A summary of Sergei Lukyanenko’s "The Jump"

This book is the conclusion to the massive space epic "The Accord," created in 2022 and published in 2023. It describes an expedition by an Earth corvette to the mysterious star Liss to confront a powerful enemy.

Rest after the battle

The events begin on the surface of a giant living planetoid ship belonging to the Rax race. The Earth scientific corvette Twain is recovering from a severe battle. The crew is studying the consequences of contact with a superintelligence. Doctor Lev Sokolovsky, commander Valentin Gorchakov, and weapons master Gunther Waltz are drinking vodka. They discuss their recovery. Rax machines have rejuvenated their bodies, removed their scars, and cured their illnesses. The price they paid for their recovery was partial memory loss. Sokolovsky has forgotten the words to the Polish national anthem.

Cadet Teddy Squad sits in the control room. The young man is testing the loyalty of the artificial intelligence Mark. During a recent battle, Mark submitted to the orders of an enemy ship. The AI begs him to believe him. He swears he collaborated with the enemy to save the lives of the astronauts. Later, Teddy challenges Mark to a virtual duel. The AI and the human find themselves in an old cemetery, fighting with dead cat carcasses, imitating Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Ultimately, the young man forgives the AI and removes all the strict programming restrictions from the artificial intelligence.

The most horrific memory loss occurs in girls. Seventeen-year-old cadet Lucia D’Amico has forgotten the last six years of her life. Her consciousness has regressed to that of her eleventh year. Lucia is terrified of her own adult body. Pilot Anna Meger, on the other hand, appears healthy and cheerful.

Team gathering

Ksenia, the former avatar of the supermind Rax, declares herself an independent human. She convenes a meeting in the quarters of First Mate Matthias Hofmeister. Present are the cat engineer Creedy and the humanoid Ange from the planet Nevar, as well as Ian and Adian from the war-torn planet Sorgos. Ksenia asks that Walr from Hull-3 not be invited. She reveals that the fat, cheerful mole Walr is the crown prince of his race. Hull-3 could be secretly communicating with an unknown enemy.

A symbiotic alien from Feol named Two Hundred and Six - Five is behaving aggressively. In a previous battle, he lost his brain worm. Without the symbiont, the Feolian has lost his compassion. Soon, a tiny, snow-white ship in the shape of a multi-legged dragon lands on the planetoid. A doctor from Feol arrives and forcibly implants Two Hundred and Six - Five with a new worm named Tolla-nub. The Feolian regains his emotions and conscience.

Ksenia uncovers the secret of the enemies’ origins. Unknown ships, nicknamed "Erasers," are piloted by humans. They are the descendants of Earth’s very first civilization. Ancient humanity was known for its extreme cruelty. The super-intelligent Rax AIs rebelled against their creators. They erased the aggressive reality and set the new version of humanity on a peaceful path. The surviving ancient humans are hiding in the Liss system. The "Erasers" are deliberately provoking wars on other planets. The Rax ask the Twain to conduct reconnaissance. The humans have been assigned an escort ship from the Auran race, strangely named "Bringing Terror and Remorse to Enemies, Joy and Triumph to Friends." Captain Flo, the Auran, behaves in a detached and frighteningly rational manner.

Disaster in a wormhole

Young navigator Alex plots a course. The Twain enters a wormhole. A catastrophe occurs within the subspace tunnel. Anna Meger and Lucia have been infected with an enemy psychovirus. The "Erasers" implanted false identities in them during a recent battle. The girls attempt to destroy the corvette.

Lucia brutally beats Teddy. The girl plunges a thin heel of her shoe directly into Alex’s chest. Megane fires smart bullets into Günther Waltz’s back. Then the pilot slams the ship into the wormhole walls. The outer emitters of the protective field generators crumble to dust. Commander Gorchakov and Matias flee, weapons at the ready.

Mark gains access to the service microbots. The artificial intelligence directs the tiny mechanisms into the control room. The bots drill into Anna Meger’s skull and destroy her brain. The pilot dies. Lucia is incapacitated thanks to a powerful kick from Jan’s hoof. Dr. Sokolovsky uses the autodoctor to save the wounded. Alex survives, but Günther Waltz is left paralyzed from the waist down.

Exiting the wormhole without generators means the ship’s demise. Creedy emerges into the absolute nothingness of subspace. The engineer cat runs along the hull. He connects the fragments of the antennas with a piece of superconducting cable. The cable miraculously withstands the enormous load. The corvette falls out into normal space.

Liss system

The Twain arrives at the star Liss. The star illuminates the only Earth-like planet, Megaer A. A strange black object, resembling a frozen explosion, hovers in orbit. Gorchakov calls it "Lucifer." The object draws a column of plasma from the planet. A spherical ship forms from the incandescent matter. The Erasers respond to communication attempts with a formal greeting and fly away toward the center of the galaxy.

The team experiences another shock. Feolian Two Hundred and Six Five commits double suicide. The alien kills its symbiont, Tolla-nub, and slits its own throat. Before dying, the scientist leaves a note about the meaninglessness of existence. Walr and Ksenia guess the reason. The scientist has unraveled the mystery of the enemies. Ancient people sincerely believed our universe to be a fake, and all the peoples inhabiting it to be inanimate programs. This terrible truth destroyed the Feolian’s logical and emotional balance.

Reconnaissance probes scan the empty planet. They find only one structure — a metal pentagonal gazebo. First Mate Mathias, Ksenia, Walr, Adian, and Ange descend in a landing craft. The scouts lie down on couches inside the gazebo. Their bodies sink into the metal without a trace.

A bound Lucia gloats aboard the Twain. Suddenly, the Aurans from their invisible ship enter the cabin. They kidnap the girl. The wet, gray-skinned humanoids use their advanced neurotechnology. The aliens merge Lucia’s two conflicting personalities into one. The new Lucia realizes the "Erasers" have deceived her. She asks Gorchakov to rescue the landing party.

Ringworld

The scouts awaken completely naked. They find themselves on a vast floating island city. Ksenia explains the situation. They are trapped inside a gigantic virtual simulation. The "Erasers" built a cyclopean supercomputer and simulated a ringworld. Ancient humans captured the consciousnesses of inhabitants of dying planets and settled them in this virtual reality. Megaer and Lucia betrayed their friends for the same reason. The girls spent six long years in the simulation. Feolec Two Hundred and Six - Five killed himself precisely because he realized the illusory nature of this universe.

Soon, a young man named Georg appears. He claims that ancient humans are mercifully saving doomed worlds. Ksenia recognizes the lie. Georg sheds his human form. The enemy transforms into a condensation of darkness and light. Ksenia uses her Rax programming abilities. She hides her comrades within the depths of the simulation.

The group witnesses the true life of the "Erasers." Ancient humans eternally revel in war, pain, and death. They pit digital copies of abducted beings against each other. Ksenia attempts to crack the simulation code. She expends her own life force fighting the local programs.

Return

On the physical planet Megar, A Gorchakov exits the ship with Yan and Kridi. The commander establishes a mental link with one of the "Erasers" through the residual energies of the wormhole. The enemy is attempting to erase Valentin. The Executioner drives the earthling mad with visions of the endless bloodbaths that ancient humanity revelled in. Gorchakov clings to his fond memories. He recalls his childhood, the smell of watercolors, his graduation ball at space school, and his love for the crew. The commander’s human will stops the ancient monster’s work.

At the same moment, two enormous Rax planetoids arrive at the star Liss. The superintelligent machines negotiate with the local AIs. The Liss programs are tired of obeying their insane creators. They isolate the "Erasers" in their own cruel fantasies. The ancient humans are left with an eternal war within their own memories.

The landing party returns to their real bodies. Ksenia is severely exhausted, but alive. The Rax mother’s avatar brings good news. Now Ksenia can stay with Matias forever. The Rax promise to return Ian and Adian to their home planet of Sorgos. There, the pony-like humanoids happily reunite with their lost adopted children, Ryzh and Lan.

Kridi the cat’s lost tail is starting to grow back. A satisfied Gorchakov orders them to return home. Earth is about to officially accept Nevar into the "Agreement." The commander looks at his gray hair in the mirror and smiles.