by VK Fourstone
He was not worried about Link’s sinister prophecies – he was just an old man, protecting his creation with his head off. Not a single idiot will come back to the Collective Mind, that’s for sure. Maybe he was right and this type of artificial intellect was the safest. But did people need it? The world had been living without it, well, yes, dying from diseases, but advancing. Freedom values more than a warm bath. You get tired of the warm bath one day. The idea is to have goals and chances to achieve them, so let people make their choice. Isaac caught himself still mentally arguing with Professor, which made him feel a little uneasy. “Inquisitors, war” – those words were firmly stuck in his head, like a splinter. No, the person who gives you your choice back can’t be considered inquisitor, by no means. “Wars for different spiritual values” – that was very well said, quite exactly. That was what happened between him and Professor.
“Well, after all, success is never blamed. People should have the freedom of choice.” He recalled the old saying, feeling tired of these thoughts.
Somewhere on the top floor of a Manhattan skyscraper, in the setting of a luxurious penthouse, the artist Andrei Sharov, an ex-Veggie, was sitting on a hugely expensive sofa. He felt like having a drink, but there wasn’t anything. He sat there, turning his head stupidly from one wall to another. Hanging on the walls were high-quality reproductions of his pictures, which he remembered having sold to the owner of a little restaurant. Lying on the tables were brightly colored catalogs and magazines with articles extolling his talent.
A woman he didn’t know, who said she was there to look after him, explained that it was his apartment, and he had been living here for four years.
The artist simply couldn’t believe that he was so rich and famous. He thought he must have gone crazy, or it was all just some beautiful dream.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner, except an outstanding painter, Andrei Sharov. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This book is a film adaptation of Collective Mind by Vasily Klyukin
Original version edited by Maya Azbukina
English language translation by Andrew Bromfield 2015, Sofia Bakhurina, Dina Kunets
Edited by James Gregory
Production by Maya Azbukina
Cover design by Vasily Klyukin
Cover Illustration by Michael Tsaturyan
