Alyona Gryoz - Mark Makkfein and the Find

– Also we on the planet Mertsella say «Smile Sunrise», «Smile Sun», «Smile Sunset» and «Smile Stars», – a man with purple hair spoke. We thank them for their daily escort.

– Meet, – Christina said, – this is Darbaron Bruno.

– Nice to meet you, Mark Makkfein.

– You’re probably both very hungry after your trip, – Darbaron spoke. – Come and have dinner at my house.

– Actually, I wasn’t planning on going to space. Where are we? – I said. – How did we get here?

– Have you forgotten? Don’t you remember? – Darbaron smiled mysteriously all of a sudden.

– Bruno promised to tell us everything, once again smiled Christina with her bright-lipped, like Bruno. And that comparison made me feel bad, like a delusional dream. Did I go crazy? We went after Bruno. How can Christina be so carefree? How can she smile in this situation? Well, we’re not dying, anyway. And we didn’t fall into the hands of a monster. We are invited to a meal by a kind man. Oh, if it wasn’t for his battle coloring, I might not be so nervous.

– To be honest, I also have a lot of questions to ask you – Bruno said, stepping ahead. – You have no idea how incredibly lucky you are. I’m no ordinary citizen. – Bruno proudly raised his chin too sharp. – I’m an employee of the Secret Agency. I can put in a good word for you. The Chief Officer of the Agency can help you.

– We’re from planet Earth, – I said, proudly, that I have nothing better to brag about, to be honest.

– I learned that a long time ago, having spoken to the charming Christina Polyakova, – he calmly answered.

– We, Earthlings, need only be called by a first name. Without a last name, Christina said. And even a shorter name. Call me Krista. And you, Mars, it concerns. No more «Polyakova-Polyakova».

– Then call me Darb.

Christina laughed.

– No, let’s call you Bruno!

The strange man’s face reflected a moment of embarrassment, but at the same moment he again took on a majestic look, throwing up his long chin.

– Let’s go to my house for breakfast, he said. – There we will talk more. Confusion and haste in such matters are extremely dangerous.

On my trembling legs, I followed this bright couple, looking around. We were walking past a building that I thought was strange.

The color and texture of the walls from afar resembled the snowbank, which shines in the sun, so beautiful only in the christening frosts, about which Pushkin himself also mentioned: «Frost and sun, the day is wonderful…». Only the «snowbank» sparkled a little differently, since the sun was not here, something else was shining.

The building was as impressive as a white giant, a white iceberg… There were lots of windows with colorful curtains that somehow were outside the building, not inside. The shape of the building resembled a snowball, with approximately three floors. It was impossible to say exactly because the windows were not arranged in rows, but randomly, like holes in cheese of different size. Round, oval, stretched horizontally, vertically, diagonally, some were in the shape of a month.

– Oh yes! – That’s all I could say.

– This is my home, – Bruno proudly said. – This is where my family lives.

– No corners, surprised Christine. – Like a big white marshmallow.

When we got closer, I touched the wall… it was soft! So the comparison with the marshmallows was better. «It’s all a dream» – I thought to myself. I used to have these dreams when I was a kid, where I used to wander around fairy tale places. I had a feeling I’d been here before.

Flowers grew near the «marshmallow» house. Such wonderful flowers I have never seen, even in a dream. My surprise was not only caused by the unusual glow of the transparent petals, but by the fact that when I was away from them, about five feet away, they were closed, but as soon as I got close to them, they opened up. I was even more surprised by the flowers up close. By opening up their shiny petals, they were literally radiating light that could be compared to the moon. But that’s not all, the flowers were starting to make a slightly subtle melodic sound.

– This is the Flower of the Moon. Or just a lunocvet, said Bruno because of my back. – My wife adores them. She says they take the nightmares out at night, and the broth of the fallen leaves makes the hair shine. At night, they open up, and they exude radiant pollen, and they illuminate the whole yard. You’ll see for yourself at night. My wife Leland got tired of insomnia and decided to plant these flowers, and she’s been sleeping like a baby ever since.

I can’t describe all the wonderful things we saw when we came in. Like kids on rides, Christina and I opened our mouths with surprise. We walked along the winding corridors of the house. However, some things were quite familiar: carpets, tables, rocking chairs. Everywhere you could see different pillows of different sizes, they were used instead of chairs. There were no sharp corners, all the furniture was round. The pillows in the various shapes on which they were sitting were covered with material reminiscent of white satin, making them look like the house outside.

Bruno brought us to the dining room. In the dining room around the huge white round table, there were the same huge pillows, only the already gentle blue shade and the beige. Conveniently arranged on pillows, Christina and I began to look at the spacious dining room. On the rounded windows (or rather behind them, because the curtains were outside) there were clear curtains, like wings of a dragonfly. There was a big, soft blue carpet on the floor with an intricate white pattern, like frost on the windows in the morning. The walls are covered with matter, but no longer satin, but suede into a blue strip. The dining room was more like a bedroom, but it’s only by our Earth standards.

Christina and I didn’t even notice Bruno leaving the dining room. When he came back, he told us that all the children of this house would be eating here soon. Twenty of them. So we’d better move to his office, or we won’t be able to talk about anything serious.

Once again, we walked through all these wonderful corridors with fluffy carpets of blue, yellow, pink. There was also a rounded, beige-shaped table in the study. The whole room was kept in light sand tones. I sat in one of the big chairs, Christina – on the contrary… she looked strange. When did she change her appearance?! Bruno noticed my astonishment, followed my gaze and smiled. Christina couldn’t help but notice my not-so-adequate surprise.

– Is something wrong with me? – She asked.

Christina's hair acquired its natural color, a light wheat shade, and became very lush, long, as if they had never known all the abuses of perhydrol to which their owner subjected them.

The vulgar makeup in acid tones disappeared, and the face became quite nice, even you could consider it beautiful. But Christina herself froze in horror when she pulled a mirror from her purse.

– Nothing surprising, Bruno said. – Nothing to be surprised. It happens to everyone, especially the women who are on the planet Mertsella. Yeah, all the artificial paint in the hair and makeup was gone. Good thing the clothes didn’t dissolve, so was that. Mertsella likes to take a man in his original form, like nature made him. There’s paint on Mertsella if you need to fix it.

– What a horror, give more of those colors! – Christina screamed in a panic.

– And not a horror, I said. – That’s better. Why, did you have lenses? Your eyes became grey.

– Are you kidding me! – Is it better? – Squinting, asking Christina, – You just want to mock! Bruno, he thinks I’m ugly!

– You’re like children, – Bruno sighs.

– I didn’t say anything like that at all, – I did. – Quite the opposite! Without a huge layer of makeup, it’s better.

– And you, Bruno! Why are you wearing makeup?! – threw an angry look at poor Bruno Christina.

– It’s not makeup, it’s what we do when we go out and take a few magical maneuvers – coloring ourselves with clays of different shades, but it has nothing to do with women. The women are getting prettier since the first day on Mertsella, so they don’t have to do such nonsense as coloring their face if they don’t have to do some magical thing.

Christina was devastated, how she’ll live without her lipstick and powder. Bruno sat at the table on the sofa, and we decided to start our conversation.

– Get to the point, said Bruno.

We were brought a large cup of drink, which here beautifully called «Farbinosto», but it was very similar to coffee.

– So, – said Bruno. – You’re on this planet for a reason, but you, Mark…

– What, my visit was scheduled? I thought it was a wild accident, – I interrupted Bruno.

– Yes, Mark, it was a planned surprise, Bruno smiled, but my plan almost failed, you didn’t want to take the satellite with your hands. And the only way to fly with it is to take it with your bare hands, not with a handkerchief.

– I was very afraid of burning or passing out my fingers, I said. – I’m not a fool to take things with my bare hands, especially since this balloon has a very strange shine like a star.

– So I helped you! – Christina said it cheerfully.

– Well, yes, grabbing things with your bare hands, and other people’s things, and when not asked for – big help – I sarcastically noticed. Christina got offended and turned her back. I continued. – And why would you want me?

– You’re right for us, Bruno said. – Don’t worry, you’re not the great-grandson of the great wizards. It’s just that sometimes I go out on Earth streets and look at new faces. This time I had the goal of taking the new Guardian for the Hidden Agency. I really liked your face, Mark. I can tell by the face of the right person. You’re real, alive. I’m not going to tell you that you don’t have to take those words literally and what they mean. Ever since I found you, you’ve been assigned to be a conscript, but the amazing coincidence is that you’ve already been listed in the Mertsella Agency database as an asset to our planet. The conscripted people are the chosen people to live on Mertsella, who come from different planets.

The meaning of his words did not quite reach my mind. I did not understand what was expected of me. Bruno continued:

– Besides, you fit the bill on every level: young, smart, orphaned, not yet married… And besides, you really don’t need all of these characteristics, just because I chose you… I have, as it were, this kind of facial recognition, which is the kind of gift I’ve had since I was a kid, which is why I work for the Chief Hidden Mertsella Agency, which is what we took you into.

– Bruno, I, too, have some strange abilities like yours. I can read from the face, I said, when I saw Christine come out to wash her hands. – It’s my too-innate insight. I can see what a man is hiding, whose manner he is copying, who he really is and who he wants to be. I don’t know how, but when I see a man, his facial expressions, his gestures, all of a sudden I know all about him. It’s like a movie in front of my eyes, it’s like a scene in this man’s life. At first I thought it was just my imagination, but then my «imagination» became 100% likely to coincide with the actual facts. Sometimes I stay away from the person I know about. But more often I get shunned. A lot of people don’t like things to be clear about them, and when their secret thoughts are known to outsiders. Besides, I don’t know how to hide anything, so I make it clear to the person that I know everything about him. I’ve been called a sociopath many times, and I don’t notice when I’m hurting people. It’s not on purpose, it’s on the contrary. I want everyone to be good, I want to be peaceful with everyone, I don’t even want to see the most secret thing about a person, it comes automatically. But it is worth saying something wrong – and I am on the list of enemies. Seeing the hidden life of people, I know nothing about human relations. The same goes for my personal life. It doesn’t sound like anything, but suddenly you realize it’s not your person, or that you’re being silently hated. It’s my cross, and I’ve come to terms with that – being an eternally guilty villain in the eyes of others. So I have never really close friends.