Sergey Topolev (sergey.t0p0lev@yandex.com), 2021

Translated by author, 2022

Annotation

This work is a literary experiment in the genre of documentary fiction (docufiction) at the intersection of science and social fiction with elements of a historical novel. The author creates and confidently develops the original concept of the protagonist's world branching in parallel socio-geographical directions, which intersect in the metaphysical space, which the author called the dark void. The intersection of parallel worlds is one of the techniques used by the author to demonstrate the limitless possibilities of human mind. The possibility of the impossible runs like a red thread through the events of the narrative, weaving them into a full-fledged novel.

The style of presentation of the first part corresponds to the genre of a classic novel with well-drawn love and adventure lines. From the first words of the text, the author repeatedly points to the close interweaving of fiction and the meaning of the plots. In this part, the author introduces the reader to the concept of a dark void space on the border between the real and other worlds. For this, a description of the hero's out-of-body experiences and his near-death experience is used. The detailed descriptions of the life and behaviour of Soviet people, the national colour and images of individual participants in the narrative support the illusion of the reality of the events described. This is especially felt in the story about the service of the protagonist in the ranks of the Soviet Army, participation in the liquidation of the Chernobyl accident, and life upon returning from there.

The first part of the book is, in fact, is a hypertrophied introduction to the second part, which mainly consists of dialogues in a dark void on behalf of hypostases of the protagonist and his other personality. Sci-fi dialogues near sometimes to the format of a philosophical treatise. Despite the wide range of topics from the search for a family heirloom to the structure of the atom, Black Holes and the Theory of Everything, the author manages to keep the dialogues connected with the realities of the world in which the bodies of the heroes remain.

In the dialogues of the characters, the author draws a parallel between the properties of the dark void he introduced and the noosphere of Vernadsky, similar to the border zone of the ancient Slavic worlds of Yav, Nav and Prav.

The heroes come to realize the degree of responsibility of people for the well-being of the Earth and the outer space. At the end of the novel, the protagonist tries to find the answer to the age-old question of the Russian intellectual: "What to do?"

Despite the specifics and ambiguity of the hypotheses set forth by the author, the novel deserves the attention of a wide section of the reading public.

Disclaimer

THIS BOOK IS A WORK OF ART. NAMES, CHARACTERS, COMPANIES, PLACES, EVENTS, AND INCIDENTS ARE OR THE AUTHOR'S FICTION OR USED IN A FICTIVE WAY. ANY SIMILARITY TO REAL PEOPLE, DEAD OR ALIVE, OR TO ACTUAL EVENTS IS PART OF THE ARTISTIC PURPOSE.

Genre

Documentary fantasy novel.

#Tags

Documentary fiction docufiction, science fiction science fiction Sci-Fi, social fiction, time travel, alternate history, drama, otoscopic hallucinations, near-death experience, out-of-body experiences, personality projection, noosphere, Reality, Nav, Rule, Moon, Moonport, libration point , Lagrange point, space flight, warp drive, space curvature, two-dimensional space, cosmology, spacelift, spaceport, orbital station, gravity, artificial gravity, gravity vector, antigravity, structure of the atom, new physics, new geometry, expansion of the Universe, Theory of Everything , black holes, speed of light, global warming, greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide sequestration, cavitation, water purification, energy generation…

Dedicated to our grandchildren...

Preface. What a heck do you want, old man?

I sit motionless with my eyes open, and a fantastic performance unfolds before my mind's eye, with my own participation in the title role. Unlike dialogues in the void, this time the "movie" unfolds at normal speed. It is not possible to view events slower or faster, stop or rewind scenes back and forth like a video player. You can only watch and experience the plot, as in a real cinema.

Now, the movie is over, and the only spectator does not leave the cinema hall. Is it possible that such experiences on the threshold of the world of darkness do not occur by chance? Then – why? Until today, I have not thought about the meaning of life and my destiny. Well, yes, I was born on a unique day in a unique country. Yes, I was lucky to return alive from Chernobyl and miraculously survive. By a happy coincidence, I managed to conceive and raise a daughter, and live to see the birth of a granddaughter. With all the hardships and trials that fell to my lot, I thanked fate for each new day and was happy about that. It would seem that once again I was incredibly lucky, I visited the border of this and that worlds and returned almost unscathed. Live and be happy! I don’t understand what, but something doesn’t let me to relax and enjoy the next “prize game” that has fallen to my lot. It somehow does not fit in my head that I received this fantastic experience and knowledge just for sake to calmly live until the moment of a comfortable death in my bed, surrounded by my family. How can I live with this now? The question turned out to be real. There must be a method to this madness. It looks that Fyodor was right. It is necessary to have time to do something useful not for yourself, but for others. At least, for my own descendants. As he said: "... What hands or thoughts did not reach before ..." I already know what it's about. I understand what torment I condemn myself to, but I see no other way out. Maybe limit myself to only the most important, so to speak, on the case? And God lets me go without intimate details? No, brother, you're kidding. You must, Fedya! Yes, you do…. You understand that having jumped out of the dark void, like a devil from a snuffbox, with descriptions of projects for the construction of the Lunar Port with the participation of Nikola Tesla, a controlled vector of gravity in space and pseudo-gravity at orbital stations, an alternative model of the structure of the atom, Theory of Everything, extracting energy from dirt and other things with names from such words that you yourself first learned, your “selfless writing work” is not something that no one will appreciate, no one will read it, considering it to be nonsense after a brandy cocktail with sunstroke.

Maybe I'm not given to understand the essence and purpose of this information? Maybe my memory and myself are just an envelope, as those Tibetan monks served, to deliver information to our manifest world from somewhere else? It is not for me to decide for whom and what word will be valuable. Then, my task is to present this knowledge as it is, so that it remains after me.

Lord, I call to You, hear me. Good Lord! Point out the right words, give strength. All your will...

I figured out how to be. It is necessary to record this story from fresh memory on a tape recorder, and then feed the audio file to a computer program that recognizes the voice and translates it into text. Grammar and style can then be edited by anyone, with or without me. This will be a matter of technology.

I get off the couch and go to the bookcase. I take off the shelf the cassette tape recorder "Elektronika"[i], once presented by colleagues to my dad for his fiftieth birthday. I love this venerable machine for its simplicity and reliability.

0‑1

There is a cassette in the machine. I press the key....

Part 1. Spartakiad

I have never written anything but books; I have always copied statements from a sample. In school, writing was torture for me. To take on such an unthinkable thing for myself as a presentation of the history of my life, as well as some transcendent nonsense about physics, metaphysics and the Universe, I am motivated by the fear at any moment to leave this world forever, not having time to tell the descendants potentially useful for them the information received me under extraordinary circumstances. I often ask myself how could this happen? And was it really? But if not, how do I know all this?