Morning. The cave sky was illuminated with a dim glow, gradually increasing, changing color from lilac to dark purple. These were the tricks of the moss that abundantly covered the ceiling and walls of the cave. Moments later, the emulsion – a nutrient solution of minerals and microorganisms that filled the pool carved into the rock – glowed a bright yellow-orange color. The wonderful world of Gardarik has awakened.
Gardarika – a world of thousands of towns located on the shores of the emulsion sea. They are inhabited by citizens – viviparous miliorganisms of oblong shape, eighty percent consisting of emulsion. Each of them has a mind, weak, primitive, but still a mind. Together, citizens form a town – a single nervous system, supermind, hive. At the same time, their individuality is not suppressed by the team; every opinion is taken into account.
Citizens have pets – micelles – solid-state slugs that envelop the towns with a durable shell. They feed on the waste of citizens. Strong and nimble micelles are able to take any shape at the request of the owners; all you need to do is pass a couple of electrical discharges, the same as citizens communicate with each other in the city. But they practically do not use this ability. Why exactly?? Why move, change the world, when it’s already good? Not a single predator could break through the micellar shell, the sea-emulsion provided food, and the moss provided light. Real paradise. A world of harmony and joy, especially for moss, because it literally fed on joy. You see, towns communicate with each other chemically: they emit gaseous molecules, depending on the composition of which this or that information is transmitted. This is full-fledged communication with many “chemical words”. But in paradise there is no need for words, so for many centuries in the cave there was only one smell of joy – the favorite delicacy of luminous moss.
A carefree life can’t last forever. Ten days ago everything changed, dark times came. The root cause of the troubles was an accident: at night, moss grew so much on one of the stalactites that it fell on the town, breaking through it. This happens, although it’s rare. The town would recover, heal. Unfortunately, this event was seen by foot-and-mouth disease – bloodthirsty four-legged night predators. For centuries they tried to eat the tasty contents of the towns, but the dense micellar shell was too tough for them. At that hour the predators attacked the poor town, eating all the citizens without a trace. For the first time in many years, there was a smell of horror and sadness in the atmosphere.
The death of the town was the beginning of the end. For some reason, one of the foot-and-mouth mice grabbed a piece of stalactite with its front paws, and then sharply lifted it up. However, she did not have enough grace: the foot-and-mouth disease was dragged to the side, then she tripped over something and crashed to the ground, dropping a stone right on the tail of another foot-and-mouth disease. There was a vile deafening squeak. The culprit decided to help the victim, she picked up the piece, but the victim instantly attacked her. The stone flew to the side and fell directly on another town. While the foot and mouth diseases were fighting with each other, a thin stream of glowing orange liquid poured out of the micellar shell. This attracted the attention of all the foot-and-mouth mice, including a couple of fighting ones – the “victim” released the throat of the “culprit” from its mouth and they quickly joined the whole flock to stare at the myrrh streaming of the town.
The predators looked at each other in surprise, the smartest of them guessed to lift the stone and hit the town again. The crack in the shell has increased. The relatives followed the example of the “clever girl”: they took fragments of the stalactite and together began to beat the town with stones until they crushed the shell into pieces and gnawed out all living things. This happened many times..
Foot and mouth disease feasted all night, eating several dozen towns. The next morning they left Gardarika, frightened by the destructive light of the moss. Their pale pink scaly skin became covered with ulcers if the predators “sunbathed” under the moss for a long time.
The next night the foot and mouth disease returned, there were more of them. Towns went bankrupt one after another. The voracious creatures grew fatter every night. Their elongated, fanged muzzles seemed to laugh at the towns, and their small cunning eyes shone with the pleasure of a new murder.
How hard it was for the towns to “listen” to the dying groans, sobs and calls for help from friends and relatives being eaten alive by soulless predators. This smell will never fade from Gardarika’s memory, like the stench emanating from foot-and-mouth disease… it filled the entire cave, but in the language of the towns it is the most vile, offensive and vile insult that can only be invented by intelligent beings in the universe!
This is how death walked through Gardarika until today. For ten days there is no more joy in the atmosphere, only fear, horror and especially sadness. The moss is withering away, it cannot feed on these gases. Every day it shines more and more dimly, a little more, and it will die, and with it the rest of the inhabitants of Gardariki. It’s amazing that joy and sadness are mirror images of the same molecule. One is delicacy, another is poison – nature’s bizarre joke.
Humility is all that is left in the towns. They felt that today would be the last. Only one town disagreed, the molecule behind its name is called BromodiethyldinitroOpropylaminoBromosilane, or Bob for short.
Bob has always been different from others by his curiosity. When others were enjoying the new day, Bob watched with admiration the life that was in full swing around him. He was so fascinated by the saiko – small insects glowing in different colors, wandering around the cave; dryns – multi-finned worms gliding across the emulsion sea; even foot and mouth diseases interested Bob, even though they were ugly and disgusting creatures, but the way they moved, moved, walked, brought Bob to the heart. True, other towns mistook the smell of tenderness for a “word” denoting illness, something like a cold. A rather specific gas is tenderness… It makes citizens tear up when it is released..
Bob also loved old legends, traditions, especially epics about ancestors. Once upon a time, the ancestors came from somewhere outside, from the world beyond the cave, beyond Gardarika… They were so powerful that they cut an emulsion sea into the rock, ensuring a carefree existence for their descendants. Bob could not understand how the ancestors did all this, and why now the towns are not moving. He repeatedly asked the oldest towns about this, but they could not even understand the essence of the question. The old people had only joy and carelessness on their minds, and the young people were even worse: they were even too lazy to answer. Bob began to think for himself, he realized that his ancestors at least knew how to walk, because rolling is somehow not aesthetically pleasing. To walk, you need to have the same “things” as foot-and-mouth disease. “Let it be called paws,” he thought. But he can make something similar from a micellar shell… I should try… But then a conflict occurred within Bob. A group of its citizens, identified by a very complex and unpronounceable molecule (it has five hundred and thirty-two letters), so let’s just call them Linda, never liked the behavior of the rest of the town. Why are they curious?? Studying other inhabitants of the cave? No, to be happy and not be distracted by strange things! Did you come up with some other paws?! You can still roll – it’s interesting and beautiful, but the paws!? What other paws can there be when Gardarika is about to die?? No, stop putting up with this! Linda vs!
Debate breaks out – the first https://bogart-casino.co.uk/ in centuries. But in the end Linda lost. The majority decided to send them to hell so that they wouldn’t interfere with growing their legs.
A small portion of the micellar shell went inside Bob, isolated Linda, and then transported them outside the town. This part split into a small ball that enveloped Linda, and a tentacle holding the ball. Bob swung his tentacle and threw the ball with Linda far, far away to the other side of the emulsion sea. A new town will now grow there. And the tentacle immediately disappeared: it dissolved in the micelles shell.
This is the usual, natural process of founding new towns. Bob didn’t even realize what he was doing, it was all instinct. He began to digest what had happened, because Bob had just grown a “paw”! And without any effort! What if he focused and purposefully grew her again?? And just as Bob thought, the tentacle reappeared. He started moving it in different directions.
Bob was having so much fun playing with the tentacle that for the first time in ten days there was a smell of joy in the air. Other towns became interested in Bob’s game. Probably for the first time in their lives they experienced something new, something different from joy, pain, horror, sadness. It was surprise, and something tangible, incomprehensible, powerful. Some feeling unfamiliar before. Even Bob experienced it for the first time..
“What will happen if you try to make several legs, the same as those of foot-and-mouth disease?”? – Bob got excited about the idea, but he didn’t have time to conduct the experiment: due to exhaustion, the moss died out much ahead of time. Darkness reigned.
Loud stomping, gnashing of claws and a disgusting squeak (someone’s tail was pinched again) filled the cave: foot-and-mouth diseases entered Gardarika. Pot-bellied, well-fed, but still hungry and ferocious predators approached the prepared stones and took a cobblestone. The carnage is about to begin. Horror gripped Gardarika. Suddenly a dull thud echoed through the cave. Predators are wary. The knock was repeated, again and again. The foot-and-mouth disease threw stones, they decided to see what was there, but found nothing, except that there was a medium-sized town nearby – it was Bob.
The foot and mouth diseases walked around Bob, sniffing for any suspicious odors. There was a sharp whistle, accompanied by a savory slap. One of the foot-and-mouth mice jumped up with a deafening squeal – something hit it under the tail! So much so that small droplets of hydrocyanic acid poured out of the eyes! After landing, the foot-and-mouth disease took off running towards the exit from Gardariki, moving exclusively on its front legs, with its tail raised up. Poor relatives who stood in her way: the “badass” killed several foot-and-mouth diseases, and even managed to trample a couple. Of course, this provoked a fight. Just give these predators a reason to fight! But just as quickly as the squabbling began, it faded away: hunger took its toll, the foot-and-mouth disease calmed down. They were just about to return to the stones and begin their meal, when a dull thud was heard again. And then it dawned on the foot-and-mouth disease: the sound came from the town itself! Then they took a stone each and decided to kill Bob first so that he wouldn’t spoil his appetite with his knocks.
Foot and mouth disease surrounded Bob again. When they all swung the cobblestones at once, Bob, with a sharp swing of his tentacle, hit one of them on the shoulder. The foot-and-mouth disease lost consciousness, its carcass moved to the right, then it fell on its neighbor, who fell on the next foot-and-mouth disease and so on in a circle. As a result, all the attackers were crushed by their own stones. Their relatives ran up to them, no, not to help, but to eat… What vile and vile creatures these foot-and-mouth diseases are..
Having eaten the last victim, the predators returned to the original plan. They decided to leave Bob alone – he’s nothing but problems today. On the other hand, they tasted good foot-and-mouth disease. So let him live a little longer..
Predators began to beat up towns. Bob couldn’t watch it, he was knocking as hard as he could. But the foot-and-mouth disease didn’t even blink its eyes. No, this is unbearable, we need to come up with something new! Bob must help his! But what to do? A stone lying on top of the gnawed corpse of a foot-and-mouth disease! What if you take it and spray it into them the same way as a micellar ball with Linda? Bob grew powerful tentacles, grabbed a cobblestone with them and threw it with all his strength at the enemy. It worked! Two foot-and-mouth disease were killed by a stone. The companions of the victims fled in all directions. Bob threw the next stone at the gang of predators. Right on target again! So he took the enemy away from all the besieged towns. But another problem arose – he ran out of stones, and the foot and mouth disease regrouped. They were furious. Predators ran en masse towards Bob. What to do? It’s time to get up! The micellar shell thickened under the town and began to stretch, raising the spherical body of the town above the ground. The resulting lower cylinder divided into two parts, so Bob got paws and legs. He walked! Uncertainly, swaying, but walked! The foot-and-mouth disease became frozen: a walking town appeared before them! No, this could not fit into their little heads. Several predators got scared and ran away, but most continued to stare.
Bob took a few more steps before he lost his balance and began to fall. This was the signal to attack: all the predators rushed at him! But Bob didn’t fall; at the last moment he grew another leg. Who would have thought that three legs give more stability than two?? This did not stop the foot and mouth disease; they grabbed the micellar shell with their claws, scratching Bob’s paws and abdomen. Due to the growth of paws, his defenses have weakened, and now they are quite tough for predators. But is Bob himself up to the task?? He started kicking the foot and mouth disease, stepping on the tails, grabbing and drowning the predators in the emulsion. The battle was for life and death.
One after another, foot and mouth disease died from the paws of the brave town. Other towns felt real pride and admiration for Bob’s feat, and at the same time something else that hurt, disgusting, and deserved. It was a shame. Shame that they do nothing when their champion dies.
Bob’s wounded body is bleeding, hundreds of thousands of his citizens have died. Bob’s strength is about to finally leave him, but the enemy is still advancing. He continues to fight, so he grabbed two foot-and-mouth diseases, pressed them against each other, and on the other hand whipped the heels of the vile predators. But that’s not enough. The powers are gone. Bob has fallen. Foot and mouth disease attacked his body, almost nothing remained of the micellar shell. A little more and he will die.
Darkness enveloped Bob. This is the end. It’s all over. But what is this?! The biting blows are heard one after another, the foot-and-mouth disease flies to the side. Something is scattering them. Squeaking, roaring, whistling and foot-and-mouth disease bodies thrown up into the air. Bob no longer understands anything: many citizens have died. His mind is weak, it’s hard to concentrate. Bob loses consciousness… Dead silence reigned in Gardarik.
Bob woke up. He’s still weak. For a while reason returned to him. Who’s that gathered around?? Can’t be! These are towns! Huge elders stood in front of him on many thick legs, young animals – small and nimble – minced on his sides. Even the very tiny town of Linda was with them, it nervously rolled back and forth.
— Bob died? – Bob released the gas.
“No, not yet,” the elders smelled, “Bob is close to it.”. Bob saved Gardarika. Bob showed the secret of movement. Bob inspired Gardarika. Gardarika wants to save Bob, but cannot – Bob is terminally ill. Gardarike is sorry.
“Then save Bob’s citizens,” Bob began to smell fragrant.
– So be it! Bob’s citizens will live! Bob’s legacy will not be lost, nor will Bob’s memory! – the elders announced.
Each town touched its paws to Bob, absorbing several citizens. Now a part of Bob lives in all of them, and Bob himself has disappeared. But his ideas, his feat are alive. More than anything else, Bob wanted to see what was there outside the cave, beyond Gardarika. Find out where your ancestors came from. Its citizens told about this. And then the elders decided to fulfill the hero’s wishes. Moreover, they stayed too long, and the young people supported the old people. Oh, how wonderful it is to walk! Move, live! It’s time to leave home!
One after another, the towns walked towards the exit, where they discovered steps carved into the rock – the heritage of their ancestors. The towns began to rise hesitantly, some retreated and fell, but their relatives caught them. Gradually, little by little, they all came out. What the towns saw shocked them to the very fibers of their souls – a huge “cave” appeared before them, with no end or edge. Its “walls,” like the firmament, were infinitely far away. The towns stood high in the mountains. Below them stretched a mighty forest, striking in its size. Before this, the towns considered themselves giants, but it turned out that they were very small.
The day is almost over: a bright blue disk has gone beyond the horizon, leaving behind a glow of previously unseen colors. A huge red ball with a ring towered high in the sky. How beautiful he is! And also these lights that have just begun to appear… There are so many of them! The whole sky is dotted with them! I really want to touch, but they are too far away.
There was a smell of tenderness. Now the towns realized it wasn’t a cold. And again they felt the same powerful feeling that they had experienced earlier, when Bob was playing with the first paw. It was a feeling of discovery, learning something new. It is much stronger and more beautiful than ordinary joy. No, the towns will never sit still again. Now the meaning of their life has become not joy, but knowledge!
Someday they will touch the lights in the sky! And it will be wonderful*!
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"The Saga of Bob the Foot-and-Mouth Man"; free translation from the polymolecular aromatic book-crystal*.