A summary of "Leap into Nothing" by Alexander Belyaev

This book is a science fiction collection. The title novel was written in 1933. Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky personally consulted the author during the writing of the text and wrote the preface to the second edition.

A leap into nothingness

The events begin in Europe on the eve of a global revolution. The capitalist system is rapidly collapsing. The influential philosopher Schnirer, the corpulent Bishop Weller, the tough businessman Stormer, and the imperious Lady Hinton gather for a traditional tea party. They frantically search for ways to escape the looming danger. Banker Marshal de Terlonges secretly hides heavy gold bars in the remote mountains of Andorra. Stormer creates a closed joint-stock company to build a massive spaceship. This modern ark is intended to reliably save the wealthy elite from earthly upheavals. Stormer’s agents recruit the rich and raise colossal sums of money.

Talented engineer Leo Zander accepts a business offer from a joint-stock company. The scientist has long dreamed of long-distance flights to the stars. He is building a rocket in the secret workers’ settlement of Stormer City, safely hidden high in the Andes at the equator. Zander is assisted by his loyal German mechanic, Winkler, and the courageous young revolutionary, Hans Finger. Hans trains intensively on special centrifuges and special rides. The devices accurately simulate G-forces and prolonged weightlessness. Wealthy passengers gradually flock to Stormer City with their treasures.

The invited astronomers debate heatedly over the choice of a suitable landing planet. Zander proposes making the flight without landing on any planets at all. He plans to create a closed cycle of substances using a giant onboard greenhouse. Revolution rapidly engulfs new countries. The frightened passengers panic and demand an immediate departure. Baron Marshall brings a personal chef on board. The spaceship leaves Earth with a terrible roar. Two towing rockets accelerate the ship and crash into the ocean.

In outer space, harsh everyday life begins. Zander shuts down the cruise engines. A state of complete weightlessness ensues. Spilled liquids collect into perfect round spheres. People learn to fly around cramped cabins using wide folding fans. Lady Hinton suffers greatly from the loss of her accustomed earthly comforts. The arrogant passengers flatly refuse to work. They demand a comfortable life, constant peace and entertainment. Zander organizes astronavigation lessons.

The greenhouse fails due to an unexpected malfunction. The rocket makes an unfortunate maneuver, and the outer compartment breaks off. The food supply is rapidly dwindling. A very unfortunate detail is revealed: Lady Hinton, out of greed, ordered the loading of spoiled, cheap, blue-labeled canned goods. Zander makes the bold decision to fly to Venus. The rocket struggles to penetrate the neighboring planet’s thick atmosphere. The ship makes a hard landing in the hot equatorial zone.

Venus greets travelers with fierce storms and the crimson glow of active volcanoes. The air is dense and oversaturated with carbon dioxide. Hans Finger and mechanic Winkler cut a hole in the molten metal hull. The passengers emerge with great trepidation. The planet experiences a humid, hot spring, quickly turning into a scorching summer. The local flora and fauna are astonishing in their gigantic size. Earthlings see a riot of Carboniferous colors.

Earthlings encounter carnivorous predatory plants and giant, multi-legged insects. A flock of flying orb-birds suddenly kidnaps Lord Blotton. The courageous Hans and Dr. Thacker set out to search. They find the lord completely feral in the dense Venusian forests. The search party is attacked by six-armed, shaggy creatures. These treacherous creatures sedate the people with a stupefying gas and take them captive. The six-armed creatures hang the captives from trees as a supply of fresh meat.

The Earthlings manage to escape thanks to their ingenuity and Blotton’s knife. The exhausted fugitives return to the camp near the rocket. Stormer and the cunning Marshall secretly collect precious stones, which are abundant on Venus. The capitalists plan to seize the rocket by force. They want to kill Hans and Winkler. The fugitives dream of returning to Earth as rightful owners. Meanwhile, Zander repairs equipment and establishes radio contact with their distant homeland. Captain Crooks of the Mars expedition ship makes contact.

A crucial piece of news emerges. The revolution has finally triumphed on Earth. The capitalists no longer have any power. Conspirators attempt to pelt the rocket’s nozzles with stones before its takeoff. Hans manages to ignite the powerful engines. The rocket flies off to a renewed Earth, carrying Zander, Winkler, Hans, and their devoted friends. Stormer, Marshall, and Lady Hinton remain on Venus forever.

Airship

Young Uzbek Makhtum Khanmuradov is passionate about unpowered flights. Experienced pilot Suzi invites him to join a risky expedition. The goal is to find persistent air currents in the stratosphere. Talented engineer Boris Shklyar is building a huge all-metal airship. The team includes the elderly aerologist Vlasov, who plans to conduct a detailed study of cosmic rays. The fifth member of the crew is the courageous radio operator Zhenya Lavrova.

A glittering airship takes off from the border town of Kushka. The craft quickly gains altitude and settles on its intended course. Precise instruments record powerful air currents. The airship flies smoothly without the aid of engines. Over the scorching Gobi Desert, the crew spots two people in distress. Captain Suzi orders an immediate descent. The airship lands in the yellow desert sands.

The rescued man turns out to be the stubborn Italian archaeologist Alfredo Bacelli. The professor flatly refuses to fly without his valuable finds. Khanmuradov hurriedly loads the heavy crates on board. The airship struggles to gain altitude. The vessel encounters a severe thunderstorm. The hurricane-force winds toss the airship from side to side. The crew suffers severe bruises. Ball lightning shaves off half the archaeologist’s mustache.

The ship breaks free of a severe cyclone. A river of air carries the airship swiftly toward the North Pole. The temperature plummets. To lighten the weight, Khanmuradov drops Bachelli’s archaeological crates on a strong parachute. The archaeologist flies into a frenzy. The airship reaches the polar zone. The vessel is caught in downdrafts and plummets.

Little Shklyar dumps all the ballast water. The ship miraculously rights itself just above the surface of the icy ocean. Soon, the weary expedition safely returns to sunny Tashkent. Bachelli is delighted to learn that his valuables have been safely saved by Khanmuradov. Khanmuradov is preparing to pilot the airship on future voyages.

The earth is burning

The tenacious engineer Mikheyev develops a bold plan to dam the Volga River. He wants to divert some of its waters to the dry steppes beyond the Volga. The project provokes hidden resistance from older, conservative experts. Chief expert Chichagov considers the project too expensive and unfeasible. But ordinary workers ardently support Mikheyev. A great socialist construction project begins. The small town of Kamyshin quickly becomes a bustling center of hydraulic engineering projects.

The stubborn old fisherman Gleb Kalganov is terrified of change. He believes the concrete dam will destroy the traditional fishing industry. Kalganov persuades local fishermen to secretly sabotage the difficult work. At night, he deliberately damages a liquid air pipe. The liquid air freezes the water in front of the caissons. Mikheyev rushes to fix the terrible accident and freezes to death. The great construction project continues without its creator.

Many peasants are reluctant to move to higher ground. Kondrat Valkirny, director of a large state farm, flatly refuses to relocate his wealthy estate. He arbitrarily builds a small earthen dam to divert the rising waters. The Volga River abruptly changes course, flooding the neighboring village of Igoshki. Valkirny personally rescues frightened people from the rooftops, but receives a severe party reprimand for his arbitrary actions.

The steppes are transformed beyond recognition. Vast fields are crisscrossed by a dense network of full-flowing canals. Cheap electricity powers new agricultural machinery. Enormous tractors run silently on powerful batteries. Chemists create artificial fertilizers and successfully combat pests. Fast aircraft spray chemical poisons over locust swarms. New, cutting-edge state farms are springing up on the dried-up seabed of the Caspian Sea. Young agronomists meticulously manage sowing campaigns via radiotelephone.

The oil fields of new Baku are fully mechanized. Steel drilling rigs are boldly built right offshore. Foreign capitalists lose enormous profits forever. The cunning spy Bruss attempts a major act of sabotage. He secretly sets fire to a motorized barge carrying oil. A terrible fire instantly engulfs the fields. The fire is extinguished through the heroic efforts of united workers’ squads. The saboteur fails to halt oil production.

When the lights go out

Modest accountant John Parker toils monotonously in his office. He grows tired of the endless numbers and the clatter of adding machines. Parker sincerely loves a beautiful girl named Meg, but his meager earnings prevent him from marrying her. Former boxer Michael Groth offers to catch stray dogs for a cash reward. Parker suffers a dismal failure. He reads a newspaper ad from Dr. Nichols. Nichols urgently needs volunteers for new medical trials.

An experienced doctor injects artificial radioactive elements into Parker’s body. Parker immediately stops feeling tired. The accountant works days without sleep. He happily takes on extra night shifts. The tired workers see him as a direct threat and fire him from the factory. Parker is undeterred. He buys Meg an expensive wedding dress. Soon, he discovers a terrifying side effect of the experiment: His body begins to glow brightly in the dark, revealing his internal organs.

Meg, terrified, rejects Parker. Her coworkers are terrified of the luminous accountant, almost fainting. The chief accountant immediately fires him. Parker secretly hides in Nichols’ laboratory. Nichols firmly promises to cure the unfortunate patient. The doctor’s envious colleagues begin a vicious campaign of persecution in the press. The brazen journalist Beetle publishes scurrilous exposés. The doctor is falsely accused of dangerous quackery. The court strictly disqualifies Nichols from practicing medicine.

The greedy freak show owner, Santano, tricks Parker into joining his ranks. Santano cynically displays the glowing man for large sums of money. Parker earns large sums to amuse the public. Meg returns to her wealthy fiancé. Santano organizes a lavish, lucrative tour. During one of his evening performances, Parker’s glow suddenly fades. The artificial radioactive elements have completely exhausted their charge.

An enraged Santano throws Parker out into the street. Meg stays with her beloved fiancé, despite the loss of her lucrative salary. The steadfast Nichols continues his scientific work in another quiet lab. The cunning journalist Beetle marries profitably to a very wealthy bride. The kindly Michael Groth gets a job as a walking advertisement.