Although I have already heard several times about a certain “dome”, I certainly did not expect such a scale of the structure. It turned out to be just a reinforced concrete dome, only of truly incredible size. With a diameter at floor level of at least half a kilometer, the far wall was even blurred and lost in a bluish haze. The height at the top point is about one hundred, and maybe one hundred and fifty meters. A huge number of bright spotlights high overhead created the illusion of the sun on a summer afternoon. Below, under the dome, there is a real residential area with high-rise buildings, a football field, several tennis courts, a green park, and paths strewn with white sand.

“I had no idea about such colossal objects in the Moscow region,” said Arthur, also amazed by what he saw.

“And it’s not far from Moscow, it took us just an hour to get from the center,” Masha added. “Although there are some large hangars along Dmitrovskoye Highway, they are many times smaller than this hemisphere…

- Guys, look! - Irishka screamed and pointed with her hand at some silvery cigar-shaped object moving quickly under the very roof.

I turned my head in the indicated direction and at first mistook the flying machine for a helicopter. However, the strange sleek forms, the absence of propellers, and the absolute noiselessness of the flying machine betrayed a completely different principle of movement through the air.

– What is this thing?! We looked at each other in complete disbelief.

Hearing our surprised exclamations, a flushed fair-haired girl in a silver tracksuit, who was doing an evening jog, stopped next to our group.

- New ones? Immediately visible. This is being tested by the anti-grav built according to the Mielonian drawings. And this is the second instance. The first month ago, a crooked-handed pilot crashed into one of the tall "corn".

“Ah, well, now after your explanation, everything became clear. Of course, this is an ordinary antigrav, and how did we not guess it ourselves!? - Denis answered her, deliberately scoffing and provoking the runner. “We see such people every day and we know that they beat them exclusively on corn!”

The girl did not answer, she only gave the boor an appraising look, snorted contemptuously, and continued her run. On the back of her uniform was the number "343" and depicted a horned bull skull, below which the inscription snaked in gothic angular script: "First Legion"

“Judging by the serial number, she has been living here under the dome for a long time,” I said thoughtfully and advised our “gopnik” not to cling to the local old-timers.

In response, I was rudely sent obscene for climbing with unnecessary teachings. After that, the dispersed Denis also walked in very vulgar and insulting terms on the figure of this athlete girl, and then generally on all women. He did not have time to finish, bending over with a groan due to a sharp poke in the stomach from Imran standing next to him:

“Don’t you dare insult women in my presence!” You have a mother, I have a mother. Every person has a mother. You must respect those who allowed us to see this world.

The conflict did not develop further, although the gopnik hissed for some time something threateningly unintelligible. We walked along a sandy path and stopped at a fork near the sign. On the arrows pointing in different directions were the inscriptions:

Shooting range. Corn. Labyrinth.

None of the directions indicated “conference room,” “meeting room,” or “introductory location,” so we stopped. Fortunately, I noticed two guys practicing on the tennis court not far away and hurried to ask them for directions. They readily answered me, and in a couple of minutes, our whole group was already seated on free chairs in a small semicircular room, reminiscent of a summer indoor cinema. There were already about fifty people there, and although there were enough seats for everyone, we were almost late - a man in a strict business suit, who was on the stage a basketball height, was already checking the microphone, preparing for the performance.

“Ivan Lozovsky, deputy head of the Dome and diplomat of our faction,” he introduced himself and asked to turn off the light.

And then the lights in the hall went out, but the screen behind the speaker lit up. Looking at us from the screen was a humanoid creature, overgrown with thick brown hair, wearing a bright scarlet cloak thrown over its shoulders over metal plate armor. Powerful brow ridges. Broad forehead. Black eyes without whites. Wide nose and a massive chin. Furry ears pressed against the skull. Tightly compressed lips with protruding fangs of a predator. Both front paws of the humanoid are closed on the handle of a sparkling wide blade.

- So, beginners, I will start with the most fundamental. In front of you is the krong Daveesh-Pir. He is one of the rulers of the powerful cosmic Geckho race and the sovereign master of the vast territories in our galaxy. Including, according to all cosmic laws, he owns the rights and our own planet Earth. I understand that it sounds incredible and shocking, but the fate of mankind is completely in the clutches of this creature. I’ll clarify right away that the Gekkho are not our enemies, but rather patrons, mentors, and defenders. In any external conflict, they will act on our side. But at the same time, you must remember every second that the krong Daveesh-Pir has every right to evict humanity from the Earth or even destroy our civilization if people show even the slightest disrespect or disobedience towards their gekho overlords.

In the hall, not only all the conversations subsided, those present even began to breathe every other time, shocked by the news received. The speaker, however, waited for a short pause and made sure that everyone realized the importance of what he said, after which he continued:

- Now that you know the current political alignment, let's discuss what you were all invited for. Dome. A game that distorts reality, and your role in it.

***

I was probably the only one in the audience who saw for the first time the fifty-second video with a furry alien that plagued TV viewers around the world last year. Yes, I never watch TV at all, considering the “zomboyaschik” an outdated and completely inefficient way to get information. All movies and music can be found on the Internet. There is much more entertainment on the web. Yes, and the news appears much faster, moreover, without an annoying presenter, who is always trying to impose his point of view on any events described to the audience.

I probably would not have believed in First Contact, like millions of other people around the world, if I had seen this video last year. But now, after the message of the diplomat Ivan Lozovsky about the precarious situation of mankind, I treated what I saw with great attention. One tong of the security of the Earth, how much is that? I did not hesitate to stand up and ask this question to the host.

– Great and very good question! - the diplomat was inspired and readily began to answer. “We have long since learned the time system of the Geckho race, and we know that tong translated into units of time familiar to us means about three and a half years. But there are two ambiguities here, to which we have not yet been able to get an answer. First, we know that on the home planet of the Geckho, Shikharsa, time passes faster than on our Earth, so the "tong" there is somewhat shorter than it would be here with us. Six percent shorter, and this is no less than two months and seventeen days. Secondly, we never received an answer from our overlords as to when the countdown started. The videos of the Gekkho messengers were broadcast for twenty-three days, and each time they called for the same period of one tong. There is even a dissenting opinion

– Wirth-capsules? - some bespectacled man sitting in the hall caught on a term that slipped through the diplomat's speech.

– Yes, that’s right, virt-capsules. These diagrams in the video show the general structure of the virt-capsule, and then the step-by-step process of assembling it. Different projections, and different details, but in the end everything fits into a holistic design quite logically. For the first time, the assembly was carried out in South Korea, it happened one year and seven months ago. The first person to venture into the virtual world was Kim In Hoon, a young engineer at a South Korean electronics company. He was also the first person to successfully complete the maze. Fortunately, the discoverer was smart enough not to move away from the point of appearance and exit, informing the authorities about his find. Soon a few more explorers entered the game, then a whole group of thirty Korean soldiers. And a month later, our military intelligence discovered the construction of an underground complex Nup-Eun Susho near the city of Yongju, which means "high corn" in Korean. Very soon, the necessary technologies appeared in our country, after which the construction of the underground Dome facility began in the Moscow region, in which we are now ...

You were talking about some kind of labyrinth. Can you clarify this incomprehensible moment? - again the same bespectacled man interrupted the speaker.

The diplomat grimaced with displeasure, but answered this question:

– Yes, every newcomer immediately after creating his character appears in the center of the labyrinth. This is a kind of getting used to the virtual body, training skills, and at the same time a test. Those who successfully get out of the labyrinth within the allotted time receive additional attribute points. This is the rarest opportunity to boost your base stats, so don't scatter this chance. That is why we have an exact copy of the same labyrinth built near the administration building, so be sure to study it before entering the game. You have about half an hour to get out of the labyrinth. You must learn how to reach the exit point from the labyrinth in fifteen minutes, only after that you will be admitted to the virt-capsule. Immediately after overcoming the labyrinth, in no case distributing the received characteristic points, write down all the parameters of your character and exit the game. Experienced mentors will review the resulting draft and suggest what skills you need to take for an effective game, and what characteristics to strengthen due to unallocated points.

What is "corn"? - the bespectacled man did not let up, although the neighbors in the hall had already begun to hiss with displeasure.

The diplomat finally switched the slide, and instead of the furry face of the alien ruler of the Earth, we saw tall cylindrical structures that resemble corn cobs.

- The question about corn is the last one I will answer right now. You will ask the rest of the questions after the end of my speech, otherwise we will never finish, - Ivan Lozovsky said displeasedly. - So, "corn" and its purpose... If you and I have only one virt-capsule, it can be placed anywhere, and it will work, receiving energy from the gravitational and electromagnetic fields of our planet. But everything is much more complicated when we have a lot of virt-capsules - tens and hundreds, and we need to organize their synchronous work. After all, it is not enough for a beginner to enter the virtual world, he needs to appear in a certain place and be correctly identified by the game world as a member of a certain faction...

The diplomat interrupted his speech and splashed mineral water from a bottle into a glass. Indeed, in the assembly hall it became stuffy with so many people, I myself would not refuse the opportunity to moisten my throat. After taking a couple of sips, the speaker continued:

– By the way, our faction is called Human-3, or H3 for short. This abbreviation will always be displayed on your equipment, it is impossible to remove or erase this inscription. Koreans have the number H0, zero. So we are the fourth human faction to enter the reality warping game. Returning to the “corn”… The technology for placing virt-capsules was suggested to us by the Geckho – a kind of tall structure with a central rod and clearly defined attachment points for individual cells. In principle, the height of the resulting "corn" is not limited by anything. But in the Dome, we began to install one hundred virt-capsules on one rod, this turns out to be a tall twenty-story structure. It is easy to understand by individual numbers that your “corn” is the fifteenth, it is already ready. Now the construction of the sixteenth is in full swing,

I pricked up my ears, about to hear important information about some kind of limitation on the number of players in the faction and the difficulties associated with it, but the speech of the diplomat was suddenly interrupted by a deafening siren. A vile, bone-chilling sound, reminiscent of an air raid signal, from which the ears curled up, and goosebumps began to run all over the body. Then, throughout the Dome, a voice amplified to a thunderous state was heard:

ATTENTION, DOME HEAD SPEAKS. OUR FOURTH STATE IS ATTACKED! THE THREAT OF A DARK FACTION BREAKTHROUGH THROUGH THE MIST GORGE! MORE THAN FOUR HUNDRED ATTACKERS! FIVE ENEMY TOPS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED AT ONCE! TO ARMS!!!