Symbols of London

Eugene did not have time to sleep. He had trouble staying awake and in his head he felt some kind of heaviness. He understood that he urgently needed to buy several hours of sleep. Therefore, the former lieutenant of the External Intelligence Service Eugene Kmykh, without stopping anywhere, went to the nearest red telephone box. Why they were called that way, he did not know. Some claimed that once these booths served as a means of communication, when conventional telephones did not yet exist. At first, it remained symbol of London, and then it began to be used for selling sleep. Kmykh did not study the history of the Cenozoic at school, and therefore he had little faith in this version. He had a regular ring-shaped phone, which was usually attached to his ear or finger. On the way to the red telephone box, he put his finger in the ring that was in his pocket. The phone counted the fingerprint, and a hologram of the keyboard appeared in the face. Kmykh never kept the necessary numbers in the notebook of the ring. He kept all necessary twenty-digit numbers in memory.

“Hello, Bill!”

“Hello, Eugene! How are you?”

“Bill, please pay the parking of my capsule for another week. Now I have a two-hour break for eating, buying sleep and need to return to the factory. I was very lucky – the boss allowed me to work in two shifts. In a week I will accumulate weekend hours, and it will be possible to play billiards and drink Jägermeister.”

“You were unlucky. I am three hundred miles from London. Priscilla and me choose a houseboat. Fishermen are selling. The house is in very good condition. We will not be in London for three days. I will drive the house closer to the shore. Agreed with one huckster, he rents out a pile foundation just two miles from the coast. You know, if you cling to a pile, then any storm is not terrible.”

“I agree, near the coast is better than on the high seas. Here you can buy human sleep, and in the sea you have to sleep 6-8 hours daily. I do not understand how these fishermen can sleep for hours. For what?”

“Don’t worry. Your capsule will not be confiscated. Yesterday a decree of the lower house of Commons came out. Now they can only solder forfeit.”

“God bless the queen! I am glad!”

“I'm glad you're glad! Priscilla wants to buy a plot of water at sea. Here, far from the coast, they are inexpensive. She wants to set her own pile. I am against, but away from the coast I liked it. We have been here for two days. I slept twice for ten hours! I really liked it!”

“You're lying again!”

“You would be visit here for a couple of days. It is fantastic!”

“It’s far away. In the capsule I need to change the batteries. Buy energy. I’m already afraid to fly on it with such batteries around the city, that's why I left it in the parking lot. I hope now I will have enough money when working in two shifts.”

“Not will be. They are always not enough. Okay, we'll talk about this later. I have a good plan.”

“You inspire hope. Okay, I'm already at the red telephone box. I’ll buy sleep and return to the factory. It's rainy and damp here.”

“Here sun is shining. Okay, bye. See later.”

Kmykh turned off the phone and went into the red telephone box. Telephone boxes didn’t accept cash in the factory’s area and even two blocks from it, because the hooligans hacked them and the police tried not to visit such areas. Kmykh had 8 Britcoins in cash and 18 on a visa card. At the factory, he was paid 8 Britcoins for an eight-hour shift, but he spent a lot of money for cigarettes. On the monitor screen, Kmykh chose 8 hours of sleep and leaned his forearm against the sensor with an integrated Visa card. A message appeared on the screen that there was not enough money. 16 Britcoins from his account disappeared somewhere. At that moment, he felt the vibration of the ring. This was a message from the bank. Putting his finger in the ring, Kmykh read the hologram, – "8 Britcoins were charged to your account for paying for parking at Sobyaner and Sons and a fine to the municipality is 8 Britcoins. 2 Britcoins are available." Kmykh hoped to get hit by an open-hearth ray to have his body rested and slept, but now he was worried. He had to work 8 hours in this condition. It was dangerous, he could lose this job. Kmykh quickly left a red telephone cabin and headed to the factory. On the way, he went into the ‘Boobs’ cafe for drink a cup of coffee and buy a cigarette. Kmykh was here for the first time. He had not smoked for a day and was comfortably seated in a high chair by the bar. Some unemployed people played billiards. The other peoples played cards at some tables. A bearded man sat by the slot machines and looked around from time to time. The bartender’s face seemed familiar to Kmykh. He wanted to order coffee with Martel cognac, but the bartender was already pouring Martel in coffee. After a couple of seconds, the bartender took a cigarette from the shelf, put it on a saucer and brought it with coffee for Kmykh.

“It's strange. Where I saw you?” – said Kmykh to the bartender.

“Sir, the war in Antarctica, you saved me from a frozen capsule.”

“Indeed! You are captain Military Space Forces, Detachment Delta! You were taught to read minds. I envy you. And what are you doing here with your abilities?”

“I became an invalid, they fired me. I began often to make mistakes. By the way, coffee and cigarettes at the expense of institution. This is my bar and you can go at any time, drink and smoke at the expense of the establishment. This is not much that I can do for you, Lieutenant Kmykh.”

“Thank you, but nobody knows me in this district and there may be problems with hooligans. Now I’m not a lieutenant already. They expelled me from the Army without a pension and gave another year in prison. I had a trampling zone in Acapulco prison.”

“Damn, the corpses we are missing!” – said bartender.

“What corpses?”

“Those two behind the billiards just wanted to rob you. Don't kill them here, please.”

“Good, comrade.”

“The word "comrade" is better not to use, because we have a squealer here, that bearded one, now sitting at a game slot machine. If he hears, then one year of prison Acapulco you will not get. They will be sent you to titanium mines Rosgeology.”

“Well, thanks, I forgot your name.”

“Olaf, sir," – said bartender and added his twenty-digit identification number, which, everyone has as their phone number.

Kmykh already finishing cigarette, while two billiard players came up behind.

“Dude, you owe us money.”

“What money?” – Asked Kmykh.

“You just lost all your money at our billiard table. Give me your cash”, – said the man with a scar on his face and took out a 12-gauge Kalashnikov antique pistol from under the cloak.

“Here we have online cameras fixed for Scotland Yard, you’d better remove the weapons,” – Olaf said.

“You better silent, huckster, otherwise you'll also have to pay,” – said the man with the scar. He was dressed in a tarpaulin cloak, which was usually worn by the homeless. Kmykh realized that cameras record everything, and police will not be able to attract him to get punishment due to excess self-defense. Thus, showing the gun, the bandits untied Kmykh’s hands. Kmykh was already late to work. There was no time to conduct an explanatory conversation. He noticed that the Kalashnikov pistol was on safety lock, and at the same time, with the blow of a finger knocked out the bully's left eye, and then pulled the pistol out of his hand. The bully was shocked for two seconds, his eye hang down on the optic nerve. Then he began to scream wildly in pain and touch the face with his hands. Kmykh did not like the noise and hit by fist to his head, sent the bully in knockout. The bully’s friend was confused and a cue remained in his hands.

“Now put the cue in place and quickly take your friend from the cafe. Pull him away from the entrance”, – Kmykh said quietly.

While the other bully carried the cue, Kmykh to five seconds took the Kalashnikov pistol apart and threw it on the lying bully.

Olaf poured whiskey into a glass and moved it to Kmykh. “There is a card under the glass, it has a little money on it, and it’s also the key to the elevator cabin to the subway. Go into the toilet, the last booth is closed, open it with a card. Inside be sure to stand on the black square and lean the card to tank. Press the drain and elevator will take you down to level 17, right in the subway. Here are cameras everywhere, so take the card from under the glass unnoticed so that I'll don’t invent an explanation for the police”.

“Thanks, Olaf.”

“Good luck, sir!”

Kmykh specially took advantage of the emergency exit from Olaf's cafe to avoid meeting the drone and not wasting time on giving evidence. Metro-Underground named by Churchill was at a depth of seventeenth level. The exit from the elevator was in the blind zone of the cells, and a marble slab-door opened inside. Without causing any suspicion, Kmykh ended up in the subway. He was in this subway for the first time. Previously, when the capsule was under repair, he used the free municipal metro named after Fidel Castro, which was at the twelfth level. These two subways differed not only in their level of comfort, but also in their visitors. The poor, unemployed, or Karl Marx fans, as well as hooligans and criminals of all stripes, liked to use the free underground. Kmykh did not have time to look at the beauty of the Churchill Metro. The metro capsule following the metro tunnels towards the factory should have appeared in half a minute. Kmykh realized that, at best, he would be two minutes late to the factory entrance. For this, they were usually dismissed under article 33, the planet’s labor code. After Kmykh settled down in a convenient capsule seat, the passenger safety drone on duty asked Kmykh to fasten his seat belt. Having passed two blocks of the underground part of the city, Kmykh left a comfortable nine-seater capsule and headed for a high-speed elevator, also designed for nine people. Having paid for the entrance to the elevator, he comfortably sat on the couch and fastened his seat belt. As soon as the castle clicked, a hologram appeared opposite the face with the image of level numbers and a list of institutions and entertainment facilities for each level and its underground floors. Kmykh chose the zero level, since it was on the surface that the entrance to the underground factory of Zyu Corporation was located. Having come to the surface, he had to overcome two hundred meters along the sidewalk. He covered this distance with a light run. There was only 20 meters to the checkpoint, and Kmykh had 30 seconds left to not be late for work. Suddenly, the Royal Guard drone appeared overhead. He, like all drones, was in the shape of an egg. It was an intelligent drone Ostap. If an intelligent drone was given a female name, then a small decorative propeller was attached to the top of the egg. This was a tribute to antiquity, when at the dawn of the development of drones they moved with the help of propellers. Drones with real propellers could only be seen in the Yurievo – Maiden Museum of Drones. Now a drone with a token blocked Kmykh’s pathway, hovered in front of his face and then introduced himself – “the Royal Guard drone, name Ostap, token 35-218. You are a victim of an offense. Do you need the protection of the Royal Guard, change of identification number and change of appearance?”

“No. Thank. I think that everything will be okay. Can i go?”

“No. You are also in suspect in excess of self-defense. You must answer a few questions. Whatever you will say may be used against you.”

“OK. I understood.”

“Why didn't you run away from the robbers?” You could was avoid the necessity to cause bodily harm to the robber.

– I have a sore leg. I damaged her during the war in Antarctica. You can verify this.

“Well, a second … Yes, indeed, you had a laser wound and a tissue rupture by microwaves. But you also underwent a course of treatment, and I just saw you running. So you had the opportunity to run away.”

“No, it doesn't. When running, I experience severe pain. When I leaving the subway, I accidentally found an anesthesia pill in my pocket and swallowed it. It was the last. I thought they were over. I ran so as not to be late for work. But it is already late.”

“The answer is accepted. You may go with recognizance not to leave the borders of London or wait 2 minutes for a court decision. After a court decision, you can be detained and arrested.”

“Yes. So I'm already late. Two minutes will not solve anything. I'll wait.”

During these minutes of waiting, Kmykh looked around and noticed a hovering drone of the Astacher and Sons law firm twenty meters away. Kmykh knew that this Company was popular with the poor, because it offers her protection and services on credit.

“The charge has been dropped,” said the Royal Guard drone two minutes later, “the court has taken your side. You may go. Within 90 days, you have the right to seek protection from harassment. Have a nice day, sir,” – said the drone, and disappeared as silently as he had appeared. The drone of the law firm also rose on a couple of meters higher and began to move slowly along the sidewalk towards the entrance to the Churchill Metro.

"What the damn day!" Kmykh thought and went into the factory building. Going through the identification frame, Kmykh met the Company's security drone.

“Hi,” – the drone said, – “you are 7 minutes late and your contract with the Company is terminated. You're fired. You should now go to cabinet 1080 in the Takeover Department. You are recorded for a conversation with the head of the department.”