Fulcrum - Armor for wandering souls.

************************** Fulcrum ************************** 

                       Sergey PERESLEGIN

                 ARMOR FOR WANDERING SOULS

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This material was written as a preface to Sergei’s trilogy 
Lukyanenko "Lord from Planet Earth", which he plans to release 
publishing house "Argus" (Moscow). The material is published kindly 
permission from the editor of the Chronos series, Oleg Puli. 
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                    (C) S. Pereslegin, 1995.


   Don't trust the eastern side
   Predatory giants live there
   And they feed on human souls;
   There are ten suns floating in the sky
   And they melt ores and stones,
   But people there are accustomed to everything...

         Cai Yuan. "Summoning the Soul"


   1. Reflections on entertaining literature
      and its role in the history of the 20th century.

   There are six books in A.Azimov’s “Foundation” cycle. The first one is actually
"Foundation", written during World War II, was 
a hymn to the human mind. In the same sense as "Mysterious"
Island". The crumbling world of the Galactic Empire, centuries of war 
and barbarism ahead - and one person. Scientist. Psychohistorian.
Hari Seldon. An elegant plan that allows you to
revive Civilization. A plan based only on the most generallaws of nature and society. An iron hand reaching out
through space and time. In the second book of the series, the young talent
the smoldering general of the Empire is trying to oppose himself to the Plan.
Personality. Accident. And he dies. No one can resist
the force of the Law. (Written in 1945)
   But time (the Time of Reality is the time of Reflection “Earth”, in which
the writer A. Azimov lived in rum and you and I live, Time, understood
as a measure of change in the world) goes. And the Mule appears, an accident,
a mutant who was not and could not have been foreseen by Hari Seldon,
priest and master of the power of Order. And it turns out that proud
The "First Foundation" is just a screen behind which history is controlled 
people of the world are psychologists and psychohistorians. Speakers. Sowers. Reject
exchanged. Rulers of Order. Players. (Written 1948-1953)
   And then psychohistorians become shadows, I just assume
people that something depends on their activities. A true creator
history is R. Daniel, a super-robot and superman created
by chance. Randomness creates a pattern. Plan Order
Seldona is just a fleeting image in the kaleidoscope of chaos. (Write-
sano in 1983-1988) The circle is closed. From faith in the omnipotent
a pattern personified by science, humanity has come to faith
into the all-powerful chance of magic. And it remained unfree. [1]

   Marxists considered art to be secondary to life.I think it was called "reflection theory." Poets and artists
considered life secondary to art - something like
sympathetic magic. I think no one will be offended by a compromise: life
and creativity mutually influence each other. Paintings and books,
and other information objects - quanta that transmit information.
From the future to the past. From one universe to another. The world is changing,
absorbing a quantum or emitting it.
   For some reason, it is generally accepted that they have a strong impact
only great books. Something of the Bible's rank or extreme
the case of Ulysses. However, let us pose a simple question: how much
readers of "The Three Musketeers" account for one reader of "The Castle"? A
among children and adolescents under the age of 17 (that is, the most
passionate part of the population)? This is about the degree of influence.
   The 19th century was ending, in developed countries the population was completely
taught to read and write. Everyone, even the poorest, now has leisure. And
people started reading. Not only Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, but also
for example, detectives.
   There was capitalism, and the manuscript was a commodity. She had to sleep
force yourself to read. "A man was sitting at the table, and next to him lay his
severed head..." Already interesting. Because everything is interesting 
scary. The instinct of survival and the instinct of procreation. Death
and love. As S. Freud could explain (if he had already created
this time psychoanalysis), about sex and aboutmurders will be read
everything.
   However, England dominated the world, and in England - Victoria
rian ethics, harmonious, progressive and sanctimonious: about nothing
“Angelica” was out of the question. And writers created detective stories. 
   A person gets used to everything. When is it described for the first time?
a kitchen knife stuck into the heart of the unfortunate man, this could pass for
"brutal murder" and demand the intervention of Gregson, Lest-
raid and Holmes himself. But, after reading this for the tenth time, the reader
yawn. It's no longer scary. So, we need to come up with something else.
   There are no nightmares that cannot be extracted from the subconscious.
knowledge. And more and more intricate murders begin to be described,
more and more terrible torture and humiliation... Stevenson's Hyde
was the embodiment of absolute evil. He killed (in a fit of causeless
rage) of an elderly gentleman and stepped on him lying on the ground
child. It's here! It never occurred to Stevenson that
his devil could kill the child. Then it was beyond consciousness
nia. In Id.
   But writers are also creative people because the gap between
their consciousness and subconsciousness is minimal. And more and more "nightmare"
Freddy's ditch" seeped through a thin layer of censorship and remained
moose in colorful paperback books. Books for the crowd.

   And then, when the War came, it turned out that the people who
teli of the “armed people” repeatedly praised by socialistscan imagine (and therefore carry out, since
the war was total, and everything that could be invented was suitable for victory
mind) much more cruelty and atrocities than it seemed
possible Victorian ethics, believing in the progress of humanity,
and even the authors of detective stories, to the best of their abilities and capabilities, contribute
who contributed to this progress.
   The First World War was a war of thinking generated by children
assets. World War II - with its atomic bombs and concentration camps,
with the bloody contact of European and Nazi civilizations,
civilizations that are unable to understand or accept each other [2, 3],
was a war of thinking generated by early - still scientific - fantasy
stick. And this same fantasy created the world of the almost bloodless Third
World. "Seldon Plan" directed against my country [4]. And
successful. Almost a success, of course...
   “Once upon a time, my homeland was the country of the USSR. And I fought for it.
I've had enough of blind patriotism." 
   It's all pretty simple. Only one question is difficult. What kind of war
and what kind of world will a thinking brought up on modern entertainment give birth to?
boiler literature. I mean "fantasy" and related genres.

   2. Why does the Galaxy need an Emperor?

   The word “lord” sounds strange in Russian. We are closer to Val-
Yazhno-Oblomov's or arrogant-Nekrasov's "nobleman". But school
nicknames in all recent previous centuries were read as French
musketeers, and the concepthonor and nobility will be associated with them
English Lord, French Chevalier or International Prince
cem.
   What is nobility and honor for? Is it possible for a princess to
death? Of course not. Deaths or deaths cost money. Yes
no, not even money - money was the main value yesterday. Slogan
of today - Stability. Maintaining the "status quo" is worth
death.
   What can you say? The average American (Swiss-
Retz, Norwegian or Belgian) lives well and long. Lose your life
- means losing a lot (cars, computer games, vitamins)
reduced juices and vegetarian cutlets). For not
lose, you can pay. Security is an expensive product. Pay
comes in money - in the form of taxes. Freedom - in all its forms
max. And, most importantly, the future. It is, by the very fact of its existence,
vania denies the present with its comfort and security.
   Dialectics, no matter how much you scold it... It seems that it may be
better than humanism... “And the highest measure of things should be man”...
“No discovery is worth a human life”... “Every war 
criminal because it kills people "... And at the other end 
poles - total betrization, people who do not kill just because
that they cannot want to kill. A complete stop of all progress,
and any movement... You can’t love - the feeling is too strong
wow, too unique...
   "I was looking atnaked body hidden only under a transparent
cobwebs of laundry. And I realized that not a single woman in the world would 
can become desirable for me. I want to have a princess. I 
I want to touch her body not through the flexible armor of the jumpsuit. I want 
experience her caresses - in response to yours. And kill Shorray, who dared 
wish the same." 
   Love is worth death, isn't it? "Two people died
because I dared to love a princess." You can't invent - it's 
will upset the balance in society. Moreover, it is impossible to build - this
can affect the balance in ecosystems, and suddenly go extinct
some endomorphic subspecies of Arctic tern in the Ussuri
forests... The normal choice between Scylla and Charybdis:
   "And if you don't live, then you shouldn't die..."
   Long live the bright capitalist future!

   Somehow a small change in the system happened so quickly
relations and left with the Krapivin heroes without looking back,
into the past, Zheleznikov’s heroes: died out or changed into conformist clothes
there are “iron buttons”, Danki joined the unpopular “hipparies”,
taking the embittered Ignatiks. Maybe they were taught poorly?
   Everyone was taught...
   "You had a plate, but we will have a khan..."
   Do you think the success of life in the modern world depends on
your grades in school, your hypnotic abilities, your
strength of character and is proportional to the efforts once invested in
fight forjustice? You don't think so anymore. This is great. Look
for today's businessmen! Some people look like racketeers, others look like
just a former Komsomol boss, historically "brainless and without-
"response". Are they all deservedly rewarded for their success in 
the emerging new, bright capitalist life?
   Where will the boys go? To flight schools, so that in the future
sky-high to become the 101st cosmonauts and glorify the Land of the Soviets
another feat? No, they'll go to JSCT, to police school,
where they oriented towards a single market with racketeering earlier than in
official and research structures.
   And girls will set boys up for high incomes and create
new mods and come up with “new” games, making them simple
stories from everyday TV series. Here come the boys!
   And then order will be established in society, because the racketeering
the man will find a compromise with the police, all the maniacs will be caught, that's it
schools will turn into paid schools with a paid policeman at the door, according to
the night streets will again be slightly more expensive until one in the morning -
best transport. And to the delight of the surviving inhabitants, we will turn into
capitalist state of the burgher type, specific
only the sad experience of its formation, diligently removed from
school textbooks in order to provide the youth with the maximum
comfort of perception of beautiful reality.
   "There was a plate for you..."
   Athen they will fly in, the god-like ones will arrive on our own tanks,
or even guests who look like “our” Uzbeks, and the poor little
a new civilization will stand in orderly ranks under the gray banner of the middle-
agelessness and, having crossed himself, will lose the remnants of his science and culture
ry, because in some forgotten year 199.. in the homeland of space
flights, all dreamers of
"useless" and frightening progress.

   But why still “lord”? Why aristocrats? Not businessmen
not pirates, not the all-powerful intelligence officials who got into
heroes of “our near future”? It's unlikely that it's about blue
blood of the author, rather in conviction - those who do not strive for Gods,
relying on oneself, a sinner, in one’s subjective freedom, it is unlikely
catch something for himself in the mixture of worlds, systems, anti-worlds and
antisystem. The problem of choice facing every person in the world
every little stage of his fate has already pushed many into the pet-
I love several in various brotherhoods, and as many more subordinate
denial of any structures that at least illusoryly remove the burden
personal responsibility. Where did you last see an aristocrat?
who will entrust his yesterday's tyranny to disentangle the order-
chiku? Ah, there are no such... So if it’s “galactic”, then, alas,
"empire".

   3. Strategy equations.

   " - Shorray Manham is a second-rate actor trying to act
superman, - with a suddenI said bitterly. 
   - All his agility, strength, endurance will not replace the main thing.
   - And what, in your opinion, is the main thing?
   - Ability to improvise. Make non-standard decisions. He
plays a role that he himself wrote, but is afraid to change it at least 
one word. 
   - If you know how to calculate events ten moves ahead, then
There’s no need for improvisation,” the princess calmly objected. 
   “Perhaps... I never knew how to count well.”

   "The Lord from Planet Earth" is one of the books that can teach
learn the art of victory. I am responsible for these words. I am not an instructor
combat with monoatomic weapons, but I’ve been teaching military history for ten years now
years
   “Technique” is important in battle. You need to know, for example, that atomic
It is useful to sharpen the blade often, which in winter in the Bay of Biscay
storms are raging, preventing the landing of troops, which cannot be with-
press a position that has negative operational connectivity, which is not
it is worth introducing a tank division into a city prepared for defense
unaccompanied by motorized infantry.
   Strength is important in battle. Ordinary, rough: thirty billion
earthlings looked bad against trillions of fangs, so they had to
go to great lengths to gain allies. A
otherwise... All Rommel’s tactical skill could not be saved by Africa-
n Corps, nor German troops in Normandy.
   And communications, reconnaissance, supply, the so-called “combat” are also important.
howling spirit", presence"paths" - connections between "upper" and "lower"
(by rulers and people). Discipline. Fill in what is missing. Analy-
By considering these components, one can, following Sun Tzu, understand in advance
who will be defeated and who will be victorious. [5]
   There is, however, one unpleasant question. Who should anyway?
win when both sides have approximately equal opportunities
tami?

   The text of the trilogy breaks down into a number of key fights.
   The Prince fights Shorray Manham.
   "Terra" attacks the "White Raider".
   Prince vs Maestro Stas: mental battle in the Temple.
   The Fangs storm Ar-na-Tin.
   Somat.
   The first of them is the most significant. Loser - Shorrey -
was an aristocrat who owned a "monatomic" since childhood. Himself
chose the time, place and weapon of the duel, using to the end
position of the “Master” (in the terminology of the same Sun Tzu). And that’s all -
still died. Why?
   The romantic answer will cite love as the reason. Alas, love is not
grants victory. It can only lead a person to a duel.
(That's a lot. Pratter was "intimidated or bribed" and lost
the decisive fight of his life, giving it up.)
   The pragmatist will condemn Shorrey, who drew his weapon for revenge,
which can hardly be considered a worthy reason. Yes, in my opinion
one should understand Klan's words about the “general ethics of combat.” But
after all, two years later, Sergei kills out of revenge. And only then
gives to his actionsshadow of meaningfulness. And in general, revenge
too human a quality to be completely “wrong”
nym".
   Lord himself believes that he won by accident and hardly “honestly.”
But: “Shorray cannot be defeated by chance, Prince.”
   (It’s best to leave the conversation about the role of honesty in battle to the fangs -
perhaps they, with their beauty-based strategy, could
really understand this. I can only remember that the Spartans
complained after the battle of Leuctra that Epaminondas, using the “scythe
battle formation", defeated them "dishonestly". "Honestly" would be, in
Dim, fight against the Spartan infantry "wall to wall" and
lose.)
   I agree with Hernando.
   "Attacks of the victorious bright light, And the darkness of hopeless situations -
niy... And it’s hard to understand at fifteen years old, That, in general, there is no 
tea defeats." 
   “Real combat is fought intuitively,” Klan says and does
Another important note: "Ultimate skill collided with
transcendental." 
   "Ultimate mastery" is Shorray.  Mastery
weapons, experience, calculation. "He is a wonderful strategist and a great so-
tick,” Shvartsev’s Cat would say. But isn’t the Klanian right and 
the second part of your sentence?  "Desperate, hopeless, won
only thanks to the temporal grenade of the Sowers" Sergei's duel 
was a demonstration of incredible skill. At least because
The prince won the battle.
   Transcendent mastery beginswhere the rules end.
Where they are looking for a solution not among two or three “generally professional
possibilities", and among hundreds and thousands of options,"perpendicular-
nyh" Reality. Hernando would train, consistently re-
moving from stage to stage. Sergei violated the established order. He
expanded the "solution space" by creating "planar disks". He
went beyond the imaginable - for Princess, Hernando, Shorrey
- taking the risk of using the Sowers' weapons.
   So, if you need a secret to victory, it is simple.
   Go beyond the imaginable.
   In other words, if your enemy is invincible in this Universe -
create another Universe to fight it.

   4. Freedom.

   "Then I will find the Sowers. Those who conquered time do not disappear
without a trace. 
   If the princess were a Christian, she would cross herself.
   “You won’t find a crew that will go on such a journey!”

   I didn’t immediately understand what it was that attracted me so much to the trilogy.
S. Lukyanenko. Of course, I like the "space opera" genre, but not 
enough to re-read the voluminous manuscript four times.
The author's "technical" solutions (like temporal grenades and spiders)
mud mines), undoubtedly elegant, but designed for a single
application.I grew out of the meditative romance of my only love.
But still, I found myself needing this book.
   Everyone has their own limit. And there will always be a Power behind it
limit. "This is my dream.And I will do what I want here.
   - Yes. But this is MY world."[6]
   All dystopias are built on this. Man versus soulless and
limitless Power, and all the best that is in this person
(mind, love, courage, honor) this Power uses in its in-
resakh. The outcome of the fight is predetermined, and the reader can only watch how
the hero's personality burns out in slow quark decay. System
copes with it and squeezes the ring.
   Lukyanenko's heroes play without rules.
   Thus, Lord Sergei defeated the Giar ruler. Shorrey after all
"recognized a force beyond his control - and did not try to argue with it."
In other words, he entrusted the Sowers with part of his freedom and his
personality.
   In the fight against the Universe, a person needs support. And he
finds it - in the person of God, who climbed onto the roof of his religion or
A country that has climbed onto the roof of its ideology. Spontaneous violation
symmetry: instead of a constructive conflict between “I” and “World”, there arises
destructive conflict between “Us” and “Them”. Moreover, “we” is not a couple
lovers or four friends. “We” are half of the Universe.
The power by which a person gives up sovereignty in exchange for imaginary help
against another Force. And forever falls into the trap.

   “Why do I so stubbornly separate myself from the Sowers?
   Maybe because on the screen woven from thin air now
the bloodbath ends. And the fact that they kill each other is mine 
enemies doesn't make it any easier for meconscience." 
   The point is not whether the Sowers are good or bad. It's a matter of understanding
Lord's deliberate and motivated refusal to accept one of the conflicts
fighting forces for theirs. Reluctance to follow predestination, names
which “traditions”, “the voice of blood”, “the main stream of history”.
   Sartre proved that man is doomed to freedom.
   It seems that this doom puts a person on the same level as
Galaxy. Who knows...

   Maybe this is the main thing I learned from my story
a disappeared country under the strange name "Soviet Union":
“us” and “strangers” are just reflections in the mirror. And you choose
one of the sides not because it represents goodness, but
simply because you were not born in the East and cannot (and not
want) Balance. But you throw your sword on the scales not like
vassal of one of the parties. As an ally or mercenary. Therefore, the "system
ma" (no matter what it is called: "socialism", "capitalism", "demo-
kratiya", "Motherland", "science", "business") with all their armies,
intelligence agencies and overseers - all these are "... little things that, most
big, they can kill me." But do not deceive. Do not subjugate. 

   "...This is a secret scheme, but I trust you.
   I winced:
   - What if the fangs catch me? And scan your memory? Raymond,
don't make a fool of me. This is a false layout. For everyone visit- 
lei, in the hope that one of them will fall to the enemy. 
   Raymond sighed and wavedhand over the layout. He disappeared.
   Raymond sat down in his chair and looked at me thoughtfully.
   - I really want to work with you, Sergei.
   “It’s a pity, but this is not mutual...”

   You know, maybe it's unfair, but I can hardly
imagine an American, a Swiss or a Frenchman in the place of the Prince.
He is too intrusively proud of his Fatherland and its eternal
values. An insane system differs from a reasonable one by exactly
one parameter. His name is Risk. Has anyone noticed in the history of Russia
this sluggishness, or maybe St. Petersburg has seen few revolutions,
or science developed in our country successively - progressively, and only in
literature and there were no explosions at all? “You can’t understand Russia with your mind”...
   “You are a man of extremes, Sergei,” said the Maestro thoughtfully.
The most famous wine and the strongest tobacco. If you love then 
princess, if you hate it, then you hate the whole civilization.” 

   5. Expansion.

   The Prince's stellar travels began at the end of the 20th century, when
"The Planet That Doesn't Exist" was a backward little world - a reserve for 
blood-sucking Pelians, and in his homeland the era of the peri-
initial accumulation of capital. Three centuries later - Earth,
the world of the Sowers led the Galaxy, subjugating Space and
Time.
   "Princess, is it contrary to the laws of your planet that unequal
What is your spouse's origin? 
   - No. Lord Sergei is my betrothed fiancé. Ancient custom
admitsmarriage with a person of any social status. 
   - Lord, does unequal conflict with your laws or beliefs?
What is the origin of the spouses? 
   Very clear. For princesses - the laws of planets, norms and traditions.
An earthling is subject only to his own Law.
Inequality? But it is supported, as we have seen, not only
the power of the earth's fleet and the authority of the Temples.
   S. Lukyanenko did not do without his “Return”. All
the first part of the "Glass Sea" - a classic "tour of the
future", which was performed, for example, by navigator Kondratiev, Al Breg,
Kohl Kretschmer and many, many others. The reception is traditional, if not
say standard; Sergey is an amateur, if not an expert in "advice-
fiction" - involuntarily compares his impressions with reading
nym in childhood, and the pages of the story are full of indirect quotes (which
There are only chapter titles: “The Returned One,” “Breakfast in the Clearing,”
"A very comfortable planet") There is a novelty in the original 
negative attitude of the Prince. The earth is forced to prove to him
that she became like... what she became. Affectionate, generous, kind,
fairy-tale world. "The planet decided to be smart to the end." [7]
   The trilogy offers us, if not a new section, then a new chapter
in the analysis of a future known as the "standard model"
or the model of A. and B. Strugatsky. Currently unpopular model.
   The supercivilization of Sowers-Wanderers has been createdjust one co-
cial invention - the Sign of Independence, received "in
on average" at thirteen and a half years. As soon as a person has
is able to perform his actions and be responsible for them.
   Lord, on today's Earth you can become a
world champion in chess and at thirteen - in sports anthem-
stick, at twelve - learn the basics of "disappearance magic" and use
principles of psychic protection, but no matter what you do until you are “perfectly
anniversary," you are on either side of the iron, green, or golden
whether the curtain - you remain the property of the state and
We are parents, in other words, we must be afraid of dust and dampness!
   The antithesis of freedom is the transformation of personality into property. Before
After marriage, you are a child and belong to your father and mother. When do you
your own child is born - it becomes your own
you, but this does not add freedom, because you find yourself
family property. (This is regardless of states that
some people do not forget to present their rights). Result? Not very
a wealthy, very unkind and, most importantly, slow world.
   Sign of Responsibility and, as a consequence, inclusion in History
strengths and capabilities of early youth will create the strongest tensions
in society, and with necessity - acceleration of development.
   Simply because the world is beginning to use the main psychological
gical resource. Freedom. "If we admithuman right
independence, regardless of age, then leave some 
some limits: in sex, purchasing drugs, the right to take risks and 
euthanasia is pointless and unfair. We have to go to the end 
tsa". 
   Development does not happen in one direction. Unlike the world of Efremov-
Strugatsky, Lukyanenko’s world is full of weapons, and not only fans 
reason. "Carry this proud burden And the best sons on the hard path
send beyond the distant seas." Dynamics is always expansion. In 
physical space-time. In conceptual space. Poe-
The arguments of reason are useless for that. "The moon was there, and we are here."
"The princess called - and I came." 

   There is a challenge addressed to a person.
   "It will take your whole life to find you! But even thousands of lives will be
not enough!" 
   The stars above our heads are a challenge addressed to civilization. And
if we don't notice it, humanity is worthless. Because the Earth
will forever become “the planet that does not exist.” Because "you can't
fight, otherwise you will fall from Olympus. You can't pretend 
God. They can’t be, but you can try..." 

   January 1995

   Literature

   1. A. Azimov "Prelude to the Foundation".
   2. M. Tartakovsky "Historiosophy".
   3. "Morning of the Magicians."
   4. A. Azimov "Accidental Victory".
   5. In the book. N. Conrad "Sinology". Sun Tzu's Treatise on Military
art." 
   6. "A Nightmare on Elm Street" Part 6".
   7. O. Larionova “By the sea, where the edge of the earth is...