"The Caretaker. Book 2. The Iron Abyss" by Victor Pelevin, summary Automatic translate

"The Iron Abyss" is the second and final part of the novel "The Caretaker," published in 2015. Written from the perspective of Alexis de Kizhe, the Caretaker of the closed world of Idyllium, the book continues the story directly from where the first part left off. This two-volume work is notable for Pelevin’s inclusion of the myth of Second Lieutenant Kizhe — a literary anecdote from the Peter the Great era — reimagining it as a literal alchemical act.

The Diaries of Paul the Alchemist

The book opens with diary entries written by Paul I himself, an alchemist and founder of the Idyllium. Paul bitterly records the failures of his laboratory experiments: rats, frogs, and kittens created from the Fluid live only for moments — the spirit does not linger in bodies devoid of human density. Corresponding with him are his brothers in the secret Brotherhood: Franz Anton Mesmer, reporting on the deaths of mediums and failures on the "other shore," and Benjamin Franklin, who had already crossed over to the new world.

In the autumn, during a thunderstorm, Pavel has an epiphany: creating a human being is easier than creating an insect, because a human being is the only creature he truly knows. The key discovery is that personality is not a gift of nature, but a crystallization of other people’s opinions and emotions. Only the collective Fluid, filtered through many minds, can bring a true homunculus to life.

The Birth of Kizh

Then Pavel conceives his greatest experiment. He secretly corrects a few letters in an officer’s order with a pen — and from the typo, "Second Lieutenant Kizh" is born. The next night, Pavel himself shouts "Help" under his bedroom window, starting a rumor that takes on a life of its own. Kizh is promoted to officer, exiled to Siberia, then returned, married to a lady-in-waiting, and promoted to colonel.

When word of Kizh reaches the desired pitch, Pavel arranges a ceremonial funeral for him. Riding out on a black stallion, the Hat of Power hidden beneath his tricorne and the No. 2 Staff in hand, he captures the crowd’s mournful thoughts and directs them to the laboratory, where a cadaver hangs on chains. The cadaver opens its eyes. The revived Kizh — bearing Pavel’s own face — greets its birth with the words: "Torment! Oh, the torment of life! Why, asp, have you condemned me to life and death?"

Pavel’s first act was to make a deal with Kizh: he would fulfill the order and die again, in exchange for life in the new world and a vow that his descendants would hold supreme power in the Idyllium. Furthermore, Pavel carelessly promised Kizh the most beautiful women in the new world. This frivolous promise would lead to much "trouble" for the founder: Kizh took the words literally and tirelessly claimed them in the Idyllium.

Conversation with the Angel of Water

After reading the diaries, Alexis de Kizhe speaks with the Angel of Water in the castle chapel. The Angel reveals the nature of the de Kizhe line: Pavel created Kizhe in his exact image, and they were physically indistinguishable. After moving to Idyllium, they became one stream of Fluid. The surname "de Kizhe" means "created from Fluid" — and all Overseers bear it, as Pavel kept his word.

The angel also explains the strangeness of the handprint in the paraffin seen by Alexis in the first part: his consciousness is capable of slipping into the indestructible ethereal shell of Kizh, firmly chained to the bedroom of the Mikhailovsky Castle. The conspirators dissolved Kizh’s physical body in acid — this required 172 blows to the temple with a snuffbox, and his heart continued to beat for three days. The thin shell, however, remained intact, and it is this shell that wanders the corridors of the Engineer’s Castle to this day. The angel warns: the next day, a mentor, the monk Menelaus, will arrive to Alexis, who will teach him how to control the Fluid.

A month with Menelaus

Menelaus is a monk of the Yellow Flag, a mediocre arhat living out his final days in the body. Previously, he served as a senior shiva in the Department of Earth, responsible for crops and milk yields. He teaches Alexis not combat techniques, but something more subtle: walking through walls, creating and destroying physical objects, understanding the nature of the Fluid as the substrate of all four elements. The main lesson is that transformation cannot be carried out in plain sight: this is how God changes the world, leaving no witnesses.

Menelaus explains why he deliberately doesn’t teach Alexis how to fight: his predecessor, Niccolo III, was destroyed precisely by his martial prowess — his enemies knew about it and used it against him. The only thing the mentor teaches in this area is to place a Fluid Shield between himself and an attacker. The rest is to run.

As he leaves, Menelaus says, "The most reliable thing in the world may turn out to be just a mirage." Alexis ignores these words — and in vain.

The Truth About Yuka

The evening after Menelaus’ departure, Alexis sits with Yuka on the castle terrace and calls upon the Angel of Water with a question that has long haunted him: why did the Angels call Yuka "a projection of his consciousness"?

Angel explains: Yuka is a "greenie," a maid of honor in the "Green Sleeves" category. She is not an independent being, but a condensation of Fluid, created and maintained by a group of medium-dramatists at Deer Park. Yuka exists only when someone perceives her. Her character, memory, and facial expressions are created by professional playwrights and mimes, and her every response is the result of a meeting with the duty team, operating at a different subjective time speed. This is precisely why Yuka is so witty. Alexis is shocked, but Angel insists: she is not a mirage — she is as real as the marble vases on the terrace, she just lacks an independent existence.

Iron Abyss

Shocked, Alexis takes Yuka with him on an expedition to the Iron Abyss — a mysterious archive beneath Mikhailovsky Castle where all thoughts and words spoken in the Idyllium are collected. There, they discover the abandoned Temple of the Last Turn: a tower with a stone wheel and a mirror obelisk, lined with stone statues of past Overseers.

Inside is an empty chamber, resembling a bouquet, and rows of mummified mediums, eternally supporting the Idyllium. There’s also an empty chair. While Alexis is figuring out the tower’s mechanics, Yuka approaches the stone wheel with the espanton and, despite its cries, turns the lever all the way — the "Temple of the Last Turn" is so named precisely because only the last turn matters. Flash. Darkness.

In the darkness, Alexis sees a stone snake, composed of all the moments of Yuki’s life, unfold before him like a lived destiny, pierced by a beam from the mirror — and disappearing somewhere where there are no words or forms. Alexis could have looked there too, but he lowered his eyes. Then, driven by despair, he presses the lever himself. Pavel the Alchemist — his own origin — looks back at him from the mirror, extending his hand, crying and smiling. The contact is broken. The obelisk turns to stone. On it are the monograms of all the past Overseers. Alexis makes his mark with white chalk.

Epilogue

Yuka returns the following evening — alive, the same, remembering nothing. Alexis decides not to explain anything to her. She’s being created again by the mediums of Deer Park, and now it doesn’t bother him.

Menelaus attained Nibbana. The old spiritualist Alexei Nikolaevich died, replaced by his son Nikolai, a follower of the "little book" circles of the Old World. Leonardo Galli, the director of the museum at the Engineer’s Castle, died — it’s said he tried to summon a ghost and saw something extraneous. Alexis remains the Overseer, unsure of who he is: the protector of the Idyllium, a forgotten Pavel, or "a banal ghost with a snuffbox dent on his ephemeral temple."