Solaris: a novel

"Solaris" is the most famous novel by science fiction writer Stanislav Lem.

The novel is about finding contact with the thinking Ocean of the exoplanet Solaris. It raises the philosophical and ethical issues of knowledge of the world, anthropocentrism, humanity and, in fact, responsibility for everything that man does - both on Earth and beyond.

The action of the novel "Solaris" takes place in the distant future . The story is told in the first person - Dr. Chris Kelvin, who came to the planet to solve problems with the psychological state of the members of the expedition. The novel presents two storylines: Kelvin's stay at the Solaris Research Station and a documentary on the history of the discovery and exploration of the planet in the form of Kelvin's acquaintance with the scientific library on board the station. The wavy ocean below us and the moral law within us (author Igor Yaroslavsky)

Translated from Polish by Dmytro Andrukhiv

Illustrations by Rostislav Kramar

ARRIVAL

At exactly nineteen o'clock on board, I passed those gathered around the well and descended the metal ladder into the capsule. It was so cramped that it was difficult to place your elbows. So when I screwed the hose tip into the nozzle sticking out of the capsule wall and my spacesuit swelled, I couldn't even move. He was standing, or rather, hanging in an air box, merging with a metal shell. in a moment it disappeared, and the capsule became dark - a heavy protective cone was lowered at the top. Eight electric motors were tightened. Then the air was detected, which was pumped into the shock absorbers. His eyes gradually became accustomed to the darkness. I could already make out the bright green outline of the dashboard, the only one in the cabin. "Ready." "Ready, Moddard," I said. "Don't worry about anything." "The station will receive you," he said. - Happy road!

I didn't have time to answer when something creaked upstairs and the capsule shuddered. I tensed my muscles in an instant, but felt nothing more.

- When to start? I asked, catching a rustle as if fine sand had fallen on the membrane. "You're already flying, Kelvin." Be healthy! Moddard's voice sounded somewhere very close. It was hard to believe, but a wide slit just opened up in front of my face, and I saw stars through it. He tried to find Alpha Aquarius, to whom "Prometheus" flew, but in vain. The sky of these expanses of the Galaxy was unknown to me, I did not know any constellation here; sparkling dust swirled behind the narrow window. I waited for the first star to flash. But he did not wait - the stars faded and began to disappear, blurring on a reddened background. I realized that I was already in the upper atmosphere. Squeezed on all sides by airbags so that you could not move, I could only look ahead. The horizon has not yet been seen. And I flew and flew, not feeling it at all. Only my body slowly and insidiously enveloped the fire. There was a shrill squeak from outside, as if a metal object were being driven across the wet glass. If it weren't for the numbers flashing on the scoreboard, I wouldn't have guessed at what a gigantic speed the capsule was falling. There were no stars ahead. A red light flooded the viewing slit. Blood was pounding in my temples, my face was stinging, a cold stream of air conditioning was blowing into the back of my head; I regretted not being able to see Prometheus - when the automatic device opened the viewing slit, it was probably out of sight.

The capsule shuddered once, twice, then an unbearable vibration began; it pierced all the insulating shells, airbags, and penetrated deep into my body - the bright green outlines of the scoreboard blurred. But I did not feel the slightest fear, because I did not fly so far as to perish now near the very purpose of the journey.

- Solaris Station! I shouted. - Solaris Station! Solaris Station! Do something. I seem to be losing stabilization. Solaris Station, says Kelvin.

And again, I missed an important point - the emergence of the planet. She suddenly appeared in front of me - huge, flat; by the size of the stripes on its surface, I could determine that I was still far from it, more precisely, high, because I had already crossed the elusive limit when the distance from the celestial body becomes height. I fell. He was still falling.

And he could clearly feel it even now that he closed his eyes. However, I immediately flattened them - I wanted to see as much as possible.

After waiting a few tens of seconds, I started calling the Station again. But this time he did not receive any answer. Atmospheric discharges burst in the headphones with volleys. They stood out against the noise, as deep and low as the voice of a planet. The orange sky in the observation slit swam with pain. The glass darkened; I shrank in passing as far as airbags allowed me to do, and the next moment I realized it was clouds. They swooped up in an avalanche - and disappeared. And I was still planning, being in the bright sunshine, then in the shade; the capsule revolved around a vertical axis, and a huge, swollen solar disk floated in front of my eyes, appearing to the left and disappearing to the right. Suddenly, through the noise and crackling, a distant voice rang in my ear:

- Solaris Station - Kelvin, Solaris Station - Kelvin! All right. You are under the control of the Station. Solaris - Kelvin station. Prepare for landing at time zero, I repeat, prepare for landing at time zero, attention, start. Two hundred and fifty, two hundred and forty-nine, two hundred and forty-eight. It was at least strange. Of course, when someone new came to the Station, and even directly from the ground, everyone who could ran to the landing. However, I did not have time to think about what exactly this could mean, because the giant ring that described the sun around me, together with the plain where I was flying, suddenly became poked; after the first roll the second began, in the opposite direction; I swayed like the weight of a huge pendulum, trying to overcome nausea, and immediately saw on the surface of the planet, embossed with dirty purple and black stripes, a small chessboard of white and green dots - the landmark of the Station. At that moment, something burst from the top of the capsule - a long necklace of a ring parachute slammed loudly ... There was something earthly in these sounds - the first noise of a real wind after so many months. Then everything happened very quickly. Until now, I only knew I was falling. Now I saw it. The white-and-green chessboard was approaching in bulk; it could already be seen that it was painted on an elongated, cetacean-like silver body with radar antenna needles, with rows of dark windows, and that this metal ear did not lie on the planet's surface, but hung over it, casting its own shadow on an ink-black background. straight even thicker black. At the same time, I noticed purple waves on the surface of the Ocean, lazily rolling; suddenly dazzling purple at the edges of the clouds swooped high up; the distant and flat sky between them flashed brown and orange; then everything fell apart - I went into the corkscrew. Before he could signal, a short blow turned the capsule into a clearly vertical position; in the viewing slit, an ocean of agitation flashed with mercury, up to the very horizon, covered with mist; the slings and domes of the parachute instantly separated and, driven by the wind, rushed over the waves, and the capsule somehow swayed softly and softly, as is always the case in an artificial gravitational field, and then slid down. The last thing I noticed were the lattice take-off catapults and two huge, apparently high-rise buildings with mirrors of openwork radio telescopes. Something stopped the capsule with the piercing grind of steel, which hit the steel springily, something opened beneath me, and the metal shell in which I flew standing, sighing and sighing, ended its one hundred and eighty-kilometer journey. Zero-zero. Landing is over. "End," I heard the dead voice of the control unit. The green inscription "EARTH" lit up, the walls of the capsule parted, the pneumatic bed pushed me lightly in the back, and I took a step forward so as not to fall.

. I was free.