"Stars Are Cold Toys" by Sergei Lukyanenko, summary Automatic translate

This book is a classic story of humanity’s survival on the fringes of an alien galactic civilization. Written in 1997, the novel centers on the brutal clash of two vast social utopias. The protagonist makes a difficult moral choice between dangerous freedom and satiating totalitarian control.

A deadly flight and an uninvited guest

Petr Khrumov is the pilot of an obsolete Spiral space shuttle. On the planet Hixie-43 in the Sirius system, he picks up a shipment of decorative cortrizone. Before takeoff, he communicates with Lufthansa co-pilot Elsa Schroeder and the local doctor, Kostya. During orbital insertion, an emergency occurs. The Earth ship’s course intersects with a giant cruiser of the Alari race.

Peter makes an emergency jump through the underbelly of space. The jump gives humans an indescribable euphoria, but is guaranteed to drive aliens mad. Waking up after the jump, the pilot discovers a reptilian of the Counter race on board. The creature calls itself Karel.

The counter survived hyperspace thanks to a mathematical shock. He mentally divided numbers by zero. Karel asks to be taken to Pyotr’s grandfather. Andrei Valentinovich Khrumov works as a xenopsychologist and openly hates the Galactic Conclave of the Strong Races. During landing, the navigation fails. The shuttle crashes on the highway near Svobodny, crushing a passenger bus carrying Chinese tomatoes. Colonel Danilov helps Pyotr conceal the alien’s presence from the authorities.

Conspiracy of the Rejected

At home in Peredelkino, near Moscow, Peter introduces Karel to his grandfather and his assistant, Masha. The guard dog, Tiran, nearly kills the reptilian. The alien survives and reveals a secret plan. A surprising detail is revealed. The fringe races of Alari, Qualqua, and the Counters have found a way to resist the Conclave. A threat has emerged on the edge of the galaxy. A lone lenticular alien ship easily destroys the flagship and several dozen Alari battle cruisers.

The aliens thoroughly examined the dead pilot and his vessel. The alien was biologically identical to the human. Karel shows terrifying battle footage. A powerful race calling itself the Geometers transported their star system across the vastness of space. Their continents are shaped like perfect squares and circles.

The conspirators want to exploit the genetic similarities between Earthlings and Geometers. Andrei Khrumov proposes the concept of the Second Force. This new race is capable of disrupting the balance of the Conclave. Earthlings have a chance to escape their fate as eternal space shuttles.

The Shuttle Theft and the Gift of Qualqua

A modern, heavy-duty ship is required to complete the mission. Colonel Danilov breaks the leg of his jump navigator, Rinat Turusov. Pyotr is assigned to the Buran, a ship named "Volkhv." Andrei Khrumov, Masha, and Karel secretly board with heavy bags.

General Kiselev attempts to stop the takeoff. He threatens to use the Skif combat orbital station. Danilov ignores the orders of Mission Control. The ship departs into deep space toward the secret coordinates of the Alari fleet. The flight takes thirteen grueling hyperspace jumps.

A grave trial awaits Peter on the flagship of the mouse-like Alari. The fleet commander hands him a symbiont of the Qualqua race. The black, amoeba-like mass is absorbed into Peter’s hand. The symbiont is capable of quickly changing its host’s physical shell, healing fatal wounds, and translating foreign speech. Peter shouts, "I’m still just a tool for you!" to his grandfather. The pilot is to become a spy in the world of the Geometers, taking the place of the dead intelligence officer Nick Rimer.

In the world of correct proportions

Qualqua recreates the deceased’s appearance and basic reactions. Peter regains consciousness aboard the Geometers’ ship, realistically faking memory loss. He converses with the onboard computer. The pilot successfully lands the vessel on the Circular Continent.

He is met by Mentor Per and Nick Rimer’s loyal friends. Tag, Gan, and Katti are delighted at their comrade’s return. A medical examination at the Institute of Alien Life Forms confirms the pilot’s identity. His memory loss is trustingly attributed to Alari’s torture. Peter begins to live anew in the alien body he was forced into.

Geometer society is structured according to strict social engineering principles. Children are raised in boarding schools under total control. Dissent is rigorously eradicated from an early age. People’s personal attachments are completely subordinated to public duty. Pyotr strolls with Tag through the green city. They visit a poolside restaurant, where the hero sees an aquatic alien. This is a Flexible Friend, a representative of a race conquered by the Geometers.

Later, the comrades go to a huge public bathhouse. They endure the ordeal of scorching hot rooms and icy water. Peter studies the history of civilization. He reads the works of the founder of Regressionism, Gatra Hamezzi, and learns about the alchemist Riga, who deliberately started a pandemic to seize power for the Mentors.

Riot and the Ice Sanatorium

The World Council forbids Peter from returning to deep space. The meeting takes place in a giant statue of the Mentor. The councilors drink coffee and decide the fates of others. The hero is assigned to teach troubled teenagers.

Petr arrives at his new group at the "Matushkin Svet" boarding school. He notices the children are being monitored by hidden video surveillance. Unable to bear the prevailing hypocrisy, the pilot gives Mentor Per a resounding slap. This bold action is considered by the authorities to be a severe mental disorder. Petr is exiled to the "Fresh Wind" sanatorium, a brutal forced labor camp on the snowy shores of a frigid ocean.

The outer guards are the Flexible Friends. These creatures resemble giant, blue-gray leeches. The prisoners perform the grueling work of leveling the shoreline with shovels. The barracks is governed by the brutal prison rules established by former Mentor Clay Garter. Peter engages him in hand-to-hand combat.

Using Qualqua’s lightning-fast combat transformation, the Earthman breaks Clay’s arm. He easily takes over as the barracks’ leader. Historian Agard Tarai becomes Pyotr’s guide through the camp’s unspoken rules. Agard confirms the terrible truth about the alchemist Rig, who started the global pandemic during the Fortress Era.

Escape through snow and water

One cold morning, one of the Flexible Friends mortally wounds a young prisoner named Tick. Pyotr immediately rushes to his aid. Activating the symbiote, he kills the powerful, blue-haired guard. Long, strong claws grow from his human fingers, piercing the alien’s hide. A loud alarm sounds.

Peter dives into the icy ocean. In the frigid water, he deftly dispatches several more pursuers. Qualqua reliably maintains normal body temperature and heals its host’s wounds. The frightened aliens retreat to the snowy shore.

Having reached the distant coast on drifting ice floes, Peter discovers a hidden domed village. He sneaks inside through a narrow water intake pipe. The village turns out to be the White Sea boarding school, the honorable place of exile for the errant Mentor Pen. Peter secretly enters the teacher’s room.

Per realizes that he is facing a dangerous Shadow Regressor from Earth. Realizing the complete collapse of his ideals and fearing an unknown cosmic threat, the old man dies of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

The Mask Dropped

With the help of the Qualqua symbiont, Peter takes on the appearance of the dead Mentor Feather. He buries the old man’s body in a deep snowdrift and attempts to quickly escape the orphanage grounds. He is intercepted by Katty before the rescue transport cabin.

The girl reads aloud Nick Rimer’s children’s poems about drowning birds. She realizes that before her stands a ruthless killer or a cunning spy. Peter sheds his Feather disguise, reclaiming his true human form. The girl retreats in horror, calling him Shadow. Peter apologizes for deceiving her.

The hero moves through the transport cabin. He accidentally finds himself in the Geometers’ enormous open crematorium. It’s a gigantic black basin of boiling, dark-red lava, into which the bodies of deceased citizens fall. A mechanical voice pronounces the word "Farewell." Leaving this gloomy place of eternal night, Peter is transported to a deserted ocean shore.

Nearby lies an empty Long-Range Reconnaissance spaceport. Ahead lies the hijacking of a ship and the long journey home to the stranded Alari squadron. The ocean roars, and Pyotr watches the waves. He trades his fingers for claws and embraces his irreversible symbiosis with the alien mind of Qualqua. The hero understands that one man can change the Galaxy.