"System:
The City Under the Dome" by Veniamin Kaverin, summary

This book is a dark dystopia. It was published in 2016. The plot unfolds in the high-tech city of Eden. The city is securely protected by a protective barrier from the deadly radiation wastelands. The protagonist accidentally discovers terrifying combat skills. After this event, his everyday life collapses. A brutal struggle for survival ensues.

Awakening and escape

Student Christopher Gladius leads a perfectly ordinary life. He communicates with his friend Ash and attends lectures. People long ago survived the nuclear war. The survivors took refuge under the vaults of Eden. The citizens are divided into social classes. Status depends on genetic enhancements. These mutations were created by scientist Sergei Voronov’s vaccine. Ordinary people without genetic modifications belong to the lowest caste. Representatives of the beta class possess physical superiority and quick reflexes.

One day, Christopher is attacked in the university locker room. Fellow student Stephen Foster and his friends pounce on him. Finding himself in a bind, the young man loses control of his mind. His consciousness is overtaken by a ruthless subpersonality. Christopher beats his modified enemies with primal ferocity. The City Security Committee harshly interrogates the student. Ultimately, he is released, ruling his actions self-defense. Officers place the boy under special surveillance.

Soon, the young man visits his adoptive grandfather, Arthur. The old man used to work as a senior security officer. Arthur notices a patrol drone near the house. He realizes the terrible truth: the secret Sixth Section has come for his grandson. The old man, eager to save his grandson, decides to provoke his combat reflexes. Arthur resolutely points a loaded pistol at the boy. Christopher’s body reacts with lightning speed. He intercepts the weapon and kills his grandfather. Realizing the scale of the tragedy, the boy flees in panic. Adele’s android lies shattered on the floor.

The Path Beyond the Dome

The fugitive hides from patrols in the alleys. He finds the Strike bar and meets Tom Greenhill. Tom was Arthur’s friend and a former smuggler. He listens to the young man’s confused story. Tom then puts him in touch with John Leone. John is a professional race car driver. He agrees to smuggle Christopher out of Eden. The racer hopes to take revenge on the secret service for the death of his mentor, Jerome. They use fake documents and a disguise. Christopher dons a colored wig and contacts. The fugitives cross the border and find themselves in the dead ruins of the Old City.

Experienced Captain Frank Urton and his android partner, Eugenica, investigate Arthur’s death. A medical examination reveals an abnormal blood structure in Christopher, capable of instantly clotting. Shell casings indicate the use of a prohibited, rare weapon. Soon, the intelligence services encounter a massacre at the Zvezda club. Dozens of patrons are transformed into ferocious monsters, affected by an unknown chemical. Frank barely survives the rooftop cleanup. He is assisted by Colonel Ilyin’s heavily armed assault team.

Secrets of the past

In the icy wastes, Christopher and John encounter Ivan Pliskin, known as the Snake. He’s a former enforcer who defected to the underground. The fugitives are taken to a secure shelter, led by Irwin Leroy and Gabriel Samedi. Their route leads through the station of the stern mechanic Sean. It turns out that the wealthy aristocrat Irwin controls the remnants of the rebels. They have been fighting the totalitarian regime for years, unsuccessfully.

Some time later, Christopher visits Denis Rodin, who lives as a hermit outside the metropolis. Denis reveals the boy’s true origins. Doctor Voronov secretly created the "gamma stream." These are ideal humans with genetic memory and dormant fighting instincts. The modified children proved mentally unstable. Higher command ordered their immediate destruction. Arthur saved Christopher. The boy became the last surviving specimen, codenamed ninety-nine. It turns out his grandfather wasn’t his blood relative. His real biological parents were scientists Henry and Olga.

The Archangels Plan

The truth turns out to be much darker. Four more modified humans survived: Raphael, Michael, Sariel, and Gabriel. They call themselves the "Archangels." This group intends to exact brutal revenge on their creators. The radicals steal Sean’s powerful emitter. They plan to overload Eden’s power plant and trigger a devastating earthquake.

The mad Raphael kidnaps Christopher for inhumane experiments. Without anesthesia, the doctor drills into his skull and injects him with stimulants. He hopes to understand the nature of the delayed mutation. Overcoming excruciating pain, the young man awakens his superpowers. With a powerful jerk, he pierces the scientist’s chest. Christopher rips out his tormentor’s heart and escapes the underground prison.

The remaining Avengers continue to implement the plan. Sariel releases the aggression virus through Eden’s ventilation system. The townspeople mutate en masse. Bloody anarchy erupts in the streets. Ambitious journalist Martin Becker sneaks into the cordoned-off shopping center through the old sewers. He finds himself at the epicenter of the disaster. Under Sariel’s hypnosis, the reporter broadcasts Captain Urton’s death live. Total chaos engulfs the city.

The fall of the policy

Christopher and John rush back to the doomed city. They realize the enormity of the impending catastrophe. The outcast settlement in the wasteland is already engulfed in flames. There, they encounter a grinning Michael. He possesses the gift of pyrokinesis. A grueling battle ensues. Christopher uses a unique sword-whip, "Stingray," a gift from Sean. Michael parries the blows with a hidden blade. The cunning enemy poisons Christopher with a paralyzing venom. Then, sadistically, he burns out his left eye with hot metal. John, awakening, saves his wounded comrade. He fires a clip from his sniper rifle right into the mutant’s head.

Panic reigns within the crumbling city. The first tremors begin. Snake joins the desperate heroes. They attempt to break through to the power station through abandoned subway tunnels. Along the way, they encounter armed marauders. The group is led by Stephen Foster, who miraculously survived. They rob jewelry boutiques. A brief firefight ensues. The enemies are quickly defeated. However, John is fatally wounded in the stomach. The race car driver dies quietly in the arms of his shocked friends. Snake resolutely heads to the intelligence headquarters. He hopes to hack the system and open the evacuation gates for the city’s residents.

The final chord

Christopher reaches the power plant alone. Blood-soaked corridors are littered with the mangled bodies of guards. Gabriel awaits him in the main hall. A merciless duel between the two modified beings begins. Gabriel is far faster than his opponent and a master of telekinesis. Gabriel repels all desperate attacks and wears down his one-eyed opponent.

A powerful enemy effortlessly slams Christopher into a concrete wall. Gabriel recounts the horrific fighting pits and torture with electric collars inflicted on children in underground laboratories. He arrogantly declares that they belong to a superior race. Ordinary humans deserve complete extermination. Slashes from a hovering sword slice through the young man’s flesh one after another. With a final thrust, Gabriel impales the defeated enemy’s abdomen. Christopher is left to slowly bleed out on the marble floor.

The victor descends in the elevator. He leaves the overloaded reactors to destroy the metropolis. The tormented Christopher cannot rise. He looks at the flickering lights of Eden. The young man longingly recalls the rare bright moments of his life cut short. Gathering his last shreds of strength, he gropes for the hilt of his sword. His weakened fingers rest on the switch that releases the electric discharge. The young man presses the button. He chooses a quick death over an agonizing fade under the rubble of a dying world.

At the same time, a clash between the android Kai and the mysterious Cigarette Smoking Man takes place at headquarters. This man ruled the polis from the shadows. The thinking robot analyzed the directives for maintaining order. Paradoxically, he recognizes the law’s creators as the main criminals. They are responsible for mass torture and genocide. Kai shoots the holographic avatar of the soulless leader. Then he puts a bullet directly into his own processor. The social system collapses completely. It forever buries the hopes of humanity.