People like gods

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People like gods ( Russian Люди как Боги ) is a trilogy of novels by the Soviet author Sergei Snegow , published between 1966 and 1977 .

The Space Opera is about people from a distant future who, with the help of extremely advanced technologies, plow through space “like gods”, explore alien planets and make friends with alien civilizations.

“People like gods” is now an important classic of Russian fantasy and was awarded the Aelita Prize in 1984.

Publication history

The novel cycle “People like Gods” consists of three books. After initially no Russian publisher wanted to publish Snegov's work, the first book "The Exploration of the Galaxy " (Russian original title: Галактическая разведка ) was finally published in 1966. "The Invasion of Perseus" (Russian original title: Вторжение в ерсй was already Published two years later in 1968, the content of the third novel "Der Ring der Gegenenzeit" (Russian original title: Кольцо обратного времени ) was not published until 1977.

The trilogy was published in German (Books 1 and 2 in the GDR 1972 by the publishing house Das Neue Berlin , in the FRG licensed edition of this translation in 1978 by Heyne, book 3 in 1978 by the publishing house MIR for Das Neue Berlin), in Polish, Hungarian and Japanese .

action

First book: Exploring the Galaxy

At the beginning of the story, the main character of the novel, Eli Gamasin, goes as a participant in an earthly delegation from Earth to a conference of the star peoples on the Ora, an artificial planet made by man.

During the conference, which is attended by delegations from various extraterrestrial civilizations as well as humans, the participants receive the news about a previously unknown, highly developed civilization that is said to be very similar to humans. These beings, known as galacts , are apparently at war against another unknown extraterrestrial people, the extraordinarily cruel destroyers . On the basis of this information, the conference decides to send a squadron of spaceships to the Pleiades to gather more information and, if necessary, to actively intervene in the war. The spaceships of humans, the so-called star plows, are able to move at any speed faster than light in the cosmos thanks to the annihilation of space in matter (Tanew effect).

After landing on the planet Sigma in the Pleiades, the humans encounter the destroyers for the first time, and after a bitter battle, an expedition member is kidnapped by invisible warriors of the destroyers. Shortly thereafter, an interstellar battle breaks out between the destroyer cruisers and the human squadron, from which the humans emerge victorious by destroying some of the destroyer's cruisers.

Then the squadron goes to the star cluster Chi Persei , in which the people suspect the home of the galacts and their enemies. Despite a warning from the galacts in the form of a radio message, they fall into a trap of the destroyers: The destroyers block the way back to earth for the star plows by bending space. Only when the captain of the last remaining ship gives the order to annihilate one of the destroyer's planetary fortresses, the people manage to escape from non- Euclidean space and return to earth. Knowledge of the reverse Tanew effect (conversion of matter into space) gives people a powerful weapon that makes them equal to their opponents.

Second book: the invasion of Perseus

After the first expedition, cosmic squadrons of humans set off again for the star cluster Chi Persei, among other things to look for the missing member of the first expedition. Eli, who was appointed admiral of this Starfleet, is now in command. Once again, the destroyers' curvature of space gives them difficulties, and finally they succeed in forcing the advance command of the people to surrender and to take them prisoner. Orlan, a high officer of the destroyers, brings the people to the leader, the Great Destroyer. Eli learns that the destroyers, according to their name, pursue a philosophy of destructiveness and are striving for the progressive mechanization of their body through artificial implants . He also learns about the Ramiren , a legendary people who used to inhabit the star cluster and are now said to be in the core of the galaxy. He then gives a fiery speech in front of the destroyers, in which he emphasizes the miracle and the preservation of life as the highest value of all rational beings.

With this lecture Eli succeeds in winning Orlan and a large number of other destroyers on his side. Together they manage to escape and conquer a metrics station that is involved in the destroyer's system of curvature of space and that is controlled by a biological brain. With its help, humans and their new friends succeed in penetrating the galactic star sector. Together with them they defeat the destroyers.

Third book: the ring of counter-time

The third part is based on the events of the first two parts, but tells an independent story. The action takes place a few decades after the events of books 1 and 2. After a first expedition of humans, galacts and demiurges (formerly destroyers) to the core of the galaxy has ended in the destruction of the ships, the decision is made to build another fleet of star plows to send, this time equipped with the latest technology. Eli is appointed scientific leader of the expedition, command is given to Oleg - the son of his best friend André, who was once kidnapped by the destroyers (Book 1). During their expedition they encounter a “time spaceship” of the spider-like aranen. They tried to break out of their time because their world was infested with "time cancer", an unstable and apparently torn space-time continuum.

The humans take in Oan, the only survivor of the occupation. However, this later turns out to be a saboteur and emissary of the Ramiren, who is supposed to spy on the people. However, Eli manages to expose Oan. In the core of the galaxy, the survivors of the expedition are confronted with the problem of torn time, but they manage to escape. They take with them the knowledge that the Ramiren consciously intervene in the processes at the core of the galaxy and are far beyond the human level of development.

Book editions

  • People like gods [only books 1 and 2], trans. Heinz Kübart, Das Neue Berlin , 1972
  • Der Ring der Gegenenzeit [= people like gods, book 3], transl. Heinz Kübart, Verlag MIR Moscow and Das Neue Berlin, 1978
  • People like gods (books 1 and 2). Heyne TB , 1978
  • People like gods, in three books, MIR Moscow and Das Neue Berlin
  • People like gods. Das Neue Berlin TB, 2003 ISBN 3-360-00838-3
  • People like gods. New life publishing house , Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-355-01726-4
  • People like gods. Heyne TB, 2010. ISBN 3-453-52519-1 (all 3 parts)

literature

  • Erik Simon: Angels, destroyers and the most beautiful hours in life. Sergej Snegows "People like Gods" and the consequences, in: The Science Fiction Year 2004. Ed. Sascha Mamczak, Wolfgang Jeschke. Munich 2004, ISBN 3-453-87896-5 , pp. 130-137.

Individual evidence