– Drink quickly.

– What's that?

– Hurry up.

While Ruthra was confused, the man uncovered a medical table of instruments.

– Drink it, it's a painkiller.

Ruthra took a drink.

– Sit down and don't move, I'm going to insert a microplate with a chip under your scalp. This is so you can control when your thoughts are available and when they are not. You have two scars on your head, in one place I put the chip to transmit back then, in the other place I will put the chip to block.

The doctor injected local anesthesia, made an incision, performed some manipulations, covered it with artificial skin, applied a bandage with a special remedy, and began to hastily collect tools, constantly looking at his watch.

– Let's do it again.

The doctor pointed to the wires. They repeated the procedure. Despite the anesthetic, the wound was tingling, "sizzling" from the special agent. Ruthra realized it was Epilas, a secret instant wound healer; combined with the modifications they'd made to him at the range, the wound was healing better than it had on the Terminator.

– Now you have a screen, your thoughts will first be reflected, they will go back into your brain, you will hear yourself, and then you will decide which ones to release. You can release exactly what you want, that is, you can lie. That's it, time is running out, find a similar radio-isolated shelter and do a couple of experiments on yourself to get used to it and understand how it works.

– How do they hear my thoughts?

– All in the form of brain bio-signals, they can only be decoded. For example, such as truth, lies, anxiety, euphoria, and the like. Dialogue is by mutual initiation only; in cases where the receiver knows you well and has had numerous non-conflict communication sessions, then your chip will let it through. You will recognize it, it is provided, you can feel it, you just need to get the hang of it. There is, of course, a way around all blocking, directly, but you need a code for that.

– Where, who has it?

– Let's get another charge. That's enough, it might arouse suspicion.

They repeated the procedure with the wires, the doctor explained further.

– I don't know exactly, it's written in the secret department of the coders, kept by the person in charge of controlling the coding and encryption service.

– Where are they?

– No one knows specifically, this is where all the original codes come from, rumor has it – it's called "The Sphere".

Ruthra took a deep breath and began to exhale slowly, shaking his head.

– There is the center itself, which does not exist for everyone, and there are a lot of organizations, which either are or are not. ZKR, "Sphere", what else?

– Go on, everybody, forget about me.

Ruthra couldn't help but ask another question.

– How does ISU-A2 read minds?

– It doesn't read, it sees, as if on a network. The computer-brain interface is like an extension of one in the other. You draw everything from its base, and it draws from yours.

– Why does she have free access to me?

– "Not now," the medic said and pointed to the top of Ruthra's head, then put his index finger to his lips, giving the silence sign, pushing him in the shoulder toward the door.

Ruthra went to the exit, stepping out into the hallway.

– You've been gone a long time, did something happen? – he heard Isa.

"Well, bitch, you're following me," Ruthra thought and immediately realized how the lockdown worked, his own voice sounding in his head. "It's okay," he thought and directed his thoughts to her.

– I'm happy for you," the computer replied.

– I'm going out, goodbye.

– Exit via the stairs or the pod.

– You have a service here. Can I get a regular cab? – Ruthra asked jokingly. – Is there an elevator? I don't want to take the stairs for half an hour.

– Yes, to the left of the capsule hatch.

– Didn't notice. Just like everyone else here. Ready, here I come.

– Did you give a request to get out?

– No. What's the request?

– It's not like we're in a backyard, you have to give notice, get permission.

– No one told me.

– Go to the ops guy you talked to, he'll authorize it.

Ruthra made his way to the CUO and scanned his eye, the door opened. An operative with two assistants sat at a console with numerous glowing indicators, with numerous monitors in front and to the sides. The Operative was not the one who had been in charge of the alert headquarters: it was more pleasant for Ruthra, he didn't want to ask something from a man who had just been court-martialed.

– Here. I was warned," the operative said and held out a small device that looked like a magnifying glass.

Ruthra picked up the object, began to examine it.

– Put it up to your eye," the operative said.

Rutra held the device up to his eye, it shone a directed light into his eye.

– That's it, thank you, you can go," the duty officer thanked him.

Ruthra, eyeing the instrument with curiosity and suspicion, handed it over. A strange feeling haunted him. Although he was in a hurry to leave, something kept him from doing so. It was curiosity. He remembered Alikhanov.

– Do you know if Alikhanov's body is still at the station? – he asked the operative, "in passing" pondering whether the bodies of "secret citizens of an unknown city" were buried here or still as ordinary people.

– As far as I know, it should be in the morgue, the 200th were not sent, – the operative dryly answered.

– Thank you, goodbye.

The elevator ride up was not long, he stepped directly into the room in front of the underground basements of Trekhgorny. After passing through the scanner, through the door, he stepped out into the underground bunker of Trekhgorny. Involuntarily, Rutru was visited by numerous thoughts, "So I really didn't go anywhere in the capsule. How the hell is this happening, since I didn't even feel like sleeping?" Rutru was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice – there was someone waiting for him in the bunker. It was the same people who had accompanied them here, and they had escorted him upstairs. He didn't have to meet with the plant management or explain anything. They took him in a "service car" to the hotel, no one even asked where the old man was. Mushtrika in such organizations was at the highest level. They brought food to Rutra's room, he ate, quickly got ready, and left.

From the beautiful forest park that was part of the virgin forest that had been carefully preserved during the construction of the city, Rutra looked down at the nuclear weapons factory, humming away across the river. Only the roofs of its workshops were visible. It was not hard to guess that they were like icebergs, two-thirds of them underwater. The famous factory staircase of 385 steps descended to the Yuryuzan. Rutru was waiting for a car, he got into it, and the driver took him to the airport in Magnitogorsk. Now he cared little about reports and commitments, he was heading home, his head was spinning, literally and figuratively, from recent events. Now he dreamed of becoming an ordinary man, as before, which, most likely, was impossible, although, maybe, and it was not necessary, the main thing – to take control.

***

Rutra, of course, said he was going home, wanting to spend a couple of days with his family. He was met at the airport by the staff of Center Zero, headed by the administrator, who, although he was a family man, was, according to the firm rules, only the administrator in such situations. On the way home, they outlined the most important events that had occurred in the "invisible" world, which had not been reported earlier in the report via encrypted communication, albeit in coded phrases, for security reasons. From the information received, even with superficial analysis, Ruthra concluded that the game was heading toward a certain finish line. Someone had to be sacrificed. Snowden, WikiLeaks, offshore scandals were nothing compared to the release of information by Stratfor.