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Eugene (Mendoir, April — June 2358) April 11, 2358 The slowly rising sun illuminated the peaks of the mountains in the east, they are clearly visible from the window of my room in clear weather. It's been four years since I've been in this world, the world of a computer game that has come to life, so similar and at the same time completely different! It's been a year since I got my hands on a desktop terminal, and I've started a real brainstorming session. I managed to find answers to almost all my questions: They had never even heard of the Reapers here, there was a huge pile of contradictory information about the Protheans, and most importantly, everyone was absolutely sure that they had built both the Citadel and the repeaters. So what does that mean? The canonical events did not happen! But the most important thing is that there is no certainty that I am connected with them. However, "John" Shepard, like "Jane" Shepard, exist in reality, and the most amazing thing is that they are members of the same family! Yes, on May 22, 2355, my younger brother was born, and my dad, according to the old Russian tradition, named his youngest son Ivan! He is very original! Mom, laughing, told him so. Well, my parents are retired military personnel: my dad is a captain of the first rank (or captain in the Anglo—American rank system), and my mom is a major in the Navy medical service. Plus, I'm a colonist from Mendoir, just like in the game, but in a crowd. And as far as I could remember, in the game, the colonist's entire family is killed, after which he (she) goes into the army. I'll get out of my skin, but I won't let them kill my family! After Vanka was born, they pushed taking care of me onto my older brothers and our wonderful cat! The brothers were not particularly pleased, but the redhead seemed to be just happy. The mustachioed babysitter followed me around the house, played, slept, and accompanied me on trips to the center of the town. And after the brothers were allowed to take me out with them, Barsik and I became as much a part of the children's company in our village as my brothers, their Turian friends, Hamon (Ham) and Tamil (Tam), the sons of the same Dr. Duck, their Azari girlfriends named Vasil, the daughter of Dr. Ray, and a small Turian woman my age, Nain, the younger sister of Ham and Tam. Last September, I went to the local kindergarten equivalent, where a lot of amazing discoveries awaited me. The clock on my desk read 6:30 a.m. Although a day on Mendoir is longer than a day on Earth by as much as 9 minutes, a year is shorter by 7 days. So we live by the time of the Alliance of Systems, that is, Greenwich Mean Time on Earth, plus a sunset-sunrise correction. The clock is periodically adjusted according to the signal of the planetary control virtin. The whole family is still asleep, but I get up earlier than everyone else and do exercises. Several yoga asanas mixed with classical gymnastics and weights on my arms and legs over two years of training have made me very strong for my age, improved flexibility, coordination of movements and motor skills. I remember well the weakness of the first year of my life and I want to be strong. Thank the extranet for the huge number of all kinds of video tutorials on physical education! The main language of the colony was Russian, although English was spoken by everyone, of course, the main language of the Alliance. Plus, they spoke in "basic" or basic galactic, aka "galact". It was developed by the Salarians, together with the Asari, as much as two and a half thousand years ago. Well, all the "strangers" spoke their native languages perfectly, a natural Babylon 5, not Mendoir! And once, I bend my whole body forward, leaning on my hands, and twice, in the opposite direction. After all, a girl's body is much more flexible than my past, like rubber is straight. After six months of classes, I sat down on the splits completely, sitting in the lotus position also did not cause any unpleasant sensations. In general, everything is very good so far, except for one small disadvantage: an extremely low pain threshold. But I attribute this to a child's body, and I hope it will pass with age. I heard noises on the ground floor, probably mom got up and went to cook breakfast, and it's time for me to take a shower, brush my teeth and generally get ready. My brothers will take me to the garden soon. Five hours later There are also a whole bunch of youngsters from almost all races of the Citadel Space who go to my garden. And there are a lot of us in our, still junior, group: ten people of all colors and races, three Asari, three Turians (two boys and a girl), two Batarian girls! And, like the icing on the cake... the drell guy! That's such a gang of nineteen rodents-backs! Our group has two Azari teachers, both purple. The head of the group, Rien Vais, and her assistant, Taya T'dari. Since I'm considered a kind of child prodigy here, I've already kind of "learned" how to read. Looking at me, my whole group learned to read, after all, children of any kind have a very developed imitative instinct. They still read poorly, but that's not even four years old. As far as I've found out, almost all children develop about the same way, even Azari. I asked our parents a question with my eyes wide open: “Why is this, because Azari live a very long time and are considered adults from the age of one hundred?” I received a very detailed response. The Asari's maturation has three stages. The first stage, from birth to about fifteen years of age, is due to rapid growth and development, and intellectual abilities develop during this period of life. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, physical development slows down sharply, but does not stop, and a young Azari, who looks like a human girl of 13-14 years old, begins to improve intellectually. They study a lot, train, harden their mind and body, and this stage lasts up to about 45-55 years. Then the third stage of growing up begins: the young Azari begins hormonal restructuring, she grows up a little more, gets rounded in all the right places, and begins to develop mental abilities. It is at this time that Asari are taught to work with biotics and merge their consciousnesses in the so-called "embrace of eternity". Of course, the speed of development is very dependent on individual characteristics. Well, just like human. The racial composition of the Mendoir colony is actually more extensive, but since Salarians or Vorks develop much faster than others, it was considered unnecessary to include their children in general groups. You're probably asking, where does Vorka come from? As the local online encyclopedia suggested to me, the vorka is actually a fairly advanced species, maybe inferior to humans and Turians in intelligence, but with a huge adaptation resource! In the Vorka Citadel Space, they are mostly employed in the mining industry, and as it turns out, they are excellent miners who are able to work in conditions where most members of other races simply die. That's why they work in the mines on Mendoir and live in large clans in mining villages. They rarely leave the villages themselves, and almost no one is allowed in, in general, they are recluses. And those thieves who hang out in all kinds of gangs are exiles from clans, complete outcasts and lumpens. For a Vorka, with a lifespan of thirty standard years, exile from the clan is the most terrible punishment. Because women are never expelled. Our planet Mendoir actually belongs to the Asari Republic, and it is considered a human colony because the Rosenkov Materials Corporation has concluded a concession agreement with the Council of matriarchs for 20% of the total share of resource extraction. Since the corporation has little interest in the troubles of the Alliance of Systems Council, it hired staff for colonization, not really looking at race, but more at the professional qualities of the employees. Wow, I've spread my mind over the tree... and they're going to congratulate me! So they built a round dance, put me in the center and, to the general screeching and squeaking, they began to sing: "As for Zhenya's name day, we baked a loaf..." Of course, I'm making a happy appearance, but I want to laugh, I won't save you! Oh well, I'll get over it. I am a recognized authority among our entire group, won in an unequal, from my side, of course, the Turians' struggle. Even on the first day at kindergarten, these two little ringleaders tried to build the whole group. And they built it, but they broke off on me. Well, it's not a small thing to compete with an adult in psychological pressure, even in a child's body. They recognized me as the head of the pack and calmed down (pack predators, damn!), and now with all their problems, the little ones first come to me, and then, if my solution does not suit them, to the teachers. To be honest, it bothers me beyond words.… By the way! I have two "girlfriends" here, although... they are really girlfriends. One is a Turian girl named Nain, the daughter of that very Dr. Duck. A great friend of Daddy's, a partner in the preference game. Actually, they've been friends since the Navy days, when my dad served as captain of the light cruiser Loki, and Duck (or Dakar Tanir) was the chief medical officer on the Turian dreadnought Smasher, and they, as it turned out, jointly chased Batarian pirates in the Skillian Reach. And they were catching up to the point that the father thundered to Duck in the infirmary, because the "Loki" infirmary was blown apart by a direct missile hit. The second friend is Jean Batarian (full name is Gina Natol), and I met her at our ranch. Her dad is my assistant, and mine is the deputy chief engineer of the enrichment complex of the corporation. And the chief engineer at the complex is a Quarian named Tael’Rigar, and the corporation values him so much that they ordered him a special house, no less than ours, by the way, completely sealed, with air filtration and disinfection systems, and a huge glass bay window. It stands in our village on the second street called Strawberry, and Uncle Tael, having taken off his suit and put on a bathrobe, likes to sit in the bay window, admiring the life of the village. The most amazing thing is that he differs from a human being only by a slightly different knee structure, and by his feet, which have only four toes. Like humans, there are five fingers on his hands, and his face looks more like an elf from fairy tales, with light lilac glowing eyes and pointed tips of ears. It's idiotic to make aliens three—fingered! Try to hold the rifle with three fingers and shoot at the same time. Igrodels suck! And his fingers, just like a pianist's, are long and flexible. And there are steel claws on the gloves of the skaf. At first I didn't understand why, I thought it was a weapon, until I saw how it worked on the toolbox. There are two times fewer buttons there than my father's, and twice as many buttons themselves. I once asked my dad how cool Uncle Tael's omny tool was, and he just rolled his eyes. They sang a round dance and pulled me to the table, there is a cake. I saw through the window how his mother brought him and put him on the veranda of the group. A hefty cake, by the way, though, for twenty—one children's mouthfuls - in one bite. A hefty pot of compote was brought here from the dining room. And here, as it turned out, neither Turians nor Quarians have any dextroamines. And the blood of all races, without exception, is red, differing only in shades and composition. Of course, all races have dietary restrictions. So my cake is universal, suitable for all races ... which, alas, does not add to its taste.