Ballpen

“Eokyaz. Eokyaz“

I stared at the book floating in the air in front of me. The book was open to the flyleaf, which showed a map of the hemispheres.

With unfamiliar continents.

It seems that the theory about the parallel world just got a couple hundred points on top.

Holy shit.

Just like in some Japanese porn cartoon. Something like "I dove into my own bathtub and found myself in the universe of Talking Magical Unicorns!"

Or would such a title be more suitable for some American cartoon for girls under twelve, like the ones my cousin niece loves?

“Nya, kawaii, “ I muttered under my breath.

The cat-horse - Alyatara? - made a questioning sound. I shook my head. The only thing I needed right now was to explain to her the intricacies of the plot of Japanese animation and the cultural code associated with them without knowing the language.

“Ekayz?“ I asked again, pointing my finger at the book. Belatedly noticing that my finger was enveloped in a greenish glow, and feeling a slight tickle on my skin. As if I had stuck my hand in a glass of soda.

Alyatara shook her head. - Eokyaz. Eokeyrati.

She tilted her head. Pointed her horn at one of the continents. Probably referring to the place where we were?

I pointed my finger there. Described a large circle around myself. Looked questioningly at Alyatara.

She nodded happily, saying a few more words in the same incomprehensible language. Well, probably the same. I didn't understand anything anyway.

I dove into my own bathtub and found myself on a planet of alien green unicorns.

Holy shit.

This can't be.

My bathtub is not some kind of magical portal or stargate made of naquadah.

Stop!

I stood up abruptly. Alyatara must have gotten tired of holding the book in the air and dropped it on the armrest of the chair, so that the sudden movement sent it flying to the floor. The cat-horse shuddered.

“Uh… I want to try something,” I explained, as if I could be understood.

Whether she understood what I said or not, Alyatara followed me.

The drain was plugged with a stopper (is it just me, or is it really cast iron? I couldn’t resist checking with my finger, feeling the metal), so the water didn’t have time to drain, although it cooled down a little.

Oh well.

“Maybe you’ll turn away?” I asked, feeling a little awkward. Also without much hope for a result. The unicorn, of course, shook her head in confusion.

Okay, I can’t push her out of her own bathroom. And at last. She had already seen my bare butt, and anyway, it was stupid to be embarrassed by an alien creature who probably didn't even know that it was not customary for humans to walk around naked.

I unrolled the towel. Stepped over the edge. Sat down.

Took a deep breath. Closed my eyes. Stretched out, submerging myself completely.

The bottom of the tub was hard, the water was cool, and the portal between the worlds was in no hurry to open.

I conscientiously stayed under the water until my ears started to buzz. And for another minute or two after that, until a blue hoof poked through the water and gently tapped me on the shoulder.

Phffuuhhh!!!

I started breathing, feeling my heart pounding from lack of oxygen. I shook my head, pouring water out of my ears.

”Ka'ho teaso ri-hari o?”

Alyatara must have realized what I was trying to do. At least there was a clear note of sympathy in her voice.

I glanced sideways at her.

”Oh. At least I appreciate the kind words.”

I stood up, dried myself with a towel again and wrapped myself in it.

It looks like this thing doesn't work the other way.

Damn. Damn, damn, damn.

Well, of course, it's kind of cool. To be the first person to see another planet and meet aliens. But I still have family on Earth. I still have friends. Who in a couple of days will start wondering where I went. I still have a collection of games on Steam, I still have the unwatched eighth season of Game of Thrones, I still have a contract to sell a line of office souvenirs to our local branch of a federal network, for which I was supposed to get a list of delivery points tomorrow...

Damn. I still have an unclosed shower, which in a couple of days will drive me into exorbitant water bills!

Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, I hid my face in my hands and giggled like an idiot.

When I finished laughing and raised my head, Alyatara had already backed away to the far wall of the corridor.

I can understand her. I myself, probably, having heard my own laughter, would have decided that I was dealing with a complete psychopath.

”Sorry,” I squeezed out. ”I didn't want to scare you again. Listen, it looks like everything is working out in such a way that I will have to stay here with you for a while.”

Alyatara jerked. Her gaze slid somewhere to the side. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a faint green flash around the keyhole.

And the rhythmic jingling of the key in it.

Hmm.

A familiar sound.

I looked at the key more closely. The green glow faded, Alyatara recoiled and backed away towards the room, clicking her hooves.

”May I?... ” I asked for decency, pointing my finger at the key. The cat-horse responded with a tirade of sounds that meant nothing to me.

The key turned under my fingers with a weak click over and over. The door remained locked.

Hmm.

I took the key out of the keyhole and looked at it thoughtfully.

Turned to the cat-horse.

”Do you have a pencil? You know... Pencil? Paper? To write?” I pretended to write with my finger on my palm.

She tilted her head with a thoughtful expression on her face. Nodded. She ran to the far end of the corridor, stopped at another door.

Looked at me expectantly.

I followed. The door creaked, the switch clicked.

Oh.

Another room was the same size as the one with the sofa. Completely empty, except for wide shelves and... what do artists call this thing? An easel? One wall is completely covered with a thick curtain...

And the other three are completely covered with paintings.

I stared at the canvas hanging directly opposite the entrance.

For a second, it seemed to me that I was looking through an opening made in the wall.

Opening into a cold winter night.

I even heard the ringing rustle of snowflakes in the wind. I felt the smell of snow and spruce branches. I felt the cold bite my cheeks...

I shook my head, and the illusion disappeared.

It was just a painting of a snowy mountain slope covered with forest and a starry sky above it.

And I can't even say that it was accurate in the details - the fir branches were outlined with some blurry brushstrokes, the stars were uneven dots on a black background with iridescent colors...

But for some reason I still felt my face being burned by the frost when I looked away from the details and looked at the picture as a whole.

"Wow. Just wow," I muttered under my breath.

I was never interested in all sorts of scribbles and doodles. When they tried to take me into a museum, I kicked against in every possible way. Even in school, I sincerely believed that all sorts of admiration from art critics was mutual showing off and a way to sell the painting for more.

Now a doubt has crept into my soul that perhaps I was wrong.

Alyatara, standing by the shelves, quietly said something.

Damn. Honestly, she smiled embarrassedly.

And even, it seems, blushed. Don't ask me how fur can turn red.

The puzzle came together. Another dozen canvases on the walls, all with the same plot - night, snow, stars... Jars, brushes, pencils and some incomprehensible gadgets on the shelves, an easel. At the same time, an embarrassed and at the same time - satisfied expression on her face.

”This... is this your painting?”

She blushed even more. No, of course, maybe I'm interpreting alien facial expressions incorrectly... But honestly, those huge eyes and embarrassed smile - it's hard to interpret any other way!

”Very beautiful. Really,” I pointed to the painting.

She looked down. Said something, pointing with her hoof to her... let's say, to her thigh.

I took a closer look. I had already noticed something like a picture flashing on Alyatara's side. But at that moment, my overloaded with the meeting with the alien guest (oh, wait, or rather, the alien guest here is certainly not her) brain, simply no longer focused on looking at the tattoos on the alien ass.

On the aquamarine hairs, an image was drawn in a few strokes. On a dark blue background - several schematic silver stars. Below - also schematically depicted blue snowflakes. And next to it - a wide open eye with long eyelashes.

I shrugged. The tattoo (or whatever it was), apparently had some relation to the paintings. But what exactly was meant, I did not understand.

And I remembered what I was going to do.

”May I?” I extended my hand and took a thick, sharply sharpened pencil from the shelf. I gestured to Alyatara that I wanted to break off the tip. She nodded, looking surprised. I crunched the lead, looked around for a ballpen. I didn't see a single one. Okay, we'll make do.

I repeated the pantomime with a sheet of paper from a notebook with a cardboard cover and a heavy thing of an incomprehensible appearance. With a smooth wooden handle and a semicircular base made of some kind of stone like marble, on which it rocked like a child's rocking horse.

I bent the sheet of paper with the lead, carefully hit it with the stone thing from above, pressed it down, crushing it into crumbs. Carefully picked up the sheet, trying not to scatter dust.

”Well, at least we won't break it.”

I returned to the corridor. Alyatara seemed to have forgotten that she was afraid of me - now she was watching my manipulations with interest, almost getting her curious muzzle under my elbow.

The corner of the sheet - into the keyhole. Tilt, blow. Make sure the graphite chips fall into the right places.

Now – wait a couple of minutes.

I headed back to the studio (is that what it’s called, I think?). I put the sheet of paper on the corner of the shelf, stopped by the wall, and looked at the canvases more closely.

The general theme had not changed. Night, snow, stars…

But the details were different.

A couple more paintings – the same forest landscapes. The third one – a mountain peak rising into the sky in the moonlight. A fire burns brightly in the middle of the night forest. The windows of a small hut glow in the night. A chain of creatures similar to Aljatara herself, dressed in thick fur blankets, makes their way along the snowy path. A decorated Christmas tree shines brightly in the middle of the thicket.

Stop!

A Christmas tree?!!

Isn’t this some kind of parallel world or something? Alien unicorns? What is an earthly Christmas tree doing in the painting?

And this is not a coincidence. Garlands, balls, lights – in this painting the details were drawn quite clearly, I could even discern the figure of a… winged horse crowning the top? Yes, a tiny shiny horse with a horn and wide-spread wings.

I turned to Alyatara. Pointed my finger at the painting.

”What is this? ”

Another series of words that meant nothing to me. I rubbed my forehead.

So.

If the local creatures, whoever they are, know what New Year is…

Then it is quite possible that they know about the Earth itself?

And who knows? Maybe they know how I can get back?

My heart began to beat faster.

”Let's try,” I said half to Alyatara, half to myself.

Click. The key turns in the keyhole with a slight effort, the deadbolt pin obediently enters the grooves.

The door opened a crack.

”Well, that's it,” I pointed my finger at the lock. ”To be honest, it would be a good idea to blow it out and lubricate it properly. But it should last a few days anyway.”

Alyatara looked thoughtfully from the door to me. Her face acquired an indecisive expression.

Feeling a surge of curiosity, I looked outside.

A small landing on one of our doors, on the far wall - a tiny window. Under the ceiling, a dim light of a strange blue-green light from a bulb of the same unusual shape. Is it just me, or does the light come from tiny shining dots swirling inside the glass?

The walls are uneven, made of large red stone, without any hint of paint or plaster. No sounds are heard, even street noise is guessed at the edge of audibility.

And in it - not the slightest hint of the hum of cars.

A blue hoof carefully touched my shoulder.

I shuddered. Looked back at Alyatara, who had risen to her hind legs.

She bit her lip.

”Evgeniy. Ho'a,” she suddenly blurted out.

”What? Sorry, I don't understand you.”

She shook her head. Suddenly she jumped up and galloped off in the direction of the studio.

Damn. Definitely need to learn the local language.

Maybe magical unicorns aren't allowed to go out in a towel? Like you can walk around your apartment as you want, but when you go outside, you have to observe decency?

Only now did it dawn on me that I may have made a serious mistake. Was it worth helping Alyatara with a jammed lock?

After all, I don't know anything about where I ended up. I have no idea how Alyatara will behave next. Maybe now that the door is open, she'll rush for help? Who knows what's customary in this world with alien visitors?

Alyatara returned to the sound of hoofbeats. She had a notepad and another pencil clenched in her teeth. A green light flashed, and both objects rose into the air.

The pencil quickly darted across the paper.

If I had any doubts before about who the author of the paintings was, now there were none. With just a few movements, Alyatara drew a fairly accurate image of a man from the waist up. It seemed he even looked like me.

And she continued drawing. A brick wall appeared around the man. And in it, a barred window, through which the man in the drawing looked.

Clenching the bars in his fists.