Muos

Metro 2033: Muos is a novel by a Belarusian amateur author under the pseudonym Zakhar Petrov, released as part of the Metro 2033 Universe. The novel was written in 2008 and published freely on the Internet. However, a paper version, which underwent editing, wasn't published and released for sale until June 2012, becoming the twenty-sixth book in the series.

The main location of the novel - post-nuclear Minsk. According to the plot, after the surviving Muscovites catch a radio signal from Minsk, an expedition of Unovs, organized by Polis, arrives in the Belarusian capital. Since radiation levels on the surface of Minsk are high, the survivors take refuge in the shallow subway and other interconnected bomb shelters, collectively called "Muos", and life there is much harder than in the Moscow subway. The goal of the Muscovites becomes the search among the various groups of Muos for those Minchans who have installed the radio transmitter. The protagonist of this novel, inconspicuous and humiliated by life, a dunce nicknamed Radist, under the influence of the factors experienced in Minsk as the story progresses, has to change his life position and play the leading role in saving Muos from the dreadful danger threatening the people of Minsk.

The Way to the Minsk Metro
The action of the novel begins in the Moscow subway. The Polis authorities decide to launch Project Civilization, designed to search for pockets of life outside Moscow. Technicians assemble a radio transmitter, the antenna from which stalkers install on a surviving high-rise. However, the scanning of the radio air doesn't yield any results. The authorities of Polis halt the project, but decide not to stop listening. The head of the radio room is Igor Kudryavtsev, a seventeen-year-old boy, who, because his mother was a Nazi, has been an outcast among the people he lived with since childhood. Due to constant attacks and beatings by his peers, it was decided to give Igor over to the old radio mechanic, Stepanych, as an apprentice. Now, by the time of the plot, Igor is quite good at radio craft.

Two weeks of listening to the radio airwaves yields results. It turns out that a radio signal with requests for help is coming from the city of Minsk, and the majority of the city's population is sheltering within the Minsk metro or other underground facilities. The Polis authorities declassify information that their faction has the ability to transport a group of officers to almost any part of the world. A detachment based on Polis' special forces is formed, which includes people from other Moscow metro states (including the Red Line), as well as Igor Kudryavtsev as a radio mechanic, who is given the nickname "Radist". The detachment is called "Unovs". During training, Dechter (commander of the Polis Special Forces), who dislikes Radist because of his fascist origins, forces the boy to undergo enormous stress, beating and insulting him at the same time. However, by chance, Radist manages to fight back. At the shooting range, Radist performs poorly.

In their "Kambala" helicopter, the Unovs leave Moscow, heading for Minsk. In the city of Borisov, the Unovs respond to an "S.O.S." signal, the source of which is impossible to make out in the dark. The signaler turns out to be an intelligent mutant named Moloch. He destroys a couple of fighters who have gone out to find Moloch, but then the Unovs throw two missiles at him from a helicopter and disarm the mutant.

The Unovs reach Minsk. Their initial task is to find the source of the radio signal. This source turns out to be a former cellular tower, on which a radio transmitter is installed, next to which lies the corpse of Galina Korzhakovskaya, along with her last letter and a map of the Minsk metro. The Unovs, following the girl's request in the letter, go down to the subway (now called Muos) via Partizanskaya Station.

Partisans, Neutrals, and the Center
The station turns out to be overgrown with an unknown plant (which the locals call the Forest). The Unovs are attacked by foresters and, in the ensuing battle, Radist's squad loses several of their best fighters. Through the tunnel, pursued by the foresters, the Unovs reach the Tractor Plant station, which turns out to be populated by peaceful citizens and is part of a guerrilla camp. The radio operator realizes that the standard of living for these people is much worse than that of the Moscow subway.

The Muscovites learn that the stations in Muos are divided into two camps: the Upper (the lobby) and the Lower (the stations themselves). Staying in the Upper Camp involves constant work on the surface (cultivating radiation-resistant potatoes and working in some workshops), while personal protective equipment is in short supply in Muos. In the Upper Camp, due to constant exposure from radiation, people don't live more than ten years, dying of various diseases. In the Lower Camp, radiation levels are acceptable for permanent living. At each guerrilla station, an age is set for most people. Once they reach that age, they have to move to the Upper Camp.

The Unovs are interrogated, making sure that they are telling the truth about their arrival from the Moscow subway. The station population is unspeakably delighted to learn about their guests from another subway. At the station, Radist meets Svetlana, whom he begins to like, and her pupil, fifteen-year-old Katya, who already has two children of her own.

The partisans organize a party and invite the Muscovites to it. The night after the party, Katya tries to seduce Radist. The next day, the Unovs talk to the station commander, Kirill Batura. He takes one flamethrower from the Muscovites in order to get even with Les. According to Kirill, the partisans could not install the radio transmitter because they don't have the technology. The station commander suggests that the Unovs follow the Center, whose inhabitants may possess such technology. The Muscovites join the trade wagon train of walkers and head for the next station, Proletarskaya.

At this station, the head of the partisan camps, the hundred-year-old grandfather Talash, speaks with the Commander Dechter. The latter gives him an oath that he will do anything to save the partisans. A party is also organized in honor of the guests visiting Proletarskaya and, at night, Radist, lying down with Svetlana, listens to her story.

The Unovs and the walkers go onto Pervomayskaya Station. In the tunnel, the walkers meet the little girl Maika, who they already know, and her mother, who is dead. The walkers decide to take both people with them in order to leave the little girl on May Day and bury her mother there. The travelers successfully reach this station, which is an outpost of the Partisan Confederation who protect it from various enemies, though the station itself is on the verge of starvation. Dechter swears to station commander Anka that the Muscovites came to Minsk with good intentions and will assist the partisans. Dechter and Anka become close friends. Svetlana, who becomes very attached to Maika, wants to leave her at Pervomayskaya. However, it turns out that Majka is so attached to Svetlana that she doesn't want to part with her.

The caravan of walkers, together with the Unovs, moves on - to Neutralnaya Station, formerly Kupalovskaya. In the tunnel between Pervomayskaya and Kupalovskaya, the travelers are attacked by three snakes - actually worms a meter thick. After suffering heavy losses, the travelers drive off the snakes. At Neutralnaya, the leader of the station, Golova, at first doesn't want to let the Unovs through, because they are not familiar to him, but Svetlana promises Golova a threefold fee from their caravan for letting the Unovs through. She explains to the Head who they are and why they have arrived. The Head wishes them luck. The travelers take the Great Passage, a former crosswalk between Kupalovskaya and Oktyabrskaya metro stations, though the Head warns that some devilry has been going on there lately. The Great Passage is home to a crank, a force capable of controlling space and time. The travelers encounter it, but they overcome the passage, though with great losses.

The radioman becomes familiar with the local procedures established by the Center: all station inhabitants are divided into Levels of Significance, with only the inhabitants with the lowest two levels working at the top. Centers are responsible for their Level of Significance for fear of losing it, while people with high levels take pride in it. The goal of most centrists is to raise their level of significance and never let it drop. While this social system is effective, it also has a downside, leading to the moral degradation of the association. Because of the bureaucracy generated by the levels of significance, many Unovs linger at the station for long periods of time before being received by the Scientific Council, the head of the Center. One of the members of the Scientific Council, after hearing the story of the Unovs, states that the Center couldn't have initiated the radio transmission, and the only place in Muos where this signal may have organized is the States of America. The Unovs and Svetlana pepare for their visit to the stations belonging to the Americans. Svetlana meets privately with Vladimir Bukovsky, a member of the Scientific Council, who in Svetlana's youth had interceded for the girl to study at the University of the Center. Bukovsky suggests that Svetlana should stay at the Center, but she refuses.

American States
Svetlana, Mityai, Maika, and the Unovs get to the first American station, Nemiga Hall. The caravan stays at the entrance to the station, as Svetlana, Dechter, and Valery Glina, the center officer assigned to help the travelers, go to the governor's reception. The governor speaks to his guests in a dismissive and boorish manner, but thanks to Svetlana's eloquence, the travelers are able to continue their journey through the states to the president. At the Frunze-Capital station, the travelers go to a reception with President Ray Slavinski and tell him of their goal. At the end of the reception, the Americans trick Dechter, Svetlana, and Clay into captivity. Slavinski summons Dechter to talk. In his office, he proposes that the Unovs join America and take a high position under the president, and that Svetlana be made his slave. Later, Ray shows Dechter the briefcase that controls the nuclear charge planted by the Americans at October and which threatens to kill the entire Muos if it is Ray's will. The bound Dechter, acting on his own feet, kills the president, destroys the suitcase, then is himself killed by the arrows of the guards.

A detachment of centrists, Unovs, and neutrals who remain at the other end of Nemiga Hall are invited to the Frunze Capital station. After the travelers pass Nemiga Hall, the Americans try to destroy them, but, although with great losses, the squad copes with the Americans. The travelers find themselves trapped between Nemiga Hall and Frunze-Capital stations. However, Micah, who has been with them all along, knows an additional way out and leads the heroes on their way. At the cost of the lives of two of the travelers, they escape from the chase by going into a side tunnel between the stations, following Maika's tip. Mental begins to sense something wrong with Micah.

Svetlana and Glina escape captivity. Glina disarms the guard and then, taking advantage of the Americans' panic over the president's assassination, escapes with Svetlana, thanks to the president's foreign relations adviser, Gennady Glinsky, who is a spy for the Center and a good acquaintance of Svetlana. Glinsky tells Svetlana about Ignat Zaenchkovsky, who took over the States after the president's death.

Meanwhile, led by Maika, the travelers reach some kind of bunker-settlement, which has recently been attacked by the Ribbonmen. Rasanov states that further execution of the task of identifying the initiator of the radio signal is impossible, and offers to return to the dead stalker's radio transmitter, with which communication will be conducted in the future. During the overnight stay, Mental's grenade, which was covered by his body, explodes under mysterious circumstances. After the overnight stay, the travelers wander through the underground communications, vainly hoping to reach Neutralna. They stumble upon a settlement inhabited by the Strapko family, who live on the brink of starvation. The travelers share their supplies with the settlers.

Ribbonmen and Diggers
Continuing along the non-metro Muos, Radist's squad falls into a trap left by the Ribbon Raiders. After suffering heavy losses among their own ranks, the Ribboners capture the Unovs. Radist learns that Myka was a Ribbon, her goal was to lead the Unovs to the Ribbon, and it was she who blew up Mental, who began to suspect something about her. Third in seniority among the ribbon-carriers, Misha, chose Radist to make him the ribbon-carrier of his order: that is, since converting a new person to a ribbon-carrier is done by implanting a Master Worm in the back of his head, Misha wants to give Radist his worm, making the Unovian the carrier of the Third Progenitor, which until then he himself is. To do this, Misha decides to explain to Radist in detail the life and structure of the ribbon-worms. He gives the Unovs a tour of the ribbon-carriers' stations.

Radist, Rasanov, Lekar, and the other Unovs are placed in a guarded cage. The station population, driven by the idea of "making them happy", makes no secret of their manic desire to do so immediately, and once the guards themselves try to make the Unovs happy, they manage to transplant the Master to Lecar. Radist refuses food for several days, forcing Misha to force-feed him.

Meanwhile, Clay and Svetlana leave America. In the tunnels they encounter a band of hostile Moors, who capture the girl. By stealth, Glina rescues Svetlana. He tells the girl the purpose of his stay with her and detains the Moors at the cost of his life while she escapes. Svetlana, speaking only to God and relying on Him, makes it to the Neutral.

In time, the exhausted and tortured Radist, as well as Rasanov, are rescued from the Ribbon Nest by the Light Diggers and their pet nops. Radist regains consciousness in the diggers' camp, and Svetlana is there as well. They are happy to meet. Svetlana tells Radist about the secret organization "For One Muos", which believes in the unification of all Muos communities and is trying to achieve it. Svetlana tells Radist that he is the Messenger who the Diggers' legend prophesied. Radist denies this. Svetlana makes a weighty argument related to the fact that all the stations or settlements that the Unovs have passed through endure changes, and besides him, no one of the Unovs can be called a Prislan for various reasons. Svetlana, along with Radist and Rasanov, decides to participate in an expedition to the surface to retrieve the radio transmitter. Radist and Rasanov intend to teach the locals how to use the radio transmitter and intend to return to Moscow. Radist wants to take Svetlana with him, but she cannot agree because of the oath given to the partisans.

The Road to Victory
When the heroes come to the surface, they learn that the Ribbon people, including the Unovs converts, have gone ahead of them to get the transmitter. The Unovs converts intend to reach the helicopter and fly away, fulfilling the Lento dream (to convert the population of Moscow). It turns out that the Ribbon Workers have already removed the radio transmitter from the tower and are rushing to the helicopter. A firefight between the protagonists and the Ribbon Workers begins. Thanks to Svetlana, the Ribbon Riders are trapped and unable to continue on their way to the helicopter. The radio operator and Rasanov get to the helicopter, get on it and briefly describe the current situation to the Unovs who remain there. The helicopter rises into the air and shoots the bandits and the converted Unovs. The helicopter then picks up Svetlana, who dies because her gas mask filter is faulty. It turns out that she knew about this from the beginning, but went anyway, knowing that Rasanov and Radist would not be able to make it without her. Svetlana, having blessed Radist with the Christian Sign of the Cross, dies. Radist buries her the way they did before the Last World War.

Despite Rasanov's objections and entreaties, Radist decides to return to the subway to do Svetlana's will and save Muos. The remaining three Unovs are sent to Moscow, but before they do, the pilot Rodionov destroys the Les Root. The radio operator supervises the collection of a radio transmitter, after which he successfully contacts Moscow, but learns from Stepanovich, a Moscow radio technician, that the helicopter with the Unovs has not returned.

The radio operator goes to the Saint Eufrosyne Monastery, hoping to get an answer to the question "how to save Moose" from Father Tikhon. The priest does not give him an answer: he sends Radist to the tent of the seriously ill, as an acolyte to Sister Martha, and invites him to come back for answers in five days. Radist's duties include all manner of care for patients who suffer from the most severe forms of illness (to the point of rotting alive) and are in pain. Radist endures the first day of obedience with great difficulty, and when he arrives at the priest, he talks to him, hoping to get answers immediately. Having achieved nothing, he returns to obedience.

During the service, Radist meets the doctor Anastasia Glinskaya and her children, who visit the seriously ill every day. Radist begins to become accustomed to his obedience, and as time passes, he finds fewer and fewer excuses for wanting to leave the monastery. After five days, Radist is relieved to see Father Tikhon, but he sends him back to obedience for another five days. The offended Radist tries to leave the monastery, but the memory of Svetlana and hopelessness compel him to return to duty. The patients find themselves sadly disturbed that Radist's five-day obedience period has expired and rejoice at the news that Igor is staying.

Five more days pass. Radist is now satisfied with his obedience, and on the tenth day he forgets to come to Father Tikhon. He starts a conversation with him himself. The priest explains that Radist has a pure heart, but he wanted to save Muos only because of the memory of his late beloved Svetlana; to strengthen Igor's desire to fulfill his vow over Svetlana's grave, Tikhon sent him to the tent of the seriously ill, so he could learn to love such people too. And now, according to the priest, Radist is ready to fulfill his wish, and not with weapons, but with words.

The sent man travels to the stations and settlements of Muos. He urges the inhabitants to unite in thier fight against the Ribbonmen. Thanks in part to the high proportion of For One Muos representatives on the stations, and God's help, he manages to unite the Partisans, Americans, Centers, Neutrals, and the Diggers, creating a strong army. They negotiate a battlefield with the Ribbonmen.

During the meeting between the human army and the Ribbon Horde, the Sentinel and the host of the First Progenitor talk. A one-on-one battle ensues between the powerful First and the physically weak Prislan, in which the Prislan, thanks to past sparring with Dechter in Moscow, triumphs, taking advantage of his opponent's clumsiness. Seeing this victory, the army loses the last drops of patience and begins a deadly battle.

Interesting Facts

 * This novel was written back in 2007, which essentially makes Muos the first book of the Universe.
 * For a long time, no publisher wanted to produce the novel version because the events were unfolding in the year 2051. Because of this, the full online title was "MUOS. Post-Nuclear World. Post-Nuclear Minsk."
 * "MUOS" stands for "Minsk Defense Facilities Authority".
 * If Roots of Heaven was about Catholic religion, Muos is about Orthodox religion. While the novel White Leopard deals with the theme of Islam.
 * The president of Belarus is mentioned, and it's not A. G. Lukashenko. He is Valery Ivanyuk.