- Your name? It translates as … "apricot" …, - she answered indifferently.
.….
- What???
- A name as a name, and even a very good one. Have you noticed that our names are similar?
Indeed, "Kaas" and "Aska" differed only in the position of the first and last pairs of letters.
- This is just one of the old folk methods of making names for children. For the beginning of the boy's name, the first letters of his father's name were usually taken, and for the end the first letters of the mother's name. Your father's name is Kanter, and your mother's name is Asura.
Aska thought for a second and continued, - That creature gave me a name from the records of Kaas's past, but this name was still a spare in case they had a girl.
- But what good is it to be called "Apricot" ? - Kaas did not calm down, such names were not familiar to Russia, where he was from, in contrast to the same Asian countries of the Earth.
- Any name that was composed in this way and coincided with a good word was a sign of luck, - she explained, - Look for yourself.
Aska waved her hand, and next to the training screen, another one appeared, on which there was a completely fantastic picture, huge slender trees, high as if piercing the heavens, the rest of the forest on their background looked like ordinary grass, and was at a considerable distance from the foot of these majestic trunks, as if they did not dare to approach them in reverence. The crown of these giants did not seem large, and was high above the clouds. But it only seemed so in comparison with the gigantic barrel. The lush greenery of each of the trees could be compared to a whole park.
- "Kaas", - she began, - a tree striving for the sun, gives the fruits of life and death. In nature, "apricots" grow in only one place on the planet, with a suitable climate and weather conditions.
The picture approached, and fruits became visible in the crown of the tree, they really, vaguely resembled his familiar apricots. They looked oval, were similar in color, and felt soft.
Aska gestured to her desk, where instead of a strange figure, there was already a giant, half a human height, fruit. An unfamiliar, but strangely alluring, sweet scent immediately spread throughout the room.
- Only one of thousands of such fruits will give life to a new tree. "Apricot" bears fruit almost all summer, and only closer to its end, fruits grow, with a seed that can give life, - she said with deliberation.
- All this season, many fruits ripen and fall from their own weight down from a great height. - Aska, with a chopping motion, waved her hand towards the fruit, and it, as if it had been cut with a guillotine, split in two. Thick, sweet nectar flowed down in the places of the cut, and in the pulp, a huge bone, the size of a whole earth watermelon, was visible.
- Their flesh breaks into porridge, and the bone penetrates deep into the ground, - all her words were accompanied by a corresponding video sequence, - Thus, the moisture received by the tree deep from the ground and from the atmosphere returns to the surface, fertilizing and wetting the soil, which, for summer begins to resemble a swamp.
- The smell attracts many animals and insects that congregate around. Many of them become victims of fruits or other animals falling from above, which also came for fruits or for easy prey.
An accelerated process was shown on the screen. The fruits fell like small bombs, their pulp scattered around and a variety of animals came to its aroma, many of which died, the smell of their blood attracted even more animals and insects, already predators. Bogged down in the soil soft from the juice of thousands of fruits, the animals became light, sedentary victims. And after that, and additional fertilizer for this giant among the trees.
- Only at the end of summer, fruits appear that can give life, their bone is immersed in soft soil to a depth of five meters, and there, within a decade, ripens, creating a reliable root system before giving the first sprout. Many of these sprouts are killed by the same massive bombardment.
- Few of the shoots rise and become young trees. There is too much competition for resources. But on the other hand, it guaranteed the survival of the entire species. These trees live for thousands of years, and each gives several thousand fruits during its life, which can, as a result, grow into the same giant. Their competition is such that only the best and strongest seed will sprout, reach such sizes and can exist for thousands of years.
Kaas looked fascinated at this endless cycle of life and death, or rather death, because basically, it looked like a massacre and a non-stop feast. The territory belonging to this tree was huge, and among the shoots of the same tree, young shrubs and other lush vegetation, animals died in thousands. Their remains were eaten, decomposed, driven into the ground by falling fruits, and simply drowned in the soil, soft as jelly.
- But why are they going there? Are they not learning anything? - he asked.
- You see the accelerated video, the episodes without events have been cut. It's not that sad. Yes, thousands died, but also thousands received food. A predator, for food, every week, or even every day, needs to kill someone, how many do you think they kill in their entire life?
- And these fruits, not only delicious but also extremely healthy, are rich in vitamins and nutrients, - she said. Then, with a fancy fork, she picked the pulp of the fruit, and sent a juicy, amber piece into her already sweet mouth.
Her smiling face was the best advertisement for "apricots", and Kaas involuntarily swallowed saliva that filled his mouth at the sight of such a delicious scene.
- You're not supposed to, - she said with feigned severity. Apparently it was hard to stay angry while eating something so delicious.
- Can't I taste the virtual fruit? Does it smell like real? - He asked doubtfully.
- You overestimate the possibilities of technology, this is possible with full immersion, and not in augmented reality mode, - she explained, savoring another piece of delicacy, clearly teasing him.
- However, it will be possible to order apricot juice, or even a piece of the original fruit, but only… - She was distracted by tearing off a little more pulp with a fork.
- Only what? - Kaas could not resist.
- This is an expensive pleasure. It's expensive to you. Now, the supply of money is not too large, and they already have to be spent on food delivery. And you still need a reserve, just in case. Spending a lot on delicacies is too wasteful. Even on their copies in the virtual world.
- I see that you have already rested, - Aska waved her hand, and the remnants of the "apricot", the juice spilled on the table, and even its smell, completely disappeared.
- Learn faster, and everything will be faster. There is also a lot of other delicious food besides apricots.
To quench his thirst, Kaas took another can of the drink. For some reason, instead of apricots, an image of dumplings flashed through his head. Neat, beautiful, hot, shiny with butter, in a deep bowl, next to, of course, a can of fresh, cold sour cream. This was one of the festive dishes of this old man, at home, on Earth.
Indeed, training, and reward. Everything was obvious, no special abstractions. He knew nothing about this world. What exactly can education give? In his school, they taught from a past life very differently. It was impossible to link good studies with what their future life would be like. Children were offered dreams of becoming a firefighter, doctor, policeman or astronaut, for some reason, in the opinion of adults, this is exactly what all children dreamed about. Moreover, it was in the days of the USSR, when everything was built around patriotism and duty, and all people lived about the same. An ordinary hard worker, with almost no education, could earn even more than an engineer with a higher education, which completely confused all the "settings". Of course, more than seventy years of experience has long given him the answer to this, for the Earth, but that steam locomotive has long gone, however, now a new one has come, and not a steam locomotive. I wonder what they have instead of steam locomotives?
Inspired by his new goals, Kaas returned his attention to the stage where his predecessor's performance in front of ninth-year students was suspended.
After Aska's invisible actions, training resumed immediately.
Kaas moved slowly. From the very beginning, only a small set of words from a short introduction was added to the vocabulary. The main thing was that he was already accustomed to using the translator and easily navigated the interface, paying attention to the change in the color of the indicators and quickly reacting to them. Thus, the frequent repetition of the same sounds and words, with constant adjustments, gave a steady increase in indicators.
- Enough for today, - Aska finally said in a slightly annoyed tone.
- But ...
- It's already time, - she continued, - And you still need to eat and rest ... before rest ...
Kaas was also not pleased with himself, 18.09%, this was his average result, it might seem that this is a lot in one day, but he understood that further growth will not necessarily be as fast. This training was really challenging, even though they didn't focus on learning the language itself.
While he was introspection, Aska refreshed his food and drink stocks by ordering another set.
- You will take a shower later, by yourself, before going to bed. I will configure the interface so that there is nothing unnecessary there.
Before Kaas's eyes, in the lower left corner of his field of vision, a single button appeared in the form of a circle.
- And it's all?
- What did you expect? It's like controlling the water in the shower, you can turn it on, turn it off, pause it. Or did you think that that hastily assembled training interface looks like a standard PAK user?
- Are you going to stage In the "Animal World" for me again? - He asked, taking in his hand a can of as yet unfamiliar, judging by the strips, drink to moisten his pretty dry throat.
- What would you like?
- Make two more buttons.
- What kind?
- The same, let in the second there will be a city tour, and in the third some news. Continuously looking at the life of local monsters is not the best pastime, even if they are cute, I want to see how other people live.
Aska just nodded in response and immediately, next to the first "button" two more appeared, and now all three had local language icons. Aska signed them simply as 1, 2, 3.
Kaas was too tired of repeating sounds and words, his only desires were water, shower and sleep. But, he suddenly remembered about his stiff neck and asked:
- Is there something like gymnastics here? Do they go in for sports in this world?
- And what do you want?
Kaas immediately demonstrated some simple exercises, squats, bends, arm rotations. He thought he looked quite normal, but his body clearly lacked coordination and he looked more like a revived scarecrow, driving away annoying crows from the cabbage beds.
- It's kind of hard to lie for so long. You really scared me so much that I didn't even dare to scratch my ear.
- Okay, - with this word, a fourth button was added with the corresponding number on it.
- Your free program of antediluvian exercise may indeed make the medical unit suspect that you are having hallucinations, seizures, or seizures.
- This program is about half an hour. Turn it on, just repeat after the coach. Recommended before meals.
- And yes, you can scratch, - added Aska, and immediately, as if stopped short, looked at him strangely and added, - Within reason, of course.
She waved her hand, and her room seemed to dissolve, leaving behind a solid, monolithic wall. Kaas was again completely alone, with a selection of food and drinks, an open toilet and an unchanged bed.
After drinking the juice of an unusual taste, he put the gray empty can in its place and counted the full ones, there were only 2 cans of food and 5 drinks, and went to the shower, on which he spent much more time than before, just standing under heavy drops of water and playing with the settings making the water warm and cool.
Having dressed, he went to bed, but realized that he did not want to sleep at all, and immediately turned on the second video.
It was very different from the previous one, because the image did not move anywhere, but seemed to demonstrate the view of a static camera. There he saw what looked like a neat park with people walking along wide paths.
The park looked unusual, but just as much as if he was on an excursion to another country. However, the whole scene seemed to be an art recording, everything was too clean and perfect.
The paths themselves literally shone with cleanliness and looked as if they were made of a monolithic polished stone of light green color, their edges two palms wide stood out with their white color, which apparently replaced the border separating the path from the lawn, which, in turn, looked like a work of floristic art. at the same time modest and unobtrusive, but nevertheless perfect and refined.
Impeccable people, as if descended from the covers of fashion magazines, peacefully walked along the paths. They did not seem to notice the beauty that was around, as if busy with their thoughts or with each other, they apparently had long been accustomed to such landscapes.
Kaas instinctively turned his head, as if he wanted to look at the building, part of which was visible to the right. The image followed his desire, and the camera seemed to turn. The whole scene seemed to be part of virtual reality, the vantage point of which he could control. What he saw shocked him to the core, the buildings that surrounded the park could rival the size of his majestic namesake.
There was nothing to compare them with from his own world.
These buildings did not sparkle with glass and steel, and were in green tones. The nearest building was as wide as a stadium, and it seemed to Kaas was in the center of the park. Its base, in circumference, consisted of majestic entrance arches. However, when he tried to estimate its height, his head lifted up instantly began to spin. It was truly a fantastic and incomprehensible sight.
Tall, beyond any estimate that he could make with his eyes, this building seemed completely monolithic. The exquisite but asymmetrical ornament decorating it began from the arches and, intertwining, went up, becoming thinner from distance, but as it seemed, brighter than it was below, which looked mystical and unique. At the highest point, the buildings that surrounded the park, despite their considerable distance, seemed to lean towards this central tower from all sides in a circle.
Kaas turned off this video. His head continued to spin even when he already saw only his small room. To say that he was shocked is to say nothing. If there is a recording right now, then it is better that he does not look like an aborigine on it, who got from the African forests to the center of New York.
Thirsty, and he took another drink. "To watch the news or not to watch it? There shouldn't be any interactive, right?" he mused.
After drinking some cool drink Kaas calmed down a bit. Trying to understand what this taste was like from his past life, he touched the button with the number three.
And ... there was nothing unusual there, again, just beautiful people were talking about something. The man, apparently, was the main observer, but absolutely everything was incomprehensible there. Only a few words sounded familiar, and he was sure he recognized only two correctly. The strange-looking diagram didn't tell him anything at all. In the texts that appeared in front of his eyes, very similar to those that were in front of him in the interface during training, he recognized only letters, and, probably, he could read them awkwardly, of course, without understanding a word.
It seemed that the host was offering them as links, but Kaas did not dare to touch them. Turning off this screen, he already began to doubt to see what was there in this gymnastics.
"I managed the shower with the help of the video, what could be so special here?" and with this thought touched the fourth button.
Indeed, there was nothing special. A scene appeared similar to the one that was during the speech of his predecessor. Only it was a slightly larger hall. A young guy, dressed in clothes similar to his own, only in red and yellow colors that well emphasized his figure, began to tell something. Then he sat down on the floor and showed a strange exercise. It seemed too complicated. There was no excessive acrobatics in this, but nonetheless.
Following the usual pattern - look, then look and repeat, Kaas lay down on the floor of the room, which was quite enough for this. Turn on your side, move your leg, rise on your arm, arching your back and looking at the left heel. Etc. Wherever he looked, the instructor was always in front of his eyes, and remained in the necessary position while Kaas completed his attempt.
The exercise was only one, but of three parts, which replaced each other. There were no intense and abrupt movements, in fact, it was a functional stretching of the whole body, with minimal use of its own weight as a load. After about thirty repetitions, the trainer made a gesture of approval, made some incomprehensible comments, and the video shut down on its own.
Completely exhausted Kaas, without even getting up from the floor, crawled to the bed, climbed on it, and almost instantly fell asleep.