Disquiet (Strugatsky novel)

Disquiet (Беспокойство) is a 1965 sci-fi novel by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky set in the Noon Universe. It is the initial variant of the novel Snail on the Slope (Улитка на склоне) which has a different set of characters and is not set in the Noon Universe. After completing the first draft, the authors felt a need to take the novel in a different direction, which resulted in the creation of Snail on the Slope. However, twenty-five years later, they examined the initial draft and concluded that it was a decent novel in its own right. In 1990, it was published in «Измерение-Ф» [Dimension F] magazine. In 1995, feeling the need to expose it to a wider readership, Boris Strugastky published it online (but it has been taken offline by his heirs).

The novel is set on the planet Pandora which is famous for its animated biosphere. Humans have built a base on it that serves as a biological laboratory and a hunting resort. The base is located at the top of 2 km high crag on a continent otherwise covered by forest. Biologists do not understand most of the processes occurring in the forest. Humans hunt in the forest for sport in the face of serious dangers.

The novel is divided into two parts: life in the base and life in the forest. The director of the base is Paul Gnedykh. He is responsible for overall safety, supply, and communication with Earth. He replaced the previous director after several deaths occurred on the base. One of the deaths was the biologist Mikhail "Athos" Sidorov, Gnedykh's childhood friend. Some biologists claimed they saw people in the forest, but nobody took them seriously (partially because such visions were seen when the bioblocade of the observer was weakened or expired). The forest is rapidly changing, such that maps completely obsolete in two years. Some trees move from place to place, while others show signs of feeling the "pain" of other trees. Leonid Gorbovsky stays on Pandora believing that the forest is dangerous. He wants to be near when the forest "starts acting" to be able to influence the process. Gorbovsky is upset because the base staff are being negligent about the forest, not taking the forest seriously enough.

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