The Calculator

4 hrs. 18 min.

Language Russian

Author Alexander Gromov

Narrator Stepan Starchikov

Description

A psychological action-packed story in a gritty fantasy framing. The events take place on a deserted planet called Khlyab’. The main hero is the advisor of the former president—an “analysis machine.” Former—because on the planet a coup happened, power changed hands; he (and he had foreseen it, but the president didn’t listen to his advice) tried to escape, but due to a malfunction the spaceship is forced to return to port. The “calculator” is arrested and sentenced to “exile”—because there is no death penalty on the planet. But the conditions of “exile” are such that, in fact, it is a death sentence—only postponed. The exiles are dumped into some swamps where there is neither food nor water, and where there are many poorly studied creatures, and only a few surviving convicts live there—turned into semi-animals. However, formally, each “exile” has a chance—to reach the “Happy Islands,” the legendary land where, supposedly, one can live. In practice, however, no one has ever managed it throughout the entire history of the institution of exile…

It won’t be uninteresting for fans of a dynamic plot and vivid prose to plunge into the worlds created by Alexander Gromov.