Nothing foreshadowed a catch. The most ordinary deal: Alex Benedict, a successful space antiques dealer, negotiates the purchase of a stone slab found on a destroyed asteroid, with an inscription in an unknown language. However, it turns out that getting it from the owners is not at all easy. Someone stubbornly opposes Alex’s plans and is ready to do anything, even murder, just so that the mysterious artifact does not catch anyone’s eye. But the danger and the taste of mystery only spur Alex’s desire to get to the bottom of the matter. Published in Russian for the first time.