OFF-LINE interview with Boris Strugatsky "Distant Rainbow". Distant Rainbow "Distant Rainbow" in culture

1. Question: Your "Devil's Dozen" in "Distant Rainbow" appeared in those years when the debate about cybernetics and what a machine can and what not reached its climax. Now, if not a lot, then something has already become clear in this dispute. Tell me, please, if you took up this topic today, in our computerized time, would the fate of Camille change? And further. In one of your interviews, you admitted that you are not a fan of happy endings and that such an end was not planned for DR. Then why did you "resurrect" Gorbovsky (although I personally have nothing against it!)?

Evgeny Nikolaev< [email protected] >
Yoshkar-Ola, Russia - 06/26/98 16:56:39 MSK

Dear Eugene!
Camille's fate is completely independent of the level of our cybernetic knowledge. This is the fate of a being (I do not say - a person) who can do everything, but does not want anything. Or - if you like - the fate of God, forced to live among people with whom he is not interested, and without whom he is for some reason sad. But the main thing is an endlessly lasting terrifying state when "there are no questions for answers."
"Distant Rainbow" was once conceived as the LAST story about the world of the Bright Future. It was a kind of goodbye to this world forever. When, after half a dozen years, we decided to return to this world again, we naturally returned to Gorbovsky, without whom this world is inconceivable. Many of our readers do not want to believe or accept that the ABS never set itself the goal of writing a "serial" about the World of Noon. Each piece of this cycle was conceived and written by us as a completely separate and independent work - we just used a ready-made entourage, ready-made scenery, in which it was so convenient to play more and more new stories.

Dmitriy< [email protected] >
Moscow, Russia - 04/11/99 23:51:15 MSK

"Distant Rainbow" was written under the strongest impression from the wonderful film by Stanley Kramer "On the Last Shore" and was originally conceived as a purely tragic work - everyone, without exception, had to perish. In addition, we believed then that we were writing the LAST work about the World of Noon, so the heroes (Gorbovsky) were, of course, sorry, but not too much - it was already "waste material."

3. Question: Dear Boris Natanovich!
I am rereading your books once again. And yesterday I reread The Distant Rainbow. Maybe it's not entirely correct to ask the authors why they wrote this way and not otherwise. But still: why did you not even touch on the topic of responsibility for everything that happened on the planet. After all, in my opinion, this is a novel about a crime. A crime against humanity, represented by all people living on this planet. And let it be legally classified as criminal negligence, but from a human point of view ... And the second question: do you think the morality of that society is similar to the morality of sheep in a slaughterhouse. And besides, they glorify their executioners and the slaughter itself. To be honest, I would not want my grandchildren to live in such a future. Thanks in advance (and I'm sorry if I spoke very harshly, but something really hurt me)!

Andrey Kirik< [email protected] >
St. Petersburg, Russia - 01/02/00 20:31:55 MSK

I had heard something like that from readers before, and every time I threw up my hands in despair. What is the crime? What are the criminals? It always seemed to me that the authors very clearly and absolutely unequivocally showed that the world of the Rainbow was absolutely safe in the PERSONAL opinion! Well, it was not by chance that they allowed it to be a resort planet, a sanatorium planet, a pioneer camp planet. It never occurred to anyone (and, by the way, contradicted all theoretical considerations) that such a catastrophe was possible. If such a miscalculation is considered a crime, then the history of science (and philosophy) is jam-packed with criminals. Here are the Curies, and Roentgen, and Ford, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Marx ... As for the “morality of sheep in the slaughterhouse,” I just don't understand. In my opinion, these people behave very dignified. Alas, today's people are not capable of such behavior. En mass.

4. Question: Dear Boris Natanovich!
With great interest I read your text in the electronic "Library of Maxim Moshkov" with a short preface-explanation by an unknown author (excerpt from it: "Comments on the works of the Strugatsky brothers were written by Boris Natanovich for the complete collected works, which is being prepared for publication in the Donetsk publishing house" Stalker ") ... I found a link to this text right there in A. Neshmonin's guestbook: http://www.parkline.ru/Library/win/STRUGACKIE/comments.txt.
Questions, as you, of course, understand, the "Commentary" raises much more than it answers, but with a gnash of teeth I refuse them all in favor of one thing: where has the Distant Rainbow gone? Or is it absent there because the "magazine version"? Or maybe DR really stands apart? So it gets out of the History of the World of Noon: there are references to it, the catastrophe seems to have happened, and nevertheless, Gorbovsky, who died there, lives on as if nothing had happened.

Ilya Yudin< [email protected] >
Ossining, USA - 01/25/00 17:43:55 MSK

You have read the abbreviated text of "Comments" published in the magazine "If". The editorial staff of the journal selected comments at their own discretion and, apparently, decided not to include the chapter on DR (like many others).

Ilya Yudin< [email protected] >
Ossining, USA - 01/25/00 17:50:29 MSK

You are not far from the truth. While working on the DR, we really thought that this was our last tale of the World of Noon (“The World of Return,” as we called it then). And for a long time afterwards they did not write anything about this world - for about five years, probably (except, however, “It's hard to be a god”). Therefore, we sacrificed to Gorbovsky (sobbing and beating ourselves on the chest). And then, when we needed it again, we re-read the DR and convinced each other that there are a lot of allusions about the possibility of salvation scattered throughout the story.

Ilya Yudin< [email protected] >
Ossining, USA - 01/25/00 17:53:37 MSK

For example, someone's hypothesis was realized that the North and South Waves, having collided, "annihilated" each other. Or - the captain of "Strela" did the impossible and - did it in time.

7. Question: Hello, Boris Natanovich!
I have been a fan of ABS creativity since my school years, since the mid-80s. At that time it was not so easy to get your works, and I read a lot in "samizdat" versions. One of them is Distant Rainbow. This book shocked the then teenager and still remains for me one of your favorite stories. In an interview recently, you answered several questions about DR. I beg you to return to this topic and answer my questions as well.
1. What do you think now, after so many years, - did the planet's leadership act correctly and rightly, leaving the great scientists, the brilliant artist to die in the name of saving children, of whom it is still unknown what will turn out and will it turn out at all? After all, even in the World of Noon, not all were geniuses, there were, for example, simple null-T testers or the same Robert.

Maxim Nersesyants< [email protected] >
Rostov-on-Don, Russia - 02/08/00 18:27:28 MSK

The Rainbow situation, in principle, cannot be resolved in terms of "right-reasonably-rational-lawful". This is a situation of MORAL choice and it is solved in terms of "morally-immoral-honest-vile". In my opinion, Gorbovsky (and all others) solved this problem MORALLY CORRECT. Although it may be irrational. It is also morally correct, but completely irrational, a person who does not know how to swim acts, rushing to save a drowning child or, in general, another person. Or a bespectacled intellectual who stands up for the honor of a woman insulted by a hefty boor. Or teacher Janusz Korczak, who went to the gas chamber with his handicapped pupils, although the SS men offered him a completely rational and reasonable solution: send these pupils to death, and take care of raising other children himself (“after all, you are so talented, you can bring many more benefits in the future ... ").

Maxim Nersesyants< [email protected] >
Rostov-on-Don, Russia - 02/08/00 18:30:42 MSK

This is by far the most serious problem. Children, I think, will be dealt with by professional psychologists. Fortunately, the psyche of children is labile and amenable to "regulation".

Maxim Nersesyants< [email protected] >
Rostov-on-Don, Russia - 02/08/00 18:31:35 MSK

In my opinion, Camille is mentioned in some of the later works. (It seems in the HBV.) We did not write about him anymore simply because he became uninteresting to us: everything we thought about him was said in the DR.

Michael< [email protected] >
Kherson, Ukraine - 03/15/00 18:06:00 MSK

Scattered throughout the story are references to several possible escape routes from the Wave. Consider that one of these options has come true. Although in fact, when we wrote "Rainbow", we were sure that this was the LAST story about the future, and our Gorbovsky was doomed to death, poor fellow.

Max
Moscow, Russia - 06/06/00 22:25:59 MSD

The story offers several options for possible salvation. Consider that one of them has come true.

12. Question: Hello, dear Boris Natanovich.
First, I would like to thank you for your and my brother's books.
Now we need them more than ever. Thanks.
And secondly, I would like to ask a question:
Why, in the book "Distant Rainbow", "Tariel" could not evacuate people from the Capital beyond the Wave, to those latitudes where it had already passed?
After all, the plasma barrier could not interfere with it?

Kirill< [email protected] >
N. Novgorod, Russia - 06/21/00 15:54:19 MSD

Too risky. There is no rocket launcher at these latitudes - landing is possible, but dangerous. In addition, time is running out, there is no time.

Rumata< [email protected] >
Moscow, Russia - 06/26/00 16:20:26 MSD

Because they did not manage to dig it deep enough and install reliable "doors".

14. Question: Dear Boris Natanovich!
Thank you twice: for your books, and for this interview.
Books are like smart interlocutors; come back to them in a year, and they are a little different, and already report something new. And the interview is a bit like A. Privalov's questions to U-Janus:
“And I asked in an undertone, carefully looking around:
"Janus Poluektovich, may I ask you one question?"
Allow me, Boris Natanovich?
Cyril noticed that in the "Distant Rainbow" "Tariel" could transport people across the Wave. Frankly, for a long time I considered this a problem in the book: why would a landing starship need a cosmodrome?
However, this has nothing to do with the idea of ​​the book.

Chaichenets Semyon< [email protected] >
Oxford, UK - 06/29/00 14:13:29 MSD

Landing is a rather risky procedure and requires a skillful landing. The landing starship is not capable of dropping one hundred (untrained) passengers at a time. And most importantly - time! There was not enough time for all these operations: loading - takeoff - landing - unloading - and all over again. And the risk. What's behind the Wave? You can live there - for hours, for days? .. After all, "Strela" is NOT a landing starship, it will be forced to land on a rocket launcher, far from the landing site ... Children in the scorched desert - is that good? And if ANOTHER Wave goes? No, no, it was all too risky.

It came to my mind today: what a magnificent catastrophe film could have been made in Hollywood based on "Distant Rainbow"!

The Far Rainbow

Panorama of a beautiful green planet ("There are a lot of birds. - There are huge blue lakes, reeds ..."). The plan changes - in the frame is a polygon, where scientists-pests are conducting their inhuman experiments, led by the chief - the mad professor Etienne Lamondois (Dolph Lungren).
Young physics student Robert Sklyarou (Bruce Willis) is the only one who understands the danger of the planned experiment, but nobody listens to him.
The experiment naturally goes awry, exactly as Robert predicted.
Monstrous Waves rise from the poles and begin to move towards the equator (close-up - shrews, with huge, uncomprehending eyes, fascinatedly looking at the approaching black wall. A man in a stalled car, trying to start the engine, not noticing that he is approaching from behind).
The army is trying to hold back the wave with the help of specially equipped tanks (close-up - tough guys-tankers, jaw forward. The wave stops, people enthusiastically applaud - and then the tanks begin to explode. And the Wave accelerates again. Robert jumps into the spare tank, plugs the gap and holds the Wave while everyone is being loaded onto the helicopter.
Robert is miraculously rescued by the cyborg scientist Kamill Gorbovski (Arnold Schwarzenegger, of course. Phrases like "I don't need an Arrow."). He saves at the cost of his life (shot - a lone cyborg and a Wave hanging over him).
Robert pulls out a car, racing with Wave, trying to break through to his girlfriend Tanya, who works as a school teacher. On the way, he sees chaos, looters, people tear each other's throats for a seat on the plane.
Suddenly discovers a Boeing landing on the highway. Stops. Tanya, a black pilot Gaba, and a whole class of kids are standing by the plane. Not a drop of fuel on the plane.
Robert Sklyarou pours gasoline from the car into the plane, at the same time firing back from the advancing marauders. The pilot Gaba is killed in a shootout, Robert, who has never driven an airplane, lifts the Boeing off the highway, a few meters from the truck that blocked their way.
And behind the Wave already rises.
Further - a flight on the last drops of fuel to the Capital - through a kind of half-planet. Robert beautifully puts the plane on his belly (close-up - happy parents of the rescued children).
In the Capital, Robert reports the death of Camille. Suddenly, Camille appears on the screens of the videophone - a half-face - a metal skull and reports that the first Wave is followed by a second of a new type.
Robert is arrested - on charges of organizing the murder of Camille. Meanwhile, the evil Lamondois quietly evacuates his entourage to the only starship on the planet.
All the rest are driven to the central square by submachine gunners (close-up - barbed wire and crying children).
But Tanya and the miraculously resurrected Camille pull Robert out of prison.
The three of them shoot all the machine gunners, free the prisoners, Robert knocks out Lamondois straight to the jaw.
Then he loads the entire population of the planet into the spaceship ("We won't fit" - to which Robert replies, "Come on, move your lips, they will come!").
Robert is already about to load himself when he sees the evil Lamonois with the "Stinger" - as soon as the engines start, he will fire. And the Wave is getting closer.
Robert gives the order to take off and then jumps off, enters into a duel with Lamonois (shooting from all types of weapons, scuffle, etc.).
In the end, Robert Lamonois beautifully pours himself, shakes himself off, mutters to himself "It's a crazy day", puts the player's headphones into his ears and leaves into the sunset between two approaching Waves.

I've known that for a long time, ”grumbled Robert.

For you, science is a labyrinth. Dead ends, dark alleys, sudden turns. You see nothing but the walls. And you don't know anything about the ultimate goal. You stated that your goal is to reach the end of infinity, that is, you simply stated that there is no goal. The measure of your success is not the distance to the finish line, but the distance from the start. It is your happiness that you are not capable of realizing abstraction. Purpose, eternity, infinity are just words for you. Abstract philosophical categories. In your daily life, they mean nothing. But if you saw this whole maze from above ...

Camille fell silent. Robert waited and asked:

Have you seen?

Camille didn't answer, and Robert decided not to push. He sighed, rested his chin on his fists and closed his eyes. Man speaks and acts, he thought. And all these are external manifestations of some processes in the depths of his nature. Most people have a rather shallow nature, and therefore any of its movements immediately manifest themselves outwardly, usually in the form of empty chatter and senseless waving of hands. And for people like Camille, these processes must be very powerful, otherwise they will not break through to the surface. To look into it with at least one eye. Robert imagined a gaping abyss, in the depths of which formless phosphorescent shadows rush rapidly.

Nobody likes him. Everyone knows him - there is no person on the Rainbow who does not know Camille - but no one, no one loves him. In such loneliness, I would have lost my mind, and Camilla does not seem to be interested at all. He is always alone. It is unknown where he lives. It suddenly appears and suddenly disappears. His white cap is seen now in the Capital, now in the open sea; and there are people who claim that he was repeatedly seen both there and there. This, of course, is local folklore, but in general everything that is said about Camille sounds like a strange anecdote. He has a strange way of saying "I" and "you." No one has ever seen him work, but from time to time he comes to the Council and says strange things there. Sometimes he can be understood, and in such cases no one can object to him. Lamonois once said that next to Camille he feels like a stupid grandson of an intelligent grandfather. In general, the impression is that all physicists on the planet, from Etienne Lamondois to Robert Sklyarov, are at the same level ...

Robert felt that a little more, and he will boil in his own sweat. He got up and went to the shower. He stood under the icy streams until the skin was covered with pimples from the cold and the desire to climb into the refrigerator and fall asleep disappeared.

When he returned to the lab, Camille spoke to Patrick. Patrick wrinkled his forehead, moved his lips in confusion and looked at Camille plaintively and ingratiatingly. Camille said boredly and patiently:

Try to keep all three factors in mind. All three factors at once. No theory is needed here, just a little spatial imagination. Zero factor in subspace and in both time coordinates. You can not?

Patrick shook his head slowly. He was pathetic. Camille waited a minute, then shrugged and turned off the videophone. Robert, rubbing himself with a rough towel, said emphatically:

Why so, Camille? This is rude. This is insulting.

Camille shrugged again. It turned out for him as if his head, crushed by a helmet, dived somewhere in the chest and again jumped out.

Insulting? - he said. - Why not?

There was nothing to answer. Robert instinctively felt that it was useless to argue with Camille on moral issues. Camille just won't understand what this is about.

He hung up the towel and started making breakfast. They ate in silence. Camille contented himself with a slice of bread with jam and a glass of milk. Camille always ate very little. Then he said:

Robie, do you know, they sent the Arrow?

The day before yesterday, said Robert.

The day before yesterday ... This is bad.

Why do you need Arrow, Camille?

Camille said indifferently:

I don't need Arrow.

On the outskirts of the Capital Gorbovsky asked to stop. He got out of the car and said:

I'd like to take a walk.

Come on, - said Mark Valkenstein and got out too.

The straight, shining highway was empty, around the steppe turned yellow and green, and ahead, through the lush green of the earth's vegetation, the walls of city buildings peeped out in multicolored spots.

It's too hot, ”said Percy Dixon. - Load on the heart.

Gorbovsky tore off a flower by the side of the road and held it to his face.

I love it when it's hot, ”he said. “Come with us, Percy. You are completely flabby.

Percy slammed the door shut.

As you wish. To be honest, I've grown terribly tired of both of you over the past twenty years. I am an old man, and I want to take a little break from your paradoxes. And please don't come near me on the beach.

Percy, "said Gorbovsky," you'd better go to Detskoye. True, I don't know where it is, but there are kids, naive laughter, simplicity of morals ... “Uncle!

They will scream. - Let's play mammoth!

Percy muttered something under his breath and dashed off. Mark and Gorbovsky crossed onto the path and walked leisurely along the highway.

The bearded man is getting old, ”said Mark. - Here we are already tired of him.

What are you talking about, Mark, ”said Gorbovsky. He pulled a record player from his pocket. - We did not bother him with anything. He's just tired. And then he is disappointed. It's a joke - a man spent twenty years on us: he really wanted to know how space affects us. And for some reason he doesn't influence ... I want Africa. Where is my Africa? Why are all my records always mixed up?

He walked along the path after Mark, with a flower in his teeth, tuning the turntable and stumbling every minute. Then he found Africa, and the yellow-green steppe resounded with the sounds of a tom-tam. Mark glanced over his shoulder.

Spit it out, ”he said disgustedly.

Why rubbish? A flower.

Tamtam thundered.

Make it even quieter, ”Mark said.

Gorbovsky made it quieter.

Even quieter, please.

Gorbovsky pretended to be quieter.

Like this? - he asked.

I don’t understand why I haven’t ruined it yet? - said Mark into space.

Gorbovsky hastily made it very quietly and put the turntable in his breast pocket.

They walked past cheerful, multi-colored houses lined with lilacs, with identical lattice cones of power receivers on the roofs. A ginger cat stealthily walked across the path. "Kitty Kitty Kitty!" Gorbovsky called out with delight. The cat rushed headlong into the thick grass and looked from there with wild eyes. Bees hummed lazily in the hot air. A thick, roaring snore came from somewhere.

Well, the village, - said Mark. - The capital. Sleep until nine ...

Well, why are you doing that, Mark, - objected Gorbovsky. - I, for one, find it very nice here. Bees ... Pussy ran just now ... What else do you need? Do you want me to make it louder?

I don’t want to, ”said Mark. - I do not like such lazy villages. Lazy people live in lazy villages.

I know you, I know, ”said Gorbovsky. - You would have to fight all, so that no one would agree with anyone, so that ideas sparkle, and a fight would be nice, but this is already ideal ... Stop, stop! There is something like nettles. Beautiful, and it hurts a lot ...

He sat down in front of a lush bush with large black-striped leaves. Mark said with annoyance:

Well, why are you sitting here, Leonid Andreevich? Have you seen the nettles?

Never seen in my life. But I read. And you know, Mark, let me write you off the ship ... You somehow deteriorated, spoiled. Have forgotten how to enjoy a simple life.

I don’t know what a simple life is, ”said Mark,“ but all these little flowers-nettles, all these stitches-paths and various paths - this, in my opinion, Leonid Andreevich, only decomposes. There is still enough disorder in the world, it is too early to gasp in front of all this bucolic.

Disorders - yes, there are, - Gorbovsky agreed. - Only they have always been and always will be. What kind of life is it without disorder? But in general, everything is very good. You hear, someone is singing ... Regardless of any disturbances ...

Natalia MAMAEVA

Distant Rainbow

Of course, it was completely, unequivocally and, of course, impossible - to write a disaster novel on today's and on our material, and so painfully and passionately we wanted to make the Soviet version of "On the Last Shore": dead wastelands, melted ruins of cities, ripples from the ice winds on empty lakes ...

B.Strugatsky. Commentary on the past

Let's complete the five-year plan in the remaining three days!

From an anecdote

The first question that the reader (and the critic) should ask about reading the work is what is this work about? If we talk about the plot, then "Distant Rainbow" is a story about how an entire planet, together with its population, perishes as a result of a man-made disaster resulting from an unsuccessful experiment.

At the level of the highest meaning of the work, it can be read in different ways. Many critics argued that the main idea of ​​the work is the idea of ​​the responsibility of science before society. After all, it is as a result of a bold scientific experiment that the Rainbow dies. But it is hardly possible to interpret everything so unambiguously. The theme of science, scientific knowledge, the meaning of this knowledge and its possibilities are one of the main themes in the work of the Strugatskys. It also sounds in "Distant Rainbow", and we will return to this later. But in this case, the problem of the responsibility of the scientist is not the leading one. Throughout the story, even in the most dramatic moments, none of the inhabitants of the planet casts a reproach on the null physicists. After all, as Etienne Lamondois rightly observes, “Let's look at things realistically. The rainbow is the planet of physicists. This is our laboratory. "

If we talk about responsibility, then we should rather talk about administrative responsibility. The rainbow is really a laboratory of physicists, and the question arises - how appropriate is the existence of kindergartens, schools and tourists traveling around the planet with this laboratory. The tragedy of the Rainbow, if we look for its origins, lies in the fact that the planet is headed not by a tough administrator, but by a beautiful-minded liberal of the XXII century. The scenes that unfold in the director's office in the second chapter of the book are perceived as a fascinating vaudeville. And this vaudeville will have tragic consequences. Matvey Vyazanitsyn perceives administrative and supply squabbles as a curious element of the past, a quote from Ilf and Petrov, but they should have been perceived in a completely different way. Matvey's answer to Gorbovsky's question that he never saw Volna because he had no free time sounds openly helpless. Or maybe it would be worth seeing? .. And to foresee the consequences. And in order to avoid tragedy, take certain actions: admit only scientists and support personnel to the planet, track the progress of the experiment, keep a reserve large-capacity starship at the ready all the time: in general, quite basic security measures. The only security measure that was actually observed was the construction of the Capital at the equator.

But this is so, by the way. Of course, this is not what the book is about. In this case, this is nothing more than an abstract reasoning about what can be extracted from it if desired. Of course, this is not about administrative or scientific-administrative responsibility, but about the problem of human choice in a critical situation. The Polish researcher of the Strugatsky art, V. Kaitoh, rightly writes that the authors posed a classical ethical problem, but "did not begin to solve it for the umpteenth time: they showed who was inclined to solve it." This ethical problem is classic for the disaster novel genre, which is quite fashionable in the 20th century. If this is a more or less serious work (and not a blockbuster, where the heroes run through the same corridor eight times and break open the same door eight times, which turns out to be closed all the time; I wonder who is the villain who always closes this door, when a ship, an airplane, a hotel perishes - perhaps an assistant director?), then the disaster genre provides rich opportunities for analyzing the spectrum of human behavior at critical moments. As a rule, authors working in this genre actively use all the possibilities of the palette that opens up before them and present the most extreme variants of the heroes' behavior, from the miracles of heroism to the dastardly salvation of their own skin. In this case, of course, there are all intermediate options - saving your own person, but without violating moral norms; saving a loved one, an attempt to save loved ones, even risking their own lives, the responsibility of the main person in this situation, who is trying to save everyone; heroism, tears, courage, complaints, hysteria ... Since the Strugatskys present to the reader the world of the future, where people know how to cope with their feelings and overcome the fear of death ("They all know how to overcome the fear of death ..."), this palette is significantly depleted ... Almost the entire population of the planet comes to a noble and correct decision - to save children. There are only two exceptions in the book.

Firstly, this is Zhenya Vyazanitsyna, the wife of the director of the Rainbow, for whom her child is the main thing, and she, violating all prohibitions and moral norms, sneaks into his ship. Secondly, this is the main "negative" character, Robert Sklyarov, who at any cost, including the death of children, is trying to save his beloved woman. The most dramatic choice, of course, unfolds here. This is by no means the choice of an egoist, as Kaitoh believes. A person does not save himself, but another, while Robert clearly understands that Tatiana will hate him anyway. This is not a classic conflict between duty and feeling, since all the inhabitants of the Rainbow choose feeling - they save children, and not achieve scientific progress. This is a choice between love for near and far - Robert chooses whom to save - his beloved woman or children, in general, completely alien to him. Of course, the authors took pity on the hero and made it easier for him to choose. There are about a dozen children in the airbus; in the flyer, at best, three can fly away. Therefore, Robert simply does not have the opportunity to make the right choice. All the children are still impossible to save. Another thing is that he would have made his choice even if there were three children. He must not only be sure that the flyer with Tatiana escaped from the Wave, but must shove, if necessary by force, his beloved into the starship. But, fortunately for the reader's nervous system, the last scene does not materialize.

V. Kaitokh believes that Robert Sklyarov, the hero-bourgeoisie, makes a demonstratively "wrong" choice. And why, in fact, a philistine? .. and why wrong? Robert's act can be defined as you like - cowardice, selfishness, meanness, but what does philistinism have to do with it? And what choice, from the point of view of the critic, would be correct here? Based on the situation, none of the three adult participants in the tragedy - the tester Gaba, the zero physicist Sklyarov and the teacher Tatyana Turchina - can save the children. Ethical criteria do not allow them to choose only three out of ten for salvation. Apparently, from the point of view of Kaitoh, the right choice is to stay for all three near the dead airbus and heroically die along with the children, brightening up the last minutes of their lives if possible. Maybe this is really the only possible way out, but it can hardly be called correct, however, in such a situation, the correct choice is generally impossible, and this is a completely realistic psychological picture.

Fundamentally, in my opinion, the fact that it is the conditionally negative characters in this situation behave in the most human and psychologically reliable way. The inhabitants of the Rainbow, who, in the face of death, actively and amicably build an underground shelter and conveyor shops, reshoot scientific documentation, leisurely talk on various topics, wander in the fields, discuss works of art, heroically hiding their fear of death, do not look very convincing. And if it were not for the phrase “and someone turned away, and someone bent over and hastily walked away, bumping into oncoming people, and someone just lay down on the concrete and clutched his head with his hands,” the reader might not have believed the authors at all. The world of the Rainbow, the world of the future, the world of the XXII century, is the world of "rationality", and the authors, willingly or unwillingly, emphasize this all the time. One can argue whether the authors saw in this the dignity of this world, or its disadvantage, or a dignity that turned into a disadvantage, or an immanent feature of this world, which you can’t change anyway, but it’s impossible not to notice the obvious.

The world of the XXII century is emotionally poor. This is felt both in "Rainbow" and in other works. The hero of the story "It is difficult to be a god" can only love on a distant planet, since the feminized girls of the Earth do not evoke corresponding feelings (Anka is, first of all, "her boyfriend"); the love of Maya Glumova and Lev Abalkin shocks others, other examples can be cited, and this has already been discussed in the previous chapters. It can be assumed that the people of the XXII century themselves have a negative attitude to this emotional scarcity, although they recognize it. The reasoning of the physicist of the Alps in this sense is quite indicative. He understands that the idea of ​​driving artists and poets into camps and making them work for science is at least stupid, and moreover "this thought is deeply unpleasant to me, it scares me, but it arose ... and not only for me." The heroes easily make the right choice - no one gives bribes, does not try to storm the starship, does not blackmail the authorities, does not fall to his knees in front of Gorbovsky. This arouses well-founded suspicions. Yes, throwing yourself into the hatch of a starship, elbowing everyone, including women and children, is, of course, ugly, inhuman and dishonorable, and even mean, but ... human. And the only person on this planet turns out to be a "negative" hero who is alien to "this whole insensible world, where they despise the clear, where they rejoice only in the incomprehensible, where people have forgotten that they are men and women." And therefore I categorically disagree with V. Kaitokh that the choice of Robert Sklyarov is “the wisdom of the bourgeoisie”.

Sklyarov's choice is justified because he is human. The choice of the Rainbow heroes is correct, noble, virtuous and surprisingly morally sterile, even to the point of absurdity.

Indeed, what business could Matvey Vyazanitsyn have in his office an hour before the death of the planet? He says a phrase remarkable in its absurdity: “I have a lot of things to do, but time is short.” What business could he have? To put in order documents that in an hour will turn to ashes with him?

And, maybe, here everything is much deeper and more subtle. It is simply that a person cannot be with people who could not save the planet from destruction, although he was obliged to do it; who did not see his child before the eternal parting and did not even try to do it; who did not use his power as a director to shove his own child and spouse into the starship first, who did not even think that it could be done without giving a damn about all the rules, simply because he loves them? Maybe it’s easier in such a situation to hide behind things that no one needs?

So, all the heroes, except for a few people, made their right choice. The "wrong choice" turned out to be fruitless - Robert still failed to save Tanya, most of the planet's children were saved, and even a bundle of materials with observations about the Wave was thrust into the starship.

But after all, the heroes, besides the choice - to save themselves or save the children - there was one more choice - the choice between saving scientific documentation and zero physicists, “carriers of a new understanding of space, the only ones in the entire Universe” and saving children. For Kaitohu, this choice seems far-fetched. In his opinion, “the problem could not present itself to the reader as a hot, authentic problem of our contemporary reality” - since the choice was already obvious, and the very formulation of the problem seemed far-fetched to the critic.

But in the world of the XXII century, this problem is not far-fetched. Science is the meaning of life, fetish and god of these people. Let us recall from Ponedelnik - “And they accepted a working hypothesis, happiness in the continuous knowledge of the unknown and the meaning of life in the same”. People choose (in this case do not choose) not an abstract science, but the meaning of their existence. Discussions about the nature and meaning of scientific knowledge, which are conducted in the queue for ulmotrons, are by no means accidental. For physicists, and most of the planet is made up of physicists, only science is the god that can be served. “Getting rid of all these weaknesses, passions, emotions is the ideal to strive for,” and judging by the behavior of most of the characters, they are close to this ideal. The choice between children and scientific knowledge is by no means an accident and not a curious paradox. Science is sacred, man must save the sacred. The question remains open: is it possible to talk about the limitations of the authors who so frankly and primitively asserted the primacy of science, or can we admire the creative skill with which they refuted this own thesis.

In any case, the topic of science is very significant in "Rainbow", as well as in other works of the Strugatskys. Now, when our faith in the possibility of scientific knowledge and scientific transformation of the world has been largely lost, the arguments of the heroes about the fate of science in the modern world and about its future no longer seem as relevant as it was in the 60s. But then, in the age of the Soviet Enlightenment, in the days of neo-positivism, these arguments were more than relevant. It seemed to people that science would successfully solve practically all problems related to life support and an ordinary person would really be preoccupied with the problem - what to do in their free time and how to do work that is unloved but needed by society?

(Electricity will wake up the deaf darkness for us!
We will plow and sow electricity!
All work will replace electricity for us!
Pressed the button ... Chick-chirp! Everyone will die of envy!)

In our society at the present stage of its development, these arguments seem rather naive, although it is quite possible that in 30 years they will again become relevant.

For example, the thought, expressed in passing by one of the heroes, that science will break up into an increasing number of narrow areas that will in no way be connected with each other, was fully confirmed. Now sometimes even specialists in related fields have difficulty understanding what their colleagues are doing. However, the opposite tendency also takes place, when a synthesis of the most unexpected sciences arises.

In this regard, it is more interesting, of course, not the authors' reasoning about the fate of a particular science, but those thoughts that we could designate as epistemological problems in the work of the Strugatsky brothers. Can science create a new person? Will he still be human or not (incident of the Devil's Dozen)? Should someone be engaged in an interesting scientific work, and someone in an uninteresting job that provides science with the necessary instruments and materials? Is Artificial Intelligence Possible (Massachusetts Machine)? All these problems are raised in the conversation of physicists sitting in line for ulmotrons. This chapter of the book, the action of which takes place before the catastrophe has not yet loomed, at first glance seems to be a passing one, but the discussion that unfolds in it is a very competent philosophical debate about the fate of science in the world, about the fate of the world of science and the fate of the world. At the same time, a dispute that is conducted in a normal language understandable to the reader, and which is interesting even to the reader who has never been interested in philosophical problems.

Concluding this short and fragmentary review of the philosophical heritage of the Strugatsky brothers, it should be concluded that, starting with "Attempt to Escape" and "Distant Rainbow", the Strugatskys more and more confidently define their creative path as the path of writers-philosophers.

Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky

Distant rainbow

Tanya's palm, warm and a little rough, lay in front of his eyes, and he didn't care about anything else. He could smell the bitter-salty smell of dust, the steppe birds creaked asleep, and dry grass pricked and tickled the back of his head. It was hard and uncomfortable to lie down, his neck itched unbearably, but he did not move, listening to Tanya's quiet, even breathing. He smiled and rejoiced in the darkness, because the smile was probably obscenely stupid and pleased.

Then a call signal sounded out of place and at the wrong time in the laboratory on the tower. Let be! Not the first time. This evening all the calls are out of place and at the wrong time.

Robik, - Tanya said in a whisper. - Do you hear?

I can't hear anything at all, ”Robert muttered.

He blinked to tickle Tanya's palm with eyelashes. Everything was far, far away and absolutely unnecessary. Patrick, always dazed from lack of sleep, was far away. Malyaev with his ice sphinx manners was far away. Their whole world of constant haste, constant abstruse conversations, eternal discontent and concern, this whole extrasensual world, where they despise the clear, where they rejoice only in the incomprehensible, where people have forgotten that they are men and women - all this was far, far away ... There was only night steppe, for hundreds of kilometers only one empty steppe, swallowing up a hot day, warm, full of dark, exciting smells.

The signal sounded again.

Again, - said Tanya.

Let it go. I'm not there. I am dead. The shrews ate me. I'm fine as it is. I love you. I don't want to go anywhere. Why on earth? Would you go?

Do not know.

It’s because you don’t love enough. A person who loves enough never goes anywhere.

Theorist, - said Tanya.

I am not a theorist. I am a practitioner. And, as a practitioner, I ask you: why on earth would I suddenly go somewhere? You have to be able to love. You don’t know how. You are only talking about love. You don't like love. You love to talk about it. Do I chat a lot?

Yes. Terrible!

He removed her hand from his eyes and placed it on his lips. Now he could see the sky covered with clouds, and red identification lights on the farms of the tower twenty meters high. The signal squealed incessantly, and Robert imagined angry Patrick pressing the call key, sticking out his kind thick lips in resentment.

But I'll turn you off now, ”Robert said indistinctly. - Tanyok, do you want him to be silent forever? Let everything be forever. We will have love forever, and he will be silent forever.

In the darkness he saw her face - bright, with huge shining eyes. She took her hand away and said:

Let me talk to him. I will say that I am a hallucination. There are always hallucinations at night.

He never has hallucinations. That's the kind of person he is, Tanechka. He never deceives himself.

Do you want me to tell you what he is? I really like to guess characters from videophone calls. He is a stubborn, angry and tactless person. And he will not sit with a woman in the steppe at night for no price. Here it is - in full view. And all he knows about the night is that it’s dark at night.

No, said the just Robert. - About the gingerbreads, right. But on the other hand, he is kind, soft and rohny.

I don't believe it, - said Tanya. - Just listen. - They listened. - Is this a bum? This is a clear tenacem propositi virum.

Truth? I will tell him.

Tell. Go and tell.

Immediately.

Robert got up, and she remained sitting, her arms wrapped around her knees.

Just kiss me first, ”she said.

In the elevator car, he leaned his forehead against the cold wall and stood there for a while, with his eyes closed, laughing and touching his lips with his tongue. There was not a single thought in my head, only some triumphant voice was screaming incoherently: "Loves! ... Me! ... Loves me! ... Here you are! ... Me! ..." Then he found that the cabin had stopped long ago and tried to open a door. The door was not found right away, and the laboratory turned out to be a lot of unnecessary furniture: he dropped chairs, shifted tables and banged on cabinets until he realized that he had forgotten to turn on the light. Bursting into laughter, he fumbled for the switch, lifted the chair and sat down at the videophone.

When sleepy Patrick appeared on the screen, Robert greeted him in a friendly way:

Good evening, little pig! And why can't you sleep, my titmouse, wagtail?

Patrick looked at him, puzzled, often blinking his sore eyelids.

What are you looking at, doggie? He squealed, squealed, tore me away from important activities, and now you are silent!

Patrick finally opened his mouth.

You… you… ”He tapped himself on the forehead, and a questioning expression appeared on his face. - A?…

And how! - Robert exclaimed. - Loneliness! Yearning! Premonitions! And not only that - hallucinations! I almost forgot!

Are you kidding? Patrick asked seriously.

No! They don't joke at the post. But don't pay attention and get started.

Patrick blinked uncertainly.

I don’t understand, ”he admitted.

Where are you going, ”Robert said gloatingly. - These are emotions, Patrick! You know? ... How would it be easier for you, more understandable? ... Well, not quite algorithmic perturbations in highly complex logical complexes. Perceived?

Yeah, ”said Patrick. He stroked his chin with his fingers, concentrating. - Why am I calling you, Rob? Here's the thing: there is a leak somewhere again. It may not be a leak, but it may be a leak. Check your ulmotrons just in case. Some kind of strange Wave today ...

Robert looked perplexedly out the open window. He completely forgot about the eruption. It turns out that I am sitting here for the eruptions. Not because Tanya is here, but because somewhere there is a Wave.

Why are you silent? Patrick asked patiently.

I’m watching the Wave, ”Robert said angrily.

Patrick widened his eyes.

Do you see the Wave?

I AM? Why do you think so?

You just said you were watching.

Yes, I `m watching!

And that's all. What do you want from me?

Patrick’s eyes went dark again.

I don’t understand you, ”he said. - What were we talking about? Yes! So check the ulmotrons by all means.

Do you understand what you are saying? How can I check my ulmotrons?

Somehow, Patrick said. - At least the connections ... We are completely lost. I'll explain to you now. Today at the institute they sent a mass to the Earth ... however, you all know that. Patrick waved his spread fingers in front of his face. - We were waiting for a Wave of great power, and some kind of sparse fountain is being registered. Do you understand what the salt is? Such a thin fountain ... a fountain ... - He moved close to his videophone, so that only a huge eyes dim from insomnia remained on the screen. The eye blinked frequently. - Understood? - thundered deafeningly in the loudspeaker. - Our equipment registers a quasi-zero field. Young's counter gives a minimum ... can be neglected. Ulmotron fields overlap so that the resonating surface lies in the focal hyperplane, can you imagine? The quasi-zero field is twelve-component, and the receiver convolves it in six even components. So the focus is sixfold.