A Man of Light

By Max Maximov

Max Maximov, one of the most notable modern Russian writers, is now in English! A weed of obviously extraterrestrial origin covers the Earth with tentacles. People near the plants are going crazy. But the plant doesn’t only penetrate the brains via, it creates terrible monsters from the living organisms it has swallowed. Unexpectedly, it turns out that only people with Down syndrome (DS) are immune to the destructive nature of the weeds. The Space Infection Institute has launched a new call to recruit volunteers to spray a weed killer into the root. Several groups have already moved towards the center of the parasite and have been able to establish a path through it with supply points in abandoned villages. None of these DS groups have been able to reach the source. Because the weeds are constantly spreading, the path to the source takes longer every day. No one has yet returned alive, because the DS people are also exposed to the no less dangerous mutants and monsters without protection.

After the death of their parents, a boy with DS, Kostya, and his sister live with a guardian who exploits and abuses them. The good-natured Kostya has always wanted to save the world and also wants to make himself and his sister independent with a lavish salary. Kostya lets himself be persuaded by the guardian to take on this life-threatening job.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Max Maximov
• Release date: Jul 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005804213

Book preview

A man of light.

OCTOBER

The heart, liver and brain lay next to the corpse on the parquet floor of a one-room apartment. There were no signs of violence on the dead body, and one would have thought that these organs did not belong to it… That someone had cut them out of another person and placed them near the corpse. But it was the third time this week the investigator had seen such a murder. A lifeless body and next to it its organs, carefully extracted from the body, without any damage to the skin. It could not be called anything other than mysticism, but the investigator did not believe in such devilry. There must be a logical explanation for everything, even for this phenomenon. The detective walked round the room, oblivious to his colleagues. The people of his group gathered evidence, talking in low voices. Snatches of neighbours' speech came from behind the front door of the flat; they were also curious to know what had happened and, lacking any reliable information, they made up various theories. The investigator sometimes glimpsed at the heart, lying in a pool of blood that had flowed from its valves, then at the brain, extracted from a completely intact skull. The liver was just a few meters away from the body.

It has already been established that the victim was wanted for rape. Two other poor things, who were skinned in the same mysterious way a few days earlier, also used to be criminals. They committed a series of robberies against retirees. They killed an old man and maimed two old women. The robbers were found dead on the street, their organs lay next to their bodies. The clothing of the dead was not torn or cut. It was as if someone had teleported their heart, liver, stomach, or brain - each time it was a different combination - out of their bodies. The autopsy showed that the organs were removed carelessly. They were grabbed and ripped out from torsos. It seemed that a ghost had passed through people's bodies, taking away their most vital organs.

Chapter one

SEPTEMBER

See that trunk over there? The fattest one, Alex asked into the microphone.

I see, I see, Danya muttered.

Go a little to the left of this trunk.

To the left?

Yes, to the left.

Alex took a cigarette from the pack and lit it.

Alex, the window, said one of the coordinators sitting next to him.

He got up from the computer desk and, passing several people hunching over their monitors, went to the window.

To the left? he heard Danya's voice in the headphones.

Yes, yes, to the left.

Alex stood by the window smoking. He glanced at his monitor that received broadcasting from the camera on the forehead of his Wayfarer, Danya. Flashing in the light of the headlamp he saw curved intertwining vines and crooked trunks of the Thicket. They were like a huge litter of snakes… no, even more like tentacles of thousands of octopuses, this extraterrestrial forest enveloped a group of people walking through the darkness, to the very centre of it.

To the left, yes? Danya asked again.

At the age of twenty-five, coordinator Alex had a wealth of experience working with people with Down syndrome. He knew perfectly well how to respond to them, knew that he could not take it out on them, be rude or vent. If you were asked the same thing twenty times, you must answer the same thing twenty times. The Wayfarer's calmness is above everything else. Don't yell at the Wayfarer. Control yourself, - the instructor used to repeat. But sometimes Alex couldn't help wanting to yell on hearing another: to the left, yeah? Or even not to yell, but to give a good slap to his Wayfarer, so that the skin of his palm flushed and the Wayfarer's ears rang… Slap him right in the ear, him and somebody else just for fun!

Yes, to the left, Alex said calmly, throwing the cigarette butt out the window and returning to his desk.

Now let's go around it now, Danya said.

A web of green vines continued to flash on the monitor screen. In the beam of the headlamp Alex could see ground, then Danya's hands pushed the branches aside, then again those damned vines. The Wayfarers pushed their way through a dense tangle of alien plants that grew thousands of square kilometres so thickly that even sunlight could not pierce the Thicket.

There's something… said Danya, staring at the red bud hanging from the trunk. The bud resembled an unopened rose, a meter and a half in diametre.

Through Danya's camera, Alex saw one of the Wayfarers touching a bud, which made the plant flinch a little.

Kolya, what is your boy doing?! Alex shouted and took off one headphones.

Don't touch it! Kolya shouted into the microphone.

The other coordinators told their wayfarers not to go near the strange flower.

They don't understand, Kolya said to Alex, it seems instructing them is useless.

Nicholas's wayfarer moved a little away from the bud. The plant slowly opened its petals, and a human hand poked out. Reddish slime hung from the tips of the petals. The flower was shaking slightly, as if someone was turning in it. The hand clenched into a fist, then smoothly stretched the fingers and clenched again.

Move South, Alex said loudly to the coordinators. They told their wayfarers to follow Danya.

Danya, Alex began, look at the compass.

I look, an image of a hand with a compass on it appeared in the monitor.

Now be fast, but don't fuss, you need to go South, Alex continued. It's were S" letter.

Aha, so that the arrow looks there? Or to the letter N? I forgot something, Danya asked and looked at the bud. It began to open and two more hands poked out and gripped the edges of the petals. Slime from the plant dripped on the ground.

Forget the compass! Turn your back on the flower and run fast! Alex shouted. Go!

I see, I see, got it, Danya muttered.

Danya's hands flashed on the monitor, hastily pushing the vines aside in the light of the trembling headlamp beam. Alex could hear Danya's rapid breathing, the rustle of plants and the horrible whining of a wayfarer behind him.

Are your boys running?! Alex asked the coordinators, not taking his eyes off his monitor.

Yes.

Yes.

They do.

Yes.

The door to the coordinators' room swung open.

What the fuck are you doing? Semyon Petrovich shouted. Have you never done that before?! Get everyone out of there!

The head of the Department glared at the coordinators. They sat staring at the monitors. Some of them were talking with their wayfarers.

We're working on this, Semyon Petrovich Alex said.

Go to point D! As soon as you're done with that, Kolya, to my office! Semyon Petrovich shouted and went to Alex's screen. He stood behind him, watching the scene carefully.

Where to flee? Kolya asked.

Let's first get 'em as far from here as possible, and then sort it out, Alex said.

Alex, how long do we have to run? Danya asked excitedly.

Just a little more.

Stop them, said Semyon Petrovich after half a minute, we must check the compass, or they'll run the hell away.

Slow down for a sec, Alex said into the microphone.

They stopped. Danya breathed heavily into the microphone, sniffed and mumbled something. The image of the vines on the monitor moved smoothly up and down.

Could you stop breathing like that into the microphone! Quiet! Turn off the headlamp, Alex shouted, then said addressing to the coordinators. Have them turn off all the lights. Silence!

The fucking wayfarers managed lose their night vision devices, Semyon Petrovich swore.

The screens were completely dark. The coordinators listened to the faint rustle of the Thicket. The tension was nearly tangible. Alex froze, holding the headphones to his ears.

Stay quiet, he said to Danya.

After about ten seconds, he took one earpiece away from his ear.

No one seems to be following, Alex said.

Shall we turn on the lights or wait? Kolya asked.

Wait… Let's keep quiet here for a while, said Semyon Petrovich. Let me have it.

The head of the Department took the headphones off Alex's head and put them on his, leaving one ear open.

Danya, turn on the torch, can you? said Semyon Petrovich.

An image of the ground and the edge of the wayfarer's boot appeared on the screen.

Show me the compass.

Danya raised his hand to the camera.

Right, now turn a little to the left… and… well done… more to the left…

The beam slid to the side, illuminating the other members of the expedition – four people with headlamps and cameras shuffled, nervously looking around. They were all in their twenties.

Danya, turn off the headlamp and don't move.

The monitor went dark again.

They ran about a hundred meters, didn't they? Semyon Petrovich asked.

I think so, Alex said.

Give me the map.

Alex opened a drawer and took out a paper map. The head grabbed and unfolded it and peered at the map markings.

So, we were going from East to West, reasoned Semyon Petrovich, "then ran into… Then you had them turn their back and… So-o-o-o… A hundred meters let it be… All right, now we will go a little back parallel to the route, and then turn left and get back on the original route.

Semyon Petrovich put the map on Alex's desk and jointly placed the headphones on his head.

Come on, Alex, lead your comrades! He patted Alex's shoulder. I'm going to my room. I'll be there if you need me.

Yeah.

Alex adjusted his headphones.

Danya, he said.

What again?

It's all right. Turn on the headlamp.

Danya lit up an octopus of overhanging tentacles.

Show me the compass.

There, there it is.

"Nice. Go straight. You go forward directly where you are looking. The others will follow you. Okay?

I see, I see, got it.

Go.

I go.

They continued to wade through the space weed that had infected Earth a few years ago. No one could have thought that the infection could affect not only individual organisms, but also the entire celestial body, which was lucky enough to pick up a parasite. A galactic-scale parasite!

Danya pushed aside the thicket of this cosmic infection with his hands, leading four more people, who were also directed by their coordinators. Five people with Down syndrome were prowling in the most dangerous place on the planet in total darkness. The only thing they could rely on was the professionalism of their coordinators, sitting in the cosy, warm room of the Institute of Space Infections, a hundred kilometres away from the Thicket. Although, given the speed of growth of this lichen, in six months the building of the Institute (as well as the entire town) will be absorbed by the weed, and people will have to move.

It looks like a wall, said Danya, coming up to the log wall of a house. The building, wrapped in vines, was barely visible in the monitor. Through the empty window frames the intertwined Thicket vines got into the house.

Alex stared at the map, trying to figure out what village they might be near. But there were no settlements nearby.

He thought to himself:

Maybe it's just a separate house? They couldn't have gotten lost… They've ran no big distance…

What is it? Kolya asked.

We… nothing, go as you did.

Which side of the house should we go around? Danya asked.

Any, Alex said.

A-a-a, I see, I see, got it.

As they walked round the house, they came across a chain-link fence. Moving along it, Danya noticed a reinforced concrete pillar that went up into the intertwined vines. The top of the pillar was not visible. Twenty meters later, the fence ran again, this time it was wooden. Behind it was another house.

Alex thought:

It looks like a village. We managed to get lost. Well, or is it all simply not mapped.

From the headphones came a scream, which Alex felt to be fifty meters away from the group.

Alex! There are people shouting somewhere! gabbled Danya. I'm scared, scared. I don't want to walk around here anymore!

Once again Alex thought:

If only they were people.

Danya. He said clearly and loudly. Calm down, don't be nervous,

Daniel was turning his head, and Alex could not make out what was happening there.

Stop fidgeting, I can't help you if you don't calm down.

Danya sobbed with fear when the cry again came from the depths of the Thicket. Other coordinators also tried to reassure their wayfarers. Semyon Petrovich flew into the office.

Alex!

Wait a sec, Alex waved his hand to the Department head.

Danya, he continued, "you are going