A summary of "The Dream Line" by Sergei Lukyanenko Automatic translate

"The Dream Line" is a science fiction novel by Sergei Lukyanenko, written in 1995 and first published in 1996 by Lokid. The action takes place in the distant future, several decades after the War of Troubles — a brutal intergalactic conflict in which humanity barely survived, fighting the Sakras and Bulrati races. The world survived, but remained harsh: death is no longer absolute — it can be purchased by contacting aTan, a company that sells immortality through molecular personality scanning.

In 1997, the novel won the Sword of Rumata Award for best work in the genre of heroic romantic fantasy.

Death on Kailis

The protagonist is Kay Altos, a mercenary and bodyguard with no family or tribe, raised in the "New Generation" orphanage on the planet Altos. He loves money, his hyperdrive, and good wine, but has despised children since childhood.

On Kailis, Kay dies a senseless and painful death. That night, a dark-skinned, black-haired boy with an algo pistol enters his room: his sister was accidentally caught in the gravity beam of Kay’s ship during landing at the spaceport — he was caught up in an aerobatic dance in the air and wasn’t paying attention to the concrete pad. Polymer "web" restraints hold the victim to the bed. The boy fires, the algo pistol transforms his nervous system into pure pain, and a minute and a half later, Kay dies — without having paid for the aTan extension.

Resurrection and the Deal

Instead of nothingness, Kay woke up on a molecular replicator. Before him stood an elderly man in a gray suit: Curtis Van Curtis, founder of the aTan company, the longest-lived person in the galaxy. More than two hundred years ago, he purchased a molecular scanning device — the aTan — from the Psilon race for a paltry sum, turning it into a monopoly on immortality. The Psilons soon completely sealed off their sector of space.

Van Curtis offers Kay a deal: deliver his only son, Arthur, to the mysterious planet Grail. For compliance, he’ll receive eternal immortality at the company’s expense. For betrayal, he’ll suffer thousands of years of unrelenting torture in a private aThan. The master’s reasoning is impeccable.

Training and secrets

On the grounds of the Kay estate, a two-day training session is held with a Bulrati named Aggash, a veteran of the War of Troubles. The training is brutal: he nearly kills his protégé, demonstrating his signature blow to the liver, thereby exposing his race’s weak point — the sigmoid gland.

The Silicoid — a member of a silicon race composed of rock matter and force fields — turns out to be much more talkative than he appears. Protecting their conversation with a screen, he reveals to Kay the Bulrati’s main secret: a special frequency of sound resonates with the Silicoids’ force field generators and immobilizes them, but only a Bulrati’s throat can reproduce it. He also hints: the Psilons sold aTan unexpectedly cheaply, and Van Curtis’s ship returned from its last flight with its onboard computer completely wiped.

Having provoked Aggash with a story about the Three Planets — worlds destroyed by the Sakras with the support of the Bulrati — Kay drives the old instructor into an uncontrollable rage and kills him with a blow to the sigmoid region. Van Curtis’s official explanation: "spontaneous cardiac arrest."

Arthur

At dinner, Kay finally sees his protégé: Arthur Van Curtis — biologically twelve, though chronologically sixteen. Shortly before the planned re-imaging of his body, he drowned in the ocean — a leg cramp — and was reconstructed using the matrix of a twelve-year-old. Dark-haired, swarthy, with a commanding gaze — he bears a striking resemblance to the boy with the algo pistol from the Kailis issue. Kay pulls himself together, not letting it show.

Arthur acts like a spoiled teenager, chattering about the tiger he killed, but Kay quickly sees through it as a deliberate disguise. Beneath the childish exterior lies a man of experience and intelligence; the hormones of a twelve-year-old body are merely a temporary hindrance.

Escape and pursuit

Kay and Arthur fake their deaths in a crash and are resurrected on the planet Incidios under the names Kay and Arthur Owald — a provincial merchant and his son. "aTan" greets them with the appropriately touching ceremony; Kay buys clothes and weapons, getting into character.

However, the capture team is already here. Isabella Kal, an officer of the Imperial Information Security Service, leads the team: the mechanoid Marzhan Mohammadi, the Bulrati Ahar, agent Kadar, and the Meklon cyborg T/san. Information about the route helps them track down Kay and Arthur; the pursuers break into the house of retired ISS Colonel Henrietta Fiscalocchi, where they were hiding. The experienced old woman tries to claim the extraterritoriality of the residence, but to no avail.

Arthur hides under the blanket, leaving behind a rolled-up jacket and apples. Kadar disarms the "boy" and discovers a still life. While he’s frozen in shame, Arthur crawls out from under the bed and snatches the Dovod-36 multi-charger from him, switching it to plasma. But T/san bursts through the window, grabs the boy, and immobilizes him with a force pulse. Kadar punches Arthur in the face, causing Isabella to sharply reprimand him: Van Curtis’s son is needed alive.

The Road to the Grail

Kay frees Arthur, and they continue their journey. Along the way, a strange affinity develops between them — an adult who has never been a child, and a child who is prevented from becoming an adult. Arthur reveals the truth: God lives on the Grail, and the Dreamline is also located there. This is not a weapon or technology in the traditional sense — it is an escape from the real world, the ability to create one’s own reality. Arthur died approaching the planet seventy-three times; thirty-eight guides before Kay failed.

Kay negotiates the following condition with Arthur: if, after becoming acquainted with the Dream Line, he decides that it will harm humanity, he has the right to kill Arthur.

Grail

The final confrontation unfolds on the Grail. Curtis Van Curtis, despite all his previous fears, arrives in person: he intends to obtain the Dreamline and offer it to anyone who pays, believing that the best of humanity will depart for the worlds of their dreams. Kay sees this as a threat: a civilization that leaves reality en masse will bleed itself dry.

He tries to kill Van Curtis, but he’s invulnerable on the Grail. Curtis leaves for the Dreamline with Arthur. Kay remains on the planet with Tommy, and the two of them leave the Grail. The Dreamline is open to those who wish to enter. The world has changed, and Kay is alive — the only thing he’s come to consider something resembling victory.