- Choose your race!  - A melodious female voice burst through the darkness.

  - Person!  - The subconscious reacted earlier than the consciousness.

  - Accepted.  The race is human.  - The voice was quite serious in its judgment, regardless of the absurdity of the situation.

  The darkness gradually gave way to a silvery mist.  I blinked.  The eyelids obediently replaced the fog with the conventional twilight of closed eyes.

  - Choose a faction!  - All the same female and rather sexy voice, without any embarrassment with my answer, continued to torture me.  And most importantly, there was no sarcasm in him, which was a little strange.

  - In terms of?

  - Light or darkness?  - The clear voice still did not exude mockery.  It was like a young girl was asking me to choose one of the refrigerators in the supermarket.  And here, it seems, they provoke the sale of my battered soul.

  - Light!  - I blurted out.  No, there was a worm.  Well, that's who I am.  I would not please someone, not be like everyone else.  But again, language was faster than thought.

  - Accepted!  - I began to annoy this cute, in general, voice.  Lack of sarcasm, even that sarcasm, if the questions are simply idiotic.  Theater of the absurd.  And where am I?

  - Wait, the appearance is being corrected!  The main image is ready!  Tell the parameters you want to change.

  - Uh-uh!  - I could only say it.  A three-dimensional image of ... me appeared in front of me in a silvery fog.  Only that way 30 years ago.  - What is it?

  - This is your character!  - All the same calmly answered the voice.  - If you want to change something, let us know!

  - Soooo!  - Now everything is in place.  But at the same time it got even more confused.  I understood where I was, but I did not understand how I got here.

  Virtual reality has become quite commonplace for the last ten years, but it is very expensive.  If this is a joke, it’s very expensive.  I don't have many friends, and they are not rich enough to surprise me like that.  And this is still a surprise, considering that I do not remember how I ended up in the neurococone.  And its cost is approximately equal to an elite car.  Expensive for a joke.  Yes, and such a gift still needs to be earned.

  - How did I end up here?  - I asked a question.

  - No information!!!  - Iskin-imitator skidded a couple of seconds before answering.  - Communicate the desired changes!

  It's clear.  A piece of iron.  You won't tell me anything.  Moreover, it looks like your level as a doorman in a hotel.  I don't know, that's what the boss told me to do.  And it's useless to pry.

  I mentally rotated the volumetric image of myself.  Well, almost myself.  Young, muscular.  Ehhhhh!  There were times!  And the sky was bluer and the grass was greener.

  - Leave it as it is!  - I barked.  Now I perceived the dialogue correctly.  And there is nothing to stand on ceremony with a thermos stuffed with wires.

  - Accepted!  - The interlocutor answered imperturbably.  - Choose a name!  Attention, the VIP account gives you the right to choose the desired nickname and add a second one to it for uniqueness.  If you wish, you can view free nickname options.

  But this was already serious.  Okay, neurococoon.  But also a VIP account.  This is money.  Lot.  And it’s not clear why I’m all this.  Nothing.  Let's figure it out in the course of the play.

  “Arthur!” I said.

  - Busy!  - Indifferently noticed the voice, however, the notes of languor in it did not diminish in any way.  - Choose an additional nickname.  You can attach an adjective to yourself.  If the double nickname is not occupied, it will be assigned to you.

  - Uh-uh ... and options are possible?  - I was always lost with the names.

  - The most acceptable option for your psycho-profile is Artorius Astrey.

  Even so!  To my psychoprofile.  It's a little offensive.  As if I was stripped on stage.  But it sounds.  You can't argue with that.  I like.

  - So be it!  - I agreed, not wanting to get involved in an argument with the car.  There was a thought to reject nickname in the spirit of rebellion.  But then I decided that arguing with a piece of iron is much more humiliating than with her understanding of my psycho ... this very profile.  If anything, I can always take a sledgehammer and prove that the terminator is just a valuable scrap metal, and not the pinnacle of evolution.

  - Accepted!  Welcome to Dreammere, Artorius Astreus!  - And good.  The cheerful insensibility of this overgrown calculator began to enrage.

  The gray fog began to melt.  The outline of a cave appeared through it.  The walls were decorated with bas-reliefs with a plot similar to the biblical one.  Only people did not ascend into heaven, but fell from them.  Torches on the walls, playing with shadows and highlights, brought the paintings to life.  It was funny.  The faces of all the fallen people looked slightly dumbfounded and surprised.  Symbolic.

  In the middle of the cave there were two types, in strong contrast to the interior.  One thin, faded, in a business suit, the second - slender, fit, in a uniform with a lieutenant colonel's shoulder straps.  If I wanted to cut the first one for its slippery appearance, then the second wanted to give a belt.  For my heart senses, I did not educate this child at one time.

  - And how is this to be understood !?  - I immediately raised my voice and noticed with satisfaction how Bogdan shivered.  Respects.  - What kind of joke is this?