Trilogy of Dhana and the Earth. Book three. Invisible enemy

Chapter 7. Pavel ivanovich

How great and successfully my adult life began. The winner of the school competitions, then an excellent student at the institute, interesting work, defense of a doctoral thesis… And in my personal life, I also have luck, I met my dear Frosenka. Even if she is just a teacher of literature at school and cannot participate in my studies, but so much heat comes from her large body! And she loves me! The first year after the wedding was a year of absolute happiness! This year I proved a theorem that made me famous throughout the scientific world.

But, as always happens, then a losing streak began. Firstly, Frosya has had an unsuccessful pregnancy, after which the doctors said that she would no longer have children. And she wanted a son very much! I thought that it was nothing serious, it would be over, and Frosya would become the same. But it didn’t work out: Frosya sank further and further into despair. I decided to take the child from the orphanage. It turned out to be very difficult, I had been getting the necessary documents for more than a year, and Frosya left work and came down with an unknown illness. I came home from work, fed her from a spoon. Finally, we were allowed to take a boy at the age of one and a half, the name of the child was Petya. When I brought the child home, Frosya got out of bed for the first time and was fussed with the housework. I was happy because my wife was babbling with happiness. Possible approaches to solving another mathematical problem were already swarming in my head, but it turned out that my notes were cooked in soup. Frosya didn’t see how our son put them in a pan and cooked me a soup along with math. Unfortunately, this was only the first reminder that now our life has changed dramatically. Most importantly, our son never did the same, I and Frosya was waiting for something new and unexpected every day.

Especially I remember the case when I, happy, came from work: I finally managed to prove the theorem that the others could not. I threw the drafts with proof on the table and went to have dinner in the kitchen. Having back in the room, I found Petka sitting on my desk, making airplanes out of my sheets and letting them through the window outside. I lost control here and I slapped him hard on his ass. Then I got a hit for it from Frosya. I couldn’t renew the missing proof. Technically, the solution was a trivial one. The entrance to and exit from the “labyrinth” was known. From the entrance and exit fled paths – branched chains of formulas. Each chain (without branches) was easy to write out – only 6—7 pages. Taking into account two dozen branches, it was already two in the twentieth, that is, about a million chains. A million variants of chains from the entrance, and towards them is a million from the exit. I had to prove the hypothesis that somewhere in the middle, at least, one of the chains of entry meets with the chain of exit. I would use computer-assisted variants here, but how could I explain to the computer the most complicated logic of the task and the construction of the chains? Sometimes it seemed to me that in those missing fourteen pages I found this unique pair of chains, and then I started sorting the possible variants again… And sometimes I said to myself: “Get over it because on those pages there could have been a mistake”. Then I forgot about the problem for a while and had a quiet life a bit of time…

I also remember slipping on a puddle of black inked glue! It was not easy to clean up the suit. There were a lot of other things… That’s how we put up with it until our home monster turned six years old. A year later he had to go to school, but there was no thought of giving him to a public school because our Petenka could not sit still for two minutes. Of course, he could not read or write.

Then we received the summon to appear before the Child Rights Protection Committee. This summon completely hit my wife because it was clear that we had failed, and Petka would probably be taken to a boarding school for the underdeveloped. Visiting the committee had a bad impact on my beloved Frosya. We were told that we couldn’t cope with the child’s upbringing, that he always ran around in the street, and that the neighbors heard that we punished him harshly. Now we had to pack his things for three days and bring him to the appropriate children’s institution.

When we returned home, Frosya was just desperate.

″Let’s hide him,’ the wife suggested, ‘is the last way out″.

″Frosenka, where can we hide him?″ I objected. ″Alien technology allows to find anyone!″

Here our conversation was interrupted by our Petka:

″Mom, can I go with aunt Bella?″

″Where, my honey?″

″They’re going to visit their great-grandmother in the woods.″

″Go! Go, my dear! ″ Frosya answered and went to see him off.

Happy Petka left.

″What have you done, wife? ″ I said when the happy Frosya returned. ″You know we’ll have to pay a fine for every day we’re late.″

″ What’s more precious for you? Child or money? Let him have a rest before this boarding school for a while! ″

This way our life has changed once again completely.

As you know, we never managed to bring Petka back to the city, and I with my wife stayed in a forest village for years… At the beginning I was desperate. I had to quit my job. There was no salary! How to feed a family? The neighbor girl Mila offered me to set up a school for her and Petya. At first, I took her offer as a joke. However, the real situation made me look at this offer seriously. After all, I lived in Mila’s house, my family ate food from their supply, so I had to work! At least without a salary. To my surprise, six months later, the school was recognized and my salary was started to be paid.

And now let me tell about the son. The change of residence has had a miraculous effect on Petka. He followed Mila everywhere, and he simply did not have time for disgusting behavior. The discipline at our school was not monitored at all: if Petka left the class, nobody paid attention to it. But Petya got used to being with his friend all the time, and Mila did not skip lessons. So he had to sit and listen to his teachers too. Over time, other children came to the village, so our robber walked around the village with seven more of the same brats. I tried to leave them as little free time as possible. In summer I set up the agricultural disciplines at school: care of pets (cows, goats, pigs, chickens…), care of vegetable gardens, fields, gathering berries, mushrooms… There were also lessons in weaving and knitting – for girls, carpentry and construction work – for boys. All this, except for usual school disciplines – physics, chemistry, mathematics, literature, music… Strange to say, though no one made them study, the children coped with it and did not skip lessons for no reason. In many ways, it was connected with little Mila. Somehow it turned out that everything around this girl was getting the way she wanted. And she wanted to learn! And this desire she spread to all her friends.

One miserable day, Mila got it in her head that all her friends had to become telepaths. I knew it was an empty wish; one must be born a telepath. Otherwise, officials wouldn’t be looking for telepathic children for special training in all the towns and villages, otherwise, they could have taught anyone. And my Petka is far from the telepathy, he can’t hear my words, even when I shout in his ear. So, Petka and the group of friends started going to our postman’s telepathic lessons. Of course, it was illegal, but I didn’t mind because I knew they wouldn’t make it.

One day Petka came home happy and said:

″Dad! We did it! I’m a telepath now!″

″It can’t be!″ I didn’t believe it.

Petka kept silent for a while and looked at me as strangely as he’d never looked:

″Dad! I know now why you don’t love me! I’m not your own son. But I forgive you because you can’t love anyone by force. Mila doesn’t love me either, but I still feel good with her.″

I just fell numb and didn’t know what to say. Now I knew exactly what my son became a telepath. Where would that lead? Maybe even for the better? Well, they’ll take him to a special school! He will get a good salary because telepaths are valued!

A month later, the commission came to us from the city and picked up all the telepaths-children for further study. Only Petya and Mila stayed in the village.

″Petka! Why didn’t they take you and Mila? Aren’t you telepaths?″

″Dad! Mila didn’t want to fly with the commission, and I didn’t want to fly away from her. We didn’t tell the commission that we were telepaths, too.″

″What have you done, son? You won’t have a diploma of telepath without study in a special school, you won’t be able to work as a telepath and get a big salary.″

″Dad, it doesn’t matter! The main thing is that I stay close to Mila! Let my life be just like hers. ″

Oh! How small and dummy they are! They don’t know life at all! What to do, everyone should make mistakes in his own way. I can’t help my son here!

I told about all my dear Frosya, and she just smiled:

″It is so good that Petenka did not fly away, but stayed with us!″

Well, what should I do with them! They don’t understand anything!

In two years, in any case, we will have to take Petya and Mila to the city to take the final exams for the school course. I will try to prepare them, although I feel insecure about it. School curriculums are always changing, and I am not aware of the latest changes. Although the last year’s test papers are always available. Maybe, that will be enough?

Chapter 8. School graduating

This is the last year of our school studies. In spring we will go to the city to take the exams. We have to prepare – and not only for exams. By nightfall, I called the dryads to the forest with me. Petka, of course, went with us. This time I decided to talk to Gilk again: you never know ahead of time what will happen and who you will ask for help. Of course, I could have contacted Gilk alone, but I wanted to introduce him to our shrunk team. Besides, I wanted to make sure that Gilk could receive messages on the dryad’s frequency. I thought it would make our connectionless accessible to other telepaths. At the same time, Petka should have gotten to know our new assistants better.

We settled in a meadow in the forest. Kubess and Besska immediately began their usual transformation before our eyes, turning into two huge bushes with roots that immediately disappeared underground. A couple of branches at each bush formed the similarity of two wicker chairs for me and Petya. He looked at these transformations with his mouth agape.

″That’s it,’ I said, ‘get used to it. We’re going to work together with them.″

With these words, I fell down on one of the chairs. Petka sat down carefully on the second one. We held hands and started to connect mentally. I immediately called Gilk, to my surprise, he immediately answered as if he was waiting.

″Yes, I was really waiting,’ Gilk said, ‘just at this time when you have a late-night, and we have the morning, I’m going to my office, putting on a helmet intensifying thoughts, and starting my daily communication session. I’ve been waiting for you, Mila, for a long time, because I’m not aware of your plans yet. I am obliged to help you in all your endeavors. If you need money for this, just tell me, the resources of all humanity are at your disposal.

″No, Gilk, I don’t need money. They will only prevent me from understanding the difficulties of an ordinary person. Nobody should know who I am yet. In spring, I’m going to the city, where I’ll learn how ordinary people live. Before that, I wanted to ask you a few questions. You said that everything was okay on the planet, life expectancy had increased, but you didn’t say anything about the birth rate, population growth.″

″Yes, Mila, you know how to hit the nail on the head! ″ Gilk answered. ″Birth rates getting worse and worse, the population growth is negative. But the work in this direction is being done, the work in the committees for the protection of children’s rights has been strengthened, children’s medicine is being developed, financial incentives for pregnant women have been introduced… I can’t list all at once!″

″So, it is clear! ″ I continued. ″I see, Gilk, it doesn’t bother you at all that we are now talking on the frequency of dryads.″

″No, this frequency has long been a part of my helmet setup,″ Gilk replied, ″since I was chasing the father of your new friends, dryad Kum. Now, this Kum and his wife Bess are on the planet Masha.″

″My new friends ask if it is possible to fly there for visiting. ″

″Once a year, Masha is supplied with everything necessary for terraforming the planet. You can easily fly there if you want.″

″We will necessarily fly, but so far I have things to do here. Now the second question: how telepathic communication in the cities is conducted now? My friends moved out to the city since then I have never been able to contact them.″

″Yeah, that’s a problem, my sapiens are struggling over, too. Long-distance telepathic communication in the cities is now almost impossible, because of which all post offices with telepathic communication have to be arranged at some distance from the city, which is very inconvenient. Or, there is a way, to put in a city powerful strengthening stations, but it badly affects the feeling of citizens.″

″The situation is clear, ″ I answered ″so let’s make a deal: if I have any questions to you, I will contact you on this frequency, about the same time. Thank you, Gilk, stay in touch!″

″Be good!″

Petka and I said goodbye to our dendritic assistants and went home, and Kubess and Besska stayed overnight in the forest as they used to. Petka kept silent, absorbing the information, and I was silent too, what can I talk about? Now we will come home, and his father Pavel would ask me where I was. I would snuggle to him and tell him that his son and I were walking in the forest. Maybe he’ll be delighted, maybe even think that Petka and I have love…

When did it begin? Probably, the first time he came to our village and came into our house. I remember how hard he hugged me by the shoulders. No one had ever hugged me like that before. I repent, I immediately looked into his mind and saw that just such a daughter he wanted. I wanted to have a real father and mother, too, not the two shut-in people who sometimes come to visit me because of their duty. Since then, this ritual has been firmly entrenched in my life. Every time I’d come to him before bed, he took me by the shoulders and say, “Good night, Milochka! ″

″Good night, Uncle Pavel,” I used to say.

Sometimes I thought how lucky Petka was that he had such beautiful parents. How they love each other! I am sure that Uncle Pavel will give his life for his Frosya! And Frosya can do it too… From afar she looks like a giant ball, glowing of love. Come and get warm! But Petka doesn’t understand anything; it’s more interesting for him to make up some stupid prank. I still remember how he offered to pick off all the underripe apples at Aunt Frosya’s trees and arrange a shoot-out of these apples because they are so suitable to throw. I barely managed to convince him not to do that…

So we are at home. Uncle Pavel, of course, does not sleep, meets us on the bench near the house.

″I love, ″ he says ″to see the stars at night”.

But I know he’s just waiting for us to return from our walk and he’s worried about us lost in the night forest. He still doesn’t believe that I just can’t get lost…

″Where are your new friends?″

″They, Uncle Pavel, stayed overnight to admire the forest.″

″Where did they come from?’ I asked Kubess, and he said so strangely, ‘Ask Mila.″

″It’s really hard for them to answer your question. They spent their whole lives in the forest and never stayed in the same place for long. I could say they are from everywhere, from all the never-ending forest.″

″It is strange,’ said Uncle Pavel, ‘Is it really possible to live like that?″

″Good night, Uncle Pavel,″ I snuggled to his side as usual and stayed for a minute… So good! I would like to stand here forever! Pavel smelled of freshly planed planks, and he must have made some furniture for the house again.

″Good night, Milochka!″ Uncle Pavel hugged me by the shoulders and snuggled me even harder. ″Good night, girl!″

″Good night, Daddy,” Petka murmured and ran to his room, and I went to mine. I must say good night to my grandmother Bella… When I was falling asleep, I heard Terra’s voice:

″Is everything all right, Mila?″

″Everything is all right! Will, you be able to talk to me in the city?″

″Of course I will, we are not talking telepathically.″

Tomorrow morning, we’ll grind the question cards again. Oh, I’m tired of this stupid activity. Why do I have to remember something that can be thrown out of my memory in six months and forgotten forever? But Uncle Pavel says, “You have to!″ and I obey. He knows the city better than I do. Maybe it is necessary for us.

Winter has passed, and now there are five of us in a cart going to the city – me and Uncle Pavel, Petka and Kubess with Besska. Uncle Pavel asked if they had any documents, and Kubess answered that they did not need any documents with Besska, which stumped him very much. Aunt Frosya did not come with us. She stayed to renovate her new home. Oh, I did not write that Uncle Pavel had built a new wooden house for his family last summer, and they with Frosya and Petka had been furnishing it all winter. Men made furniture, wardrobes, and shelves, Frosya decorated the house with pictures, embroidery, painted benches with flowers. In my opinion, Frosya is a real artist. I just envy her, because I can’t draw like that. We came to the city. Parents were not happy, because there were not enough rooms to place me in the flat. Recently, my older brother got married and took the last room available. I wasn’t upset, because Uncle Pavel had assumed something like that in advance and said that I could live in his flat for the time being. So, wishing my parents all the best, I ran away to Uncle Pavel and Petka. Petka was happy with my moving. Uncle Pavel asked me where our friends, Kubess and Besska, were staying. I replied that they had a place to live. I couldn’t tell him that two huge bushes had grown in one night in the nearest ravine.

A couple of days later, Uncle Pavel arranged for secondary school exams. Petka and I were not worried about it. We passed all the C-levels. We got our diplomas. It is good that we got over it, though Uncle Pavel was very dissatisfied, because with the C-level diplomas, as he said, we don’t have a chance. Now we can start searching for our friends. But Uncle Pavel was out of his mind last time. I asked him.

″Milochka,’ he replied, ‘you and Petka will probably have to live without me now.″

″What’s the matter? ″

″The fact is that many years ago I didn’t give my son to the Committee for the Protection of Children’s Rights. In the time I missed, a quite big fine ran up. I can’t pay this fine. Even if I sell my flat, there won’t be enough money. The flat, however, will have to be sold anyway! I don’t know where you and Petya will live. Perhaps it is better for you to go to Frosya.″

″What about you, Uncle Pavel?” ″

″And I’m going to go to jail and work for the rest of the fine. Tomorrow there will be a trial.″

″Petya and I can come to court to listen.″

″If you want, you can, but you can’t do anything about it.″

The next day, we were in court. Everything went so quickly. Ten minutes later he got a verdict. Uncle Pavel had to pay off the debt to the state in the amount of two million galaxies (this is such a common alien currency). If he can’t pay, he will have to spend a year of forced labor for every thousand galaxies. We came home very sad.

″Uncle, is there anything else you can do? ″

″What can I do now, girl? Can I appeal to the city court? But they will only confirm the result of the district court.″

″No matter, Uncle, just do it, maybe we shall invent something else…″

″Well, if you advise I will, I’ll appeal tomorrow,” my uncle hopelessly snuggled to me and went to his room.″

″What are we going to do now? ″ Petka asked.

″We’re going to have to work this night! ″ I answered. ″We must save your father! ″