History Literature / Spectrum

* [[HiddenTrack Hidden Text]]: Each of the 7 chapters starts with a word from the Russian mnemonic for colors of the rainbow (equivalent to English "Roy G. Biv"). In the Orange chapter, a cowboy appears whose name is not revealed unless you read only the capital letters (in the Russian version) of the paragraph describing him. The name turns out to be "Semetskiy", which is a well-known gag by Russian sci-fi authors to always include a bit character with that name, as a joke on a real-life sci-fi fan by that name (the character usually dies).

* OneGenderRace: The Dio-Dao are hermaphrodites. When they're 5 months old, a hormonal surge sends them into a mating frenzy, where they seek out the nearest available partner. (This is described as a planet-wide orgy.) Mating nearly always results in a pregnancy (it's not made clear if both partners are impregnated or just one). A month later the pregnant Dio-Dao delivers up to 3 children capable of speech and independent action. With proper medical care the previous generation can live a few weeks after the last birth.

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Geddar are a race of TheReptilians who always walk around with swords. Even their deity is a warrior.
* TheOmnipotent: [[spoiler: Anyone who travels to Talisman and gets "detonator" becomes this. The Keymasters as a race did it, as well at least two unknown races. Martin also becomes this, but then rejects it.]]
* TheReptilians: The Geddar. They are frequently seen with lizard-like pets ([[spoiler:who turn out to be their [[BizarreSexualDimorphism females]] who are non-sentient]]). Martin believes that the Keymasters are reptilian as well, despite their ape-like appearance and fur.

* FrickinLaserBeams: The Aranks have both regular guns and "heat rifles" that act like typical laser guns.

* TheOmnipotent: [[spoiler: Anyone who travels to Talisman and gets "terminator" becomes this. The Keymasters as a race did it, as well at least two unknown races. Martin also becomes this, but then rejects it.]]

* PettingZooPeople: The Dio-Dao look like small kangaroos with a bit of lizard thrown in.

* TheReptilians: The Geddar. They are frequently seen with lizard-like pets ([[spoiler:who turn out to be their [[BizarreSexualDimorphism females]] who are non-sentient]]).

* UnfortunateName: Martin I. Doogin, named after [[JackLondon Jack London's]] ''Martin Iden''. Has to suffer never-ending Martini jokes (offscreen, fortunately). Then he meets Ernesto Polushkin, named after [[UsefulNotes/{{Cuba}} Ernesto Che Guevara]]. Both agree Ernesto has it worse.

* MindMeld / HiveMind: Keymasters and Irina

''Spectrum'' (''Спектр'', Spektr) is a 2002 science-fiction novel from the popular Russian sci-fi and fantasy author Creator/SergeyLukyanenko. The novel is set NextSundayAD. Several years before the events of the novel, aliens who call themselves Keymasters arrive in giant black ships and offer to add Earth to their PortalNetwork by growing Gates in key cities. The world governments agree, but the Keymasters impose several conditions, including a requirement that no government attempt to prevent an individual from seeking passage through a Gate. As a form of payment, the Keymasters listen to stories told by those seeking passage. If the stories are interesting and original, they allow the individual to pass. Within the Gate, the person uses an interface designed by each species to select the destination planet and Gate. For the humans, the Keymasters use a [[MicrosoftWindows Windows]]-based system and an ordinary keyboard-and-mouse interface.

Still, there's two Irinas left, and Martin continues. In a BreatherEpisode on Sheali he compares notes with Irina and starts to understand the Keymasters' grand design, but Irina finds ''yet another'' way to die. Then he tracks her down to a strange planet called Talisman, covered by a perpetual fog that transforms its star's light into electricity that is absorbed into the ground and powers the constant synthesis and destruction of matter in boxes called "safes". The planet is full of "prospectors" who claim a number of safes and periodically open them to see if anything valuable has been synthesized. Irina is looking for a way to jump-start the [[EvolutionaryLevels next step in human evolution]]. In the end, it's Martin who figures out how to generate the so-called "detonator", but they are attacked by [[HumanAliens Aranks]] who want the secret for themselves. At the moment of choice, Martin chooses to revive Irina (who jumps off a cliff, so that the Aranks can't use her as a hostage) and safely return home. After explaining what he has learned about the planet and the past to a Keymaster (in the form of a story, of course), Martin is told that he no longer needs to tell stories to pass through the Gates. Martin shrugs and tells him that he's used to pay for passage. Martin and Irina return to Earth.

----

* DyingClue: When an Irina dies, she manages to tell Martin something about a "Marge". Martin assumes she has a pet named after a character from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Later, though, he figures out that "Marge" is the [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad politically-correct]] American name for the planet Fakyu.

The protagonist of the novel is a denizen of Moscow named Martin Doogin, a private investigator specializing in cases involving other planets. He has a rare gift to make up interesting and original stories on the spot, which allows him frequent passage through the Gates. Those who know him call him the Walker. One day, a rich client arrives to his office and asks him to find and return his daughter Irina, who has gone off-world in an attempt to be an AdventurerArchaeologist. Martin quickly finds her on the planet Library, called so because it's covered by mysterious ruins inscribed with symbols no one has been able to decipher. However, just as he finds her, Irina dies in a freak accident (a normally docile alien animal attacks her). Before dying, she gives him the name of another planet. Curious, he goes to that world and discovers another Irina who is alive and well... that is, until she once again dies in a series of unrelated events. He soon finds that there are a number of copies of the girl on different worlds, but each one he finds ends up dying. They explain that the Gate has somehow split Irina into multiple doubles with a HiveMind of sorts. How? Why, because of [[spoiler:Windows]], of course. She [[spoiler:selected multiple worlds on the screen using the standard Windows Ctrl+click function and hit Enter, expecting the software to randomize her choice]]. As told by another character, who had something similar happen to him, the Universe does not tolerate doubles and eliminates them through freak events straight out of ''FinalDestination''.

Eventually, he tracks yet another Irina to Bezzar, a planet where people can walk on water due to the extremely-high surface tension (however, spending more than a day on the planet without special equipment is fatal to offworlders). Irina is working with the Bezzarians, a race of man-sized amoebae, on a way to get to the Keymasters' homeworld in order to find out the truth about an ancient cataclysm that destroyed the old galactic community. The Bezzarians build a ship capable of "riding" the wave used by the Gates to link with one another. They jump to what they assume is the Keymasters' home system. When Martin realizes that the Bezzarians intend hostile action, he kills them with his gun (the bullets just pass through, but the heat caused by the friction turns them insane). Just before the Keymasters' black ships arrive to capture the intruders, Irina demands that the pilot kill her to avoid capture, which it does. Martin is captured by returned to Earth. He contacts Irina's father and explains the situation. Not only does the man tell Martin to stop looking, he also pays him the promised amount multiplied by the number of Irinas he found (Martin ''did'' put in the effort, after all), before going home to mourn.

After awhile, though, Martin begins to suspect that there is one more Irina out there. He tracks her down to a strange planet called Talisman, covered by a perpetual fog that transforms its star's light into electricity that is absorbed into the ground and powers the constant synthesis and destruction of matter in boxes called "safes". The planet is full of "prospectors" who claim a number of safes and periodically open them to see if anything valuable has been synthesized. Martin finds Irina who is looking for a way to jump-start the [[EvolutionaryLevels next step in human evolution]]. In the end, it's Martin who figures out how to generate the so-called "detonator", but they are attacked by [[HumanAliens Aranks]] who want the secret for themselves. At the moment of choice, Martin chooses to revive Irina (who jumps off a cliff, so that the Aranks can't use her as a hostage) and safely return home. After explaining what he has learned about the planet and the past to a Keymaster (in the form of a story, of course), Martin is told that he no longer needs to tell stories to pass through the Gates. Martin shrugs and tells him that he's used to pay for passage. Martin and Irina return to Earth.

* GeneticMemory: The Dio-Dao transfer half of their memories to their offspring (they can't pick which memories).

* HiveMind: The various copies of Irina receive the memories of the dead duplicates. They mistakenly begin to suspect Martin of murdering their copies, as he always seems to show up just before they die.
* HumanAliens: Two humanoid races are described. The planet Prairie 2 is colonized by American settlers but has a primitive native population (called Indians by the colonists).

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Dio-Dao are obsessed with bureaucracy, which is strange for a species whose lifespan is 6 months.
* OneGenderRace: The Dio-Dao are hermaphrodites. When they're 5 months old, a hormonal surge sends them into a mating frenzy, where they seek out the nearest available partner. Mating nearly always results in a pregnancy (it's not made clear if both partners are impregnated or just one). A month later, the pregnant Dio-Dao delivers a child capable of speech and independent action, usually dying in the process. Of course, if this is all true, then there's simply no way for the Dio-Dao to have a positive population growth.

* MostWritersAreWriters: While Martin isn't a writer, he does have the ability to make up interesting and original stories on the spot, which is what makes him such an effective offworld detective.

* PettingZooPeople: The Dio-Dao look like small kangaroos.