Content Warning: Solaris mentions death by suicide and depicts the aftermath of a suicide attempt in the Chapter 9 Summary. It also uses outdated language surrounding autism and Black people.

Dr. Kris Kelvin, a psychologist, arrives at the planet Solaris on the spaceship Prometheus. He takes a space capsule from the ship to a space station, where he anticipates he will be greeted by three other researchers. They are to study the vast ocean that covers the planet. Kris is surprised by the lack of voices over the capsule’s radio as he descends to the station. No one greets him when his capsule is robotically secured, and he enters a seemingly empty station.

Kris finds his way to the office of Dr. Snow, the station’s cyber technician, who is inebriated, hands bloody. A terrified Snow eventually recognizes him as the expected scientist. Through a cryptic, frustrating conversation, Kris discovers that his colleague and mentor, Dr. Gibarian, died that morning. Snow asks if he knows Dr. Sartorius, the station’s nuclear physicist.

Snow gives Kris a series of cryptic warnings about what he might encounter and tells him to be prepared for anything.