to do?

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 07:40

What can I do? A wizard is a 'buffer'. He is a support class. It strengthens allies with spells and weakens enemies. Well, it's also a "taxi" for allies around the game world, with the help of a "Gate".

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:16

Gates. Yes.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:16

Suppose that, sooner or later, everyone who has played with toys learns to do magic. What would happen? Chaos. A year for sure... Damn. I missed the stop!

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:17

I had to get up and walk to the door, thinking about what was happening while standing.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:17

There will definitely be all sorts of turmoil for a year, and then something will work out. If not all but many gain power, there will be a major shift in power and priorities, accompanied by rivers of blood. If one out of a hundred, the State will begin to subdue the new power. And the worst-case scenario for me is if one out of thousands gains power.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:19

The Inquisition.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:20

Though it is unlikely to be called that.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:20

I raised my hand, my fingers trembling. I had to reach for the pills, and, under the sympathetic gaze of an older, well-dressed lady, I swallowed without water. It was all right, it was an emotion, and I could get over it.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:21

Two weeks. Maybe I had a gift then, too, just hadn't had a chance to discover it. And the same thing could happen to someone else. If they played Potteriana, they might not realize they were a wizard without a wand. Him. They. And a state that will pretend to have everything under control.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:41

What will happen in religious countries when someone shows the miracles that have come true? To hell with magic. When the panicking mobs start looking for someone to blame, then the big blood will start. The bureaucrats are right to be nervous, oh. They're right!

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:42

Now I had exactly two choices: either I would, as I had decided this morning, go down to the countryside, or I would join the state structure and try to become useful so as not to get killed. Hell, if I had known a fortnight ago what I know now, I would have done so! But now it's too late. Now they'll start looking quickly for a way to suppress a force like mine without sentimentality. After all, their asses are in danger. For now, I can't fall into the hands of those who are looking for a way to stop it all. To the countryside, then.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:45

Alla will put together a set of medicines. I will have a year's supply of Feritin. It's a pity it doesn't keep for longer. I would have bought some more. Food for today I will collect for half a year. Mobility will be provided by the gate. I should think hard about where to set the stones because I couldn't change the list of spells, and I'm sure it will be the same with the list of portal stones. The house in the village... five kilometers from the highway on a dirt track, a semi-abandoned farmstead from which our kin once emerged. By the way, relatives... no. Later.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:47

I was pushed by a woman with a child, and I had to apologize and move my bag.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:47

The house, then. The one where my father and I lived for two summers must have fallen apart by now, but I'll find a place to live. There are a few cottages there, the owners have thoroughly conserved them, and the place is good. So...

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:50

A check of the train timetable showed that an express train was leaving for those places at 8.22 pm today. So - bookings... Why did I go to work in the first place? I'd have called in sick... although I will. As long as I cling to the pharmacy as I cling to my "disability". Maybe I'll get something from the state? There's no hurry to cut loose ends. Orders. I'll be done by four, take the medicine home by five, and buy some more food on the way. 7:00 to the train station. At eight, I'll leave for the historic homeland in a coach... maybe I should go to the attendant. So I don't have to register and save some money? Let's think about it. I get off the train at nine in the morning. It'll take me half a day to get to the village, then another half a day on foot. Hmm, that's a lot of time I'm wasting, and it's the weight of... of life.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:59

What if I put one stone near the town? Then I place the stone in the morning, go home, do important things here while the gate is recharging, and then jump there in the morning the next day, get to the village, and choose a house. Or, if it's no longer possible to live there, look for another option.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 08:59

I can't stay in the capital, they will notice me. I have to hide. I'm not the only one with a 'vision of magic', am I?

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:00

The flow of thoughts was interrupted by a customer calling to ask why the eleven o'clock delivery was not yet at her place at ten o'clock. I apologized and explained that I was on my way. Customers are not always bastards, they are sick people, and it is a sin to be offended. And if they ordered it for a child, they can even eat their brains out, no matter how you negotiate.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:10

In this case, the woman was really sick, waiting impatiently for her pills and hiding her embarrassment at the sight of a panting, guilty looking me behind an ostentatious dislike, which didn't stop her from giving a fifty tip.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:12

After calling back to the next customer, I pulled my bag and started thinking further.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:12

I have to hide.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:12

What is there to live on? My savings are enough for a year. I don't need much, but then what? When it becomes clear that there is magic, when will the magicians start to be rewritten and forced to work for the benefit of those who used to call themselves 'society'?

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:31

Gate. I like being a courier. That's my thing. I don't want power or adventure or satiated contentment. Just a job that interests me personally. That gives me a piece of bread, a roof over my head, and a pack of Feritin.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:32

A courier, then? A Gate in a flat, a Gate in a village (I have yet to think where exactly, maybe not in the village itself?), a Gate in two or three provincial towns.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:33

Ukraine? What's in it for me? Although there are munchies... Crimea? No, Stavropol. A town of twenty thousand. And there's a gateway near the sea. The Caspian Sea? No, it's not. So Kuban and somewhere near Odessa. My mother had some relatives there, but who will find them now? But it would work as an excuse if they asked.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:33

There are now seven Gates.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:34

Europe? I don't have a Schengen Visa, and I don't have time to get one. And what am I doing there, among refugees and other Pakistanis? Though I have to go to another embassy or two to find out if they refuse me, it's another call. Should I put a stone in Finland? Then Romania, where there's food and oil. Oh! Oil! Where's the cheapest petrol we've got, and where is it always available? I'll have to look it up on the net.

Camrad_RIP 14.04.23 в 09:35