Editing Solaris (novel) (section)

==Characters==

*The protagonist, Dr. '''Kris Kelvin''', is a psychologist recently arrived from Earth to the space station studying the planet Solaris. He had previously been cohabiting with Harey ("Rheya" in the Kilmartin–Cox translation), who died by suicide when he abandoned their relationship. Her exact double is his visitor aboard the space station and becomes an important character.
*'''Snaut''' ("Snow" in the Kilmartin–Cox translation) is the first person Kelvin meets aboard the station, and his visitor is not shown. 
*'''Gibarian''', who had been an instructor of Kelvin's at university, killed himself just hours before Kelvin arrives at the station. Gibarian's visitor was a "giant Negress" who twice appears to Kelvin; first in a hallway soon after his arrival, and then while he is examining Gibarian's cadaver. She seems to be unaware of the other humans she meets, or she simply chooses to ignore them.
*The last inhabitant Kelvin meets is '''Sartorius''', the most reclusive member of the crew. He shows up only intermittently and is suspicious of the other crew members. Kelvin gets a glimpse of a straw hat that may be Sartorius's visitor.
*'''Harey''' ("Rheya" in the Kilmartin–Cox translation, an [[anagram]] of "Harey"), who killed herself with a lethal injection after quarreling with Kelvin, returns as his visitor. Overwhelmed with conflicting emotions after confronting her, Kelvin lures the first Harey visitor into a shuttle and launches it into outer space to be rid of her. Her fate is unknown to the other scientists. Snaut suggests hailing Harey's shuttle to learn her condition, but Kelvin objects. Harey soon reappears but with no memory of the shuttle incident. Moreover, the second Harey becomes aware of her transient nature and is haunted by being Solaris' means-to-an-end, affecting Kelvin in unknown ways. After listening to a tape recording by Gibarian, and so learning her true nature, she attempts suicide by drinking [[liquid oxygen]]. This fails because her body is made of [[neutrino]]s, stabilized by some unknown [[Force field (physics)|force field]] and has both incredible strength and the ability to quickly regenerate from all injuries. She subsequently convinces Snaut to destroy her with a device developed by Sartorius that disrupts the subatomic structure of the visitors.