Jack, riding a three-wheeled cart, five hundred kilogram fat Wadah, to a circus performance. Oh, and take a look here, in the Bironfer seafood shop. Some type, dressed up in a costume of a nasty octopus and its tentacles dragging along the ground, are trying to bite off the dogs. Poor fellow, I had to throw a big fish for them to get left behind. A strange woman, in a black, tight dress, without a lower jaw, with a hanging tongue, leads two tall giraffes, behind long chains, tied to their collars. The little girl, seeing her missing part of her face, hid behind an elderly woman, enthusiastically bargaining for watermelons, near the counter. A boy, about seven years old, in a white shirt tucked into black pants pulled up to the knee, slowly rolls on a scooter, wearing a bright hat with a visor in front, strongly reminiscent of a modern baseball cap. Here, they sold dyed camels with blue heads, and black and red stripes on the body, like a zebra, fooling people, for fabulous sums. A little further, you can see even more interesting donkeys and horses, which were sewn in long horns, built up feather, artificial tails, similar to peacocks, and drove to various dudes with a mark-up twice as expensive. Two-trunk elephants, a rare breed, were made an artificial, brightly thick mane, and they looked more like cartoon toys than living creatures. It seems that everyone is busy with their own business, but the world of bustle here is closely intertwined with vacationers, just sitting and not thinking about anything. These are not homeless people, but just elderly people. They sit carelessly on the sidelines and watch those around them. One of these was a strange, blind old man, in a burgundy robe with a burnt, disfigured face, and white eyes. He looked towards Tunor, as if he was watching him. Or maybe he just has a phobia. After all, Tunor, there was someone to hide from, and there was something to hide. A terrible grandfather was burned, probably during the great siege, fifty years ago. But, to the meeting, there was a young man, a little above average in height, dressed already more presentable. In a blue raincoat and a light protective corset. This is prince Haste, his own person. It is impossible not to notice him, even if he was dressed, as simply as his friend. Eccentric habits, gait and manner of communication immediately betray him. He is strange to the point of insanity. Distorted, deceptive facial expressions always convey not the feelings that he actually feels, but during an argument, his hands, constantly shaking in front of his head, try to drive away the thoughts or words of the interlocutor that are unwanted by him. Trying to ignore those around him, the young prince is clearly in a hurry. It’s very appearance in broad daylight in the city center is a phenomenon.
– Where are you going? – not having time to reach his comrade, asks the prince.
«To the mall,» Tunor replied with a smile.
– What is there to do? The young man raised his eyebrows in bewilderment.
– Just take a walk. Chat with merchants from distant lands, maybe what news they tell, treat you with sweets. I found that symbol on page eight. You’re looking for me for this, don’t you?
– Exactly, behind this, – Haste pressed his lips tightly. He took a small roll of parchment from his chest pocket. «Is this symbol here?» – Excitedly asking, he pokes him in the face.
«I don’t remember… Although,» he moved back and took the scrap in his hands. Complex hieroglyphs are carved there. It is not an Osirian language, nor is it a Jerichan. It had nothing to do with our spelling at all. Taking out a small silver pencil-like stick, he carved out another incomprehensible symbol. – In my opinion, it was so, – he returned the envelope to the prince, and was about to move on, but the prince stopped him, taking his hand and turning him back to face him. – What happened? Have you already figured out the sequence? Frowning, he snatched his hand away.
– Not. If you helped us, maybe they would. Neilie can’t do it alone.
«So help her,» Tunor replied, wrinkling his forehead. – Hiding the package in his pocket, Haste narrowed his eyes suspiciously, looking into his eyes: – Don’t make me follow you, Tunor. Yesterday, you were late at the meeting again. Perhaps you should not be replaced by someone else. Do not misunderstand, I trust everyone equally (the employees of the NDC), but when our only public figure, privately communicates with the authorities, who give us an ultimatum in favor of our own planned development, it makes me twitch more than usual. I know that the issues you are discussing will not lead to consensus. And, I do not know what else can be thought of to fool their brains, at least until the end of this year.
«I am not holding on to my position, my prince.» He smiled, and the nostrils of his crooked nose, covered in beads of sweat, widened. – You can put anyone in my place, but I will never betray our oath and our dream.
– I guess I look like a senile. You know how curious I am. Agree, the temptation is great. Moreover, we are not going to bend in front of them, which means that they will take action in the near future.
– It’s my fault, Haste. – Sadly Tunor lowered his eyes. «I promise I’ll do my best and figure out how to fool the advice.
– I will be very grateful to you, – the prince turned around, and with a quick step went to where he came from.
– We need something more than clay abacus, – a slightly plump man, in sandals and a white shirt, stands in the middle of the NDC control room. His name is Vaidah. An ingenious inventor, chemist, mathematician and just a dreamer. By nation, he is a purebred Nahmau. Both of his parents are from the Shelber Valley. They died, under mysterious circumstances, when he was still a child. He, along with other orphans, was taken to the Vayelon orphanage, at the request of the village elders. – Our electronic calculator, promises to be fast, multifunctional machines. It will take years to design the hardware and code it correctly. But, in no other way. Is the information in the book worth the effort? – he began to stomp around a square table running along the walls, on the blue, luminous floor.
– As far as I understand, we have solved all the symbols, but we are not able to read? – asked a young girl sitting at this gray, metal table, just opposite him.
– Right. We know the meaning of all sixteen thousand three hundred thirty-seven characters. But we cannot read them without knowing the sequence of reading. It is completely chaotic.
«Not chaotic,» corrected another man sitting next to the woman. This is Assam – one of Haste’s closest friends. Another classmate of his. – We found out that its content obeys the dependence of two to the power of x square minus one. But, in order to find out which character follows which, it is necessary to brute force them, as a single unbreakable chain.
– Exactly, – that plump eccentric approached them, tightly squeezing his hands into the castle. – Here, the only catch is that the combinations corresponding to the full search are only links, pointers to the true text. These symbols are words, numbers and geometrical values at the same time. Thus, this text encodes itself twice. Only with the help of a powerful calculating machine can the reading sequence be understood.
– Incredible. The one who encrypted this must be a real madman, – the woman was enthusiastically indignant, stroking the voluminous cover of a large, unnamed book lying in front of her. Then, she quickly flipped through the pages in order.
«Be careful, Neilie,» Haste approached her, grabbing the book and putting it aside. – Perhaps this book is not from our world.
– Come on, – the fat man in the white shirt laughed. – You wouldn’t believe it just because you found an hourglass next to her, going backwards? Perhaps this is one of Lafar’s books on programming methods {x, y}.
– It would be nice if so, – Before the prince floated a whole collection of different clocks, under glass, recessed in the stained-glass wall. There were also arrow stands, solar, mechanical, and, of course, classic sand. «Lafar was not crazy enough to encrypt his books this way. And besides, who cares? As far as I know, no one understood his books, except for a handful of his mentors. – Taking in his hands one of these large glass vessels, in a beautiful stone case, he approached his fellow