– Rutra, you did good, you didn't back down.

Suddenly a lady took his hand, a little swarthy, more like from tanning, with rich black hair and the same color eyelashes.

Ruthra thought quickly. He mentally commanded the supercomputer.

– Irene, urgently upload a photo of this company or support group of mine. I still don't know who they are.

The answer surprised and even frightened him a little.

– Unauthorized entry is prevented. The system operates under the full protection of the group.

At the same time, images of three ladies and two men appeared in his mind. This madam was identified as Iulia. Ruthra looked around: security had cut off the crowd, only a few stood in the inner circle, among them the announced people, except for one man, who was listed as Petty. It was understandable: they were among the special proxies, but the regulations and rules were binding on all. Security, though it let Iulia through, still insisted on going back.

– Irene. What do you mean "unauthorized entry prevented"?

– There was a temporary seizure of control by another system.

– Which one?

– Another AI system.

– Where did it come from? – Ruthra asked, almost biting his tongue.

Most likely, he was talking to a genuine "local" Irene. It made it difficult to understand the situation and the world his consciousness had entered. He remembered the Admiral's words.

– Who has full access to the lockdowns?

– All participants in the Ribhu program.

– What's that?

– Rutra Tigrovich, this is your program for detecting parallel worlds. Detecting and transferring human consciousness from our world there.

– Wow. I wonder where they move from here. – Ruthra said, more to himself than to her.

– You haven't sent anyone anywhere yet. At least not under my supervision. Unless, of course, you've hidden something from me.

– Who are these "Ribhu" participants?

– Rutra Tigrovich, according to my information, your organs are functioning normally.

– And why did you say that? Think of it as me getting a little laid or doing a search on demand.

– Yes, sir. Your participants are the team you recruited for the Ribhu program: Katrin, Andrian, IuLia, and YatSan. After the initial tests on the clones, you introduced one additional person into the program, code-named Petty. He has virtually no access.

– Who has the highest?

– You, without consulting the board, gave high access, including the ability to change settings, to a person who was classified under code name 101.

– Am I on the board here, too?

– You're confusing me. What do you mean, "I'm here, too"?

Ruthra realized his mistake, though he was more frightened not by the question, but by the supercomputer's supposed ability to read his mind.

– You need to go inside. You need to take the oath of office and take over the government.

– Take an oath?

– Rutra Tigrovic, what's wrong with you?

– What about advice?

– This is your research center. You are the head of the Sphere Research Center, where decisions are made collegially in a council.

A man of sturdy build, with a thoughtful look, came up to Ruthra, stood in front of him, and held out a book with both hands. It was the Constitution. Rutra realized what was happening. He placed his right palm on it and mentally addressed Irene.

– Remind me again what I'm supposed to say?

– You must sing the anthem, then say: "I serve Russia."

Ruthra thought, "Isn't the hymn exactly the same as ours?" And it turned out to be true. After singing the anthem and saying "I serve Russia" loudly, Rutra was led inside the building to the president's office. On the way, the man who held out the Constitution whispered: "…He is now under house arrest." Already in the office, Rutra learned that he was the former head of the former president's security service; he did not inquire how and what had made him former, but instead, as if by the way, inquired as to the date and whether his staff had been issued passes with him. The chronology of events was not long. The main events unfolded in the last year. His team was allowed into the Kremlin and had access to all related institutions. It was they (why – it was still unclear to Rutra) who had been chosen by him to control the lockdown of the supercomputer.

They brought in terminals to control the Central Bank and the stock exchanges, a terminal to control all means of communication, and a terminal to control the strategic nuclear forces. They began to reprogram them with his data, including fingerprints, retina, voice and special code symbols. Suddenly, during the programming of the terminal by the strategic nuclear forces, there was a system failure. The terminal began to vibrate and emit an audible and light signal. The security chief's hands shook. He shouted:

– Get the Secretary of Defense to block it!

Ruthra was also taken aback.

– What's going on?

– The system has entered the number one standby position.

– What is it? Why?

– It took our reprogramming of passwords as a system takeover and is requesting the previous persons it is set up to.

– The President?

– Him, the Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Staff. Any one of them. Only the three of them can initialize the launch. One of them can't.

– And the lock?

– If one fails, there's a lockout.

– The minister is gone, he changed his appearance and escaped. He was among those in a group of his own. Soon he will be younger, we won't recognize him at all without the program. He's with a new life," an officer who ran up to the head of security reported to him.

– How? Ah. They were in the clan of those who used your method," he said to Ruthra.

– The body of the president has been found," another officer reported.

At that time, the general siren started howling. Everyone was very excited, constantly contacting someone, running around. Rutra and the crew were excited. The ladies were scared. They did not fully understand the essence of what was happening. Rutra ran up to the head of security who was yelling at uniformed officers, sailors, captains of the first rank. It's tradition – they carry the so-called nuclear briefcase next to the president at all times.

– What's going to happen? Can't it be stopped? – Ruthra asked him in a low voice.

– It's querying all systems. For some reason, our supercomputer isn't responding. To be more precise, it has blocked communication between the Cheget, Kazbek and Perimeter systems. The system, not receiving a response, considers them captured.

– How could this have happened? How did it block itself? There must be outside interference.

– It's getting late! – he shouted. – You must sound a general alarm. We can't stop her. She's launching nuclear missile systems that bypass all the lockdowns.

Ruthra's voice trembled; he realized the provocativeness of his question and asked it nonetheless:

– What's going on? Is all this for real?

Everyone came, and amidst the clamor, Ruthra's serious question was the one that interested everyone. Suddenly there was silence. The Acting Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense said quietly and calmly:

– It's unbelievable, but the tech shows it's happening. Look at the screen, it's already issued targeting orders, so it's activated the RYAA-01 protocol!

– General evacuation! – shouted the head of the guard, and his shout stabbed a dagger through the ear into everyone's brain. – General evacuation! – he continued to yell.

Then ran over to the communications lockdown terminal, switched it to broadcast mode, and walked over to Ruthra.

– Get in the chair. You must sound the alarm. Open the safe.

– Which one?