The Universe of Nothing (collection) бесплатное чтение

Two Universes

The world was made of dust and sand… Nothing was there, only Powerful forces were able to make a whole world out of emptiness, darkness, dust and sand. But there will come a time when the world will again be shrouded only in dust and sand, and shroud in darkness…

If there is a world, then there are small worlds in it. Let it be Universes. Universes, but not the ones that a person sees. Only two universes were created from dust and sand by Powerful forces – ours and the empty one. A universe of Everything and a universe of Nothing.

The universe of Nothing was still dark, but there was no sand or dust. There was everything in the Universe of Everything – the lands and the civilizations on them. But how will all these civilizations, considering themselves intelligent, manage their possessions?

Memories of a lost civilization

From the cold villages,

Where the frost froze on their faces,

Where the sun looked out from under my feet

On God-forsaken children.

Where the sky was full at night

By the light of the moon and the points of the stars,

Where are the birds above us?

Going on a long flight.

The land was divided between the clans a hundred years ago. For a hundred years, the clans have kept us on their borders, encouraging those who kill strangers and killing those who flee. The clans used the methods of force, saying that they wanted peace and prosperity. Their peace and prosperity was always followed by deception, which led to even more blood. Honest people who considered it the meaning of their lives to devote themselves to her work, left behind resources and knowledge that were disposed of by those in whose hands the Arkady automatons turned out to be. They often justified their internecine wars by law, invented them on the go, and covered their vices with a large curtain of "grandeur". So clans became empires…

– Grandfather, I'm going to the city!

"To the vegetable garden?" Grandpa adjusted his glasses and looked at his grandson. The grandson was all packed up and ready to go. "Ah, so you're going to town. What is there in the city that is not here? Well…

– There are people, there is development, civilization…

"What a civilization it is. Civilization is long gone. This is so, its remnants and no more. What came after… And what happened before…

– Yes, grandfather, you told me about the World Union… – the grandson lowered his eyes and said it with as sad an intonation as possible.

"All right, all right, go.

Sasha hugged his grandfather goodbye and, picking up all his things from the floor, set off. He had to walk to the train station and catch a train, then go to the city of Branches. Vetka is a fairly large city, but it's a pity that it's still not the capital and close… Since childhood, Sasha has been looking at the capital of the Chariot from pictures and photographs, dreaming that one day he will definitely be there, an accomplished and successful person, and besides, a professional in his field.

Honestly, Sasha would give anything to ever see, or live, or visit, that very World Union. Once there was a time when all these people, who today shoot off each other's limbs and threaten to destroy them, were friends with each other, went to each other's homes and all worked together for the benefit of a great common goal. They say that if the World Union still existed, Sasha would have received housing in the city simply by right of his service… After all, he is the secretary of a very serious city official. And maybe someday, he'll move to the capital of their Chariot.

The Chariot Republic came into being as a breakaway from the World Union when the Chariot rulers decided that they didn't need anyone and could build a great life within their own state. All the other republics were infected with it: some earlier than ours, some later. It probably didn't start with the Chariot. It is worth saying that the situation that arose, as a result, had very deplorable consequences…

When the people came to their senses, people were sent to slaughter against each other, since according to the documents they were already considered citizens of different states. People did not even have time to look around, as for them the norm was war with those whom they had recently considered neighbors. And all for the sake of using the resources located there, already "abroad", the rulers of their republic build themselves more and more new property.

Of course, for such a position in the Chariot was not loved. And especially when the secretary of an official has such a position, it is definitely worth keeping silent, and preferably in the biggest rag of all rags. But as long as there is peace, as long as everything is good, the statement of such a radical position is unnecessary-simply unnecessary.

The republic was thriving, it was alive, and additional instability could only create an even greater shock force of separatism and more and more disconnections would go on. By the way, even there, on the borders, there are now clashes with the troops of the Human Chariot Police and the separatist Order. Do the latter want even more blood? Wasn't all that spilled enough for them? And how they are believed by all those who are ready to take up arms to defend a small piece of land, which will then be completely appropriated by alien, incomprehensible and excessively cruel clan members…

Clans are in high demand especially now. From history, Sasha remembered that a long time ago, before the World Alliance, there were many clans that cruelly ruled over the territory of the Earth. After the power of the clans lost their trust, they began to overthrow the people and then the people united in a World Union. After that, as everyone knows, the World Union collapsed and the children and great-grandchildren of those who previously ruled the so-called clans began to come to power in the republics, as they say.

"Alexander! Alexander! Sasha's thoughts were interrupted by Grandpa's distant call. "I forgot my hat!"

Sasha went up to his grandfather, took the hat, thanked him and hugged him again…

***

Human Police were walking around the city checking on the citizens.

Citizens took out and showed their documents, told their reasons for going out on the street, staying in this city and other things that would be interesting to them… In some cases, the police took the violators away in their cars.

Everything went as it always did.

Alexander was also questioned. Knowing his rights, the young man quickly got out of this situation and went about his business. Although, to be honest, he was always uneasy at such moments. Alexander walked around the city and looked for different kinds of newspaper counters to read what was the latest in the news and thereby understand what would be on the agenda at the moment. Discussing pressing issues, making suggestions, while maintaining proper speech ethics, often led him to promotions and other rewards at work. Officials like it when their assistants and secretaries also understand what is being said.

Alexander was sad to watch what was happening around him and he wanted to change everything for the better, to fix everything.

Factories that once buzzed and people who created new horizons were now just skeletons, crumbling under the onslaught of time. The abandoned streets were littered with debris and vegetation, turning them into dense slums, where the wind carried fragments of the once well-fed past. Once noisy squares resembled theaters of happiness, but now only whispers, moans and rustles of strangers, coming as if from nowhere, remained audible there.

Alexander made his way through these ruins. He had the feeling that each distance covered was not just a physical movement, but an immersion in a story that remained beyond his perception. Citizens passed each other with distrust, their eyes seeking support, but finding only a reflection of their own grief.

At the corner of one of the streets, a glass stall where books were still displayed caught his attention. The forgotten pages were waiting to be restored, and he felt that even in this desolate area, it was possible to find sparks of hope. Each line read could become the beginning of a new narrative, and the city that, despite the destruction, continued to live in the heart and memory of its inhabitants could still be restored.

Human Police in a ruined city

And there's always a chance

Defend what you love,

Solve all the pressing problems,

Tell me you won't back down,

When the cold hits

And you will have to accept the changes.

Tell me what you know by sight,

The ones with the dead eyes,

But the brave ones.

Tell me you can't back down,

When the future is young

Their future family waves.

Oxygen was on the agenda. This vital gas was priced out – oxygen purity levels were falling all over the Earth due to the huge amount of waste and people. People generated waste, and the waste went to all the poorer regions and fed new people. A terrible chain of events. Judging by the news, very soon people will have nothing to breathe. And Alexander felt it: it stank everywhere, and he involuntarily covered his nose with his hand as he walked around the city and accidentally suffocated. In this respect, of course, he missed his grandfather and the clean rural air.

Sasha stood on the corner of the street, lost in thought about the task ahead. Suddenly, a deafening sound broke the silence – the explosion of a bus. A bright flash blinded him, and in the next instant, a cloud of dust and debris surrounded the figures rushing to help. Alexander was thrown back, but he fell nearby and, like a miracle, didn't break anything. Like…