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“Forgive me. You never asked me why I hate them so much. You were too focused on

your own problems. And I don't really like to talk about my drug addict father. That's why I drank. Because then there was nothing I could do. It was my only secret from you. I swear! I hope not, I'm confident that this will not end our friendship. I wouldn't say this now if at stake was only my life and not yours with your sister's.”

Isaac was upset, but he immediately nodded in approval, allowing Bikie to understand

that he doesn't hate him. Perhaps this is a real friendship. One doesn't have to turn each the other inside out, getting into the innermost corners of the soul to be considered a close and trusted friend. Isaac also felt guilty that he didn't know and wasn't particularly interested in what motivated Bikie.

Bikie was gloom, he didn't raise his head. Judging by the fact that the Professor did not ask clarifying questions, everything was clear. The original purpose of Bikie was to kill the Professor. However the fact that he changed his mind, too, was true.

“Link, and why you disappeared?” asked Isaac trying to be casual. “Is your secret

location important enough to kill us? My sister is being killed now, you should know for sure now.”

“It’s all very simple. I ran away because I was frightened. Secret Service agents came to see me ‘to have a talk.’ The government wanted to find out everything and then go public with it.

I couldn’t get the agents to understand that the technology had nothing to do with artificial intelligence. I set up a conference in a hurry to present the technology and hand it over to Blake at the UN. And immediately after that memorable event, I got a call asking me not to leave the country. When I realized that Secret Service would stop at nothing to get hold of the technology, even though I had already signed it over to the UN, or at least to get a copy, so that they could

have a system of their own, I decided to run anyway, just to be on the safe side. Yes, I got frightened and I bolted.”

“Think about it. How much time would pass before they sucked out my own Orange

Energy? I possessed knowledge that they deemed top secret. Or some bright corporate spark would have decided that I must build another computer like that. A private one, so to speak. Then they would start kidnapping and downloading scientists all around the world to create a

‘creativity race’.”

“I was far too tempting a morsel for everyone, from the military and the big corporations to ordinary terrorists. But if I were to vanish, there would be only one computer in the hands of people who had spent their lives at least trying, if not always successfully, to maintain peace on earth.

“I thought about it a lot and realized it was an absolute certainty that someone would get the idea of downloading me. It was only a matter of time until they arrived at that brilliant idea.”

“But had they laid their hands on the idea, I’m afraid there would have been a few

surprises in store for them…” at this point the professor, with a restrained smile, raised his index finger and narrowed his eyes. “If energy can be pumped out, then a way can be found to…”

“Pump it back in,” Isaac murmured.

“So again, it was just a matter of time until, sooner or later, someone unearthed this idea of mine, which was almost ready. And that was something I definitely couldn’t tolerate. But now we have everything developing according to a fairly positive scenario. The technology belongs to the UN, where there are decent people in charge. Things could have gone differently. If not for my reputation, I wouldn’t have been able to get to the Secretary General so quickly.”

“Thank God, the old friend understood me and the implications of my invention

instantly…” Sweat beaded on the professor’s brow. “That was luck. The last thing I wanted was to become a man who had invented a super-powerful weapon,” he added confidently. “If the military had got their hands on the technology first, then… I’m afraid the word democracy would have disappeared, except from the textbooks, and it wouldn’t have stayed there for long.”

There was a minute of silence as each of them imagined a future with the military in

control.

“But couldn’t you have thought about that beforehand?” Bikie pulled himself together.

“I did. Worked on university’s funding. My laboratory assistants wrote reports on the

work and the expenditures. Someone obviously overdid it, and the authorities took an interest in my invention. I only had a week to organize the conference and my escape before Secret Service paid me another visit. So everything started slipping out of my control. But all’s well that ends well. It probably never even occurred to them that a highly respected fifty-five-year-old scientist could simply do a runner.”

Then the professor moved away to light up a cigar.

“You know, Isaac, when the professor starts talking, I listen to him and realize that

compared to him you’re a dumbo,” Bikie said very seriously and immediately got a friendly punch from Isaac.

“Friends,” the professor intervened, coming back with the cigar in his hand, “you

shouldn’t overestimate an old blockhead like me. In fact, everyone warned me the technology was extremely dangerous and it could be dangerous for me. But who were they to tell to me what I should do? It’s interesting that you found me. Anyway, I’m still glad my refuge was cracked by genuinely laudable individuals.”

“My refuge!” the professor continued. “How sick I am of this settled life in this lousy dump, pardon the expression, the cloying syrup of identical days. There was a time when a journalist came to see me every month to publish an interview about my invention. Frequent scientific conferences, learned debates. I used to feel the way explorers and pioneers felt, the way the greatest minds of humanity felt at the summit of their achievements. The world seemed to revolve around me! All the life of the planet.”

The professor’s eyes were glowing demonically. He felt a wild pleasure at remembering it all.

“Professor, that’s exactly the way things were,” Isaac remarked. “And I’d say they still are. A great deal depends on you. In the life of mankind.”

Still smiling, the professor frowned.

“It’s boring,” he said, continuing his skeptical complaint. “I’m so bored to live this way.

All my memories, pangs of conscience, fears – they don’t count. That’s all trivial compared with the boredom. It’s all trivial after having reached my peak.”

“Who said you’ve reached your peak, Link?” Bikie asked, trying to make the question

sound as intriguing as possible. “You have taught the world how to download OE, but you haven’t taught it how to give it back to people. But you said yourself that it is possible! Now that would be the highest peak, Professor, returning creativity to those who have lost it. Is it feasible?”

“Theoretically,” said the professor, brightening up. “I’ve had enough time and I can

picture how to do it. Only, as you know, theory is theory, but implementation requires

experiments and trials. We need a genuine Veggie. Practical tests, you know…”

“Professor!” Isaac had a glimmer of hope. “We have to make it a reality. And I even have a candidate for the experiment. I have… I had a friend, Pascal, I told you before, he downloaded and became a Veggie. You could use him for your experiment. If you return his creativity, we can all be sure the theory works. We in Monaco have a great base! There's enough room for

everyone. We can conduct any experiments there. And Pascal lives very close.”

“And if not?”

“If not… we’ll keep on searching.”

Link was obviously very interested in this proposal and went straight to the specifics: when and where did Pascal download his OE? What was his rating? What kind of life does he lead now? Isaac replied briskly. For a while he forgot about danger, the uncertainty and the possibility of failure. It all paled beside the idea of pulling his friend out of his vegetable condition, bringing the first person back out of the Veggie!

By the end of the evening the plan of action took shape. It was simple and precise. Give Pascal back his creativity and thereby justify their struggle against the system.

Link tested something similar as he was looking forward to a new grand experiment, it

almost smelled of an unconquered frontier. He got so excited that Isaac's last doubts evaporated because the Professor is not going to disappear and will not erase their memory because he needs them. The obsession of the scientist is comparable to the dependency of an addict! This chance he will not miss.

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