2
The room had unpainted wood-panelled walls. Along one wall, there were book shelfs. Framed drawings and engravings hung on another one. A triple-barrel shotgun stood at the head of the bed.
Gleb removed piles of books from the table and arranged teacups on it.
“But why did Magister say that you were a terrorist?" Yar asked.
"For ‘Those who command’, I was a terrorist," Gleb said. “I appeared here when the war between the left and the right banks of the River was formally over, but it was still turbulent around the cities and in the forests. I was still a boy then. I learned to shoot straight, despite wearing glasses, and earned myself a nickname – ‘Shooter’.”
"And.... who were you shooting at?"
“At ‘Those who command’, of course. They led the so-called Pacifying Units.They had no use of the war anymore, and they decided to immediately put things in order on the peninsula. First, they pitted armed groups from different banks against each other, and then disarmed those who were weaker. They destroyed weapons, but people... well, it was a case by case situation… Some people were set free, but those who were starting to suspect something wrong… I've seen enough and learned to shoot. We had a man who knew how to cast special bullets. He put a spell on them, as they did in the Middle Ages. But, Yar, we shot not only ‘Those who command’. We also shot those who helped them. We couldn't change that…”
“What happened next?”
“As the time passed, I realized that it's pointless to go to war with them. I don’t know where they came from and what is their nature, although I've given it a lot of thought. Maybe they are aliens from another planet. One thing I know for certain -- they belong to a race of parasites. They're like… cockroaches in the kitchen.”
"And you stopped shooting and decided to keep a cleaner space.”
“Honestly, I did it without much success. Well, I was all over the country. I was protesting in public and trying to shake people up. I got nicknamed Gleb the Wild. I've written books… By the way, the expression “Those who command” is mine. That was the title of one of my books. They soon banned my books and burned it.”
"Listen, Gleb... This crazy idea of a sentient galaxy they are talking about, what is it? Well, is it like a church or a cult or something?” Yar asked.
“This theory is extremely naive. I had a talk with their clay philosopher before I...” Gleb stopped short and looked at the kids. “In general, their theory states that the galaxy is a huge empty brain, not filled with any information so far. They send information into space in the simplest way with the help of explosives to create vibrations. As a result, there is a mess and all these Invasions… In addition, our cute clay friends do not mind closing the time spiral in a circle so that everything spins in an infinite loop!"
“What would they do that for?”
"I believe that they want to gain time in order to achieve a wider goal,” Gleb answered Yar. “Our galaxy is developing and expanding in its own way and will not wait to be filled with their minds... ‘Those who command’ are a race of cosmic parasites. They don’t even have their own physical shell so they have to use statues and mannequins as their bodies… Yar, have you ever thought about returning to Earth and bringing a large well-armed landing party to clear the Planet of all the parasites?"
After a pause, Yar said, "Not at first, but then I did and then again no. Gleb, I realized that the aliens could not change the world. They could probably blow up a planet, but not save.... And what about you, Gleb? Did you try to return home?”
Gleb swiftly answered, “No. I did not try and do not want to. It seemed to me than that I was needed here, and it was enough for me. I have everything I want here... Anyway, the Planet is just like Earth."
Yar scratched his chin thoughtfully.
Gleb continued his explanations, “You see, the dimensions are densely packed together like transparent cubes... And here our parasites have broke something in this cell structure during their explosions and experiments. The cubes had covered with cracks and moved... A young novice journalist Gleb Vyatkin tripped on some metal rails and was brought here through one of these cracks...”
“Can we see the gun?” Alka asked, making puppy-dog eyes at Gleb and pointing to the double-barreled shotgun hanging on the wall.
“No way!” Yar shouted.
Gleb took the gung off the wall and said to the kids, “Here, take it. It's not loaded. In fact, the gung’s spring is removed, so even if you want to take a shot, you can’t. Now... it's a museum piece now.”
Tik and Alka came up to Gleb.
Suddenly, like a gunshot, a mechanical voice came on - a voice that Yar knew.
"Yar-r! Hello! How are you, scaderman?"
Yar jumped up and removed the green lampshade.
In the corner, at the ceiling, was a small funny creature - a tight baggie with wire hands and legs. The creature was clunging to some strained rope under the ceiling as its legs flopped around cheerfully. A face drawn on the baggie was smiling.
“Blabber!” Yar was really surprised. His heart started racing. Yar looked back at Gleb. "Gleb, can I ask him a question? Look, it won’t die because of it, will it?"*
“I’ll neverrr die,” the Blabber screamed joyfully. “Ask me a trrrillion questions! I have eternal energy inside of me!”
"Shut up, Mr. Blabbermouth!” Gleb said. “Don't mind him, Yar. He has been living with me for nine years and he hasn’t gotten any smarter."
"You didn’t get smarter!" the Blabber said. "The only smart thing you ever did was putting the magic Sparky in me!"
“Is it true?” Yar asked Gleb.
Gleb laughed and nodded, “It's the safest place to hide. Magister wanted me to give him the Sparky, but now it belongs to Blabber, and he would never part with something so precious."
"Never!" the Blabber confirmed. "As long as I have Sparky in me, nothing can be done with me. Ha-ha, I'm, like, invincible."
“You know, I have trouble shutting him up,” Gleb said.”But sometimes he gives good advice.”
The gun suddenly went off with a loud bang. The Blabber fell to the floor, and the cups flew off the table.Тhe room filled with blue-gray smoke and with a faint scent of gunpowder. There was a ringing silence in the room.
“I thought you said it doesn’t fire,” Ignatik said with guilt in his voice.
“Intolerable scandal!” the Blabber screamed from under the table.
Gleb rushed to the boys and grabbed the gun out of Tik’s hand. He cleared his throat and said, “What the devil! There's no bullets in there! The trigger isn’t working! How is - how is this even possible?”
“Tik. It's all him,” Alka said smugly. ”He can do a lot more than that just by thinking it.”*
“It’s like letting children get hold of matches…” the Blabber screamed, climbing the wall.
Gleb sat back in the armchair and began to laugh...
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*The Blabber. A man-made intelligent creature that you can create with your own hands from a piece of cloth, several sticks or pieces of wire and sand. You can do the Blabber only in a quiet place. The sand is poured into a piece of cloth, then the cloth is tied. A face is drawn on it and “hands” are attached from the sides, after which the Blabber is hung somewhere on the wire. As a result, he comes to life and can talk, tell stories or just keep conversation. But you need to talk with him carefully. The most important thing is not to ask him any questions. The fact is that the Blabber can answer any question, but only once. If you ask him a second
question, he immediately dies and turns into a handful of sand in a piece of cloth.
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*Ignatik (Tik) has the superpower to take some of his fantasies into reality, but sometimes they’re unconscious.

To be continued...