Alien Land

A distant planet—very similar to Earth. Bright, strong people—very much like humans. We arrived here first, but we have nowhere to plant our flag. We’ll find common ground with the natives—or maybe we’d better leave.

The trouble is that we can’t leave. By opening "Earth Two," the Russians brought war with them—unbeknownst to them. It’s still cold. But soon it will be hot. And the steppe dogs—corpse-eaters—will feast to their fill. It seems we love creating difficulties and then overcoming them. A joint detachment of Russia’s Ministry of Extraterrestrial Operations—civilians and military—will step forward when volunteers are called for a deadly mission.

And no one will know that one of our orders is to survive at any cost. Let the whole detachment die, but the adviser Andrey Rusakov, a diplomat and close friend of the native king, must live. No matter how. Without moral restraints. His profession is a good guy. Friendship with the monarch is his job. He must think through every word and every step. Even to fall in love with the local princess he has no right. And in the detachment, everyone is certain that Rusakov is a spy.