"Illusion 2" by Sergei Tarmashev, summary

This book is a direct sequel to a science fiction story written in 2018. The plot is based on a unique concept of the evolution of the Universe, where the true bioenergetic path of the Mind’s development is opposed by a parasitic technogenic model. The conflict is based on the genetic incompatibility between the descendants of the Ancient Blood and the hybrid races secretly controlled by alien invaders.

The novel is part of the author’s "Illusion" book series. This is the second edition in the series, continuing the events of the first book, "Illusion." The works are released as part of the "Worlds and Wars of Sergei Tarmashev" publishing project.

Returning to normal life

The events begin several months after the ending of the first part. The main character, Olya, who has changed her name to Iolanta, is forced to attend an ordinary Moscow lyceum. She hides her true nature as an Awakened Contactee. Those around her are convinced that the sudden changes in her appearance and unprecedented growth are caused by numerous plastic surgeries following severe burns from a gas explosion. Olya tries to remain aloof, sitting in the back of the class. The mixed blood in the genotype of modern people provokes envy, gossip, and latent aggression. The girl sees the true genetic picture of the world and has a hard time coping with the forced company of her classmates, especially the intrusive advances of boys.

The Eastern Circle of Awakened constantly guards its young Contactee. Alien adversaries and their servants, the Chosen, periodically stage sophisticated tests. They try to kill the girl with an invisible energy strike from an orbital satellite or stage a car crash on the way to the subway. Olya practices concentration and bioenergetic skills at a hidden forest base under the guidance of experienced comrades: Igor, Varvara, Malysh, Lis, Lenya, Chiquita, and Rafaella. The base is scattered across various points on the planet, including the taiga and Antarctica, and travel occurs through spatial portals. Commander Agny is often absent, contacting Illusion — a stronghold of the Ancient Blood hidden in the center of the Earth, 4,500 kilometers below the surface.

Intrigues of the Chosen Ones

The Chosen Ones are trying to get access to Olya’s paper medical records. To do so, an official from the Ministry of Health sends a special auditor to the hospital under the guise of an audit of the head physician. The Awakened ones discover a puppet in a white coat in time and destroy the digital copies of the documents directly from the auditor’s smartphone. Olya and her comrades track down the client right inside the ministry. She manages to see a recent photo of her mother on the official’s laptop screen. Olya instantly realizes: her mother is alive and secretly held captive by aliens. This news nearly destroys her composure.

An emotional outburst shatters the young Contactee’s concentration. At that moment, another Chosen One, working for a rival race of hermaphrodite aliens, is murdered right in his office. The killer manages to wipe the hard drives, completely erasing information about Olya’s mother from the digital memory. The Circle of Awakened realizes that enemy factions are waging a continuous covert war for gas resources and global influence. One group serves the reptilian race, the other carries out the hermaphrodites’ orders. The merciless clash of their financial interests creates deadly traps for the unsuspecting inhabitants of the planet.

At the same time, the allies foil a major space financial scam. The Chosen Ones planned to launch a rocket carrying dummy satellites into space, but in reality, they were sending the precious metal osmium into orbit for their alien masters. Agn intercepts the rocket’s controls directly from the launch site and sinks the cargo bay to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The aliens’ plans are thwarted. The Chosen Ones begin to look for the culprit within their own ranks, using brutal interrogations in the electric chair and powerful psychotropic drugs against their own colleagues.

Pressure and training

The alien agent Sandra wages an online campaign against Olya. A bribed blogger publishes fabricated documents about Olya’s father’s mental illness. A planned bullying campaign begins at school, and Olya’s former friends turn their backs on her. The enemy attempts to destabilize the Contactee’s emotional state by sending puppets. Olya persistently learns to suppress her animal reflexes. Igor forces her to bury herself naked in freezing snow in temperatures of -26 degrees Celsius. Olya masters capillary blood flow, successfully warming her body through willpower.

At the lake, Olya takes a difficult first-level exam. She swims into an unlit coral labyrinth without an air supply. The entrance is blocked by a boulder. She wanders in the icy water, receiving deep cuts on the rough walls. Suddenly, she sees the glowing face of her mother, pleading for her life. Panic quickly deprives Olya of oxygen. She begins to suffocate, but in time she realizes the true essence of the bioenergetic path of evolution: conquer your fears or die at the bottom. Olya takes firm control of her fading consciousness, finds a way out, and establishes pure informational contact with the Universe. Agn pulls the unconscious girl out. The healer Slavitsa brings Olya back to life.

The grown-up Contact identifies a new Sleeper — a young, hunted girl in snowy Kamchatka. The local Chosen One plans to use the child as a human shield against the Awakened. Olya remotely directs the actions of the combat teams through the Information Field. The Eastern Circle intercepts the sobbing child on a remote winter highway and safely transports her to Illusion. The Kid and Igor instantly dispatch an armed convoy of Chosen Ones, faking a car accident. The enemy’s spy network loses an important regional leader.

The Decisive Battle

Olya is on Sandra’s trail. She sees the past: a hermaphrodite alien personally burned down a secret laboratory, along with her scientist mother, and orchestrated an explosion in her Moscow apartment. Igor and Olya teleport to the London mansion of an alien agent named Sarah Connor. Igor single-handedly destroys the heavily armed guards. Sarah Connor, under the influence of bioenergy, jumps out of the window of a 30-meter skyscraper, crashing to her death on the sidewalk. Through the fading consciousness of the deceased, Olya learns the exact coordinates of Sandra’s base.

The Hermaphrodite hides in a highly secure base in Nevada. Igor fights his way through crowds of American special forces, machine-gun fire from automated turrets, and thermobaric explosions from grenade launchers. The Soldier and the Contactor break into the bunker. It turns out to be an alien spacecraft. The vessel instantly teleports to the asteroid belt beyond Earth’s orbit, cutting off their escape route. An inky void of space, strewn with boulders, stretches around them.

Sandra paralyzes Olya with a neuro-emitter. The alien agent taunts the Awakened, promising to hand the girl over to biologists for brutal medical experiments. Igor shields Olya with his back, taking the deadly plasma blast himself. The powerful fighter’s body falls into a pool of his own blood. Direct contact with her comrade’s blood triggers a peak resonance of her Mind power. Olya releases her paralysis and calls for help directly to the Unified Information Field of the Universe. The bioenergetic signal penetrates the shielding of the alien ship.

Seconds later, the ship’s armored bulkheads shatter. Four-meter-tall, radiant giants — representatives of the true White Ancient Blood — burst inside. Valkyries in glittering power armor hack off the hermaphrodite’s limbs and take the enemy captive. Rescuers place Igor’s dead body in a crystal stasis capsule for emergency delivery to the higher healers. The chances of success are minimal, as the fighter is effectively brain-dead. The mighty warriors abandon the destroyed compartment, taking the fallen Awakened One into the depths of space.

Olya receives Igor’s straw doll from Varvara — a small craft whose face is an exact replica of Olya’s own. Varvara and Agn take the rescued girl back to Earth. Olya makes a mental vow to wait for her beloved’s return for as long as it takes. The contactee realizes his destiny and prepares for new battles to free his mother.