A. Belyaev - Classics fantasy – 6

– Electricity?

– No, bacteria.

– Bacteria?!

– Yes, the shining bacteria. And this floor-to-ceiling window for the sun. We have an ideal ventilation and heating in which, however, there is no special need as we made winter-proof all climate of our latitudes. What else?

– But cultural requirements: music, books, pictures?

– You still will get acquainted with our art, our cultural requirements.

– One more question: where there is your wife?

– On Southern Altai. Doctors prescribed it mountain air.

– Long ago?

– Two years. But for us there are no distances. We often visit each other, we meet and we speak also frequently as though we lived in one room. There are spouses and who are very loving who constantly live at distance thousands of kilometers and find it convenient. In general you should understand one thing: never before – at least at us in Europe, Asia and Africa – the mankind did not live such close-knit, solid family in spite of the fact that certain members of this multimillion family physically are more scattered, than earlier. We are in constant communication. I have friends everywhere – from a pole to a pole, and I conduct with them continuous conversations. We often have meetings, “congresses” where we discuss our public affairs. But we do all this if we want, without leaving the room.

Light went out, the screen was lit.

– Well, here and I – told Ying.

It seemed to me that it approached our table and took seat in a chair near the husband.

– Children will be today? – Li asked.

– To told me what he guards in Arabia, by all means wants to find the first for the spy, and Tsal…

– Here and I!. – and one more “ghost” – the young man very similar to Li approached a table.

“It has such big children!” – I thought.

– Today we will feast – Li told, having acquainted me with the son. – It is necessary to show to this antediluvian person, as we are a good judge of a good dish and pleasant drink.

Li pressed the button at the table edge, and suddenly on a table there were two devices and extraordinary narrow as chemical flasks, high shot glasses.

At the same moment on a table of the wife of the engineer, Ying, dishes also appeared – she caused them.

Li lifted a shot glass and suggested me to look at liquid on light. The shot glass seemed a range. Liquid was poured by layers, and each layer, without mixing up with others, had the coloring.

– Drink slowly, small drinks. In this liquid there is no alcohol at all, but there is something another, harmless and… you learn.

I on the advice of Li began to drink very slowly. I cannot give my feeling. It was some flavoring symphony. Taste changed all the time, and each drink brought me inexplicable pleasure. I felt extraordinary clarity of thoughts and some special cheerfulness.

– It is not artificial raising of nerves, but clarification of a brain from toxins – poisoning products – Li told.

– Never before I felt such flavoring pleasure – I told.

– You still will strengthen it this dish – and Li moved up to me mousse.

– Tasty? – asked, smiling, Ying.

– Amazingly – I answered.

The son Li with pleasure savoured the same mousse on the table, on the screen.

– You still study? – I asked the young man.

– Why “still”? – he answered with a question.

– Because you are young. You study at some school or university, here that I wanted to tell.

– At school? At university? – again bewildered the young man asked.

“Really Li has such silly son?.” – I thought. But I had to be convinced soon that I hurried with the conclusion.

– He does not understand your thought therefore – stood up for the son Li, as if guessed my thought – that we have no school age and we have no schools.

Seeing my amazed person, Li explained to me:

– Still your time put to itself a task to bring closer school to life. On this principle you built the labor school. We managed to carry out this principle, as they say, for all hundred percent. The school and life merged at us together, or if you want, life and practice became our only school.

– But theory?

It is studied also, but this studying does not come off life and practice.

Having drunk from the long shot glass, Li continued:

– It is necessary to tell you that the control of our cars is so simple that even teenagers cope with them and do it very willingly. Even standing at “machine”, they can listen to lectures on radio.

– Again radio!

– Yes, radio destroyed that school what was in your time when it, to a greater or lesser extent, tore off from life. Radio teaches us from a cradle to a crematorium. We study always and everywhere. We fill up the knowledge at work if it does not require special attention, and on walk, even during the air travel. We listen to lectures of the most great scientists, we are present at experiences, we watch the formulas appearing on the screen. Only where the first-hand experience is necessary, we resort to things – flasks, machines, drills. But they always to our services – and in factory laboratories, and partly and at home. For chemical experiments we, for example, can always cause on the house everything to us necessary.

– You are probably surprised even more – Ying told – if you learn that we almost do not read books.

– Yes, it is right – confirmed to Li. – We use sound transfer more.

– But how to allocate from a broadcast that it is necessary for you? At you hundreds of radio stations at the same time have to work?

– Each radio station operates on the wave, and length of these waves differs not only with meters, but also centimeters and even millimeters now. And we absolutely easily allocate the necessary station even if its wavelength differs from a wave of other station in only several millimeters.

– And then – Tsal efficiently declared – these stations are not much as you assume. Our network of radio stations is built on system of zone time, or, otherwise to tell, on longitude degrees – one station by fifteen degrees as time differs for an hour, considering for your time, through each fifteen degrees. Therefore from the west bank of Africa to east coast of Asia we have only ten main radio sets which fill with radio waves everyone the fifteen degrees of longitude from a pole to a pole. There are, however, still central radio stations, their radius of action covers all our territory. But we use them only for communication with ten zone.

– You did not tell about radio stations for transmission of energy yet – Li added – but I still will acquaint you with them. Yes, radio made huge changes to all public life, changes about which you probably did not dare and to dream. Radio abolished need of a physical assemblage of people. It was great hygienic achievement, and at the same time radio pulled together people in public sense. Radio destroyed not only old school, but also old theater, cinema. We have no stuffy, overflowed with public cinemas, theatrical and concert halls, audiences.

– Why don’t we acquaint our guest with theater now? – Ying offered.

– Perfectly – Li agreed – for this purpose we do not need to run behind tickets and to trudge by your awful trams.

The second white wall of the room suddenly, as if by magic, turned into the stage if only what I saw, it is possible to call a scene. I not only never saw such art wealth, such situation, such scenic and lighting effects, but also did not assume that they are possible. Melodious music accompanied acting. It was the new kind of art. The speech turned into singing, and then it seemed that there is an opera. Gestures and the movements were natural, but are so merged with a musical background that it would be possible to call it some new ballet. Light changed the coloring together with a melody and seemed the shining sounds. It was some synthetic art.