This book includes the stories “Catastrophe” and “Temptation”. The first of them was completed in 1989. Its plot was based on a description of the situation that had developed in Russia as a result of Gorbachev’s perestroika, and the trend towards counter-perestroika that had emerged at that time and led to the attempted coup in August 1991. The book “Temptation” was started back in 1982 as part of a series “The Troubles,” but due to circumstances beyond the control of the author, work on it had to be postponed, and due to the rapid changes in Russia, it had to be thoroughly reworked. This reprocessing was completed shortly after the events of August 1991.