The Before Short Story Series. Part 1 - Иван Перепелятник

on the planet. In the first place, we use widely recycled components, and secondly, as you know, we have mastered mining on the Moon, Mars and the asteroids. Over the past fifty years, we have recovered forestland in those areas where it was almost eradicated by negligent mining. A lot has been done to date. But there is an understanding that more needs to be done.’

‘Igor, you might end in our Duma, or, at worst, sit in the Federation Council. Our senators are very fond of listening to the reports of the enlightened.

‘I’m ready! But here’s my question for you: are Duma and Senate yet active in Russia?’

‘Uh-uh… My dear. It turns out things are so much neglected with you. You’ve completely lost your way here, that’s what I see. They are active and very much so! What do you think, since today we are part of the United Federation of Nations, we no longer need to bother about our own state system!

Uh, no, my fellow comrade! It wouldn’t have gone anywhere that way. Our entire federation would have gone to pieces in different directions. Anyway, what have you been doing here!? Can you imagine, Rusya, this person does not know the political system of his own country! You, Igor, are a political barbarian!’

‘You are barbarians yourselves,’ Igor smiled. ‘My task is supra-confessional and cross-border. I need to clean up all the stench away from the planet that we managed to make a mess of in just a few hundred years, after millions of centuries of its development and prosperity.’

‘This hat is not for a small head, isn’t it?’ after taking another sip of wine, Edward suggested.

‘The task is so difficult, guys, I’ll tell you, that it hardly fits anyone. But someone has to try. Someone has to clean all the stables! Laugh all you want, but there really is enough work there for several generations. I’ll tell you what.’

‘And what is your main focus for the team now?’ Ruslana asked, her head resting on her hand.

‘Oh, guys, it looks like I’ve tired you a little with my story about…’

‘Not at all, Igor, on the contrary,’ Ruslana waved her hand, interrupting him.

‘And you seem also to be tired, you were on the road,’ Igor insisted on his own way.
‘Listen, we’re not tired. If you don’t want to reveal your secret projects, just say so.’

‘Ed, no secrets at all. We are an open organization. I am only glad to share the news,’ Igor continued enthusiastically. ‘What humanity has not been able to cope with so far—we have been working on this issue for more than a hundred years—is the problem of microplastics. At first glance, it may seem that we are talking about something not too serious to pay attention to and to invest heavily in the fight against this worldwide pandemic. But unfortunately, this is not the case. Based on the conducted research, the microplastic pollution is responsible for hundreds of thousands of people annually entering the risk zone of a wide range of dangerous diseases, ranging from obesity and up to brain problems. Thanks to the Tracker, to our microchips, we of course are capable of timely cutting short these problems, but what to do with animals, with fish, what to do with the air we breathe. Here we come to the essence of the work our team is doing.’

‘Listen, Igor, it looks like another horror movie of some kind,’ Ruslana was happily eating another piece of juicy steak.’

‘I don’t want to kill your appetite, but I can’t help noting that, most likely, according to statistics, the piece of meat that you are about to swallow now also contains microplastics,’ Igor smiled at Ruslana, who stopped chewing. ‘This is not a movie for a while, friends. This is our reality. You go on chewing, Ruslana. Don’t be afraid.’

‘Come on, Igor,’ Ruslana protested. ‘You are saying all sorts of nasty things.’

‘I’m only telling the truth. But I agree with you—it’s difficult to find a substance on our planet nastier than this. The truth, as you know… oh well, no one needs this truth.’

‘Let’s say for a moment, Igor,’ said Edward.’What kind of technique would you suggest to combat this universal scourge?’

‘A small problem is that my answer will take an hour-long lecture. But, given your, so to speak, limitations, I will give you a brief squeeze.’

‘Thank you, Lord Protector! Come on, let me order you some more snacks. Otherwise, you’ll soon demote us into jellyfish,’ Edward began waving his hand to attract the waiter’s attention.

‘The thing is that microplastics surrounds us everywhere. Literally. In the water, in food, in the air, in the ground… well, literally everywhere! Could you have imagined, this parasite is even on Mt Everest! It is the plague of our century! How to fight it is the main question! We are improving the existing installation of decarbonizing units, complementing their functionality with appropriate filter elements. There are already more than six thousand such installations around the world today. The second and one of the key conditions: we are actively working together with petrochemical companies to ensure that their products have the minimal plastic decomposition period. This is where a whole bunch of problems comes in. Economics, as you know, determines the expediency of most, if not all, processes. Everything that implies an increase in the cost of goods has a negative impact on business. An equally controversial factor is long life of plastic products.’

Igor looked at his friends, finally exhausted with fatigue:

‘Oh no, guys, enough with this boredom. Let’s better call it a night and go to have some rest. Home and to bed! Eh?’

‘What are you talking about, Igor! You’re mad!’ Edward shook his head. ‘I’m for the continuation of the story! And what about you, Rusya? Ru-sya?’

‘It looks like Rusya… a couple more sips and she will finally surrender to