Empty House by Kir Bulychev. Short summary

5 seconds

The ship’s crew finds a deserted city on the planet. It turns out that for six winter months, people wait out the winter in makeshift chambers. For them, winter is a minute. One astronaut remains in an empty house waiting for his mistress.

1 minute

The crew of the ship descends to the planet right in a snowstorm. People on rovers go to the city, which is covered by a translucent dome. The astronauts enter the first room, which turns out to be a warehouse. They are surprised by the disappearance of the population of an entire planet without a trace.

Bauer and his partner investigate the next house. Everything looks as if it was abandoned yesterday. Bauer looks at a portrait of a pretty girl in an album. The partner calls her Christine and stays in the house. The young man dreams that the girl wakes him up in the morning. It gets warmer. Bauer brings a branch with swollen buds.

Everyone thinks of the Blue Towers, which have failed to open. By nightfall, Brain deciphers the local language. In the morning, the young man sees Christine’s laughter. He opens his eyes and sees the girl. It turns out that winter lasts six months here. People go to the temporary cells in the Blue Towers, and winter flies by for them in a minute. Christina does not come to see the ship off. The young man decides to come next spring and wait for her in the empty house.