Contents

1. Trilogy of Dhana and the Earth
2. Characters of the first book of the novel
3. Introduction from the storyteller
4. Chapter 1. 50—35 years uew (Until the end of the world)
5. Chapter 2. 35 — 30 year uew
6. Chapter 3. 30 — 29 years uew
7. Chapter 4. 29—28 years uew
8. Chapter 5. 28 — 26years uew
9. Chapter 6. 26 — 22 years uew
10. Chapter 7. 22 — 13 years uew
11. Chapter 8. 13 — 10 years uew
12. Chapter 9. 10 — 8 years uew
13. Chapter 10. 8 — 7 years uew
14. Chapter 11. 7 — 5 years uew
15. Chapter 12. 5 — 4 years uew
16. Chapter 13. 4 — 3 years uew
17. Chapter 14. 3 — 1 years uew
18. Chapter 15. 0 — 3 years aew
19. Chapter 16. 4 — 8 years aew
20. Chapter 17. 9 — 14 year aew
21. Chapter 18. 15 — 16 years aew
22. Chapter 19. 17 — 20 years aew
23. Chapter 20. 50 aew

The novel was conceived by me in the eighties of the last century. Even then, I drew an attention to the fact that the main conflicts on which the plots of most novels are based are connected with aperson’s desire for the inappropriate: for unearned money, fame, power, pleasure and women. So it occurred to me to write a novel based on conflicts of a different kind. Let the majority of the characters in my novel strive for the happiness of mankind. And let the conflict be connected only with a different understanding of this happiness and the paths to it.

I compiled an approximate list of the main characters of my first book, granted them powers and superpowers, settled them in mythical countries on our Earth, so that they could lead humanity to a bright future! To my surprise, in spite of benevolent intentions, they organized an all-planet massacre and as a result, giving up the power to aliens, but it’s good that it was not to the full extent. Just so my first book with the title “End of the World” appeared.

Somehow coping with all the problems, I left my heroes for a thousand years. During this time, under the control of aliens, the problems of my heroes didn’t decrease, and the other way around a lot of new ones appeared. And then the reptilians got into a game. For many thousands of years they have been hiding in caves underground. The second book was called “War with the Reptilians”.

After the win over the reptilians, I wanted to finish my novel already. But looking into the future of the Earth after thousand years, I saw a very sad picture. Something was again quite out of order. It will be necessary to fight again! But with whom? It seems that life on the Earth was established, and there was simply no evident enemy. Thus was written the third book of the novel, called “The Invisible Enemy”.

The action of the trilogy takes place not only on the Earth, but also on other planets of the nearest cosmos: inhabited “Dhana”, “Rable”, and as yet uninhabited “Dark”, not far from which functions an alien connection station — a space station “Junction”.

Comparison of the worldview of people with different approaches to life was another object of the trilogy. In this respect, much attention is paid to religion, not only to that of Earth, but also to alien one. This is done not with the aim to popularize or criticize this or that religion, but just to compare the worldview of believers and irreligious creatures.”

©Andrei Prudkovskii, 2016

Characters of the first book of the novel

(dates are given in relation to the conditional date: uew, aew until and after the end of the world)

Upyg and Radogast — two alien observers which are bioconstructions created by two competing alien civilizations to observe the Earth civilization. The action of the novel refers to the end of the fifty-thousand-year period when the fate of humanity should be decided in the Galactic Association of Intelligent Civilizations (GAIC). Upyg and Radogast possess superpowers, such as reading thoughts, practical immortality, but they do not have the right to directly intervene in the life of earthlings.

UYY – very old evil sorcerer from Dhana planet, subsequently is the immortal emperor Ku-U of the country of Khem on the Earth.

Raa — he was born in the 50th year until the end of the world in a primeval forest on the planet of Dhana. His parents are unknown. He died in the 6th year after the end of the world.

Siegle — she was also born in the 50th year until the end of the world in the tribe of the Ant Lords on the planet of Dhana, later the wife of Ra, died in the 15th year after the end of the world.

Raa and Siege children — they was born on the planet Dhana: daughter Raegle (Rose) was born in the 30th year until the end of the world, son Rasieg was born in the 4th year until the end of the world.

Valentina Semenovna Kotlovanova — she born approximately in the 60th year until the end of the world in Foundation Pit, his parents are unknown.

Semen Andreevich — he is one of the main secret agents of Upyg, apparently born in the 80th year until the end of the world, died in the 8th year until the end of the world on the same day as Valentina Semenovna Kotlovanova.

Lyuba — she is a daughter of Valentina Kotlovanova and Semen Andreevich, she was born in the 32nd year until the end of the world in the village No. 573 (Pitvill).

Twins Aleksandra, Maria — they were born on February 13, 50^th year until the end of the world, in the village No. 573 (Pitvill) of Aleksander Serheyevich Ryaboy and his wife Lyubov Dmitrievna Ryabaya.

Radek (Radem, Ibn-Kalb) — he was born in the 28th year until the end of the world, his father is Ra, his mother is Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ryabaya.

Petruha, Peter (Granddad Plop, the great warrior Yek-gush) — he was born around the 40th year until the end of the world in the inner-city slums, his parents are unknown.

Raegle (Rose) — she was born in the 30th year until the end of the world, died in the 18th year after the end of the world.

Children of Rose and Peter:

Polina (the 7th year until the end of the world), Valentina (the 5th year until the end of the world), Raisa (the 3rd year until the end of the world), Daria (the 1st year until the end of the world), Lidia (the 4th year until the end of the world), Maria (the 7th year after the end of the world), Lyuba (the 10th year after the end of the world), Petya (the 15th year after the end of the world).

Levushka the Little Fox (the 9th year until the end of the world) — deaf-mute, later the Master of the Earth and the Magical Fox.

Bartolomew (the 3rd year until the end of the world) — he is the son of Lyuba and Radek.

Padre John — he is an Orthodox churchman. Dates of birth and death, as well as biographical data are unknown.

Georgiy (3rd year until the end of the world), Nadezhda (10th year after the end of the world) — children of Padre John and Nina (Naily — Ethiopian).

Aleksandr Zotov — he is an astronaut who was one of the first to visit Dhana.

Said the fun — he is the Marazian Sheikh, his son is Said junior (Bars) (21st year until the end of the world).

Timothy (Ahmed) — he is an inventor, a friend of Petruha.

Della — she is a gypsy, the sister of the mother of the early deceased girl Rose, whose name Raegle used.

Sara — she is the daughter of earthly immigrants, was born on Dhana in the 1st year after the end of the world, later the wife of Rasieg.

Introduction from the storyteller

My friend suggested that I publish my research on the end of the world that happened 50 years ago. I doubt very much that there are still those who wish to delve into the past. Are you interested in these events of ancient times; you, before whom hundreds of inhabited planets, hundreds of civilizations living on them are open…?

I am a translator and systematizer, because I translate and systematize a bunch of dissimilar manuscripts related to this event, which upended the entire order of life on Earth. I wrote this beautiful phrase and immediately wondered if this was true. What actually happened in year zero, that this year is now considered the year of the new reckoning on the globe?

To be honest, this year just nothing special happened. There seemed to be no major disasters, the weather was ordinary, the sun was still shining, there was no war, it ended three years before. People who lived in zero year still did not suspect that they were living just at that time, which they would later solemnly call the year of the end of the world.

But no, the one significant event did happen — an alien spaceship arrived on the Earth. Maybe you think that this is what made earthlings admit that the end of the world has come. It’s no such matter. Firstly, this was by no means the first alien ship to visit the Earth, although the previous ones observed this or that disguise, but this one arrived openly. Secondly, perhaps you think that aliens immediately landed from this ship and began to teach earthlings reason, which was perceived as the end of the world. So, and this did not happen! There were no aliens. There was an alien ship, but there were no aliens then. And what a normal alien will agree to sit for a hundred years inside some piece of iron to spend a week on a provincial semi-wild planet, where it has not yet been tidied up after all the outrages that happened before the end of the world!

Of course this ship was fully automated; there were no living creatures on it. He did not stay on the Earth for a long time: it seems like a month, maybe a little more. It mounted a device that would be called the “house of ghosts” on the Earth, and flew away. By itself he took about a hundred people from the Earth and drove them to the Dhana.

Now they began to forget what Dhana is. Indeed, now before humanity is opened a huge cosmos. There are thousands of civilizations and you can study anyone. And what is Dhana? It seems like a semi-primitive planet. So… let’s look at the catalog of planets that are inhabited by intelligent creatures. There is Dhana, but with the mark “supposedly reasonable” and “no visits” — that’s about it. They all forgot about it and, but in vain because it was the first planet where our spacecraft discovered intelligent life.

Well, I wrote this and think that again that I wrote not quite the truth. There were no these spaceships, but there was only one small spaceship that survived only two flights to Dhana, and then it was decommissioned and lost somewhere in the difficult war years. Of course, it discovered an intelligent life, but nothing was known to the general public. The main discoverers were rotten in a psychiatric hospital, and although there were some studies, but almost nobody knew anything about them since they were strictly classified and used for military purposes.

Do you understand the complexity of my task now? I am trying to describe the most grandiose event on the globe — the end of the world. And there’s nothing to write about. But there was something!

Or maybe the whole thing is in the characteristics of the psyche of the earthlings? Now the people are close enough and at times, I must say, they are too closely familiar with many aliens and you can notice the significant differences between humans and other alien civilized creatures. The first thing you can notice is the unbridled imagination of the earthlings. Aliens never fantasize. Usually they always tell only the truth, although not the whole truth, and if they lie, then for serious (from their point of view) reasons. The second thing that distinguishes the earthlings is wild forgetfulness. Aliens remember everything and all in their brain is well-organized and available for use at any time. Maybe this is simply due to the age of their civilizations. Maybe we, the earthlings will remember everything in a couple of a thousand years. But then we can stop fantasizing. And so, having met several dozens of aliens, honestly speaking, you can be very disappointed. Yes, they know a lot! Yes, they remember any and all. But, oh God, what a boring persons they are! No fantasy!

Well, I wanted to write about the end of the world, but took up my favourite thing — criticizing these boring and overly smart aliens. So, go back to the topic. Maybe the word “end” is simply related to our habit of looking for ends and beginnings in everything. Think a little while moving away from your habits. Well, where did you get the idea that each phenomenon must have the end and the beginning!? Well, there are no such objects in the nature!!! The end and the beginning is purely our human abstraction, like the concept of a point in geometry. In fact, as you look, the end or the beginning is a process that is smoothly stretched over time.

After a somewhat protracted introduction, it’s time to cut to the chase. Of course, since everyone says that it was the end of the world, it remains to agree that it really was. It is generally accepted that the end of the world occurred in the noughties. And I tell you that it happened for some fairly long time, and maybe now, in the 50th year after the end of the world, everything is still happening. And the noughties are simply the conditional middle of this process, which everyone calls the end of the world. Therefore, we begin the description of events with a symmetrical relative to the present moment of the 50th year until the end of the world.

Now let’s get started!

“Radogast! Radogast!”

“I hear you, Upyg!!”

“You lose! 50 thousand years are running out.”

“Until the end of the world still are 50 years!”

“And over these years you will prove that people are reasonable?! Well, well!”

Chapter 1. 50—35 years uew (Until the end of the world)

Birth of Raa

First of all, I would like to talk about two people who played a significant role in the subsequent events related to the end of the world. Only a few people on the Earth know about their fate. Firstly this is mother Valya (Valentina Semenovna Kotlovanova). They remembered her as a caring midwife, then as the director of the hospital, but only her daughter Lyuba knew about other activities of hers… Secondly, Raa — Raa the Great, the holy warrior of Dhana, but only his son, Radek, knew about his earthly life… According to my information, Lyuba and Radek are on Dhana now and it is not possible to question them. Only their diaries and letters remained and I also a copy of the sacred Red Book of Dhana fell into my hands, compiled by Rose (Raegele), the daughter of Raa and his wife Siegle.

So, Raa was born on Dhana in a wild forest inhabited by terrible unknown creatures.

From Red Book of Dhana

Raa the Great was born in the Sacred Forest. His father was Han the Sun, and the mother was Dhana the Earth. After birth, the parents gave the child to the fierce sacred ants. And the fierce sacred ants did not tear the baby into small pieces, but carried it to Those — Who — Command — the Ants to raise a Supernal child in the wisdom and the power of the Supernal number four.

As you know, no one can become the Lord of the Ants without being born to them, but the Supernal Raa became him, and the Lord of the Ants Fatidic Siegle, who was then still five years old, swore allegiance to him and became his wife.

From the notes of Radek Reksovich about his father

My father Raa was born in a dense forest on the planet of Dhana. Here’s how he told me about his childhood:

Imagine an ordinary dense forest on the planet Dhana. Under the square Sun are huge but square on a cut trees. Under them are bushes, sundews, poisonous cobwebs, swallowing lawns, false pegs and everyone catches their game animal, which crawls, runs, jumps but just does not fly. Only mushrooms fly, scattering their spores. In a huge tree there is a hollow hut, and in it is dad, mom and a child of about five:

“Mom! … Boring!”

“Well, go tease the stump… Take the basket and collect the zingwas. Just do not go into the cobweb — it is poisonous (if anyone does not know, zingwa is a kind of mould on the Ingwas — trees that grow on Dhana).”

“Mom, why is it all the same here? Why is nothing happening?!”

Dad:

“You shouldn’t wishthis, because desires are sometimes fulfilled!”

And my desires, my dear child, were fulfilled with frightening inevitability. I just played with the old stub, and suddenly my father and mother grab me, wrap me in several layers of soft white-tree bark and demand that I be silent and not move.

The rustle of thousands of feet, the stifling smell of acid, the gnashing of jaws clenching me… There is the last mental cry and then the silence. The telepathic connection with parents, which until now has not been interrupted for a moment, has disappeared forever. They carry me, carry me. A day or two or three — into the unknown world.

And now imagine an anthill on the planet of Dhana. It looks like an ordinary earthly, only adjusted for the growth of ants. On Dhana, they are of human height. Of course, around the anthill everything is trampled for a kilometer – not a blade of grass, just dust. Ants rush with soft rustling like cars on our roads. There are people here, each with a small water bottle with formic acid on the belt, which they periodically spray on. All calmly go about their errands. They wash and hang clothes, collect mushrooms and mould, a detachment of hunters riding on ants’ rides to a distant forest, women carry formic milk from below, and young people play with rodent ants. The goal of the game is to beg the ant for what it carries. This is done this way: they take two sticks and in a certain rhythm tap them on the ant whiskers. If everything is done correctly, then the ant will give the carrying.

Little Siegle is five today, the age when the children of the tribe of the Lords of the Ants are solemnly declared adults. She, like everyone else, rushes along the edge of the anthill, trying to intercept one or another rodent ant. One of the ants stumbles upon her and knocks her down. Here you can’t yawn; otherwise they will vividly consider you food. Siegle quickly taps the password “friend” on the ant moustache and a request to give her the white bundle that is clamped in his jaws. The ant relieves its burden with relief and disappears inside the anthill. He needs food and rest after a long expedition. Siegle scarcely drags a heavy bale to her home. What did she get? A real living boy — he is sleeping!

“Take it to the ants. Let it be eaten, anyway we can’t save it!” — The mother says.

“No, he’s mine. I’ll take care of him.”

“The Elder will not let you do this!”

“I will blandish them!”

“The Elder cannot be blandishing. They do everything only according to the Law — according to the Great Law of the Four Truths, about which, my little one, you still do not know anything. But you can speak on the Council yourself, because from today you are already an adult.”

Siegle on the Council

Elder:

“The law says: a stranger who appears near an anthill must be given to ants.”

Siegle:

“My mom said that you decide according to the Law of the Four Truths, but for now you have informed me only one. And what do the other three TRUTIONS say?”

Elder:

“They will not help you. Listen: if a stranger appeared near the anthill through no fault of his and the ants didn’t touch him, then he should be taken to the nearest forest within two days and released. When the same stranger reappears, the basic rule of the Law is applied to him. So tells the second TRUTH.

If a stranger is needed by the tribe and invited by its members, then he is a guest and can remain on the territory of the tribe for 10 days, while a guardian is appointed, who must all the time stay with the Guest all these 10 days. So tells the third TRUTH.

According to the second TRUTH, you can take a stranger to the forest, but it is dangerous because you are small and fail to protect him from a running ant. However, he will also be eaten in the forest.”

Siegle:

“No, it’s not that. And what is the fourth TRUTH?”

Elder:

“This truth does not suit you. Moreover — it is generally impossible!”

Siegle:

“Tell it!”

Elder:

“If a member of the tribe of the Lords of the Ants decided to connect his life with a stranger, becoming his husband or wife, then he is obliged to take full responsibility for the stranger’s behaviour and to prove to the tribe within a year that the stranger can become one of us. Otherwise he becomes a stranger and forever expelled from the tribe together with his ward.”

Siegle:

“That suits me. I will be his wife!”

Elder:

“????????? — Let it be!”

Mother:

“She is only five.”

Elder:

“The law says: at the age of five, the child becomes an adult and is responsible for his decisions. Let it be as she decided! And may you have no other husband besides what you chose! This is what the law says!”

A year had gone by. Siegle and Raa were inseparable. They played, worked and studied together. A year later, the Elders recognized that Raa had no difference in his skills from other children of his age. He was no worse than others in talking to ants with a “stick code”, asking for a drop of sweet food from them or what they carried, did not forget to spray himself with acid, and even once before everyone’s eyes he rode on an ant. So Ra became one of the Lords of Ants.

From the Registry Office of the village No. 573 (Pitvill)

Aleksandra and Maria are twins, born on February 13, 50th year until the end of the world.

Parents: father — Aleksandr Sergeyevich Ryaboy, mother — Lyubov Dmitrievna Ryabaya.

From the records of Sasha’s and Masha’s neighbour — Valentina Semenovna Kotlovanova

Sasha and Masha grew up before my eyes. They are good girls. Sasha loved to say: — I’m not Sasha! I am Aleksandra!

They got a difficult fate. Father drank. At home it was hungry. I often fed them. When they were 10 years old, their father died, and a year later their mother died.

By that time, the girls had matured and coped well with their non-consuming economy. Mostly they ate food from their garden, and some of the villagers helped. They had no money. They wore clothes given by the state, and received it in the school for poor. The girls grew up large, strong, but they didn’t have any admirers, apparently, it was due to their unfortunate surname Ryabaya, therefore, maybe they possessed no outstanding beauty. And the guys were afraid of their heavy hands and a severe look. After the eighth form, Masha became a milkmaid, and Sasha suddenly left for the city.

Explanation of Lyuba, daughter of Valentina Semenovna

I think the history of our village[1] and the fate of my mother needs to be told.

The village was inhabited by all the servicemen, who must prepare food, wash clothes, and sew up their pants. But nobody from the village stuck their noses into the pit. There were only some people in uniform, those designated as “secret ones”. Then the pit was either finished or abandoned — in general, no one knows about this. Those in uniform went off somewhere. And where did the convicts go — no one knows. Just before departure, a young soldier came to the village and took out a roll bending from his bosom:

“Here,” he said, “Valentina, she’s an unaccounted girl, she’s not been registered anywhere, so grow her yourself as you want, and let her patronymic be Semenovna, I will share my name with her.”

We were surprised by the kindness and courage of the soldier. After all, the girl was the child of the convicts, but he was not afraid — he carried her and even gave her his own name as patronymic.

That is how my mother grew up as everyone’s favourite; they gave her the surname Kotlovanova. She has been to each house of the village, everywhere she got taught something new. She became Jill of all trades. People even came to her to be healed. As the girl became an adult, she was provided with an abandoned hut; she finished and fixed it. Never got married though — lived all by herself. She repeated: “I am Semenova, I will remain like this.” As if she knew! Once that Semen came back to our village. He drove a black car, with the retinue — he became a great man. They spent the whole day in the foundation pit, behind the barbed wire. I don’t know what happened there, but people heard how loudly Semen shouted. There were rumors that supposedly we are about to be resettled, farther from the secrets! But it went fine. Semen stayed overnight in our house. His retinue located in the tent near our house, they either slept or guarded him. In a year I was born, hence I am Semenovna too. By that time, our neighbor Aleksandra has already been working in the city, and the milkmaid Maria has been bringing me, little girl, milk. Auntie Maria often babysitted with me, when mom left for the city. There she studied at the courses of midwives-nurses. From the city she always brought presents and letters to aunt Maria from her sister Aleksandra. For some reason, the sisters never used mail.

From Aleksandra’s letter to her sister Maria

Dear Maria,

I am doing alright, do not worry! I earn enough; live in a separate apartment…

At first it scared me being here! First things first.

I arrived. There were thousands of people. They were running, hustling. A uniformed galloped up to me, asking:

“Lady, do you need help?”

He took my suitcase and walked on, I followed him. And then I heard somebody screaming:

“Watch your steps! You’ve crushed me!”

I looked under my feet — there was a kiddy about 6 years old.

“I am Petruha-the-ragged-ear” he said and showed me his ragged ear “you can’t step on me!”

Then I looked around, and that one — with my suitcase — vanished into thin air. I ran out to the square. Cars are buzzing… No suitcase, anywhere! No money, no stuff, no books… I’m standing burst out crying in the middle of the square, and people are running, they don’t look around, cars go around me… Nobody cares about me. Then it buzzed, went motorcyclists in black. The police guard shouts:

“Move, move!” — pushing me somewhere, but he couldn’t shift me. I was too heavy… And the buzz was getting closer. A big black car is racing. The guard became wheyfaced, put his hand to his head and froze. And I rooted to the ground. I stood, with my mouth opened. The car stopped, and some small, but, an important person came out of it.

“What is going on?” — he asked. Everyone is silent. Then it hit me:

“I’m from Pitvill. I arrived here, but my suitcase was stolen!”

“Now we will check from what Pitvill. There is no such village! And there wasn’t! Get in the car.”

I sat petrified and we drove. And the car howls and howls, plug your ears, if don’t want to become deaf.

We arrived somewhere. Well, at least my passport remained in my bosom. He took it and says:

“What is Pitvill? Here — in the passport it says that you live in the village number 573, not a word said about Pitvill.

“Excuse me,” I said, “but no one can remember this number 573, everyone says Pitvill, and I said so.”

“Okay,” he said “to hell with Pitvill. Tell me!”

“Tell what?”

“Tell me everything! About your whole life. Come on, look at me!”

And he looked at me so menacingly that something died inside me, and I began to tell him everything. And here is the thing — now I don’t remember anything about it. What did I tell him? What happened next?..

I woke up in the middle of nowhere. It was sort of a hospital. No clothing, no passport, I only had a gown on — white, long, apparently, hospital. I tried the door-handle — it was locked.

A nurse dressed white came in. She washed me, gave breakfast. She did not say a word, perhaps, she was completely deaf. So I lived in this hospital for three days. Finally, someone came: “Get ready, let’s go.”

This nurse quickly dressed me in a public baggy robe. We went out and got into the car. And again I appeared in a room, where I was telling everything. The head came in and said:

“Aleksandra Aleksandrovna, we have checked everything. You will work with us. The salary is good. The work is interesting, important, but secret.

So, to you, sister, I will not write anything about it.

“You will be provided with a separate apartment. And buy a car in a year or so, with your salary you will be able to allow it. You will call me Semen Andreevich. If you have any difficulties, contact my deputy first of all, and if not, then directly me. “Between us,” he said “I am familiar with Pitvill very well. It will be necessary to go there, see what is what. Oh, by the way, here is your suitcase!”

And here I felt gratitude and love for this man, which I can’t describe.

So, since then I’ve been working…

Write me back soon!

Yours, Aleksandra

From the tales of Granddad Plop told to his grandchildren

My dear children, you all live in a beautiful green forest, you are full, dressed, and everyone loves you. And I was born in a terrible wild city where no one loved each other. And sometimes people even killed each other. That’s what a dreadful place I lived in being your age. If you go up that hill and look north, that city will be visible on the horizon in the form of a dirty black spot. Savage people live there now. And now there is poisoned soil and air. So you kids never go there. In my childhood, a thousand times more people lived in the city than now. And then my name was Petruha-the-ragged-ear because, as you can see, one ear really is all ragged. I lived at the station and at the market, and ate what I managed to steal. You, children, must not steal, as doing this is not good. But in the wild city where I was born, without theft I simply could not feed myself, as I was still a little boy and couldn’t work. You might ask why not I ate grass or bark of trees. I will answer: back then people still did not know how to eat only grass. And now those in the city do not know how to do this. And my wife, my sorceress Rose, taught us to eat grass. But in the city this would not help either. There was little grass there.

So, consequently, I stole at the station and the market. Once the traders caught me, beat me up, and dragged me by the ear. Since then I became — a ragged ear boy. And soon something happened that changed my whole further life. Back then I stole in league with the swindler Black eye. His name was because he actually had a black eye. Apparently he was once punched in such a way that it remained with him for life. He was a neat and polite swindler. He was never rude with anyone and took things from people in thirty three ways, but always very politely and without the slightest disrespect. Once we were standing at the train station, looking at the crowd of arrivers, and there she was — a lady! Well, a thief’s dream to be honest! Big, charmless, with extremely naive eyes, dumbly blinking.

Black eye said:

“Come on!”

And I was still gazing at the lady. And it’s not that I felt sorry for her, but rather felt myself uncomfortable. That, as my wife Rose says, your foresight stirred.

Meanwhile, Black eye approached the lady and took her suitcase. Then I did my part. I rolled under the lady’s feet and point on my ear. While she peered with her daylights at my ear, Black eye pinched the suitcase in the backstreet. You might ask what do on Earth “daylights’ and “pinched’ mean. Children, that’s what we called eyes, and pinched stands for stole. There my role ended, I would have to run to Black eye to share the booty, but I did not run — I stood still, I observed what the lady is about to do next. But she did nothing. I ran out to the square where the cars were, standing crying. Cars buzz — they drove around her, but she did not understand. I kept on the watch: what would happen next? Maybe the police guard would take her somewhere. I waited till not the police guard took it, but the black car. And this was just even worse. We have already had legends about this car. If a thief saw it, he did not remain at large for long. Some kind of mysticism.

I said to Black eye:

“That’s it, we got into muddle!”

And he told him everything as it was. Black eye turned pale with fright, he immediately got on the train and got away in an unknown direction. Even the suitcase he left to me. But I didn’t leave, because I was little, and I didn’t steal. But still, they sent me to a military school for difficult kids two days later. What they taught me there is nothing good. They taught me how to kill people. I have been studying there for eight years, and then I was sent to Marazia to defend our country from Marazian savages. You have asked about the barbarians of Marazia — no, they were no more barbarians than the inhabitants of my hometown. Although, of course, they were very different in appearance. Their skin was darker, they had black hair and brown eyes. They lived not in stone houses, but in adobe houses or even in tents or caves. But they were not savages. It was simply their custom to fight us, and ours was to fight them. But I will tell you later of what happened to me in Marazia.

[1] The village received its name, Pitvill, because of the huge foundation pit nearby (The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov (1930) http://www.sovlit.net/foundationpit/). Convicts dug the foundation pit, but it is unknown why and for what purpose.

Chapter 2. 35 — 30 year uew

The teachings of the FOUR TRUTHS

The system of FOUR TRUTHS is replacing religion on Dhana, it could be born only in this unique world, where all living creatures strive to show their angles, where even the sun looks square due to refraction. Getting to the story of this indigenous “religion”, I am trying to give you the key to understanding the worldview of the people of Dhana, biologically identical to us, earthlings, but far from us in spirit.

From the Red book of Dhana

Having perceived all the wisdom of humans and the wisdom of nature, and the wisdom of your father — the Sun, given to him from birth, the Great Raa planned to perceive all the wisdom of the world of demons. Since, having perceived all four ways, he would become omniscient. It was not easy on the holy Dhana ground to find a way in the world of demons — the way there goes only through a truly evil person. But to find such a person in Dhana, where telepathic communication is everywhere, is almost impossible, because an evil person is simply intolerant in any community, as the one irritating everyone by evil thoughts.

And the Great Raa went to the Deadly Swamps, to the Lost Island — where there is no way in and no way out. And he found there a truly evil sorcerer named UYY. And the evil sorcerer made an immense bonfire from the sacred trees of Ir. He summoned the evil demons. And he sold them the Great Raa, having received for him 10 magic amulets. He laughed with a hideous laugh, so that the earth shook and the sky rumbled.

From the memoirs of Radek Reksovich about his father

My father left me when I was only seven. Despite my young age, he was able to transfer me the knowledge of theFOUR TRUTHS in full. Such an early education was due to the fact that father lived in a constant wait of the death, and also due to that he had no other work, but my upbringing.

He was learnt the FOUR TRUTHS from the wise Lords of Ants. He mastered all the four rules of human and the four rules of nature for eight years of studying.

In their first year they were taught thewisdom of HUNT, which as it is known, consists of:

— the wisdom of SEARCH;

— the wisdom of WAIT;

— the wisdom of TRICKS;

— the wisdom of NUTRITION.

The last of these wisdoms cannot be fully understood until the second human rule — the wisdom of NUTRITION is mastered. They studied it in the second year.

As you know, the second rule also consists of four parts:

— nutrition with EYES;

— nutrition with HANDS;

— nutrition with TEETH;

— nutrition with THOUGHTS.

The last of these rules also cannot be understood without the next third human rule — the wisdom of TAMING, which is studied in the third year and which consists of:

— taming by OBSERVATION;

— taming by FEEDING;

— taming by IMITATION;

— taming by TRANSFORMATION.

The last of these four points is impossible without the fourth rule — the wisdom of UNDERSTANDING:

— OF ONESELF;

— FROM ONESELF;

— TO ONESELF;

— AFTER ONESELF.

The whole fourth human rule is impossible without the NATURAL wisdom, which is studied in accordance with its specific for more four years. And the NATURAL wisdom consists of four parts; the study of each is also requiring a whole year:

— the wisdom of HEARING;

— the wisdom of VISION;

— the wisdom of APPEARANCE CHANGE;

— the wisdom of TRANSFORMATION.

The wisdom of HEARING consists of four parts: the wisdom of ordinary hearing sounds and understanding their meaning, the wisdom of hearing people’s thoughts, the wisdom of hearing the thoughts of animals, grasses, trees and the wisdom of transmitting their thoughts to others, even by those who do not have the hearing ability.

The wisdom of VISION lies in seeing all the forms of the beings a person ever met. As it is known, stones have one appearance, animals and plants have two appearances, human has three, and deities have four. All these guises can be seen. Stones cannot see at all, animals and plants perceive only the first appearance, the one which is solid and similar to a stone, but they do not see the true appearance. An untrained person is like an animal, but a trained one sees two forms of all living beings: one that is like a stone, and the other like a fresh flower. But there are “people of substance” who, like my father, see both the appearances, like a stone, and the appearance, similar to the beauty of a flower, and the appearance, similar to the song of the flower. All people sing their own song, a song of their destiny, a song of their own fate, only few people hear this singing.

The wisdom ofAPPEARANCE CHANGE is the ability to change your initial outlook, the one that is like a stone. So those who see like animals cannot distinguish you from the one you imitate.

The wisdom of TRANSFORMATION lies in the ability to change not only the initial, but also the second appearance so that even those who see sometimes cannot notice the substitution.

Those who underwent this entire course were considered as “people of substance”, and only they could have children according to the laws of the tribe. My father perfectly studied the science of the FOUR TRUTHS and could turn into an ant (of course, a large one, which lives on Dhana) and a dog. Maybe he knew how to turn into something else too, but I only write about what I know. He never taught me this craft, but later on his teaching helped me to master some transformations, which I will discuss later.

But back to my father’s youth. Imagine laughing Raa and his wife Siegle in a wild forest on the planet Dhana. And later, riding on ants… The ant is not a horse, just merging with it mentally; you can inspire him to run to wherever you want. No weapons are required though — the terrible stings of ants will tear apart any predator, and the armored head and chest are perfectly protected from any attack from the front.

That way Raa and Siegle lived to twenty years, and twenty years is a special age. Let me explain: the first year that a person was born does not count — he lies and sucks the breast, then four-year-old is a child, he is nursed and taken care of. At five, he becomes an adult. If you multiply five by four, you get twenty. At twenty years old, if you were recognized as a “person of substance”, then a man — must accomplish a feat, a woman must give birth to a first child. Twenty years can also be multiplied by four is eighty. At eighty years old, if a man has completed a sufficient number of feats, he becomes a wiseman and he can educate young people, and a woman, if her children have all become “people of substance,” also becomes a wisewoman and can teach young women how to raise children, the art of picking herbs and treating diseases. But eighty years can also be multiplied by four — we get 320. But what happens to those who live to this age, I do not know, and my father did not know that as well. But something will certainly come!

So Raa said to Siegle:

“It’s time for me to accomplish a feat; will you come with me to witness it?”

“Is it far to go?” asked Siegle.

“I want to go around the whole world on flying mushrooms. No one ever has done that before. Come on with me.”

“No,” said Siegle. “I will not fly with you. I’m having a baby on the way.”

And Raa found a huge mushroom, quite mellow and ready to take off. He scaled up on it, and the weeping Siegle cut the stipe with a wooden (metal was not mined at Dhana yet) knife. Then the mushroom released a stream of its spores and took off like a rocket into the sky. For many years now she would not see her beloved! And the mushroom flew through the air. And Raa covered some of the nozzles in front with his cloak — the mushroom winged even faster.

The next thing Raa knew was that he floated above the Deadly Swamp. Then night fell, and it was unknown where the mushroom was flying and whether there was a chance of salvation. By the morning the mushroom was tired, its spores were exhausted, and it began to decline — and around the swamp there is bog, and swamp monsters were wambling everywhere in the bog, blowing bubbles, waiting for someone to eat! And Raa fell into the imminent swamp, and prepared for a nasty death. But! He tested the bottom under his feet, and all of the sudden touched a trail, even though dirty, but passable. And he went on and on for four days and four nights and came up to the black hut under a high hill.

And on the hill grow sacred Ir-trees. The evil sorcerer UYY came out the black hut. Raa heard the wicked thoughts of the sorcerer, and he started trembling, but it was too late. The sorcerer has casted a spell on him, and Raa should have done everything that the sorcerer wanted. And he began to work for a sorcerer and worked for four days and four nights: he cut down four sacred Ir-trees by order of UYY and made a great magic fire on top of the hill. And the sorcerer UYY began to throw magical herbs into the fire and cast unknown spells. And the demons appeared from heaven in a thunder and lightning on their demonic flying ferry. And UYY sold my father to the demons for ten amulets: two knives, two iron torches, two battery-powered electric torches, two mirrors and two lighters. There were two pieces of all objects, and this is no accident, because the villain UYY did not recognize the light of the FOUR TRUTHS, but professed the power of the number TWO. He said: “The Sun-Khan and the Earth — Dhana — there are two of them. I am one and all other people are two, good to people and evil to me — again two.” And so on. Listing all this is a sin, and hearing about it is harmful either. That’s what my father taught me.

From the memoirs of Aleksandr Zotov, the commander

of the first reached Dhana spacecraft

Famously, in the fiftieth year uew, the wandering star P666 approached our solar system, and a planet was discovered next to it.

There were three of us. In the year of 30 uew, our spaceship approached an unknown planet. Having entered a circular orbit, we found that it resembled the Earth, its atmosphere was oxygen-nitrogen, dense forests, rivers, lakes, but there were no seas and oceans — instead there were huge swamps. No mountains either. On one of the hills they noticed a great bonfire, it was a sign of civilization. The spaceship made one last circuit and landed right next to the fire. And what was discovered?! Yes, there was a living being, but what a strange one. His appearance, his dirt evoked in my mind some terrible tales of trolls. Oddly enough, there was no language barrier. He seized ours meaning at once, and sometimes without words at all. For some reason, we understood him either. He was a true savage, he longed for gifts and promised to thank. For some reason, he asked for everything in duplicate. We gave him a couple of small things. Immediately the idea arose to take him to Earth for further research. He smiled creepy and pulled some dirty aboriginal from the bushes. The native himself climbed into the ship without requests and violence. Then our time was over, and we blasted off.

The aborigine was washed, dressed, and we saw that he was a young, handsome lad, thin, dark-skinned, height was below average, with iridescent eyes: at first they were black, then brown, and sometimes, when he laughed, they were gray or even blue.

In a month, he learned some words and was able to communicate with us. He said that their planet was called Dhana, and the star was Khan, that his name was Raa, and the terrible one who sent him is the sorcerer UYY.

We all loved Raa and coddled of him as best we could during the flight. Unfortunately, after landing, we did not find Raa on the ship.

Now we are being treated by psychiatrists. They say that all these are the things of that sorcerer from Dhana. That there was no young lad Raa, and we just saw a colorful dream lasting four months. Who knows, but until I believe this, I will be staying in the hospital.

Raa’s notes on life in the land of demons

UYY is evil! Evil is defined by the number two! Are demons evil or not?

No answer! There is no constancy in demons nature, evil and good, numbers two and four are intertwined in their nature. Four main rules of the demons:

— writing;

— reading;

— pencil;

— paper.

Writing allows one to preserve the wisdom of the current day for ages.

Reading allows one to restore what was previously saved.

Pencil and paper are two magical items that allow you to read and write. Pencil is a symbol of wood and coal; and coal is the black soul of the earth. Paper is the pure white soul of sacred trees. Now the viciousness of the demons is clear. The numbers four and two are always replacing each other. All adult demons comprehended the first two rules: writing and reading, but there are very few who can create pencils and paper. And without these two amulets, neither writing nor reading is possible. The demons did not want to teach all the four rules, but they took shrewd. The demons came up with money — a magical amulet, with which you can get paper and pencils made by other people. Money was created under the number one, I myself heard demons talking about money masters:

“He worships only money!”

One is a knife that cuts everything in its path. As I heard, this is how money works. But the knife is neither evil nor good! With a knife, you can take life, or you can cut the umbilical cord of a newborn.

But let’s go back to my wanderings. By witchcraft of UYY, I was deprived of choice. I ended up in the magic ferry of demons hovering between worlds. There was no day or night. There was neither sky nor ground. Two demons burned my clothes and washed me with sacred moisture. So in the white sanctuary I was accepted into the demons’ circle and, to my horror, under the symbol of the number two!

Leaving the white sanctuary, I entered a residential hut inside the ferry, there were four sacred cubes. With my eyes full of tears, I bent over to the sacred cube; I stroke its perfect facets. One of the demons says:

“Look, he clearly liked our chair.”

Mentally, I get the meaning of the words of demons, I understand that they are resting and gaining power from these sacred objects. So, the demons recognize the power of good, the power of the number four!

I notice that there are three demons on the ferry. So that’s why I was necessary! Four sacred cubes for sitting show that there were four demons in the ferry before. If one disappeared and destroyed the magic of the number four — the ferry wouldfell down. I am the fourth, so the ferry is flying again!

I am learning demonic words. A demon named Aleksandr is teaching me. There is no evil in him. I ask him if the demons know the truth. He is clearly confused. He replies that some may know. But his thoughts shout to me: “No! No! No! The world of demons is full of evil!”

I’m scared again! What awaits me?

The world of demons thinks it caught me, but it is mistaken. The one who is devoted to the four truths is not so easy to be caught!

In my free time, while demons sleep in different corners of the hut, I hug the sacred cube and ask him to teach me my wisdom. And the cube penetrates me, and I penetrate the cube. The sacred cube becomes my protector. He will save me from the evil of the land of demons.

But the ferry crashes into the wall surrounding the land of demons. A terrible roar is heard, everyone is tossed around. This goes on for quite some time — about two hundred beats of my heart, how thick this wall must be?! Then, silence, we arrived. The door opens; behind it I see the blue sky of the land of demons. All the three go outside, but not me. I cling to the cube and ask him to protect me from the land of demons. I merge, merge with the cube. Now I myself have become a cube. I am a cube! I am a sacred cube! Nobody will touch me until the ferry flies back!

Demons can’t see! They will not be able to find me, and I will remain inside the ferry. I thought I was saved! How wrong I was!

“Who are you and where from?!” a thunderous voice sounded loud in my head.

“I am Raa from Dhana.”

“You’ve arrived without permission to planet Earth. I have to take your life.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Radogast, the one who monitors compliance with the comart.”

“I did not get here of my own free will, but by evil sorcerer UYY.”

“Yes, I see. And you didn’t manage to cope with such a simple witchcraft? Look at your brain! You see a black eyelet sticking on the right? That’s all magic.”

I looked at myself carefully and on my third body revealed everything that Radogast told me about. Now it was easy to unravel the loop and break the spell of UYY. Indeed, it was very simple.

“Well done!” Radogast praised me. “But there are the rules to be followed! I still have to take your life!”

“How will you kill me?”

“I have no right to kill. I will deprive you of protection, and what will kill you I won’t care. Look, there is a nebulous cloud is glowing overhead. This cloud is called the Guardian-Angel, all living beings have it as a protection. Now I will magically remove it. Now you’re unprotected and a first danger might kill you. There is no salvation and you can do nothing with it.

“And if I do nothing and stay over here?”

“The ship will be sanitized in an hour, and you will die.”

“Then I’ll try to run.”

“Do whatever you want. Without protection, no one survives for more than a week.”

“And maybe my Guardian-Angel can return?”

“Yes, in a week or two, depending on your luck. I will make sure that this will not happen!”

“Can you tell me if there are exceptions in your law?”

“No! The law is one for all on this planet! And there is no place for outsiders here!”

I realized that not everything is lost: the powerful demon Radogast did not know the influence of the FOUR TRUTHS, but acted according to the law of one. He said that the first danger I meet would kill me, but the one who knew the truth of the four could not be killed by the first danger, but only by the fourth. I realized that I can fight. I had to run, and I did so.

Scary predatory animals rushed at me from all sides, stunning with loud noises. Now I know that they were dogs. Fear sharpened my abilities. I remembered: rescue from any danger lies in taking its shape. And now I am running on four paws in the shape of a dog. It was a failure: these predators were not deceived by my fake body and continued to pursue me. Ahead there was the fence and the gap in it. In between there was a terrible-looking demon with some kind of stick in his hands. Now I know that it was a murder weapon. If I knew this then, I would surely be scared and die. But I did not know and fearlessly ran straight at the unfamiliar demon. He didn’t even try to stop me; he stepped aside and growled after me his demonic spell: “Again they were at odds over a bitch!” The spell was weak and had no effect on me. Dogs were catching up. One nearly locked his jaws on my throat. I dodged and rushed down into the blackness of a ravine.

Water covered my head; a strong current dragged me down into the cold and darkness. It was a river, but not the same as on Dhana, not a shallow and tender one. It was a terrible, deadly river without a bottom. I did not know how to be saved. I moved all my four paws, yelling; turning into a man again, swallowed some water and… drowned. So the spell of Radogast worked for the first time.