About the book: 2021 / I sat on a bench, sipped sparkling water straight from a bottle and watched Darina play volleyball. They say soda is bad for the stomach. But I don't care. If you have never had a chance to drink radioactive energy gas from a ruptured artery of the Former, then there is no need to argue with me about healthy eating. There was a sports ground at the school where I once studied. During the day, outsiders were not allowed there, of course, but in the evening you could come and play. There were also several eleventh-graders hanging out here, diligently posing as adults, and our guys, former surfers. Some are a little older than schoolchildren, while others are well over thirty. If Darina had been the only Changed One on the court, the game would have been unfair. But the guards from the Nest at the Olympic Stadium were playing against her, so Darina’s team had a hard time. The guards are much faster and stronger than the reapers. But the reapers, at least on Earth, are smarter. The guards are fighters, they are trained at an accelerated rate. So Darina’s team still held on and even took the lead. It was getting dark, and in the sky (the rainy season had ended for a week) the Moon’s ring shone brighter and brighter. I raised my head, looking for Ross 128 among the stars. And I didn’t see.