Alexei Tolstoy - writer, publicist and prominent public figure Soviet period. He is known for his historical, social and psychological novels. But in our article we will turn to the science fiction genre, or rather, the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin". Summary this work will be the main theme for us.

About the book

Alexei Tolstoy completed his science fiction work in 1927. The novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" (we will consider a summary below) is divided into three parts according to the author's intention: adventurous, heroic and utopian.

The idea to write such a work came from the writer in 1922, when he first saw the construction. Later, already working on the novel, Tolstoy studied all the latest theories of molecular physics.

"Hyperboloid engineer Garin": a summary

The events of the novel unfold in 192 ... year. A stabbed man is found in a Leningrad long-abandoned dacha near the Krestovka River. There are traces of torture on his body. Vasily Vitalyevich Shelga, an employee of the criminal investigation department, is investigating. A search is carried out in the house, and equipment for conducting physical and chemical experiments is found in the basement. There is an assumption that the victim is Petr Petrovich Garin, an engineer.

From the very first lines, it becomes clear that there are detective elements in the novel. And the classic, for such works, intrigue with the discovery of a dead body makes the plot of the whole work Alexei Tolstoy ("Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin").

Shelga accidentally meets a living Garin, but takes him for a double. The engineer himself, realizing this, does not tell Vasily the truth, but pretends to be Pyankov-Pitkevich. The men agree on mutual assistance in the investigation of the murder. Shelga quickly realizes that he was deceived. But he does not have time to detain Garin - he leaves for Paris.

Paris

The American billionaire Rolling is in the capital of France, who is buying up chemical plants throughout Europe. He, along with his Russian mistress Zoya Monrose, has long been interested in Garin's invention. It was they who sent the killers for the engineer to Leningrad.

Once in Paris, Garin is looking for his employee Victor Lenoir. And he persuades him to put on make-up, becoming the double of the engineer.

What is a hyperboloid for?

Shows himself a master of action-packed works of Tolstoy. The "Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" (a summary illustrates this) is not just a fantastic work, but a skillfully twisted detective novel.

The boy Vanya comes to Leningrad from Siberia. He has a message written on his back, addressed to Garin by the scientist Nikolai Mantsev. This man went to Kamchatka before the revolution to prove Garin's theory. The conjecture was that there is underground which contains all existing metals in molten form. Among these metals is gold, which Garin needed to rule the world. But in order to get the coveted jewels, a hyperboloid is needed.

But to create a hyperboloid, you need a huge mine and a large amount of money that can be obtained from Rolling. To do this, Garin, posing as Pyankov-Pitkevich, goes to the billionaire. At the meeting, he offers cooperation on behalf of engineer Garin. But Rolling does not take the offer seriously and kicks the visitor out.

Fearing for his life, Garin sends a telegram to Shelga asking him to come to Paris. The investigator leaves, hoping to arouse the interest of the scientist with the information sent by Mantsev.

Unexpected alliances

Even a very brief content can help to understand the action-packed nature of the work and the intensity of events. "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" is a novel that constantly surprises the reader. So, Zoya Monroz goes over to the side of Garin after another unsuccessful attempt on the scientist. Rolling attacks Garin again, who has to fight openly. The result of the battle is the complete defeat of the billionaire, who turned out to be a prisoner on the Arizona yacht with his failed victim.

Garin brings Shelga to the same ship, with whom he concludes a temporary truce. The operative secretly hopes to return the scientist's invention to the Soviet Union.

Implementation of the plan

The events of the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" continue to unfold. A summary of the chapters describes the beginning of the implementation of Garin's idea.

To make Rolling a monopolist, Garin blows up all the chemical plants in Germany with a hyperboloid. An expedition to Kamchatka, sent by a scientist, finds the Mantsev site. The researcher dies, but all his documents are saved and handed over to Garin.

On the island captured by Zoya, a hyperboloid is being built for drilling. It begins which Garin sells for next to nothing, causing a financial crisis in the capitalist world.

In exchange for stabilizing the world economy, Garin asks for power from the most influential capitalists, and receives it. Zoya is proclaimed Queen of the Golden Basin. But the long-awaited world domination does not bring joy to Garin, he is bored.

denouement

The denouement of the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" is approaching. The summary tells about the uprising of the workers that broke out on the Golden Island, which is headed by Shelga. Garin again changes places with another double, and he goes to the Golden Island to regain his hyperboloid.

He and Zoya sail on the Arizona yacht, but they do not reach their cherished goal, but fall into a typhoon. Garin and Monrose are shipwrecked and stranded on a deserted island. Months pass. All this time, lovers are forced to huddle in a palm-leaf hut and eat fish. In their dreams, wonderful memories come to them of the life they have lost.

Read. Perhaps we will want to turn the pages of his books again and again. Just like today, when we return to the work of Alexei Tolstoy, whom we have already met in our rubric.

Remember his story "The Viper"? Of course, dear readers, you are well acquainted with the works of Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy. It is hardly possible to rank this writer among the forgotten ones. What do you think, if today in a school, student, or any other audience you ask a question: what works of Alexei Tolstoy have you ... no, you haven’t even read, but you can simply name - what will be the answer? What would you name? Right! The novel "Peter I". Those who are older may remember the trilogy "Walking through the torments." It is possible that the novel "Aelita" will also be named. Yes! Alexei Tolstoy was a brilliant science fiction writer. One of the best science fiction novels of the 20th century, a prophecy novel, a detective novel, an adventure novel, is called "Engineer Garin's Hyperboloid", and its author is Alexei Tolstoy.

There are such literary works, the social order for which the era itself dictates. In the 20s of the last century, when the novel was being created, in reality, events took place no less fantastic than those described in the book. The whole world discussed the inventions and discoveries of Nikola Tesla. A hoaxer or a genius who is ahead of time by a millennium? And the young Alexei Tolstoy was shocked by Shukhov's hyperboloid constructions, his openwork towers. For fifteen years, from 1922 to 1937, Tolstoy rewrote and republished the novel. He came out in parts, under different names. The plot changed. Finals have changed. A children's version was even published, from which the "adult" episodes were removed.

In the version that we know and read today, there is everything without which an adventure novel is impossible, from which one cannot tear oneself away. A mysterious crime at the beginning, an investigation, a mysterious exchange of doubles, a message from the ends of the earth, written with an indelible pencil on the back of a boy who took more than one month to reach the addressee. The struggle for gold and the uprising of the slaves. Millionaires, liners, cruisers, gangsters and assassination attempts. A scientist - an adventurer, an evil genius, a femme fatale - a beautiful Amazon, a shipwreck and a desert island. But the main thing is the monstrous invention of engineer Garin: a beam, a beam of mysterious energy, a super-powerful weapon capable of destroying the world.

It must be said that Alexei Tolstoy was not the first to predict the appearance of such a beam. J. Verne and H. Wells had something. But Tolstoy is the only one, the ending of his novel does not create a feeling of completeness. The inventor and his companion desert island, and it seems that this is not the end, but the beginning of a new book.

The novel was filmed twice: in 1965 by director Alexander Gintsburg at the film studio. M. Gorky and in 1973 by director Leonid Kvinikhidze at the Lenfilm film studio. The second film is called "The Fall of Engineer Garin" - this is how the creators decided to express their attitude to the main, in their opinion, idea of ​​the novel. Although the movie is an independent work, but whether it is really a collapse, the readers still have to decide.

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Hyperboloid engineer Garin_end. Alexey Tolstoy

Workers of the whole world! The hour of decisive struggle has come. It announces this

Revolutionary Committee of the Golden Island. He announces that the Golden Isle

together with the mine and all the hyperboloids passes into the hands of the rebels

all over the world. The inexhaustible reserves of gold are now in the hands of the working people.

Garin and his gang will defend themselves fiercely. The sooner we move into

offensive, the more certain is our victory.

Not all members of the Revolutionary Committee approved this proclamation - part

of them hesitated, frightened by their courage: would it be possible to raise

workers? Can you get a weapon? The capitalists have both a fleet and powerful armies,

and the police, armed with military gases and machine guns ... Isn't it better to wait

Or at least start with a general strike?

Shelga, holding back his rage, said to the hesitant:

Revolution is the ultimate strategy. And strategy is the science of winning.

The winner is the one who takes the initiative in his own hands, who dared. Calmly

you will weigh later, when, after the victory, you decide to write for future

generations of the history of our victory.

We will be able to raise an uprising if we strain all our forces. Weapons we

we'll get it in battle. Victory is guaranteed because all working people want to win.

humanity, and we are its vanguard. That's what the Bolsheviks say. A

The Bolsheviks do not know defeat.

At these words, a tall guy with blue eyes - a miner who was silent

during the entire argument, took the pipe out of his mouth.

A tall, grey-haired valet, in a livery tailcoat and stockings, silently entered

to the bedchamber, put a cup of chocolate and biscuits on the bedside table, and with a quiet

rustled the curtains at the windows. Garin opened his eyes.

- Cigarette.

From this Russian habit - to smoke on an empty stomach - he could not get rid of,

although he knew that American high society, interested in every one of his

step, movement, word, sees some sign in smoking on an empty stomach

immorality.

In daily feuilletons, the entire American press completely whitewashed

the past of Peter Garin. If in the past he had to drink wine, then only

coercion, and in fact he was an enemy of alcohol; his relationship with madam

Lamol were purely fraternal, based on spiritual fellowship; it even turned out

that his and Madame Lamolle's favorite pastime during leisure hours was reading aloud

favorite chapters from the Bible; some of his abrupt actions (history in Ville

Davre, the explosion of chemical plants, the sinking of the American squadron, etc.)

some were explained by a fatal accident, others by careless handling

with a hyperboloid, anyway, great person sincerely and deeply in them

repents and prepares to enter the bosom of the church in order to completely wash away

themselves involuntary sins (between the Protestant and Catholic churches already

the struggle for Pyotr Garin began), and, finally, he was credited with a passion for

childhood, at least ten sports.

After smoking a thick cigarette, Garin glanced sideways at the chocolate. Be it in

the former time, when he was considered a scoundrel and a robber, he would ask

soda and cognac to get on your nerves, but drink to the dictator

half the world in the morning cognac! Such immorality would shake off all solid

bourgeoisie, rallied like a Napoleonic guard around his throne.

Grimacing, he took a sip of chocolate. Valet, with solemn sadness

“Mr. dictator will let his private secretary enter?”

Garin sat up lazily on the bed and pulled on his silk pajamas.

- Ask.

The secretary entered, dignified three times - at the door, in the middle of the room and near

bed — bowed to the dictator. wished good morning. Slightly squinted

"Sit down," said Garin, yawning so that his teeth clicked.

The private secretary sat down. It was dressed in all dark, middle-aged

a bony man with a wrinkled forehead and sunken cheeks. The eyelids of his eyes

were always half-opened. He was considered the most elegant man in the New

Sveta and, as Pyotr Petrovich thought, was assigned to him by large

financiers as a spy.

- What's new? Garin asked. How is the gold rate?

- It rises.

- It's a bummer nonetheless.

The secretary lifted his eyelids melancholy:

- Yes, slow. Still sluggish.

- Bastards!

Garin put his bare feet into brocade shoes and strode across the white carpet.

bedchambers:

“Bastards, sons of bitches, donkeys!”

Involuntarily, his left hand reached behind his back, with the thumb of his right he

caught on a bundle of pajama pants and walked like that with a strand that fell on his forehead

hair. Apparently, this minute also seemed historical to the secretary: he stretched out on

chair, stretched his neck out of his starched collar, seemed to be listening to

steps of history.

- Bastards! Garin repeated for the last time. - Slow lifting

I understand the course as a lack of confidence in me. To me! You understand? I will issue a decree on

prohibition of the free sale of gold bars under pain of death...

He stopped and, looking sternly at the lush pink ass of Aurora flying

among the clouds and cupids on the ceiling, he began to dictate:

“From this date, by a decree of the Senate ...”

Having finished this business, he smoked a second cigarette. Threw a cigarette butt at

unfinished cup of chocolate. Asked:

— What else is new? No attempts were made on my life?

With long fingers and long polished nails, the secretary took

portfolio, read it to myself, turned it over, turned it over again:

“Last night and today at half past seven in the morning, the police uncovered

two new assassination attempts on you, sir.

— Aha! Very good. Publish in print. Who are they? Hope,

the crowd itself dealt with the villains? What?

“Last night a young man was found in the park in front of the palace,

worker, in his pockets were found two iron nuts, each weighing

five hundred grams. Unfortunately, it was already late, the park was not crowded, and only

to a few passers-by who learned that an attempt was made on the life of their adored dictator,

managed to hit the villain several times. He is detained.

Were these passers-by private individuals or agents?

The secretary's eyelids fluttered, he grinned a little out of the corner of his mouth -

the only in all of North America, inimitable smile:

“Of course, sir, they were private individuals, honest merchants, loyal

“Find out the names of the merchants,” Garin dictated, “express in print

to them my warmest thanks. The one who tried to judge to the fullest extent

laws. After condemnation, I will pardon him.

“The second attempt also took place in the park,” continued the secretary. —

A lady was found looking at the windows of your bedchamber, sir. With a lady

found a small revolver.

- Young?

- Fifty-three years old. girl.

And what about the crowd?

The crowd contented itself with tearing off its hat, breaking its umbrella, and

trampled on her bag. This relatively weak enthusiasm is explained by the early

one in the morning and the pitiful appearance of the lady herself, who immediately fainted at the sight

angry crowd.

- Give the old crow a foreign passport and immediately take it out

limits of the United States. The press is silent about this incident. What

At five minutes to nine, Garin took a shower, after which he gave himself to work.

hairdresser and his four assistants. He sat down in a special, like a dentist,

an armchair covered with a linen sheet in front of a triple mirror. Simultaneously

his face was subjected to a steam bath, over the nails of both hands fluttered

with nail files, knives, suede pads, two blondes, over the toenails

- two most skillful mulattos. Head hair refreshed in several toilets

waters and essences, touched with tongs and combed so that it became imperceptible

bald. Barber, who received the title of baronet for amazing art,

shaved Pyotr Petrovich, powdered and perfumed his face and head with various perfumes:

neck - the smell of roses, behind the ears - chypre, whiskey - a bouquet of Vernet, near the lips -

a branch of an apple tree (rowing an apple), a beard - with the finest spirits of "Twilight".

After all these manipulations, the dictator could be wrapped in silk

paper, put in a case and send to the exhibition. Garin endured with difficulty

end, he was subjected to these manipulations every morning, and the newspapers wrote about

his "quarter of an hour after a bath". There was nothing to do.

Then he proceeded to the dressing room, where two footmen were waiting for him and

old valet with socks, shirts, shoes and other things. For today he

chose a brown suit with a sparkle. Bastard reporters wrote that one of

The most amazing talent of the dictator was the ability to choose a tie. had to

obey and keep your ears open. Garin chose a peacock tie

As he made his way to the dining room, decorated in medieval style, Garin thought:

“You can’t stand it for so long, damn it, they imposed a regime.”

At breakfast (again, not a drop of alcohol), the dictator had to

view correspondence. Three hundred letters lay on a Sevres tray.

Chewing smoked fried fish, tasteless ham and boiled oatmeal

on water without salt (morning food for athletes and moral people), Garin

took crispy envelopes at random. Printed out with a dirty fork, briefly

read:

“My heart is beating, my hand barely prints these lines from excitement ... What

will you think of me? God! I love you. I have loved you since the moment

I saw your portrait in the newspaper (name). I'm young. I am the daughter of the worthy

parents. I am full of enthusiasm to become a wife and mother…”

A photographic card was usually included. All of these were love

letters from all over America. From photographs (for a month they have accumulated

several tens of thousands) of these muzzles, with lush hair, innocent

eyes and stupid noses became terribly, mortally bored. to do

a dizzying journey from Krestovsky Island to Washington, from

unheated room in a secluded house on Petrogradskaya, where Garin went from

corner to corner, clasping his hand and looking for an almost non-existent loophole of salvation

(flight on the Bibigond), to the golden chair in the Senate,

where he must go in twenty minutes ... to terrify the world, to master

underground ocean of gold, to achieve world power - all just to

to fall into the trap of a philistine boring life.

- Fuck you, damn it!

Garin threw down the napkin and drummed with his fingers. You can't think of anything.

There is nothing to achieve. Reached the very top. Dictator. Demand unless

imperial title? Then they get really tired. Get away? Where? And for what? TO

Zoe? Ah, Zoya! Something most important broke with her, which arose in the damp,

a warm night in an old hotel in Ville Davre. Then, under the rustle of leaves

outside the window, among the painful caresses, all the fantasy of Garin's

adventures. Then there was the excitement of the coming struggle. It was easy then to say,

I will throw the world at your feet... And now Garin is the winner. The world is at your feet. But Zoya

- distant, alien, Madame Lamole, queen of the Golden Isle. Someone

another is dizzy from the smell of her hair, from the gaze of her

cold, dreamy eyes. And he, Garin, the ruler of the world, eats porridge without

salt, examines, yawning, stupid faces on the cards. Fantastic

the dream that he had in Ville Davre flew away from him ... Issue decrees,

break out under a great man, be decent in every respect ... Here

damn!.. It would be nice to demand cognac.

He turned to the lackeys, who stood like scarecrows in a freak show in the distance.

at the door. Now two stepped forward, one bowed inquiringly,

“The dictator's car has been served.

The dictator entered the Senate, brazenly stepping on his heels. Sitting in a golden chair

shifted, the face expressed energy and determination. Dozens of devices

photographed and filmed it at that moment. Hundreds of beautiful women

boxes for the public gave him enthusiastic glances.

The Senate had the honor to present him with the titles for to-day: Lord of Lower Wales,

Duke of Naples, Count of Charleroi, Baron Mühlhausen and co-emperor

All-Russian. From the North American United States, where, unfortunately,

as in a democratic country, there were no titles, they presented the title of "Bizman

of Gott ", which, translated into Russian, meant:" God's merchant

mercy."

Thank you Garin. He would gladly spit on those fat bald heads and

respected baldheads, sitting in front of him like an amphitheater in a double-height hall. But he

understood that he would not spit, but now he would get up and thank him.

“Wait, you bastards,” he thought, standing up (pale, small, with a sharp

beard) in front of the amphitheater applauding him - I will bring you a project about

purity of racial selection and the first thousand ... "But he himself felt that he was entangled

hand and foot, and in the rank of lord, duke, earl, God's merchant, he

nothing so decisive will bring ... And now he will go to the banquet from the hall

On the street, the dictator's car was greeted with shouts. But take a closer look

shouted all some tall guys who looked like disguised policemen,

Garin bowed and waved his lemon-gloved hand. Eh, don't

if he was born in Russia, he would not survive the revolution, probably moving around the city

among the jubilant people, expressing with cries of "gip, gip" and throwing

boutonniere his most loyal feelings, would give him the liveliest

pleasure. But Garin was a poisoned man. He was angry: "Cheap,

cheap stuff, shut your throats, brutes, there is nothing to rejoice at. He got out of the car

entrance of the City Duma, where dozens of women's hands (daughters of kerosene,

railway, canning and other kings) showered him with flowers.

As he ran up the stairs, he blew kisses right and left.

Music in honor of God's merchant burst out in the hall. He sat down and everyone sat down.

The snow-white table in the shape of the letter "P" was full of flowers, sparkling with crystal. At

each utensil contained eleven silver knives and eleven forks

various sizes (not counting spoons, spoons, lobster tweezers and tweezers

for asparagus). It was necessary not to make a mistake - with which knife and fork what to eat.

Garin gritted his teeth in anger: aristocrats, you think - out of two hundred

the man at the table was selling herrings on the street for three-quarters, and now it’s different

how it is indecent for them to eat with eleven forks! But the eyes were

aimed at the dictator, and this time he submitted to the public

pressure - behaved exemplarily at the table.

After the turtle soup, the speeches began. Garin listened to them standing, with

a glass of champagne. "I'll get drunk! zigzagged through my head. in vain

To two of his neighbors, talkative beauties, he even confirmed that

really reads the Bible in the evenings.

Between the third, sweet, and coffee, he answered the speeches:

“Lords, the power with which you have clothed me, I accept as the finger of God,

and the sacred duty of my conscience commands to use this unprecedented in history

the power to expand our markets, to flourish our industry and

trade and to suppress the immoral attempts of the mob to overthrow

The speech made a good impression. True, at the end of her dictator

added, as if to himself, three energetic words, but they were

spoken in an incomprehensible, apparently Russian, language and passed unnoticed. Then

Garin bowed on three sides and went out, accompanied by the howl of trumpets, the roar of

timpani and joyful exclamations. He drove home.

In the vestibule of the palace, he threw his cane and hat on the floor (panic among

who rushed to pick up the lackeys), thrust his hands deep into his pants pockets and, angrily

raising his beard, he climbed up the lush carpet. In the office, a personal

secretary.

- At seven o'clock in the evening at the Pacific Club in honor of Mr. Dictator

there will be a dinner accompanied by a symphony orchestra.

"Yes," Garin said. (Again added three incomprehensible words

in Russian.) — What else?

“At eleven o’clock tonight in the white room of the Indiana Hotel.”

there will be a ball in honor of…

- Telephone back and forth that I fell ill, overeating in the city

town hall crabs.

- I dare to express my fear that there will be more trouble from an imaginary

illness: the whole city will immediately come to you to express condolences. Except

moreover, newspaper chroniclers. They will try to penetrate even through

chimneys...

- You're right. I'm going. Garin called. - A bath. Prepare the evening

dress, regalia and orders. - For some time he walked, or rather, ran along

carpet. - What else?

“There are several ladies in the waiting room waiting for an audience.

- Do not accept.

They've been waiting since noon.

- I don't want to. Refuse.

“They are too hard to fight. I dare say: these are the ladies of the highest

society. Three famous writers, two movie stars, one traveler

in a car with world experience and one well-known philanthropist.

- Well ... Ask ... Anyway, some ...

Garin sat down at the table (to the left - a radio, to the right - telephones, straight ahead

- voice recorder trumpet). He pushed a clean quarter of paper forward, dipped his pen, and

suddenly thought.

“Zoya,” he began to write in Russian in a firm, large hand, “friend

my, only you are able to understand what kind of fool I played ... "

“Sssssssss,” he heard behind him.

Garin abruptly turned his whole body in his chair. The secretary has already slipped into

side door, in the middle of the office stood a lady in light green. She is weak

screamed, clasping her hands. Her face showed exactly what she's worth

to the greatest man in history. Garin looked at her for a moment. shook

- Get undressed! he ordered sharply and turned in his chair, continuing

At a quarter to eight Garin hurried up to the table. He was in a tailcoat,

stars, regalia and a ribbon over the waistcoat. There were sharp signals

radio receiver, always tuned to the wave of the Golden Island station. Garin

repeated in Russian:

“Garin, we are dead… Garin, we are dead… There is an uprising on the island.

The large hyperboloid is captured. Jansen is with me ... If we succeed, we run to

the secretary, with Garin's top hat and cane, was waiting at the door. And here is the receiver again

in English:

“Workers of the whole world. You know the extent and consequences of panic,

spanning the United States…”

After listening to the end of Shelga's appeal, Garin took off his headphones. Slowly, with

lit a cigar with a wry smile. From the drawers of the table he took out a pack of hundred-dollar

pieces of paper and a nickel-plated apparatus in the form of a revolver with a thick muzzle: it was

his latest invention is the pocket hyperboloid. He called with a wave of his eyebrows

personal secretary:

— Have the road car ready immediately.

The secretary's eyelids went up for the first time, his red eyes were piercing.

looked at Garin:

But, Mr Dictator...

- Shut up! Immediately hand over to the chief of troops, the governor of the city and

civil authorities that from seven o'clock martial law is introduced.

The only measure to prevent disorder in the city is execution.

The secretary instantly disappeared through the door. Garin approached the triple mirror.

He was in regalia and stars, pale, like a wax doll from

panopticon. He looked at himself for a long time, and suddenly one of his eyes

winked mockingly ... "Blow your feet, Pierre Harry, take your feet as soon as possible,"

he whispered to himself.

Events on the Golden Island began by the evening of the twenty-third of June.

The ocean raged all day. Thunderclouds crept in from the southwest. The sky crackled

fiery zigzags. Water dust flew in a mad fog across the entire

At the end of the day, the storm was gone, lightning blazed far beyond the edge of the ocean, but

the wind with unrelenting force bent the trees to the ground, bent the arrows of the tall

lanterns, tore the wires, carried away the roofs from the barracks with shapeless panels and

howled and whistled all over the island with such satanic malice that all living things

hid at home. In the harbor, ships creaked on the berths, several barges

was torn off the anchor chains and carried into the ocean. Like a float, one in

small harbor, opposite the palace jumped on the waves of "Arizona".

The population of the island has greatly decreased Lately. Works in the mine

were suspended. The grandiose constructions of Madame Lamolle had not yet begun.

Of the six thousand workers, about five hundred remained. The rest left the island

loaded with gold. The empty barracks of the workers' settlement, Luna Park,

brothels were demolished, the ground was leveled for future construction.

The guards had absolutely nothing to do on this peaceful piece of land.

Gone are the days when yellow and white like watchdogs stuck out with rifles

on the rocks, striding along the wires, clicking their shutters meaningfully.

The guards began to drink. Yearned for big cities, chic

restaurants, cheerful women. Asked for a vacation, threatened with a riot. But it was

Garin's strict order: no vacations, no layoffs. Guards

the barracks were under the constant sight of the barrel of a large hyperboloid.

A desperate game was going on in the barracks. Paid in nominal notes, so

like the gold that lay in piles near the barracks, everyone got sicker worse than the bitter

radish. Played for mistresses, for weapons, for stoned pipes, for bottles

old cognac or - "once or twice in the face" By evening, usually the whole barracks

drunk to smithereens. General Subbotin could hardly support not only

discipline, whatever it is, just decency.

“Gentlemen, officers, it’s a shame,” thundered the voice of the general every evening.

Subbotina in the officer's canteen, - gentlemen, officers, sank down on the floor

puke, sir, the air is in a mess, sir. In pants, if you please, flaunt, pants

lost-s. I am dejected that I have the misfortune to command a gang of bastards.

None of the interventions helped. But it's never been like this before

drunkenness, as on the day of the storm on the twenty-third of June. The howling wind drove

guardsmen into wild melancholy, inspired by old memories, old wounds ached.

Water spray rained on the window. Hurricane fire hooted and ahala heavenly

artillery. The walls trembled, the glasses clinked on the tables. Guardsmen for long

tables, resting their elbows on them, propping up their daring heads, unkempt, unwashed,

they sang an enemy song: “Oh, apple, where are you going…” And this song, the devil knows

from what distant life brought to an island lost among the waves,

seemed like a pinch of native salt. Drunken heads shook in tears. General

Subbotin was hoarse, acting, he sent everyone to hell with pigs, he got drunk himself.

Revolutionary Committee intelligence (represented by Ivan Gusev) reported on the difficult situation

enemy in the barracks. At the seventh hour in the evening Shelga with five tall

miners approached the guardhouse (in front of the barracks) and began to swear with two

tipsy sentries standing by the rifles in the goats. Passionate about Russians

turns of speech, sentries lost their vigilance, were suddenly knocked down,

disarmed and bound. Shelga mastered a hundred rifles. They are now distributed

workers, who approached from lantern to lantern, hiding behind trees and bushes,

crawling across the lawns.

One hundred people broke into the barracks. A monstrous commotion began

the guards met the advancing with bottles and stools, retreated,

organized themselves and opened fire. On the stairs, in the corridors, in

there was a fight going on in the dormitories. Sober and drunk fought hand to hand. From broken windows

wild screams erupted. There were few attackers - one in five - but they

they thrashed, as with chains, with the callused fists of the pampered yellow-whites

reinforcements Guardsmen began to throw themselves out of the windows. In several places

a fire broke out, the barracks were shrouded in smoke.

Jansen ran through the deserted unlit rooms of the palace. With a roar and

the surf hissed on the veranda. The wind whistled, shaking the windows

frames. Jansen called Madame Lamole, listened in terrifying anxiety.

He ran down to half of Garin, flew in sazhen leaps along

stairs. Shots were heard below, isolated screams. He looked into

inner garden. Empty, not a soul. On opposite side, under the arch,

covered in ivy, they were breaking through the gates outside. How could it be so strong

to sleep that only the bullet that broke the glass of the window woke Jansen Madame

Lamol ran? Perhaps she was killed?

He opened a door at random. Has entered. Four bluish balls and

the fifth, hanging under the mosaic ceiling, was illuminated by tables filled with

appliances, marble boards with measuring instruments, lacquered drawers and cabinets with

cathode lamps, dynamo wires - a desk littered with blueprints.

It was Garin's office. A crumpled handkerchief lay on the carpet. Jansen grabbed

him, - he smelled of the perfume of Madame Lamolle Then he remembered that from the office

there is an underground passage to the elevator of a large hyperboloid and somewhere there should be

secret door. Madame Lamolle, of course, at the first shots she rushed at

tower - how could you not guess!

He looked around, looking for this door, but then he heard the sound of breaking

glass, the clatter of feet, behind the wall hurried voices began to call to each other. In

the palace broke in So what is Madame Lamolle delaying? He jumped to

double carved door and locked it. He took out a revolver. It seemed

Before him stood Madame Lamolle. Her pale lips moved, but he

didn't hear what she said. He looked at her, breathing heavily.

“We are dead, Jansen, we are dead!” she repeated.

She was wearing a black dress. Hands, narrow and clenched, pressed to the chest.

The eyes are excited like a blue storm. Madame Lamole said:

- The elevator of the large hyperboloid does not work, the elevator is raised to the very top.

Someone is sitting on the tower. They climbed up the rungs outside... I'm sure

that this is a boy Gusev ...

She cracked her fingers and stared at the carved door. Her eyebrows moved. Behind

Dozens of feet stamped furiously on the door. There was a wild scream. Fuss. Hasty

shots. Madame Lamolle hurriedly sat down at the table, turned on the switch; soft

the dynamo howled, the pear-shaped lamps shone purple. The key knocked, sending

“Garin, we are dead… Garin, we are dead…” she spoke,

bending over the microphone grid.

A minute later, the carved door creaked under the blows of fists and feet.

- Open the door! Open up! .. - voices were heard.

Madame Lamolle grabbed Jansen by the arm, dragged him to the wall and pressed her foot

on a curl of carved decoration near the floor. Damask panel between two

semi-columns inaudibly fell into the depths. Madame Lamolle and Jansen slipped through

through a secret hole in the underground passage. The panel is back in place.

After the thunderstorm, the stars flickered and burned especially brightly above the excited

ocean. The wind was blowing off my feet. The surf flew high. Rocks rumbled. Through

the sound of the ocean, shots were heard. Madame Lamolle and Jansen ran, hiding behind

bushes and rocks, to the northern bay, where the motor boat always stood.

To the right, the palace rose like a black wall, to the left, waves, luminous manes

foam and - far away - the lights of the dancing "Arizona". Behind the latticed silhouette

receding into the sky, a tower of a large hyperboloid was drawn. At the very top of her

there was light.

- Look, - leaning back on the run and waving his hand towards the tower,

shouted Madame Lamolle, "there is light!" This is death!

She went down the steep slope to the bay, closed from the waves. Here at

the stairs leading to the veranda of the palace, at small booms, a boat dangled.

She jumped into it, ran to the stern and, with trembling hands, turned on

"Hurry, hurry, Jansen!"

The boat was moored on a chain. Putting the barrel of a revolver into the ring,

Jansen broke the lock. Upstairs on the veranda, the doors clanged open,

armed men appeared. Jansen dropped the revolver and grabbed the chain at the root.

His muscles crackled, his neck bulged, the hook on the collar of his jacket snapped.

Suddenly, the engine fired up. The people on the terrace ran down the

stairs, brandishing weapons, shouting: "Stop, stop!"

With a last effort, Jansen tore the chain free, pushed the puffing boat far

waves and on all fours ran along the side to the helm.

Describing a steep arc, the boat flew to the narrow exit from the bay. After

shots flashed.

"Trap, salty devils!" yelled Jansen on the boat, dancing under the

"Arizona". Where is the chief assistant? Asleep! I'll hang it!

“Here, here, Captain. Yes, captain.

- Cut the ropes! Turn on the motors! Full throttle! Put out the fires!

Yes, yes, captain.

Madame Lamolle was the first to climb the storm ladder. leaning over

side, she saw that Jansen was struggling to get up, and somehow fell on his side, and

convulsively catches the thrown end. The wave covered him along with the boat, and again

his spitting face emerged, contorted in a grimace of pain.

Jansen, what's wrong with you?

- I injured.

Four sailors jumped into the boat, picked up Jansen, and lifted him on board.

On deck, he fell, holding his side, lost consciousness. They carried him to the cabin.

In full swing, cutting the waves, burrowing into the water abyss, "Arizona"

left the island. Commanded by senior assistant. Madame Lamolle stood next to

him on the bridge, clinging to the railing. Water poured from her, her dress clung to her.

She watched as the glow flared up (the barracks burned) and black smoke,

tested by fiery spirals, covers the island. But here she is, apparently

noticed something, grabbed the commander by the sleeve:

- Turn southwest...

— There are reefs, madam.

- Silence, it's none of your business! .. Pass, having an island on the port side.

She ran to the lattice tower of the hyperboloid. Veil of water flying away

nose on the deck, covered Madame Lamolle, knocked down. The sailor picked her up

wet and furious with anger. She broke free and climbed the tower.

On the island, high above the smoke of the fire, a dazzling star sparkled -

it was a large hyperboloid at work, groping for the Arizona.

Madame Lamolle decided to fight, still no way to get away from the beam,

grabbing from the tower for many miles. The beam first darted through the stars,

horizon, describing in a few seconds a circle of four hundred kilometers. But

now he stubbornly groped for the western sector of the ocean, ran along the crests of the waves, and

its trail was indicated by thick clouds of steam.

The Arizona was underway for seven miles along the island. Burrowing up

masts into the hissing water, took off like a shell on a wave, and then from the stern

Madame Lamolle's turrets hit the island with a return beam. Already blazed on it

some wooden buildings. Sheaves of sparks rose high, as if

inflated by giant furs. The glow threw reflections on all black,

stormy ocean. And so, when the "Arizona" climbed the ridge, from the island

saw the silhouette of a yacht, and a burning white needle danced around her, striking from above

down, in zigzags, and blows, very close, approaching, fell in front of the stern,

then in front of the nose.

It seemed to Zoya that the dazzling star was pricking her right in the eyes, and she

she herself tried to bury the barrel of the apparatus in this star on a distant tower.

The propellers of the Arizona roared furiously, the stern was exposed, and the ship began to

bow down, sliding off the wave. At this time, the beam, feeling the sight,

soared, trembled, as if trying on, and, without hesitation, began to fall on

yacht profile. Zoya closed her eyes. Must have been for everyone on board

Witnessing this duel, my heart stopped.

When Zoya opened her eyes, there was a wall of water in front of her, an abyss where

slipped "Arizona". This is not death, Zoya thought. She took her hands off

apparatus, and her hands dangled without strength.

When the rise to the wave began again, it became clear why the

death. Enormous clouds of smoke covered the whole island and the tower,

oil tanks exploded. Behind the smoke screen, the Arizona could safely

Zoya did not know whether she had succeeded in shooting down a large hyperboloid, or only in

The smoke did not show the stars. But isn't it all the same now ... She hardly

descended from the tower. Holding on to the tackle, she made her way into the cabin, where

Jansen was breathing heavily through the blue curtains. Fell into a chair, lit a wax

match, lit.

The Arizona was heading northwest. The wind had eased but the ocean was still

restless. Many times a day, the yacht sent out prearranged signals in an attempt to

contact Garin, and in hundreds of thousands of radios around the world

longitude. Awaiting orders."

Ocean steamers, intercepting these radios, hastened to get away from

a terrible place where "Arizona" - "thunderstorm of the seas" was again discovered.

Clouds of burning oil enveloped Golden Island. After the hurricane came

calm, and black smoke rose to the cloudless sky, throwing on the waters of the ocean

a huge shadow for several kilometers.

The island seemed extinct, and only in the direction of the mine, as always, did not

ceasing, the scoops of the elevators creaked.

Then, in the silence, there was music: a solemn slow march. Through

one could see two hundred people in the mist of smoke: they walked with their heads up, their

faces were stern and determined. Ahead, four carried something on their shoulders.

wrapped in a red banner. They climbed the rock where the

lattice tower of a large hyperboloid, and at its foot they lowered a long

It was the body of Ivan Gusev. He died yesterday during a fight with the Arizona.

Climbing like a cat outside the latticework of the tower, he turned on

a large hyperboloid, felt the Arizona among the huge waves.

A fiery cord from the Arizona danced around the island, setting fire to the buildings,

cut down lampposts and trees. "Viper," whispered Ivan, turning

muzzle of the apparatus, and just as during the written lesson, when Tarashkin taught

his literacy, helped himself with his tongue.

He caught the Arizona in focus and hit the water with a beam in front of the stern and in front of

nose, bringing the corner closer. Clouds of smoke from burning tanks interfered. Suddenly a beam from

"Arizona" turned into a dazzling star, and she, sparkling, stung Ivan

in the eyes. Pierced through by a beam, he fell on the casing of a large

hyperboloid...

“Sleep well, Vanyusha, you died like a hero,” said Shelga. He

sank down in front of Ivan's body, unfolded the edge of the banner and kissed the boy on the

A short time later, a twin-engine

powerful airplane. Taking the height, he turned to the west ...

“All your orders have been carried out, mister dictator…

Garin locked the exit door with a key, went to a flat bookcase and

to his right held his hand.

The secretary said with a smile:

“Secret door button on the left side, mister dictator…”

Garin looked at him quickly, strangely. Pushed the button, bookcase

silently moved aside, revealing a narrow passage into the secret rooms of the palace.

“Please,” said Garin, suggesting that the secretary go there first.

The secretary turned pale, Garin raised his beam revolver with icy politeness.

the level of his forehead. “It’s wiser to obey, Mr. Secretary…”

The door to the captain's quarters was wide open. Jansen lay on the bed.

The yacht barely moved. In the silence it was heard how it crashed against the side

Jansen's wish came true - he was again in the ocean, alone with Madame Lamolle.

He knew he was dying. For several days he fought for his life - a through bullet

a wound in the stomach, and finally calmed down. Looking at the stars through the open door

from where the air of eternity poured. There was no desire, no fear, only importance

transition to rest.

Outside, appearing as a shadow on the stars, Madame Lamolle entered. bent over

over it. She asked in a whisper how he felt. He responded with a movement of the eyelids,

and she understood that he wanted to tell her: "I am happy, you are with me." When

him several times, grasping the air, his chest convulsively rose, Zoya sat down

near the bed and did not move. There must have been sad thoughts wandering through her

"My friend, my only friend," she said with a quiet

despair - you alone in the world loved me. I was dear to you alone. you are not

it will be... How cold, how cold...

Jansen did not answer, only with a movement of his eyelids seemed to confirm the coming

cold. She saw that his nose was sharpened, his mouth was twisted into a faint smile. More

recently his face had burned with a fiery blush, now it was like wax. She

She waited many more minutes, then her lips touched his hand. But he still

did not die. He slowly opened his eyes and parted his lips. Zoya thought he

said: “Okay…”

Then his face changed. She turned away and carefully pulled her blue

The secretary, the most elegant man in the United States, was lying

prone, clutching the carpet with frozen fingers: he died instantly, without a cry

Garin, biting his trembling lips, was slowly stuffing the radiation

revolver. Then he went to a low steel door. Typed on a copper disk

a combination of letters known only to him, - the door opened. He entered

reinforced concrete room without windows.

It was the dictator's personal safe. But instead of gold or papers here

there was something much more valuable for Garin: brought from Europe and

first secretly kept on the Golden Island, then - here - in secret

rooms of the palace, Garin's third double is a Russian emigrant, Baron Korf,

sold himself for a lot of money.

He sat in a soft leather armchair, with his feet up on a gilded table, where

fruits and sweets stood in vases (he was not allowed to drink). Lying on the floor

books are English crime novels. Out of boredom, Baron Korf spat bones

cherries on the round screen of a television set that stood three meters from it

"Finally," he said, turning lazily to Garin, who had entered. —

Where the hell have you gone?.. Listen, how long are you going to

marinate me in this cellar? By God, I prefer to starve in Paris...

Instead of answering, Garin tore off his ribbon, threw off his tailcoat with orders, and

regalia.

- Get undressed.

- For what? asked Baron Korf with some curiosity.

- Give me your dress.

- What's the matter?

- And - a passport, all the papers ... Where is your razor?

Garin sat down at the dressing table. Without lathering cheeks, grimacing in pain,

quickly shaved off his mustache and beard.

By the way, there is a man in the room nearby. Remember - it's yours

personal secretary. When they miss him, you can say that you sent him away from

secret mission... Do you understand?

"What's the matter, I ask?" yelled Baron Korf, grabbing on the fly

Garin trousers.

“I'll take the secret passage from here to the park, to my car. you hide

secretary into the fireplace and go into my office. Call immediately

Rolling. I hope you remember well the whole mechanism of my dictatorship? I,

then my first deputy - head of the secret police, then my

second deputy - head of the propaganda department, then my third

deputy head of the provocation department. Then a secret council of three hundred,

Rolling is at the head. If you haven't completely turned into an idiot yet, you should

had to memorize it all ... Take off your trousers, damn it! ..

Tell Rolling on the phone that you, that is, Pierre Garin, are standing in

head of the troops and police. You will have to fight seriously, my dear ...

- A! In the end, they don’t give a damn… There would be a dictator…

“Let me, let me,” it means that from this moment I turn into Peter

Petrovich Garin?

- I wish you success. Enjoy full power. All instructions for

desk... I disappear...

Garin winked at his doppelgänger, just as he had done before in the mirror, and

hid behind the door.

As soon as Garin, alone in a closed car, rushed across

the central streets of the city, all doubt disappeared: he took his legs off in time.

The working-class districts and suburbs hummed in crowds of hundreds of thousands ... In some places already

banners of revolutionary banners splashed. Across the streets hastily

barricades of overturned buses, furniture thrown into

windows, doors, lampposts, cast-iron gratings.

With an experienced eye, Garin saw that the workers were well armed. On

trucks, pushing through the crowds, delivered machine guns, grenades,

rifles ... Undoubtedly, this was the work of Shelga ...

A few hours ago, Garin would have thrown the troops

on the rebels. But now he only more nervously pressed the pedal of the car rushing

among curses and cries: “Down with the dictator! Down with the Council of Three Hundred!"

The hyperboloid was in Shelga's hands. They knew about it, they shouted about it

rebels. Shelga plays out a revolution like a conductor plays out a heroic

symphony.

Loudspeakers installed by order of Garin during the sale

gold, now they were working against it - they spread the news about

general uprising.

Garin's double, against all the expectations of Pyotr Petrovich, began to act

decisively and even not without success. His elite troops stormed the barricades.

The police dropped gas bombs from airplanes. The cavalry cut people with broadswords

at the crossroads. Special brigades broke door locks, broke into dwellings

workers, destroying all life.

But the rebels held out stubbornly. In other cities, in large factory

centers, they resolutely went on the offensive. By the middle of the day the whole country

revolted...

Garin squeezed out of the car all the speed of its sixteen cylinders. Hurricane

swept along the streets of provincial towns, knocked down pigs, dogs, crushed

chickens. Another passer-by did not have time to bulge his eyes, like a dusty, black

the huge car of the dictator, shrinking and roaring, disappeared around the corner...

He only stopped for a few minutes to get gas,

pour water into the radiator … raced all night.

The next morning, the power of the dictator had not yet been overthrown. The capital was on fire

lit by thermite bombs, up to fifty thousand corpses lay on the streets.

"Here's your baron! Garin grinned when the loudspeaker at the bus stop

croaked these news...

At five o'clock the next day, his car was fired upon ...

At seven o'clock, flying through some town, he saw revolutionary

flags and singing people...

He raced all the second night - west, to the Pacific Ocean. At dawn,

pouring gasoline, I finally heard from the black throat of the loudspeaker well

- Victory, victory ... Comrades, in my hands - a terrible weapon

Revolutions are a hyperboloid...

Gritting his teeth, not listening to the end, Garin rushed on. At ten o'clock

in the morning he saw the first poster on the side of the highway; on a plywood board in huge letters

“Comrades... The dictator was taken alive... But the dictator turned out to be a double

Garin, a figurehead, Pyotr Garin fled. He runs to the west... Comrades,

be vigilant, delay the dictator's car ... (Signs followed.)

Garin must not get away from the revolutionary court ... "

In the middle of the day, Garin found a motorcycle behind him. He didn't hear

shots, but ten centimeters from his head appeared in the glass of the car

bullet hole with cracks. The back of the head became cold. He squeezed out all the gas, what

could give a car, rushed over the hill, turned to the wooded mountains. In one hour

flew into the gorge. The motor began to give up and stalled. Garin jumped out, turned the steering wheel,

let the car go downhill and, stretching his legs with difficulty, began to climb up

steepness to the pine forest.

From above, he saw three motorcycles speeding down the highway. Rear

has stopped. Armed, naked to the waist, a man jumped off him and bent down

over the abyss where the broken car of the dictator was lying.

In the forest, Pyotr Petrovich took off everything except his pants and underwear,

cut the leather on his shoes and on foot began to make his way to the nearest station

railroad.

On the fourth day he reached a secluded seaside manor near

Los Angeles, where in the hangar hung, always ready, his airship.

The dawn dawned on a cloudless sky. The ocean smoked pink steam.

Garin, leaning over the window of the airship's gondola, with difficulty through binoculars found

deep below the narrow shell of the yacht. She dozed on the mirror water,

translucent through a light hazy cover.

The airship began to descend. He sparkled all over in the sun. From his yacht

noticed, raised the flag. When the gondola touched the water, it separated from the yacht

boat. Zoya was on the wheel. Garin barely recognized her—her face was so haggard. He

jumped into the boat, with a smile, as if nothing had happened, sat down next to Zoya,

patted her hand:

- I'm glad to see you. Don't be sad, little one. Broke - don't care. Let's brew

new porridge ... Well, why did you hang your nose? ..

Zoya, frowning, turned away so as not to see his face.

“I just buried Jansen. I'm tired. Now I don't care.

The sun rose from the edge of the horizon - a huge ball rolled out over

blue desert, and the fog melted like a ghost.

A sunny road stretched out, shimmering with oily reflections, and

three inclined masts and lattice turrets were drawn in black silhouette on it

"Arizona".

"Bath, breakfast, and bed," said Garin.

The Arizona turned towards the Golden Isle. Garin decided to strike at

the very heart of the rebels is to master the great hyperboloid and the shaft.

The masts were cut down on the yacht, both hyperboloids at the bow and stern

disguised with boards and canvas - in order to change the profile of the vessel

and approach the Golden Isle undetected.

Garin was self-confident, resolute, cheerful, - he again returned to

good mood.

On the morning of the next day, the assistant captain, who took command on the ship after

Jansen's death, pointed anxiously at the cirrus clouds. They rose quickly

from the eastern edge of the ocean, covered the sky for a huge, ten-kilometer

height. A storm was approaching, perhaps a hurricane - a typhoon.

Garin, preoccupied with his own thoughts, sent the captain to hell.

“Well, a typhoon is bullshit. Give it a go...

The captain looked sullenly from the bridge at the rapidly clouding sky.

He ordered the hatches to be battened down, the boats to be fixed on the deck and everything that could be

The ocean darkened. The wind blew in gusts, warning with a threatening whistle

sailors about imminent trouble. In place of the heralds of the hurricane - high cirrus

clouds - swirling low clouds crawled. The wind was getting stronger and stronger

ocean, rippled restlessly over huge waves.

And now, from the east, a low cloud, black as a sheepskin, began to pile up, with

lead depth. The gusts of wind became violent. The waves rolled over

board. And the humps of the gray-cold waves no longer rippled, the wind tore from them

whole sheets, covered with a mist of water dust ...

The captain said to Zoya and Garin:

- Go downstairs. In a quarter of an hour we will be at the center of the typhoon. Motors

we won't be saved.

The hurricane hit the Arizona with all the fury of an eleven. Yacht,

burrowing, falling from side to side so that the bottom was exposed to the keel, no longer

obeying neither the rudder nor the propellers, rushed in circles of a narrowing spiral towards the center

typhoon, or “window,” as sailors call it.

The "window", sometimes up to five kilometers in diameter, is the center of rotation of the typhoon;

winds of magnitude twelve are rushing from all directions around the "window",

balancing their forces on its periphery.

There, in such a "window", a miserable shell was carried away by the cycle -

"Arizona".

Black clouds touched the deck. It became dark as night. The sides of the yacht crackled.

People, in order not to break, Cling to anything. The captain ordered

tie yourself to the railing of the bridge.

The Arizona was lifted to the crest of a water mountain, put on board and thrown

into the abyss And suddenly - a dazzling sun, an instant calm and

green-transparent, sparkling, like from liquid glass, waves - ten-story

huge, colliding with a deafening splash, as if the king of the sea himself,

Neptune, furious, slapped his hands ...

This was the "window", the most dangerous place typhoon. Here the air currents

rush vertically, carrying water vapor to a height of ten kilometers,

and there they scatter them with films of cirrus clouds - the upper harbingers

typhoon...

Everything was swept away from the Arizona: boats, both lattice

turrets of hyperboloids, a chimney and a captain's bridge with a captain...

The "window", surrounded by darkness and whirling hurricanes, rushed across the ocean,

dragging the Arizona on the crush of monstrous waves.

The motors burned out, the steering wheel was torn off.

"I can't take it anymore," Zoya groaned.

“Someday this has to end… Oh shit! - answered hoarsely

Both of them were beaten, tormented, hitting walls and furniture. Garin's

forehead cut, Zoya lay on the floor of the cabin, clinging to the leg of a screwed

beds. Suitcases, books that had fallen out of

cupboards, cushions, cork belts, oranges, shards of crockery.

“Garin, I can’t, throw me into the sea…”

From a terrible push Zoya tore herself off the bed and rolled. Garin somersault

flew over it, hit the door ...

There was a crack, a tearing crunch. The sound of falling water. Human

scream. The cabin fell apart. A powerful stream of water picked up two people, threw them into

boiling green-cold abyss…

When Garin opened his eyes, ten centimeters from his nose was a small

the hermit crustacean, which had crawled halfway into the mother-of-pearl shell,

eyes, moustache quivering in amazement. Garin understood with an effort: "Yes, I'm alive..." But still

For a long time he was unable to get up. He lay on his side on the sand. Right hand

was damaged. Grimacing in pain, he pulled his legs up and sat down.

Not far away, bending a thin trunk, stood a palm tree, a fresh wind ruffled it.

leaves ... Garin got up, staggering, went. Around wherever he goes

looked, they ran and, having reached the low bank, crashed with noise

green-blue, sun-drenched waves ... Several dozen palm trees stretched

in the wind wide, like fans, leaves. Shards lay here and there on the sand

wood, boxes, some rags, ropes ... This was all that was left of

"Arizona", which crashed along with the entire crew on the reefs of a coral island.

Garin, limping, went into the depths of the island, to where

the elevated places were overgrown with low shrubs and bright green grass. There

Zoya lay on her back with her arms outstretched. Garin crouched over her, afraid to touch

to her body so as not to feel the cold of death. But Zoya was alive - her eyelids

trembled, parched lips parted.

On the coral island was a pool of rainwater, bitter but

drinkable. On the shallows - shells, small shells, polyps, shrimps

- everything that once served as food for primitive man. Palm leaves could

serve as clothing and cover from the midday sun.

Two naked people, thrown onto the bare ground, could somehow live ... And

they began to live on this island, lost in the desert of the Pacific Ocean. Not

there was even hope that a ship would pass by and, noticing them, would take them on board.

Garin collected shells or fished with a shirt in a fresh lake. Zoya

found fifty copies of the book in one of the discarded crates from the Arizona

a luxurious edition of projects for palaces and entertainment pavilions on the Golden

island. There were also the laws and charter of court etiquette Madame Lamolle -

mistress of the world...

For days on end, in the shade of the palm-leaf hut, Zoya leafed through this

a book created by her insatiable imagination. The remaining forty nine

copies bound in gold and morocco, Garin used in the form

hedges to protect from the wind.

Garin and Zoya did not speak. For what? About what? They have been all their lives

loners, and finally got complete, perfect loneliness.

above the island, the lake was filled with fresh rainwater. The months dragged on

when the sun burned fiercely from a cloudless sky. Then they had to drink

rotten water...

Garin and Zoya must be collecting clams and oysters to this day.

on this island. Having eaten, Zoya sits down to leaf through a book with marvelous

projects of palaces, where among the marble colonnades and flowers rises her

beautiful marble statue,” Garin, burying his nose in the sand and

hiding behind a decayed jacket, snoring, must also be worried during

dream different entertaining stories

NOTES

1. Coat of arms of Paris, or, in ancient times, Lutetia - a golden boat.

2. There is an assumption that between the earth's crust and hard

the central core of the earth is a layer of molten metals - the so-called

Olivine belt.

3. Carmelites - a monastic order. (Note by A. N. Tolstoy.)

4. Constant value of gold around the world Garin's task is to depreciate

gold to wreak havoc among the money magnates of the bourgeois world and

seize power.

5. The famous temple of Diana, the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt and the moon, in the city

Ephesus, burned in 356 BC.

6. Semiramis - the legendary queen who allegedly founded Babylon.

7. Colossus of Rhodes - a gigantic statue of Helios, ancient Greek

the god of the sun, standing at the entrance to the harbor of the island of Rhodes.

8. Radiation.

9. About six kopecks. (Note by A. N. Tolstoy)

For the first time - a magazine. Krasnaya Nov, 1925, N 7-9 (book one - Coal

pyramids”, with the subtitle “A novel in three books”; ibid., 1926, N 4-9

(book two - "The Olivine Belt").

The second book ended with the capture of the Golden Island by the Revolutionary Committee and

the disappearance of Garin. Then ("Krasnaya nov", 1927, N 2) were published

new chapters of the novel - "Garin the dictator" with the subtitle " New option end

novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" Now the novel ended with a meeting at

"Arizona" by Garin, who fled Washington, with Zoya, who had just buried

Jansen. The last phrase of the text: "This ends one of the extraordinary

adventures of engineer Garin" - inspired the reader with the hope that he would still be able to

novel, scheduled as a subtitle to the publication of the first two.

The third book was never written. Her plan has been preserved (along with

plan of the first two), which was compiled by A. Tolstoy in July 1924,

when he applied for a novel to Gosizdat. The action of the novel (as a whole) was

dated to 1930. The novel unfolds against the backdrop of the eve of World War II

war. From the middle of the novel, an air-chemical war takes place. At the end -

European Revolution". The plot of the first part differs significantly from

its implementation, in the second they are closer to each other. Third part plan

titled "The Fate of the World" reads as follows: "War and Destruction

cities. Rolling at the head of American capitalists destroy and plunder

Europe, just as once Lucullus and Pompeii plundered Asia Minor.

Shelga takes the stage again. Fight him with Ker (a detective working

on Rolling, his role in the written text is distributed to some extent between

Semenov and Tyklinsky. - A. A.) and the murder of Ker.

Russia is re-equipping its chemical plants for defense. In Paris

the revolution begins.

Rolling leads with the help of Michel (entered the novel under the name Gaston

Duck Nose. - A. A.) gangs of anarchists.

At the same time, on the island, Garin is preparing to become the ruler of the world.

Zoya Monroz is passionately in love with Khlynov (student chemist, "a type of new

Russian man", which, according to the original plan, was one of

the central figures of the novel. - A. A.).

Khlynov's brilliant plan. With Zoya's help, he does it. Garin's death.

Khlynov blows up the island.

Khlynov flies to Paris and rushes into the thick of the fight. Defeat of the anarchists.

Rolling's death.

The victory of the European revolution. Pictures of peaceful, luxurious life, kingdom

labor, science and grandiose art” (Goslitizoat. 1958-1961.4, p. 829).

The main stages of a long work on the text "The engineer's hyperboloid

Garin" were first covered in the comments of K. D. Muratova (PSS, 5, p.

503-504) and Yu. A. Krestinsky (Goslitizdat. 1958-1961.4, pp. 830-831).

The text of the novel, in addition to the magazine, has four book editions.

(1927,1934,1936,1939).

The first was created for the first separate edition of the novel, when he

subheading "revised edition" was included in the ed.: GIZ, 10, with the date: "May

1925 - December 1926 In preparing this edition, the journal text

has undergone stylistic revision, some chapters have been revised. Into the novel

new final chapters were included, merged at publication

titled "Garin the Dictator". A new numbering of chapters has been introduced. In the first

the book edition of the novel was reprinted twice: Nedra, 11; otd. ed. M.,

"Soviet Literature", 1933.

The second book edition of the novel was born when it was included in the publication:

Goslitizdat. 1934-1936.4. This time the editing came down to

stylistic corrections and abbreviations: individual chapters were completely

omitted, others seriously reduced, the general numbering of chapters has changed again.

The third book edition of the novel was created taking into account a specific

reader's address (for older children) in 1936, when

"The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" was published by Detgiz ("Library of novels and

stories"). This time the text not only underwent stylistic editing and

reduction in mainly those places that were or were difficult for children

perception, or not intended for children's reading, but also supplement. Was

the material dedicated to the boy Ivan Gusev, the inventor Mantsev and

Volshin's expedition to Siberia. Changes (additions) have been made to the history

Garin the dictator and the fate of Rolling. Finally, a new one was written - the most

the last one is the chapter of the novel, about the loneliness of Garin and Zoe Monrose on the coral

island.

The last - fourth - book edition of the novel dates back to 1939

the year it was published in Leningrad in the Soviet Writer. This edition

is a 1936 text with additional stylistic

corrections, but at the same time restored in it according to the previous

editions (first and second book editions) those places that are in the third

editions have been specially adapted for youth. Therefore it should

was written in 1926-1927. Revised to include new chapters in 1937.

A. T. ") Revision with the inclusion of new chapters refers to the period of work on

1936 edition (third book edition).

Published according to the text: A. N. Tolstoy. Hyperboloid engineer Garin. L.,

"Soviet Writer", 1939 (with verification of previous editions).

Sci-Fi Foundation Requires Special Commentary

"Hyperboloid of engineer Garin". Leading fantasy idea of ​​Tolstoy's novel

- the creation and use of a hyperboloid - immediately captivated readers with her

originality, while at the same time causing controversy in the scientific community.

A. Tolstoy explained the origin of the idea of ​​a hyperboloid in this way: “... I

I use any material: from special books (physics, astronomy,

geochemistry) to jokes. When he wrote "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" (old

an acquaintance, Olenin, told me the real story of the construction of such

double hyperboloid; the engineer who made this discovery died in 1918 in

Siberia), I had to get acquainted with the latest theories of molecular physics.

Academician P.P. Lazarev helped me a lot” (Goslitizdat 1958-1961.10, p. 135).

In one of Tolstoy's notebooks there are notes from the beginning of the 20s,

related to the mentioned message of Olenin: “Olenin P.V. The concentration of light,

chemical rays. Beam - hair. Ultraviolet ray instead

electrical wire. Rock drilling. Earth drilling. Island laboratory

in the Pacific Ocean. dominion over the world.

The beginning is the tundra. Arctic Ocean. Electrical soldering room.

Everything is yellow.

Shamonite is pure carbon. The specific gravity of the earth is 8, the shell of the earth is 3. In

the center of the earth - platinum, gold, uranium, thorium, zirconium.

Olivine belt: iron, olivine, nickel (meteorites). Building the device

from paraffin. Wrapped in silver foil. Copper electroplating.

Earth drilling. Cooling with liquid air. Electric lift

trolleys.

Downplaying on the stock exchange. Bridge explosion. Factory explosion. (Goslitizdat.

1958-1961,4, p. 827).

Soviet Science Fiction Scholars Pay Attention to Latitude

and the modernity of the scientific and technical "support" of Tolstoy's novel:

"Perhaps," Olenin's story "was the seed of the idea, but scientific and technical

the basis of the novel was conceived more broadly. Garin was going to use a hyperboloid for

transmission of electricity without wires. Tolstoy's notebook contains

entry: "Ultraviolet] beam - instead of electric [electric] wire" "..." In

the first publication (in Krasnaya Nov) and in the manuscript with a later revision

the theme of the hyperboloid is intertwined with the theme atomic energy: "Was used

the property of platinum-cyanogen barium to glow in the presence of radium salts.

The island was illuminated with eternal lamps. Engineer Cermak

designed a radio-hydrogen engine on the instructions of Garin (apparently,

radium hydrogen. - A. B.) ... The whole engine is a hundred horsepower

it was supposed to fit in a cigar box ... Garin informed the whole world about

available to him unlimited stocks of radium and announced a competition for work

"The problem of artificial decomposition of the atom" (A. F. Britikov. Russian

Soviet science fiction novel. L., "Nauka", 1970, p. 69).

Already in the very first reviews, technical blunders were pointed out in

novel, though without specific explanations (Nik. Smirnov. Notes on magazines.

— « New world", 1926, N 1, p. 181). Tolstoy himself owns this

recognition: “The writer needs to arm himself with really deep knowledge,

the ability to operate with exact numbers and formulas. I can give an example:

in the "Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" I wrote about the core, launched into the ground to a depth

25 km. And only now, reworking Garin, I discovered this error.

After all, the core, falling 25 kilometers, will be completely flattened. Although I am

education engineer-technologist and worked a lot on "Garin", but I see that

still unfinished. New discoveries in the field of chemistry and metallurgy allowed

to process it again and again” (“The Struggle for Technology”, 1935, N 17-18, p.

9-10). In another article, Tolstoy mentioned his friend, a prominent scientist in

field of radio engineering M. A. Bonch-Bruevich: “He just scolded one of my

science adventure novel for some obvious absurdities" ("Science and

Recognizing individual mistakes, Tolstoy nevertheless belonged to the leading

ideas of his science fiction novels ("Aelita", "Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin")

as hypotheses that are destined in the future to one degree or another

be realized. It is significant that his statement about the novel "Aelita": "He

fantastic, true, but it completely lacks the element

improbability: everything that is described there, everything is possible to implement, and I am sure

what will come true someday ... I must tell you that I am educated

engineer-technologist, therefore, I am more or less responsible for this side ”(V.A.

Lazarev. From the history of literary relations in the first quarter of the twentieth

centuries. (Publication of archival material). "Uch. app. Moscow region ped.

in-ta”, vol. СХУ1, Sat. III. M, 1962, p. 166).

Science (optics, physics, chemistry) at a specific stage of its development (20-40s

years) - rejected Tolstoy's hypothesis. For example, Professor G. Slyusarev in

book "On the Possible and Impossible in Optics" (1944) proved that Tolstoy in

novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" ignored the laws of optics,

thermodynamics and chemistry of vices.

The development of science in the following decades "worked" on the hypothesis of A.N.

Tolstoy. In 1961, Academician L. Artsimovich made the following confession: “For

science fiction lovers, I want to note that the needle beams of atomic

radio stations represent a kind of realization of the idea of ​​the "Hyperboloid

Basov and M. Prokhorov quantum laser generators, for which the Soviet

scientists were awarded Nobel Prize. The quantum physics allowed to bypass

the prohibitions of optics, to which Tolstoy's opponents had earlier appealed. So

artistic fantasy turned out to be capable of scientific foresight.

... reference books in brown yuft. - Yuft - leather produced

from the skins of cattle.

... the Revel newspaper. - Revel - the name of Tallinn in 1219-1917

...because of the striped awnings. - Marquise - an outdoor canopy at the window for

sun protection.

... at a four-oar outrigger. - Outrigger - a boat with remote

oarlocks for oars, as well as remote oarlocks themselves.

…Today Apaches prefer to serve in the police. - Apache -

declassed element, in France - a thief

... raced jibe. - Vydewind - the course of a sailing ship,

aligned with the direction of the wind.

... a Patagonian eating water rats - The Patagonian is a native

Patagonia, the southernmost part of South America.

... on a par with Napoleon's well-known presence of mind on Arkolsky

Napoleon Bonaparte, after three attacks, defeated the Austrians, who had

significant numerical advantage.

... returned from under Sedan as the winner of the French emperor. — Sedan

- a city in France on the river Meuse; during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871)

French troops suffered a crushing defeat.

West: lavender. - Lavender is a herbaceous shrub from which

Lavender oil is extracted and used in perfumery.

... an equestrian monument to Henry IV. - Henry IV - King of France

(1553-1610) ... the knights of the Knights Templar were writhing at the stake. — Members

Catholic spiritual order of chivalry (founded c. 1118 or 1119) in

end of the 13th century. settled mainly in France. At the beginning of the XIV century. were

accused of heresy (arrested in autumn 1307 and burned in 1310); ...roared

Danton. - Danton Georges-Jacques (1759-1794) - figure of the Great French Revolution,

possessed great physical strength and a powerful voice ... buckshot of the general

Galife. - Galife Gaston (1830-1909) - one of the executioners of the Paris Commune.

...vegetables and fruits worthy of Snyders' still lifes. — Snyders

(1592-1667) Flemish painter..

... a tower ... built by the Normans. - Normans - name, under

which in Western Europe the peoples of Scandinavia were known during their

wide expansion, in particular, in England, at the end of the VIII - the middle of the XI centuries.

... gesticulating, like Camille Desmoulins. — Desmoulins Camille

(1760-1794) - leader of the French Revolution, journalist, orator.

Those cases when artistic thought was far ahead of its time

One of the most famous and beloved Soviet science fiction writers was born on October 18 Kir Bulychev. We all read his works in childhood and could not imagine that the things he describes could appear in real life. On the eve of the birthday Igor Vsevolodovich Mozheiko(Bulychev's real name) the site finds out what predictions of him and other famous science fiction writers have become part of our reality.

E-books and snack machines

Kir Bulychev told in his exciting stories about compact devices, somewhat reminiscent of cigarette cases, with the help of which people of the future read books and newspapers. He also described large transparent balls that are used as vehicles. These balls are very reminiscent of zorbing - an extreme attraction.

In "Adventures" alice”The science fiction writer told how in the future teenagers move with the help of springs attached to their legs. Today, jumpers are considered one of the most popular outdoor sports equipment - special devices that increase jumping ability, which are worn on the legs.

Orbital station and transplantology

Alexandra Belyaeva is considered the founder of Soviet science fiction, many of whose predictions came true.

In the novel The Head of a Professor Dowell»The writer considers the possibility of resurrection of a person, as well as engraftment of individual parts to the body, surgical treatment of the eye.

Of course, it is impossible to revive everyone, but the conclusion from clinical death is now a fairly common occurrence. And modern surgery has long used transplantation methods and sews severed fingers, and also performs operations on the eyes.

Many believe that the "Amphibian Man" is the prototype of a scuba diver. In addition, an artificial lung has already been created today. As you know, the writer was friendly with Tsiolkovsky, which inspired Belyaev to create " CEC Stars» (KEC - Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky). The novel was written in 1936. And there the science fiction writer talks about the orbital station, the exit of a person into outer space, as well as about artificial satellites Earth and flight to the moon.

Laser

In the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" Alexey Tolstoy talks about an engineer who creates an apparatus with a heat beam of enormous destructive power.

Fans of the writer suggest that in this way he predicted the creation of a laser. After all, the novel was written in 1927.

And even though Einstein in 1916 suggested stimulated emission (the physical basis for the operation of any laser), it is believed that the first working optical laser was created in 1960 by an American physicist Theodor Maiman.

Internet and paintball

Arkady And Boris Strugatsky, probably the most readable science fiction in our country. They miraculously predicted devices that have only recently entered our everyday life.

In the story "Predatory things of the century" the writers talk about the receiver earring, which today can be called a Bluetooth headset. In the same work, you can read about a lyapnik - a toy machine with a flat rectangular spray can. The Strugatskys explain that the toy is named after the word "blurt" by a bludger. Probably, many people played paintball and imagine what and how it happens there and what weapons they shoot with.

Also, Strugatsky fans believe that the same story describes virtual reality, which is presented as an illusory world. Their books regularly speak of a certain All-Planet Informatorium. Someone considers it a prototype of Wikipedia. But Boris Strugatsky once told reporters that the All-Planet Informatorium and Null-Link are more like the Internet. And in the novel "The Beetle in the Anthill" a videophone is described, on the screen of which a person appears on a call, with whom you can talk, as today via Skype.

TV, escalator, bank cards and club music

Of course, we read everything in childhood Jules Verne and wondered how a writer, a hundred years before technological progress, "drew" modern ballistic submarines, and also indicated the necessary conditions and the speed with which one can overcome the earth's gravity. It is believed that in the works of Jules Verne one can read about the electric chair, television, an apparatus very similar to a helicopter, and also an airplane. H. G. Wells predicted the emergence of not only atomic bomb, but also escalators, passenger transport, air conditioners, answering machines and much more. Ray Bradbury told the world about the castle A x, which open with fingerprints, about headphones and a player. Edward Bellamy He described that in the future, humanity will begin to use special cards for which money is received. Aldous Huxley talked about genetic engineering, test-tube babies and club music.

In principle, in almost any fantastic work you can find something prophetic. But, nevertheless, many years ago, Boris Strugatsky said this: “Fantastics are useless predictors. This is not required of them. They do not sow, at best they loosen the soil for sowing.