The fantastic detective of the Strugatsky brothers "Beetle in the Anthill" was published in 1979. This is the penultimate book from their series “The World of Noon,” which describes the adventures of Maxim Kammerer. The previous one is "Inhabited Island", from that moment on the plot has been going on for about 20 years. The work touches on the main topics for Soviet and foreign science fiction writers of that time - the problems of genetic engineering, contacts with aliens.
History of creation
The story of the creation of the novel "The Beetle in the Anthill" by the Strugatsky is unique in that the idea appeared thanks to a poem written by Boris Strugatsky's little son in 1975.
Beasts stood
By the door
They were shot at
They were dying.
As Boris Natanovich later recalled, vague pictures of unhappy and scary monsters immediately began to appear in his imagination, receiving a bullet from people who did not understand and were frightened. Even the working title of the novel was "There were animals near the door", and the poem became an epigraph.
For a long time, the authors did not develop the storyline, the Strugatsky tried to construct a complex detective story, as a result of which all participants died, but could not realize it. History was abandoned, only at the end of 1978 the concept was developed. Initially, the authors wanted to follow all the canons of the detective genre in order to voice answers to all the puzzles within the work. An epilogue was even written for this, but then they refused it, leaving the reader the right to answer all the questions himself.
Initially, the Strugatsky received negative reviews. The "Beetle in the Anthill" did not like the editors, who were asked to change their working name. Then I had to part with the epigraph.
Scene
The events of the Strugatsky’s novel "The Beetle in the Anthill" unfold in 2178. The key character in the previous book of this trilogy, Maxim Kammerer, has been over forty years old.
Maxim works in KOMKON-2, where his immediate boss is Rudolf Sikorski.
How to find Abalkin?
The events of this book of the Strugatsky brothers begin to develop when Kammerer receives tasks to take under the supervision of the progressor Abalkin. He arbitrarily left the planet Saraksh, on which he worked undercover, he was introduced into the counterintelligence of the Island Empire. A report came from the planet, in which it was reported that Abalkin was actually on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to the death of his comrade Tristan. Everything indicated that he was back on earth.
The plot of the Strugatsky’s Beetle in the Anthill becomes more and more fascinating when Kammerer begins to study Abalkin’s personality. It turns out that he was a posthumous child, his parents plunged into a black hole. He studied at a boarding school, a school of progressors, then worked, almost without appearing on Earth.
Characters of the novel
Kammerer meets with people closest to him. These are the amazing characters of the Strugatsky’s Beetle in the Anthill - Maya Glumova, a teacher from a boarding school and scholt Shchekn Itrch.
Kammerer initially appears as a journalist, only then reveals the true purpose of his visit. Maya says that at the last meeting, Abalkin behaved strangely, asking about their common youth and school tricks in great detail.
Soon, Lev Abalkin himself gets in touch. He recalls the time when he continued the contacts initiated by Kammerer with the Golovans.
Abalkin Report
An important part of the Strugatsky’s Beetle in the Anthill is Abalkin’s report on the planet Nadezhda. There was an environmental disaster there, due to problems with DNA, people began to age by the age of 15. Some Wanderers saved a large part of the world's population by taking them to the mines.
Maxim concludes that the secret of personality is connected with Abalkin. This is a legal concept invented by the Strugatsky himself, when certain information about a person is hidden not only from outsiders, but also from himself because of the probability of causing moral harm. Apparently, Leo found out about the existence of this mystery and tried to solve it. He probably suspected that his memory was false, so he tried to make sure that the events that had happened in the past really happened.
Sikorski ambushes Abalkin at the Museum of Extraterrestrial Cultures, in which Glumova works. But instead of Leo, Dr. Bromberg appears there, who is engaged in classified discoveries and prohibited research.
Mystery of personality
Finally, in the book of the Strugatsky brothers, the secret of Abalkin’s personality is revealed. It turns out that he was one of the foundling children who were born from the embryos found on an unnamed planet in the Wanderers sarcophagus.
Scientists did not exclude that these children may carry a hidden mission in themselves, and therefore pose a potential danger. It was decided to raise them separately so that they never met, and then give them extraterrestrial professions.
The development of these children was closely monitored, but no differences were found from ordinary children. There was only one exception - everyone had a birthmark of the same shape on the bend of the elbow. It coincided with the image on the locket, which was also found in the sarcophagus. It has been suggested that children can be "activated" with it, so the medallions were called "detonators."
Over time, a relationship was established between the foundling and the medallion. Shortly after the destruction of the "detonator" during the experiment, the girl associated with him died.
Foundlings have grown
When the children grew up, they tried to tell them about the secret of their origin. Future progressor Korney Jashmaa calmly reacted to this information, but this did not bring any result in the study of their personalities.
But the next attempt to solve the mystery ended tragically. The subject apparently calmly accepted the information about his origin, and then died under strange circumstances - even suicide could not be ruled out. It was discovered that the "detonator" associated with it had disappeared. After this experiment, it was decided to stop, the remaining foundlings did not know the secrets of their birth.
Tristan, who died under the guise of a staff doctor, was actually assigned to observe Abalkin’s behavior. His death and the subsequent flight of Leo led everyone to think that a program had been activated in him, following which he killed his friend, and before that he had received from him all the necessary information about his "special status". It was not even ruled out that this was done through torture.
After that, Abalkin went to Earth, also following the software settings. Sikorski explained his throwing by the fact that the program unconsciously acted in such a way that Leo himself could not understand what was happening to him. Despite the fact that the danger that Abalkin posed to mankind and planet Earth was exclusively hypothetical, it was decided not to ignore this probability.
The death of the protagonist
When Abalkin went to the museum to Glumova, in which the same detonators were stored, Sikorski again organized an ambush. Maxim intercepted Leo along the road, trying to convince him not to go to a meeting with Maya. But Abalkin said that he no longer wants to comply with incomprehensible prohibitions, from now on he intends to live only on Earth and do whatever he pleases.
Kammerer even tried to physically interfere with Leo, but he still did not succeed, Abalkin fought back and appeared in the museum. Noticing the box with medallions that stood on the table, he reached out for his badge, and at that moment Sikorski shot Abalkin.