Rudolf Sikorski

Rudolf Sikorski (2075 - ?) is a fictional character in Boris and Arkady Strugatsky's series of science fiction novels set in the Noon Universe, also known as Exzellenz or Wanderer. Sikorski appears in Prisoners of Power and Beetle in the Anthill. Also he is mentioned once in The Time Wanderers by Maxim Kammerer.

Biography

Sikorski was one of the key figures on Earth in the 22nd century. It is unclear how he rose up, but in 2137 he was already a member of Earth's World Council as well as the head of recently founded COMCON-2. In 2137 Sikorski was appointed to the "foundling" case as its director and curator and classified all information about it, so that nearly nothing was leaked to the public of Earth.

In 2152 he enlisted in the Institute of Experimental History and became a progressor. His first (and, probably, last) mission was that on Saraksh, where he soon became the project chief. In 2157 he met Maxim Kammerer, who later became his apprentice - first on Saraksh and then in COMCON-2. Some sources indicate that Rudolf Sikorski participated on the Saraksh project until 2165.

In 2165 Rudolf Sikorski returned to Earth and for the next 13 years devoted himself to the foundling case, which he believed was vital for the Earth's existence. In 2178 he assigned Maxim Kammerer to the task of locating a "Stepchild", Lev Abalkin, who disappeared from his view. But Kammerer failed and Sikorski had to lure Abalkin into a trap and assassinated him, because he feared that a hypothetical alien mental program might be activated in Abalkin in any moment and make him do harm to Earth dwellers.

Shortly after the assassination of Abalkin in 2178, Rudolf Sikorski had to leave his position as the head of COMCON-2 under the pressure of public disapproval. Maxim Kammerer became his successor as the chief of COMCON-2.

Trivia

Just as Maxim Kammerer, Rudolf Sikorski was originally given a Russian name by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky - Pavel Grigorievitch (Павел Григорьевич). However, the Soviet censors didn't allow it, so the authors had to find a more "Germanic" one for him. Sikorski is in fact a Slavic (mainly Polish) name and was probably chosen to show incompetence of censors, especially considering that this name may be a hidden allusion to Igor Sikorsky, a Russian aircraft inventor who emigrated to the United States after the October Revolution of 1917 and designed the world's first helicopter there in 1939.

Screen performing

Rudolf Sikorski ("Wanderer") was performed by Aleksei Serebryakov in movies The Inhabited Island and The Inhabited Island: The Battle.