– What year is it? – Nia asked, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.

– Three thousand seventy-seven, – Lira replied. Her gaze was scrutinizing.

Three thousand seventy-seven?! More than a thousand years in the future! How was that possible? And what awaited her in this new, incomprehensible world? “I must find out the truth! At any cost,” Nia vowed to herself.

Stopping the conversation about time, Lira approached some strange device, resembling an iridescent cube with many buttons and glowing panels. It certainly wasn't a refrigerator, it was something from another time. To Nia's surprise, Lira took out food, but it wasn't the usual food, but colorful pieces, resembling plasticine, each of which glowed with its own shade.

Nia looked at it with doubt.

– What is this? – she asked, trying not to betray disgust.

– This is nutritious paste, – Lira replied. – With the taste of apple, strawberry, and even steak!

She handed Nia a small green piece, glowing in the twilight. It smelled like apple, but the appearance was not at all appetizing. Nia took it cautiously. What if it was poison?

Nia was even more surprised when Lira took out an ordinary bandage and began to bandage her leg in the old-fashioned way. She treated the wound with some brown ointments, smelling of herbs. It was so primitive. Was she pretending? Or were they all so strange here?

Nia, reluctantly biting off a piece of “apple plasticine,” couldn't resist:

– Lira, why in three thousand seventy-seventh year are you still using such outdated means? I saw in the city: there are so many advanced technologies there!

Lira raised her eyebrows in surprise, like the doctor in the hospital. Again, that surprised look. They were all hiding something.

– Outdated? What do you mean? This is the most modern thing we have. Bandages made of special material, with antibacterial properties, and ointment based on medicinal herbs.

Nia choked on the artificial apple.

– But I saw scanners, lasers, some memory readers. Surely you have nano-robots? Why don't you use them? Shouldn't medicine be more advanced in the future?

Lira paused for a moment, as if recalling something from history.

– At some point, long, long ago, the development of medicine stopped. I don't know exactly when or why. We were told that it was necessary. That it benefited everyone.

Benefited whom? flashed through Nia's mind.

– Stopped? How is that possible? – Nia was shocked. – Why?

Lira shrugged.

– I don't know. I wasn't told the details. They said it was related to some ethical issues. Something like medical technologies went too far and became dangerous.

– Dangerous for whom? – Nia didn't understand.

Lira hesitated again.

– Well, we live here, away from the city, we are engaged in agriculture. We have our own community.

A community? A sect? Nia's suspicions grew with each passing minute.

Something was wrong here. Too many inconsistencies. Too many oddities. Lira was clearly hiding something. “I must be careful,” Nia reminded herself.

After this strange conversation about medicine and history, an awkward silence hung in the air. Nia was digesting what she had heard, trying to put all these inconsistencies together in her head. “The cessation of development,” “ethical problems,” “dangerous technologies”… What does all this mean? And why is Lira so evasive in her answers? “I must find out the truth,” Nia thought.

Lira, as if sensing the tension, smiled softly.

– You must be very tired, Nia, – she said. – You probably haven't slept in a long time. And your leg hurts. Let me make up a bed for you. You need to rest.