His childhood was happy, but then life presented him with serious trials. Before becoming the famous writer Arkady Strugatsky, he survived the blockade, evacuation, graduated from the Military Institute of Foreign Languages, served in the Far East, and participated in the interrogation of Japanese war criminals. And all these years he was vigilantly watched by the mysterious Abrasax, a powerful being from a parallel universe, busy selecting the best representatives of humanity to create a race of people. In a fierce clash of secret forces, the fate of the Earth is being decided, and the outcome of this struggle depends on the decision made by Arkady Strugatsky, who, in collaboration with his brother Boris, encrypted real events in science fiction novels...