LITMIR.BIZ

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and cigarettes filled the air. And dead silence.

      Peeping in all the rooms, he ran through the living room and flung open the door leading to the garage. There were no changes in it. Mother’s white double mini-electromobile was in the center. Its rear bumper hung over a wooden hatch of the cellar. The hatch was shut tight.

      Knocking on it with his knuckles, Andrew said loudly in Russian, “Mom! Are you there?”

      The answer in the same language came from below, “Yes, sonny!”

      The lock clicked. The cover started to open slowly.

      Andrew helped Nellie up and embraced her.

      “Thank God.” He shifted back to English. “How are you, Mom?”

      “I’m OK. I heard such awful noises and clatter. They must have turned the house upside down, haven’t they?”

      “Yes, they have. Don’t worry, I’ll find them. Did you see the faces?”

      “Yes, I did. Fearful ones. At first they broke into the neighbor’s house; I saw them out my window. I tried to call the police, but couldn’t get through. Then they headed here. I hid and called you. I hope they didn’t break the vase your father had presented me for my birthday!”

      Andrew had only a vague memory of his father. George Barkov was killed in a battle against separatists in the north of Russia when Andrew was five years old. But he knew very well what vase mother was worried about. It was an elegant Chinese porcelain with a high narrow neck that had always stood on a shelf in her bedroom.

      She hurried to the bedroom and stared at fragments of the vase scattered on the floor. “They broke it!”

      Andrew tried to soothe her. “Mom, we’ll glue it together.”

      Nellie objected, “No. To glue porcelain is a bad sign.” She looked round. “And where’s my wooden box?”

      Andrew walked around and examined the room. “They must have taken it. Was there anything valuable in it?”

      “Nothing but your father’s signet ring.”

      Andrew remembered this ring. It was a stylish thing made of platinum and decorated with the Capricorn image – his father’s zodiacal sign.

      “Mom, don’t be upset, I’ll do my best to find those swines and get the ring back. I know how important it is to you. All the memories it brings…”

      “The memories of him are here,” she touched her forehead with her finger. “Losing the vase and the ring is not the worst thing. Before the robbers came, I was watching the e-vision. There was terrible news from all over the world. Did you see?” As she talked, they walked toward the living room; the e-vision was still on, just as she’d left it. An ancient holographic video emitter with big old-fashioned loudspeakers hung on a wall, safe and sound. Apparently it had not gained the burglars interest – it cost no more than five credits at a flea market. The sound was down but semitransparent images of destruction floated in front of the emitter.

      “No. But I saw what has happened in our city. Car crashes on roads. The stadium roof broke down. And an airplane fell on a residential neighborhood.”

      Nellie lowered her voice. “All airplanes fell that had been in the air. Ships sank… Whole fleets did… And even satellites fell from the near-earth orbit, two of them with astronauts on board! Nothing like that has happened before. In a few minutes, they are guessing that more people were killed than in the Unification War… Thank God distant satellites remained, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to contact you!”

      Her eyes filled with tears. Andrew touched her shoulder. “But we are alive. And we will live!”

      “The main thing is that you are alive. As for me, it’s high time…”

      “Don’t talk bosh, mother!”

      “Never mind.” Her eyes went to the e-vision image as a news bulletin flashed a message. “Look! Now the President is going to make a statement. Shall we listen together? But,” she looked at him with worried eyes, “you must be in a hurry?”

      Barkov could turn on the e-vision in his car, but he didn’t want to leave his mother alone right after the burglary. He knew every police officer was needed on duty right now, but this was his mother and she came first to him. I must make sure that she’s OK.

      He looked at the window. His electromobile was still standing near the house. Emily was sitting on the back seat. She had no chance to escape from there. The locks could only be opened by the electronics from the driver’s seat that she couldn’t reach because of the durable partition. It wasn’t possible to open the car from the outside either. The doors would not “listen’ to anybody except the owner – Andrew had setup the system so that it was convenient for him to transport arrestees.

      “I’ll stay. Let’s listen to what the President has to say. Besides, I’ll help you do the rooms.”

      Nellie turned up the volume by force of her brain, but there was no voice, just interim music. The text “Special Statement of the President of the World’ appeared in the air. There was a countdown timer under the text.

      “Two minutes before the speech!” Nellie exclaimed as she sat down on the sofa wiping her tears. The images became a little more rich and natural – she must have increased opacity and contrast to the maximum level that the emitter could support.

      Her son started to put the scattered things back into cabinets.

      “Don’t do it, son, sit down, take a rest,” she urged. “I’ll do it later by myself. Half of the junk should be thrown away. Thanks to burglars – without them, I wouldn’t do it in a hundred years!”

      She’s trying to joke. That’s good.

      “As you wish.”

      He sat down beside her.

      A gray-haired person with slanting eyes and prominent cheekbones appeared in the air. It was CHENG Wenming, the second President of the United States of the World. Contrary to his usual habit, there was not a shadow of a smile on his face.

      “Dear friends,” he started slowly in a dull voice. “I have bad news for you today. The asteroid that had been considered harmless, brought a disaster. Flying past the Earth, it multiplied the gravitation of our planet. It is estimated that about thirty million people were killed within just a few minutes around the world. We mourn the dead. It’s our common pain.” Lowering his head, the president froze for a few seconds and then looked at the camera again. “But the trials and tribulations have not finished yet. The asteroid caused deceleration of the planet. Its rotation on its axis has started to slow down. As a result, the earth day has already become five minutes longer. And, although the asteroid stopped exerting influence on the planet, the deceleration process continues. Most likely, the cause is the Earth’s core. According to scientists from the International Academy of Science, the metal core of the Earth is rotating slower than the mantle and the crust. It is an abnormal phenomenon. There is friction in the bowels of the Earth. It has become a cause of earthquakes and volcanic explosions in different parts of the world already. Seismic activity does not cease, but, on the contrary, increases. Scientists prognosticate that this process will last for some more days – until the rotation speed of the core, the mantle and the crust are synchronized again. I’ll tell you the truth: we’ll have to go through difficult times. It is possible that it will be more dreadful than all the world wars taken together. In such circumstances I am compelled to declare the state of world-wide emergency. All strategic objects will be under protection. All those in need will get help. Relevant instructions have been delivered to the World Government. Take courage – nobody will be left alone to fight against the elements. Together we will overcome these difficulties. I promise!”

      The President pronounced the last words with confidence, raising his voice.

      An

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