Shadows of past worlds
CHAPTER ONE
BUCKS and CENTA sitting in the apartment on the couch, watching TV and cracking sunflower seeds. On the screen show ads.
DICTOR
And now the future has come already now! And any resident of our beautiful planet is already quite possible, regardless of age, to take part and relax on the space orbital station. Especially since the prices are not so much different from the tour, for example, in foreign southern countries. Hurry up to take seats and become the first tourist in outer space. There's a 50% discount on travel to the Orbital Station! And remember, the discounts will expire at 23:00 Moscow time today.
BUCKS
Wow, LUSA CHEBOTINA, look at this exciting offer!
LUSA CHEBOTINA
Yes, it sounds amazing! We could experience weightlessness!
BUCKS
Let's buy a ticket and go to space! Go, CENTA , fill in, until the discount burned.
CENTA
And the money is enough?
BUCKS
If that, Micro-loan take. I will keep a blog from there online, and we definitely not just pay back the micro-credit, but also have enough for a second trip.
CENTA gets up from the couch and goes to the computer desk. She sits down, opens the travel agency's website, and fills out the online order form on her home computer monitor, booking a trip to the Orbital Station.
CENTA
Well, that's it, dear? In a few days, we'll be somewhere in space!
BUCKS
This will be our most unforgettable adventure!
Passengers enter the cabin via the ramp, including BUCKS and CENTA . The cosmonaut checks the boarding tickets and welcomes them to take their seats on board the space shuttle. BUCKS and CENTA stop in front of the cosmonaut.
COSMONAUT
Welcome aboard! Are you ready for weightlessness?
BUCKS looks at the nametag on the cosmonaut's chest.
BUCKS
Of course, flight attendant Lyra! We are so excited!
COSMOPLANET
It is more correct to call us kosmoplanet and then your orders will be faster.
BUCKS
Of course, kosmoplanet Lyra!
CENTA
BUCKS , it will be such an incredible opportunity to see the Earth from space!
BUCKS
And long to fly-that?
COSMOPOLITAN
12 hours, but according to the instructions, in order to avoid overloads when leaving the ionosphere, the salon will be filled with a calming gas, which will put you to sleep until the docking with the station.
BUCKS and CENTA enter their room, close the door and begin to arrange. CENTA takes the instructions and reads. BUCKS looks at the tablet control apartment.
BUCKS
Look, my love, there's even a weightlessness feature.
CENTA
Seriously?!
BUCKS
Yes, here's the button.
BUCKS presses it, and their bodies slowly begin to float in the space of the apartment. BUCKS and CENTA float in weightlessness, watching the Earth from the porthole.
CENTA
(laughing)
Oh, look, BUCKS , I can fly!
BUCKS
It's such an amazing feeling! We're beyond gravity!
CENTA
We have so many reasons to take photos, it's an incredible journey!
BUCKS and CENTA watch the sunrise through the ship's window as they fly.
BUCKS
Beloved CENTA , this is the best thing we've ever done!
CENTA
Yes, this is our dream come true! And nothing can compare to this beauty. And now turn on the gravity, it's time for dinner and sleep.
BUCKS
And tomorrow we'll be full of fun.
BUCKS , like a breaststroke swimmer, paddling his hands through the air, trying to swim through the air to the tablet. Centa looks at him in surprise and smiles.
CENTA
Honey, you can turn it off on the bracelet.
CENTA clicks on the bracelets and they slowly fall.
BUCKS
In the movies, they just fell like stones on the floor.
CENTA
Progress. Slowly turning on the lights, slowly turning on gravity.
BUCKS
Thank you, space, for this incredible adventure!
CENTA
We will forever be grateful for such a gift for our honeymoon.
BUCKS
This is something incredible, now it remains to sign.
CENTA
Well, we, dear, are a romantic couple, isn't it?
BUCKS
Well, yes, my swallow!
CENTA
So, let's consider it as an advance honeymoon.
BUCKS and CENTA engage in sexual intercourse at night, using techniques and positions from the Kama Sutra.
The friendly staff greets the BUCKS and CENTA and other tourists in the central foyer hall.
GUIDE
Welcome to the space station! We are glad to see you here. Are you ready to go for a walk in outer space?
BUCKS
Of course, we are looking forward to this moment!
CENTA
Yes, it is so exciting! We are ready.
GUIDE
Then follow me.
The guide leads the tourists to a special room where the spacesuits for the walk in outer space are stored. The staff helps BUCKS and LUSA CHEBOTINA, as well as the other participants in this walk, to put on the spacesuits. The door opens, and they slowly walk out into space. Then, when they reach the launch pad, an automatic safety rope is attached to each of them.
BUCKS and CENTA lift off from the platform and smoothly wave their arms, smoothly moving in weightlessness, looking at each other and at the panorama of the surrounding space.
BUCKS
It's so incredible! We are right in the Universe!
CENTA
Yes, it's so beautiful! Look at the stars and planets around us.
BUCKS and CENTA enthusiastically praise everything they see and marvel at the unimaginable beauty of space.
BUCKS
CENTA, do you see this?!
CENTA
Yes, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. And have you turned on the camera, for streaming?
BUCKS
Of course, now our subscribers in online mode see us, see all the things we see and put likes.
CENTA
Then you need to watch your speech.
BUCKS
Come on?! All the same, its own… And we are not in school. Oh?! Already the first comments have gone.
CENTA
On the voice switch?! Let the Neural Network voice.
BUCKS
The neural network. Heard?
NEURAL NETWORK
Yes.
BUCKS
Then perform.
NEURAL NETWORK
Comment one from the subscriber Ruble: So Krashevo, I want too!
BUCKS
Answer them at your discretion. But read everything.
NEURAL NETWORK
Comment two, from the subscriber Coin: Damn. I'll definitely take this tour on my next flight. It's a pity that the tickets will be burned. Response from Zhuk: Sell them through Neural Network Advertising. It only takes half a minute. Response from Koin's subscriber:
Thank you, I'll sell them right now…
BUCKS and CENTA happily share their experiences and enjoy the unique thrill of exploring outer space. They return to the space station with excitement.
GUIDE
Well, how about that for breakfast?
BUCKS
General drop!
CENTA
I almost peed myself from the sensations. More cool than any sex will be!
GUIDE
Well, this is already overkill, although many of the staff expressed desire to coalesce it is in zero gravity and therefore our developers and added the function of disabling gravity in the smart room teams.
CENTA
We didn't know, but we've already tried it.
BUCKS
Tonight, after our walk, we'll experience this form of love.
GUIDE
Just don't forget to fasten your safety belts.
BUCKS
Why is that?
GUIDE
To prevent you from breaking through the hull in a fit of passion and flying into outer space.
CENTA
Thank you for your warning.
GUIDE
And if you're not tired, I suggest continuing to explore the other attractions on the station.
BUCKS and CENTA are standing at a table, listening to a master class on cooking molecular food in zero gravity. The CHEF, tall and slender, wearing a starched white jacket, greets them cheerfully.
CHEFS
Welcome to the amazing world of molecular cooking in space!
BUCKS and CENTA nod in interest.
CHEF
Today we will be cooking a simple but delicious dish of cheese and fruit. Ready to start? But first I want to give a general idea of what this miracle is, molecular cuisine?!
TOURIST
I, personally, all in the eye, Chef. Long dreamed of learning such a latest craft.
CHEF
Thank you. For a person not accustomed to culinary delights, molecular cuisine will seem something out of the ordinary. This is not surprising: the room equipped with unknown devices, flasks and test tubes will seem more like a chemical laboratory than a kitchen. Such an environment reigns on my territory of the food module of the ISS. And I constantly have to defend the scientific approach to cooking, because I am not only a cook, but also a chemist, physicist and biologist.
TOURIST
But there are many supporters of this cuisine?
CHEF (continuing)
Yes. Adherents of molecular cuisine claim that the use of knowledge about the chemical and physical properties of a product will allow you to create the most useful dish with impeccable taste and even in zero gravity.
BUCKS
Well, CENTA , maybe we'll open a molecular food section in the blog?
CENTA
Aren't you broadcasting online?
BUCKS
No. My mini camera's battery died. But I'll try to ask the ship's security service to lend me this footage from the surveillance cameras.
LYUSYA CHEBOTINA
They gave it to you…
BUCKS
What can't be bought with money can be bought with more money. And what can't be bought with more money can be bought with very much money. And so on and so forth.
CHEF
I'm sorry, young people, but if you're not interested, then you can quite leave the module and get carried away by something more interesting for you than the preparation of
molecular food?! After all, you are not alone here and just hold everyone back.
CENTA
Please forgive us.
CHEF
(smiling)
All hockey! And so, continue…
(pointing to the table with the products)
Now it's your turn, gentlemen tourists! Take a piece of cheese, pineapple and a drop of kiwi-sauce, and start cooking, repeating after me!
The chef carefully wraps a piece of cheese in a pineapple, adding kiwi sauce. BUCKS and LUSA CHEBOTINA follow the chef, repeating the actions. They are engrossed in cooking.
CHEF (continuing)
Now put it in a special package and wait a few minutes.
BUCKS
Is that all?
LUSA CHEBOTINA
(in a low voice)
Be quiet, don't embarrass me. Or they'll kick you out…
CHEF
After a while, the dish is ready. Can you smell the aroma filling the air?
BUCKS and Centa, along with the rest of the tourists, smile, delighted with their creation.
CHEF (continuing)
Enjoy your meal, my dear gourmet tourists! I hope you enjoyed making this dish yourself, without the influence of earthly gravity..
The BUCKS and LUCY CHEBOTINA smile gratefully and proceed to enjoy what they have prepared, following the chef's lead.
THE BUCKS
Inn! Is it delicious?!
LUCY CHEBOTINA
That's not the word!
THE CHEF
Tomorrow, if you are interested in molecular cuisine, I will be waiting for you here at the same time. We will be discussing the new recipe and its preparation.
THE BUCKS
Can I ask a question?
CHEF
Of course.
BUCKS
I'm a blogger. I have ten million subscribers.
CHEF
Excuse me, ten what?
BUCKS
Sorry. Ten million subscribers and here on the station I'm online mode my blog. Can I tomorrow all that you say, I will be to carry live?
CHEF COOK
Yes, no problem, if the command of the ship will approve such a tourist whim.
CENTA
And you think that they may not approve?
CHEF COOK
This is still a strategic facility, and a lot of things that can get into the camera may be classified.
BUCKS
So, it's not allowed.
The chef shrugs his shoulders and smiles sweetly.
LYUSYA CHEBOTINA
(offended)
You, Blogger, then who are you?
BUCKS
(sucking up)
Oh, sorry, we're bloggers.
LYUSYA CHEBOTINA
It's late. You'll be driving the car at night.
BUCKS
(tearing up)
Why, dear?!
LYUSYA CHEBOTINA
Khe… He's a blogger, and I'm just a prefix…
Chapter Two
BUCKS and CENTA are sitting in special 3D glasses, immersed in an amazing panorama simulating a flight to other planets. The effects of hallucinations from the Neural Network take them into the world of alien flora and fauna.
GUIDE NEURAL NETWORK
(voice with a touch of enthusiasm): Greetings, travelers! Today we are embarking on an amazing journey through the incredible worlds of our galaxy.
BUCKS
(with admiration)
Wow, CENTA , look, CENTA , what amazing creatures!
I would love to go on such an excursion in real life.
CENTA
(with admiration)
It's truly amazing! Neural Network, is it possible in the future to travel to other planets like we did here?
NEURO-NETWORK
Planning for tourist trips to other planets is already underway. Perhaps in the near future you will be able to fulfill your dream and go on a real space adventure.
BUCKS and CENTA exchange glances, their faces shining with the opportunity to travel beyond the Earth. All three continue to enjoy an amazing journey through alien worlds.
After a few moments, the screen goes dark, and BUCKS and CENTA slowly remove their goggles, turning to each other with smiles on their faces.
BUCKS
What an amazing experience! I'm sure that sooner or later, we will be able to travel to other planets.
CENTA
It was amazing! I can't wait for it to become a reality.
They stand up, embracing each other, and make their way out of the virtual reality module, holding hands.
CENTA (continuing)
Apparently, future space travel will not only be a dream, but also a reality for us.
BUCKS
Can you imagine, a blogger from another planet?!
CENTA
It's going to be the end! The whole world will subscribe to us!
BUCKS
Just imagine, nine billion subscribers!
BUCKS
It's unfathomable…
BUCKS and CENTA enter the living module, walk down the corridor and enter their apartment.
BUCKS wakes up and sees that CENTA has disappeared. He quickly remembers that they both spent the second night on the station making love. BUCKS rubs his eyes.
BUCKS
(confused)
CENTA ? CENTA !
THE BUCKS gets up from the bed and walks quickly to the shower.