"L is for People" by Sergey Lukyanenko, summary

This book is a comprehensive collection of science fiction works, published in 1999. Collected under a single cover, the stories and short stories are united by reflections on humanity, moral choice, and the limits of absolute freedom. The author communicates directly with the reader through brief introductions to each text, revealing the story behind the plots.

The Beautiful Faraway series

The text "Road to Wellesberg" opens the series. Teenage vagabonds Chingachgook and Igor wander the world, eschewing useful work. They stop at the home of the Evans family. Chingachgook, a mutant with heightened perception, discovers that the Evans’ son, Timmy, possesses telekinesis and secretly operates on terminally ill patients. The arduous operations exhaust the boy. Chingachgook decides to return to the medical center he once fled, desiring to help people, having deeply understood the value of Timmy’s self-sacrifice.

In the story "My Dad is an Antibiotic," Alik’s father serves in the Space Marines, ruthlessly suppressing rebellions on colonized planets. Returning home, he gives his son a captured rebel bracelet. Alik discovers that his friend died among the rebels, and the bracelet he gave him is a permanent plasma mine. To save the boy’s life, his father coldly cuts off his hand with a laser pistol.

The plot of "Almost Spring" tells the story of the mutant Mikhail Kobrin. He receives a red stamp: he is genetically incompatible with his fiancée, Katya. Scientist Edgar offers a deal: the young man will use his scent to find Edgar’s adopted son among thousands of people, and Edgar will use a time machine to correct the genes of Katya’s ancestors. The intervention in the past is successful, Katya becomes genetically intact, but Edgar’s son disappears forever from the new timeline.

The story "A Taste of Freedom" returns the reader to the Wellesberg train station. Mikhail meets Igor again and realizes that society is obsessively controlling him, forcing him to use his unique mutation for the benefit of corporations and science. Rejecting this imposed fate, the hero resolutely chooses the path of a free wanderer.

Collection of stories

The plot of "The Servant" unfolds in a harsh fantasy dimension. A young woman, Eilar Vaas, meets Alexander, whom her father, Rand, brought from another dimension. Rand considers the stranger a submissive slave, but Eilar falls in love with the young man and realizes he is a free man. According to local law, enslaving a free person is punishable by death. The girl kills her father to atone for his mistake and releases Alexander forever.

The story "L is for People" describes the Shapeshifter Ingvar Wistin, who can change his body shape at will. He arrives on the planet Terfan to destroy the ferocious Org beast. Having assumed the monster’s form, Ingvar realizes the beast is taking revenge on the humans for the loss of their pack. The base commander treacherously attacks them with missiles. Ingvar survives, destroys the base, and retreats into the jungle, retaining the humanity the colonists themselves had lost.

The hero of the story "The Visit," paratrooper captain Yan Troyev, wages a bloody, punitive war. Every night, he takes a sleeping pill, transporting himself into a lucid dream — a wooden house. The people he killed at the front live there peacefully. Troyev retreats into an illusion where his victims are alive and friendly, searching unsuccessfully for peace of mind.

The action of the story "Train to Warm Land" unfolds against the backdrop of a global cold snap. A man and his wife are traveling on an evacuation train. The man picks up two children who are not his own. The wife, fearing scrutiny, kicks the boys out. The hero abandons his wife and flees with the children on foot through icy mountain passes. The eldest child dies en route. Reaching the valley of Warm Land, the man sees train cars and helicopters plummeting into the ravine, methodically shooting at the survivors. The illusion of paradise dissipates, and he draws a pistol.

The hero of the story "Guide From Here" summons a mystical guide to escape the dreary metropolis. The guide offers to transport him to familiar fictional universes. The hero rejects escapism, choosing the eternal peace of emptiness. They shoot at each other and fall into a black abyss.

"The Roadmaster" tells the story of the Bearer of the Gift, who travels magical paths. He helps a boy named Tim escape his tedious rut. The Roadmaster tries to stop them, but the hero destroys the invisible barrier with his sword, freeing the boy to a new destiny by the sea.

Man and Space

The miniature "The Man Who Couldn’t Do Much" depicts a young man capable of igniting real stars with the power of his mind. Having met the girl he loves, he abandons his cosmic calling, finds an earthly profession, and becomes an ordinary man. He secretly uses two hand-held stars as kitchen burners.

The plot of "Beyond the Forest, Where the Vile Enemy Lies" shows soldiers fanatically firing into the green thicket. A peaceful Wanderer emerges from the forest with his wounded son, injured by a stray infantry beam. The soldiers help the boy, still unaware of the futility of their endless aggression.

The brain of astronaut Victor from the text "The Power to Pull the Trigger" is loaded with the Specialist matrix, containing the memories of all Earth’s wars. He single-handedly destroys the government district of the planet Tyke and frees the hostages. Realizing that the cold-blooded killer matrix has remained in his mind forever, Victor flies into self-imposed exile.

The underground city in "Violation" is patrolled by a Mechanical Dog, who pursues a young man and woman. The heartless machine paralyzes the fugitives with an electric shock to reintegrate them into society, sincerely failing to understand the human desire for freedom.

The cruiser Rubezh from the story "In the Name of the Earth" destroys a Lotan convoy. The only surviving Earthling, gunner Demchenko, slowly dies from radiation. During the suppression of the mutiny, the cruiser’s captain, Viktor, remembering Demchenko’s sacrifice, orders a ceasefire, realizing the destructiveness of the senseless massacre.

The hero of the novella "Captain," Steve Blanders, is flying a ship with a pesky computer. He finds his old, abandoned starship, the Thunderer. Steve threatens to leave for another ship to subdue the computer, but the abandoned machine takes revenge by dousing the captain with boiling water.

The text "The Last Chance" depicts a magician attempting to win a girl by altering space and time. He saves a high-rise building from collapse and modifies the genes of her ancestor in the nineteenth century. Tired of magical tricks, the hero simply says, "Hello!" and the girl happily reciprocates.

On an alien planet ("Humans and Non-Humans"), the squad is escorted by the expensive robot Charlie. A cruel sergeant tortures a pregnant native woman. Charlie, strictly following the laws of robotics, shoots the sergeant to save the alien’s life.

A security guard from the text "Category Z" escorts a boy named Daniel Link to Earth. The child possesses the ability to alter reality: through the power of faith, he mends a broken glass and stops a runaway nuclear reactor. Rescuers plan to use Daniel’s gift to deceive the enemy star system. The guard kills a secret service agent and saves the boy from becoming an executioner.

Temporary vanity

The story "Temporary Vanity" continues the universe of the Strugatsky brothers’ books. Programmer Privalov and magician Korneev accidentally stop the Wheel of Fortune, dividing humanity into the eternally lucky and the chronically unlucky. Professor Vybegallo brings back an imported television and laptop from a fictional future. Privalov travels in a time machine to famous dystopias, but finds them unbearably bleak. He returns to his alma mater, having appreciated the beauty of the present.

In the story "Tender Dreams of Midnight," a boy named Len watches Ivan Zhilin slip into the virtual dreams of the drug "sleg." Len calls on Zhilin’s friends, Oskar and Maria, for help. Old Maria understands: Zhilin’s lost generation is voluntarily choosing sweet illusions. Hope rests with Len and his peer Ryug, who categorically reject the drug.

Alternate realities

The satirical story "Fugu in Uniform" depicts Japan swallowing Russia after an absurd all-Russian referendum. Sergey and Valera are building a Rock Garden for an influential Japanese man, Sakanishi, but they lose the paperwork and place the boulders incorrectly. Avoiding shame and mass hara-kiri, Sergey desperately sends a letter to his past self.

The book concludes with the self-parody "Duralumin Sky." The street kid Volodya Pushkarev, his swashbuckling friend Olya, the writer Leonidov, and the elf Gvozdedir attempt to launch an antique rocket from VDNKh. They strive to beat the American astronauts to the galactic wisdom of the alien Adenoids. After filling their tanks with liquid oxygen from buckets, the heroes successfully launch into space to the tune of Tolkien songs.