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  I looked at brother Louis. His eyes threw lightning.

  - The eternal theme! He exclaimed. - A woman is a source of evil! Great idea, Mr. Gardner!

  I continued my speech:

  - So should a person suffer the rest of his life just because he once succumbed to the temptation? And in a fit of despair, he does the only right thing and kills his wife, and after confessing everything, he gives himself into the hands of justice. So, we will no longer play people like ourselves. Now the prototypes of our heroes will be only those whom we would like to emulate: the lucky, the rich, and yet, despite life success, experiencing the same difficulties as any poor man.

  “It's just brilliant, Gene!” - Crane said, and from the faces of the others, I realized that I had impressed them. But it took me a lot of effort not to betray my true feelings.

  When Denise, pale and moving as if in a dream, appeared during the day for a rehearsal, I rushed to her and hugged with both hands.

  - My baby, everything is wonderful! You gave me a great idea! - I dedicated it in general terms to what we will do. Al brought a carabiner, and I even improvised several stages and dialogue. The only thing that bothered me was the reaction of Denise. I thought that, like me, her own experiences would make the plot close. However, she remained still lifeless, and I was indignant:

  - What is eating you? Shake it up, Denise, hear! After all, this is from your own experience! I could turn to the dummy with equal success!

  - So you turn to the mannequin! She snapped. - Do you really care? If my husband cannot distinguish me from a mannequin, then who will be able to?

  - Don’t worry, I'm not mistaken with you alone! - and I pulled her to me to kiss.

  But she pushed me away.

  - Do not forget that you play a socially responsible person!

  ... As always, we shot with two cameras - mobile and stationary. A large screen hung in the studio, reflecting what was being shot, and from a glass director's aquarium one could observe all this. Denise was completely in a bad mood, and, approaching the scene of death, she played her part with great enthusiasm. She threw glances at me, filled with such anger and hatred that words stuck in my throat. By the beginning of the trial recording, we had already rehearsed everything and took a break for lunch.

  When we returned to the studio, Al Baisley was waiting for me. Next to him stood a small, rustic-looking woman with a round face and nervous movements. I saw her for the first time.

  “Can I give you a word, Gene?” Al asked. I went to him. “Gene, remember I told you about my wife?” So, I brought her to introduce you and Denise and so that she knew everything firsthand. I hope you are not angry?

  Denise stood near the chair and carefully examined her mannequin. I told her Al's request. Her face brightened.

  “I will be happy,” she said in such a friendly tone that I hadn't heard from her all day. - Is she there next to Al?

  But at this time, Al shouted to me:

  - Jin, look who came to us in the aquarium!

  I looked. Crane, so what? He often comes to us for rehearsals. But after him, I saw the incoming brothers of Louis Graveman, Jackson, Wims and Maybury.

  - Fuck, damn it! I cursed through clenched teeth, but immediately pretended to be terribly glad.

  Maybury cleared his throat.

  - They say you demand realism in your productions. That is, you use real knives and real revolvers, not fake ones. Is it true?

  “True truth,” I confirmed.

  - And how would you see the weapons that you are going to use today? - Maybury kept up.

  “Now I order a carabiner,” said Crane for me.

  Al brought a carbine, and we had to demonstrate its merits to these greedy seekers of sensations, which took at least ten minutes, after which I politely reminded that we were delaying the shooting. All the time I kept my eyes on Denise and Veronica Baisley, engaged in conversation, but since the aquarium was soundproof, I could only guess what they were talking about. Once Denise pointed a hand at a mannequin sitting in an armchair; the guest looked in the same direction and threw up her hands in amazement. I sincerely hoped that Denise tells this woman exactly what Al asked for. And it seemed to me that this was so, for, having departed from Denise, Veronica Baisley looked calmly and decisively.

  The wife played convincingly. But events inexorably followed one after another. The denouement was drawing near. I signaled for the cameras to be turned off and a mannequin put in a Denise chair.

  And here is the climax! I grab the assault rifle and, as if pushed by devilish force, slowly turn to Denise. She, having read the sentence in my eyes, leaned back in her chair with a silent cry. Now Hank will have to shoot the scene of the murder, but he has a fantastic visual memory, and he does not take pictures until he is sure that the mannequin is sitting exactly like Denise.

  - Come on! I commanded. Ministers picked up the mannequin. Denise jumped up, and I headed for the aquarium, smiling in response to the chefs and cheers from the chef and guests. I always preferred to move while replacing, so that later it would be more natural to continue the interrupted action. Experience, you will not say anything!

  At that moment a terrible scream rang out, and everyone, including myself, instantly turned their heads in the direction from which he was coming. Veronica Baisley, screaming, waved her hands and suddenly fainted. Everyone rushed to her, even Crane and company. The commotion lasted about three minutes. Then two guys from the script group carried the insensitive woman into the corridor. Al followed them, but he soon returned, apparently reassured.

  “She's better now,” he said. - She was frightened by this incredible resemblance of a mannequin to a living Denise.

  The studio again established order. Before giving a signal to Hank, I looked at the mannequin and fear seized me. No wonder this woman was so scared! However, judging by her reaction, RTP this time will be very successful. I lifted the carabiner, Hank turned on the camera. I tensed all the muscles of my face, representing a devilish determination, and aimed at the chest of a mannequin, higher than my heart. Such silence reigned that if a pin fell now, it would have been heard.

  I saw my gaze fixed on me and my mouth open, and I pressed the trigger. Suddenly a loud shot rang out. But I already shot from these weapons and was ready to sign under the company statement that it operates silently! For a moment I was numb. A nine-millimeter hole appeared on the mannequin's chest, a bloody stain began to grow around it.

  Slowly, as if only now realizing my actions, I lowered the carbine. I was trembling.

  The mannequin smiled.

  It was a triumphant smile, perhaps contemptuous. She held on only a few seconds. Then the eyelids fluttered, and the cloudy, beautiful eyes closed.

  Death

  I did not do the learned movements. I turned and looked at the mannequin sitting away. Then to Denise, which I just killed.

  During these few moments, I remembered a lot: how Denise talked with Veronica Baisley, how she fainted - so that Denise could, taking advantage of the bustle, sit down again in the chair instead of the dummy. And the credibility that I was proud of: if I shot in the course of the play, then I shot with real weapons. And the real corpse was only a logical conclusion. That was as it should be.

  But if Hank had not been distracted by an imaginary swoon, like everyone else, he would have noticed a substitution. There was nothing to yawn around! I lifted the carbine and shot Hank in the neck. He cried out in surprise and fell forward, dragging the camera behind him. Human shadows jumped across the screen, twitching.

  Al knew what he was saying: the machine operated at the slightest touch. When I pressed the trigger again, the bullets pierced an even row of holes in the glass aquarium. On the screen I could see Crane, to whom a bullet hit his face; brother of Louis Gravemen, to whom the bullet hit the neck, as he was taller; Maybury, whom I also found in my face, and Wims, who got his head in the back when he tried to run out.

  ... This week for the first time in al
l our RTP has exceeded one thousand.

  Christopher enville

  Blank wall

  Translation from English N. Levitsky

  Boston, September 2, 1976. Dr. R. Milton Schummer, a professor of sociology at Wellsford College, spoke last night to an audience of one thousand two hundred people in Sworthonhall.

  Professor Schummer said that America, once a country of freedom, is now “the abode of a stereotypical mass person, from its infancy formed by primitive-template television programs, tabloid newspapers and magazines, and the all-pervasive advertising that they carry. The result is a serial American with interchangeable parts and a built-in machine program. ”

  The people of this country, said Dr. Schummer, need "the freedom to be different, the freedom to be original." But, he concluded, “... the force of inertia is too great. The direction of social development, like the direction of the sea tide, cannot be reversed by human efforts. All that remains is to cringe at the thought of what the near future may bring. ”

  Rutland Vermont, March 16, 1977. Dr. J. Paul Hughes, grandson of the late inventor Everett Hughes, demonstrated today a device that his grandfather kept in secret because of allegedly dangerous side effects. The device received from Dr. Hughes the name "privacy screen." To quote Dr. Hughes: “My grandfather was an eccentric experimenter. However, his fantastic shots surprisingly often hit the top ten. At the moment, you see a device in front of you that cannot be explained by any logical scientific theory, but is quite suitable for commercial use. The device effectively insulates material surfaces, such as walls, doors, floors and the like, and, therefore, can be more or less useful in the conditions existing today. ”

  Dr. Hughes explained that the operation of the device is based on a certain “principle of identity of quasi-electrons, which, as my grandfather believed, control the propagation of sound in solids and perform various other obscure functions. But one should not take this explanation too seriously. ”

  New York, May 12, 1977. Today it announced the formation of the Hughes Corporation. The blank wall. "

  The president of the new firm was J. Paul Hughes, grandson of the late inventor Everett Hughes.

  New York, September 18, 1977. Representative of the company “Hughes. Blind Wall ”said:“ Solitude is what our country needs most today. “We live practically in each other's pockets, and if we don't have anything else left, the“ Deaf Wall ”can at least soundproof these pockets.”

  They say that the blocks of the “blank wall”; which are sold in the indoor version at 289 dollars 95 cents per share, bring a considerable profit to the sales agent and manufacturer. But who will say that getting rid of the noise of other people's TVs, players, scandals and screeching children does not cost $ 289 95 cents?

  Detroit, December 23, 1977. Santa Claus left here an early automotive gift today.

  During tests on an icy track, an experimental car equipped with the Hughes. A blank wall, ”skidded, and she turned over three times. The test driver got out of it, shocked, but safe and sound. The car itself, a light minicar, was almost intact.

  The frontal impact tests revealed an amazing fact - the car with the unit turned on did not get any dents, even the windows remained intact. The gas tank cover could not be unscrewed, the folding top did not rise, and neither the windows nor the doors opened unless the unit was previously disconnected. With the unit turned off, the car behaved as usual.

  New York, December 26, 1977. J. Paul Hughes, chairman of the Blind Wall Corporation board of directors, told reporters today that his firm has no intention of selling Hughes blocks. Blank Wall ”for use in automobiles.

  Hughes called the implausible Detroit report of a prototype car equipped with a block of his company and not damaged.

  Hartford, January 8, 1978. Despite denials from Hughes Corporation Blind Wall ”, experiments are being conducted nationwide on the use of sound insulation blocks as safety devices in automobiles. The headquarters of national insurance companies receive numerous letters and telegrams; Phones do not stop for a minute.

  Hartford, January 9, 1978. The experiments conducted by the staff of the New Standard Insurance Group showed that the first reports from Detroit were absolutely correct.

  Cars equipped with Blind Wall blocks cannot be deformed, broken, scratched, or damaged in any way by conventional tools.

  Austin J. Ramm, executive secretary of the New Standard Group, told reporters:

  “The devil knows what it is. We received so many demands from people from all over the country to install Blind Wall blocks on their cars that we decided to check everything ourselves.

  On an experimental car, we tried stones, sledgehammers and so on. Having not received any results with these tools, I took up the electric drill with a quarter-inch drill, and Steve Willoughbury, our president, tried his luck by hitting the windshield with a pickaxe. Pickaxe ricocheted off the glass. My drill simply glided over the surface, refusing to take metal. ”

  New York, January 10, 1978. Myron L. Sams, who succeeded Hughes. The Blank Wall, by J. Paul Hughes, announced today that special car accessories went on sale nationwide.

  Dallas, January 12, 1978. After a one-hour chase, the gang that robbed the bank slipped away with impunity in broad daylight on a truck with $ 869,000 in cash and securities. A hail of bullets did no harm to her.

  It is believed that the machine was equipped with one of the Hughes. The blank wall. "

  Las Vegas, January 19, 1978. The Silver Dollar Club has been robbed here. The criminals drove into the club on carts equipped with lightweight caps made of aluminum and transparent plastic, and started a shootout with the club's employees. A short battle showed that it was impossible to leave a dent on the light shields of the carts. Having taken the club's visitors and employees as hostages, the thugs received the required amount, crossed the sidewalk and drove into the back of the truck waiting for them, which drove out of the city, crushing the barrage built on the road. No one was injured in a fierce firefight with the police, as the police cars were equipped with Blind Wall blocks.At a considerable distance from the city, the truck drove up to the second fence. The robbers tried to break through the seemingly fragile barrier, but the truck suddenly stopped. The barricade equipped with the Blind Wall block did not yield.

  $ 250,000 returned to the Silver Dollar Club, and Las Vegas more or less calmed down.

  New York, January 23, 1978. At a hastily convened emergency meeting, J. Paul Hughes, chairman of the board of directors of Hughes Corporation. Blind Wall, ”called on the federal government to intervene and suspend the corporation.

  Stressing that he tried unsuccessfully to terminate the business operations of the company, Dr. Hughes said that as a scientist, he considers it his duty to warn the country public about the dangerous direction that technical evolution is taking.

  No response has yet been received from Washington.

  New York, January 24, 1978. President Myron L. Sams today confirmed the accuracy of reports that inside the Hughes. Blind Wall ”is a fierce struggle for power.

  Spring Corners Iowa, January 26, 1978. Oscar B. Neld, who lives on the outskirts of the town, built a barricade that stalled traffic on the State Highway for twenty miles.

  Recently, Mr. Neld was denied a claim for damages caused to him by the construction of the motorway, which divided his farm into two unequal parts: on the one side of the road were a house and outbuildings, on the other - fields.

  The barricade consists of oil barrels, a goat for sawing firewood and barbed wire. Barrels and goats cannot be moved - they are as if welded to frozen ground. The barricade consists of two rows of these unshakable obstacles, between which is left a twenty-foot-wide passage connecting the divided parts of the farm. This morning we saw Mr. Neld's manure spreader crossing the road. The Deaf Wall local agent recalls that he recently sold several small blocks to Mr. Neld.

  New York, January 27, 1978. Hughes Corporation The Blank Wall ”has been completely reorganized and is now call
ed the“ Blank Wall Incorporated ”. Myron L. Sams has served as president and chairman of the board of directors. J. Paul Hughes, grandson of Everett Hughes, took over as one of the directors.

  Spring Corners Iowa, January 28, 1978. Traffic on the State Highway has been restored.