The author of this work, based on his historical education, could not help but recall the words of M.V. Lomonosov: "A people who do not know their past has no future." And what is our future like? Incredible success in scientific and technological development? Or, on the contrary, will an irreversible degradation process be launched? The question of the future settled in the minds of people of different eras, ages and nationalities. Someone thinks that in tens, hundreds of years, human robots will live on Earth. Someone is sure that the world will be mired in disasters. Some people want to travel not only to countries, but also to space, while others, on the contrary, are waiting for the appearance of alien creatures on Earth. There are simply a huge number of options for the development of human history, but will this future come? Will there be room for what has already happened?
What if…

The year is 2025. Protvino is a town that looks like millions of others on the surface, unremarkable, calm. But is it the same underground? Here, back in 1983, work began on the creation of an accelerator-storage complex (UNK). However, later, due to lack of funds, the project was closed. The question arises: if work on the accelerator is stopped, then what is so special about this story? The research is indeed completed for the public, but not for a narrow circle of selfish people. There will always be those who want to make the most of it, to get every last drop. So the object in Protvino ended up in the hands of a private research company, which continued to conduct experiments. However, everything secret, sooner or later, becomes clear. In this case, it was too late… Another experiment led to irreversible consequences. 
Explosion. A shock wave of destructive force that claimed the lives of half of the world's population. Changing the DNA structure of survivors. A small mistake changed people. Changed the world…
"One day, someone will come with imagination and fix it. Mark my words. Someone with a soul."
Ray Bradbury. "A smile."

For seventy years now, I've been waking up with the feeling that we're missing something. And no, I'm not 70, 80, or 90 years old. My name is Mark and I'm only 27. It may seem strange, but this is our new reality. It's hard to explain, but at some point everything went dark. When all the people woke up, no one could explain what was happening. However, this did not turn out to be the main problem, because after a while it became clear that no one could remember their life before the so-called event X. One might have thought that this was the end of the innovations, but everything was much more interesting and confusing. Numerous studies have begun, which have led to unexpected results. People began to age much more slowly, now 1 age year lasted all ten. Apparently, event X has greatly influenced our DNA. Humanity began to live in a new way, there was an incredible surge in technological progress, everyone was interested in various scientific developments. It would seem that there was nothing wrong with this, but over time I began to notice the rapidly growing indifference around, as if real emotions and feelings had become alien to everyone, everyone was thinking only about coming up with and creating new and useful things. On this basis, I began to have disagreements with others. I still can't understand why everyone so easily let go of the fact that before the X event there was also life, everyone was doing something, dreaming about something. But apparently I'm the only one haunted by the feeling of missing out on life.
Well, once again I fell out of reality…
In general, my every morning is terribly monotonous. The fees for the "favorite" job are diluted only by my own clumsiness: I will tip a cup of tea right on my foot, then I will "cuddle" with all corners in the house. The list of manifestations of my amazing coordination can be listed for a long time, but now there is no time for it. By the way, I work in a technopark, although now many people are engaged in innovative technologies and this will not surprise anyone. 
I went out into the street, there are not too many people yet, mostly cars are flying by. It doesn't take long to get to the office, but I like this morning, when the whole city hasn't woken up yet, the hustle on the streets hasn't started, so I choose longer paths. On one of these walks before work, I discovered a rather interesting place. At first I couldn't figure out what it was. It looked like some kind of fenced landfill, however, as it turned out, everyone considered it a site for the removal of unnecessary junk. There was a huge variety of objects: some figurines, coins, medals, clothes rather unusual for our time, fragments of statues, a large number of paintings and much more. I could have listed everything thrown away for a long time, but some things were never identified by me. Others will just pass by a strange place, and maybe you'll decide that I should have done the same. However, I didn't waste a second thinking and immediately climbed in there. It was from that day that my journey to unraveling the past began. 
And while the memories were floating in my head, the road to the office came to an end. Another monotonous working day began.
– Mark! Maaaaaaark! Come on, hang off already," I heard someone shout. It turned out to be my best friend and partner in finding unexpected adventures
, Timofey. 
– You need to stay in the clouds less. Have you been to the dump again? – He muttered.
– No, I was going to do it this weekend.
– You're weird, but that's why we're friends, – Tim says, changing his displeasure to laughter, – by the way, next time I'm going with you. You have to look at these mysterious things that interest you so much.
– Okay, okay, and now let's get to work, I don't want to sit until the evening, - I grin in response to a friend and start developing. So we sat all day, each doing his own thing, until we went home.
There are a lot of people on the streets in the evening. Everyone is in a hurry, although sometimes it seems to me that they themselves do not understand where they are going and why. It's like people are turning into their inventions and living on batteries. 
Already at home, I tried to find the strength to cook food. Fatigue was taking its toll. At such moments, all sorts of inventions that make life much easier come to my liking. After dinner, I immediately fall into bed. The week has just begun, but I already want it to end. I fell asleep looking forward to the weekend, wanting to see Timofey's reaction to my findings as soon as possible. 
The working days flew by quickly and here I am standing at the so-called "dump" and waiting for Tim, who was almost an hour late. When patience was already running out, this shameless one finally appeared in the distance. At first I wanted to make a joke about his incredible punctuality, but when I saw that he was in a hurry, I changed my mind.
– I'm sorry... I'm... alarm clock…It didn't work," the friend apologized, taking a deep breath.
"Remind me to make you a baby monitor later.
–Haha, very funny," Tima quipped. – Let's go look at your treasures already.
We made the following decision: everyone will take a few things with them to then study them in the laboratory. Throughout the entire time we were there, Timothy could only hear: "Holy hedgehogs!", "Incredible", "What is this all about".  And so, after spending most of the day among a pile of disparate objects, we headed to my house.
– Wait, why aren't we going to the office?  Tima suddenly asks.
– You know perfectly well the attitude of others towards anything that concerns life before the X event. Remember their looks when I first started talking about this place and that it would be nice to sort out everything that happened to us. They don't consider it something important, worthy of their attention. Sometimes it even seems to me that we live among soulless robots," I said, feeling indignation begin to grow inside.
– It is impossible to forget how you professionally enter into disputes on this topic, but, Mark, then where can we find all the necessary conditions for our research?
– Don't worry about it, everything will be fine, – I assure Timofey.
So while we were talking, we didn't notice how we got to the apartment. 
– Well, where is it? – I hear a friend's question. 
– Um, what's "where"?
– You're a smart person, you can say a genius, but there are times, like now, when I doubt it very much, – Tim looks at me in amazement. – Where are we going to study these curiosities?
– Oh, don't start. You'll see now.
Knowing full well that patience and Timofey are two disjoint phenomena, I launched a program through my phone that will show what I have been working on for quite a long time. The rack has already moved away and the door, hidden until this moment, appeared to our attention. Tima, silently, without waiting for me, immediately entered it. Knowing my friend, I mentally count to three and hear his reaction.
– Holy hedgehogs!!! When did you get your own laboratory?! Incredibly, it's much cooler here than in our center. You understand that I won't leave you alone now until I find out everything," Timofey chattered, simultaneously examining all the devices. 
– There will be nothing supernatural in this story. At some point, I realized that surrounded by our precious colleagues and under their guidance, it was becoming unbearable for me to work. That's why I made my own workshop. Of course, I had to create everything myself, but for some six months and so it turned out somehow like this," I say, looking around my scientific den with a smile. 
– There are just no words. I am delighted, although offended, because you hid it from me.
– It was made not so long ago to leave you in the dark for a long time. Moreover, you are the only one who knows about it.
– Well, well. Okay, let's get to work. By the way, what did you want to do with it anyway?  Tim asks, taking the things we've chosen out of his backpack.
 After some observations, I came to this conclusion. There is a block in our heads that prevents our memory from reproducing what we knew before the X event. Most likely, then something happened that slowed down the work of neurons in the brain. I was thinking of trying to recreate all this knowledge with the help of these objects.
– Hmm, you can certainly try. But there is only one question. – I suggest you call Vasilisa, she has been studying the work of human memory for a long time, maybe she will tell you something.
– Good idea, call me, and I'll turn on everything here.
"I'll put it on loud," Timofey said.
The laboratory was plunged into silence, diluted only by the ringing of the phone.
– Hello.
"Vasilisa, the light of our eyes, we need your help,– Tima began.
– Let me guess, is this for you and Mark? Only the two of you can think of something for the night while looking," the girl's voice clearly sounded like a grin. 
"You're as perceptive as ever.
– So, what do you want to know? – Vasya got down to business.
– Everything related to memory.
– Really? And you can at least be a little specific, Tima," our interlocutor exclaims indignantly.
"We want to recreate the events that our brain blocks with the help of objects that are considered junk," I already joined the conversation.
– So it was you, ahaha.
– Now we need specifics, – Tim did not understand what he was talking about.
– All day long, rumor has it that some two weirdos are digging in an abandoned landfill, which, by the way, seems to be completely destroyed.
– What?!  Timofey and I exclaimed at the same time. Only I was annoyed that such a huge amount of information would be lost, and he didn't like our new reputation for being crazy. 
– You are famous now, aahaha. But let's get back to business anyway. Memory, along with individual episodes, is distributed in networks of neurons that are located throughout the brain. Which neurons and from which structures will enter the network of a particular memorable episode depends on which episode it is. If you remember the melody of a song, then auditory neurons, speech centers, etc. will be involved. If you remember what you are afraid of, then such a network will include neurons of the "amygdala" associated with emotions, fears, etc. I think that if you can send an impulse to certain neurons, then the brain will reproduce the desired episode," Vasilisa explained to us.
–Momentum means," I said, already thinking about how to do it.
– Oh, well, that's it, Mark started brainstorming, which means he hung up for a long time. Thank you very much for the information, Vasya.
– I'm always happy to help. I am now waiting for the greatest invention from you.
– Absolutely. Thanks again, see you later," Tim says goodbye to the girl.
We didn't waste any time and immediately got to work. Over the weekend, hundreds of options were presented, some even reached the drawing stage, but none were approved. Despair filled the laboratory more and more. 
– Mark, my brain is already boiling, two days have passed, and the case has not moved much. What if everything was forgotten for a reason and it doesn't need to be restored," Timofey mused, rolling around the room on a chair.
– Yeah, of course, but we are guided by one person through the control panel and in general we are all really robots.
– Oh, don't be silly.
– And you don't talk nonsense. Everything will work out, we just need to double-check our options again, we'll definitely get hooked on something," I say to Tim, although doubts have already settled in my head.
– Madam, you have a lot of perseverance. Okay, I have to go now, you rest too, go, you will soon grow accustomed to these drawings.
After Timofey left, there was complete silence in the workshop. I felt that I should not give up the case. All these items from the past clearly carried valuable information. Time flew by imperceptibly, coffee mugs were just gathering around me, my body required sleep. But I had a feeling that just a little more and there would definitely be a solution. 
Trrrr-trrrr-trrrr.
I woke up to the nasty sound of the phone, did I really fall asleep after all. Tima called.
– My dear friend, let me know where you are. Our chimeras are tearing and tearing.
Glancing at his watch, he realized that he was late for the office. 
– Damn it! I overslept. You can cover for me, tell me you're sick, missing, or even gone off to explore new planets.
– Of course, no problem.
After the conversation, I realized that trouble would be waiting for me at work. How annoying it is, they keep us in tight reins, as if we are being held hostage... stop. Mittens. What if…
The day was coming to an end. The doorbell rang. I opened it through the program and waited for Tim in the laboratory. He warned me that he would come in the evening to find out how the case was progressing.
– Hello to the geniuses, – a friend stumbled into the room.
– You won't believe it, it worked, though I haven't checked it yet, but it should work. Here," I show Tim my brainchild. 
– A glove?
- Yeah. The essence of her work lies in the fact that she reads, one might even say scans, the memory of an object through sensors on her fingers, after which she transmits information using an electric pulse to the neurons of the brain. Ultimately, the brain must reproduce the event it receives. 
– It's very interesting and incomprehensible, – a friend looks at me in amazement.
– The main thing is to work, please bring any thing that we found.
While I was setting up and putting on the glove, Tima brought me a round-shaped object. Excitement filled every cell. When I took the thing in my hand, nothing happened for a while. Suddenly, the world around me became cloudy. I started to feel tingling all over my body. Suddenly it was dark.
I was surrounded by impenetrable darkness. I don't know how long it's been since I started feeling cold, terribly cold. Then there were sounds. The last to regain his eyesight. I cannot describe the emotions that I experienced. Turn out. I see an event that happened to the subject under test. It became clear that this was some kind of game. Here are the crowded stands, thousands of spectators shouted: "The puck! The puck!" As it turned out, that thing is the puck. All these people were closely watching the teams skating on the ice. Everything is so familiar… I decided to keep watching. The players, passing the puck with strange, hook-like sticks, tried to throw it into the net. They moved amazingly fast, although their shoes were quite strange, if my eyesight does not fail me, then there was a blade on the sole. Interesting. Suddenly, people became animated. I began to look at the ice carefully. One of the players was heading towards the net. He did not throw the puck on target, but began to circle the gate. The man protecting them shifted to the side where the opponent was approaching, which became his fatal mistake, because the player leading the puck left from the other side and threw it into a free corner. People applauded. I listened to the voice that was heard all over the neighborhood: "The puck is in the goal. Here is Bobrov's famous feint." 
It throws me out of the memory. I see Timofey dumbfounded, but in the next few minutes there are no words to describe what happened.
– Mark! Finally, I was so scared. You were in a trance for half an hour, and a glow was coming from under the glove," a friend jumped up to me, "Mark? Are you all right? 
 – Eh? Yes, yes, I'm just trying to collect my thoughts, - while I was answering, a puzzle formed in my head, – Tim, it turned out, I saw, I saw everything, but most importantly, I remembered. 
- what? What did you remember?
– This thing here is a puck. It is used in hockey, a kind of sport. Previously, whole tournaments were held on it, thousands of people gathered to watch. It seems that I even played in that past life, until event X happened – my soul was filled with happiness when I told all this to a friend.  
"But... it's unbelievable,– Timofey looked at me in amazement. However, the surprise did not last long, and the next second he was overwhelmed with the desire to try it too.
– I can see from your eyes that you will not calm down and are waiting for me to give you a glove, – at that moment he looked like a child who saw a cherished toy, – go choose an exhibit.
– And there is no need to choose, I noticed one thing a long time ago, – a sparkling order turned out to be in his hands.
– Yes, you are a real magpie, and you are attracted to the brilliant, ahaha.
"The world is changing, and you've stayed like an ulcer," Tima chuckled, rolling his eyes, "well, I'm ready. 
– Come on, good luck.
As Tim said, there is a glow coming from under the glove. Strange. This was not meant to be. It's probably been about an hour since the process started. Suddenly Timofey froze. I've never seen him so scared before. 
– What happened?!
– Please tell me why you got an interesting match, and I got a war?! I thought I was going to turn gray. There are gunfire, explosions, and screams all around. The smell of death was in the air. It was the Great Patriotic War. I remember studying it. I'll say more, I seem to have been seriously studying history. Mdash; he was a humanitarian, and now a technician. Life shook me up.
– Next time it will be necessary to choose the object for study more carefully, – the story of a friend shocked me.
— yeah. By the way, when will you show your creation to the others?
– I don't know, I thought I'd watch a little more, maybe I'd need to finalize something.
– Understood, accepted. Okay, I'm going, it's getting late. Until tomorrow, don't stay too long, or else one more failure to show up for work and we won't see a quiet life.
– Okay, come on, bye, – I led Tim and wanted to go back to the lab again, but fatigue got the better of me. I fell asleep thinking about how much more we can learn with this glove. 
The week flew by unnoticed. Home – work – home – workshop. That's how I spent all these days. After some minor improvements, I decided to try out the invention again. This time, my choice fell on a box in which some notes were stacked. It was difficult to make out something, the paper was dilapidated, and the ink was almost worn out. Taking it, I was plunged into darkness again.
The ball. Pleasant music is heard in the hall. The ladies, who have put on their most beautiful outfits, are spinning in a whirlwind of mazurkas, quadrilles, waltzes along with young men in full dress uniforms. When the music stops, a request is heard from the guests: "Mikhail Yurievich, read us something." Everyone turns their gaze to the young man standing a little apart. He hesitated a little and began:
I want to live! I want sadness
To spite love and happiness;
They spoiled my mind
And they smoothed their brows too much.
It's time, it's time for the ridicule of the light
To drive away the calm fog;
What is a poet's life without suffering?
And what is the ocean without a storm?
He wants to live at the price of flour,
At the cost of tedious worries.
He buys the sky sounds,
He doesn't take fame for nothing.

As soon as he says the last word, there is applause. The young poet was able to charm everyone present.
I woke up in my laboratory. Emotions cannot be described in words. That collection of different objects is a real treasure. With their help, we have already been able to learn a lot of new, or rather forgotten, past. And how much remains to be studied. Lost in thought, I did not immediately hear the incoming call. 
– Quickly grab your glove and run to the exhibits!
– Tim? What happened?
– Less words, more action. Vaska turned out to be right, they want to destroy that place.
– WHAT?! They're completely out of their minds," a friend was indignant on the move.
– We did not attach importance to this, but, remember, today marks the 75th anniversary of the new world. 
– And where is the connection? – I was running out of the house.
– They decided that these items were useless. In their opinion, the past should remain in the past. 
– In the past, it seems that what they thought was left, if of course it was, – there was no limit to my indignation. – Where are you now?
– Vasilisa and I are already here.
– Understood, I'll be there soon.
After dropping the call, I sped up to make it. After we've managed to find the answer, we can't let this mess happen. Turning onto the right street, I saw a huge crowd listening to some kind of weirdo standing on a raised platform. His speech could be heard.
– My dear friends! We must finally end this place. It is the most important obstacle to our development. Stop clinging to the useless past. Our goal is to move forward and only forward!
What kind of nonsense is he talking about? A useless past? Maybe I missed the moment when everyone was brainwashed, I can't find any other explanation for this. They managed to snatch the figures of Timofey and Vasilisa from the crowd. I barely made my way to them. 
"This has to stop right away," I immediately began.
– We need to come up with a plan, we can't act at random, – Vasya put in her word.
– There's no time for that. Oh, come what may, I took out my glove and ran to the dais. 
– Hey! What are you doing, crazy," Tima shouted at my back, "Be careful at least there! 
At that moment, I didn't think about the consequences. There was only one thought in my head – to convince them, at all costs they must be convinced. Without hesitation, I run into this broadcaster, thereby finally stopping the verbal nonsense. 
– You have no right to do this, – I grab him by the breasts, – you want to destroy a source of valuable information!
"Let me go now, boy!" Who are you to give out decrees here," this fool struggled.
– Me? Who are you, if you dare to dispose of the wealth of all mankind, – pushing him away, I turn to the crowd – Listen, you are being deceived, your brains are being fooled. Everything you see here is a real treasure that will help you remember the past. Are your souls so hardened? Understand, there was life before, too, and each of you was doing what you loved or was on the way to it. Now they want to take it away. 
People were still standing emotionlessly. How so… Is this possible? They just took and spat on a part of their lives, a part of themselves. I have never felt such despair before. Their indifference was killing, burning out all hopes. I saw the sympathetic faces of my friends in the crowd. They are probably the only ones whose souls, like mine, continued to live and not wither.  
As I was about to leave, I heard a commotion. 
– Wait! – a girl was walking towards me, making her way through people. – I... I believe you and I want to remember.
I think I looked as stupid as possible then, because I looked at her as a miracle. When he came to himself, he began to adjust the glove.
– Here, I'll explain the principle of operation now, but in the meantime you can choose a thing.
"Actually, I have my own," she took out a brooch. Now such things are not worn, in principle, jewelry is no longer used at all, considering it stupidity. 
– Great, – at the moment when I was telling her what was going to happen, the weirdo, whom I had safely forgotten, decided to stop us.
– I won't let you!  He was about to grab the brooch from the girl, but Tima appeared next to him and stopped him.
– Dear, keep yourself in control, otherwise you can go on a flight.
After making sure that nothing else hindered us, we continued with the glove. There was utter silence. All eyes were on the stranger, who had already picked up the brooch. A familiar glow appeared, which caused people to be surprised. Time seemed to stand still. After 20 minutes, the girl opened her eyes. 
"It worked," she said softly.
– What did you see?  I asked carefully.
– It's a family heirloom. The brooch was given as a gift to my great-great-great... grandmother from Catherine II herself for her faithful work as a maid of honor. Since that time, it has been inherited. 
– Holy hedgehogs! – Tima's reaction amused everyone.
– Maybe someone has changed their mind and wants to try it too?  I turned hopefully to the crowd. It was scary to see people's empty eyes again. However, a miracle happened, there is no other way to say, they became interested. Those who wished began to come out, a whole queue was formed. There was no limit to my joy. Vasilisa and Timofey helped me, along the way telling everyone how it all works. And so the rest of the day passed. We were able to defend the memory. 
On the way home, I remembered about a stranger who was not afraid to believe us.
– Do you guys know who the girl with the brooch was? 
– Hmm, no, I don't remember seeing her before, Vasya thought.
– Nope. And what? Has our Markusha fallen in love, ahaha?
– Don't talk nonsense, Tima. I was just wondering. At that time, I no longer hoped that anyone would believe me. And by the way, if you call me that again, I'll make a diminutive and you'll live in a bank.
– No, Vasya, well, you saw how he communicates with a friend.
– I can't even imagine how your delicate mental structure will hold up. Okay, Mark, we have to turn here," Vasilisa said goodbye and she and Timofey went home. After walking a little more, I also headed towards the house. It was a busy day, I had no strength left. I just wanted to sleep, which I immediately did when I got home.
A month has passed. People began to look less and less like soulless robots. I also decided to release a series of such gloves. I wanted to create memory points so that people could come in their free time and recreate forgotten events or learn something completely new for themselves. Now my way lay to the government in order to approve this project. There was a little fear, because quite recently, no one gave a damn about it. But it turned out to be in vain, the project was accepted and told to wait for a specialist who would help with its implementation. What was my surprise when this person turned out to be the girl with the brooch, which, by the way, was on her.
"I didn't think I'd see you again."
– On the contrary, I felt that that meeting would not be the last.
– We never met, I'm Mark.
– Dasha.
These two will certainly succeed. They will be able to maintain a balance between the past and the future. They will not allow people to harden their souls again, forgetting who they were.

The author wanted to convey the idea that it is very important to preserve historical memory. Any action we take, great or not, is history. The history of the people, the state, and the family. Everything is equally valuable. Everything makes us feel. Studying what happened to other people who lived 20, 100, 1000 years ago, a person empathizes, gets angry, admires, wonders, etc. And most importantly, he learns, draws knowledge from people of the past.
Technological progress is undoubtedly very important. The future belongs to the developing world. However, it is worth keeping a balance, because the past has shaped us, and the future will improve us.