I pad to the map, find "Three Piglets" on it, bethink just in time and poke my finger to the nearby 'institution'. I was there just a couple of times and didn't like it, too noisy and pompous.
63/2
– This is the more common picture, right? There are 63 people hanging in the restaurant's space but only two used its own phone channel to connect.
Urman nods.
– We detected "Labyrinth" by other means.
I don't consider that it's a cunning and not very friendly interlocutor before me anymore. I'm really curious how to figure out the means they used to detect the person that never entered the Deep.
– Okay… It's not feasible to trace every and each connection signaclass="underline" too expensive, too time consuming and also forbidden.
Urman looks at me with such smugness as if it was him who solved the problem instead of ordering to do it to his specialists.
Let's think, it's useful sometimes.
Here we have a flow of electronic impulses. It's not important now where it came from. This is just data – the simple 3D image of a person, Unfortunate. It enters the computer that serves the "Labyrinth"'s 33rd level, either through the modem or directly into CPU. The computer places the image to the beginning of the level and gets prepared to control its movements, to broadcast its voice to other players, to calculate the effect of its shots, to move the gravels pushed by its feet. Well, and of course to send the images that the player sees with his left and right eye, the sounds that he hears, the pushes he feels through the virtual suit…
Stop – where to send if he never entered the Deep?
The glitch happens here. The computer processes Unfortunate's actions but doesn't know where they came from, and where to send the results. Can this be reflected on the server's performance figures? It should but on very specific ones, something like the ratio between the volume of CPU processed data and the data sent/received through the modem. One should look for this information beforehand in order to find the server with an uninvited guest in several hours…
– You were expecting him, – I say, – You knew that he will come!
– We assumed such possibility, – specifies Urman, – The person able to enter virtuality by himself should have appeared sooner or later.
– Without a computer? – I say these ravings which – how funny – will not seem the ravings for anyone far from computers and networks! This is as ridiculous as to imagine somebody who can connect directly to the phone line, it's just plain stupid.
But Urman might be all but stupid. He's a common millionaire who extracts incomes for Al-Kabar from everything: from the Earth's bowels, retransmitter satellites and runny noses.
– We are not alone to work on alternative means of interactions with computers, – says Urman, – Keyboard, mouse, helmet and suit – all these are the remains of pre-virtual era. The next step is direct connection to the visual and hearing nerves. Plugs… – he rotates his finger by his temple, either doubting his sanity or trying to illustrate the socket implanted behind his ear. – But this way requires too much work on the society's mentality. It's much harder to break people's psychology than to drill the skull and to plug a chip into the brains. If we could avoid that… if we could to just enter virtuality… the world would turn over.
– And you want to turn it over so much?
Friedrich is serious.
– When the world turns over my friend, being the first who stands upside down is the most important thing.
I stay silent, I have nothing to say. Would I want to enter the Deep without computer? Without Vika behind my back? Without the fear before the virus weapons? Without interference on the phone line and without eternal pursuit for modems' speed?
Funny question, of course I would! But I just don't believe in this.
But I really want to believe.
– As far as we know, the divers on contract with "Labyrinth" have tried to drive Unfortunate out, – says Urman carelessly.
I nod, their intelligence works well. Just what wouldn't the dollars do if applied in the right time and in the right amount!
– …And also someone, known as Gunslinger, – adds Urman, – Also the diver, I assume?
– Yes, it was me.
Urman nods.
– Then I expect the promised explanations.
Maybe the best thing at this point would be to whisper "abyss-abyss" and to vanish but I just can't do that after Urman's sincerity. The hole in the skull is really much simpler than the hole in one's life principles.
– Soon after our first meeting I was forced to meet…
Urman raises the eyebrow.
– Yes, that's right, *forced* to meet a person whose name I don't know. He offered me to sort out the situation that emerged in "Labyrinth". He didn't explain any details. Only later did I understand that he was talking about Unfortunate.
– We call him Swimmer, – notes Urman, – in analogy with you gentlemen.
– Basically, that's it, – I say. I really hate to be interrupted.
– Was the reward promised to you?
– Yes.
– A big one?
– A huge one… – I can't help myself and add: – I'd say that you won't be able to offer me more.
Urman is very serious, the talk became a business one but he doesn't yet argue or try to prove Al-Kabar's coolness.
– How had that person found you and why exactly you?
– He organized the dragnet for the divers and I… had exposed myself a little.
– Do you have any ideas of his personality?
– Absolutely none, – I say honestly but maybe not honestly enough: Urman is silent, looking into my eyes questionably. Maybe my words are analyzed by the lies detector and somebody reports the results to him…
– Just one more detail. He knew about my visit… to you. And he was well informed about the talk that took place. The fact that you wanted to offer me the same job was also known by him.
Urman holds the blow. Hadn't he hold enough of them in his life? But the shaking eyelid can be seen on the mask of tranquility. It's always unpleasant to learn about the spy by your side.
– Thank you, diver.
I smile leniently. What a trinket… Let the two spiders twitch in their cobwebs…
– Can you tell anything about Swimmer?
I shrug.
– Nothing special. Just a person. Sometimes there was an impression that he has Deep– psychosis, he takes what's going on too seriously. Otherwise he's quite adequate.
Urman nods. It looks like they have managed to plug to "Labyrinth"'s computers seriously and to control the events. This makes me to ask:
– Have you tried to trace Un… Swimmer's signal anyway?
– There's no signal at all.
Either Urman suffers the sincerity attack or is really interested to persuade me completely…
– "Labyrinth"'s servers do not broadcast Swimmer's data, to neither direction. He… hangs on the level by itself.
So it's true… the human who entered the virtuality directly?
– "Labyrinth"'s administration still tries to trace his comm channel, – throws Urman in, – but according to our experts they'll make the same conclusions in five, or at most eight hours. Then the real panic will start.
I can imagine. The level will be isolated or maybe even the whole "Labyrinth of Death" will be freed of players. The direct tunnels to the 33rd level will be hacked hastily, if they don't exist yet doesn't mean that it's impossible to create them. All monsters will be turned off, all buildings will be frozen so that Unfortunate wouldn't be accidentally hit by the fallen brick. Then the crowd of psychologists, hackers, officials, Anatol and Dick – all they will flow into the empty level, will surround Unfortunate with care and endearment, will bring him to the exit on their hands…
I can assume for sure that they won't need my help then.
– Do you agree to collaborate with us?