Las said nothing, clutching the wheel and looking straight ahead. We had already passed the Moscow Orbital Highway.

“And what other difficult moments will there be?” he asked almost timidly.

“You take the plunge, you renounce Satan,” I said, counting on my fingers. “And the third step—you must bear in mind that everything in the church is triune, because God is a trinity—the third step . . . you get out of the font and run round the church three times, against the movement of the sun.”

“Naked?” Las asked, horrified. “With no trousers?”

“Of course. Like the Old Testament Adam, who was without sin until he did taste the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge!”

The phrase sprang to mind spontaneously, but it sounded very convincing.

“Well . . . if I have to . . .” Las said in a quiet voice.

“You could drop into any church,” I advised him. “Even a corrupt one. And buy a little book, with explanations.”

“I feel awkward going into a church,” Las admitted. “Not only am I not baptized, I’m a magician too! Bugger it, maybe I should postpone the baptism? If I have to run round the church naked . . . I’ll go to a gym for a while, firm up a bit . . .”

“All right, the part about running round the church isn’t true,” I said, taking pity on him. “But I would advise you to take the matter a bit more seriously.”

“How complicated everything is . . .” Las sighed as we trundled towards the terminal. “Is it D we want?”

“Yes, the new one,” I confirmed.

“Well, then, let’s go for it, with God’s help!” said Las.

I realized that the zeal of the neophyte still burned bright within him.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

IN THE AIRPORT LAS AND I SEPARATED. HE SET OFF TO TALK to people—his abilities were quite adequate for making them talk frankly and openly about everything. First of all he had to talk to the engineers who had prepared that cursed (or would it be more correct to say “blessed”?) Boeing for its flight, then with the flight controllers and, if he could manage it, with the crew. And I set off to see the Others on duty at the airport.

As regulations required, there were two of them—a Dark Other and a Light Other. Of course, I knew ours—Andrei, a young lad, Fifth-Level, he didn’t appear in the office very often but worked at the airport all the time. I’d seen Arkady, the elderly Dark Other a few times too, when I was flying out or coming back myself.