World of noon Strugatsky reading order. Eight scientific and technical forecasts of the Strugatskys

List minor characters books from the series about the World of Noon, written by the Strugatsky brothers. Contents 1 Bader, August Johann Maria 2 Bromberg, Isaac ... Wikipedia

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Cover of the audiobook published by “Around the World”, 2006. World of Noon literary world, in which the events described by the Strugatsky brothers take place in a series of novels, the “representative” book of which is “Noon, XXII Century” (from which ... ... Wikipedia

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Here is a list of professions that people do in the World of Noon, created by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Contents 1 Preliminary remarks 2 List of professions ... Wikipedia

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As you know, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky did not think about a single chronology of the world in which the events of the world of Midday take place - they simply did not need it. As a result, any attempt to make an end-to-end chronology of the future according to the Strugatskys will turn out to be internally contradictory. Such contradictions are contained both in the “official” chronology of the world of Noon and in the chronology of S. Pereslegin. However, the idea of recording a single story the world of Noon is very attractive (and in the case of a role-playing game in this world, simply necessary). At the same time, the compiler of the chronology is forced to choose which of the episodes of the Strugatsky books to pay attention to, and which to neglect, and somehow resolve the contradictions. This text examines several such contradictions in the history of the world of Noon and my preferences on how to resolve them.

1. Fork point
The first question that arises when compiling a chronology is how the world of Noon arose in the first place, where is the branching point that put our world on rails? alternate reality. An attempt to pretend that it arose as a result of the smooth development of the Soviet Union after World War II looks ugly and raises a number of puzzling questions (such as “was the Prague Spring suppressed by Soviet tanks”). The only meaningful attempt I know of to identify a branching point is S. Pereslegin’s odious idea about the victory of Nazi Germany in 1942. This idea (for obvious emotional reasons) is perceived with hostility by most readers, in addition, it contains an implicit assumption about Hitler’s radical revision of the ideas of Nazism: “Throw away all beliefs, forget all prejudices - personal, class, religious, clan, national socialist , - if only they interfere with achieving victory and peace,” which, in my opinion, significantly devalues the whole idea. So I offer mine, Alternative option moving the arrows.

Let's assume that the Manhattan Project in the US was started a little earlier, and moved forward even faster than in reality. Then the Trinity test happened in May 1944. The Allies also landed in Normandy a little earlier than in reality - not in June, but in April 1944. As a result, by the end of June the Allies have the opportunity to liberate most France, and the Americans to begin strategic bombing of Germany. Under these conditions, the event that turned the arrows was the atomic bomb "Baby", dropped on Dresden in early July 1944. A long bombing in February 1945 was not required - the city was destroyed by one bomb, and the United States presented Germany with an ultimatum - surrender by the end of July, or the next atomic bomb would be dropped on Berlin. The fanatical Hitler, of course, could not accept this proposal, but doubts probably arose in his circle - the use of the “Weapon of Retribution” against Germany itself could not but have a demoralizing effect. As a result, although the assassination attempt on Hitler on June 20 was unsuccessful, the conspirators were not arrested - but, on the contrary, received support and eventually seized power. The military group that headed the interim government signed a capitulation before the end of the month. As a result, the United States gained the reputation of being the winner of World War 2 and the ability to dictate its terms in most of the liberated countries. At this point, Soviet troops had only recently reached the old border of the Soviet Union and began military operations on the territory of countries occupied by Germany - and as a result, only Romania and Bulgaria became socialist. The Soviet Union found itself in the position of a state that spent the most effort in the war - and received almost nothing as a result of victory. This feeling of a formal loss with an actual victory worked in a mobilizing way (as in Pereslegin’s version) - Soviet people was ready to give all his strength for the sake of revenge in further competition with the capitalist world - which led to an economic breakthrough, as it actually happened in the Weimar Republic and in Japan after the 2nd World War.

Realizing that the United States is noticeably ahead of everyone else in the atomic race, the Soviet Union is betting on going into space. The first artificial satellite, launched into orbit in 1949, restored the balance - now the USSR had a delivery vehicle atomic bomb to any point on the planet. The first manned space flight took place 3 years later - this man was one of the Soviet ace pilots who fought in North Korea. The next 10 years are spent in the space race between the USSR and the USA. In 1961, the American robot Skymoon landed on the moon, and a few months later a Soviet cosmonaut (apparently Yuri Gagarin) landed on the moon. Meanwhile, the geopolitical situation in Europe is changing in favor of the socialist camp. The Berlin uprising of 53 and the Poznań and Hungarian uprisings of 56 lead to the emergence of socialist republics in Germany, Poland and Hungary. In 1968, Czechoslovakia and France joined the socialist camp. The decisive year in the space race was 1971 - the year of the great confrontation between Mars. The Socialist European Union successfully landed on the surface of Mars, but the Americans did not have time. From this moment on, history finally moved to the branch of reality corresponding to the events of the “Country of Crimson Clouds”.

2. The first person born on Mars
This is a simple contradiction, the resolution of which is almost obvious. The Strugatskys’ texts say about two people that he is the first person born on Mars - Bogdan Spitsyn in “The Land of Crimson Clouds” and Evgeniy Slavin in “Noon, 22nd Century”. Considering that the Khyus-2 expedition to Venus took place in 1991, the version with Spitsyn should be discarded - it is in no way compatible with the first landing on Mars in 1971.

3. Second fork point
It may not be obvious - but humanity's exit into space alone is not enough for the emergence of the world of Noon. Moreover, the Strugatskys understood this well - and Ivan Zhilin in the finale of “Trainees” voiced this idea: “the main thing is on Earth.” At the time of Krayukhin, Bykov and Zhilin, a noticeable proportion of people on Earth could not yet share their aspirations, the choice between interesting work And interesting entertainment was not yet obvious. The emergence of the world of Noon was impossible without the education of the “man of the future.” This problem, as we know, was solved by creating a system of boarding schools, but we do not know how such a radical change in the system of education and training took place. One can only try to describe the events that preceded this.

Zhilin, who returned to Earth, understands that before teaching people to live interestingly, he must simply give them the opportunity to live, and he joins the peacekeeping troops, extinguishing conflicts on the outskirts of the communist world. And somewhere there, fate brings him together with another person who harbors ideas about new theory education - Georgy Nosov. Undoubtedly, they had other like-minded people. A few years later, after the story with the slug, their ideas resulted in “a long-term government program for creating a modern base for training highly qualified teaching staff.” The system of experimental lyceums had two options for the future: “it turns out that there are two extreme points of view. Some believe that lyceums should be abolished as elitist institutions and contrary to democracy, while others believe that the network of lyceums, on the contrary, should be expanded in every possible way and opened more than three throughout the country Lyceum per year, as it is now, but thirty-three. Or three hundred and thirty-three." The second option was much less likely, but in the world of Noon, by some miracle, it was chosen, and the teaching profession became one of the most respected professions.

4. Eternal Gorbovsky
The name Gorbovsky is first mentioned in “Private Speculations” - there a certain Gorbovsky, captain of the Tariel and the first stellar expedition to the Taiya system, reads a poem to Valentin Petrov about the flight of a rocket faster than the speed of light. Considering that Valka Petrov studied with Sergei Kondratiev, this happens around the 20s of the 21st century. On the other hand, Leonid Andreevich Gorbovsky lived to see the Great Revelation, and Kondratiev at the beginning of the 22nd century clearly does not recognize Leonid Andreevich - therefore, it should be assumed that in “Particular Assumptions” Andrei Gorbovsky, who safely returned from the first stellar mission at the end of the 21st century, is acting. th century, and after that he had a son, the well-known L.A. Gorbovsky, who followed in his father’s footsteps and even named his ship the same.

Let us note that, thanks to his profession, time flows slower for Leonid Andreevich than for those around him. In the 21st century, a flight on a photon starship at near-light speeds to the nearest star could easily give a head start of 50 years, as happened with Gorbovsky Sr. At the beginning of the 22nd century, deritrinitation was discovered, opening the way to distant stars. However, at the dawn of its use, reaching the deritrinitation mode still required an increase in near-light speeds, as a result, flights to the stars took several years - Gorbovsky, while flying to Vladislava, missed Anton Bykov, who flew away from there a year and a half ago. By the time of the events of "Distant Rainbow", the transition to the state of detrinitization was already required in hours - "Strela" promised to return in 10 hours. Subsequently, null-T - a more advanced version of piercing space - began to occur almost instantly.

5. How many Bykovs were there?
The second surname that has been found in the history of the world of Poludnya for several centuries is Bykov. However, here fewer questions, in the “Test of SKIBR” it is directly stated: “Anton Bykov, famous interplanetary, son and grandson of interplanetaries.” Thus, there were at least three Bykovs. The first is the hero of a series of books from “The Land of Crimson Clouds” to “Interns”. The second is mentioned briefly - Slavin, having found himself in the 22nd century and learned about deritrinitization, recalls that “this is approximately what Bykov Jr. predicted in our time.” It must be assumed that Bykov Jr. subsequently became the captain of the second stellar expedition mentioned in “Private Speculations,” and Anton Bykov is his son, born after his return at the end of the 21st century. Let us note that the story with SCIBRs took place in the 20-30s of the 22nd century - Atos-Sidorov in “Midday” recalls that their appearance happened during his youth.

6. When was the bioblockade invented?
Available chronologies date the appearance of the bioblockade to the mid-21st century - based on Toivo’s phrase from “The Waves Quench the Wind”: “The bioblockade, also known as the Tokyo procedure, has been systematically used on Earth and on the Periphery for about one hundred and fifty years.” However, on the other hand, it is absolutely known that the bioblockade was created on the basis of the “bacterium of life” discovered at the beginning of the 22nd century. It should be noted that a temporary bioblockade was first created, injections of which had to be done every few days. The lifelong bioblockade, or more precisely, fucumization, which Toivo speaks of, was invented later. Thus, the bioblockade could not have been invented in the middle of the 21st century; rather, it appeared in the middle of the 22nd. However, the next point of our program will allow us to explain the phrase from Toivo Glumov’s report.

7. And Midday lasts longer than a century
In the history of the world, Noon is not found much exact dates. We know that Taimyr returned in 2119. In addition, the events of “The Beetle in the Anthill” and Toivo Glumov’s reports in “The Waves Quench the Wind” are precisely dated - we know that Lev Abalkin died in ’78, and Toivo became a citizen in ’99. These dates are given without specifying a century, and are usually, without hesitation, assigned to the 22nd century. In this case, the events are compressed extremely tightly, and nearby there are facts clearly related to different eras space exploration: D-starships and null-T, first contact with the first extraterrestrial civilization and progress, etc.

At the same time, in two books by the Strugatskys there is an unambiguous indication of the 23rd century. Firstly, in the radiogram requested by Komov during Operation Ark, it is said: “EXPEDITIONAL STARSHIP “PILIGRIM”. ASsigned TO THE PORT OF DEIMOS, DEPARTURED ON THE SECOND OF JANUARY TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-ONE FOR A FREE SEARCH IN ZONE “C”. LAST REVIEW RECEIVED SIXTH "MAY TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR FROM THE AREA "SHADOW". CREW: SEMENOVA MARIA-LOUISE AND SEMENOV ALEXANDER PAVLOVICH. FROM THE TWENTY-FIRST OF APRIL TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE PASSENGER: SEMENOV PIERRE ALEXANDROVICH." Not everything is fine with this date, as we will see later, but the fact that the GSP era is separated by almost a century from the events of the “Distant Rainbow”, when null-T was just being mastered, is very logical. The second mention of the 23rd century is found in "Attempt to Escape": "Julian day twenty-five forty-two nine hundred sixty-seven. The second planet of the EH 7031 system is called Saula, after the crew member of the historian Saul Repnin." The Julian Day is a single-digit chronological scale, and the date mentioned above corresponds to April 22, 2250.

The version in which the world of Noon existed for two centuries is much more plausible. In this case, most of the events of "Noon, XXII century" take place in the first half of the 22nd century, "Distant Rainbow" and "Unrest" - in the second half, and all other books from the history of the world of Noon already belong to the 23rd century . The advantages of this option are discussed in more detail in Maksimov’s article “The Shine and Poverty of Diamond Roads” - although other ideas of the author of this article are to a significant extent questionable.

8. When was the baby born?
According to the text of the radiogram, Malysh, aka Semenov Pierre Alexandrovich, was born in 1933. At the time of Operation Ark he is approximately 12 years old, i.e. The events of "The Kid" would seem to take place around the year 45. However, this is completely impossible. From the history of foundlings we know that they, including Lev Abalkin. were born in 1938, and Maya Glumova was 3 years younger. Thus, in 45 she was 4 years old, and there was no way she could take part in Operation Ark. Since the story of the foundlings is the central story of the last decades of Noon, it would be wrong to correct the date of their birth. It is more convenient to admit that the Kid was born about 20 years later - around 53.

9. Dramba ignores uranium
The fighting cat Gag quite sensibly considered the robot Dramba as a source of valuable information. Unfortunately, “to ask a question correctly, you need to know most of the answer,” and his knowledge was not enough to isolate truly valuable information. Among other things, Dramba reports: “My first master is Yan, Korney’s father. Yan handed me over to Korney. It was thirty years ago, when Yan retired, and Korney built a house on the site of Yan’s camp.” However, we know that Korney Yashmaa is one of the foundlings, and his parents knew nothing about him. Moreover, any earthling who knows how to work with BVI could find out that Korney is a posthumous son, and, therefore, could not meet his father. Thus, there is a contradiction, but Gag was unable to detect it. But Korney’s son, who communicated with Dramba 11 years earlier, could. The assumption arises that Korney himself introduced false memories into Dramba’s memory so that his son would discover a contradiction and try to get to the bottom of the truth - i.e. before the history of foundlings. And, as in Abalkin’s story, it is impossible to determine what prompted Korney to take this step - the “Wanderers program” or human emotions caused by difficulties in his relationship with his wife and son.

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

World of Noon (collection)

Country of Crimson Clouds

Part one

Seventh training ground

Serious conversation

The secretary raised his only eye to Bykov:

- From Central Asia?

- Documentation…

He demandingly extended a dark, claw-like hand with an inordinately long index finger across the table; The secretary was missing three fingers and half of his palm. Bykov placed the travel order and certificate into this hand. Leisurely unfolding the order, the secretary read:

“Mechanical engineer of the Gobi Soviet-Chinese expeditionary base Alexey Petrovich Bykov is sent by the Ministry of Geology for negotiations on further service. Reason: request from the State Committee for the Promotion of Civil Service from...”

Then he glanced at the ID, returned it and pointed to the door covered with black oilcloth:

- Come on in. Comrade Krayukhin is waiting for you.

Bykov asked:

– Will you still have the order?

- The order will remain with me.

Several people sat in chairs along the walls of the reception area, apparently waiting for their turn or call. None of them paid any attention to Alexei Petrovich. This seemed strange to him - he had heard something completely different about morals in the reception areas of capital institutions. But both the one-eyed secretary and the docile visitors instantly flew out of his mind when he stepped over the threshold of the office.

In the spacious and gloomy office, the windows were covered with bamboo curtains. The bare plastic walls glowed dimly. The floor was covered with a soft red carpet. Bykov looked around, searching with his eyes for the owner of the office, and near the wide and deserted desk he saw two bald heads. One bald head, pale, even somewhat grayish, motionlessly towered over the back of the visitors' chair. The other, light saffron, leaned over the folders on the other side of the table and swayed, as if its owner was incredulously sniffing the tracing papers and blue blueprints of the drawings lying in front of him.

Then Bykov saw the third bald head: it belonged to an ugly fat figure in a gray overalls, lounging on the carpet, his gray bald head clumsily buried in the corner between the wall and the safe. A round rope stretched from the neck under the table...

After all, every boss has his own habits, but has this one gone too far? Bykov awkwardly shifted from foot to foot, tugged at the zipper of his jacket again and looked anxiously at the door. At that moment the saffron bald head disappeared. Snorting was heard, and a dull, cold voice said with satisfaction: “It holds up great! Fabulous!" And a bulky, stooped figure in nylon work overalls slowly grew over the table.

This man was of enormous height, extremely broad in the shoulders and probably very heavy. His face, covered with brown, pitted skin, seemed like a mask, his thin-lipped mouth was compressed into a straight line, and from under his powerful convex forehead his round, eyelashless eyes stared coldly and attentively at Bykov.

- What do you want? – he inquired hoarsely.

“I need to see Comrade Krayukhin,” said Bykov, glancing dangerously at the bald figure stretched out on the carpet.

- I'm Krayukhin. – The man with round eyes also glanced sideways at the figure and again stared at Bykov.

The bald head remained motionless in the chair. Bykov hesitated for a second, took a few steps forward and introduced himself. Krayukhin listened with his head bowed.

“I’m very glad,” he said restrainedly. – I was waiting for you yesterday, Comrade Bykov. Please sit down. “He pointed his huge, shovel-like palm towards the chair. - Here please. Make room and sit down.

Not understanding anything, Bykov walked up to the table, turned to the chair and barely restrained a nervous laugh. In the chair lay a strange suit made of gray elastic fabric, similar to a diving suit. A round silver cap with metal clasps protruded above the back.

“Take it off, put it on the floor,” said Krayukhin.

Bykov looked back at the thick stuffed animal lying in the corner near the safe.

“This is also a special suit,” Krayukhin said impatiently. - Sit down!

Bykov hastily vacated the chair and sat down, feeling some embarrassment. Krayukhin looked at him without blinking.

“So...” He drummed his pale fingers on the table. - Well, comrade Bykov, let’s get acquainted. Call me Nikolai Zakharovich, love me, so to speak, and favor me. You will have to work under my leadership. If, of course...

A sharp call interrupted him. He picked up the phone.

– Just a minute, Comrade Bykov... I’m listening. Yes I…

He didn’t say another word, but in the bluish light from the videophone screen, Bykov saw how his face immediately filled with color and dark veins swelled on his bare temples. Apparently, it was about very serious things. Out of delicacy, Bykov lowered his eyes and began to examine the special suit lying on the carpet next to the chair. Through the open collar one could see the inside of the helmet. Bykov thought that through it he could discern the rough pattern of the carpet, although on the outside the silver ball was completely opaque. Bykov bent down to get a better look at the helmet, but at that moment there was a short crack of a thrown tube, then a light click of a switch.

- Call Pokatilov! – Krayukhin ordered in a hoarse whisper.

- Eat! – someone invisible responded.

- In one hour.

- Available in an hour!..

The switch flipped again and everything went silent. Bykov looked up and saw that Krayukhin was vigorously rubbing his face with his palms.

“So,” he said calmly, noticing that Bykov was looking at him. - What a dumbass! Like hitting a wall... I apologize, Comrade Bykov. Where are we... Yes, yes... I apologize again. So, you and I will have a serious conversation, but we don’t have enough time. There's no time at all. Let's get down to business... First of all, I would like to get to know you better. Tell us about yourself.

- What exactly? - asked Bykov.

– First of all, a biography.

- Biography? - The engineer thought. – I have a very simple biography. Born in 19.. in the family of a waterman, near Gorky. My father died early, I was not yet three years old. He was brought up and studied at a boarding school until he was fifteen years old. Then for four years he worked as an assistant mechanic and mechanic of amphibious jet gliders on the Volga. Hockey player. As a member of the Volga team, he participated in two Olympiads. Entered higher technical school ground transport. This former school armored forces. (“Why am I talking so much?” – an unpleasant thought struck me.) I graduated from the expeditionary reactor transport department. Well... they sent me to the mountains, to the Tien Shan region... Then to the sands, to the Gobi... I served there. There he joined the party. What else? That's all.

The World of Noon is a literary world in which the events described by the Strugatsky brothers take place in a series of novels, the first book of which is “Noon. XXII Century” (the name of the world came from it), and the last one is “Waves Quench the Wind.” Despite the apparent utopian nature of the Universe, the world of Noon is full of problems and conflicts that are not alien to our time.

The victory of communism and the technological achievements of the Earth in the 22nd century solved the problem of resource shortages and relieved people of the need physical labor, which, in turn, eventually led to the abandonment of trade and market relations and money. Knowledge has become the most important resource.

The most unusual characteristic of the world of Noon compared to other known fantasy universes is its almost complete alienation from the ideas of imperialism. Not a single intelligent race of the world of Noon was engaged in building a galactic empire (an alternative option is a republic): neither in the twenty-second century according to the chronology of the Earth, nor before that. Instead, they prefer to stay close to their home planets, and only the most technologically advanced (the people of Earth and, presumably, the Travelers) allow themselves to interfere in the affairs of other planets, and only in the form of the so-called. "progressorism", gratuitous secret promotion of the development of the culture of a particular civilization.

On Earth in the 22nd century, a global technocracy reigns, the top of which is the World Council, the legislative and executive body of power, whose members are the most famous scientists, philosophers, historians and strategists (60% are teachers and doctors). As a rule, the Council deals only with issues on a global-terrestrial and galactic scale, leaving the management of colonies to local planetary Councils.

Despite the fact that science and technology coped with the problem of satisfying all the basic needs of people, this led to the emergence of a separate layer of society, whose representatives were not able to occupy high position in the academic hierarchy or become famous figures art, but they didn’t want to do the simplest work like supervising robots. Such people, as a rule, voluntarily went to explore unknown planets and regions of space, sometimes coming into contact with local civilizations. Despite the government's outspoken dissatisfaction with such unprofessionalism, the practice was useful enough in its time to be legalized.

In addition to people, there are also a number of other civilizations and intelligent races in the world of Noon. Many of them are similar to the inhabitants of Earth, while some are so different from them that their intelligence has been questioned for years. Some extraterrestrial civilizations also maintain diplomatic contact with Earth. For unknown reasons, most inhabited planets are inhabited by humanoids who are genetically almost indistinguishable from the people of Earth, but, as a rule, this is attributed to the manipulations of the Travelers.

The Wanderers are undoubtedly the most mysterious extraterrestrial race of the world of Noon. Their technological development is matched only by their passion for conspiracy, with which they disguise all their activities in the world of Noon. Despite the fact that people have never been able to realize the goals they are pursuing, many signs indicate that the Travelers have their own institution of progress and are gradually developing other civilizations. At the same time, they choose the most incomprehensible forms of action (from the point of view of other civilizations). For example, just remember the case of the planet Nadezhda (“The Beetle in the Anthill”). According to the testimony of Maxim Kammerer, on whose behalf the presentation is made, this was the most significant in scale and most recent in time intervention of the Wanderers in the destinies of other civilizations. On the planet, as a result of pollution, there has been ecological catastrophy, which led to “rabies of gene structures” (aging at an accelerated rate starting from a certain age). When the authors came up with a story about the disease of the inhabitants of Nadezhda, which manifested itself in accelerated aging of the body, they did not suspect the existence of the disease progeria in reality. The Travelers organize the departure of the population through interdimensional tunnels, and then begin to forcibly transfer to the “other world” those who chose to stay, even despite their fierce resistance.

The cycle dedicated to the world of Noon includes ten novels (listed in chronological order):

"Noon. XXII century"
"Attempt to escape"
"Distant Rainbow"
"It's hard to be a god"
"Anxiety" - the original version of the story "Snail on the Slope"
·" Inhabited island"
"The guy from the underworld"
· "Beetle in an anthill"
"The waves extinguish the wind"

In addition to the above books, the works “Land of Crimson Clouds”, “The Path to Amalthea”, “Trainees”, “Test of SKIBR”, “Private Speculations” and “Predatory Things of the Century”, as well as the fairy tale A Yaroslavtseva (pseudonym of A. Strugatsky) "Expedition to the Underworld."

The World of Noon, created by the Strugatskys, was and is still subject to constant criticism from both fellow writers and readers. Often it manifests itself in the form of literary works that describe alternatives to the Strugatsky world, or parodies of it.

According to the most irreconcilable critic - writer and poet Yuri Nesterenko, the social structure of the world of Noon is fascism, which is manifested in the presence of a secret police, control over dissent, a ban on the free development of science, "total brainwashing, paranoid xenophobia, complete anthroporacism and genocide" . Nesterenko’s views are set out in his article “The Blinding Light of Midday, or the Fascism of the Strugatsky Brothers.” They are rather dubious, although the repulsive image of Rudolf Sikorski (Excellent) ("The Beetle in the Anthill") speaks in favor of Nesterenko.

To educate a new person, the Strugatskys described in “Noon. XXII Century” a network of boarding schools. Their Educational Theory was subjected to lively criticism, which has not yet subsided.

The short stories "Noon. XXII century" are connected with each other (very conditionally) by the place and time of action: the united humanity of the XXII century - and the heroes. The heroes of the story are identified at the very beginning in two episodes - “Overrun”, where a spaceship launched back in previous century, - and “Intruders” - a short story about young students of the Anyuda school. The story unobtrusively traces the fate of both the main and episodic characters throughout the 22nd century.

The technique of using short stories connected by common characters allowed the authors to offer the attentive reader literary game: to discover in each short story such connecting characters, sometimes appearing in the very background.

Writers are mastering a new technique: not to explain technical innovations to the reader, but to include them in the narrative as a natural, familiar attribute of the reality being described.

The authors paid tribute to the theme that was common at that time and filled the story with technical details and episodes that, if developed, would themselves become an anthology of science fiction stories of the Jules Verne type. It is especially worth noting the topic of space exploration and cybernetization (the authors have the honor of introducing the term “cyber” into science fiction use).

The story defends the thesis that people of the “communist type” (and according to the Strugatskys, these are people who are comprehensively educated, creative in a broad sense, responsible for what they undertake and honest to themselves and others) are the same as the best people of the present, they “live now". In order for the current best exceptions to become the rule in the future, the authors believe that a system of new education and training is needed. Thus, a new theme appears in the Strugatskys’ work, a theme that will become the main one until the very end: the theme of the Teacher and the Teaching.

The Strugatskys model a biological (ecological) civilization; consider the situation of conflict contact.

The final essay of the story makes an attempt at an “ultra-long-range forecast” of the future. This theme will later be transformed into the theory of Vertical Progress and will find its pessimistic conclusion in the novel “The Waves Quench the Wind.”

The next work in the cycle is “An Attempt to Escape.” This is more of a warning novel than a utopian novel. Like S. Lem, starting with the affirmation of the ideal, the Strugatskys then moved on to showing those possible obstacles and contradictions that may be encountered in the future or are piled up on our path today.

“Dear boys! Forgive me for deceiving me. I’m not a historian. I just ran to you because I wanted to save myself. You won’t understand this. I only had one clip left, and I was overcome with sadness. And now I’m ashamed, and I’m coming back. "And you go back to Saula and do your job, and I'll finish mine. I still have a whole clip. I'm on my way. Farewell. Yours, S. Repnin."

With such a letter, Saul, who appeared from nowhere and disappeared to unknown destination, addresses his young friends - main character the Strugatskys' story "An Attempt to Escape".

A man of our era, who with his distant descendants made a “tourist trip” to an unknown planet and encountered despotism, barbarism, tyranny, bloody massacres - with everything that has apparently become distant history for his companions, this strange man returns into the past in order to fully fulfill his moral and civic duty. And Saul-Repnin dies in a fascist concentration camp, having fired the last clip from the Schmeisser captured from them at the enemies.

Temporal shifts that create a conventional allegorical background, of course, should not be taken literally. And there is no need to look for an explanation of how Repnin became Saul and ended up in the distant future. You just need to correctly understand the subtext of this story: under no circumstances is it possible to make a leap into the future without loosening for it and without saturating the soil of the present with blood and sweat.

Man and society - this is how we can define main topic and subsequent stories by the Strugatskys. In their fantastic social projections they highlight acute, and sometimes tragic conflicts, which are caused by the inevitable contradictions between man’s desire to conquer the Universe and the resistance of inert matter; between the power of creative Reason and the impossibility of demonstrating its powers in certain historical conditions; between subjective understanding moral duty and objective laws of social development. We encounter such philosophical and ethical conflicts in “Distant Rainbow”, and in “It’s Hard to Be a God”, and in other works of the Strugatsky brothers.

Wise in life in the 20th century, Saul believes that the social transformation of society is inseparable from the moral maturation of its members, and to transform Saul, it is necessary to break the ethical paradigms of the entire population of the planet, and this process is much more difficult and lengthy. The theme of Teacherhood sounds here, one of the main ones in the Strugatskys’ work.

Anticipating the problems of the story “It’s Hard to Be a God,” Saul asks the question of the ethical shock that will inevitably arise in a person of the future, plunging into a fundamentally different moral and ethical reality. He literally quotes plot device future story: “What will you do when you have to shoot? And you will have to shoot, Vadim, when your friend-teacher is crucified by dirty monks...” There is no answer to this question in “Attempt...”, the Strugatskys will not give an answer to it later either , despite the credo of the progressors formulated by them: “... there are carriers of intelligence in the world who are much, much worse than you, no matter what you are... And only then do you gain the ability to divide into strangers and your own, to make instant decisions in acute situations and you learn the courage to act first and then figure it out (“The Beetle in the Anthill”)

Saul formulates a maxim that remains true despite its uncertainty: to move people to change, “one must begin by sowing doubt” in established concepts. Here Saul is one of the “those who want strange things,” those whom the authorities on Saul imprisoned in a camp, a dissident in the literal, original sense of the word. By the way, there is unverified information that Saul is in original version should have escaped from the Gulag, and not from Hitler's concentration camp.

The most difficult story to understand is “It’s Hard to Be a God.” The story takes place in the future on another planet, where there is a humanoid civilization, whose representatives are physically indistinguishable from people. Civilization is at a level of development corresponding to the earthly Middle Ages. Employees of the Earth's Institute of Experimental History are secretly present on the planet, monitoring the development of civilization and trying to direct it along the most humane possible path.

The main character is the earthling Anton, who operates in the Arkanar kingdom under the name of the nobleman Rumata of Estor. The Arkanar kingdom is going through a period of countercultural reaction - there is persecution of “literate” people, and one of Anton-Rumata’s tasks is to rescue scientists and poets and transport them to safer regions. At the same time, Anton, like all field employees of the Institute of Experimental History, is subject to a strict restriction: although they master weapons, they do not have the right to use them to kill. The restriction is associated both with the strategy of minimal intervention and with the natural moral prohibition on murder for a person of the future.

Anton-Rumata’s work in the conditions of inhuman obscurantism reigning in Arkanar leads him to a deep internal conflict: not having the right to actively intervene in events, he at the same time begins to consider such intervention his moral duty. But in the conditions of Arkanar, such interference will inevitably lead to the need to kill...

“It’s Hard to Be a God” is the first work from the World of Noon cycle, where a progressor appears in the form of Anton. In the book, Anton-Rumata’s mission suffers a complete failure and, thus, clearly demonstrates how complex and mutually contradictory the tasks facing the Institute of Progressors are.

In the story "Anxiety" - the original version of "Snails on the Slope" - in the chapters about the forest, the authors raise the problem of choice in a situation of confrontation with superhuman power (see the stories "Distant Rainbow", "A Billion Years Before the End of the World", etc.). Mikhail Sidorov, nicknamed Athos, makes a choice in favor of the fight, no matter how difficult it may be. In the chapters about the Base, the main problem is about the limit human knowledge. Gorbovsky intuitively senses the danger for humanity, which has believed in the limitless power of reason. He says to one of the characters: “You ask what I’m afraid of. I’m not afraid of the tasks that humanity sets for itself, I’m afraid of the tasks that someone else can set for us. It’s just said that man is omnipotent, because , you see, he has a mind. Man is the most tender, most trembling creature, it is so easy to offend, disappoint, and kill him morally. He not only has a mind. He has a so-called soul. And what is good and easy for the mind can turn out to be fatal for the soul. And I don’t want all of humanity - with the exception of some very stupid ones - to blush and suffer from remorse or to suffer from their inferiority and from the consciousness of their helplessness when they are faced with tasks that they did not even set." . To some extent, Gorbovsky’s predictions will come true in the novel “Waves Quench the Wind,” when humanity directly encounters the Wanderers.

Problems of progress are raised in the “Maxim Kammerer trilogy” - “Inhabited Island”, “A Beetle in an Anthill” and “Waves Quench the Wind”. Without a doubt, the high point is "The Beetle in the Anthill." Here the problem of “human programming” arises (characteristic of “The Guy from the Underworld”). The plot is based on the birth of thirteen children from a sarcophagus-incubator created by the Travelers. They were recorded as the posthumous children of deceased researchers and sent to boarding schools, with doctors assigned to them to monitor their development. The children developed absolutely normally, but at a certain age a birthmark appeared on the crook of their arm, in the form of a strange icon. There was nothing special about these spots if a box with medallions with images of exactly the same signs had not been found in the sarcophagus. The connection between medallions and "foundlings" has been proven. During an experiment on the regeneration of the medallion after destruction, it did not recover, and soon a child with a birthmark in the form of the same sign died (Edna Lasko, No. 12). Also, after the death (presumably suicide) of one of the “foundlings” of Thomas Nilsson (No. 2), a medallion with the oblique star symbol disappeared from the case. The medallions began to be called "detonators".

Lev Abalkin, around whose secret identity the action is built, is one of the “children of the sarcophagus” (No. 7). His sign was the stylized letter "Zh". By the way, he got the sign first.

Based on “fairly elementary,” according to Sikorski, “considerations,” all the grown people from the sarcophagus were sent away from Earth with a ban on visiting the planet, and the box itself was sent to a closed section of the museum.

During the difficult events on Saraksh, Lev Abalkin learned that he was forbidden to visit Earth. (by the way, it’s interesting why another foundling - Korney Yashmaa, No. 11 - lives on Earth and only visits Giganda for work, judging by “The Guy from the Underworld”). In violation of the norms, Abalkin abandoned his activity as a progressor and returned to Earth as quietly as possible. He compared the ban on his visit to Earth with a similar ban on androids. He tried to understand and prove to himself that he was an ordinary person, and not an android, and the way to do this was to check his past for authenticity. Abalkin met with his acquaintances, came to Golovan, with whom he once worked.

According to Sikorski, all these throwings of Abalkin are nothing more than the action of the program embedded in him and the resisting consciousness. “After all, he doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. The program demands inhuman things from him, and his consciousness tries to transform this demand into something at least a little bit meaningful. He rushes about, he does strange and absurd things. Something like this I expected." says Sikorski. He is afraid that the “foundlings” will not turn out to be “Beetles in an anthill”, i.e. “smart guys, out of purely scientific curiosity, put a beetle in the anthill and with great diligence record all the nuances of ant psychology,” as Gorbovsky believes, and “ferrets in the henhouse” and nothing can change his opinion. Sikorski again arranges a raid on Abalkin; he cannot allow the medallion and the man to unite. Maxim tries to stop Abalkin so that he does not go to the museum. But Leo is adamant, therefore there is no way out. Rudolf Sikorski shoots and kills Abalkin.

Let us note that, as Maxim Kammerer is convinced in the course of his investigation, Excellents extinguishes in Abalkin everything to which he shows a tendency for twenty years. Without allowing a potential zoopsychologist to develop, Excellents ensures that Abalkin becomes an ordinary progressor (for example, the termination of operations “Man and Golovan” and “Golovan in Space”, sending Abalkin instead of the Blue Snake to Honti and to the Island Empire). In fact, suspecting the presence of some kind of Wanderer program in Abalkin, Excellents tries to create his own program for him, and in this regard, he himself commits the worst of what he only assumes about Wanderers.

In "The Beetle in the Anthill" we first encounter the clearly negative aspects of the Noon World:

The problem of xenophobia The plot demonstrates what in another book, “Waves Quench the Wind,” Maxim Kammerer defined as “Sikorsky Syndrome” (“a complex of uncontrollable fear of a possible invasion of the Wanderers”). Not only Excellent himself was infected with this syndrome, but also a huge part of the inhabitants of the World of Noon, living under the motto: “An alien is always bad, flawed, evil and powerless.” Moreover, xenophobia manifests itself not only against Wanderers or “foundlings,” but also Golovans and other aliens (especially the Tagoreans).

2. The problem of human rights. The “foundlings” were not given the full rights of people, although no one had proven that they were not people. It was the hypocrisy of those in power in this matter that led to the tragedy with Abalkin. Let us remember that Excellents insisted on accepting four demands. Representatives of the authorities do not disdain and double standards(remember the different positions of Korney Yashmaa and Lev Abalkin).

The problem of manipulating people's consciousness through means mass media(MASS MEDIA). In the World of Noon, this is the manipulation of people with the help of the Great World Informant (BVI), in which an ordinary resident of the World of Noon can only find out what is permitted by those in power. In particular, Maxim Kammerer tries to find out what Operation Mirror is and is refused, although he is an employee of COMCON-2 - in fact, a special officer of the future. Later he learns that these were global exercises to repel possible aggression from outside (probably an invasion of the Wanderers). Excellents, it turns out, was one of the leaders of this operation - he was responsible for maintaining its secrecy.

The last work of the cycle is “Waves Quench the Wind.” Comes out here new problem- the appearance of the Ludens - a race of people with inhuman abilities. This is already a way out new level. But the entire cycle does not have a plot ending. The death of Arkady Strugatsky prevented this; Boris did not dare to continue working on the cycle alone. True, in the 90s he gave permission for the publication of a number of sequels written by other authors (the three-volume set “The Time of Students”).

Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia

Now there are no more non-communists. All ten billion are communists... But they already have other goals. The former goal of the communist - abundance and mental and physical beauty - has ceased to be a goal. Now this is reality.

One of the planets inhabited by people and their historical homeland is the Earth. In fact, it is identical to today's Earth, but dates back to the 22nd century AD. It is described in most detail in the novel “Noon. XXII century", chronologically the first of the cycle about the world of Noon.

On the Earth of Noon the basic economic, social and ecological problems. Advances in bioengineering have provided material abundance without overproduction and pollution environment. Technologies for interstellar travel appeared, and the exploration of distant planets became the order of the day. Contacts have been established with extraterrestrial civilizations. People's worldview has changed dramatically. Working for the benefit of society is considered a natural duty and need of everyone. The life of a rational being is recognized as an unconditional and supreme value; the manifestation of aggression and ill will towards one’s neighbor has become a glaring exception. The science of society has made a qualitative leap (the theories of historical sequences and “vertical progress” have been created).

On Earth, the highest authoritative body is the World Council, whose members are the most famous scientists, historians, teachers and doctors. As a rule, the Council deals only with issues of a global-terrestrial and galactic scale.

Novels

The cycle dedicated to the world of Noon includes ten works (listed in chronology of writing):

"Noon, XXII century" ()
"Attempt to escape" ()
"Distant Rainbow" ()
"It's hard to be a god" ()
“Anxiety” (, publ. -) - the original version of the story “Snail on the Slope” (1965)
"Inhabited Island" ()
"Baby " ()
"Guy from the Underworld" ()
“Beetle in an anthill” (-)
“Waves extinguish the wind” (-)

In addition to the above books, the following works take place in the Noon universe:

"Land of Crimson Clouds" ()
books "Zhilina cycle"

The Time of the Disciples and Other Free Sequences

In the late 1990s, a number of works were published, created by Russian science fiction writers based on the books of the Strugatskys (with the permission of Boris Natanovich) and collectively called “The Time of Students”. Many of these stories belonged to the world of Midday. “The Time of Students” - five collections of short stories and novellas written by various authors.

Characters

Progressors

The term "progressor" was invented by the Strugatsky brothers and was originally used exclusively in the world of Noon. In modern science fiction literature progressors are representatives of highly developed intelligent races, whose responsibilities include promoting the scientific development of civilizations at a lower technological level, thereby increasing the general standard of living of their representatives. The Strugatsky progressors are a completely special professional group of earthlings. Often they act secretly, illegally; when performing a task, they have to deviate from the moral code of the Noon Man and perceive the morality and ethics of the civilization in which they have to be introduced - if necessary, even to the point of the ability to violence and murder. This circumstance led to severe psychological trauma for early progressors (“It’s hard to be a god”). Therefore, during preparation, the progressor undergoes a “mental conditioning” procedure, which suppresses a number of moral imperatives and makes his behavior adequate to the environment in which he will have to work. After a business trip, the progressor must undergo a “reconditioning” procedure at an extraterrestrial base - a return to the usual psychological appearance of an earthling (“Beetle in an anthill”).

COMCON-2

The open society of Noon, based on complete trust between people, is alien to the idea of any secret activity. Nevertheless, questions remain that have to be resolved without publicity. A special place among terrestrial institutions is occupied by the “Commission for Control” - COMCON-2 (in contrast to the first COMCON - the commission for contacts with extraterrestrial civilizations). This organization is engaged in researching possible threats to humanity and protecting against them. With the approval of the World Council, COMCON-2 can take quite harsh measures, for example, classifying and stopping entire directions scientific research, if they are recognized as potentially dangerous to the earthly community, or secretly interfere with fate individuals(“the case of foundlings”). One of the threats is considered to be interference in the earthly life of other people's progressors. The attitude towards the activities of COMCON-2 in society is quite ambiguous, even to the point of open hostility. The head of COMCON-2, Rudolf Sikorsky, in conversations with Camerer, noticed that many earthlings, including most members of the World Council, had become very soft-hearted and idealistic and refused to take into account the possible threat posed by extraterrestrial intelligence. Uncontrollable fear of an external threat even received a special name - “Sikorsky syndrome.” The issues associated with COMCON-2 are raised mainly in the stories “The Beetle in the Anthill” and “The Waves Extinguish the Wind.”

Technologies

Technological innovations of the World of Noon, both epochal ones that changed the face of society, and small everyday ones, are described for the most part without details, in passing, as something self-evident.

Deritrinitation

Foretold in beginning of XXI century by Bykov Jr. and a physical phenomenon discovered in the mid-to-late 21st century, which consists in the fact that a body moving near the light barrier with accelerations changing in a certain way “pierces” the three-dimensional continuum, instantly moving over long distances.

In 2020, the unintentional uncontrolled detrinitization of the research photon starship Taimyr led to its movement to one of the neighboring stars - the ship returned only in the 22nd century. Controlled deritrinitation was the first technology to enable faster-than-light travel in space. Spaceships, implementing this principle of movement, were called “D-spaceships”. Subsequently, they were replaced by ships using Null-T technology for movement.

Null-T

It is essentially classical teleportation. Described in two types. The first is intraterrestrial (including the Moon) public transport in the form of a network of cabins, the second is “ghost” spaceships. It is enough to enter the cabin and dial the code of the receiving cabin to move to any other cabin in the network. Sometimes the cabin system may experience interruptions in operation due to fluctuations in the neutrino field; in this case, navigation is disrupted and instead of the selected target cabin, you can end up in any other one (“Bug in the Anthill”). Superluminal “ghost” spaceships move in space using the same physical principles, but without an input and output device. Such a ship, in principle, does not require access to outer space; it can launch directly from the atmosphere and materialize on another planet in the immediate vicinity of the landing point.

BVI

The Large All-Planetary Information Center is a global repository of various information, equipped with a flexible and effective search mechanism, a kind of analogue of the Internet. Access to the BVI is free for everyone, although there are also closed segments “for specialists only”, with different levels of access (“Bug in the Anthill”). It is mentioned that personal data of people ends up in the BVI only with their consent (“Bug in the anthill”).

Embryomechanics

Technology that makes it possible to obtain bulky technical objects from small and light embryos in much the same way as living organisms develop from embryos. Embryos can be stored and transported as much as you like, they take up little space in a warehouse or in a starship, and at the right time the embryo is activated and a vehicle, residential building, technological installation, etc. quickly develops from it. Details not described ("Distant Rainbow").

Food production

There are no food problems in the world of Noon, at least on Earth. Detailed description There are no ways in which abundance was achieved in the novels, but, for example, it is known that instead of traditional animal husbandry, certain artificial biological objects appeared - “walking protein factories” (“Noon, XXII century”). Distant planets, where there are sufficiently large colonies of earthlings, provide themselves with food themselves (“Distant Rainbow”). The food that the authors mention is generally quite ordinary (for example, the description of “tea” by Dr. Goannek in “The Beetle in the Anthill”). Earthlings are not prone to gluttony, but new gastronomic delights and a gourmet food industry have appeared (raw materials for “alapai” are grown only on Pandora - “Waves extinguish the wind”).

Bioblockade and fukamization

Universal protection against harmful microorganisms. To perform this procedure, the so-called “bacteria of life” from Pandora, an extremely dangerous planet in evolutionary terms, is used. The bioblock needs to be updated periodically.

Subsequently, the bioblockade is replaced (or supplemented) by a eugenic procedure called “fukamization,” carried out in the last stages of intrauterine development of the fetus and immediately after birth. Its main element is “disinhibition of the hypothalamus”, performed by some kind of radiation. As a result of this procedure, the body’s ability to resist all types of infections and harmful agents increases significantly. external environment, such as poisons and radiation exposure, and the abilities of empathy and suggestion also increase.

Delivery Line

Judging by the mentions in different works, The Delivery Line is an automated structure that has replaced the conventional distribution network.

Planets

Intelligent races

In addition, there are a number of beings whose intelligence cannot be confirmed or disproved, including, but not limited to, septoids(cm. "Noon. XXII century »), a semi-intelligent prehistoric mollusk catapumoridako(cm. "The waves extinguish the wind") and an unidentified supposedly intelligent creature killed by the hunter Paul Bay on the planet Crux (see "P22V").

Great Revelation

Criticism of the World of Noon

Authors' opinion

In fact, we did not consider the problems of the transition from capitalism to communism at all. We realized quite quickly that the world we were describing, the World of Noon, was practically unattainable. Nowadays it is completely unattainable. Maybe in the future, when (and if) a High education system (capable of turning every human child into creative personality), when and if humanity feels the need for such an education system (as at one time it felt the need for universal literacy), several generations later, a transition to the World of Noon will take place. Now this is in no way a theoretically justified (and incapable of being justified) social structure - the World-in which-we-would-like-to-live. And nothing more.
OFF-LINE interview with Boris Strugatsky

Controversy

One example of polemics with the World of Noon (as well as with the world described by Ivan Efremov in the novel “Andromeda Nebula”) is the World of Geometers by Sergei Lukyanenko, described in the dilogy “Stars are Cold Toys”. Geometers, pursuing the goal of building an interstellar brotherhood of races under the leadership of people (in fact, a form of imperialism that is not characteristic of the world of Noon), bring all the civilizations they encounter under their level of technology (including lowering, if necessary, this level) and then offer them “friendship.” and brotherhood." On the Geometers' own planet, society has basic external signs“The World of Noon” - the World Council of the most authoritative specialists (some even have a portrait resemblance to certain Strugatsky characters), the leading role of the Mentors, which everyone accepts without objection. However, in practice, this society is based on the suppression of the individual and reacts extremely harshly to any attempts to counteract and even doubt. Behind the screen of good intentions and universal friendship and love, one discovers intolerance, total control and even concentration camps for the “incurable.” Thus, the society of Geometers, despite maintaining external similarities with the World of Noon, essentially turns into its opposite. Once again S. Lukyanenko turns to the World of Noon in the work “Spectrum”, where the inhabitants of a certain planet, in the process of building a “bright future”, lost their souls.

Andrei Lazarchuk, in the story “Everything is Good,” published in the first collection “Time of Students,” argues with the Strugatskys not in relation to the World of Noon itself, but in the reality of its natural achievement in the process of social development. In his presentation, the World of Noon turns out to be artificial; it turns out that on Earth in the 21st century, exactly what was proposed to be done in the story “The Inhabited Island” on Arkanar was done: emitter satellites were put into orbit, the radiation of which affects the psyche of people, turning them into altruists, capable of receiving true pleasure only from creative work for the common good, “who love work and knowledge more than anything else in the world.”

Parodies

The world of Midday Strugatsky became the subject of numerous sequels, imitations and parodies. There is a ton of fan literature and websites, for example:

I understand very well who is sitting in front of me on this wicker chair. I am a representative of Comcon-2, which has set its goal to remove various Wanderers there from circulation. And you, O’You, belong precisely to their tribe. And there is no need to object to me, you are revealed, Wanderer.
Why do you have such a grudge against the Wanderers?
They threaten the security of the United Humanity... We cannot forget for a second the threat they pose to us. We, Komkonovites, are all as one, stone wall Let us stand in the way of their bloody encroachments. We will not allow some Strangers to enslave us, oppress, blackmail and kill us left and right and whatever else they do to other civilizations.
- Vladimir Pokrovsky. "The Planet Where Anything Is Possible"
The rain passed, only fog and drops of water fell from tree branches. Denisov, Esaul and Petya silently rode behind a man in a cap, who, lightly and silently stepping with his bast-clad feet on roots and wet leaves, led them to the edge of the forest.
Coming out onto the road, the man paused, looked around and headed towards the thinning wall of trees. At a large oak tree that had not yet shed its leaves, he stopped and mysteriously beckoned to him with his hand.
Denisov and Petya drove up to him. From the place where the man stopped, the French were visible. Now, behind the forest, a spring field ran down a semi-hillock. To the right, across a steep ravine, a small village and a manor house with collapsed roofs could be seen. In this village and in the manor's house, and throughout the hillock, in the garden, at the wells and pond, and along the entire road up the mountain from the bridge to the village, no more than two hundred fathoms away, crowds of people were visible in the fluctuating fog. Their non-Russian screams at the horses in the carts struggling up the mountain and calls to each other were clearly heard.
“Give the prisoner here,” Denisop said quietly, not taking his eyes off the French.
The Cossack got off his horse, took the boy off and walked up to Denisov with him. Denisov, pointing to the French, asked what kind of troops they were. The boy, putting his chilled hands in his pockets and raising his eyebrows, looked at Denisov in fear and, despite the visible desire to say everything he knew, was confused in his answers and only confirmed what Denisov was asking. Denisov, frowning, turned away from him and turned to the esaul, telling him his thoughts.
Petya, turning his head with quick movements, looked back at the drummer, then at Denisov, then at the esaul, then at the French in the village and on the road, trying not to miss anything important.
“Pg” is coming, not “pg” Dolokhov is coming, we must bg”at!.. Eh? - said Denisov, his eyes flashing cheerfully.
“The place is convenient,” said the esaul.
“We’ll send the infantry down through the swamps,” Denisov continued, “they’ll crawl up to the garden; you will come with the Cossacks from there,” Denisov pointed to the forest behind the village, “and I will come from here, with my ganders. And along the road...
“It won’t be a hollow—it’s a quagmire,” said the esaul. - You’ll get stuck in your horses, you need to go around to the left...
While they were talking in a low voice in this way, below, in the ravine from the pond, one shot clicked, smoke turned white, then another, and a friendly, seemingly cheerful cry was heard from hundreds of French voices who were on the half-mountain. In the first minute, both Denisov and the esaul moved back. They were so close that it seemed to them that they were the cause of these shots and screams. But the shots and screams did not apply to them. Below, through the swamps, a man in something red was running. Apparently he was being shot at and shouted at by the French.
“After all, this is our Tikhon,” said the esaul.
- He! they are!
“What a rogue,” Denisov said.
- He will go away! - Esaul said, narrowing his eyes.
The man they called Tikhon, running up to the river, splashed into it so that splashes flew, and, hiding for a moment, all black from the water, he got out on all fours and ran on. The French running after him stopped.
“Well, he’s clever,” said the esaul.
- What a beast! – Denisov said with the same expression of annoyance. - And what has he been doing so far?
- Who is this? – Petya asked.
- This is our plastun. I sent him to take the tongue.
“Oh, yes,” Petya said from Denisov’s first word, nodding his head as if he understood everything, although he absolutely did not understand a single word.
Tikhon Shcherbaty was one of the most necessary people in the party. He was a man from Pokrovskoye near Gzhat. When, at the beginning of his actions, Denisov came to Pokrovskoye and, as always, calling the headman, asked what they knew about the French, the headman answered, as all the headmen answered, as if defending themselves, that they didn’t know anything, to know they don't know. But when Denisov explained to them that his goal was to beat the French, and when he asked if the French had wandered in, the headman said that there were definitely marauders, but that in their village only one Tishka Shcherbaty was involved in these matters. Denisov ordered Tikhon to be called to him and, praising him for his activities, said a few words in front of the headman about the loyalty to the Tsar and the Fatherland and the hatred of the French that the sons of the Fatherland should observe.
“We don’t do anything bad to the French,” said Tikhon, apparently timid at Denisov’s words. “That’s the only way we fooled around with the guys.” They must have beaten about two dozen Miroders, otherwise we didn’t do anything bad... - The next day, when Denisov, completely forgetting about this guy, left Pokrovsky, he was informed that Tikhon had attached himself to the party and asked to be left with it. Denisov ordered to leave him.
Tikhon, who at first corrected the menial work of laying fires, delivering water, skinning horses, etc., soon showed great willingness and ability to guerrilla warfare. He went out at night to hunt for prey and each time brought with him French clothes and weapons, and when he was ordered, he also brought prisoners. Denisov dismissed Tikhon from work, began to take him with him on travels and enrolled him in the Cossacks.
Tikhon did not like to ride and always walked, never falling behind the cavalry. His weapons were a blunderbuss, which he wore more for fun, a pike and an ax, which he wielded like a wolf wields his teeth, equally easily picking out fleas from his fur and biting through thick bones. Tikhon equally faithfully, with all his might, split logs with an ax and, taking the ax by the butt, used it to cut out thin pegs and cut out spoons. In Denisov's party, Tikhon occupied his special, exclusive place. When it was necessary to do something especially difficult and disgusting - turn a cart over in the mud with your shoulder, pull a horse out of a swamp by the tail, skin it, climb into the very middle of the French, walk fifty miles a day - everyone pointed, laughing, at Tikhon.
“What the hell is he doing, you big gelding,” they said about him.
Once, the Frenchman whom Tikhon was taking shot at him with a pistol and hit him in the flesh of his back. This wound, for which Tikhon was treated only with vodka, internally and externally, was the subject of the funniest jokes in the entire detachment and jokes to which Tikhon willingly succumbed.
- What, brother, won’t you? Is Ali crooked? - the Cossacks laughed at him, and Tikhon, deliberately crouching and making faces, pretending that he was angry, scolded the French with the most ridiculous curses. This incident had only the influence on Tikhon that after his wound he rarely brought prisoners.
Tikhon was the most useful and brave man in the party. No one else discovered cases of attack, no one else took him and beat the French; and as a result of this, he was the jester of all the Cossacks and hussars and he himself willingly succumbed to this rank. Now Tikhon was sent by Denisov, at night, to Shamshevo in order to take the tongue. But, either because he was not satisfied with just the Frenchman, or because he slept through the night, during the day he climbed into the bushes, into the very middle of the French and, as Denisov saw from Mount Denisov, was discovered by them.
After talking a little more time with the esaul about tomorrow's attack, which now, looking at the proximity of the French, Denisov seemed to have finally decided, he turned his horse and rode back.
“Well, damn, now let’s go dry off,” he said to Petya.
Approaching the forest guardhouse, Denisov stopped, peering into the forest. Through the forest, between the trees, a man in a jacket, bast shoes and a Kazan hat, with a gun over his shoulder and an ax in his belt, walked with long, light steps on long legs, with long, dangling arms. Seeing Denisov, this man hastily threw something into the bush and, taking off his wet hat with its drooping brim, approached the boss. It was Tikhon. His face, pitted with smallpox and wrinkles, with small, narrow eyes, shone with self-satisfied gaiety. He raised his head high and, as if holding back laughter, stared at Denisov.
“Well, where did it fall?” Denisov said.
- Where had you been? “I followed the French,” Tikhon answered boldly and hastily in a hoarse but melodious bass.
- Why did you climb during the day? Cattle! Well, didn't you take it?..
“I took it,” said Tikhon.
- Where is he?
“Yes, I took him first at dawn,” Tikhon continued, moving his flat legs turned out wider in his bast shoes, “and took him into the forest.” I see it's not okay. I think, let me go and get another more careful one.
“Look, you scoundrel, that’s how it is,” Denisov said to the esaul. - Why didn’t you do this?
“Why should we lead him,” Tikhon interrupted hastily and angrily, “he’s not fit.” Don't I know which ones you need?
- What a beast!.. Well?..
“I went after someone else,” Tikhon continued, “I crawled into the forest in this manner, and lay down.” – Tikhon suddenly and flexibly lay down on his belly, imagining in their faces how he did it. “One and catch up,” he continued. “I’ll rob him in this manner.” – Tikhon quickly and easily jumped up. “Let’s go, I say, to the colonel.” How loud he will be. And there are four of them here. They rushed at me with skewers. “I hit them with an ax in this manner: why are you, Christ is with you,” Tikhon cried, waving his arms and frowning menacingly, sticking out his chest.
“We saw from the mountain how you asked a line through the puddles,” said the esaul, narrowing his shining eyes.
Petya really wanted to laugh, but he saw that everyone was holding back from laughing. He quickly moved his eyes from Tikhon’s face to the faces of the esaul and Denisov, not understanding what it all meant.
“Don’t even imagine it,” Denisov said, coughing angrily. “Why didn’t he do it?”
Tikhon began to scratch his back with one hand, his head with the other, and suddenly his whole face stretched into a shining, stupid smile, revealing a missing tooth (for which he was nicknamed Shcherbaty). Denisov smiled, and Petya burst into cheerful laughter, which Tikhon himself joined in.
“Yes, it’s completely wrong,” said Tikhon. “The clothes he’s wearing are bad, so where should we take him?” Yes, and a rude man, your honor. Why, he says, I myself am the son of Anaral, I won’t go, he says.
- What a brute! - Denisov said. - I need to ask...
“Yes, I asked him,” said Tikhon. - He says: I don’t know him well. There are many of ours, he says, but all of them are bad; only, he says, one name. “If you’re fine,” he says, “you’ll take everyone,” Tikhon concluded, looking cheerfully and decisively into Denisov’s eyes.
“Here, I’ll pour in a hundred gogs, and you’ll do the same,” Denisov said sternly.
“Why be angry,” said Tikhon, “well, I haven’t seen your French?” Just let it get dark, I’ll bring whatever you want, at least three.
“Well, let’s go,” Denisov said, and he rode all the way to the guardhouse, frowning angrily and silently.
Tikhon came from behind, and Petya heard the Cossacks laughing with him and at him about some boots that he had thrown into a bush.
When the laughter that had taken over him at Tikhon’s words and smile passed, and Petya realized for a moment that this Tikhon had killed a man, he felt embarrassed. He looked back at the captive drummer, and something pierced his heart. But this awkwardness lasted only for a moment. He felt the need to raise his head higher, cheer up and ask the esaul with a significant look about tomorrow's enterprise, so as not to be unworthy of the society in which he was.
The sent officer met Denisov on the road with the news that Dolokhov himself would arrive now and that everything was fine on his part.
Denisov suddenly became cheerful and called Petya over to him.
“Well, tell me about yourself,” he said.
When Petya left Moscow, leaving his relatives, he joined his regiment and soon after that he was taken as an orderly to the general who commanded a large detachment. From the time of his promotion to officer, and especially from his entry into the active army, where he participated in the Battle of Vyazemsky, Petya was in a constantly happily excited state of joy at the fact that he was great, and in a constantly enthusiastic haste not to miss any case of real heroism . He was very happy with what he saw and experienced in the army, but at the same time it seemed to him that where he was not, that was where the most real, heroic things were now happening. And he was in a hurry to get to where he was not.
When on October 21 his general expressed a desire to send someone to Denisov’s detachment, Petya so pitifully asked to send him that the general could not refuse. But, sending him, the general, remembering Petya’s crazy act in the battle of Vyazemsky, where Petya, instead of going along the road to where he was sent, galloped in a chain under the fire of the French and shot there twice from his pistol, - sending him, the general namely, he forbade Petya to participate in any of Denisov’s actions. This made Petya blush and became confused when Denisov asked if he could stay. Before leaving for the edge of the forest, Petya believed that he needed to strictly fulfill his duty and return immediately. But when he saw the French, saw Tikhon, learned that they would certainly attack that night, he, with the speed of transitions of young people from one glance to another, decided with himself that his general, whom he had hitherto greatly respected, was rubbish, the German that Denisov is a hero, and Esaul is a hero, and that Tikhon is a hero, and that he would be ashamed to leave them in difficult times.
It was already getting dark when Denisov, Petya and the esaul drove up to the guardhouse. In the semi-darkness one could see horses in saddles, Cossacks, hussars setting up huts in the clearing and (so that the French would not see the smoke) building a reddening fire in a forest ravine. In the entryway of a small hut, a Cossack, rolling up his sleeves, was chopping lamb. In the hut itself there were three officers from Denisov’s party, who had set up a table out of the door. Petya took off his wet dress, letting it dry, and immediately began helping the officers set up the dinner table.
Ten minutes later the table was ready, covered with a napkin. There was vodka on the table, rum in a flask, White bread and fried lamb with salt.
Sitting with the officers at the table and tearing the fatty fragrant lamb with his hands, through which the lard flowed, Petya was in an enthusiastic childish state tender love to all people and, as a result, confidence in the same love for other people.
“So what do you think, Vasily Fedorovich,” he turned to Denisov, “is it okay that I stay with you for a day?” - And, without waiting for an answer, he answered himself: - After all, I was ordered to find out, well, I’ll find out... Only you will let me into the very... main one. I don’t need awards... But I want... - Petya clenched his teeth and looked around, jerking his head up and waving his hand.
“To the most important thing...” Denisov repeated, smiling.
“Just please, give me a complete command, so that I can command,” continued Petya, “what do you need?” Oh, would you like a knife? - he turned to the officer who wanted to cut off the lamb. And he handed over his penknife.
The officer praised the knife.
- Please take it for yourself. I have a lot of these...” Petya said, blushing. - Fathers! “I completely forgot,” he suddenly cried out. “I have wonderful raisins, you know, the kind without seeds.” We have a new sutler - and such wonderful things. I bought ten pounds. I'm used to something sweet. Do you want?.. - And Petya ran into the hallway to his Cossack and brought bags containing five pounds of raisins. - Eat, gentlemen, eat.
– Don’t you need a coffee pot? – he turned to Esaul. “I bought it from our sutler, it’s wonderful!” He has wonderful things. And he is very honest. This is the main thing. I will definitely send it to you. Or maybe flints have come out and become abundant - because this happens. I took with me, I have here... - he pointed to the bags, - a hundred flints. I bought it very cheap. Please take as much as you need, or that’s all... - And suddenly, afraid that he had lied, Petya stopped and blushed.
He began to remember if he had done anything else stupid. And, going through the memories of this day, the memory of the French drummer appeared to him. “That’s great for us, but what about him? Where did they take him? Was he fed? Did you offend me?" - he thought. But having noticed that he had lied about the flints, he was now afraid.
“You could ask,” he thought, “and they’ll say: the boy himself felt sorry for the boy. I'll show them tomorrow what a boy I am! Would you be embarrassed if I asked? - thought Petya. “Well, it doesn’t matter!” - and immediately, blushing and looking fearfully at the officers, to see if there would be mockery in their faces, he said:
– Can I call this boy who was captured? give him something to eat... maybe...
“Yes, pathetic boy,” Denisov said, apparently not finding anything shameful in this reminder. - Call him here. His name is Vincent Bosse. Call.
“I’ll call,” said Petya.
- Call, call. “Pitiful boy,” Denisov repeated.
Petya was standing at the door when Denisov said this. Petya crawled between the officers and came close to Denisov.
“Let me kiss you, my dear,” he said. - Oh, how great! how good! - And, having kissed Denisov, he ran into the yard.
- Bosse! Vincent! – Petya shouted, stopping at the door.
- Who do you want, sir? - said a voice from the darkness. Petya answered that the boy was French, who was taken today.
- A! Spring? - said the Cossack.
His name Vincent has already been changed: the Cossacks - into Vesenny, and the men and soldiers - into Visenya. In both adaptations, this reminder of spring coincided with the idea of a young boy.
“He was warming himself by the fire there.” Hey Visenya! Visenya! Spring! – voices and laughter were heard in the darkness.
“And the boy is smart,” said the hussar standing next to Petya. “We fed him just now.” Passion was hungry!
Footsteps were heard in the darkness and, splashing bare feet through the mud, the drummer approached the door.
“Ah, c"est vous!" said Petya. “Voulez vous manger? N"ayez pas peur, on ne vous fera pas de mal,” he added, timidly and affectionately touching his hand. - Entrez, entrez. [Oh, it's you! Are you hungry? Don't be afraid, they won't do anything to you. Enter, enter.]
“Merci, monsieur, [Thank you, sir.],” answered the drummer in a trembling, almost childish voice and began to wipe his dirty feet on the threshold. Petya wanted to say a lot to the drummer, but he didn’t dare. He stood next to him in the hallway, shifting. Then in the darkness I took his hand and shook it.
“Entrez, entrez,” he repeated only in a gentle whisper.
“Oh, what should I do to him!” - Petya said to himself and, opening the door, let the boy pass by.
When the drummer entered the hut, Petya sat away from him, considering it humiliating for himself to pay attention to him. He just felt the money in his pocket and was in doubt whether it would be a shame to give it to the drummer.
From the drummer, who, on Denisov’s orders, was given vodka, mutton and whom Denisov ordered to dress in a Russian caftan, so that, without sending him away with the prisoners, he would be left with the party, Petya’s attention was diverted by the arrival of Dolokhov. Petya in the army heard many stories about the extraordinary courage and cruelty of Dolokhov with the French, and therefore, from the moment Dolokhov entered the hut, Petya, without taking his eyes off, looked at him and became more and more encouraged, twitching his head raised, so as not to be unworthy even of such a society as Dolokhov.
Dolokhov’s appearance strangely struck Petya with its simplicity.
Denisov dressed in a checkmen, wore a beard and on his chest the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and in his manner of speaking, in all his manners, he showed the peculiarity of his position. Dolokhov, on the contrary, previously, in Moscow, who wore a Persian suit, now had the appearance of the most prim Guards officer. His face was clean-shaven, he was dressed in a guards cotton frock coat with George in the buttonhole and a simple cap straight on. He took off his wet cloak in the corner and, going up to Denisov, without greeting anyone, immediately began asking about the matter. Denisov told him about the plans that large detachments had for their transport, and about sending Petya, and about how he responded to both generals. Then Denisov told everything he knew about the position of the French detachment.
“That’s true, but you need to know what and how many troops,” said Dolokhov, “you will need to go.” Without knowing exactly how many there are, you cannot start the business. I like to do things carefully. Now, would any of the gentlemen want to go with me to their camp? I have my uniforms with me.
- I, I... I will go with you! – Petya screamed.
“You don’t need to go at all,” Denisov said, turning to Dolokhov, “and I won’t let him in for anything.”
- That's great! - Petya cried out, - why shouldn’t I go?..
- Yes, because there is no need.
“Well, excuse me, because... because... I’ll go, that’s all.” Will you take me? – he turned to Dolokhov.
“Why…” answered Dolokhov absentmindedly, peering into the face of the French drummer.
- How long have you had this young man? – he asked Denisov.
- Today they took him, but he doesn’t know anything. I left it for myself.
- Well, where are you putting the rest? - said Dolokhov.
- How to where? “I’m sending you under guard!” Denisov suddenly blushed and cried out. “And I’ll boldly say that I don’t have a single person on my conscience. Are you happy to send someone away? than magic, I will tell you, the honor of a soldier.
“It’s decent for a young count of sixteen to say these pleasantries,” Dolokhov said with a cold grin, “but it’s time for you to leave it.”
“Well, I’m not saying anything, I’m just saying that I will definitely go with you,” Petya said timidly.
“And it’s time for you and me, brother, to give up these pleasantries,” Dolokhov continued, as if he found special pleasure in talking about this subject that irritated Denisov. - Well, why did you take this to you? - he said, shaking his head. - Then why do you feel sorry for him? After all, we know these receipts of yours. You send them a hundred people, and thirty will come. They will starve or be beaten. So is it all the same not to take them?
Esaul, squinting light eyes, nodded his head approvingly.
- This is all shit, there’s nothing to argue about. I don’t want to take it on my soul. You talk - help. Well, hog "osho." Just not from me.
Dolokhov laughed.
“Who didn’t tell them to catch me twenty times?” But they will catch me and you, with your chivalry, anyway. – He paused. - However, we have to do something. Send my Cossack with a pack! I have two French uniforms. Well, are you coming with me? – he asked Petya.
- I? Yes, yes, absolutely,” Petya cried, blushing almost to the point of tears, looking at Denisov.
Again, while Dolokhov was arguing with Denisov about what should be done with the prisoners, Petya felt awkward and hasty; but again I did not have time to fully understand what they were talking about. “If big, famous people think so, then it must be so, therefore it’s good,” he thought. “And most importantly, Denisov must not dare to think that I will obey him, that he can command me.” I will definitely go with Dolokhov to the French camp. He can do it and so can I.”
To all of Denisov’s urgings not to travel, Petya replied that he, too, was used to doing everything carefully, and not Lazar’s at random, and that he never thought about danger to himself.
“Because,” you yourself must agree, “if you don’t know correctly how many there are, the lives of maybe hundreds depend on it, but here we are alone, and then I really want this, and I will definitely, definitely go, you won’t stop me.” “, he said, “it will only get worse...
Dressed in French greatcoats and shakos, Petya and Dolokhov drove to the clearing from which Denisov looked at the camp, and, leaving the forest in complete darkness, descended into the ravine. Having driven down, Dolokhov ordered the Cossacks accompanying him to wait here and rode at a fast trot along the road to the bridge. Petya, transfixed with excitement, rode next to him.
“If we get caught, I won’t give up alive, I have a gun,” Petya whispered.
“Don’t speak Russian,” Dolokhov said in a quick whisper, and at that same moment a cry was heard in the darkness: “Qui vive?” [Who's coming?] and the ringing of a gun.
Blood rushed to Petya's face, and he grabbed the pistol.
“Lanciers du sixieme, [Lancers of the sixth regiment.],” said Dolokhov, without shortening or increasing the horse’s stride. The black figure of a sentry stood on the bridge.
– Mot d’ordre? [Review?] – Dolokhov held his horse and rode at a walk.
– Dites donc, le colonel Gerard est ici? [Tell me, is Colonel Gerard here?] - he said.
“Mot d'ordre!” said the sentry without answering, blocking the road.
“Quand un officier fait sa ronde, les sentinelles ne demandent pas le mot d"ordre...,” Dolokhov shouted, suddenly flushing, running his horse into the sentry. “Je vous demande si le colonel est ici?” [When an officer goes around the chain, the sentries do not ask review... I ask, is the colonel here?]
And, without waiting for an answer from the guard who stood aside, Dolokhov walked up the hill at a pace.
Noticing the black shadow of a man crossing the road, Dolokhov stopped this man and asked where the commander and officers were? This man, a soldier with a sack on his shoulder, stopped, came close to Dolokhov’s horse, touching it with his hand, and simply and friendlyly said that the commander and officers were higher on the mountain, on the right side, in the farm yard (that’s what he called the master’s estate).
Having driven along the road, on both sides of which French conversation could be heard from the fires, Dolokhov turned into the courtyard of the manor’s house. Having passed through the gate, he dismounted from his horse and approached a large blazing fire, around which several people were sitting, talking loudly. Something was boiling in a pot on the edge, and a soldier in a cap and blue overcoat, kneeling, brightly illuminated by the fire, stirred it with a ramrod.
“Oh, c"est un dur a cuire, [You can’t deal with this devil.],” said one of the officers sitting in the shadows on the opposite side of the fire.
“Il les fera marcher les lapins... [He will get through them...],” said another with a laugh. Both fell silent, peering into the darkness at the sound of the steps of Dolokhov and Petya, approaching the fire with their horses.
- Bonjour, messieurs! [Hello, gentlemen!] - Dolokhov said loudly and clearly.
The officers stirred in the shadow of the fire, and one, a tall officer with long neck, bypassing the fire, approached Dolokhov.
“C”est vous, Clement?” he said. “D”ou, diable... [Is that you, Clement? Where the hell...] - but he did not finish, having learned his mistake, and, frowning slightly, as if he were a stranger, he greeted Dolokhov, asking him how he could serve. Dolokhov said that he and a friend were catching up with their regiment, and asked, turning to everyone in general, if the officers knew anything about the sixth regiment. Nobody knew anything; and it seemed to Petya that the officers began to examine him and Dolokhov with hostility and suspicion. Everyone was silent for a few seconds.
“Si vous comptez sur la soupe du soir, vous venez trop tard, [If you are counting on dinner, then you are late.],” said a voice from behind the fire with a restrained laugh.
Dolokhov replied that they were full and that they needed to move on at night.
He gave the horses to the soldier who was stirring the pot, and squatted down by the fire next to the long-necked officer. This officer, without taking his eyes off, looked at Dolokhov and asked him again: what regiment was he in? Dolokhov did not answer, as if he had not heard the question, and, lighting a short French pipe, which he took out of his pocket, asked the officers how safe the road was from the Cossacks ahead of them.
“Les brigands sont partout, [These robbers are everywhere.],” answered the officer from behind the fire.
Dolokhov said that the Cossacks were terrible only for such backward people as he and his comrade, but that the Cossacks probably did not dare to attack large detachments, he added questioningly. Nobody answered.
“Well, now he’ll leave,” Petya thought every minute, standing in front of the fire and listening to his conversation.
But Dolokhov again began the conversation that had stopped and directly began asking how many people they had in the battalion, how many battalions, how many prisoners. Asking about the captured Russians who were with their detachment, Dolokhov said:
– La vilaine affaire de trainer ces cadavres apres soi. Vaudrait mieux fusiller cette canaille, [It’s a bad thing to carry these corpses around with you. It would be better to shoot this bastard.] - and laughed loudly with such a strange laugh that Petya thought the French would now recognize the deception, and he involuntarily took a step away from the fire. No one responded to Dolokhov’s words and laughter, and the French officer, who was not visible (he was lying wrapped in an overcoat), stood up and whispered something to his comrade. Dolokhov stood up and called to the soldier with the horses.
“Will they serve the horses or not?” - Petya thought, involuntarily approaching Dolokhov.
The horses were brought in.
“Bonjour, messieurs, [Here: farewell, gentlemen.],” said Dolokhov.
Petya wanted to say bonsoir [good evening] and could not finish the words. The officers were whispering something to each other. Dolokhov took a long time to mount the horse, which was not standing; then he walked out of the gate. Petya rode beside him, wanting and not daring to look back to see whether the French were running or not running after them.
Having reached the road, Dolokhov drove not back into the field, but along the village. At one point he stopped, listening.
- Do you hear? - he said.
Petya recognized the sounds of Russian voices and saw the dark figures of Russian prisoners near the fires. Going down to the bridge, Petya and Dolokhov passed the sentry, who, without saying a word, walked gloomily along the bridge, and drove out into the ravine where the Cossacks were waiting.
- Well, goodbye now. Tell Denisov that at dawn, at the first shot,” said Dolokhov and wanted to go, but Petya grabbed him with his hand.
- No! - he cried, - you are such a hero. Oh, how good! How great! How I love you.
“Okay, okay,” said Dolokhov, but Petya did not let him go, and in the darkness Dolokhov saw that Petya was bending down towards him. He wanted to kiss. Dolokhov kissed him, laughed and, turning his horse, disappeared into the darkness.