A summary of Sergei Lukyanenko’s "Genome"

"Genome" is a novel by Sergei Lukyanenko, written in 1999 and published by AST that same year. The story takes place in the distant future, where humanity has conquered the galaxy and divided into two classes: "specialists" — people genetically programmed even before birth for a specific profession — and "naturals," who have undergone no transformation. Specialists gain enhanced abilities through freedom of choice: their personality, emotions, and talents are completely subordinated to a single goal — to be the perfect instrument of their craft. Lukyanenko views this world through the prism of a detective story and space opera.

Alex and Kim

The protagonist, master pilot Alexander Romanov, is released from the hospital on the industrial planet of Mercury Donets after five months of treatment: a severe accident has almost destroyed his body. He has no money, no contract, and no connections. His companion is a colloid tattoo on his shoulder, a little imp named Bes, who acts as an emotional scanner: a liquid crystal screen implanted in the skin displays the owner’s mood through the drawn creature’s facial expressions.

On his first evening of freedom, Alex meets Kim, a fifteen-year-old female special worker with no documents, no money, and no shelter. Penniless and hungry, she nevertheless knocks out a drunken thug with three precise strikes from a Yu Dao. Alex treats her to dinner at McRobbins and notices that the girl orders a typical set of foods: fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and water — nothing extra. He realizes that Kim’s metamorphosis has been disrupted, that she’s long past the pupal stage, and that her body is about to begin the transformation itself.

Pupa stage

Alex rents a cheap room at the Hilton Hotel and nurses the girl back to health all night: bleeding, fever, loss of consciousness, a secondary wave of restructuring. Kim’s heart shifts to the center of her sternum — a reasonable defense for a fighter who might be targeted in the heart. In the midst of her trance, the girl pulls a heavy, clear crystal from a leather pocket on her stomach and begs Alex to keep it.

A gel crystal with a five-centimeter base is used on star cruisers and in planetary computing centers — there are probably no more than five or six of them on the entire Mercury Donets. Alex checks public police records and discovers that ten years ago, a base crystal was stolen from the military cruiser Tron and has never been recovered.

While Kim is recovering, Alex finds a contract he can’t refuse: the position of captain and master pilot of the ship "Mirror," with a two-month advance and the right to assemble his own crew. The company, "Sky," is virtually unknown, and there are no details — the contract is too good to be true. But Alex has no alternative, so he signs.

The Mirror Ship and Edgar’s Story

The "Mirror" turns out to be a multifunctional starship with a biohull, advanced weaponry, and excellent engines. Alex assembles a crew and takes Kim with him. During the journey, she tells him the story of Edgar, a boy whose consciousness is stored within a crystal.

Edgar was created as a unique genotype designer — a person capable of designing the genetic programs of other specialists. The government of the planet Eden decided he didn’t need a physical body: his mind was placed in a crystal as a child, hoping to achieve maximum performance without any distractions. Edgar grew up in virtual worlds, independently breached the shared information network, and found Kim. He convinced the laboratory robot to hand over the crystal and destroy the facility — so everyone believed Edgar dead. Kim carried the crystal in a secret compartment on her body until her mother accidentally discovered it and called the police. What followed was an escape and poverty on the Mercury Donets.

Alex connects the crystal to the ship’s terminal with the control circuits disabled: the crystal receives power and accesses the information network, but is unable to interfere with the ship’s systems. Alex enters Edgar’s virtual world and is convinced of his genius — but something about the boy’s behavior and his surroundings seems unnatural.

The Zigu Delegation and the Murder on Board

The Mirror’s voyage is special: it carries a delegation from the Zigu, a non-humanoid race with its own political and trade interests in the Empire. Almost immediately after entering the hyperchannel, another ship nearly collides with the Mirror — the route could have ended with the Zigu being captured by the Brownie civilization. Only the quick actions of Special Navigator Janet prevent a collision.

Soon, one of the Zigu is found dead — a brutal, demonstrative murder. An investigation is launched on board. Detective Specialist Peter Ka-44 Valk, calling himself Sherlock Holmes, arrives: a clone programmed for investigative work and genuinely identifying with the literary hero. With him is Jenny Watson, a natural doctor from the planet Zodiac, who plays along with his game for journalistic reasons, but who truly believes in the justice of their common cause.

"Holmes" suspects everyone in turn, including Alex himself. He conducts his own investigation and comes to an uncomfortable conclusion: the gel suits on board render traditional forensic science useless — the killer returns to the airlock without a trace, and the weapon is formed from the suit’s own material and dissolves without a trace during cleaning.

Geneticist Garlitsky and the denouement

It gradually becomes clear that Edgar was created by a specific geneticist — Garlitsky. It was he who made unauthorized changes to Kim’s program: the hidden leather pocket on her stomach was his work, not part of the standard specification. Garlitsky contacted Kim under a false name and convinced her to help him regain his physical body — his own consciousness had long existed without flesh.

Alex asks Edgar to create a blocker — a substance that temporarily disables a specialist’s emotional modifications. The reason is personal: Kim loves Alex not by free will, but by genetic programming. Her specialization turns out to be not combat, but something fundamentally different — she’s a specialist lover, physically incapable of stopping her feelings for the person her body has chosen until that person reciprocates. Alex, however, as a specialist pilot, is incapable of full-fledged love: his emotional range is curtailed in favor of professional reactions. Edgar copes brilliantly.

Using a synthesized blocker, Alex uncovers the killer — a special agent who had infiltrated the crew under a false identity. The killer is apprehended and executed according to Imperial law; one of the crew members is seriously wounded in the skirmish.

Kim is freed from her compulsion. Edgar is free to search for a way to regain his body. Alex remains at the helm of the Mirror — a captain who accepted the contract out of desperation and found himself embroiled in a case cloaked in layers of other people’s secrets.