you, Tunor. Yesterday, you were late at the meeting again. Perhaps you should not be replaced by someone else. Do not misunderstand, I trust everyone equally (the employees of the NDC), but when our only public figure, privately communicates with the authorities, who give us an ultimatum in favor of our own planned development, it makes me twitch more than usual. I know that the issues you are discussing will not lead to consensus. And, I do not know what else can be thought of to fool their brains, at least until the end of this year.
«I am not holding on to my position, my prince.» He smiled, and the nostrils of his crooked nose, covered in beads of sweat, widened. – You can put anyone in my place, but I will never betray our oath and our dream.
– I guess I look like a senile. You know how curious I am. Agree, the temptation is great. Moreover, we are not going to bend in front of them, which means that they will take action in the near future.
– It’s my fault, Haste. – Sadly Tunor lowered his eyes. «I promise I’ll do my best and figure out how to fool the advice.
– I will be very grateful to you, – the prince turned around, and with a quick step went to where he came from.
– We need something more than clay abacus, – a slightly plump man, in sandals and a white shirt, stands in the middle of the NDC control room. His name is Vaidah. An ingenious inventor, chemist, mathematician and just a dreamer. By nation, he is a purebred Nahmau. Both of his parents are from the Shelber Valley. They died, under mysterious circumstances, when he was still a child. He, along with other orphans, was taken to the Vayelon orphanage, at the request of the village elders. – Our electronic calculator, promises to be fast, multifunctional machines. It will take years to design the hardware and code it correctly. But, in no other way. Is the information in the book worth the effort? – he began to stomp around a square table running along the walls, on the blue, luminous floor.
– As far as I understand, we have solved all the symbols, but we are not able to read? – asked a young girl sitting at this gray, metal table, just opposite him.
– Right. We know the meaning of all sixteen thousand three hundred thirty-seven characters. But we cannot read them without knowing the sequence of reading. It is completely chaotic.
«Not chaotic,» corrected another man sitting next to the woman. This is Assam – one of Haste’s closest friends. Another classmate of his. – We found out that its content obeys the dependence of two to the power of x square minus one. But, in order to find out which character follows which, it is necessary to brute force them, as a single unbreakable chain.
– Exactly, – that plump eccentric approached them, tightly squeezing his hands into the castle. – Here, the only catch is that the combinations corresponding to the full search are only links, pointers to the true text. These symbols are words, numbers and geometrical values at the same time. Thus, this text encodes itself twice. Only with the help of a powerful calculating machine can the reading sequence be understood.
– Incredible. The one who encrypted this must be a real madman, – the woman was enthusiastically indignant, stroking the voluminous cover of a large, unnamed book lying in front of her. Then, she quickly flipped through the pages in order.
«Be careful, Neilie,» Haste approached her, grabbing the book and putting it aside. – Perhaps this book is not from our world.
– Come on, – the fat man in the white shirt laughed. – You wouldn’t believe it just because you found an hourglass next to her, going backwards? Perhaps this is one of Lafar’s books on programming methods {x, y}.
– It would be nice if so, – Before the prince floated a whole collection of different clocks, under glass, recessed in the stained-glass wall. There were also arrow stands, solar, mechanical, and, of course, classic sand. «Lafar was not crazy enough to encrypt his books this way. And besides, who cares? As far as I know, no one understood his books, except for a handful of his mentors. – Taking in his hands one of these large glass vessels, in a beautiful stone case, he approached his fellow inventors. This semi-mechanical old watch, he got from his grandfather, as a gift. Inside the container, there are round discs and thin gears. Blue, fine-grained sand, distributed between these discs, with a mesh bottom. Separate sections showed hours, minutes, days, years, full moons, and solar eclipses. Putting this decorative item on the table, he silently watched as sand poured from different sections at different speeds.
«This clock, made in Shelber,» he finally broke the silence. – To find out what time we live in, you don’t have to turn them over for years. When the minutes are up, the hours remain higher. When the days are up, there will be years, and then eclipses. But, sooner or later, they still have to be turned over. – In his other hand was a watch from the dungeon. He placed them next to his watch, watching the grains of sand rising in it. – If the sand fell first down and then up, they would work forever. I know that eternity inextricably connects us with the world around us. We must devote all our efforts to building an electronic computer, and read this devilish book next month.
– What?! – Vaidah was indignant, clutching his stubble. – It’s impossible. Why is there so little time?
«If this is the book mentioned in Svurt’s Law, Shelber’s governors will want to take it for themselves. Our find cannot remain a secret for long. Moreover, we all know that unknown diseases are spreading in the Nahmaut valleys, turning people into monsters. Perhaps this book, which they are so diligently searching for, is to blame. Having learned that for more than one century, it turns out, we were hiding from them, their main treasure, without a doubt, they will decide to crush Vayelon to the ground. If, fifty years ago, Rohvem did not need even a reason for the attack, then what can we say about our case. Damn the king who decided to bury this thing right below us. He set us up pretty well.
«Shelber and Vayelon have always been on good terms,» a young woman stood up from the table. «Let’s make some books and just give the original to the Supreme Governor,» she suggested, blinking her big brown eyes.
– There is no more supreme governor, – Haste spread his fingers on his hand and brought them to his chin. – Galbront imprisoned himself in an eternal prison, fearing the complications of the disease, uncontrollable strength and rage. The previous viceroy, Okkrat, jumped out of the window. And, the one that was even before him was killed by his own guards. In the Shelber Valley there has been no contact with the outside world for a long time. They are already dangerous to themselves. What kind of good relationship are you talking about? You better stay tuned, Neilie, otherwise why are you here?
«Actually, you yourself called me here,» indignantly, she straightened the long bangs of her short haircut. – I am the only person in the city who would have translated this book for you in two days.
«I don’t care about the translation,» he jumped wildly towards her, frightening the fragile woman. – Better tell me how to read it correctly?
– Fuck off, – she pushed him, with both hands and left the underground laboratory.
«Don’t get excited, my prince,» Assam put his hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. – Women love good manners. You should have learned from them, otherwise, you won’t be able to find a worthy wife. – Haste removed his hand from himself, and, grumbling something under his breath, put his watch back into the sideboard.
– Who would talk about a worthy wife, – Vaidah laughed at him, finally, sitting down at the table. – We all would not be
