Collection of modern science fiction. Vladimir Frolov

have a very strict monastery, but since you will be a stoker and at the same time a night watchman, you can have a flashlight with you,” monk Andrey said this, closed the icon shop and took Boris to the fraternal house.

      Boris was shown a large room for six people, the beds were in two tiers around the walls. They also showed a stoker in the basement, it was not necessary to heat it, it was necessary to bring some firewood and pieces of coal in reserve, tidy up, fix the sagging electrical wiring, stretch the cable for the internal monastery telephone and install an old-style telephone there. What Boris Borisovich did.

      During the meal, Boris looked around and wrote down all the brothers in the memory of his artificial intelligence – yesterday’s alcoholics and drug addicts were neatly dressed and there was a blush on their faces. Everyone was awake and alert. Only one of them – Dmitry, as Boris later found out his name and surname from the database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, having compared the photograph of his face taken, was gloomy. Dmitry was out of his mind; he, the leader of the organized crime group, made a nest here. He was supposed to bring a batch of heroin to the monastery tonight, for subsequent shipment to Europe. And then this new one. Appointed as a stoker and watchman. “No matter how he was a biorobot from the cops,” Dmitry thought. His gut for years of imprisonment and long “walkers” to the zone did not let him down. “Tonight, Rector Father Philip will leave on his own business in the city, in the Diocese. Monk Andrei will sleep, and Monk Sergius will pray for the whole world at night in the Temple. But this one with his sore hand was not included in my plans. there will be a day, there will be food,” thought Dmitry and began to drink tea.

      Boris, meanwhile, went to the library, got some books. There were Theophan the Recluse with his “Invisible Scolding”, and John of the Ladder and much more. In the basement there was a trestle bed, assembled from boards, where Boris folded a stack of books. The operated arm hurt, the sutures had not yet been removed from the biotissue. According to the body sensors, everything was normal, recharging for 48 hours. Although he would have slept for a couple of hours, so as not to sleep at night, but to read and make rounds around the monastery.

      It was getting dark… Boris managed to sleep for a couple of hours in his cell – no one bothered him, everyone was on obedience. It was time to go to the Temple for the obligatory common evening prayer and the fraternal rule. Which he did.

      Boris stood a little ahead of everyone, crossed himself evenly, as befits a Christian, but keeping his eyes on himself from the outside. he seemed to see himself through the eyes of his brothers. He did not give out a biorobot in himself – he ate, and slept, and prayed like a man. He knew that the Higher Mind certainly exists, but dogmatically, as a human being, he still had little faith, did not feel His every second existence on Earth. His concern for him.

      The evening rule came to an end, the brothers stood in a circle and, passing along it, asked for forgiveness from each other. Having left the Temple, Boris felt the ease of thinking. It was the first time in a long time. The intellectual system of the biorobot recorded the intense work of the brain at the moment of common fraternal prayer, and now the brain had a little rest, which served as some kind of joyful euphoria. It was not grace, that unknown feeling, for the sake of which Biomax 21st came to the monastery.

      Arriving at the boiler room, he compared the aerial photograph from the satellite with the map of his movement around the monastery. The first communication session with the Center is scheduled for 2 am. It was necessary to additionally enlighten all the buildings of the monastery from the Cosmos 976 satellite for hidden rooms. It is possible that here in the Vorobiev Monastery a channel was established for the supply of drugs to Europe. Well, Boris Borisovich, aka the biorobot Biomax 21, did not believe in the accidental presence of a recidivist thief on the territory of the monastery. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was Zhuk Dmitry Lvovich, born in 1970. Ordinary operatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs bypassed this monastery – the place is remote from the city, quiet, and who will give permission to conduct operational-search activities on the territory of the monastery. Yes, and the strength was not enough. It was necessary to be some kind of cop in order to infiltrate the monastery, where there is its own guard, a kind of state within a state.

      It got dark… There were 3 hours left before the communication session. and Boris began to study the monastic works. And here is what he read. It turns out that in order to attract grace, Greek monks always repeat in a half-whisper “Jesus Christ… Jesus Christ.” So, always at work when they go somewhere. It was part of the Jesus Prayer, a gift that originated in ancient times. Possessing the gift of the Jesus Prayer, a person was transformed, became like God, acquired gifts. So the biorobot began to speak in a half-whisper, softly with pauses: “Jesus Christ… Jesus Christ.” so 2.5 hours passed.

      Everyone was sleeping, only the dogs on duty lay lazily at the door of the fraternal house. Boris left the basement of the stoker, but then an unknown force stopped him. A man walked past him. The man did not notice Boris – if he had gone out a little earlier or later, they would have seen each other. The biorobot turned on infrared radiation and saw a parked jeep near the bushes. A bundle was handed out of the jeep, and it slowly and silently drove away. The man accepted the white bundle as quietly as a shadow, walked past Boris, who was standing in the basement of the stoker. In the meantime, Boris connected the electronic nose – “Heroin! Top quality!” – this is what was in the bundle.

      The decision came instantly – without going on the air, which could be tapped, to escape from the monastery. And run immediately. Orienting by the stars, Boris left the monastery – about 25 kilometers ahead of him off-road, in the morning he would still get in touch with the Center. But he will already be far from the monastery.

      He walked along a country road and repeated in a half-whisper “Jesus Christ… Jesus Christ…” And then on the left was a small swamp. All sensors of the biorobot worked normally. And then he heard clearly from the lilies, “What a happy man is walking past us… What a happy one! God Himself helped him!” and Boris clearly felt that indescribable, indescribable state, which is called grace!

      BEAST PEOPLE

      Biorobot Biomax 21 lay under a blockage of stones in a semi-conscious state for five days. More precisely, he could not determine due to the injuries inflicted by the beastmen. This war has been going on for two years now with varying successes for the belligerents. Biomax’s left arm was half torn off, it was hanging on biowires-veins and oil was leaking from it, small motors responsible for squeezing the hands continued to turn on and off spontaneously, consuming electricity.

      The nutrition regime in the biosystem was set as terminator. This is not even an economical “extreme” or it is also called emergency, this is the mode in which the mobility of the structure is limited – the life of the biorobot is close to death and the task of this mode is to support memory cards until the arrival of the special forces rescue team from the base. The rebels – beastmen behaved very cunningly, they deftly disguised themselves in the animal world, easily trained, then gathered in groups, then acted alone. The Beastmen were sponsored by scientists who entered the scientific field in the ranks of crime, namely in the ranks of drug lords. It was on such a group, a product of a mutation from the rays of the Kharatron device, that Biomax 21st came across while patrolling the territory of the Krasnovishersky Reserve.

      At first glance, they were ordinary bears – a she-bear with two cubs. Biomax 21, following instructions, came within firing range, but as soon as he cocked the sleeping pill, the she-bear swung the pendulum. Yes, yes, that same pendulum of the army counterintelligence school… showed a move to the right, went to the left and immediately approached about five meters. The biorobot was confused, – “So that the bears swing the pendulum?” and then a lingering pain appeared in the left side of the biorobot’s chest, the sensors recorded a lepton breakdown! Beastmen have only mastered contactless schools of magicians relatively recently. The biorobot collapsed like a wreck.