The Before Short Story Series. Part 1 - Иван Перепелятник

will seem nothing more than a primitive children's game from the last century. To understand what we are offering, you can put on a headset and we will give you a presentation. Make yourself comfortable in this chair. The entire presentation will take no more than two minutes. It will be more than enough to understand the capabilities and potential of this device. As they say, seeing is believing.’

The silent grandeur of the Grand Canyon in Arizona was there, right in front of Susan. The bright sun was dazzling. Susan took her sunglasses out of her bag. The sky, so deep that one plunged into it in an endless and free fall. She was almost off the ground. Deep chipped channels reliably testified to the violence of the elements that once dominated there millions of years ago. But like everything with a seemingly infinite energy of life, the height originally taken in the battle with time, was given in. The inevitable and irrevocable course of time is truly determined by only one key law: the transformation and connectivity of everything. At the starting point the end of it is set up. Descendants should draw a conclusion from another lesson presented by nature—everything changes, and everything has a limit, regardless of our ambitions.

Susan shuddered—the silence was cut by the call of a faithful predatory guardian assigned to keep order in the canyon gorges. Looking around, disoriented by the flow of her own emotions, the newborn tourist noticed a bird soaring high in the streams of warm air rising from the crevices. Stepping back from the glass fence on the stone ridge, she turned her gaze to the bright brown observation deck. The morning sun, generously flooding everything with its rays, has already heated the rocky surface. Susan was alone on the observation deck. In the distance, a little lower, there was one capsule in the parking lot which apparently brought her there. She turned back towards the canyon, trying to memorize everything in all the detail and absorb every little aspect. Coming closer to the glass barrier, Susan looked down over the fence. The earth began to rapidly approach …

As though waking up, Susan got back to her senses. Around her was nothing. Void. All black. Realizing that the headset was still on, she carefully took it off.

‘Oh dear… What is it… What's it?’ Susan looked around, trying to get over it. ‘I… where am I?’, Susan turned her head in complete confusion.

‘Susan, it's all right. Look at me. You're safe. It's all good. You're right where you were. It's only been a few minutes. We are in the office of V-Tours. Here, take it, please… Drink some water.’

‘This is something amazing. I can't describe my feelings. I was there! In the Grand Canyon in Arizona! I was there physically, feeling with my skin what was happening, breathing in the air…’

‘Yes, it's a fantastic experience. And on the other hand—what do you remember? It's like you've just been to Arizona in the Grand Canyon. Like a tourist who reached his destination on the journey. It was perfectly natural. You were just there.’

Susan burst into laughter:

‘I can't believe it! How did you do it?!’

’It's just… a revolution in travelling… Perhaps not only travelling. In short, Susan, thanks to the recommendation of your friend, you have experienced a new development that will change the world beyond recognition. Soon, it won’t be long till we live in a somewhat different world. We don't even know how. We yet haven't realized the full potential of this technology.’

‘My God! This is some kind of fiction! I was there!’

‘The system of neuro-communicators built into the headset scans the biorhythms of your brain, makes an electromagnetic connection and puts you in a state similar to stasis. This is when your body is in a complete blackout. Your sense of reality, all your receptors are completely blocked, but the brain activity is as high as ever. At this moment, our system works in such a way that you, your brain cannot distinguish the real from the unreal, being in a state of pseudo-stasis. It would take you one day to get to the Grand Canyon from Madrid. Not to mention how much effort and time it would have taken earlier. Now all what is needed from you today is to sit in a chair with a headset on. I cannot but note that this development would not have been possible without the defining role of the PAX artificial intelligence. And all the calculations and assessment of what you have seen is done in the cloud by the power of the system.’

‘Some kind of virtual reality!’

‘I would say, Susan, this is a new reality or, at least, an alternative reality.’

‘It's getting a little scary. I'll tell you what.’

‘This is partially the reason why we are in no hurry to make our capabilities known widely. It is already obvious that this stage of active testing is coming to completion. And it will be pretty soon. Let me get down to business anyway. Where would you like to spend your holidays, Susan? What are your preferences?’

Before: Politics

‘A small entity cannot absorb a large one. Or is it possible? Who knows, who knows. Which of these two can come out the winner? Who has a character, who hardens it, and who just happened to be born bigger,’ Robert stared at the fish in a fish tank in his office, twirling a can of worms in his hands. Aquatic inhabitants, who not for once had witnessed important meetings and negotiations in the home office of the owner, were used to receiving encouragement for exemplary behaviour in the form of a daily portion of live food. But that day something changed. There was no reward. ‘What’s wrong?’ the fish were asking a dumb question, looking closely at the changing shadows behind