– And time, time," the voice of Dr. Maymun's collaborator and colleague on the project, to which he had deliberately given a tone of causticity, sounded unexpectedly in tune with the joking notes.

He was a programmable systems engineer and the youngest professor at the center. Rutra called him "the luminary of science" in a friendly way, and was used to his mannerisms, joking on and off.

– Well, let's get on our way," Ruthra agreed without emotion.

The installation has been prepared. The location of sending the consciousness was determined. It was a mysterious region in the vicinity of a massive black hole, in the area of which, according to experts, there were many inhabited worlds like ours. This region of the metagalaxy was located in the constellation of the Hound Dogs, at a distance of 10.37 billion light-years from the Sun. The mass of the giant, pulling down the entire gravitational canvas of this region of the universe – 66 billion solar masses. Expedition into the power regions of such a giant was frankly alarming, although the body was in a certain safety. Not only that, next to such a giant, with monstrous gravity, there was also another monster – superbright radio-loud quasar TON 618. Not even next to it, but as if from the outside, enveloped it – a rattling mixture, 140 trillion times the solar brightness.

– Stop daydreaming," Maimun said, seeing the chief's thoughtful look, and waved to his assistants.

***

Ruthra woke up in a wasteland, either a hilly steppe or a scorched field. There was a small pond nearby, which looked like an oasis for such an area. Ruthra looked around. He shouted: "Anybody here?" Silence. He looked at his body, his clothes – he looked like a Bedouin: as far as he could tell, he was wearing shurukas, with a kufiya sagging from his head, which was tightly covered with egal. After wandering around the neighborhood, he crouched under a tree near a body of water. "What's going on? – Ruthra pondered. – My body…" He stood up abruptly, ran to the oasis, looked at his reflection, but yes, it was him, or rather, the body was his.

– What the hell!" shouted Ruthra in indignation. – Where am I? Where is everyone? Rangit!

He didn't get an answer.

It was evening, then darkness fell. Tired of calling, tired of his resentment, he settled himself under a tree and, with restlessness in his soul, began to kemar – to resist sleep, to fall asleep.

Unexpectedly, he fell asleep. He recognized it when he was approached.

– Master Ruthra, get up," said a seemingly familiar voice.

– What? Who? – He freaked out.

– It's okay. I'm an assistant in the relocation lab.

Suddenly a bright light came on, and Ruthra squeezed his eyes shut.

– Get up, your Bedouin majesty, or else you're lying here, you know," said Maimoun's voice sarcastically.

– What the fuck," Ruthra said a little louder than usual.

– Now, now, you leave that alone. The experiment went well. We'll do it again in a few days.

Ruthra stood up and looked around, several SUVs parked in the distance, with security guards and science center personnel stationed around them.

– What the hell? – Ruthra asked Maimuna calmly.

– That's the devil. What did you want? You said it yourself – it is necessary to conduct a test, or what if the "settler" perceives the reality of the other world inadequately, will do something wrong there, and they will like to blow up here with their reflection, it will be a big disaster.

– I didn't say that.

– That's about right. It goes like this.

– So it's a play?

– What, you just woke up?

– Imagine this.

– Oh, I thought you were on the beach drinking cocktails.

– When are you going to grow up, you're in your fourth decade and he's…" Rutra waved his hand and walked in the direction of one of the cars.

***

– Are you ready? – Rutra was jokingly prodded by his project mate a few days after the experiment, when he was already lying back in the rig.

– Let's see where you take me this time.

– Don't worry, we won't get steamed, we'll go somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

– The wilderness is supposed to be Palestinian, remember?

– We'll find something for you, Your Majesty. Rest in peace.

– Oh," Ruthra sighed, "God gave me such a partner.

– That's right, that's where you talk about God.

The optical unit was lowered – discharge! – and Rutra's body collapsed in the unit, and the soul, that is, the consciousness, had to find itself in the body of the same Bedouin and in the same terrain, which was already playing out in the virtual reality production. At least Rangit, as once expeditioners of new lands, as once explorers, with the help of an optical or radio telescope, of the cosmos, being their quantum analog, drew such a picture.

***

It was the same landscape all around. "Your imagination isn't very rich," Ruthra thought, suspecting another session of psychological training in virtual reality. That wasn't what dominated his thoughts, though: his mind remembered the thought that had occurred to him when the optical unit flashed – he had time to think about soul and consciousness. The thought occupied him: were soul and consciousness one and the same? As he supposed, they used to call this component of the human "I" soul, and in modern times, in a scientific way, they began to say consciousness. But suddenly in the process of moving he thought of such a curiosity: after all, the body in the installation is alive, though without consciousness, but the soul in the classical sense, as it is represented, is in it. It turned out that, again in that classical version of the soul representation, it, this very soul, dwelled in the body, otherwise the body should be inanimate, but it functions. That is, in that classical variant, which was justified by the ancients, the soul is what keeps the body alive. Then what is consciousness? Is it not what defines us as our "I"? It is. Without consciousness, who are we? Although, like these quantum particles, the soul, in fact, had to stay both in its own body and in the body of the one in whom the consciousness moved. Of course, if the experiment was successful.

His musings were interrupted by an unexpected voice from outside, even frightened him a little. It was the same Bedouin, but with more colored clothes.

– I know everything you're going to say ahead of time. Or almost everything," he said, suddenly confident.

– What?" Ruthra said in a long voice.

– Your doubts are valid. Everyone would have those doubts. Believe me, you were chosen for a reason. Just think about it, if a person appeared here who was unfamiliar with your invention – the method of moving consciousness through space – then obviously the whole mission would be thwarted. The person would either be in constant disbelief, doubt, or fear, expecting a trick. Or he or she would consider us or himself to be crazy, at least insane.

– What are you talking about? And who are you, anyway?

– Everything you see is real.

– I can see it's real. What's the big deal?

– Think about it. If you were asleep, you wouldn't find this amazing and unreal, would you?

– What do you want? I don't understand. Are you a director? Actor? What's my role?

– Think of me as a psychologist testing actors for mental compatibility. I'm still asking you to answer my question.

– Which one?

– About the state in the dream.

– So?

– What is happening would not be amazing and unreal if you understood what was happening as a dream.