Great changes have occurred in the world, primarily associated with artificial changes in the human genome. Those who did not want to accept the changes live in the Territory, in fact in a huge reservation. The order there is wolfish, but Captain Viktor Dashkevich is from the breed of wolfhounds... A story included in the “Keepers” cycle and serving as a link between the first novel in the cycle and the other two. From the author: This story was written for the collection of dystopias “2084”. And, at the same time, it refers to the conventional “cycle about the Dashkevichs.” Anyone who has read “Dead Stars” remembers Vlad “Gyurza” Dashkevich. And the character of “Burning Ice” and “Satan’s Paradise” Ruslan “Mongoose” Dashkevich is his direct descendant, grandson. The intermediate generation somehow fell out of sight. Disorder. And so Viktor Dashkevich was born, son of Gyurza and father of Mongoose, captain of the DKDN, not burdened by special moral principles and, according to family tradition, establishing order in the entrusted Territory using the methods of the knights of cloak and dagger. But still, he is mentally different from both his father and his son; the invasion of the genome had some impact on the psyche... not the most favorable impact, frankly speaking. Having gotten a little carried away, at the end of the story I drove the character into a difficult situation, and I don’t know whether he’ll get out of it or not. But his wife and child will be fine in any case. Or at least his child, who will become a Mongoose in twenty years.