Thanks
to my parents and sister for everything
and to Ira K. and Ksyu E. for reviews on the day of publication and the advice to include the last paragraph of the novella

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“The idea of the story came along with one little funny thought in September 2018, a few days later, I clearly saw the ending of a future literary work in my head – and I wanted to write a novel.
Throughout autumn and early winter of 2018, until the end of December, I have carefully worked through all aspects, especially technical ones, and in general the universe of the world of the science fiction story.
Then there was a break, and I only occasionally wrote down individual thoughts and notes on scenes.
I returned to an active writing process in May-June 2020, during the period of self-isolation during the coronavirus pandemic - then I wrote the beginning of the story, finalized the ending and created a general plan. At the same time, I could not in any way create the middle part linking the saturated beginning and ending, because it is a bad idea to write something that is not interesting enough, because, obviously, in this case no one will read to the end.
I made pause again, deciding to interrupt it only a year later, in September 2021.
It is important to note that since September 2018, I have subconsciously had a slight feeling of creative paranoia – what if someone in the world will come up with a fairly similar idea, and this someone will publish it in one form or another before me. Finally, I decided to change a format – to publish a novella, not a novel, and do it in the form of notes of the main character in his personal diary.
By publishing this story, I secure my personal authorship and invite the world to get acquainted with that one little funny thought in September 2018.”
- author's comment

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“In our endeavor to understand reality we are somewhat like a man trying to understand the mechanism of a closed watch. He sees the face and the moving hands, even hears its ticking, but he has no way to open the case. If he is ingenious he may form some picture of a mechanism which could be responsible for all of the things he observes, but he may never be quite sure his picture is the only one which could explain his observations. He will never be able to compare his picture with the real mechanism and he cannot even imagine the possibility or the meaning of such a comparison.”
– Albert Einstein

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Hi, this is Egor, I'm 17, and I'm starting this diary, because I've heard somewhere that this process gives a good therapeutic effect. Telling about personal relationships, by the way, is not mine, so most likely, the diary will not be an exception in this regard. But psychological help is most welcome now – the lack of walking in the fresh air is overwhelming. The expectation of the beginning of an adult independent life in a year in other walls does not add optimism as well. It is still unclear about Rose's hospitalization, we have made an application for treatment, but we are waiting in line, hospitals cannot cope with the number of requests from patients.
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Oh what a day today. In the morning, two people from the Oasis Research Institute arrived – they need volunteers for the Firmamento project, over 16 years old – and these are just me and Alice. They didn't give time to think, but allowed to take Rose, they have a modern medical center there! We also took with us sunglasses only and Rose’s green plush unicorn Billie - without it we would not have pulled her out. That's a short walk - in the fresh, dry and hot air, about a minute – how long did we run to a helicopter? The helicopter looks cool up close, and white rags on the windows outside the orphanage do not. I don't know how unique my manifestation of fear of heights – in addition to the standard “convulsive breathing” and “sweaty palms” - tips of my hands fingers tingle strongly. The view from the height, of course, is insanely beautiful - fortunately, fear does not lead to panic, only this heat and stuffiness spoils everything, it would be great to launch the Firmamento faster. I don't know, of course, how we can be useful here – the complex scientific project, now everyone is talking about it, it seems to be something like some special satellites, the most promising idea for saturation and restoration of the disappearing ozone layer. The cosmodrome, as it turned out, is very close to the Oasis. A healthy puree of bitter chocolate, pieces of dried fruits and nuts in tubes, maybe useful, but disgusting crap. A juice-contained drink has a pleasant aroma and bright color. Rose was handed over to the doctors, I hope everything will be fine.
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Volunteering. The Firmamento.
The network of artificial satellites that will generate ozone while orbiting the planet.
It is impossible to generate ozone and feed the ozone layer from the surface – in the lower layers of the atmosphere it poisons living organisms, and the production of ozone on the surface and its delivery to the stratosphere by cargo planes are very unprofitable and unsafe, since ozone is extremely explosive.
Each satellite is a space platform with a laser, solar panels and a convector (a heat trap that accumulates solar energy received by batteries and converts heat into electricity).
The laser feeds and saturates the ozone dome of the planet, delivering the generated ozone to the stratosphere in the form of a beam.
Ozone is generated during electrolysis, due to the lack of possibility to obtain it from oxygen, a strong solution of perchloric acid is used as an electrolyte.
By the method of electrolysis, it is possible to obtain an oxygen-ozone mixture with a very high ozone content.
The low temperature of outer space significantly increases the performance of the device.
At the moment, the devices are undergoing the latest tests and in the coming months will be delivered to the orbit of the planet for the first test launch in real conditions.
Would like to memorize it all. No idea if it's a coincidence or not, but today, after the introductory presentation, everyone with whom I exchanged a few words is from shelters, like Alice and me. She joked that no one else agreed to work for food. Most likely, this is how it is, although the time is such that working for food is very good, the sun burns out crops and water within huge territories, not so easy to feed all two billion. Today - synthetic meat and vegetable proteins in tubes, flavorings, of course, one of the best things that mankind has come up with. We were also given cool bracelets - they combine a smartphone and a fitness watch as conveniently as possible, the screen - the coolest part: the nano-projector broadcasts a rectangular image on the forearm up to the elbow, while perfectly understanding where you tap or swipe, communication - via wireless micro-headphones that can be stored and recharged in the case, and charging (ironically) through solar panels. The training or something like that starts tomorrow. I took one bracelet for Rose, we visited her with Alice. The condition is stable, moderate severity.
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All this month we wrote tests and passed physical exams, someone failed, they are being returned back. I have no idea, of course, it's possible that volunteers will have to be able to fly into orbit to tighten the nut on one of the satellites, but it's really like we're being trained as astronauts. The usual laboratory assistants, junior researchers. The food is still boring. Rose is under intensive therapy, she seems to feel better.
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Several dozens were really selected as engineers – they will not only monitor and configure the system from the control point, but also fly into orbit. Cool! Envy. Me, Alice and ten others were told that we would work on the Novaspes project - it seems like a backup alternative to the Firmamento, sounds interesting, but completely without space, apparently. Interestingly, there is the same number of girls and boys, we were divided into pairs. Gender-equal work teams are a great idea. We visited Rose, she got worse again, she said that Billie asked her before going to bed “when we all fall asleep, where do we go?”.
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Rose is gone. Today there was a cremation, we were offered to mix the ashes with the soil and plant a tree in a greenhouse on the territory of the Oasis. I didn't react, I don't know, I'm devastated. We were told that Rose would like us to eventually restore the ozone dome. It’s a bad attempt to cheer up. I think she would like to live. There are no relatives anyway, only Alice, me and our colleagues from the Novaspes remain. Alice suggested putting the ashes inside a flask with a decorative rose and storing them at our place, I liked this idea.
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The Novaspes is a colonization mission. A flight to another planet on rockets without the possibility of returning. Today there was a private presentation for our team. Four refused, but nothing else holds me here except Alice – and she completely shared my position. Where to go back to? The Firmamento may not work or only delay the inevitable for a short time – there will be a scorched field not in a few decades, but later. Now there are eight of us, Lana and Lilly are in the same team.
There is one Procursus device on each spacecraft, oh, they love these complicated pretentious names so much. The Procursus is responsible for the maintenance and cooling of capsules with frozen fertilized ova in the refrigerator and artificial cultivation of a human fetus using a robotic uterus – well, it is impossible to rely only on natural reproduction, the maximum diversity of the genetic code is necessary. Works from capacious nano-batteries, which should last for about 50 years.
There are also tubes with nutrient mixtures, seeds, a multitool made of some kind of indestructible alloy, including a flint for millions of sparks and a solar-powered dosimeter that will help determine the level of toxins in food. The key deadline for food - four years - vegetable and fruit seeds are enough only to achieve a high-quality harvest on the required scale within five years, tubes with a food mixture - 2000 pieces based on the consumption of one serving per day by one person during five years.
The take–off, flight and landing of shuttles will be performed by autopilots, the key task for the coming months is to master the survival skill as much as possible with a minimum amount of the benefits of civilization. Can't take the diary with me, hope I can still return to it.
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Well, after almost a year, I can take notes again. Survival in primitive conditions is obviously crap. There are so many things I want to write, I just need to gather my thoughts, come to my senses a little. And to remember how to write in a human way. I hate mosquitoes and wolves, but now I am absolutely neutral about height.
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Heck! Data came from a drone collecting information from the last potentially suitable and most distant planet of the eight closest in the system. The only suitable alternative based on the analysis of air, water, soil, temperature, gravity level, flora and fauna is the nearest planet, there are no other options. Let cold-blooded creatures prevail – this is the best alignment of all available. The main problem is a chain of supervolcanoes, which are predicted to become active in a few months, and ash clouds that form as a result and isolate the surface from sunlight and clean air for millions of years to come. There will be an extraordinary emergency meeting tomorrow. I have no idea what you can come up with and do here! Maybe the Firmamento is a panacea after all.
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Brain explosion! First I saw a human-sized capsule with a glass of water inside, suspended in the air, and then they explained to me that this was not a levitation device, but a time machine. More precisely, the STC, or the Futurum space-time capsule, but it's still a time machine, in fact. The STC began to be designed long before the Firmamento and similar projects, until it became clear that it was impossible to move against the flow of time and prevent the global catastrophe by returning to the past. Time inevitably flows forward and relativity here can be in speed only – and senior colleagues managed to ensure that the time outside and inside the working capsule differed by a huge coefficient. A glass in the air did not float, but was falling very slowly. The STC works, as I understood from the complex comments and formulas on the board - via gravity, the stronger gravity, the slower time goes, the stronger the coefficient of time flow difference, the weaker the attraction around the capsule - today pens, pencils and empty paper coffee cups rose into the air in the lab. As a result, this is the only working option for the Novaspes, although untested and dangerous. Now it's definitely a one-way trip, we can't count on information or material support.
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Tomorrow is the launch of the Firmamento and the day of our departure - ours and three other teams. Today was at the observation desk, for the last time looked in the sun from here, love this almost regular bright semicircle. Fairfarren, Alice. With her red hair and green pupils, she looks insanely stylish in a spacesuit. I would never have thought that in a space costume, along with the oxygen supply system, the cooling system is also important - an astronaut in a spacesuit, if not cooled, dies from her or his own heat in a few minutes. Hope I will make the next note already from aboard a spaceship, in outer space. The audio library introduced me to an amazing poem, although there is some technical glitch with the information about the author, I will clarify later. I'll rewrite it just in case.
“Past tiltyards, temples, past churches and bars, past chic cemeteries, past big bazaars, past peace and sorrow, past Mecca and Rome, scorched by the blue sun, pilgrims are walking on the ground. They are crippled, hunchbacked, hungry, half-dressed, their eyes are full of sunset, their hearts are full of dawn. Deserts are singing behind them, lightning flashes break out, stars are burning above them, and birds are hoarsely shouting to them: that the world will remain the same, yes, it will remain the same, dazzlingly snowy, and doubtfully gentle, the world will remain deceptive, the world will remain eternal, maybe comprehensible, but still infinite. And, therefore, there will be no sense from believing in yourself and in god. ...And, therefore, only the illusion and the road remained. And there will be sunsets above the ground, and there will be dawns above the ground. To fertilize it by soldiers. To approve it by poets.”
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It's been several days. Only me and Alice survived. The last thing I remember at the cosmodrome was several black SUVs and trucks at the entrance to the site, they were clearly visible from the elevator platform when we went up to the hatch in the head of the rocket, there were no identification marks on the cars. Apparently, it's all because of them, but I'm not sure, there is no connection and no news. Then, sitting in the chairs, we strapped ourselves in, put on our helmets, and a strong explosion deafened me at about the thirtieth second of the countdown. Everything brightened sharply, the flash did not blind only thanks to the glass on the helmet of the spacesuit. There was a ringing in my ears, and in the porthole behind the glass there were smoke and falling pieces of the neighboring shuttle. Then everything started shaking, I was pushed into a chair, I don't remember anything else, just a huge adrenaline rush and shaking fingers on my hands. According to the navigation board - only ours ship remained active out of all. There are about 250 days of flight ahead. Now we are going to go into hibernation. We drank water from tubes before going to bed, a few drops flew out in the form of perfectly round transparent balls. I remembered about a glass in the air. It is necessary to go sleep, resources are limited.
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We're awake. A bright, blue planet is ahead, lots of clouds. Beautiful. However, there should be an eruption of volcanoes soon, the main thing is to have time to land and launch the STC.
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We landed successfully. There are no living creatures around, but there is no time to look for someone and even just go outside. Setting up and launching the Futurum. Everything will be under a thick cloud of poisonous ash very soon.
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The most limited resource in the capsule is water, we do not take it with us, so as not to take up precious space, only tubes of food, seeds, the multitool, the dosimeter and the flask with the artificial rose. The Procursus is fine, works stably and is not damaged. We won't last more than seven days without water, we won't risk it – we'll take half the time – three or four days. Finally, taking the coefficient into account, this is a huge time period outside – all the consequences of volcanic eruptions should disappear.
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We decided to take three days. The maximum permissible STC coefficient, as we were explained in the Oasis– is eight billion, so the use of the planet's gravitational resource will not harm living beings - the force of gravity will be 90% lower. No way to take more - otherwise everything that is not fixed will literally lose weight and fly into outer space. In total, there are about 24 billion days outside, which is a little more than 65 million years. There are few options – either the air will clear and become habitable, or more supervolcanoes will explode, and our plans are over, or we will die in the capsule due to some kind of malfunction, and that's it, too.
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We have just came to senses. I remember huge streams of boiling bright red magma in the porthole, rising vertically into the air from the volcano and scaly huge creatures slowly taking off into the air. Then a blinding flash, which abruptly decreased into a small blurry circle in the distance, as if we were rushing towards the light at the end of a long tunnel. Everything around was like on a superfast rewind – black smoke, mountain ranges growing and disappearing, water spaces. This lasted for several minutes, then we were violently shaken. Apparently, we both hit something and lost consciousness. Now the flask with the flower was lying on the floor, but unharmed. We need to look around.
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It's harder to move, gravity is almost twice as strong here. The air is clean, warm, me and Alice took off our spacesuits. A beautiful tree with round green fruits is near, she offered to scratch our initials on it with the knife from the multitool. We checked fruits with the dosimeter – all indicators are within normal limits. An aroma is pleasant.
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I drew “A+E” on the bark. We decided to name this planet Terra because ground was the first thing we touched when we came out of the Futurum. What a pity that there is no way to find out what is happening to Mars now - so much time has passed! Did the Firmamento ozone satellites work? Just think - more than a million generations have changed, unless, of course, someone lives there now, and this is not a scorched orange desert...
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2018 – 2021