Half a Life (Kir Bulychev)
Encyclopedia
Half a Life is an collection of science fiction
short stories by Russian
novelist Kir Bulychev
.
. In a distant, but unspecified future, human cosmonautsdiscover the alien ship floating in space, a derelict. Entering the ship, they soon realize that it was automated - run by robots with the apparent mission of collecting biologic specimens from different planets. (The purpose of this exploration remains undetermined, but one of the humans speculate that it may have been a lucky break for mankind that the ship never returned home.) One of the cosmonauts finds bits of a journal written in Russian
, a diary of life aboard the spacecraft written by the abducted Russian woman, the ship's sole human occupant. Compiling the journal, the cosmonauts learn of the human author's attempts to bond with the ship's other intelligent specimens, and of their plot to escape the ship's crew of automatons. When the cosmonauts find the journal incomplete, they are forced to learn for themselves the fate of the author.
In I was the first to find you, the crew of the Earth ship Spartak have spent years on a deep space expedition. As Spartak flew at interstellar speeds, the gap of time between her departure and return was even greater on Earth
, and her crew are forced to consider whether they have wasted their lives away.
In Protest, a famous former athlete is forced to mediate a dispute in an interplanetary Olympics competition.
In Red Deer, White Deer, human explorers discover a world having reached a state comparable to Earth's at the dawn of mankind. Fate however, has this world taking a different path.
In May I Please Speak to Nina, the narrator has been trying to reach his girlfriend Nina by phone. Instead, he keeps reaching another Nina, one who thinks that she's in the 1940s, as the Soviet Union
is besieged by war. For the narrator, it's the 1970s. Perhaps the girl is playing a trick, or is actually a demented old woman for whom time has lost its meaning. The narrator, with his own bitter memories of that time, cannot discard the possibility that his phone has somehow crossed wires through time.
In Snowmaiden, human cosmonauts discover the beautiful survivor of a destroyed spaceship from another world. Despite incompatible physiologies, love blooms between the alien "snowmaiden" and one of her rescuers.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
short stories by Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
novelist Kir Bulychev
Kir Bulychev
Kir Bulychev or Bulychov was a pen name of Igor Vsevolodovich Mojeiko , who was a Soviet and Russian science fiction writer and historian. He received a Master's degree in 1965 and a Ph.D. in 1981 and wrote his first science fiction story in 1965...
.
Content
The longest of the stories is also called Half a Life and tells the story of a Russian woman kidnapped by an alien spacecraft in the years following the second world warWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In a distant, but unspecified future, human cosmonautsdiscover the alien ship floating in space, a derelict. Entering the ship, they soon realize that it was automated - run by robots with the apparent mission of collecting biologic specimens from different planets. (The purpose of this exploration remains undetermined, but one of the humans speculate that it may have been a lucky break for mankind that the ship never returned home.) One of the cosmonauts finds bits of a journal written in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, a diary of life aboard the spacecraft written by the abducted Russian woman, the ship's sole human occupant. Compiling the journal, the cosmonauts learn of the human author's attempts to bond with the ship's other intelligent specimens, and of their plot to escape the ship's crew of automatons. When the cosmonauts find the journal incomplete, they are forced to learn for themselves the fate of the author.
In I was the first to find you, the crew of the Earth ship Spartak have spent years on a deep space expedition. As Spartak flew at interstellar speeds, the gap of time between her departure and return was even greater on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, and her crew are forced to consider whether they have wasted their lives away.
In Protest, a famous former athlete is forced to mediate a dispute in an interplanetary Olympics competition.
In Red Deer, White Deer, human explorers discover a world having reached a state comparable to Earth's at the dawn of mankind. Fate however, has this world taking a different path.
In May I Please Speak to Nina, the narrator has been trying to reach his girlfriend Nina by phone. Instead, he keeps reaching another Nina, one who thinks that she's in the 1940s, as the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
is besieged by war. For the narrator, it's the 1970s. Perhaps the girl is playing a trick, or is actually a demented old woman for whom time has lost its meaning. The narrator, with his own bitter memories of that time, cannot discard the possibility that his phone has somehow crossed wires through time.
In Snowmaiden, human cosmonauts discover the beautiful survivor of a destroyed spaceship from another world. Despite incompatible physiologies, love blooms between the alien "snowmaiden" and one of her rescuers.