The book begins a decade after something alien (called Visitors by human scientists) very briefly (approximately 12-24 hours) landed at 6 different locations around the Earth (called Visitation Zones by human scientists). Neither the Visitors themselves nor their means of arrival were ever seen, but the people who lived in these areas reported explosions or loud noises that blinded some and caused others to catch a type of plague. Some areas of the Zones later became labeled by scientists as the "First Blind Quarter", "Plague Quarter", and "Second Blind Quarter" based on the effects the "visitation" had on the local population.

These 6 areas (containing a few populated towns) became infested with deadly phenomenons and littered with mysterious objects containing various properties, whose original purpose was incomprehensible by humans or so advanced that it bordered on the supernatural. Each Zone was the length of a few square miles in size, with abandoned buildings, railways, and cars; some slowly decaying while others looking brand new. The Visitation Zones are extremely deadly areas to all forms of life, containing space-time anomalies and random locations capable of killing anyone by fire, lightning, gravity, or other bizarre methods. The laws of physics sporadically worked in the Zones.

Armed guards surrounded each Zone with strict orders to arrest or kill anyone attempting to enter these volatile regions. Governments feared that certain artifacts found inside the Zones could have enough power to cause a pandemic, permanently damage entire nations, or even destroy the planet. A frontier culture arose along the perimeter of the Zones, men known as "Stalkers" who risked their lives to illegally recover alien artifacts (called swag) from within the Zone for large profit. This was extremely dangerous work since one wrong move inside the Zone could be deadly. Stalkers could only work during the night since the Zone was observed during the day by soldiers and scientists. Only one out of three Stalkers made it out alive.

Even though the original purpose of the artifacts recovered was not understood, some objects had beneficial properties like a round black stick (called so-so) that produced endless energy and used to power vehicles. Others artifacts were deadly like the "Death Lamp" which emitted rays destroying all life around it. Most artifacts had no known function either because they were broken and discarded by the Visitors as trash or because their purpose was too advanced to be understood by scientists. The most desired and legendary artifact was the "Golden Sphere", which was rumored to have the power to make any wish come true, but was located so deep inside the Zone and surrounded by such deadly 'traps' that only one Stalker knew the route to reach it.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a survival horror first-person shooter series created by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World. The series was published by three editors: THQ in 2007, Deep Silver in 2008 and BitComposer Entertainment in 2010

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a video game series set in the Zone of Alienation around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The games are set in an alternative universe, in which a second nuclear disaster occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 2006 and causes strange changes in the area around it, causing the area to be inhabited by illegal residents known as "stalkers".

The background and some terminology of the games ("The Zone", "Stalker") are borrowed from the popular science fiction novella Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and the 1979 Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker that was loosely based on it, as well as Stalker, a novel based on an early draft for Tarkovsky's film.

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