The Shelter

Volumes: 1

author: Max Maximov

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translation possible from: Russian

rights available: all except Bulgaria, China, Poland

The Shelter
Eksmo. Moscow 2019. approx. 100 pages

A change in the Earth’s atmosphere led to optimal living conditions for insects, which grew larger with each new population. Now, after 10,000 years, the giant insects have exterminated almost all other life forms. Only about 2,000 people still survive in a bunker that was once set up to operate a supercomputer. A group of computer scientists is trying to find a way to reclaim the planet for humans after all. But they are running out of time: energy is becoming scarce, and expeditions to the surface to obtain new food kill too many people every time. But then they make a discovery in one of the experiments that completely changes their own idea of the origin of the world. Panspermia, primeval soup, chemical evolution, higher forces, divine intervention, Darwinism – there are many theories, both scientific and those beyond the parameters of science. But what if one of the most incredible theories about the existence of the Earth and all living things were true, namely the so-called simulation hypothesis? The people in the bunker have nothing to lose, because the insects have now invaded via the ventilation system and are gaining ground. The most incredible idea, however, that everything is just computer code and that they really do not exist, could be the saving key to survival. While part of the crew is desperately trying to defend the control room against the insects, the last two programmers have to decide in a dispute whether to reset the entire system or not. Even if it saves all their lives, it will definitely no longer be the life they thought they were living. But what if the supercomputer they have never seen in the bunker, which is secured in the deepest floors below them, is not even real? Is that „God“ then? Should they trust it, or should they bite on the death capsule to avoid being painfully eaten up by the insects?

THE SHELTER is a novel about the origin and meaning of life, about the power of faith and the double moral of knowledge.

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