I’ve brought you God!

– That’s awesome! I envy the white witch with white envy! You know I’m a fan. I collect everything you drop. And I’ll be the first one to read it. And I’ve even tried my hand at writing, looking at you.

– Yeah, okay. Can I see it?

– Promise me you won’t be sarcastic and make fun of me.

– Sure. – Ruta ran her palm over her face, smoothing out the wrinkles. – I’m the serious one.

Tamura crumpled a little, pulled out her phone, looked for something, and started reading:

– The verse is called: «To You.»

– Romantic! Mmmm… And not once clichéd. Keep going,» the moon witch commented, taking a bite of her sandwich.

– «I love you so much, and my love is so classy, but I can’t bear to live within my means, so I’m moving in with you.

Ruta lasted two seconds and burst into laughter through her nose as her mouth was full of sandwich. The snorting laughter immediately elicited a reaction from the rest of the café’s customers, who first took notice and then squeamishly turned away.

– You promised! – Tamura shouted. – That’s it! The fence is down! – A pattern of horizontal bars appeared on her face and immediately covered her face. She tried to fumble for the hilt of her sword behind her back, but after a futile attempt, she faked raising it and asked calmly: – What’s wrong? The rhymes are wrong, or the sensuality is lacking?

– Well, let’s talk about rhymes first. Although form is not the most important thing in poems, but since you started about rhymes, let’s talk about rhymes. They’re pretty simple.

– They’re not precise, are they?

– Exact rhymes are: you-will-forget, self-you, gone. And exact rhymes have long been equated with primitive rhymes. One of the founding fathers of Russian poetry once ridiculed primitive rhymes:

«The frost is already in full swing

And the fields are silvery

The reader is waiting for the rhyme «rose».

Here, take it!

– And since then there have been assonance rhymes, multisyllabic rhymes, dissonant rhymes.

– What’s wrong with simple rhymes? – The black witch asked, shoveling noodles into her mouth with a fork from a paper bag of hieroglyphics.

– Well, here’s a look. – Ruta picked up a cube of raffinade from the tea saucer and showed it to Tamura. – This is the simplest sweet form capable of producing primitive organoleptic pleasure in humans and living things.

– Yes, I know. Sugar is a quick carbohydrate that can immediately raise the body’s energy level and partially satiate the body. That’s why our receptors like it.

– Yeah, but that’s not what I’m saying. Give a kid sugar, next time he’ll give his hand for it. Then dilute the sugar with fruit or berries, and the taste of sugar is filled with flavors, sourness, and the sensation plays out in a new way. Continue culinary experiments, add cream, coffee, cocoa, various synthetic components, and a person will never eat pure sugar. Because it’s too easy. It’s the same with poetry. If you do not develop, do not try to seek new aesthetic orgasms from rhymes and forms, you can be satisfied with sugar all your life. That’s how graphomania breeds. And the saddest thing is that no one remembers real poetry now, because they haven’t eaten anything but sugar for a hundred years.

– Great! – Tamura looked at her hand. Her palm was covered in a black, barely transparent, mesh. – Only I don’t get it, what’s wrong with my poem?

– Don’t worry, Tamura. I’ve seen a million graphomaniacal poems, but none of them made me smile, let alone laugh. That’s worth something! You have no lyrical spark, but sarcasm sparks from every pore. All right. (chuckles) What are you doing?

– Mitsu’s gonna get me a fresh new suit of armor, and I’m gonna go to the armory. I’m gonna put on my battle gear. I got some shurikens from the stab lab to try out, with built-in controllers. It’s an old order of mine. I drew the schematics for the lab myself.

– Ninja throwing stars? I’m surprised you didn’t have them before.

– I did, but they were just ordinary ones. I didn’t use them much. That’s because they run out so fast.

– What are these like? Do they find their own targets?

– Nope! They can come back. The main controller is on my belt. Scatter the shurikens, press the button, and they respond to the directional electromagnetic selective beam. They burst out of the soft tissue and fly to my belt, where they’re powered by the main battery and ready to throw again. The main thing is not to throw them into trees – only to pull them out by hand.

– You’re the head, Tamurych! The Ilon Musk of our time! Don’t you think you’re doing the wrong thing?

– I’m doing what I like to do.

– No! You clearly don’t have enough room to realize your creative potential here. Maybe you should put on a scientist’s robe. With your guidance and personal involvement, we could conquer the radiation and repopulate the planet. Maybe even conquer a couple more planets.

– I’ve already thought about it. I’m fine here. Besides, I don’t believe in the idea of universal happiness. And I’m certainly not meant for the common good.

– What are you meant for, Tamurach?

– I don’t know yet,» the dark witch shrugged her shoulders. – But I have a strong feeling that everything I do is right. Listen, what kind of outcome did you prophesize for yourself?

– It’s not an outcome. It’s more of an escape. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m just gonna disappear. And no age jokes,» Ruta tugged at Tamura’s robe sleeve, cutting off her smirk.

Smiling silently, Tamura winked at the blonde witch, clicked her tongue, and walked over to the food stand.

– Do you have any beer? – she asked, and, seeing the seller’s nod of approval, she asked: – How many in a pack? Six? Give me two packs.

She took both packs by the cardboard handles and left the food hall.

Tamura then took the elevator down to the armory and went to the individual compartment where her personal ammunition was stored. She placed the beer packs on the nightstand, removed her medical gown and put on a tight jumpsuit with various compartments and pockets over her finished black cobwebbed fine mesh. She placed two small Japanese kiridashi knives in the elbow loops, slipped two more kiridashi, already with displays on the handles, into the narrow pockets of her tight black carbon fiber boots and strapped on a back scabbard with a magnetic grip. Then she pulled a folded exoskeleton made up of strands of smart metal out of its case and leaned it against her neck just above her back. The exoskeleton immediately responded by extending its threads down her back, arms, and legs, remotely replicating the structure of a network of large blood vessels. At that moment, the red indicator on her belt lit up in the form of a horizontal strip of light, where the dark witch immediately attached the battery pack. The exoskeleton beeped approvingly and attracted to the main muscles of the mistress, strengthening and accelerating them several times.

Then Tamura pulled her katana out of the sharpening case and slung it over her back, the katana magnetized to the scabbard obediently. She strapped a double holster with pistols on each side to her belt and put on her goggles.

– Coven’s voice-assistance system welcomes you, Major Hogan,» the headset said, and a translucent splash screen of central control appeared on the goggles’ displays.

– Hello, Thomas.

– The temperature outside is nineteen degrees Celsius. Cloudy, no precipitation. Radiation levels are within normal limits. Do you have any instructions?

– No, Thomas. No,» replied the witch. – Hold on, Thomas.

– Yes, Major Hogan.

– Are you afraid of something, Thomas?

– I’m sorry, Major Hogan. The voice assistant doesn’t have the scripts to handle such deep feelings. Is there anything else I can do for you?

– No, Thomas. Stand down,» Tamura said, taking her beer, leaving the armory and heading for the receptionist.

– Major Hogan,“ she said to the witch, „I have an order for you. Fourteen pieces. Shurikens, I believe. – The receptionist picked up a plastic container containing fourteen four-pointed stars the size of a woman’s palm. Tamura took one out, examined it closely on both sides, and said:

– Do you know my home address? Send them there. All fourteen of them! I’ll count them! – And looking at the receptionist’s frightened face, she added: – I’m kidding. I can’t count. By the way, can I have a company bike? Mine’s a long way from here, and it’s not on autopilot. It won’t come by itself.

– Yeah, here’s the remote,» the receptionist pulled the handle of a pull-out shelf on the wall, pulled out a small keychain, and handed it to the witch. – A minute before you want to use the bike, press this button and it will come right to the remote.

– Grand merci,» Tamura smiled. – Can I make another order? I’d like a new pair of glasses. Model RS14. They should be in stock by now.

– I’ll do it. – The receptionist typed in the model. – I need an official request signed by the High Witch.

– You order and I’ll bring the request,» Tamura replied and left the armory.

A few minutes later, the dark witch knocked on the door of the IT department’s office and opened it uninvited, stepped inside and looked around: the office was a huge open room with desks around the perimeter, where the regular employees of the department worked. In the far corner of the room, an elderly IT manager sat behind glass partitions.

– Loyal priests of the great Cthulhu, the omnipresent and omnipotent god of the binary code, I bring you sacred gifts to placate you and your god!

– Hello, Major Hogan! – cheerfully greeted the witch the staff of the office, without leaving their desks.

The elderly leader came out of his office and went to the witch:

– You’re going to get us drunk,» he said with a big smile, taking both packs of beer.

– Don’t worry, Louis. You’re getting drunk without me. – She put one arm around him, giving him a friendly pat on the back, and inhaled loudly through her nostrils, closing her eyes, «I love coming here. The smell of rosin, alcohol, and thermal paste buries the pitiful remains of a shameful humanitarian in me. Why am I here? Can I ask you for some tin and solder? I’m doing some crafts at home, and unfortunately I’ve run out of the young radio amateur’s kit.

– Of course you can,» Louis answered, and after a moment he froze, closing his eyes. – It’s on me, isn’t it? Your insect.

– You’re so ignorant sometimes, Louis,» Tamura whispered and put her arms around the man’s neck. – It’s not an insect, it’s a spider. And it’s the most beautiful example of parallel evolution. When two creatures look about the same, again to a layman like you, but belong to completely different species. It’s like confusing a man with a lizard. The main difference, Louis, between a spider and an insect is the number of legs. Insects have six. And my little brother is not just a spider, but a mutated hybrid of three species of spider: spider, tick and scorpion, from each of which he has taken the best properties. The DNA of the spider and scorpion allows it to produce such sophisticated toxins that those bitten ask to be killed themselves or go mad with hallucinations. The tick and spider genes are able to sew a very thin and super strong web on my body. And the mutant only needs a small amount of warm-blooded blood as food. That’s from a tick, too. And the scorpion also gave Mitsu a gorgeous exterior, a small but still sting and claws that can easily bite through metal wire or human tendons, depending on the need. And he just sniffed you, Louie. Don’t worry. A primitive organism driven by instinct and curiosity. And it hasn’t been on you for a long time. – The witch opened her mouth, revealing a spider sitting on her tongue. – Listen, Louie, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something. Let’s go to your office.

Tamura entered the office first, sat down in the executive computer chair and put both feet up on the keyboard.

– Can I have a cigarette, Louis? – she asked, and without waiting for an answer, she pulled a cigarette from the packet lying carelessly on the desk.

Louis pulled a lighter from his pocket and graciously gave her a light. Tamura took a deep drag and exhaled a thin stream of smoke, which was immediately drawn into the ventilation nozzle.

– Did you get a personalized vent? – She asked, shaking off the ashes into a glass jar filled with cigarette butts and water.

– I smoke a lot. Especially lately. I can smoke three packs a day when I’m working late.

– Someday, Louis, it will kill you,» the witch said, took another deep drag, and put the cigarette out on the table. – I’ve recently learned an interesting fact, Louis,» she began, to my delight. – It turns out that you, Louis, were in charge of the voice assistant project!

– Thomas?! I was,» the man said with a smile. – Thomas had once been very popular with the staff. Thomas’s server handled several requests from witches at a time. – He sighed sadly. – Now it only tells the weather, radiation levels, and data from the Coven’s archives.

– Why isn’t the project moving forward?

– Thomas is a typical neural network whose synaptic connections have undergone all possible self-learning algorithms. Expressed in simple language, Thomas in its limited interface has reached perfection in development and does not develop further. And why is it not in demand? Because there are plenty of cloud-based voice assistants with a more developed technical architecture. Every resource on the web now has its own voice assistant. That’s what they’re using.

– I’m sorry, Louis. Listen, I was thinking. Is there any way I could customize it for me? Emotionalize it, humanize it, move it to a new server so it can evolve. I’m ready to take a very active part in this project.

– I think it’s possible. We just need to coordinate this procedure with the Coven leadership. I can make a request.

– No, don’t, Louis. I was just asking. I won’t interrupt you again. Get back to work. I’m gonna go. Can I have some tin and rosin?

Louis handed over a new pack of solder, and Tamura left the office.

Chapter 5

She pulled up to the gate of an apartment complex, got off the bike, took off her helmet and fastened it behind the seat. Then she placed the control fob in a special compartment on the dashboard, and the bike turned around and drove off on its own. The witch entered the wicket and walked towards the high-rise building.

– Batu! – She shouted, closing the door to the apartment behind her.

The young man appeared in the doorway leading to the living room.

– My boy, you’ve been waiting for me! – rejoiced the witch, taking off her boots and exoskeleton. At that moment, the sword caught on the frame of the exoskeleton, magnetized, and fell to the ceramic floor with a crash. – I can’t get used to having to unbuckle my katana before I can remove the amplifier,» Tamura smiled.

– I was brought here yesterday and told to wait. They said not to touch anything and that you would be here soon. I didn’t know what to do. So I just stood there at first, and then I got very tired and sat on the floor.

– What a nightmare! You must be very hungry?

– Yes, but I’m much more thirsty.

– What beasts! – commented the witch, tattoos of tears streaming down her face. She walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water.

The guy greedily started drinking, gulping loudly.

– I still have some egg tart left somewhere and some milk. Here! – she handed Bat a plastic container and a bag of milk. – There’s a dining table over there in the kitchen. Sit down and eat in peace. But don’t be in a hurry. Give me some milk too. Get some glasses from the dishwasher. Should be clean if I remembered to turn it on. I’ll go to the bathroom, take off my robe and come to you. – She smiled and disappeared out the door.

Batu ate all the cake, drank the milk and poured himself some more. At that moment Tamura appeared without her overalls. Her entire lean body was tightly encased in a thin gray bodysuit with a silvery glow. On her feet were huge teddy bear-shaped slippers.

– Do you like me? – she smiled and, without waiting for an answer from the shocked young man with milk trickling down his chin, she said: – I’ll walk like this for now. Let the cobweb breathe. She’s very young. – Then she picked up her glass with milk and held it out to Batu: -It’s my birthday today, and I am very happy.

Batu obediently held out his glass and, stammering a little, replied:

– Congratulations!

– Look,“ Tamura sipped some milk and set the glass down. – „On a related note, there will be a celebration for the occasion at a restaurant today. The female employees are invited. And you’ll wait for me here, okay? You can watch TV. I’ll come in drunk and I’ll want a little extra. And we’ll have a drink. You’re 18, right? There’s a bar over there. In the fridge, cut up some appetizers. You already know where to find the dishes. In the meantime, I’ve got two hours and I’ve got some work to do. You want to come with me?

– Can I ask you a question? – the guy was clearly crumpled.

– Of course he was.

– What do I call you?

– That’s a good question, Batou! – she thought for a few seconds. – Lucy. You can call me Lucy. That’s what they called me when I was a little girl.

– Lucy, can I ask you something else?

– Go ahead, Batou. You can do a lot of things.

– Will I be old forever?

– You’re not old, Batou. Don’t worry. Mitsu injected a toxin that caused your adrenal glands to release a massive amount of cortisol into your bloodstream. Your body reacted to the tremendous instantaneous stress accordingly. Your hair turned gray and your face showed deep expression lines. Now you looked like a grown man. – She lowered her voice and, looking away, added: – Though usually one dies from this, and it looks very spectacular. It’s like the person instantly aged and died writhing in unspeakable horror. I have a couple clips of this spectacle on my channel. – She raised her head and smiled broadly. – But you, as you can see, are alive and well! In time, the wrinkles will smooth out, and the gray hair will go away with the growth of new hair. And you’ll look like a young man with a pretty face again. – She patted his cheek.

Batu turned to the small mirror hanging on the refrigerator and ran his fingers through his wrinkles and hair. He paused for a moment, looking at himself, and then asked:

– Where did you take the people yesterday? You know, the ones who were praying in the gym.

– That’s a bad question and obviously unnecessary. Batu, my little man, in this cruel but very fragile world, you will have to survive someday without me. Please make it a rule in life that curiosity is your greatest enemy. Curiosity is sometimes worse than any religion. But I’m gonna answer you. Those who weren’t killed in a raid were executed in the Coven’s cellars. And you’re on that list, too. That’s what you wanted to know, isn’t it? And the pastor turned out to be crazy. Not only was he bipolar, he had the plague. Hiding a colony of dead bacteria under his shirt. I can get you a statement of his condition. I shot him myself. Now come on, I’ll teach you a forgotten but useful skill.

She led him into a small room, half of which was occupied by a huge table with a hinged top shelf along its length. Scattered on the table were thin wires in multicolored sheaths, a few paper packages of resistors. In the middle, closer to the wall, stood a soldering station. And in the center lay an electronic device, which was a thin ring of copper wire and a black square flat block inside it. Tamura lit the table lamp-transformer on the bracket and turned on the soldering station, on whose indicator the temperature reading began to increase rapidly until it reached the value of three hundred and ninety-eight. Then she pressed the buttons to turn on the oscilloscope and the universal power supply.

– Take that chair over there and sit next to it. – She sat down on a high computer chair, put on thin glasses with diopters, took out tin and rosin from the box and began to solder the coil wires to the contacts of the black block.

– This is the controller with the solenoid. And here is the armature of the pulse electromagnet, – she pointed to the black block. – It is tuned to a strictly defined frequency and gives out a powerful two-second magnetic pulse, attracting everything that works at the same frequency. Right there, look. See the contact? Good eyesight?

– I see it.

– Hold the soldering iron. Not by the working part, you know. Dip the tip in rosin and tin the contact. Run it while the stinger is wet. Good job. And your hands are not shaking like mine. Now grab some tin with the stinger and tin the contact. You’re doing a good job. Now do the same with this wire. That’s good. Now, use a clothespin to connect the wire to the contact and hold it in place for a second with the tin. Holy cardiologists! You have a gift!

– Did you get it? – The kid’s eyes are glistening.

– Let’s check it out. Go get the box, it’s on the table in the hallway.

– Now,» Batu jumped off the chair and a moment later was holding the box in his hand, shaking it up and down. – It’s heavy.

– Well, unpack it quickly!

He opened the package and pulled out a black starfish, rotating it in his hand and examining it.

– The body was made of a self-sharpening composite alloy, and inside was the same electromagnet, only miniaturized. About the size of a dime. The beams are weighted. Activate it, here’s the jumper. Put it on the table. Now we connect the minus to the trap. – She’s connected the black wire to the block terminal. – And the plus side, we’ll just tap the contact. – The sprocket on the table snapped off and immediately magnetized itself to the block platform. And the whole structure was thrown off the table with force. – Not bad?!

– It’s still on it,» said Batu, picking up the sprocket block and trying to tear it off.

– Yes, we need to adjust the resting position. We’ll apply short, weak electromagnetic radiation so that the sprockets just hold onto the block and can be easily ripped off. – Tamura knitted a thin long screwdriver and turned the slot of the tuning resistor through the narrow hole. – And since they would be stacked there, each sprocket would duplicate the induction to the next sprocket. Now let’s solder the button.

The witch closed the block with the lid and began to screw the screws around the perimeter of the platform. And, not having tightened the last three, she looked around the table for the missing ones. Then she turned over an iron coffee can and shook out the contents. There she began tweezing through the various nuts, springs, and screws looking for the right size.

– All right! – she gave up. – No more screws. I’ll have to go to Luis’ tomorrow. – Then the witch put on her battle suit belt and fastened the grip block to it with a leather clasp. She pulled the remaining stars out of the box and turned to the boy: «Put them in different places around the room. Let’s see how they all fly.

Batu took the shurikens and carefully placed them around the room. The witch stood in the center of the room, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, exhaled sharply and pressed a button. In the same second, all of the stars promptly tore towards Tamura. Three of them didn’t quite make a clear shot, but still hit the capture platform. The rest of the shurikens struck the witch’s body from different directions and knocked her to the floor. Tamura cried out in pain and turned around sharply. The remaining stars slid down her body and were safely magnetized to the block.

– Oh, come on! – she shouted. – I’ve just been stitched up!

Batu stood motionless nearby, watching the witch writhing in pain.

– Can I help you? – he asked suddenly.

– The cigarettes are in the kitchen, in a sugar can over the stove,» Tamura replied, taking off her shuriken belt and lying on her back. – Light one, please.

Batu held out a lit cigarette. The witch took a deep drag and began groping herself.

– Looks like all the ribs are intact. – It’s all down below. Stomach and flanks are bruised. Spider armor saved me from being torn and wounded. Why didn’t I anticipate the trajectory? They fly in a straight line. Good thing I didn’t get hit in the head! And they were just lying there, so they didn’t have time to build up momentum. What if they’d been stuck somewhere? Yeah. I should put a copper loop around my waist with reverse polarity around the perimeter. So they’d go around me. I’m gonna throw them on the run. Why didn’t life teach me that? I think six reels will be enough. I wish I had more and more often, but I don’t have that many. How much time do we have, Batou?

– A little over an hour.

– We’ll make it! – shouted the witch, jumped to her feet, pulled a shelf out of the nightstand and turned it over on the table. She selected a few coils from the contents, soldered them in series and attached them to her belt with nylon ties. She soldered the remaining ends to the contacts of the electromagnet armature.

– You solder well and quickly,» said Batu, watching Tamura’s skillful work. – You must be an engineer by training?

– Come here,» the witch said and put the belt on the boy. He opened his mouth and blinked his eyes.

– Don’t piss! I’ve got it all worked out! The coils will work in counter-phase with the anchor and create a scattered electromagnetic field. While the anchor will attract the shurikens, the belt will repel them. The sprockets will fly in a circle without touching you.

– But there are only four coils! And you said you needed six!

– That should be enough. If you need anything, I’ll call CPR. You’re supposed to be in a black bag in the basement of the morgue right now. I’m the one who saved you. So don’t worry about it. I saved you yesterday, and I’ll save you now. Come on, breathe deep or you’re gonna pass out.

The witch quickly took the stars and deftly scattered them around the room. The shurikens easily penetrated any surface and stuck deeply into doors, window frames, furniture, and walls. Batu shouted something, squatted down and covered his head with his hands. Tamura pressed the controller button with the big toe of her right foot and jumped back sharply into the corner of the room. The shurikens reacted instantly, bursting out of the surfaces and rushing towards the electromagnet, circling Batu. Immediately, a series of clicks were heard – the controller had successfully magnetized all fourteen stars.

– Beaver, exhale! – said the witch. – It worked out even better than I thought. Would you like a cigarette?

Batu uncurled and fell back on his heel. He swallowed and cried. His hands were shaking feverishly. He took a cigarette, took a drag and coughed.

– Let me go, please,» he whimpered.

– What’s the matter, kid? – The witch sat down beside him and began to stroke his hair. – It hurts me, and you are crying. Well, I’ll let you go. Where will you go? According to all the databases, you’re a dead terrorist. The city’s facial recognition system will identify you instantly. Then they’ll take you to the Coven and torture you. The high witch has a personal demon. He’ll burn you alive. And if he doesn’t, a pagan witch will take you in for testing. With her prophetic whispers, she’ll give you horrible hallucinations. And there is also an old woman who once soaked her hands in the river of hell Kokitos, and now they are constantly forming sores that bubble and burst, releasing into the air the virus of damnation for a particular person – on whom she will point a single finger. And the person turns into a zombie. Kills first his mom, then the rest of his family, and then himself. It’s a terrible fate. But you’re healthy, fed and almost safe with me. Look what we’re gonna do. We will find me an evening dress, you will help me tidy up: comb my hair, choose a hairpin, pick up a manicure, put in a cab and wait. At night I’ll arrive drunk, you’ll undress me and give me a massage. You’ll caress my legs, my back, my shoulders. And in the morning we’ll decide what to do with you. Okay? – Tamura bit down on part of her lower lip, and the tattoo on the witch’s face took the shape of dripping tears again. – Please!

Batu closed his eyes and nodded his head.