Buy or Die. There cometh a time of ruthless advertising. Theodor Ventskevich
you to forget that there is a war going on here and now. The real war,” he answered to Z’s surprised look. “The war in which our friends and comrades perish, leaving their families without a… without a… Well, just leaving their families.”
The commandant looked sternly at Z, and he made the appropriate face.
“The enemy does not sleep. Every minute, every second the enemy tests our strength, looking for weak spots in our defense and striking blows to the most sensitive and vulnerable parts of our society.”
The commandant lowered his voice.
“Here is a bulletin for the elapsed day. Almost seven thousand cases of forced purchase detected; some six hundred cases of theft of personal time on a large scale and three thousand cases of similar theft in lesser amounts; more than six hundred cases of non-return, eight of which were lethal. In their memory, I declare a minute of silence!”
The commandant tried to get up and even put his hands on the table, but there was nothing under the table that was capable of letting him get up. Z nodded solemnly, making it clear that the impulse was perceived correctly and felt deeply.
When the minute was over, the commandant collapsed into a chair and continued:
“Your task for today is to patrol Eleventh, Twelfth, Eighth and Ninth streets. In other words,” the commandant looked at Z with barely concealed contempt, “just ride in the car along these four streets and see if something bad happens, and when it happens, react as is required by Charter. Do you have any questions?”
“God forbid!” Z shouted.
“God forbid!” the commandant echoed piously.
“Excuse me, sir. That’s just a human saying,” Z explained, hiding a smile. “It doesn’t require any response.”
“Very well then,” the commandant nodded dryly. “Roll up your sleeve.”
Z obeyed. The commandant took a syringe from the table and gave an injection. From the needle, a dull gray stain began to spread rapidly over the hand. Z knew that in a minute he would be gray from head to toe, including his clothes and the whites of his eyes. An Undo officer was not someone who could be easily lost in the crowd.
It is not known whether this was a harmless psychological effect, or whether the injection did contain some additives; but along with a gray color, the Undo officers invariably acquired an extra set of extremely positive qualities. Everyone had a different set. Z, for example, felt much braver after the injection, stronger and nobler than before. And much more honest too. Many times, having regained his natural pink color in the evening, he was ready to gnaw at his elbows, recollecting all the opportunities that had been missed in the morning.
Meanwhile, the commandant was already holding Purifier, ready to hand it over to Z.
“Do you swear to use Purifier only for the good of the city?”
“I swear.”
“Do you swear not to use Purifier where you can do without it?”
“I swear.”
“Do you swear to use Purifier where you can’t do without it?”
“I swear.”
The commandant sighed and reluctantly parted with the weapon.
“I wish you good luck.”
The commandant saluted. Z hurriedly saluted back, nodded, and left the room with relief. In the corridor, four janitors were dragging away a drunken guard who resisted fiercely and loudly sang out lines of the seditious song:
“Where clouds of steel
Scar dead red copper soil,
And electrical seals
Dance in rivers of oil.
Where rains run an acid
And the air has teeth,
Where steel soul is placid
And a man cannot breathe.
Where masters have gone
And lie neatly in rows
Hugging rotten old bones
In a cemetery doze.”
Toy was ready. Gray and faceless, he patiently waited for the last missing part – his driver. There was something else… Z looked closely and winced: there was a dead man in the back seat. Gray, like all Undo employees, but dead. For some reason, the whites of the dead cook’s eyes had not stained and remained dirty yellow. It looked monstrous. Z pulled out old glasses from the glove compartment and put them on the dead cook. There was a distinctive stink in the cabin already. Artificial flesh, Z remembered, decays faster than natural flesh.
“Splendid!” Z said aloud, carefully fastening the dead man in with a seat belt. “I have lost my ear and I have the dead cook in the car instead. Okay, Toy, let’s go. And open the windows, please. I can’t imagine how you can be sitting here.”
Chapter 6 | Proposal
Of course, Y was late. Having received his penalty bill, he habitually moved towards commandant’s office to get the injection, but the guard suddenly stopped him.
“Director was asking for you,” he said.
“Are you sure?” Y was surprised. “Director? Asking for me?”
The guard consulted with something within himself.
“Absolutely,” he confirmed. “Director is waiting for you and has already asked twice if you had arrived.”
“Well, I have arrived now,” Y said with dignity. “And I am quite ready to visit our old dear Director. Where did you say he is?”
Having worked in the Undo service almost since childhood, he not only never saw Director but had not the slightest idea what he could be like.
“He occupies the top floor.”
“How will I recognize him?”
“He is alone there. It would be hard to miss. Good luck anyway.”
Y nodded and moved towards an elevator.
***
Director turned out to be a pleasant young man with unpleasant manners.
“That is probably from the need to manage everything at once,” Y found him an excuse immediately. “The power spoils…”
“Sit down,” Director waved his hand impatiently. “Tea? Coffee?”
“Coffee, please.”
“Sugar?”
“Thank you.”
“Milk?”
“A bit.”
Director smiled.
“Or maybe you prefer a brandy?”
“Certainly I do,” Y agreed, returning the smile. “But the Charter…”
Director waved his hand casually.
“Never mind. You have a day off today. I have already signed an order.”
“Really?” Y said, trying hard to remember if he had really woken up in the morning.
They waited in silence until the secretary brought them brandy and coffee.
“Well, let us take the bull by the horns,” started Director, pouring the brandy into glasses. “The thing is that we have lost the head of the analytics department.”
Y made a sympathetic face.
“My condolences.”
“Ah, come