A summary of "The Glass Sea" by Sergei Lukyanenko

This book is the finale of a sprawling space opera written in 1992. The plot brings together the destinies of earthlings, the mysterious Seeders, and the alien Fang race.

Attack on Somat and Return

Sergei and Princess Terry are hiding on the lifeless planet Somat. The planet’s oceans are filled with dry, silvery dust. A silicon film repels water particles, preventing them from forming droplets. The hermits’ peace is suddenly interrupted. White-camouflaged combat robots fire upon the domed house and burn down the garden. Sergei repels the attack with his personal defense generator and destructor, destroying the enemies.

Soon he receives a message from Terry. She informs him that she has left the planet on the Sowers’ ship to save her people. The princess asks Sergei to come to Earth. The hero activates the hyperspace jump ring and falls into the cold waters of Lake Baikal. On the shore, Sergei encounters the "rodders" — a group of people who reject the benefits of civilization. From an empath named Vic, he learns terrifying details about Earth society. People live in utopian prosperity, with food synthesized automatically. Each teenager receives a "Sign of Independence," granting complete legal freedom.

Vic calls an automated flyer for Sergey. The car takes him to Alma-Ata. The city has changed beyond recognition, turning into an endless green garden. Instead of asphalt, the streets are covered with springy artificial grass, and the houses are hidden by camouflage fields. Sergey stays with the local rodder leader, Nurlan Kislitsyn. That evening, Terry arrives, followed by Lance with his pet animal, Trophy.

At dinner, Nurlan’s guests give the characters "Yin and Yang" perfume, which evokes a deep empathic connection. Sergey studies "The Book of Mountains," a philosophical treatise by Sally Jennings. He realizes that the text contains hypnotic patterns that artificially program the readers’ psyches.

Then Commander Raymond McCord, the Sowers’ head of security, contacts the Fang race. He shows them recordings of their interactions with the Fang. The aliens were peaceful until the ship Colchis landed on their home planet. Afterward, the Fang displayed unprovoked cruelty. They tortured the Earth crew and unleashed a war. Scout Shandor Ratz only narrowly escaped, severing his own femur to activate a hidden implant. McCord asks Sergei to lead Operation Needle and launch a frontal assault on the planet Thar. Sergei refuses to blindly obey Earth.

The Test at Tara and the Path to Ar-Na-Tyin

Sergei, Terry, and Lance arrive at the palace on Tara. The Empress is required to undergo an ancient blood verification ritual. She must be injected with a deadly mixture of antigens from seven past rulers. Hernado, a guard, secretly switches the syringe with vitamins in an attempt to save Terry. The princess notices the deception. For the honor of the dynasty, she publicly injects the real solution right through her ceremonial dress. Terry endures the pain and proves her right to the throne.

In his bedroom, Sergei studies a holographic map of the galaxy. He spots the agrarian planet of Ar-Na-Tyin. It lies right on the border between Earth and Fang’s control zones. His intuition tells him that the strike will be made here. He flies to Ar-Na-Tyin on a powerful Sower ship, along with Ernado and Lance.

During their flight, a Fang squadron intercepts them. The Sowers’ ship engages them, physically fusing its brain with Sergei’s consciousness. The enemies use temporal weapons. The ship manages to eject Sergei through hyperspace. During the transition, the hero hears the voices of the mysterious Detached. These beings surgically remove the capacity for love and empathy from Sergei’s soul, so that nothing will hinder his fight.

The catapult crashes onto the icy surface of the planet Klen. Soon, an enemy landing craft crashes nearby. Sergei captures a Fang named Nos. The alien reveals a shocking truth: the Fang have always extolled beauty and lived in peace. But Earth literature and cinema have glorified battle and fury for centuries. Having studied these archives, the Fang believed the earthlings. They decided that war is the greatest art. Now the aliens painstakingly recreate the aesthetics of violence.

Sergei releases the prisoner. A Klanian patrol finds the freezing hero. The female pilot, Tier, takes Sergei to the cruiser and performs the ritual of adoption into the Aler family. Tier reads Sergei’s mind and realizes that the Detached have indeed erased his feelings. The Klanian cruiser delivers the hero to Ar-Na-Tyin.

The True Face of the Gods

On Ar-Na-Tyin, Lance takes Sergei to the industrialist Dyini. He introduces them to the planet’s shadow dictator. He turns out to be Redrak, a former pirate from Sergei’s crew. Redrak has built an underground casino with a direct hyperspace tunnel. The political and military elite of many worlds secretly entertain themselves here. The Fang plan to take hostages. Sergei demands the casino be closed, but Redrak refuses to lose his status.

Hours later, the sky darkens with Fang drop pods. Sergei flees into the steppe, overgrown with purple, narcotic grass. He sees a group of teenagers and desperately tries to shield them with a force field from the approaching molecular thermal explosion. Fire engulfs the city of Hayors. One of the teenagers turns around, and Sergei recognizes his dead friend, Danka.

The hero realizes he’s inside a vision. The Detached One appears before him. The entity confesses: the Detached Ones are the united descendants of humans and Fang from the distant future. They transcended time and matter, became gods, but lost the ability to desire. They feed on the passions of others. The Detached One took Sergei’s love at the dying wish of Tier. The Klenian girl burned alive in a space battle, praying to the gods to make Sergei a flawless fighter. Sergei curses the cruel god and refuses his gifts.

The end of the war and rebirth

Sergei returns to the Sowers’ ship. The electronic brain encases the hero’s body in ultra-strong molecular armor. Sergei leaves Lance at headquarters and goes out into the streets of the capital. Elite Fang fighters are landing in the city. Sergei climbs onto a local army tank and helps repel air attacks. Suddenly, an enemy paratrooper teleports into the square and incinerates the tank with a plasma salvo. Sergei destroys the enemy.

Amid the burning ruins, the hero encounters Nes again. Fang is also clad in molecular armor. They engage in hand-to-hand combat. Upon contact, their armor suits clash and annihilate, turning to gray ash. Left defenseless, Sergei strikes Nes with a precise blow from his atomic sword. He forces the wounded Fang to activate his portable hypertransmitter.

They find themselves in the cabin of the enemy flagship. The Fang command listens attentively to their dialogue. Sergei declares that Earthly art was a lie. Humans glorified death only to somehow justify the filth and horror of forced slaughter. There is no beauty in cruelty. The Fang demand proof and penetrate Sergei’s mind. The hero reveals his pain, his primal fear, and his blind hatred. Seeing the true face of war without embellishment, the Fang realize their fatal mistake. They immediately halt the invasion.

Nyos bleeds. With his last strength, he transports himself and Sergei back to Somat. Fang dies on the banks of a dry river. He admits that birth and creation are far more beautiful than murder. The alien’s amber blood drips onto the gray dust. A chemical chain reaction is triggered. Hydrogen and oxygen are freed from their bonds. The riverbed fills with real, bubbling water. The planet is rapidly coming to life.

Sergei buries Nes in the damp sand. He thrusts two crossed swords into the grave. The ability to feel returns to the hero’s soul. Sergei walks to the ruins of his old home. He knows that Terry will soon arrive there, and a new life awaits the saved world.