Meeting

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

On a warm summer day on July 1, a young man came out of an inconspicuous house on one of the central streets and walked with a quick confident gait to the very center of the city. If an ordinary but rather attentive passer-by were asked to describe the appearance of this person, then he would first of all pay attention to his clothes: very few people would dress in all black with the scorching Sun. But a man in a black T-shirt, trousers from some kind of suit and simple men's black shoes, on the contrary, was quite comfortable in such clothes. The person's face expressed almost complete calmness, if you do not pay attention to the barely noticeable smile, rather arrogant or even expressing a feeling of superiority, which cannot be said about the eyes, in the expression of which even a sufficiently attentive outside observer could not find any definite meaning. The eyes did not smile, they were not sad, did not express any suspicion, nor fear, nor doubt, nor regret, nothing, but they could not be called indifferent either. Only a few people would be able to feel in these eyes what they really expressed, but on condition that the person in the black T-shirt would allow them to look into them. The same observer will report later that the man in black gives the impression of a notorious young man, trying with his appearance to assume some kind of mystery, to hide from external dangers and some kind of childish grievances that were abundantly present in his past. The assumptions of such an observer would only be confirmed if he spoke to the young man about some everyday, but rather slippery topic. But everything has its time.

The mocking and defiant smile of a man in a black T-shirt became a little more noticeable, turning more into a contemptuous grin when he passed people smoking or openly drinking alcohol. If a person who openly demonstrates his bad habits saw a young man passing by, then in his eyes he looked more like a loser, embittered by others due to the fact that all people live and rejoice, and he is all depressed, dressed in black, and something in others does not suit him.

The man in the black T-shirt continued to move confidently, meeting completely different people on his way. At each of them, he held his gaze a little longer than other people did, as if he was looking out for something, but, catching the oncoming glance of a passer-by, he immediately pretended to be indifferent and turned away. He looked into the eyes of the oncoming girls without external signs of bad habits for a moment longer before turning away, only his gaze at that moment was completely glassy and impenetrable, although a girl met in this way would see more an attempt, not very successful, to seem confident in oneself, successful, the desire to interest in something. Some smiled at the young man in return, but he was no longer interested.

The young man approached a low wooden building located in the center of the city, glanced at his watch as he walked, and soon stopped under the porch roof at the only entrance door located on the north side of the house. With his head lowered and his eyes closed, the man in black stood like that for several seconds, then, without opening his eyes, with a precise movement took hold of the door handle, turned it and stepped into the building corridor. When the door closed, the young man opened his eyes. It was dark, since the light was not on, but his eyes were already accustomed to the darkness, so the young man quite calmly distinguished the objects around him. There was another door in the hallway leading into a room.

The young man took off his shoes and went into a dark room, where other people, sitting at a round table, were already waiting for him in almost complete darkness. This was the Club's rule: none of the participants knows or sees anyone, if this does not contradict other rules. Each comes second per second at the time that was appointed so that the participants could not meet at the entrance. There can be no dishonest people in this Club, or people who make mistakes common for uninitiated people, therefore there can be no options in which any of the Club members spies on how people enter the door of the building. Outside the building, conversations about the Club and its activities are prohibited, so club members may even be relatives, but they still never know that they are sitting in this dark room at the same table. All the participants had the usual unremarkable, but clearly delivered voices and always spoke calmly in meetings, practically in the same tone. Only female and male voices could be distinguished. Members of the Club, however, could exchange different information, for example, the date of their last birth or some personal preferences, and also always sat in the same places, if changes were not agreed in advance. This rule made it possible to contact the member of the club without errors, to whom it was required to apply for certain information. There could be no other participants in such a Club.

- Begin. - Said one of the participants.

- First of all, I would like to note that the idea developed at the last meeting worked exactly as predicted. Alcohol and tobacco for many have become an attribute of success, freedom, wisdom, independence and the embodiment of other virtual values, which the subjects subject to these poisons actually do not possess. Society quickly raised the cult of alcohol consumption to the norm, and it became fashionable to discuss drinking among young boys and girls. Alcohol has become an integral part of everything from parties to romantic meetings. Quality of life is assessed by the frequency of consumption and the cost of drinks that people can afford. "Alternative thinkers" who believe that drinking and smoking is harmful are ridiculed and considered the scum of a normal, full-fledged society.

“I confess you were right, the experiment worked, although I was sure people weren't that stupid anymore,” a voice from the other side of the table confirmed.

- Let me remind you, colleague, that you mainly focused on the fact that history teaches people from their own mistakes, and I agreed with you, but after all, I suggested removing the broad study of history, limiting the school curriculum only to a listing of somehow related friends with a friend, facts that are not very significant for history itself, and if you remove their interpretation, then the people will generally go to waste. The prediction of a colleague sitting to my left - I'm sorry, I don't know your name. … … - the speaker tried to joke.

- Very funny. - He heard a remark on the left in response to his joke.

- Thank you, - the man continued, - and so, his prediction that with such a study of history, the people will very quickly lose the ability to learn from their mistakes, understand each other as a whole and begin to behave not as a single people, but as a scattered sum of inhabitants, each of which strive specifically for their own well-being, came true.

- Of course it came true, it’s not the first time. - Confirmed the author of the prediction.

- Undoubtedly. So, it was a brilliant idea to introduce the culture drinking procedure. It worked, I must say, even better than we all expected. … …

The man in black, who entered the building last, after this phrase plunged into deep memories. … … How many times has he had to break through the impenetrable conviction of his students that drinking is a free choice for every person. How many times has he heard that there are scientific articles proving the benefits of its use. The author of these works was sitting directly opposite him, they were still laughing together at some formulations and diagrams, the same person was the author of refutations. And the Bible, which defenders of the "theory of cultural drinking" sometimes like to refer to, was also written by a member of the Club, although, of course, not for the purpose of soldering the population. How our hero worried about the successes and failures in his students' rethinking of the simplest logical conclusions, how he suffered, inventing various stories and sometimes even experiencing other people's events, calculating the consequences of certain words in advance in hundreds of options, only one of which turned out to be in demand, and that's it. this is in order to as reliably as possible pull one more person out of the mass insanity entirely arranged by his opponents. What for? What is the meaning of the Game?..

- Colleague, - there was an appeal in front of the man in black.

- Yes, - coming out of deep thoughtfulness our young man answered calmly.

- This time you have chosen a difficult task: to resist the decay of society, to spread aristocratic and free thinking, to introduce a reasonable culture among the broad masses. In one of the past Games, working on my side and promoting the theory of free relations between the sexes, you achieved amazing successes: those two cities near the Dead Sea, um.. what about them?.. - the speaker went astray.

“Sodom and Gomorrah,” the youth prompted.

Yes, that's right, we even had to destroy them. You obviously overdid it then and went too far, having won the Game by an obscenely large margin. Now you have decided to tackle something in which your undoubted talent of persuasion is no longer manifested so strongly, and I suspect that this time you will lose a lot. Maybe I should loosen my grip?

- All in good time, colleague, - our hero replied calmly, - I have a little more than a century in my stock, and I am already close to solving your riddles, so I recommend you not to relax. The spectacle will still be.

- Are you going to reincarnate for the Final of the Game?

- I have not decided yet, this time my body is in perfect condition and may well live up to the Final, but you obviously have to be born again, otherwise I will overcome you too easily. And in the fact that you will have to lose another twenty years, I see my additional advantage.

Colleagues, - the previously silent member of the club intervened, realizing that the conversation between the young man and his opponent is over, - who is now responsible for the implementation of free physical relations?

The young man was already distracted from the conversation and did not listen to the thoughts of people, for one of whom he played in the last game. “Now we need to prevent the process from stopping,” the man in black reflected, “to win the Game, we need the matrix support of one and a half hundred gifted young people and girls who are highly aware of the need for a radical rethinking of the values of the culture created by the Club that they have previously adopted. One person - one year, and there are already less than one hundred and fifty years left. … … Maybe you have to take assistants? The rules allow you to educate any number of assistants, but how much effort you need to invest in it! And if it doesn't work out? If no assistant passes the Test? - Time will be lost. Few people managed to bring up someone like themselves, and even more so few wanted to give up a part of themselves, tying up their freedom hand and foot for the time of upbringing, wasting the allotted time and putting themselves in danger. But in the end, if the defeat in the Game threatens the loss of stability. … ….

The man in black plunged into thought even more and began to test various variants of fluctuations in the stability lines of the development of the Universe for the next two millennia. … …

“I will educate assistants,” our young man said suddenly.

The hall was silent for a minute. The man in black did not interrupt anyone, all important conversations had already ended, and he knew for sure about this, coming out of his reverie.

- Are you sure? the elderly opponent asked.

- Absolutely. - answered the young man.

- Then we are happy to support you in this difficult task, you can be calm for the safety of yourself, your friends and assistants for the period of upbringing. - said a female voice.- Do you remember that you will have to discover your personality in your current incarnation?

- Yes. Thank you.

On a warm summer evening on July 1, a young man came out of a wooden house in the central street of the city and walked home with a calm confident gait, realizing the correctness of his choice. He was expected to think about which of his students he would entrust an extremely important and incredibly difficult role, how he should be guided with such a choice in this era and how to correctly inform her of his choice so that her answer would be completely free.