A Million and One Days of Vacation by Evgeny Veltistov, summary

This book is a 1979 science fiction fairy tale in which one day of schoolchildren in space is equivalent to thousands of years of life on Earth due to the curvature of space near a super-dense dead star.

The beginning of space travel

The giant airliner Victoria is picking up speed before its jump into deep space. Three fifth-graders from the forest school are strolling in a dimly lit hall under a transparent dome. Alka Frolova and Karen and Oleg are flying so high above their home planet for the first time. It’s the first day of school break for the kids.

Schoolchildren are heading to meet their parents. Parents’ Day happens once a year. Mothers and fathers work at the Final Space Station. They are flying to meet their children on the Alpha spacecraft. Navigator Pavel Andreevich Prozorov, whom everyone calls PAP, is keeping an eye on the fifth-graders. Oleg is drawing a tiger on the window glass with a light pencil. The tiger seems alive against the backdrop of distant stars. Alka is jumping carefree across the squares of the floor.

The appearance of a rat and a famous biologist

Navigator PAP is giving an impromptu astronomy lesson. A black animal with a long tail runs out onto the deck. A gray cat is hot on its heels. The cat’s owner, dressed in an alien hunter’s jumpsuit, is striding briskly after her. PAP kicks the rodent away with his boot.

It turns out the woman is world-renowned biologist Irina Alexandrovna. The scientist complains that a voracious rat tried to eat a scientific manuscript. A siren sounds, and the ship makes a high-speed dash. A brief period of weightlessness descends on board. Passengers lift off the floor and float in the air. A white mechanical steward helps them to their seats. The rat manages to disappear into the labyrinthine corridors, and the cat Mis rushes in pursuit.

Missing navigation device

Karen secretly enters the captain’s empty cabin. The boy takes the transparent Orb of the Way from its stand. Inside the orb, silver threads of galactic routes are interwoven. This device contains the precise coordinates of all worlds.

Karen brings the Sphere to the ship’s garden. The garden looks like a real forest, with a stream, thick grass, and pine cones. Oleg and Alka look anxiously at the precious object. The girl asks to see the Frolovskaya Galaxy, discovered by her late father. A long mustache emerges from the bushes. A strange man in a decorated uniform and shiny boots with spurs takes the device.

Meeting the King of Tutik Island

The stranger introduces himself as an honorary academician of all sciences. His name is Myshuk the Penultimate. He rules the island of Tutik in the Pacific Ocean. The king mistakes the navigational instrument for an exotic apple. Myshuk declares that the object now belongs to the crown. The schoolchildren demand the return of the jewel.

They go out into the corridor. Alka accidentally trips the ruler. Mouse flies over the girl and falls to the floor. The ball rolls out of his pocket. The king’s servant, a black boy named Isil, deftly catches it and hides with the lord in the cabin. PAP scolds the children for the ridiculous incident with the passenger. Karen realizes the extent of her monstrous guilt.

Dangerous deviation from course

The liner’s captain, Platon Vegov, discovers the loss. Danger alarms ring in his head. The first mate brings the second Orb of the Way from the engine room. The spare instrument is badly damaged by the rodent’s sharp teeth. Deep scratches have disrupted the gravitational balance.

The ship deviates from its designated safe route. The liner enters the gravitational pull of an invisible, dead star. Scientists call such objects "black holes." Their colossal mass pulls in all surrounding matter. Vegov understands the gravity of the situation. The liner is in danger of plummeting beyond the event horizon, from which not even light can escape.

Ambush in the historical hall

The children decide to return the stolen navigator. They remember that the king likes to take walks after breakfast. Alka changes into the heavy armor of a medieval knight at the ship’s historical museum. The boys hide behind ancient columns. Soon, Myshuk appears with his silent servant, Isil.

The Iron Knight blocks the exit. He demands the monarch apologize for his rudeness to the servant. A frightened Mouse hands over the Orb. A black rat scurries between the knight’s steel legs. It snatches the shining object and disappears into the corridor. Alka falls, her armor rattling.

The emergence of a time loop

The dead star’s intense gravity warps space and time. Captain Platon Vegov enters his cabin and sees himself there. Yesterday’s captain and today’s captain discuss their maneuvering plan. Myshuk the Penultimate also encounters his own double.

The kings argue and sit down to play checkers on their island, just to be competitive. The real Mouse quickly loses the kingdom to himself. The Karen boys also meet. They courageously confess to the captains about stealing the Ball of Way. The passengers understand their direct responsibility for the liner’s fate.

Reversal of events

The distortion intensifies to its limit. The flow of time reverses. The people find themselves in the wardroom at a large dining table. The process of food consumption reverses. The fish soup eaten by Mouse turns into live blue trout and raw vegetables. The cut meat becomes a whole raw steak.

The billiard balls broken by the captain automatically arrange themselves into a perfect triangle. Conversations are heard backwards. The Penultimate Mouse shows off a cage containing a captured rat. Under the influence of reverse time, the king releases the rodent. The gray cat and the nimble rat run away tail first.

Restoring the passage of time

The arrow of time once again rushes toward the familiar future. The course of events stabilizes. The stars on the screens regain their red shift. The King really does catch the rat with a piece of lard on a rope. The Orb of the Way is safely returned to Captain Platon Vegov.

The instrument was safely handed over to the navigators. The Victoria liner and the Alpha ship following it are preparing for a complex maneuver. Computers are plotting a rescue course along the very edge of the dead star’s event horizon. Engines are running at full power.

Observation for millennia

The navigators turn on the overview television screens. Passengers see a live broadcast from Earth. Time flows slowly on the ship, while hundreds and thousands of years fly by on Earth. The children see the aging principal of their school, Nikolai Semyonovich, wearing an academician’s robe.

Futuristic cities, multi-tiered buildings, and people in changing clothes flash across the screens. Humanity remembers the ships lost in space. Earthlings of the new millennia warmly welcome travelers. Karen speaks words of gratitude that are heard by the entire distant planet.

Meeting of two ships

The passengers fall into a short, restless sleep. Each sees their own future or cherished dream. Oleg converses with a great ancient artist. Karen talks with a cheerful cosmonaut. Alka discovers the formula for happiness in the hot desert. PAP runs along the ocean shore toward a blonde girl.

After awakening, the radio operators establish a reliable connection with their parent ship, Alpha. The schoolchildren talk to their families through monitors. Physical connection is impossible due to the vast distances, twisted into meters by gravity. Myshuk talks with his adult son, an astrophysicist.

Communication with people of the superluminal realm

Strange columns of white flame flare up around the ships. These are tachyons — intelligent beings of light, moving faster than the speed of light. Their time always flows in the opposite direction to that of ordinary humans. The tachyons establish radio contact.

People from beyond the stars patiently explain the unknown laws of the universe. They say that a dying star merely gives birth to new worlds. The vanished matter gives rise to young galaxies. Astrophysicist Myshuk Jr. understands the great law of the breath of the universe. The worlds of earthlings and tachyons peacefully separate in space.

A successful return home

The starships successfully navigate the gravity well. The starships complete their final maneuvers and enter a young galaxy in near space. Earth ceremoniously welcomes the brave travelers. Their home planet has changed beyond recognition over the centuries. Three suns now shine in the blue sky.

Captain Platon Vegov congratulates the passengers on their safe arrival. He says that people have learned the greatest lesson in the universe. Former King Myshuk shaves off his mustache and forever abandons his monarchical ambitions. He decides to become a simple tour guide. The schoolchildren prepare for a long life on a renewed Earth. PAP disembarks and meets the golden-haired girl from his dreams on the green grass.