Compression

15 hrs. 19 min.

Language Russian

Author Sergey Malitsky

Narrator Veli24Mir

Description

When the hero realizes that his movements are controlled by an invisible puppeteer, he must either cut the strings—or become the puppeteer for the hidden hands in the dark. The main thing is not to forget that sudden movements are contraindicated for the one caught in the web.

“Rocky led Siif. Led her down a narrow street between the lawns of the university town, between sleepy, in the early hour, two-story cottages’ little birdhouses, between abandoned compartments painted wild colors. The pedestrian strip split into matte hexagons of pseudo-gravity, and Siif walked on them barefoot.

‘Where does the pseudo-gravity come from here?’ Kiddie wondered. ‘This isn’t a lunar station, not a liner’s corridor. Could it be that one of the rich kids who occasionally gets swept into the academy had the madness and money for an elaborate prank on classmates—press them, asleep, in the morning against the walkway with double gravity, or, on the contrary, remove weight and make them tumble in the air? How did the prankster power such an area? And where is Siif here? And why is Rocky?’

Clenching Siif’s powerless hand in his firm fingers above the elbow, Rocky was leading her away. Kiddie watched the strange pair and didn’t even try to protest—so ridiculous it all looked. Even Mikhail, who narrowed the tunnel leading to the fairer half of humanity down to the silhouette of his own wife, would seem more natural next to Siif. Anyone but Rocky—he was barely familiar to her. Rocky didn’t exist for her, but it was exactly he—the broad-shouldered, strict little man—holding Siif as if she belonged to him completely.

‘What are you staring at, idiot?’ Mikhail roughly shoved Kiddie in the shoulder.

‘Go to hell!’ Kiddie snapped through his teeth with irritation and tried to make an unnecessary, senseless, stupid step forward.”