This is a fan translation of Emperors of Illusions (Императоры иллюзий) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel is a sequel to Lukyanenko's Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) novel and can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.

Chapter 5

Almost everything here was being done by hand. People were more reliable than machines… both for work and for the secrecy, as strange as it sounded. Raj Gazanov, Electrical Technician Second Class, tested the circuit one last time, closed the panel, and placed a seal. He turned to Wendy Tomayo, the best programmer of the aTan Corporation's Endorian facility, and returned her smile. They had been sleeping together for three days, and Tomayo was in love with Raj. She herself didn't realize it yet…

"It's working," Raj said. "This damned thing is working… I have no idea how…"

"Nothing new there," Wendy's gaze swept the large hall. There was no one nearby, and the monitoring systems weren't active yet, something she knew for certain. "Get used to it, that's always the case with aTan systems."

"But this isn't aTan! I've put together replicators and aTan emitters on three planets… they're completely different. Except for the insane design…"

Wendy shrugged. The conversation was beginning to touch upon shaky topics… but she liked speaking with Raj.

"Curtis alone knows what this is. The Old Man has once again managed to swindle a piece of tech from the Psilons."

"Right… Psilons. I've seen their tech. Colloid microcircuits, ultraviolet optoelectronics, molecular memory units. But all that has human analogs."

"Let's drop this subject," Wendy noted.

"Yeah, you're right… But what does this all do? My mind is overwhelmed with curiosity!"

Tomayo hesitated.

"Raj… fine. Look…" she took him by the shoulders. "When everything will be ready, there will be a neural network at the center of the room. Just like the one in our heads but stationary."

"Whoa…" Raj shuddered. "I can imagine. A web of jelly on the ceiling… impressive. But why?"

"To scan a personality, not continuously, like aTan, but one time, remotely."

"So the Old Man has decided to improve on aTan? It's about time… two hundred years with no changes…"

"This isn't aTan," Wendy had gone too far to stop now. "I've seen a few documents… by accident… the system is called 'The Line of Dreams'."

"What?"

Wendy didn't notice the change in Raj's voice.

"'The Line of Dreams'. A client enters the room through Sector A, the doors are then sealed… very well screened, by the way… then he goes through the hallway to the neural network, it activates for three-hundredth of a second, scans the personality… and that's it."

"What do you mean 'that's it'?"

"The system is ready for the next client."

"What about the previous one?"

"No idea. After the neural network, the circuits you were just assembling are activated. Maybe the client is transported somewhere through hyperspace."

"Into a crematorium."

"Raj! Don't say that."

"Why not?"

"Raj, the Old Man is planning on making a public statement regarding 'The Line of Dreams' within the next few days. I think he'll explain everything."

Gazanov gathered his tools into the bag carefully. Then he noted, "No, explanations won't help. But a complete evening in a bar might… will you let me get drunk?"

"Just for tonight," Wendy laughed. "I might even keep you company."

Once a disenfranchised immigrant from Kulthos and now a successful citizen of Endoria, she hadn't learned to properly gauge her partners. Raj, who was far too attentive and gentle with her, would have forced anyone who had been raised with personal freedoms to be suspicious.

Wendy was accepting him as a manifestation of her dreams, openly and thoughtlessly.

She was still working on testing the equipment software, when Raj Gazanov exited aTan's underground spaces. Grimacing in disgust from the metallic smell in the air, he got into a rental car, studied his face for a minute in the rear-view mirror, and started the engine.

But he never made it to Olympus, the traditional watering hole for aTan employees. In the middle of the bridge across the Ponteus River, technician Raj Gazanov did something very strange. He turned the steering wheel so abruptly that the safety system didn't have time to react, and the car broke through the concrete parapet and dove into the oily black water. Raj's eyes in those moments were glassy and blank, like that of a man killing himself using the Jen technique. Of course, why would a simple technician possess Imperial military training?..

At that same moment, aTan's Endorian facility started the resurrection procedure of Clinch Commander Vyacheslav Shegal. His aTan file was marked as "extremely urgent", and Shegal opened his eyes a mere half-hour later. He rejected the suggestion to speak to a thanatologist with such a disdainful smile that the personnel decided not to bother him with excessive concern. Renewing his immortality, using the account of one of the Imperial foundations, Vaycheslav Shegal quickly picked out clothing for himself at the shop. He didn't particularly care about either the prices or the fashions.

Wendy Tomayo was leaving 'The Line of Dreams' sections and saw an unfamiliar man through the shop's glass wall. The man, who was tying his new tie, gave her a sad and slightly guilty smile… which seemed strangely familiar. Wendy was in a hurry to Olympus to join her friend and didn't bother thinking about it.

She merely felt a prickle in her chest, which was a premature, gentle precursor of the pain she would feel in half an hour, after finding out about Raj's death.

Shegal completely forgot about her forty minutes later, upon reaching the Endorian office of the ISS. He still had to restore his identification, establish a direct communication line to the Emperor, and take one of the reserve ships, without giving any reason to the smug officials.

Those were tedious procedures…