I had a wonderful dream.
Pleasant, yet at the same time frightening.
Pleasant, because I felt rested, and also because I was lying in bed in a cabin on Atlantis. A light breeze through the open window caressed my face and ruffled my hair. If I turned my head, instead of the gloomy darkness usually visible through the window, I could see the sky, clouds... And sunlight. Although, within the context of what was happening outside the Solar System, it should be called something else.
But I don't care.
And the dream was pleasant because I wasn't alone in bed.
And that was the strange part of my dream.
Turning my head, I could see a dark-haired stranger lying on her side, her back to me. Her slightly tanned back was flawless, and her chestnut hair fell artfully to her mid-back, cascading onto the snow-white sheets.
I touched her, wanting to understand who she was, but the stranger didn't react. She continued to sleep, smiling sweetly in her sleep. Strangely, I couldn't make out the features of her face.
But for some reason, she seemed familiar. And I didn't feel any threat from her.
That's enough.
Leaning back on the pillow, I looked at the ceiling, peering into the dim light. Funny. If it's daytime outside, then who needed to turn on the overhead lighting? Me, probably. It's my room... Or is it?!
That's when I started to feel anxious.
Glancing around, I concluded that the room was not mine at all. Yes, the interior was familiar, similar, but it was almost standard for every room on Atlantis. It could just as well have been one of hundreds of cabins in the residential tower complex we used.
Looking closely at the details, I realized that despite the external similarity, it was by no means my cabin. And that was already completely obvious. Things were out of place, several additional devices on the bedside table, the drinking column was located not by the wall, but near the entrance...
I found my things nearby. They lay in a lump on the armchair, as did my weapon, scanner, and some other items I carried with me.
This is disturbing. Because I don't do that. The back of the chair was invented precisely so that you could hang your jacket and trousers on it!
All this makes me worry.
Even more than the disappearance of the stranger from my bed.
Even more than the disappearance of daylight.
With a jolt, I sat up in bed, looking around.
The dim overhead light cast shadows on the surroundings, but I felt uncomfortable anyway. Especially when I heard the splash of water behind one of the decorative partitions.
Now there was no doubt – this was not my room. My shower was next to the drinking column. And melodic sounds in a strange language usually don't come from my shower!
As soon as I thought that it would be good to get out of here, or at least use my weapon, the voice and the sound of water stopped. And I... I was confused.
The next moment, the door panel disappeared into the wall, revealing a standard shower room. Very similar to mine, but the shelves under and around the mirror were cluttered with something very similar to hand grenades and...
Only now did I realize that shower doors don't open on their own. No miracle happened this time either.
Behind the doorway stood a humanoid, wrapped from head to toe in some gray rags. On his head, something like a turban... Very familiar, like something from a past life...
Except for the face.
Pale, even cold-looking skin with a bluish-green tint, dark, deep-set eyes, very characteristic folds on the cheekbones...
Everything inside me clenched into a tight knot from the feeling of helplessness when the creature turned its attention to me and raised its right hand to shoulder level.
"Well, hello..."
The alien's voice struck my hearing at the very moment I slipped out from under the covers and rushed to my weapon. Simultaneously, shouting a warning to anyone who might hear it:
"Wraiths in the city!"
"Well, you know!" the Wraith shrieked. "Anything has happened, but this...!"
"Hands up!" I shouted, aiming my pulse weapon at the life-sucker. "Slowly, damn it!"
"Um..." the creature clearly didn't expect such boldness from me and hesitated. Too bad for it! "Listen, I..."
"On your knees!" I ordered, nodding my weapon slightly downwards. "Hands behind your head. And start explaining how you got into the city!"
"Are you out of your...?"
"Silence! Do what I told you quickly before I blow your head off!"
"Okay, okay!" the Wraith raised its hands, put them behind its head, resting them on its nape. And slowly, without taking its eyes off me, it knelt down. "You need to calm down...!"
"I'm as calm as a snake! But you start talking! How did you get into the city!?" I repeated my question.
"Through the gate," the Wraith said emphatically. "Like everyone else!"
"Nonsense! We have a defense on the gate! Try again!"
While talking to the intruder, I was looking for an inconspicuous geometric pattern on the wall with my eyes. If you press it and turn it, an alarm will sound in the city. But I can't find it in this darkness...
"Misha, this isn't funny anymore!" the Wraith shouted in a suspiciously familiar voice.
"Try laughing when I blow your head off! Once more, how did you get into the city!? How many of you are there? What are you planning!?"
"It's scary even to think what will happen to the others," the Wraith muttered. Why does she have such a familiar voice?!
Stop! Her?!
Looking closely at the intruder's figure, I realized that all the primary sexual characteristics of a female were present.
"Queen?" I was stunned. "How did you, you bitch, get to the city through the shield!? And what the hell is going on here!?"
The only queen who could reach Atlantis would be the Queen of Death, sleeping in her ship at the bottom of the Lantiian ocean. But she couldn't penetrate the shields!
Something is happening here... Something completely incomprehensible.
"Misha, stop!" the queen shouted. "If you think you can behave like this after everything, you're wrong! I already apologized for the generator! I was just being cautious just in case! But that doesn't give you the right..."
Generator? What generator? As far as I remember, there were only two or three generators and...
Oh, damn it!
All the generators I could remember now were related to one person.
"Chaya!?" stunned by what was happening, I even lost strength in my hands and lowered my weapon. "Is that you!?"
"And who else could be in this room!?" the Proculucian replied sharply, taking her hands from behind her head. "I hope I can stand up now!?"
"Yes, of course..." I said, embarrassed. "Sorry, I don't know what came over me, but... Why do you look like a Wraith?"
The girl tilted her head, as if examining me from a new angle.
"Put down your weapon, come closer and repeat that again," she asked, taking a step towards me.
"I don't really want to," I admitted, calculating that if she rushed around the bed, it would be better for me to cut through the mattress... The mattress! That's the fastest way to escape from here! "What's going on here anyway!? Why is there... this on your face!?"
"This?" Chaya repeated in surprise, touching herself. "So this is a mask for removing skin particles and makeup... Wait! You thought I was a Wraith because of it?"
Truly, a beauty without makeup is terrifying.
I shuddered, imagining what could have happened if it hadn't become clear in time.
"What's happening?" I muttered. "And why am I in this room? And, anyway, what kind of cabin is this!?"
"This is my cabin," Chaya replied in an uncompromising tone. "You stumbled in about five hours ago."
"Why the hell?"
"And how should I know!?" the girl threw up her hands. "You were in an insane state, muttering something about it being time for me to answer for my sins, that all these secrets were getting to you, and that jokes aren't my thing, but you'd teach me a couple of tricks..."
I shuddered.
"I don't even want to know what you wanted to teach me."
"And I'll have to forget this somehow," the Proculucian shook her head. "Because I'm certainly not going to put into practice the method of taking off a t-shirt over the shoulder and kicking off underwear with your foot."
M-m-m-a-a-a-a-a-th...
Looking down, I realized that I was actually standing with my torso bare. And not just my torso.
Grabbing my jacket, I pressed it to my lower abdomen.
"It turned out inconvenient," I said with a guilty smile.
"And what are you trying to do now?" Chaya asked. I wonder if the mask just gathered like that, or if she really has her eyebrow raised?
"This is called shame," I explained.
"We called it genitals," Sar replied after thinking. "It seemed like in your language it's the same... However, I won't interfere with other cultures."
"And thank you for that," I thanked her. "Can you... turn away?"
"Why?" the Proculucian asked in surprise.
"I need to get dressed."
"Then get dressed."
"I can't when you're watching. Personal space and all that... And it's not proper for a lady to look at a colleague's genitals."
"That's pretty much what I told you last night when you decided you'd sleep in my bed because your own room was too far to walk to," Chaya snorted.
"But it's just a little further down the corridor," I frowned.
"That's exactly what I told you," Sar said reproachfully.
"And what did I do?"
"You showed how you can undress while a match burns."
"And... Where did I get a match?"
"You brought a candle with you. I think from Tayla's cabin."
"And...?"
"And you lit it, put it on the drinking column," Chaya demonstrated the wax drips on the appliance. "And started undressing."
Oh, northern furry beast... I haven't been this ashamed since graduation, when my stomach couldn't handle the mixture of burnt alcohol and chips. And that girl's dress was awful. No, I apologized to Marina later, of course, but...
"I'm very sorry. I don't know what came over me..."
"But I do," Chaya stuck out her index finger and poked it at the object standing by the wall. "You brought this with you. You said it drinks like water, and you'd already drunk eight jugs, and it's a penalty for me, because leaving the group is a sin. And anyway, I've been bad, so..."
She paused meaningfully. And I looked with a contorted gaze at the three-liter clay jug. I'd bet my life, inside is that very Athosian wine Tayla was talking about before... If only I knew what happened after we went to her room and before all this mess started in Sar's bedroom with her being presented as a Wraith.
Covering my eyes with my hand, I at least saved myself from the Ancient's judgmental gaze for a couple of minutes. And everything would have been fine, but...
When I looked at the crumpled bedsheet, remembering that even tossing and turning in my sleep I couldn't wrinkle it, everything inside me froze again.
Looking at Chaya, then at the bed, I returned my gaze to Chaya...
The girl, having peeled the mask off her face, which had almost cost her her life, took off the turban of gray towel from her head and wiped the moisture from her face. Looking closely at her, I wanted to scream with rage at myself. How could I mistake a simple bath robe for Wraith clothing?!
"Just say it," the girl, having finished with her face, began to dab her damp hair, standing in front of another panel in the wall. I didn't even have the strength to object that the false panel moved aside, revealing a mirrored panel. Great! There are mirrors in the rooms too. Full-length!
And I only found out about the shower a couple of weeks ago!
Well, just brilliant!
"Just apologies won't be enough for what happened," I said, looking at the bed again. "But... If you can forgive... I would be very grateful."
"Okay," Chaya said suspiciously easily. "Deliver me three tons of sand from Lantea-2, and consider yourself forgiven."
Three tons... This is despite the fact that the internal volume of the "jumper" at most allows lifting a ton. Fifteen hours one way, fifteen hours back, plus digging all this into containers...
"Fair enough," I said, overcoming my inner indignation. "There's one more question... Don't misunderstand me, I'm not some kind of pig... I liked everything, it's just... You're wonderful and everything was top-notch... But I have memory problems and..."
"Nothing happened," Chaya sighed, turning to me. Damn it, she even has a comb! With a hairdryer function! And I, damn it, comb my hair with my fingers or the bone comb given to me by Tayla!? Maybe there are electric razors in the rooms too? Because I don't want to trim my stubble with a combat knife from Ermen, which is as sharp as a razor anymore!? "So, you don't have to worry."
"Thank you, it's like a stone off my soul," I said with relief. Seeing the girl looking at me questioningly and with a claim, I raised my hands in front of me as a warning. "No, I don't want to offend or anything like that. You're a wonderful girl in every way and have a golden character, and your jokes are explosive. But I have a rule – no romances with colleagues and subordinates. It interferes with work and all that..."
Chaya gave me an attentive, studying look. And it suspiciously ran from bottom to top.
Lowering my eyes, I covered myself with my hands.
"I don't think I haven't seen anything there," the girl grinned, returning to her task.
"Has anyone told you that it's not cool to mock people who are in a bind?" I asked, searching for my clothes.
"You have to try very hard to get into a bind during intimacy," Chaya noted. "Such a thing indicates either inexperience of the partner or excessive arousal. But even so, statistically..."
"Good Lord, can you show at least a little sympathy!" I pleaded, remembering that "bind" also has a meaning in human anatomy. "I was drunk and I apologized!"
"And does that prevent me from reminding you of this night for the rest of your life?" Chaya asked innocently.
"It seems I now understand why other Ascended didn't like you," I muttered, finding my socks. Great, at least there's nothing suspiciously biological on them.
While pulling them on, I realized that Chaya was silent. Unusually so for her at such a moment. I thought she wouldn't miss the opportunity to tease me or something like that...
Casting a quick glance at the girl, I noticed that she had literally frozen in front of the mirror. Her face was frozen in an expression that was difficult to describe in words... Something between panic, fear, disappointment, and cosmic sadness. Oops, it seems I hit a sore spot of a former Ascended. Although, how would she know what happened in the higher planes of existence?
Seeing that I was looking, the Proculucian returned to combing her hair as if nothing had happened. Well, and I won the nomination "Find a white t-shirt on a white sheet." On the third try. Only a little bit left...
"Look on the desktop," Sar said in a mentor-like tone, looking straight ahead. Into the mirror, of course.
It was there that I found the missing part of my underwear set. Crumpled, but clean, they lay on top of several sheets of paper. Looking closely, I saw that they were some vaguely familiar drawings. And yes, it's not paper, but rather tracing paper. Incredibly convenient when creating drawings based on the cross-section of an object. But... What does this star-like thing remind me of?
I dressed in complete silence from both of us. Chaya dried her hair, and I tidied myself up. Almost. My head was still in a mess and... I don't know why, but the hangover was only hitting me now.
"I need to figure out what this wine is and why it hits the brain so hard," I thought, putting the portable equipment into my pockets.
"Can you help?" the Ancient asked me.
In her hands, she held her necklace. Nothing special – just a cord threaded through shiny stones and a round shell in the center.
"Yes, of course," I said, taking the jewelry, I felt that it was quite heavy. Hmm, and it seemed like ordinary hollow jewelry. "It will be easier for me if you turn around..."
Without a word, Chaya stood with her back to me and moved her hair aside. Before my eyes appeared skin the color of milk chocolate. Touching it, putting on the necklace, I felt as if I was touching velvet... Very soft. But at the same time, it seemed incredibly elastic.
And it also smelled of an incredible bouquet of aromatic herbs. Funny, I don't remember the girl using perfume before. Or is it shampoo? If the latter, then I want it too! I'm tired of washing with something like laundry soap that smells like tar!
On the second try, I managed to fasten the clasp. Chaya apparently has very well-developed spatial orientation and dexterous fingers, since she can do it herself.
"Thank you," Chaya said quietly, turning to me. "If you've found all your things, then I'd like to be alone. I need to work on something."
"Yes, of course," I nodded, heading for the exit. Running my hand over the panel, I turned around at the same time as the doors opened.
"And what is that thing on your drawings?" I asked at the moment Chaya sat down at that very table. Hmm, she didn't even try to burn it after my... Hmm, piece of clothing was there.
"It's one of my old projects," she smiled with her lips only. "An interesting idea, but it still had a number of critical flaws that made it impossible to implement."
"I hope you're not going to build this thing in our city?" I asked, figuring that the phrase "a number of critical flaws" could mean a supernova explosion, the destruction of a star system, a spacetime rupture, and God knows what else. The Ancients rarely did things on a small scale when they made mistakes.
"No," Chaya assured me. "I'm just restoring the technology and blueprints from memory. It helps distract me from the daily grind."
"You know, there are other ways to reboot your brain..."
"I know," she said coldly. "But I'm afraid if I drink as much Atosian moonshine as you did yesterday, then kicking off underwear with my foot won't even compare to what I'll do."
Things suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
"Wait," I said, embarrassed. "Moonshine? Chaya said it was wine..."
"No offense to the Atosians, but there's a difference between distillation and fermentation," Chaya stated. "You didn't think a hunter-gatherer society would know about fermentation, did you?"
"I hoped so," I winced. "Because inventing a moonshine still is a bit more complicated than crushing berries with your feet and forgetting about them for a while."
"And they also have high-tech lighters, but they use torches and bone needles," Chaya said.
Well... A moonshine still is, in principle, a legacy of another, more advanced civilization.
"Just for the record... How unrestrained are you when you're drunk?" I decided to clarify in advance. You know, just in case it might be useful in the future.
"Believe me, you're better off not seeing it," the Proculucian grew serious.
"For example... A planetary explosion?" I clarified.
"Or the death of all living things on it," Chaya shrugged. "Or a superweapon that destroys organic matter on a galactic scale. Or I'll figure out how to use black holes for instant travel. Or I'll kill all the Ascended..."
"Remind me never to pour you a drink," I said, swallowing a lump in my dry throat. I had a gut feeling she wasn't kidding. Not this time, for sure.
"I'll write a few warning programs," Chaya said. "They'll include a self-destruct mode for Atlantis every time I'm intoxicated."
"I think we'll just rely on your self-discipline," I coughed.
"That seems like a great option to me too," Chaya smiled. "And now, could you please leave? I'd like to be alone."
"Of course," I took a step back and walked out of her cabin. "Of course."
I waved goodbye to the girl, but she had already returned to her blueprints as soon as I was outside her dwelling.
She's a strange one.
And why do her blueprints look so familiar?