"Summer of the Volunteer" by Sergei Lukyanenko, summary Automatic translate

"Volunteer’s Summer" is the fourth book in the "Changed" series, published in 2022. The first three novels — "Seven Days to Megiddo," "Three Days of Indigo," and "A Month Beyond the Rubicon" — formed a trilogy that seemed complete, but the author returned to the characters: "the world and the heroes didn’t let go." The book seamlessly blends intimate Moscow prose with sweeping space fiction, while maintaining the tone of a personal first-person diary.

New Earth

The action takes place approximately two months after the conclusion of the previous novel. The Higher One has banished both the Former Ones and the Insecs from Earth — the planet is formally free, but life hasn’t become any easier. The protagonist, former searcher Maxim Vorontsov, has lost his special abilities: the Higher One has "rolled him back" to a state close to that of an ordinary human. All that remains are slightly enhanced physical abilities and the ability to sense others’ moods — the meaning once lost on Trisgard.

Maxim lives in Moscow, preparing to enter university to study diplomacy. His friend Darina, a reaper and a Changed One, is gradually becoming more human. One evening, it turns out she’s had her first period: the Higher One, apparently, has corrected something in her as well. This good news gives rise to anxiety: if reapers and guardians are capable of reproducing, the relationship between humans and the Changed Ones will inevitably become much more complicated.

Seller’s Warning

That same evening, the Salesman — a fox-headed alien in fur clothing — appears unannounced to Maxim. Salesmen left Earth with the aliens, so his very appearance is an anomaly. The visitor speaks abruptly: help is needed, the world is in danger, Maxim has little chance — but no other. Before he can explain the details, the Salesman vanishes: a flash, the smell of ozone, a strand of red hair on the floor. Maxim realizes that something or someone has prevented him from speaking — and likely destroyed him.

That same night, Colonel Likhachev arrives. He reports that several groups from the US, Belgium, China, and India have already passed through the Nest screens to Selena, the Moon where Insec’s warship is stationed. Maxim sharply objects: the ship is capable of destroying the planet, and no one knows how it will react to the presence of humans. Likhachev relays his opinion to his superiors, but the decision has already been made.

Nests without a master

In the morning, Maxim and Darina go to the Gnezdnikov Nest, the former Ministry of Culture. A woman with a dead child stands at the entrance: she has long since gone mad, waiting for a mutagen that is no longer available. The Nest’s Guardian, fourteen-year-old Liu, formerly Lyudmila, who jumped from the balcony to achieve the Change, greets them coldly.

The Nest exists by inertia: no mother, no mutagen, no Insec. The authorities are asking for weapons, hinting at a need for space. Liu reports: Nests in Houston, Brussels, Guangzhou, and Bangalore have already opened connections to Selena. The Nest on Olympic Stadium also agreed last night. She lets Maxim and Darina through the screen.

On the threshold of the Moon

At the Nest on Olympic Island, housed in the Durov Animal Theater, Maxim meets the Nest’s mother, Lara, General Leonid Vladimirovich — the government’s handler for relations with the Altered — and five fighters in iridescent armor. Maxim again tries to convince them not to go, mentally addressing the Nest and sensing that it, too, is against it, but it doesn’t dare disobey the order.

Ultimately, Maxim agrees to accompany the group as a consultant. Five paratroopers are the first to leave through the screen for the Moon. Less than an hour passes, and the Nest sends out a wave of fear and pain. The Nest Mother takes off.

Dutiki

There was carnage in the protected area. Five creatures emerged from Insec’s ship: plump, white, faceless, mouthless, genderless — Maxim calls them "dutiks." The claw strikes were instantaneous, the guards’ neurotoxin ineffective. Thin white blades extended from the dutiks’ fingers, piercing the hearts of the Altered. Guardian Liu, her legs broken, cowered in a corner. Darina grabbed her and carried her away, and Maxim took the blow himself.

The general opened fire — the bullets didn’t kill, but they bought them seconds. The group retreated through the screens to the Moon: there was no other way.

On Insek’s ship

The Moon has low gravity, empty, rounded corridors of living gray-blue metal, and the remains of a recent battle. Five paratroopers were killed. Milana, the girl in whose body the Supreme One once manifested, was also found alongside Maxim and Darina.

The ship holds them captive. Maxim looks at Earth through the transparent dome and mentally calls for help, the same way he speaks to the Nests. He doesn’t know if anyone will hear him: there is no Lunar Ring above this Earth, and the Inseks, apparently, have lost. But there may be Former structures on it. The ship begins to shake, and in the light of the opening portal, Ivan, the Former, appears. Wearing thin glasses, wearing wet swimming trunks, holding a piece of his down jacket in one hand and Maxim’s tablet in the other, he is imperturbable, slightly ironic. He comes from an alternate Earth, where the Former were victorious.

Alternative world

Ivan transports the three to his yacht — a massive, luxurious vessel. His maitre d’, Pyotr, one of the Servants, takes biological samples for analysis. Ivan is initially skeptical, but curiosity gets the better of him: he’s never encountered such creatures before. Gradually, a pragmatic neutrality develops between him and Maxim — both understand that the shared threat outweighs old scores.

While the research is underway, Milana suggests assembling a simple transmitter from captured paratrooper equipment and calling for help from the Moon. Maxim looks at her, and the meaning reads right through her: she herself doesn’t believe in this plan. The proposal is made for another reason — to make Darina feel needed and to keep all three of them alive with hope. Maxim silently agrees to this little lie.

Biologist Ivanova determines that the dutiki are not natural beings. They are biomechanical constructs, controlled remotely. They were apparently the ones who destroyed the Seller and attacked the Nest on Olimpiysky. Who created them is unknown: neither the Former Ones nor the Inseks ever used such bioforms.

Return

Ivan organizes a return journey. Using the portals of the Former Ones, he transports Maxim, Darina, and Milana to their Earth. The Dutiki disappear as suddenly as they appeared — as if having completed their reconnaissance mission.

Returning to Moscow, Maxim realizes: the Seller was right all along. The threat exists — and it comes not from the Old Ones or the Insecs, but from something fundamentally new. Likhachev receives the report. Lara returns to her elephants and mice. Keeper Liu survives. The Changed stand at a crossroads: each Nest stands on its own, without an Insec and without a common law.

Maxim doesn’t know what will happen next. There’s no Call, no guide, no clear enemy. There’s Moscow, summer courtyards, Darina nearby — and a world that needs to be protected again, but this time without any prompting from above.