The girl looked around. The platform was surrounded only by pine forest. There were so many of these useless stations, built by construction robots every twenty kilometers. Perhaps, in time, a small town with parks and shops would appear near some of them. But most would remain useless, and the train would rush past them at full speed.
Anna spotted a narrow path leading into the forest and, checking the direction on the GPS navigator on her watch, set off along it. The pine forest seemed welcoming and was dry, as it was summer. Last year's yellowed pine needles and pine cones stripped bare by forest dwellers lay in abundance underfoot. Kicking them occasionally and listening to music on her headphones, Anna imperceptibly covered several kilometers and came out to a nice little house.
Despite the age of the building, someone had done a very good job of reinforcing it with metal structures, fitting it with modern windows, large solar panels across the entire width of the roof, and impressive air purification and conditioning systems. In the backyard, a large greenhouse peeked out from around the corner of the house, and a small but neat garden was laid out around it.
There was a table and a couple of old-fashioned chairs on the porch. An elderly woman with silvery-gray hair carefully wiped it with a damp cloth, then took a folded tablecloth with fringe from the porch railing and began to spread it out, meticulously adjusting the folds and smoothing out the creases in the thick fabric with her wrinkled hand.
"Hello!" Anna greeted her cautiously.
"Good afternoon," replied the lady of the house, as if she was not at all surprised to see an unexpected visitor.
"Are you... the Master?"
"The Master? I don't think so," the woman said, slightly embarrassed, and smiled slightly. "I don't really look like Margarita anymore. At most... just an old witch."
She spoke slowly, slightly stretching out the vowels and pausing briefly between words, as if choosing the right ones.
"Come on... You look great," Anna said.
"Thank you, dear," said the hostess softly. "You probably need... my husband."
"Your husband?" asked the girl, mentally estimating how old the "cool guy" the White Queen was talking about must be. "Excuse me, but what does he do for a living?"
"Don't you know?"
"No."
"He's a wizard."
"A wizard?" the girl asked, wondering if the old woman was joking or simply out of her mind.
"A real one. Once... He gave me... "That lake over there," she pointed to a shiny strip of water visible between the trees. "And right now he's there... fishing... but he should be back soon... You can sit down and wait for him... in my company..." The woman looked closely at Anna and, before she could think of a polite excuse to refuse, said. "But if your conversation... is confidential... You can walk along this path yourself... and you'll find yourself on the shore. You're sure to meet him there."
"Yes," Anna said uncertainly. "I think I'll do that. Thank you."
She walked along a small path of brownish tiles running alongside the house and turned onto a forest trail. Light filtered through the fluffy branches and tall pine trunks, creating a whimsical pattern of sunlight on the pine-needle-covered ground. Soon the path plunged downward, winding between sparse trees and small bushes nestled on the hillside. After walking for some time, completely lost in her thoughts, Anna finally saw water.
The blue surface of the lake, stretching slightly between the hills, was calm and serene. A boat was moored to a small pier neatly constructed from pine boards. A dry, thin old man with a neatly trimmed mustache and an equally neat pointed beard slowly tied it up, gathered a couple of fishing rods, and pulled a bag with several heavy fish onto the shore.
"Good afternoon!" Anna greeted him.
The old man squinted at the girl and, without saying a word, headed up the path with his catch.
"Wait, I brought you a book..."
"I didn't order anything," the old man said without looking back.
"No, you don't understand," the girl hurried after him, taking a worn copy of "Quantum Mechanics" out of her backpack as she walked. "This book! It was given to me by... the White Queen."
"The White Queen..." the old man grunted, taking the book from Anna's hands. "Why didn't she come herself?"
"She... couldn't."
"In that case, she could have just sent the package by drone," the old man frowned and slowly walked toward the house.
"She said you could help us..."
"With what?"
"Help in the fight against the dictatorship of G.A..."
"In the fight against dictatorship?" the old man laughed in a creaky voice. "You, young lady, obviously don't quite understand who you are talking to. Otherwise, you wouldn't have decided to ask me for help in fighting the dictatorship," he put the bag of fish on the ground and sat down on a log lying by the path, "And may I ask, what exactly don't you like about this 'dictatorship'? After such a devastating war, G.A. rebuilt the industry through the introduction of total robotization. The world is organized according to new principles. They are fair, and they have finally brought prosperity to everyone, something that has never happened before on the planet.
"You know about the "Voland" project, don't you?" Anna asked, lowering her voice.
"You don't have to whisper, young lady. There isn't a single listening device within a radius of five hundred kilometers. It's not that I've started complaining about my hearing with age, but it's annoying... No, I don't know about the "Voland" project."
"It's artificial intelligence. All overt and covert surveillance systems are now under its control, including even cameras on phones and laptops. It listens in on conversations, monitors all network traffic..."
"Well, my dear young lady... This is the natural price you pay for the comfort and safety of your city life. Isn't that a reasonable price? And besides, does an honest person really have anything to hide?" The old man narrowed his eyes slyly, staring intently at the girl with his piercing gaze.
"I used to think so too," Anna replied seriously. "But now the computer has started making decisions about who lives and who dies. If that's not the most cynical dictatorship, then what is?"
"Judging by all appearances," said the old man, slowly getting up, "it's the natural course of human development."
"But it shouldn't be that way!"
"Only what must happen is happening. If your computers are artificially selecting humanity, then perhaps it is for the good of humanity..."
"And the White Queen believed that you would save us..." Anna said disappointedly.
"Believed?" There was a barely perceptible note of excitement in the old man's voice.
"Yes. She died a few days ago. And I know for sure that "Voland" killed her."
"Well..." The old man's eyes clouded over slightly. "Then it was her destiny."
He picked up the bag with his catch from the dusty path, put his fishing rods on his shoulder, and shuffled on.
"And what was your destiny?" the girl called sharply after the old man. "Fishing?!"
He paused for a second, then turned around and, approaching the girl, hissed ominously:
"You know, young lady... Fishing is not the worst thing I could be doing!" I was a scientist. And all my adult life, I created devices exclusively for destruction. And I succeeded in that! Millions of people were destroyed by the power of my intellect. I was one of those directly responsible for this war. These hands are stained with human blood that cannot be washed away!" He shook his palms in front of the girl. "And you should be happy that I am fishing now instead of doing my professional duties!"
"If you are really capable of destroying anyone, then help us to destroy "Voland"," Anna blurted out suddenly, surprised at her own audacity. "But, in my opinion, the White Queen was simply mistaken about you... You're just an ordinary old man!"
"All right," the scientist croaked after a tense silence. "Let's go!"
Together they returned to the cottage and went inside. The interior, with its strong mothball retro feel, was full of provincial charm. There was a large carpet with long pile on the floor. A sofa and a pair of armchairs stood in a semicircle around the table. There were many figurines, vases, and other knick-knacks on the bookshelves. Finally, there was an antique floor lamp with a blue lampshade and a painting on the wall depicting a sailboat plowing through the ocean. It seemed that, in the opinion of the owners, all this was supposed to create a feeling of comfort and prosperity.
Cups, a tall transparent teapot, and several types of jam in elegant vases were already set out on the table. A gray-haired woman came out of the kitchen with a hot teapot and began to pour boiling water.
"Finally, you've come, conspirators. Sit down and have some tea."
"Oh, stop talking..." replied the old man gloomily, putting the book on the shelf and carrying the fish he had caught into the kitchen.
"Thank you! And why did you decide that we are conspirators?" Anna asked cheerfully, sitting down at the table.
"Well, my dear... I may have poor eyesight... but I have a keen eye..." The old woman poured her some tea. "You are definitely an FSB agent... Or whatever it's called now... What is it now?"
"Do you mean the special services? We don't have special services anymore."
"Now they spy on each other with computers," replied the scientist, rummaging through the drawers of a desk in the corner, covered with papers.
"What are you looking for, Peter? Sit down... Have some tea..."
"I'm not looking for anything! I haven't lost anything. Here..." The old man finally pulled out a dark rectangular box. Anna almost immediately recognized the old military-grade shockproof laptop she had once seen in an electronic encyclopedia.
"I thought you threw that hellish machine away a long time ago!" the hostess exclaimed in surprise.
"I'm not crazy enough to just throw away almost six hundred megatons... Fish is in the kitchen.
"Those damn rockets again... And after that, you'll tell me that it has nothing to do with the special services..." muttered the old woman, sipping her tea.
"Oh, can you just go and clean the fish now?" the old man raised his voice. "And then cook it or fry it..."
"Incorrigible... narcissistic... tyrant..." the woman replied sarcastically, continuing to drink her tea, not even thinking of getting up. "And now you're also a disgusting... grumpy old man. At your age, you need to take care of your nerves... avoid stress... and stick to a routine. And you... you yell at me..."
"Let's go out on the veranda, young lady. The atmosphere inside is becoming too toxic..."
After licking the spoon with jam with pleasure, Anna quietly whispered "Thank you" to the hostess and followed the scientist outside.