"Naked People" by Kir Bulychev, summary Automatic translate

Kir Bulychev’s 1977 science fiction novella is an original fusion of ironic fantasy, spy detective fiction, and satire on Soviet reality, couched in the form of a pseudo-documentary report. The text’s main feature is its polyphonic structure: the narrative is composed of personal diaries, reports, and witness statements from characters who are completely different in character, mentality, and nationality. The comedic and dramatic plot centers on the clash of a highly advanced space civilization, a Japanese soldier during World War II, Soviet and Polish scientists, and enterprising local adventurers in the remote jungles of the fictional Asian state of Ligon.

Discovery of "cavemen"

The events of the story unfold in the spring of 1976 in Ligon, where an international anthropology conference is taking place. Soviet linguist and cultural official Yuri Vspolny accidentally learns sensational news from journalists and local scholars. A military patrol under the command of Major Tilvi Kumtaton discovered an isolated tribe in the inaccessible upper reaches of the Prüya River, near the Gitänsky Pass. According to the soldiers, these people are completely unclothed, do not know how to use fire, and live in Stone Age conditions. The discovery causes a stir among scholars, as the Prüya Valley was believed to be an ancient, long-inhabited caravan route.

To verify the information, Ligon’s Ministry of Education organizes an urgent scientific expedition. It includes Yuri Vspolny himself, the respected Ligon professor Seri Manguchok, the caustic British anthropologist Peter Nicholson, and the young, attractive Polish researcher Anita Kraszewska. The group also includes an army medic and a wily supply clerk — Director Mathur, a Tamil by nationality who supplies soft drinks and is known for his suspiciousness and greed.

The hidden motives of the participants

While scientists debate the need to save primitive people from the destructive impact of modern civilization, individual members of the expedition pursue their own goals. Director Mathur is heading to the mountains for a purpose other than scientific research. He has been hired by a prominent soda merchant and influential delegate, Sumaswami, whose courier carrying a smuggled shipment of valuable rubies has vanished without a trace near the Gitan Pass. Mathur is tasked with secretly searching the caves, finding the cargo, and delivering it to the capital for a generous reward. For safety, his accomplices provide Mathur with a map of the gorge and a large military pistol.

In the provincial town of Tangi, where the expedition is making an overnight stop, Anita Krashevskaya decides to take a walk alone. In the evening twilight, she spots Director Matura in the botanical garden, obsequiously conversing with a local smuggler and receiving a weapon from him. Anita is alarmed but decides not to reveal the supply man for now, despite realizing that a criminal plot is brewing around the scientific mission. The next day, the group arrives by helicopter at the base camp, located three kilometers from the savage camp.

First sighting and disappearance of Matura

Having set up a hidden observation post on the cliff, the scientists use binoculars to survey the area in front of the cave. They see a group of dark-skinned, light-eyed people returning from hunting and gathering. As the researchers watch, an old man attempts to start a fire by rubbing sticks together. The process is difficult, and the first hunter becomes irritated and takes the sticks away, but failing to achieve a flame, he breaks them in anger. The anthropologists debate genetic degeneration and signs of ritual cannibalism among the savages, while Director Mathur cynically declares that they are dealing with ordinary slave traders and bandits. A sudden tropical downpour interrupts their observations, and the group returns to their tents.

That night, Matur, armed with a flashlight and a pistol, escapes from the camp. Using a map, he finds the secret crevice he needs, located upstream. Inside the cave, he discovers the decomposing body of a courier, killed by a blow to the back of the head with a club. The rubies are missing from the dead man’s pockets and backpack. Frightened, Matur realizes the stones have been stolen by savages. On the way back, his nerves fray: near an ancient Buddhist stupa, he imagines the evil mountain spirit of Prince Futan, dressed in a white cloak. Trying to bypass the savages’ camp, Matur receives a severe blow to the head and loses consciousness.

The true origin of the tribe

At the same time, the reader is revealed the true backstory of the "naked men." They turn out to be highly learned members of a scientific space expedition from the planet Dom. Their ship, the "Admiration of the Great Mind," lost control due to a navigational error by the navigator and began falling toward Earth. Since the researchers’ presence violated the galactic quarantine, the crew faced a painful execution on Earth if captured by a Commonwealth patrol. Captain Refined Director (Ut-direk) intended to distribute poison capsules to the crew, destroy the ship, and perish.

However, navigator Ut-pya, translator Po-iz, and biologist Ne-lu decided to fight for their lives. To prevent the life-saving sensors sewn into their clothing from transmitting a signal to their home planet, the aliens stripped completely. The captain was forced to comply with the general decision and activate the lifeboat’s vaporization system. The seven highly advanced scientists and telepaths were stranded in the Ligon Mountains without a single tool, clothing, or food. Despite their colossal intellectual prowess, they found themselves completely helpless against Earth’s natural elements: they injured their delicate feet on rocks, suffered from midge bites, and unsuccessfully tried to catch fish by hand. Only green bananas and hazelnuts saved them from starvation.

The Reign of Non-Commissioned Officer Sato

The unfortunate wanderers were soon tracked down by the true master of these lands — Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Sato. This fanatical Japanese soldier had fallen behind his regiment in August 1945 during fighting with the British. Over thirty-two years of living alone in the jungle, he had fully adapted to the wild environment, learned to move silently, eat raw meat, and drink animal blood. Sato remained faithful to his imperial oath, bushido, and considered himself a master of the universe, enduring the test of solitude. It was he who had recently tracked down and killed a smuggler, taking a bag of rubies.

Finding terrified naked people in his cave, Sato believed them to be savages sent to him by heaven as subjects. Using telepathy, the translator Po-iz was able to establish contact with the Japanese. Sato immediately established a brutal dictatorship in the cave: to intimidate them, he slashed Captain Ut-direk across the throat with a knife, then beat the others for attempting to eat his supplies. The aliens, being staunch humanists, did not dare offer physical resistance.

Sato instituted strict discipline among the aliens and daily drills under the direction of the insane navigator Ut-pya. Captain Ut-direk admitted that Sato’s subordination was advantageous, as the Japanese were teaching them how to find edible roots and survive. For warmth and food, the space explorers Ne-lyu and Ne-svelyu began competing for the right to sleep under the non-commissioned officer’s blanket, leading to a nighttime brawl. Navigator Ut-pya attempted to kill the sleeping tyrant with a stone, but Sato awoke and inflicted a severe head injury, depriving the mathematician of the last vestiges of sanity.

Anita’s Rebellion and the Finale of the Crime Drama

In the morning, the military, led by Major Tilvi, discover Matura’s disappearance and find his belongings at the savage camp. Yuri Vspolny, with the best of intentions, suggests they head to the cave naked, so as not to frighten the primitive people. The expedition sets out to search. Meanwhile, Sato, spotting the military’s tracks, decides to lead his "tribe" through a secret underground passage to a high-mountain lake in a stone crater. While exploring the cave, Anita Krashevskaya notices a crack in the floor. Sato pulls her into the cave and leads her away with the others.

In a stone cup, Sato forces Anita to undress, but the Polish woman, skilled in self-defense, throws the non-commissioned officer into the lake. On Sato’s orders, the naked aliens, along with Matur, who has arrived, pounce on Anita and forcibly strip her of her clothes. Matur, hoping to curry favor with the Japanese and take the rubies, claims Anita as his wife. However, Sato exposes the Tamil’s greed and, in full view, throws some of the stones into the water. Anita makes a daring escape: she dives into the lake, is sucked into an underground siphon, and is carried by a raging current to the scientists’ camp.

Director Matur, taking advantage of the confusion, snatches a pistol, but Sato tries to take it away. A deadly fight ensues between them in the underground passage. Matur shoots the Japanese several times and flees naked to the camp, where he concocts a story about his heroic battle with a heavily armed Japanese militarist. Sato, mortally wounded, crawls out to the aliens and dies in Lyuba’s arms.

Meeting with the Krishnaites and salvation

Anita Krashevskaya, embarrassed by her nakedness, hides in the bushes near the camp and decides to return to the aliens. In the cave, she finds the grieving aliens, who have covered Sato’s body with a blanket. Captain Ut-Direk decides to lead the group through the mountains toward China, away from the military. Anita volunteers to accompany them.

That morning, by the river, they encounter a surprising procession. A group of emaciated, half-naked young people in pink robes marches under the leadership of a Buddhist monk. Anita speaks to them and is astonished to realize they are Soviet Hare Krishna devotees who have illegally crossed the border. The group’s leader, Denis from Lyubertsy, explains that they have been walking through China to Benares for two years to see their guru. A pregnant pilgrim, Vasilisa, turns out to be an undercover Soviet agent, Major Pupyshchenko, overseeing the "infiltration of CIA agents."

Anita and Lyuba come up with a brilliant solution: the aliens from the planet Dom don the remnants of Matura and Sato’s belongings and seamlessly integrate into the ranks of the Soviet Hare Krishnas. Russian is declared the language of communication, and Ne-Lyu takes Sato’s remaining rubies to cover future expenses. The strange procession disappears into the banana bushes, heading toward the monastery.

At the end of the story, Anita returns to the camp wrapped in a tablecloth. Under pressure from Major Kumtaton, Matura surrenders the hidden rubies, and the case is closed. Yuri Vspolny receives a secret note from Major Pupyshchenko, who gave birth to a daughter, Sarasvati Semyonovna, at the monastery and asks for payment for a ticket to Moscow. The Ligon authorities allow Vspolny to publish this true story, but only as a science fiction novel, to avoid international scandals with the Japanese consul and the Galactic Commonwealth.