"Multicolored Pedals" by Elena Nesterina, summary Automatic translate

Elena Nesterina’s psychological novel "Colored Pedals" was published in 2007. The book explores the limits of human loyalty, manipulation, and the search for true feelings in a technological landscape. It takes place in a closed provincial club where extreme bodily sensations are recreated using neurosensory equipment. The plot explores the psychology of submission and the hidden motives of the protagonist, who attempts to shape the lives of those around her according to her own wishes.

This novel is part of a thematic series called "Shock Novel: Novels by E. Nesterina" published by the renowned Eksmo publishing house. It ranks second in the series, after the novel "The Transformer Woman," published in 2007, and before the 2008 short story collection "Dynamo Machine."

Finding a job and meeting Arina

A young man named Valera is unsuccessfully searching for a job as a night watchman that suits his lifestyle. He responds to a newspaper ad at a country club called "Colorful Pedals." There, he is met by the owner, twenty-four-year-old Arina Leonidovna Balovantseva. The meeting takes a strange turn: Arina is busily catching a large cockroach, drawing white lines on the turquoise wall with special chalk. Security at the club is overseen by Viktor Vladimirovich Ryndin, a large and silent man ready to defend the owner at the slightest threat.

Arina informs Valera that the security guard position is expired, but she needs a security guard for the shift. She decides to show the newcomer around the establishment, as Valera knows nothing about the club’s specifics. Valera accepts the offer, lured by the high salary and the unusual personality of the young owner. He’s so nervous that he barely tastes the coffee offered to him, but he diligently stalls for time, trying to appear important to the new management.

Extreme Simulators Club

Arina leads Valera through spacious halls with soft gray lighting. He sees strange plastic booths with pedals and buttons, which turn out to be neurosensory simulators. These devices recreate extreme physical sensations for clients without any real harm to their health. People pay huge sums of money to feel like passengers on the sinking Titanic, escape from a burning building, be held captive, or endure a flogging in the freezing cold.

Arina convinces Valera that her simulators give people a concentrated sense of victory over the elements or their own weakness. After such experiences, visitors overcome their fears and gain confidence in real life. As an example, she shows Valera a group of students from a construction college. For them, the simulators have been specially modified to simulate childbirth. The college administration agreed to this program to instill in the young people a sense of realism and respect for women.

A motley team of like-minded people

At the club, Valera encounters a colorful group of employees recruited by Arina. Her brilliant brother, Stas, and the taciturn sensory specialist, Martyn, write the programs for the simulators. The kitchen is run by the enormous cook, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Kon. The bar is staffed by the cheerful Jamilya Mamed-Babayeva, who can compel guests to order mountains of appetizers with a glance. The punk band "Ruka Prachki" (The Prayer Hand), led by Mamed Batyrov, whose songs are wildly popular, regularly performs here.

Among the establishment’s inhabitants, a deformed miniature Schnauzer named Gnusya stands out. She was born tiny, and Arina nursed her back to health by feeding her food through an eyedropper. Gnusya became famous for once defending her owner from a rabid Caucasian Shepherd by biting him in the eye. Arina likes to throw Gnusya out of the car onto the lawn, as the dog enjoys flying. A sparrow named Keka lives in a cage on Arina’s desk. Birds often die in captivity, and Viktor secretly replaces them with new ones to avoid upsetting Arina.

Valera accidentally discovers the sparrow’s secret when Viktor Ryndin asks him to bury the body of another dead Keka outside the club grounds. This is the eighth sparrow, but Arina sincerely believes she’s caring for the same bird. Valera is struck by the extent of Viktor’s concern for Arina’s feelings, which is why he’s willing to participate in such a cynical deception. He complies with Viktor’s request, burying the box containing the bird in a snowdrift using a street cleaner’s shovel.

The failure of the Maslenitsa festival

Gradually, Valera becomes devoted to Arina and envies the men around her. His personal life with his partner, Lilya, is falling apart, as his eccentric mistress preoccupies him. He dreams of trying out a new combat simulator that lets him feel like a Roman legionary or Spartan, but is too embarrassed to sign up for a session with the caustic mulatto Polina. Meanwhile, the club is tasked with organizing a large-scale Maslenitsa (Maslenitsa) sendoff for the neighborhood residents in the city park.

The festival turns into a major disaster due to a blunder by the organizers. A figurine of Spring, made of flammable rubber parts, is accidentally set on fire instead of Winter on the stage. The fire instantly spreads to the wooden pavilions and tents. Sparks frighten the horses, who rush toward the pond. The ice cracks, and people begin to fall under the water. Viktor Ryndin, riding a horse, courageously rescues the drowning people, including Lilia. Valera helps evacuate Nastya and Tunets from the smoke-filled areas.

Arina Balovantseva takes full responsibility for the failure of the event and formally apologizes to the staff at a general meeting. As compensation for the stress they’ve endured, she announces a three-week paid vacation and vouchers to a sanatorium for all those involved in the rescue operation. Valera admires her ability to admit defeat and correct mistakes without shifting responsibility to her subordinates.

Personal Secretary and Passport Secrets

Soon, Arina offers Valera a position as her personal assistant. He agrees and begins to take care of her household chores: driving her around town in a black car, feeding Gnusya pureed meat from a pipette, and walking her on a leash from the balcony. Arina often tells Valera, "I’m the girl whose every wish comes true." Arina shares with him her plans to buy the old Community Center building and build a meat processing plant to create jobs in the area and alleviate poverty.

At Arina’s behest, Valera takes on the guardianship of street singer Evlalia Olegovna Buranova. He protects her from her domineering mother’s attacks and brings her to the club for rehearsals. While processing paperwork, Valera comes across Arina’s passport. Upon unfolding it, Valera is surprised to discover a marriage stamp with an elderly citizen, Viktor Ivanovich Uryadnikov. This fictitious marriage registration was made at the request of Arina’s stepfather to protect the property of his bankrupt friend from confiscation.

Valera is tormented by conjectures about his mistress’s personal life for a long time, until the renowned writer Zoya Redkina, in a fit of revelation, reveals the truth. Since childhood, Arina has loved only Viktor Ryndin, who is the real father of her children. However, they are unable to formalize their relationship and live together because Viktor’s seriously ill relatives require his constant presence and care.

Fighting sectarians and the birth of a child

Poet Anton Mylchenko, whose work is financed by Arina, falls under the influence of the religious sect "Son of Your Father." The adherents force the gullible poet to hand over his passport and apartment documents. Arina cannot tolerate attacks on her loved ones. With the help of Viktor Ryndin and the influential Lyokha Bykov, she recovers Anton’s documents, dismantles the sect in the area, and sends the poet to a literary festival in Irkutsk under the watchful eye of strong guards.

Soon, Arina goes to the maternity hospital and gives birth to her second son, whom she decides to name Mamuka in honor of the elderly doctor who delivered her difficult child. During her labor, Viktor Ryndin and Lyokha Bykov sit in simulators, experiencing all the physical suffering of a woman in labor. Valera finds the child’s birth certificate, listing Arina as both mother and father. It turns out to be a joke gift from lawyer Fyodor Gorobets, intended to protect Viktor from unnecessary questions.

An attempt at charity and a fatal rebellion

Valera decides to show independence in noble endeavors and help someone who has fallen into disarray. He takes Andrei Voblov, recently released from prison, under his wing, pays for his gym training, and plans to get him a job at Arina’s plant under construction. However, Arina’s classmates, horrified, demand that he be fired immediately. It turns out that Voblov is a dangerous criminal, whom Arina personally jailed after robbing her co-worker at gunpoint.

Voblova is shamefully escorted out of the club by security guards after being severely beaten. The disgruntled criminal decides to take brutal revenge on Arina and her entourage for his humiliation. He ambushed Valera near the gym and delivers a powerful punch to the face. Andrey begins monitoring the construction of the new plant, waiting for the right moment to stage a large-scale provocation.

Construction of the plant is delayed by technical difficulties, and the workers hired by Arina are growing weary of the futile wait. Voblov leads an unauthorized rally at the plant gates. He incites the crowd against Arina, accusing her of exploitation, deception, and arrogance. The weary people fall for his fiery speeches and march in a menacing crowd toward the Multicolored Pedals club building.

Tragic ending in the basement

Arina comes out onto the porch to confront the angry crowd, trying to calm them down and explain the prospects of working at the new plant. Valera and Tatyana Astemirova shield her. At that moment, one of the protesters raises a hunting rifle. Voblov directs his hand, a shot rings out, and the bullet hits Arina in the stomach. Shibai’s mounted police and Bykov’s men arrive to assist the besieged, quickly dispersing the rioting crowd.

The wounded Arina is losing a lot of blood. Before losing consciousness, she refuses to call the doctors into her office and demands to be taken to the basement to Martyn. She insists on being connected to a recording device to record the sensations of her fading life for science. Victor, tears in his eyes, holds her hand while the equipment records the signals of her fading consciousness. Valera prays for her salvation, hoping for a miracle and the speedy arrival of the medics, who have retreated ten meters.