A summary of "Atomic Dream" by Sergei Lukyanenko

This book is a collection of novellas, short stories, and journalistic articles. The texts were written between 1992 and 2001. The collection vividly demonstrates the evolution of the author’s style, combining harsh anti-war prose and ironic urban fantasy. Early stories are juxtaposed with newspaper articles and a draft of a television script.

The story "Evening Conversation with the Special Ambassador" won the Strannik Prize in 2001. The screenplay for "Night Watch" served as a solid basis for the acclaimed 2004 Russian film. The directors adapted the first part of the famous novel for the screen.

Transparent stained glass windows

Inspector Karina arrives in Deeptown, a city that exists entirely in virtual reality. Karina is assigned to inspect the local prison. Warden Arkady Tomilin shows her the solitary confinement cells. Criminals undergo a special course of shock therapy. Hacker Anton Stekov is serving his sentence. Karina notices suspicious details and temporarily disconnects from the computer network. At home, she asks her father for life advice.

Upon returning, Karina tracks down the escaped hacker on the streets of Deeptown. Stekov meets with a diver named Chingiz. The diver suggests Karina arrest him. Chingiz hopes to provoke a major scandal. The diver’s goal is to disrupt a secret project run by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The government is attempting to artificially create divers through intense emotional stress. Karina flatly refuses to help Chingiz.

Tomilin launches a final experiment on the prisoners. The experiment fails completely. Karina realizes the true nature of divers. These people need absolute inner freedom. The story has two endings. In the first, Karina has a bitter argument with Chingiz over an old joke involving a mosaic. In the second, she forgives the impudent diver and goes off with him to a restaurant.

Atomic Dream

Nuclear war has destroyed civilization as we know it. The sky is thick with gray clouds. The earth is covered in a thick layer of radioactive ash. The remaining humans have mutated or gone feral. Drago is a mutant who calls himself a dragon. He is cruel and merciless. The first dragons were raised by Robert Eldhouse. The man saved teenagers from a wrecked train. Eldhouse taught them to survive at any cost. Drago later shot and killed his savior with his own hands.

Drago meets a boy named Mike in the forest. The young man heads for the distant mountains, and Drago becomes his guide. They make their way through dangerous, dense thickets. They are attacked by aggressive cultists from the Order of the Brothers of God. Drago kills his opponents, demonstrating to Mike his bestial ferocity.

Mike turns out to be a secret messenger from an underground military base. The young man is required to reach the command post. His task is to disable the main computer. The machine is programmed for a delayed nuclear strike. Mike dies of radiation sickness in the contaminated bunker. Drago carries his body outside. The mutant receives a lethal dose of radiation and experiences nightmares. In the morning, local residents find and treat Drago. The sky over the hills clears of clouds for the first time in two decades.

Sheckleyan Stories

The text "Evening Conversation with the Special Ambassador" describes a meeting between Earth diplomat Anatoly Belov and a representative of the Grag race. Aliens have occupied Earth. The diplomat negotiates terms of surrender. The alien announces a change of plans. The Grags are surrendering the planet to humans. Anatoly deduces the true reason.

Humanity consists of men and women. The psychology of the sexes differs radically. Humans have been learning to negotiate within their own species for millennia. This long training has made earthlings ideal diplomats. The aliens were terrified of earthlings’ ability to conduct interstellar negotiations.

In the short story "By Fate," businessman Sors discovers an inconspicuous company. The organization alters people’s probable misfortunes. Sors trades his terrifying fear of flying to an engineer. In exchange, he receives a tiny risk of being poisoned by sausage. The businessman flies abroad. Later, he trades the possible rejection of the woman he loves for the risk of imprisonment. Sors’s company goes bankrupt. The man avoids prison. The woman he loves agrees to marry him.

The work "Steps Behind" depicts a lone traveler. The man flees the advancing time. He physically feels the ticking of the clock. The hero spends a wild night with an unknown girl. In the morning, he leaves. The fugitive can clearly hear the footsteps of time behind him.

"The Negotiators" describes an encounter between pilot David and an alien. The aliens demand that ambassadors undress during diplomatic negotiations. David and the alien converse peacefully. The alien suspects humans of secretly exterminating other space races. David casually mentions gender differences. The alien calms down. Earthlings interact routinely within their own species.

In the story "Ahaulya Lalyapta," tourist Pavel and guide Andrey are wandering through a Chilean market. An old Native American sells them a dried paw. Pavel recognizes the alien’s limb. The Native American draws a crude diagram of a spaceship crash. The tourists track down the cunning old man, who disappears into a dead-end alley.

The bitter truth comes to light. The alien survived a violent crash. He disemboweled and sold the bodies of his dead comrades for disguises. The proceeds allowed him to buy the necessary parts to repair the saucer.

Early miniatures

The short story "Man-to-Man Talk" describes a duel over a beautiful woman. The heroes clash desperately with heavy swords. One fighter breaks his blade. The battle then moves to space orbit. The heroes clash in light interceptors and gleaming blasters. In the finale, both remove their virtual helmets. The winner leaves with the girl for a twenty-first-century city.

The story "Spiral of Time" is dedicated to a pensioner named Semyon Ivanovich. He assembles a device from blue fog. The protagonist is transported back to his distant youth. He slips a handful of nails into the soup of his spiteful neighbor in the communal apartment.

"The Professional" shows an ideal forest world. Cameraman Richard is filming a popular fantasy film. He creates a picture of a wild forest through sheer force of will. Then the young man leaves the studio. A toxic acid smog rages outside. People constantly wear respirators. Richard kills a fat rat with a crossbow. The family is looking forward to a delicious meat dinner that evening.

The text "Coincidence" tells the story of a pilot. The man accidentally destroys an alien ship emerging from subspace. For years, he returns to the scene of the tragedy. One day, another ship appears nearby. The pilot realizes the truth: the alien was brought to the scene of his death by a simple conscience.

"Very Important Cargo" describes the heroic deed of paratrooper Timur. The hero crawls up a sheer cliff face, salvaging secret memory blocks from a crashed missile. The paratrooper is mortally wounded in a battle with a local monster. He later awakens in an Earth hospital. Timur’s backpack transmitted his will to live. The magical recording is used in the clinic. His emotions save other patients from death.

Articles about the future and games

In the essay "The Age of Moving Pictures," the author offers a social forecast for the new century. Human society will change irreversibly. Complete virtual reality will emerge. Medicine will conquer many dangerous diseases. Humans will learn to alter their biological bodies. Terrible wars and localized terrorism are expected. The world will unite under the strict control of global police intelligence agencies. Civil liberties will be curtailed.

The article "Case History" is devoted to computer entertainment. The author describes a personal addiction to electronic strategy games. Games successfully replace reality for people. Science fiction borrows ready-made plots from virtual worlds. Resisting this addiction is very difficult. Players are creating a new virtual culture.

Vampire Moscow

The script recounts the events of the first book in the Night Watch series. Light mage Anton Gorodetsky captures bloodthirsty vampires who have violated the Treaty. Dark mages use the boy Yegor as live bait. The head of the Day Watch, Zavulon, dreams of destroying Svetlana. The girl has the potential to become a Great Sorceress.

Svetlana’s mother is seriously ill. Her own mother unwittingly curses her daughter. The growing vortex of the curse is capable of destroying all of Moscow. Anton strikes up a heartfelt conversation with Svetlana. The black vortex begins to melt. Zavulon orchestrates a cunning, multi-stage provocation.

Light Inquisitor Maxim dispenses savage justice. He kills Dark Others with a wooden dagger. Zavulon officially accuses Anton of these murders. The head of the Night Watch, Gesar, hides his subordinate. Anton moves into the body of the sorceress Olga. Anton and Svetlana are having dinner at a restaurant. They discover another murdered Dark Mage. Zavulon demands an immediate trial.

The hero escapes the restaurant. He quickly finds Maxim. The Light Mage and the mad Inquisitor engage in a fierce battle in the Twilight. Maxim wounds Anton with a dagger. Dark magic has no effect on the Light Mage. The wise Gesar appears. The Night Watch’s secret operation is a complete success. Svetlana is saved from the Darkness. Maxim transfers to the Inquisition. Zavulon loses the game in disgrace.

The final joke

The book ends with a short, ironic text. The author describes the synopsis of a science fiction novel. Pope Charles the First is searching for a battleship. The ship is called "Lightning." The bioplastic Juze gives Charles active protoplasm. Charles assembles a living boy, Okki. Okki meets the villain Baru Karas. Hackers Baz and Ala attempt to rob the naive hero. The plot is a dead ringer for the fairy tale of the wooden Pinocchio. The author slyly asks readers about the possible banality of the cosmic plot.