Space Apprentice
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| Author | Arkady and Boris Strugatsky |
|---|---|
| Original title | Стажёры |
| Translator | Antonina W. Bouis |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Macmillan Publishers |
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Publication date
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1962 |
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Published in English
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1981 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 7281893 |
| 891.73/44 19 | |
| LC Class | PG3476.S78835 S6 |
| Preceded by | The Way to Amalthea |
Space Apprentice, also known as Probationers (Russian title: Стажёры, Stazhory), is one of the early novels of Russian science fiction writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It is set in the Noon Universe following The Land of Crimson Clouds and "Destination Amalthea", hundreds of years before the other Noon novels.
This is the Strugatsky brothers' final hard-SF novel, and it gives reasons why they decided to move into social science fiction instead.
The novel's main character is Yuri Borodin, a young space welder. His mother was sick and Yuri missed the spaceship that was to transport him to his new work site. He gets a ride to his destination on a ship piloted by some of the characters of The Land of Crimson Clouds.
When the novel starts Yurkovsky and Grisha Bykov - Bykov's son - and Dauge say goodbye to Bykov senior and leave on a mission from international spaceport Mirza-Charle. Meanwhile, Yuri Borodin is also in the spaceport, trying to find a ride. Spaceport authorities direct him to the port director, but he is currently out of town. Disappointed Yuri wanders into a Capitalist-run bar, where the owner-cum-bartender is engaged in an ideological debate with a Russian Communist. Yuri befriends the Russian, Ivan Zhilin, and tells him of his problems. Ivan suggests Yuri to go to the spaceport hotel in the evening, and try to convince the astronauts who stay there to take him along. Yuri does so and meets Bykov and Yurkovsky. Yurkovsky, currently serves as a Chief Inspector. He plans to make a tour of several planets and planetoids. Bykov is piloting his ship. They agree to give Yuri a ride.
Their first stop is Mars. The Russian colonists there are battling an alien life form the giant slug. As the colonists are planning a large-scale slug hunt, they realize that some of the buildings in the area are not human-made. Since the buildings look so much like the simple prefabricated structures set up by the colonists, everyone just assumed they were left there by previous expeditions. Some colonists lament the lack of initiative that has descended over the colony in recent years, and Yurkovsky agrees. The raid on slugs, carried out in part using the weapons brought by Yurkovsky, is reasonably successful, and the colonists cheer up.
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