"The Silver Cylinder" by Vlad Rayber, summary Automatic translate

Vlad Raiber’s science fiction story was published in 2016. It tells the story of the clash between a fictional reality and a person’s true memory. The work reveals the tragedy of choosing between a comfortable illusion and the terrifying truth of dying parallel worlds. The protagonist is forced to remember his true name and try to escape the impending end of the world.

Stranger at the station

Gang leads a perfectly ordinary life, returning from work on the commuter train and enjoying the peace. A frightening incident disrupts this routine. At the station, a dirty, stubbly man in a leather jacket rushes toward Gang. He jumps up and down, loudly shouts someone else’s name, and behaves like a complete madman. The crowd parts for the madman. No one even asks him to be quiet. Gang manages to enter the train car, but the doors immediately close. The madman continues to frantically pound the glass with his palms. He looks Gang straight in the eye. Gang turns away, experiencing a strong sense of awkwardness. He wants to justify himself to the other passengers.

Against the backdrop of these events, the evening sky is once again covered with purple ripples. A similar phenomenon first appeared a year ago. People around the world looked up, were frightened, and even joked about it. Scientists attribute the waves in the sky to changes in atmospheric density. Gang feels a vague sense of unease. He intuitively connects the ripples in the purple sky with the appearance of the abnormal man at the station, although he cannot explain the reason for this superstitious fear.

The hero’s pregnant wife, Keuta, is waiting for him at home. The fragile and petite woman, now five months pregnant, has become very perceptive. She immediately notices her husband’s hidden tension. Ganga carefully embraces Keuta, afraid of hurting her. He attributes his strange state to the heat and a headache.

Keuta works as an illustrator at a book publishing house. During dinner, she can’t sit still and shows her husband some funny sketches of a monkey family for a new children’s book. Gang calms down and laughs with his wife.

Things are going well at work, too. His subordinates aren’t causing any problems. A small park is visible from his office window. Gang often turns off the air conditioning, leans back in his chair, and enjoys listening to the sound of the cars, trying in vain to imagine the sounds of a mountain wind or a waterfall.

Apartment invasion

Soon, Gang’s car returns from repair. He’s thrilled to be able to drive himself and no longer encounter the madman in the black leather jacket at the station. But his joy quickly fades. Opening the door to his apartment, Gang discovers the same stranger inside. The madman is rushing around the rooms, flinging open doors, pulling out drawers, throwing things around, and shouting the strange name "Vakii." He accuses Gang of memory loss and threatens to kill him. The stranger thrusts an open notebook, densely covered in incomprehensible writing, into Gang’s face.

Gang feels a searing shame for allowing this to happen. He’s afraid of Keuta’s reaction, who, fortunately, has gone to visit her father. Gang snatches the notebook, grabs the young man by the collar, shakes him violently, and throws him out the door. The uninvited guest falls face-first onto the tiles, hissing in pain. Rising, he leans against the wall and asks Gang to read the notes. He advises him to search the house for other reminders to restore the erased memories.

Gang takes the notebook to work and places it on the desk in front of him. The pages are covered in repeated nonsensical words: "Vakii Rewet," "Mays Set," "Evika," "Bluish Hills," "Cake-Plug," and "Peppermint Scent." The handwriting is remarkably reminiscent of Gang’s own.

Soon, other messages are discovered in the apartment. A crumpled Post-it note with the word "Evika" is found in a web behind the desk. Similar pieces of paper are hidden in the radiator grille. While taking a shower, the hero sees the old inscription "Vakiy R" fading into the steamy tiles. Gang begins to seriously doubt his own sanity and fears going crazy before the baby is born.

Conversation on the bench

Gang decides to speak with his stalker, who waits for him every evening near the parking lot. He approaches a bench. The man looks cleaner; he’s shaved and tidied up his hair. He calls himself Mace Seth. Mace explains the frightening nature of what’s happening. They are both trapped in an alien interpretation. This world creates false memories, attempting to subjugate the aliens. The old notes were needed to preserve real memories daily and counteract the illusions.

Mace asks Gang to remember his childhood, his best birthday present, his school friends, and his parents. Gang’s answers seem like dry summaries, devoid of genuine emotion and fine detail. Mace urges him to remember Evika, whose name Gang secretly wanted for his future daughter. Irritated, Gang grows angry, swipes his interlocutor’s hand, and leaves. Mace runs after him, shouting about an impending catastrophe. He mentions the coming autumn in the middle of summer, the first apparition, and the imminent arrival of certain beings.

Return of memory

That night, true memories burst into Ganga’s consciousness. He moves away from the sleeping Keuta and becomes lost in thought. He recalls the bluish hills, the water tower, and childhood games of hunting with Mace in the marshy land. Evika turns out not to be a dog, but a girl with wide blue eyes. She treated her friends to a wonderful peppermint drink in the garden.

At a pie festival, Vakii gave her a cake-shaped medallion. Evika said at the time, "Vakii gave it to me." Mace jokingly called the decoration a bathtub plug. Evika was later abandoned, and her name was given to a small dog.

His homeworld then began to slowly die. People were becoming infected en masse with the virus of indifference. Leaves turned yellow and fell unseasonably in the summer, and entire herds of cows died in the fields. People stopped leaving their houses and died of starvation. Gray, faceless shadows floated through the twilight streets, peering into the faces of dying people. Wakii and Mace walked for a long time across endless, perpetually foggy plains. These memories terrify Gang.

In the morning, he asks Keuta about the ripples in the sky. His wife indifferently drinks her juice through a straw and replies that she never thought about it. Gang turns pale and nearly faints with horror, realizing Mace is absolutely right.

The Old Man and the Silver Top Hats

Mace arrives unceremoniously at Gang’s apartment. The owner voluntarily admits his guest and allows him to manage the kitchen. Mace tells him about an old man. This man and his late wife had studied interpretations for many years. The old man gave Wakiya and Mace special metal rods for moving between worlds. The smooth silvery cylinders burn a hole in space when in close contact. The old man warned the boys about the flaws in their world and helped them escape at the last moment.

Mace takes out his silver top hat. He waves it through the air, using it as a kind of magnetic metal detector. Mace helps him find the second device on a tall cabinet. Gang stands on a stool and pulls out a dusty cardboard box containing the board game "ZUZUZU." His own top hat rattles loudly inside, reacting to Mace’s device.

Mace strictly forbids opening the box indoors, reminding him of the need for open space. He admits he’s been searching for his friend for seven long years and is terribly angry. Keuta suddenly returns. Gang hides the box, takes the folder from his wife, and falsely introduces Mace as his old friend.

The last choice

Gang’s life seems normal again until he notices a yellow leaf on a linden tree in midsummer. People around him are bustling and late, but an invisible threat hangs in the air. In the morning, Mace meets Gang by the car. They drive far out of town, leaving the bustling streets behind. An hour and a half passes in complete silence. Gang slows down and stops the car near a grassy field. Mace quickly steps out and vigorously tramples the grass with his feet, preparing a level spot for the jump.

Gang takes a box out of the open trunk. He looks at the crumpled cardboard with the peeling picture and suddenly realizes the scale of the consequences. Escape means certain death for Keuta and their unborn child. Gang refuses to abandon his family. He angrily crushes the box and throws it into the tall grass.

Mace becomes hysterical, screaming loudly and calling him a fool, reminding him of the imminent death of this world along with Keuta. Gang runs to the car, starts the engine, and speeds away. In the rearview mirror, he watches Mace futilely try to catch up. Gang is tormented by an unbearable sense of guilt for the cruel betrayal of his old friend.

A few days later, the apartment doorbell rings three times. A courier in an orange cap hands Gang a rectangular package wrapped in brown paper. Attached to the package is a small card asking him to name his unborn son Mace. A sharp pain pierces Gang’s temples. The courier takes another small, oblong object from his bag. He asks that it be given to Gang’s wife, adding the terrifying phrase that the recipient will understand.