"Draft" by Sergei Lukyanenko, summary

This book is a science fiction novel, published in 2005, about an ordinary young Muscovite who is erased from his normal reality by unknown forces in order to serve at a customs post between parallel worlds. The hero suddenly discovers the complete destruction of his social and personal connections, gaining superhuman abilities in exchange. His lost human destiny is compensated by the duty of guarding the passage between alternate versions of Earth.

In 2018, a full-length film of the same name was made based on the work, directed by Sergei Mokritsky.

Loss of the past

Computer sales manager Kirill Maksimov’s life falls apart in one evening. Returning from work, he finds a complete stranger named Natalia Ivanova in his apartment. His beloved Skye Terrier, Cashew, barks loudly at her former owner. Kirill’s documents quickly crumble to dust. His neighbors look at him blankly and confirm Natalia’s rights to the apartment.

The next day, the memory-wiping process engulfs colleagues and relatives. At the clinic, the passport office, and the telephone exchange, papers are rewritten in Ivanova’s name. The head of the firm "Bit and Byte" offers Kirill his own position. A close friend, Kostya, who prefers the nickname "Kotya," forgets his friend right before his eyes. Written notes left on the computer help the journalist Koty reconstruct the chain of events. The young couple turns to science fiction writer Dmitry Melnikov for advice, but the writer dismisses the story as fiction.

An unknown voice on his cell phone directs the homeless hero to an abandoned water tower near the Alekseyevskaya railway station. After spending the night on bare concrete, the Muscovite awakens in a cozy, well-maintained room. Five closed doors appear on the tower’s first floor. A mail coach delivers customs reference books to Kirill.

Gaining Function

The hero soon learns the reason for his misfortunes. He has become a functional — a person granted longevity, the ability to instantly regenerate tissue, and immense physical strength in exchange for performing a specific task. The range of these abilities is limited to ten kilometers from the water tower. Kirill receives a position as a customs officer at the crossroads of parallel worlds.

The tower’s doors lead to various possible futures for the planet. The first to open is the road to Kimgim, the name of Earth-3. This civilization developed without oil; progress relies on steam engines, and the seas are inhabited by giant kraken monsters. Other functionals live here. Kirill meets restaurateur Felix, the owner of the White Rose Inn, Roza Davidovna, and local police officer Tsayes. They explain the rules of their new life to the newcomer. The immortal masters lack a single leader, but form a hidden network of mutual support.

The next door leads the hero to a world without people, dubbed the Reserve, or Earth-17. The tropical climate and warm sea attract wealthy tourists from Moscow. Kirill honestly collects taxes from travelers, while mastering the hand-to-hand combat skills granted by the tower. During a visit to the White Rose’s hotel, he dispatches a squad of armed raiders, killing several with his bare hands and improvised objects.

The third passage leads to Nirvana — Earth-22. The soil of this world secretes hallucinogenic spores that plunge people into a state of permanent euphoria. The Functionals use Nirvana as a colony for dangerous freethinkers. Kirill visits the local settlement and meets the blacksmith Vasilisa. The submissiveness of the drugged colony’s inhabitants evokes pity in the customs officer. There, he discovers and rescues a young Muscovite, Nastya Tarasova, exiled to Nirvana by the police.

Clash of Worlds

Nastya finds herself a member of an underground resistance movement. A group of radical youths, led by former doctor Illan, is fighting against the hidden dictatorship of the curators. Illan had previously rescued a fugitive functional from the world of Antik, learning from him about the artificial nature of the multiverse. According to the rebels, all alternate worlds are controlled from a single center — the hypothetical Earth-One.

At the same time, an ambitious State Duma deputy, Dmitry, approaches Kirill. Earth’s intelligence agencies have discovered the existence of a portal system. The politician asks a customs officer to grant access to Arkan — a legendary world whose chronological development supposedly precedes ours by thirty-five years. Dmitry is eager to gain information about future crises, hoping to use this knowledge for the good of his homeland.

Kirill becomes attached to Nastya. She stays in the tower, and romantic feelings blossom between the young people. The customs officer refuses to join the underground. Nastya refuses to give up her fight. Moscow policeman Andrei arrives at the tower with orders to arrest the rebel. In the ensuing fight, Nastya knocks Andrei out with a heavy cauldron of hot pilaf, after which Kirill ties the historian up with nylon cord and throws him out into the street.

Opening of the Arcana

Determined to fulfill the politician’s request, Kirill concentrates and opens the fifth door. Beyond the threshold, Moscow is revealed, frozen in the scenery of the late 1960s. The customs officer boards a ShchAZ bus and reaches the observation deck at the Hill of Memory. There, he meets Kirill Alexandrovich, a former major in Soviet state security who has become a functional officer.

The old man reveals a shocking truth. Arkan is Earth-One. This world’s chronology doesn’t advance ours, but lags behind it by fifty-two years. Our reality, known as Earth-Two, serves as a gigantic testing ground for the inhabitants of Arkan. Earth-One’s intelligence services are testing various social, economic, and political scenarios on parallel worlds. The absence of major states, the ban on oil, and the persistence of slavery in Antica are artificially maintained conditions for observation. The system of immortal masters itself was created to support these global experiments.

Realizing the true state of affairs, Kirill refuses to cooperate with Arkan. Kirill Alexandrovich attempts to detain his namesake by force. A fight ensues. Local soldiers resort to heavy weapons. Even a black waiter, Roman, rushes to the security forces’ aid, armed with a towel tipped with two beer mugs. While fighting his way to the tower under heavy machine gun fire from helicopters, Kirill sustains multiple wounds to his back and leg. Bleeding profusely, he miraculously manages to crawl through the portal.

The Price of Freedom

Within the tower’s walls, the customs officer’s body begins a regeneration process. He crawls to water, drinks several liters, and regenerates his severed internal organs. Soon, Natalya Ivanova appears in the building. The illusion of a random victim is dispelled: Natalya is a functional obstetrician. It was she who initiated Kirill’s transformation and cynically directed his actions.

Natalia demands complete obedience. As punishment for her willfulness, she instantly stops Nastya’s heart from a distance. The customs officer refuses to accept the loss. A deadly battle erupts between the functions. The midwife uses her abilities and begins to destroy the very fabric of the building, intending to destroy the function linked to it. Kirill manages to wrap a bare electrical wire around his opponent’s neck. The building collapses, the concrete slabs colliding and crushing Natalia, dead.

The destruction of the tower severing the hero’s connection to the multiverse. Kirill permanently loses his superhuman abilities. He moves Nastya’s body to the surviving basement. Outside, Kotya meets him. The journalist drops his pretense and confesses his true role. Kotya serves as Arkan’s curator, overseeing the progress of Earth-Two. He sincerely believes the path of bloody but rapid scientific and technological development chosen for our planet is the lesser evil.

The former friends engage in a final confrontation. Kotya offers Kirill a new position as an obstetrician in another world. His response is a crushing punch to the jaw. The curator smashes the car door open and falls into the snow. Fleeing the enraged man, Kotya opens a portal in mid-air and vanishes without a trace.

Kirill is left alone in snowy Moscow. He calls his father on his cell phone. His parents still don’t remember their son, dismissing the call as a stupid joke. After removing the nickel-plated spatula ring from the finger of the dead Nastya, he vows to reclaim his life. Alone, forgotten by the world, but free from the dictates of others, he sets out to rebuild his past with the words: "Everything will still be."