"I know," Lis said. "We see everything in black in the darkness, and he sees everything in white by daylight. I think so."

"Do you see me white, too?" Tol asked at once.

"No," Nikto said in irritation, "I don"t see you white."

"And how do you see me?" Tol didn"t stop.

"Grey!"

Everyone laughed again.

"Very funny," Nikto muttered.

"I start dictating," Orel said.

"Fine." Nikto flipped the bird to Tol. Lis, Enriki and Tol laughed again.

"Enough!" Orel shouted. "You don"t let me work! I"m tired of you! Shut up, now!"

The friends got quiet.

"No, I can"t stand it any more," Tol moaned after fifteen minutes that Orel spent dictating various combinations of numbers non-stop. Nikto calculated them with the abacus and gave replies. Orel wrote the results on the paper and compared to the results given by Vil.

"I can"t bear it!" Tol could barely control himself. "I"m gonna smash that thing with little balls and tear all the papers."

"Just try that," Orel said without stopping. "Sit down and shut up."

It seemed he enjoyed this monotonic activity. He continued dictating numbers, carefully and tediously, and waited patiently when Nikto floundered and started recalculating. It was unbearable. Tol looked at Enriki and Lis in misery and, giving Orel a glance, rolled his finger at his temple.

"Tol, I see that," Orel said calmly. "Here! It"s gonna be interesting!" His voice became cheerful. "Now, now… Nik, count that for me!"

He continued pouring numbers on Nikto with even more passion. Enriki sighed, leaned back in the chair and lit a cigarette. Lis fingered his hair with a bored expression. Tol lit a cigarette, too, he looked like he was going to be sick any moment.

"When is this Vil going to come at last?" he mumbled dejectedly.

After a while, when they had lost any hope, Orel suddenly got silent.

"Well, what"s the result?" Nikto turned to him in curiosity.