&nbsp;-------<br>|&nbsp;bookZ.ru collection<br>|-------<br>|&nbsp;&nbsp;Henry&nbsp;Lion&nbsp;Oldie<br>|<br>|&nbsp;&nbsp;The Eighth Circle of Subway<br>&nbsp;-------<br><br><h3>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Henry Lion Oldie<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Eighth Circle of Subway<br></h3><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;…Eddy slipped into the car at the last moment, and behind his back, the guillotine-like doors shut with a clang. A siren howled, and the train darted forward whistling and rumbling, and picking up speed immediately. Somebody cried involuntarily, as he fell on a spiking elbow rest. Eddy only smiled; this guy would get off at the first or second circle. Or he would perish. The Subway did not tolerate such types.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The face of the guy from up there came into view: beaten, distorted with pain and despair; his dog-like glance at the policeman raising his club. It was the guy’s fault; he did not cross the road in time, while the light was green – but still…<br>
&nbsp;//--&nbsp;* * *&nbsp;--//&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;…The train stopped even more sharp than it had departed; that time, however, nobody hit against the needles sticking out from the front wall. Eddy considered for a moment whether he should get off there, and the pause saved his life. A tall guy in a chequered cowboy-like shirt and blue pants that sat tight on his hips dashed to the exit and ran into a break-mode. The doors twitched, and the guy was cut in halves. The blood gushed, a black maw of the utilizer opened wide in the floor, and the body parts fell down. The floor closed up.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The break-mode worked rarely, especially during the first circle; so till the next station nobody should be afraid of any other dirty tricks. However, at the next station he would have to get off. The strict rule of the Death-Riders: in one car – from one stop to another.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;On the ceiling, the deathly-pale ghost-lampswere blinking, and the illumination made all the passengers look like zombies. “Most of them actually will be dead soon enough,” thought Eddy. As for Eddy himself, he did not intend to become a dead meat. Just like all the others did. Including the guy who was cut by the breaks…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy did not finish his thought. The train slowed down at the far end of the station, but their car stopped where it was still possible to reach the platform by jumping. Eddy was the first who jumped on the platform, covering the seven-foot gap without any effort. Simultaneously, a young lad with a sparse black moustache landed nearby. Eddy appreciated the accuracy of his movements. A strong rival! One had to keep the eyes open. Who knows what’s in his pockets.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The escalator ended abruptly, and an abyss yawned under his feet. Eddy was ready for that. Only a novice could be caught by “the gap”. He threw his body with a jerk to the neighbouring escalator, moving down. The first circle was over. However, it was just a warm-up.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The step under his feet went down, and Eddy remained hanging on the handrail. Behind him a shriek was heard, but it was choked immediately, being crushed by the gear wheels rotating below. Eddy glanced around hoping secretly that … – but no! – The dark-haired guy was safe and sound, hanging on the handrail just like Eddy did.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The footstep returned to a regular position, and Eddy dropped the handrail. Just in time. An electric discharge went crackling along the handrail, and those who had not jerk their hands back in time, fell down on the steps in convulsions. Well, the first grass was cut…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy jumped off the escalator, and safely avoided the “devil’s ass” that opened in front of him; then he started running over the platform. The second circle began.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The train arrived almost immediately; it stopped at the middle of the platform. It was suspicious, but to stay in one place was dangerous, so Eddy jumped in. Some people, including the dark-haired guy, also managed to jump into the car before the guillotine-like doors closed cutting somebody’s hand off. Eddy felt pity for the guy, yet that one would survive, though without his hand; during the second circle, the wounded were still rescued…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;…The floor opened, and Eddy hung on the handrail again along with the others. He was right not liking this train.Just imagine that their hands could be given a high-voltage shock! Though no, it wouldn’t happen. In the Subway, one always had a chance. A tiny and barely visible – but you got it. Only the Russians had such places where there were no chances at all, as the story went. But the Russians managed to pass even those places, if they did not lie.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And the Russians did know how to lie. For instance, they said that there were no police clean-ups there… They said that policemen were afraid of sticking their noses outside. What in blazes such police was needed for?! Or whatever they called it.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;About twenty seconds remained to hang on till the arrival to the station, when a robust guy, hanging next to Eddy, suddenly kicked him in the stomach. Eddy nearly quitted hold of the handrail because of the pain, but miraculously he didn’t do that. You fat son of a bitch! Eddy slipped his hand into the coat pocket, and felt for an old gas lighter. Only a novice would ask for trouble during the second circle. If the guy were a “green hand”, he would try again. The robust guy tried. But when he swayed on the handrail, Eddy stretched his hand and clicked the lighter next to the fat fingers clenching the rail. The guy bellowed, and jerked his hand back instinctively. At that very moment, the train stopped. Nobody paid attention to the scream of the falling down. The third circle awaited them.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The sharp and glittering steel door leaves opened, but there was a gap below instead of a floor. It was not a surprise to Eddy. After all, he had gotten to the seventh circle last time. Although, he had barely escaped being smashed by “The Merry Fellow” back then and fell out of the race. Eddy swayed and unclenched his fingers at a carefully calculated moment; he leaped forward, managing to grasp the edge of the platform. The contact rail was dangerously close. He pulled himself up, and rolled over the edge. Ah, “the labyrinth”! The third circle.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The sliding paths were crawling along the platform, intersecting each other at different levels, turning and changing their direction every now and then. Eddy watched those apparently chaotic movements for several seconds, till making the decision which way to go. He could not explain how he did it, but he did not intend to explain anything to anyone, for that matter. When Eddy jumped on the chosen path, the dark-haired guy landed nearby. Behind them, there were three more guys. Yes, only three. Well, how quickly it…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;…Eddy instinctively jumped upon the neighbour path, and a heavy press fell to the place where he had stood a moment ago. Skipping the next line, Eddy jumped to the far one, then next… In ten minutes, he reached safely the other side of the platform. A minute later, all of their company gathered there.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The train already waited for them. Everyone jumped into it without casualties; only the last one lost the boot heel. Pure luck! He could have lost his foot, instead.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Scarcely had the train dashed forward, when the light went out in the car. That meant nothing good. Ah-ha! Tentacles studded with suckers started crawling lazily out of the walls. The octopus-car! They were in a deep shit! Straight to the fourth circle! Eddy snatched the knife out of his sleeve, and started cutting the tentacles stretching towards him. The rest were busy doing the same. The slaughter took place in silence, and in nearly total darkness; only a heavy breathing, and sometimes the whistle of a knife missing its target and cutting air was heard.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One tentacle nevertheless reached Eddy’s arm and stuck to it immediately, tearing his clothes and skin. He struck it with the knife without looking, but the crap didn’t even think of falling off! With great effort Eddy managed to tear off the squirming stump, but his arm was bleeding heavily. He bandaged it somehow with a torn off sleeve, and caught his breath. It would be nice to have some rest, but it was too early; only at the seventh circle there was a safe spot, a “neutral zone”. This time, Eddy intended to go all the way. Just as those four. Actually, three… The fourth one was on the floor, wrapped all over with greedily pulsating tentacles. He seemed to be alive still, but even if everything were cut off, he would bleed to death. Despite of the fact, a thin guy in eyeglasses – why was the student still alive?! – bent over the dying man, and tried to cut the horrible cocoon. It was senseless, but Eddy involuntary felt respect to the Four-Eyed.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The platform. Jump… roll over. “The clothespin” clicked angrily behind, but it was too late. Where to next? To the other side of the platform, to the fifth circle, or straight to the sixth one via the “Haemorrhoid Emma”? And Eddy jumped into the tunnel.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He immediately began sliding down the absolutely smooth sloping gutter. It was dark, and Eddy put on his infra-glasses. He slid down the pipe that constantly curved at various angles with an ever-increasing speed. Due to the glasses, Eddy noticed timely a long blade springing out from the floor in front of him; he threw his body to the wall, and rushed by in an inch away from the blade. A turn, another one… Steel hooks hung from above. Eddy pressed himself to the floor, trying to be as flat as he could. Farther, farther…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Suddenly, he saw light ahead… It was either the station or… Or! Those were the lights of the train! The damned “Haemorrhoid” was carrying him straight under the wheels. Eddy barely had time to pull out a vacuum sucker, and stick it to the wall. The train was rumbling right by him, and he was hanging there, clenching the saving sucker, and praying to all the gods he could recall. In the middle of the prayer something crashed into Eddy’s back, the sucker failed to hold, and he fell under the wheels…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy came to his senses almost immediately. The back of his head and the grazed side ached; but as a whole, he got off easily. Apparently, he fell into the tunnel a second after the train passed by. That was what a sincere prayer for your soul meant! Even if the content was only approximately correct.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A dark spot stirred next to him, and immediately took the shape of a man. Eddy rather guessed than saw that it was the dark-haired guy. Damn him! Yet anothertough guy…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The platform edge appeared to be quite close. This time, Eddy climbed on it with difficulty – the result of the fall. His companion climbed after him. Eddy looked around, and noticed in surprise that the skinny Four-Eyed was also with them. The fourth guy, however, was gone.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“And where’s the other one?” Eddy blurted out. The Four-Eyed crossed his arms without saying a word.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy turned away, and walked along the platform, automatically dodging the fly-breakers flying over him every now and then. His head worked poorly. Eddy walked as if on the autopilot, but he did not give it a second thought. There was something more serious at the sixth circle; Eddy had been there before.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Here it was! The machine resembling an asphalt compactor rushed straight towards him, but, unlike the latter, it had a decent speed. Eddy stopped, waiting. When the machine was quite close to him, he tumbled abruptly aside. The compactor missed him, but slowed down immediately and turned on to attack again. What the hell, where was the train?! As if mocking him, the train flew out from the tunnel and stopped several yards away from Eddy. The heaven-sent doors could close any second, while the raging compactor already rushed to cut off his way. Eddy dashed headlong to the doors. A crack ran across the platform, and the floor began to sink, falling out under his feet, but Eddy pushed himself off the crashing platform in the last effort and managed to roll himself inside the car, miraculously escaping the needles at the entrance. In comparison with the sixth circle platform, that dangerous car seemed to be sweet home to Eddy…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Just like ten years ago, when their district went mad. Everything was crashed, the ground crumbled under feet, the barracks burned, and a dirty giant bulldozer with a lifted bucket was inexorably nearing from behind. Well, it was okay at the moment, as it was the Death-Ride after all, but back then… Then, they just did not evacuate in time. Nevertheless, Eddy escaped. Both back then – and today…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The dark-haired guy and Four-Eyed were already there.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Thank you for distracting its attention,” said the Four-Eyed politely.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy cursed in response. Oh yeah, distracted! Just the damned compactor chased him, not those two jerks; it would be better if it were otherwise.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The train dashed from the station into the darkness. There were two more circles ahead.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They jumped out on the platform almost simultaneously, and immediately laid flat on the ground. A dim twelve-foot blade went over their heads with a whistle and disappeared as if it had never existed. Trains didn’t go any farther. The seventh and eighth circles had to be passed on foot. A car, though hiding dangers within it, provided at least some protection. Outside, one was deprived even of it.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Not waiting for the rest, Eddy jumped up, and started running to the other side of the platform. He reached the pedestrian tunnel called “the intestine” in slang, and was stunned by the absence of traps; Eddy was scared by it more than by anything else. The dark-haired guy and Four-Eyed looked at him dumbly and started walking along the platform; at once, three compactors rode out towards them. Eddy pressed himself against the tunnel wall, watching the situation.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Four-Eyed ran zigzagging, while avoiding “the black holes” in a surprisingly careful way; the compactor rushed after him, getting closer little by little.The dark-haired guy ran in a straight line, but it wasn’t the panicked run of a condemned beast – it was the famous “life line” that every Death-Rider had heard of. All would go well, were it only not for the two compactors rushing to cut off his way.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Four-Eyed jumped aside at the last moment, the compactor missed, and crashed a pair of fly-breakers swooping too low; the machine turned, but it was too late. By that time, the Four-Eyed already stood next to Eddy.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Well done!” said Eddy approvingly. The Four-Eyed smiled abashed, and due to his smile Eddy felt somehowbetter. “We still have a chance!” he thought, not paying attention that he used plural for some reason.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The dark-haired guy was doomed, but he continued running stubbornly in a straight line, without turning. The two compactors reached him simultaneously, but at that moment the dark-haired guy did the impossible – he flew up into the air, jumping nearly six feet high, made a somersault and rolled over the platform, not deviating from the “life line”. The very moment he was in the air, the two compactors crashed into each other.The flash of blast blinded Eddy for a moment. When he was able to see again, there was a burning heap of deformed metal on the platform, smoking and emitting soot. The dark-haired guy stood beside them, and they could hear his convulsively beating heart. Eddy shook the guy’s hand silently; he couldn’t make up anything better.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Let’s go,” he said in a suddenly hoarse voice, and began striding through “the intestine”, not looking back.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There were no traps in “the intestine”, but something more horrible than the first circle standards awaited the Death-Riders in it. It didn’t keep them waiting for long. A blinding light flared ahead, and an increasing howl and rumble could be heard; that was, perhaps, how the Devil laughed in Hell, mocking another unlucky sinner. That’s why the thing was called “The Merry Fellow”. It was a huge metallic cylinder, almost the size of the tunnel, which rushed through “the intestine” from time to time in different directions.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One of the veteran Death-Riders said once that if you ran towards “The Merry Fellow” without turning away, shouting: “I crash you!” – It would stop and turn back. Most likely, that was a joke; Eddy wasn’t about to check it. He dashed along the tunnel, seeking for the saving niche in the wall – it had to be somewhere! Here it was… Eddy dived into the niche and pressed himself against the wall. Next moment, he was pressed harder, but that appeared to be just the dark-haired guy. “The Merry Fellow” flew by, howling.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“The poor student,” thought Eddy. “He didn’t make it… Then again, even if he did, there was hardly a place for two in the niche.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The howl ceased suddenly, and a smacking sound was heard; then there was silence. Eddy and the dark-haired guy looked out from their shelter; the dark-haired guy let go Eddy’s arm, which he had been pressing against the wall. “My God, were it not for him, I would be left without the arm!” Eddy realised; he looked at the dark-haired guy in a different way. The dark-haired guy, however, was looking in the opposite direction, where “The Merry Fellow” had disappeared.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Four-Eyed stood there– alive. He threw a black plastic square on the floor, and strode towards them. Sure! The Four-Eyed had burnt his life-card. So, he was safe for ten minutes. During that period, he had either to get to the finish or withdraw, because the eighth circle meant a certain death without a life-card.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Do you go farther or withdraw?” asked Eddy, when the Four-Eyed came closer.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“I withdraw. I’ll go with you till ‘the neutral zone’, recover my breath, and withdraw. That’s enough for me. Last time, I went only as far as the sixth circle.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Ah, so he isn’t a novice,” thought Eddy. “Then again, it was obvious earlier…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;… All three of them dashed into the safety island, leaping over the blinking border, and fell on the floor. For a minute or two they lay silently, relaxing. Then the Four-Eyed glanced at his life-timer. He had about six minutes left. He lay down again, and after some lingering said: “Just think that in the past, the Subway was usual means of transportation. Some thirty or forty years ago…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Continue telling another one,” Eddy responded lazily.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“It’s not a lie,” the Four-Eyed got offended. “I’ve read about that in the books.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“In the books… And what about guillotine-like doors? The ‘Devil’s Asses’? I would like to meet the guy who invented ‘The Merry Fellow’…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“There was nothing like that back then.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“And what was there?” the dark-haired guy raised himself a little, getting interested.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Just subway. Rails, cars, and the doors had rubber gaskets instead of knives. The escalators were also normal, without any traps.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“So why the hell did they devise all of those?” asked Eddy unbelieving.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“It was those damned self-organizing systems… and the symbiont-programmers,” the Four-Eyed muttered. “However, I must go, sorry.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He came up to a rusty ladder descending from above, and started climbing it, dexterously. Soon, he disappeared from the sight.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Let’s lie for another minute, and go on,” Eddy said. “The last circle left.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“No need. Stay here. Have a rest…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy turned back abruptly; two guys stood at the border of the island. One was a huge beefy chap, about six and a half feet tall, with an old Army “Berthold”. The other was small, without eyebrows, without eyebrows or any other hair on his face, and the only masculine thing about him was his eyes. To their left, three “scrubs” stood beside the ladder, holding various iron objects in their hands.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“We're not the angels that you dreamed about…” whistled the castrate; the beefy guy muttered something gloomily, probably, appreciating the joke.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy had heard about “the angels”. “Guys,” he began, whining. “You got the wrong guys, we have nothing but our pants, and these we’ll pull off in a wink, and we’ll…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Begone, Satan,” the bald fellow uttered in a mentoring tone. “Tempt not our hearts with thy lies. Got it?”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy got it. They wanted life-cards; he got it from the beginning. On the black market, the card could cost as much as seven grands, so that even two were worth of risking. By the way, his cards were from the black market as well. He never asked where they came from.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Fellas,” Eddy drawled in a servile voice. “Fellas, don’t take a sin upon your souls, we’ll never make a step without them at the eighth…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;He would make it. He had to. To pounce on the beefy guy – they wouldn’t expect such an action from him; then he would escape into “the intestine”. They would not chase him; even the symbionts would not be able to catch a death-rider in the Subway, especially at the seventh or eighth circle… They did not want to get themselves killed, did they? Only the dark-haired guy… But who cared about the dark-haired guy?<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Somehow, inconsistently with his own thoughts, Eddy jumped up straight under the castrate’s feet (the guy turned out to be surprisingly heavy), and threw him, roaring, on the beefy guy. The latter had excellent reflexes, and he dodged, while the castrate flew out of “the neutral zone”, shrieking, and disappeared in “the ass”. Well done, beefy boy! A sound mind – in a sound body! It was about time to run into “the intestine”! Jumping in a quite different direction, Eddy seized someone’s arm holding an iron bar, which intended to crash the dark-haired guy’s skull, and thrust his whole weight upon the man’s elbow.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At first, he thought he broke his own arm, as the sound of a shot was quite low. Eddy sat on the floor and watched how the beefy guy raised his gun again. His wounded shoulder ached badly, but unlikely that was of interest to anyone. Apparently, it was. The shirt on the “angel’s” chest swelled in a bloody bubble, and pieces of flesh flew out everywhere. The beefy guy fell down on the floor keeping a surprised expression on his face. The rest of the team vanished immediately in the grey mist of the hatch.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The dark-haired guy took a small cylinder out of his pocket, not hiding it any longer, and stuffed it into his right smoking sleeve; his grenade launcher was loaded once again. Then the dark-haired picked up a gun and gave it to Eddy.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Here you are. It might be useful.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Are you okay?”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Almost. Got my leg stabbed with a knife.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“They wounded me in the shoulder. But it’s nothing. What’s your name?”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Max.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“I am Eddy. Can you walk?”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“I’ll try. If not – go alone.”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Go to hell,” said Eddy kindly, unexpectedly to himself. He helped Max to bandage his leg, and they got up from the floor. The eighth circle was ahead.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy vaguely remembered what happened later. They dragged themselves along the platform, staggering; the platform crumbled under their feet, the walls around burnt, and it was hard to breathe. Both of them intuitively dodged fly-breakers and ball-lightnings every now and then, avoided traps not even noticing them, and went on and on…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sometimes, it seemed to Eddy that he was on the surface again, in the city. There was fire around him again, everything burnt, the Abandoned Houses writhed in the fire, and the fire-fighter’s trucks extinguished the flames with an acid blend. It was hard to say what was worse – the blend or the flaming hell all around. Farther, there were the police cordons behind the wall of fire; they waited for the hiding symbionts to run out towards them. They did not plan to conduct investigation – they always shot first, and investigated later… Then, the moment of clarity came. They were in “the intestine”, and “The Merry Fellows” moved towards them from both sides. The niche was far away; besides, there was no space for two in that niche. Nevertheless, Eddy couldn’t leave Max by that time. So, he did what wouldn’t have come to his mind only an hour ago. He snatched out his reserve – a hidden life-card that he had carried miraculously through the control machine, and put it into Max’s hand. Max had burnt his own card by then. Both cards blazed up simultaneously, and “The Merry Fellows” disappeared, as if vanishing into a thin air. However, at the eighth circle, the life-cards functioned only for a minute, instead of ten minutes at the other circles or half an hour under the regular Subway regime.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A minute was not enough. “The Merry Fellow” speeded towards them again, and the platform was still far away. Then both of them turned around, and raised their right hands. It was forbidden, but they didn’t give a dime about all the bans! The shot flashes went one after another, and it didn’t even occur to them that the charge of their grenade launchers should have finished long ago. Only when the howl ceased, they lowered their hands. “The Merry Fellow” turned into a heap of a molten metal.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Then, there was a lapse again. Eddy only remembered that Max fell and couldn’t get up, so Eddy threw Max up on his back, and carried him. Max protested weakly; electric discharges cracked around, and a stupid violet cloud chased them; but Eddy walked on and on, using what was left of his strength, and swearing by just invented words…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Till he saw the light.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;…Flashes blinked everywhere, and barrels of TV cameras openly aimed at them; a guy in a white tuxedo and with a dazzling smile shouted constantly into the microphone, but Eddy couldn’t get what this guy was talking about.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Eddy McGrave… the winner… the pride of the nation… a prize of one thousand life-cards… progress of Mankind…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“You idiot!” Eddy cried out, grabbing the man in the tuxedo by his lapels. “Max, tell this…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Then he saw the Four-Eyed in the crowd, who smiled and waved at them; and finally he fainted…<br>
&nbsp;//--&nbsp;* * *&nbsp;--//&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The three of them sat in the Four-Eyed’s small flat (Eddy never found time to ask his name). They drank coffee and synthetic Cognac. The Four-Eyed was talking for about five minutes, but Eddy didn’t hear him. The only thought beat in his mind: “We did it!”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gradually, the Four-Eyed’s voice made its way through Eddy’s thought:<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Bastards! They don’t understand what they have created! This is hell… and the satisfied and doomed devils in pyjamas, burdened with their families and debts, feast their eyes on the suffering of dying sinners… before bedtime! As if there were no tomorrow!”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Eddy reached out for a glass of cognac; or rather he wanted to, but before he did it, the glass slipped into his hand by itself. He didn’t even notice how it happened. “I’m losing my mind,” Eddy thought. But suddenly he recalled their single-charge grenade launchers that made a hundred of shots, his own unmistakable choice of the path in “the labyrinth”, Max’s “life line”…<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;They were supposed to die. But they were sitting and drinking coffee. They became human beings – or not quite human beings. Or truehuman beings. What did they become?<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“This is not hell,” Eddy thought. “He is wrong. This is a purgatory. You don’t pass it, you go to hell. You pass it…”<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At that moment, Eddy saw that the Four-Eyed stopped talking and was looking at him.<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Eddy, my friend”, the Four-Eyed said quietly. “Do you really want your children to become human beings only after they pass all the eight circles of Subway?”<br>
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Translated from Russian by Irena and Michael Pevzner.<br>
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