“Autonomous Mode” is a science-fiction novel by Andrey Livadny: episode fifty-six, the main timeframe is 3871–3881, the cycle “The History of the Galaxy.”
The First Galactic War has long ended, but peace still isn’t in the Galaxy. The Wild Families of insects stop at nothing in their desire to seize the technology and armaments of human civilization…
When the insectoids attacked Ilya’s home planet, one of the protecting city androids advised the boy to go into the forest, promising to find him as soon as the enemy’s assault was repelled. But days passed into days; warm summer gradually turned into cold autumn—and still no one came for Ilya. Hunger, thirst, and an approaching illness forced the boy to leave the forest and move closer to his home city, which had changed beyond recognition. It immediately became clear that the androids had lost the battle, that people had died, and that the insectoids now rule the planet with impunity…
For now—without consequences. Because in the sky above it, a modified “Stiletto” has already appeared, controlled by the battle-mnemonic Ralf Douglas. Could Douglas know that, by saving a boy, his actions would предetermine the fate of the Settled Galaxy?