A moment before immortality. Juriy Tashkinov

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      – I wouldn’t refuse, I guess.

      – What if this meant taking someone’s life?

      – What do I care about someone else’s life? Few people cared about me, why should I care about others?

      Igor once again glanced sideways at the notebook, covered with even rows of numbers. How much time did Vlad spend filling out the thick notebook? How bored do you have to be to waste your life on meaningless calculations?

      – But you are deceiving me, friend. You are one of them too.

      – I’m not a droid. I don’t know how to achieve immortality. But there is some truth in your words: I lived longer than most, even in our highly genetic age. Myceliums live underground for centuries. I’m not a scientist, I don’t know the details, but a drug based on them promotes rejuvenation and longevity. But there are also side effects: everyone can’t live as long as they want, so someone has to willingly give up their years to you. Are you ready to take mine? I have lived enough and am ready to share.

      «I always dreamed of immortality,» Igor rubbed his hands greedily.

      Vlad suddenly pressed his lips to Igor’s neck.

      – Hey, friend, I understand everything, but I’m not one of these! – Igor pushed Vlad away. His face was smeared with something red. I tried to get up, but my body seemed paralyzed.

      – While you are dying, Igor, I will tell you my story. I’m almost seven thousand years old, although I might have lost count. I traveled for a long time until one day I stopped on your planet. Our race had discovered the secret of longevity, but the recipe had one flaw. Two people must drink the alcoholic infusion of the parasitic fungus, and one must voluntarily give years of his life to the other.

      Igor glanced sideways at the bottle with the image of Mendeleev.

      – Or if someone wants to take your life, then you can also take his years. This elixir of youth was a gift for us, but also a curse: to prolong the lives of their children, parents gave up their years, and the children cried until the end of their days about the irreparable loss. But when I found myself on your planet a thousand years ago, it became a real Eldorado for me. There are so many scoundrels who would attempt on my life. By the way, vampires do not feed on blood. I’m an ordinary person. I just need a sample of your gene pool to analyze your estimated lifespan. But about our love for the blood of scoundrels – it’s true, I couldn’t drink anything else. You know, I’m so tired of endless boredom. For the last two hundred years I have been looking for a successor. But only people as narrow-minded as you come across. You are not interested in science and art, philosophy is alien to you. All evening you only said a few words, and those were about hating those who have what you don’t have. What will you spend your long life on if you are given it? Of course, my Graham number calculations are also not the best thing, but I will continue to look for myself rather than give my years to someone like you.

      Robo-merchants scurried along the platform, selling dried fish and porcelain. Men and women hugged next to the train. We are glad to have a long-awaited meeting. The children – who had not yet turned eighty-five – were greedily licking their ice cream cones, trying to escape the heat. Igor Vasilyevich Negodyaev took the train, but never reached his destination, but no one noticed this: perhaps he got up at a stop earlier. He had no one waiting for him upon his arrival. Many people on this train get up earlier than their scheduled stop. Although, around the world, many irreplaceable people disappear without a trace, and they are immediately replaced by other irreplaceable ones. Maybe he decided to become a droid or fly to Proxima Beta, who will keep track of everyone?

      A man with a notebook covered in numbers glanced out the window with one eye, hopefully looking out for someone who might one day complete his calculation.

      Elven Syndrome

      A bright sunny day, not a single cloud. The noisy three-dimensional flow of gravikars does not interfere with the illumination of the lower floors of the City. It’s hot and stuffy, but I still feel like sneezing. Allergy is the main plague of the twenty-second century. People overcame cancer and AIDS, and later Corona and flucovabola succumbed, but each new help in overcoming diseases gave birth to new ones in the body. I, like you, with a ninety-seven percent probability, have had hay fever since childhood: it affects the bloom of any flower and the spore of any mushroom. What are the authorities thinking? Why don’t they uproot all the plants on the planet so that people don’t suffer? They are afraid of the damned Greens: «Stop deforestation!», «Greens are the lungs of the planet,» «Plants feel too!» What do I feel, the plants don’t care? They are creatures if they sense my illness, but continue to spread poisonous pollen. I hope at least it will be easier on Mars. A long queue begins just outside the entrance to the station, above which is the inscription «Russian Railways wishes you a happy trip!» He wiped away his allergic tears and used his eyelashes to call up a certificate that was projected directly onto the retina. It turns out that back in the last century people used railways. The carriage moved along two long metal rods. Apparently, people did not live very well before the invention of gravikars. And after the accessibility program «Gravicar for every family member,» people learned to fly like birds. Turned thirteen – get a license, buy yourself a car and fly to school in your personal car. Although, Katerina Kabanova’s dream did not fully come true: we became more like bees flying out of skyscraper hives in search of work than like free birds conquering the skies.

      – Girl, are you the last one at the cash register?

      – I’m not extreme. I’m the last one.

      After Russian became an international language, everyone became so literate: they correct others in any situation. But overall, I am glad about the end of American hegemony after the collapse of the United States as a result of the «revolution of dignity of all colors and races.»

      – I’ll follow you.

      Every two or three minutes a new passenger was allowed inside. It was my turn. The air conditioners and filters worked well inside, so I immediately felt pleasantly cool, and my runny nose went away.

      – Are you transporting explosives, narcotic substances or substances that enter into a nuclear chain reaction? – asked the young African-Russian woman in a monotonous voice.

      «Nuclear,» the guard looked up at me in surprise. I showed her my wristwatch. – They are in America.

      «Enough jokes,» the droid girl frowned. Of course, would an ordinary person do such monotonous work? Although I would go, but people are not hired very often: they need rest, they are not so hardy and efficient. – Come in for inspection. Men to the left.

      – Boys – to the left, girls – to the right? – I smiled. The security droid furrowed her brows again, but remained silent.

      This is the hundredth time I’ve gone through this procedure, and each time it’s equally unpleasant. He stripped naked and put his clothes in the provided container. All the nurses in this room are droids, but I still instinctively wanted to cover some places with my palm. One of the nurses ran the sensor along the body. After the local flucovibol pandemic, doctors learned that viruses can raise body temperature in a particular part of the body, and the rest of the body will be healthy, but no less infectious.

      – You have been sick in the last four weeks or have had contact with sick people.

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