– Hello! – they said.

– Hello," Ruthra replied.

– We came to find out our mode of operation," said the first one and smiled strangely.

Ruthra replied in surprise:

– What, you get to choose? This is a restricted facility, there are regulations and shifts. Excuse me, who are you?

– Your assistants.

– Then let's get acquainted," Ruthra suggested.

– My name is Katya.

– It's a pleasure.

The girl hiding behind her said she was Yulia, the next one called herself Olesya. They smiled.

– What's so funny? – Ruthra asked.

– There's nothing funny," Katya said. – Can I come in?

– Come on in.

She came close and asked almost in a whisper:

– Did he ask you about the Jews?

Ruthra looked at her in surprise.

– Do you know what his last name is?

– No, I don't know.

– Did he scold or praise the Jews? – she asked.

– I don't know, I don't care. He just asked.

– I hope I didn't offend you.

Rutra looked at the girls and thought, "What are busty young women doing here? What kind of professionals are they?"

– No," Ruthra replied. – Let's talk about work. Tell me all about the center. I haven't been very involved. What did you do before my appointment?

– Analyzing the situation," Yulia said. – We work in Europe and the United States. You also have our senior manager Kristina, financial analyst Natalia and the administrator of the center, who is not in the staff at the moment. Or rather, this position is vacant. There are also specialists of the hall, but they are subordinate to us, according to the direction of activity. They are in another hall, there are 20 of them. The rest of the departments, of course, and their heads are directly subordinate to Yury Vasilyevich.

– What do they do?

– They are engaged in primary processing and analysis of information coming through the lines of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, GRU, SVR. They analyze everything. Not only how, for example, the serial production of memristors will affect the computing power of data centers, but also, for example, how soon the chicks will hatch in a factory in Denmark.

– What, is that a big deal, too?

– Of course. Every situation counts. You have to do all sorts of gibberish. How will the creation of the ionistor affect the consumption of energy resources and, consequently, their procurement, extraction, production, processing, delivery? How many banks with minus balances, what is changing in bankruptcy law in Liberia, for example, how many cattle will calve, how much grain will be harvested, how tobacco is growing there, the lifespan of satellites, the prospect of using unstable elements, the consumer focus group in fifty years, and so on. Who is registered offshore, which ones, why there and not others? Transfers of finances around the world, analyzing the work of stock exchanges, the reasons why quotes change depending on the time of day and weather. Everything matters.

– I understand," Rutra interrupted. – What does Yuri Vasilyevich do?

– He is exercising temporary control. He's here temporarily and is very nostalgic for his past activities. He doesn't know much about economics. He is a fighter of the invisible front, he came to us from the SVR," explained the woman who appeared in the doorway of the office. – Hello. May I come in?

– You can.

– My name is Natalia and I am a financial data processor.

– It's a pleasure," Ruthra replied.

She smiled and said:

– We're used to everything here, especially after Yuri Vasilyevich.

– To what, exactly? – Ruthra asked.

– To the fact that real first and last names, even our own, we have almost forgotten. But one still wonders why people take those particular ones.