A summary of "The Land of Crimson Clouds" by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Written by the co-authors between 1952 and 1957 and published in 1959, this book is the Strugatsky brothers’ debut novella, laying the foundations for their futuristic science fiction world. The plot describes the preparation and execution of a late 20th-century Soviet expedition to Venus to explore its richest radioactive ore deposits.

In 1959, the story won third prize in the competition for the best book on science and technology for school-age children held by the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR.

The work opens the authors’ early cycle, known as "Pre-Midday" or "Bykovsky." The story serves as the first part of a series that also includes "The Road to Amalthea" (No. 2), "The Interns" (No. 3), and "Predatory Things of the Century" (No. 4).

Preparing for the expedition

Mechanical engineer Alexey Petrovich Bykov arrives in Moscow at the request of the State Committee for Interplanetary Communications. Deputy Chairman Nikolay Zakharovich Krayukhin invites Bykov, who has extensive experience working in the harsh conditions of the Gobi Desert and who previously rescued a geological team, to join the crew of the new Khius-2 spacecraft. Bykov accepts.

The entire expedition team assembles at the special Seventh Test Site in the Arctic. Anatoly Borisovich Ermakov, who has a personal grudge against Venus over the deaths of his wife and friends on previous flights, is appointed commander. The team includes geologists Vladimir Sergeyevich Yurkovsky and Grigory Ioganovich Dauge, pilot Bogdan Bogdanovich Spitsyn, and navigator Mikhail Antonovich Krutikov.

The main objective of the flight is to test the first photonic rocket, Khius-2, which uses a mesatomic chemistry-based drive and an "absolute reflector." The cosmonauts are tasked with landing near Uranium Golconda, a colossal natural deposit of heavy radioactive elements. The team will be tasked with constructing a suitable landing site and installing automatic ultra-shortwave radio beacons there.

The crew is mastering the installation of Usmanov-Schwartz radio beacons and operating the nuclear-powered crawler transporter "Boy." Bykov successfully conducts a test run of the transporter through fiery streaks of condensed gasoline. After Khius-2 returns from its test run, the ship is loaded with equipment, and "Boy" is secured to its hull. The expedition departs on August 18.

Interplanetary flight

While traveling on a direct trajectory, the crew encounters a blind proton attack caused by a powerful solar eruption. The rocket body is exposed to induced radiation, but timely medical injections save the crew.

Later, the ship’s receiver picks up a distress signal from the British ship Star. A catastrophe occurs in the asteroid belt, and the British researchers, led by Professor Lloyd, die of asphyxiation, despite the efforts of the Chinese starship Yangtze, commanded by Lu Shi’er, to come to their aid.

Khius-2 approaches the Tsiolkovsky artificial satellite, where Ermakov and engineer Stirner coordinate the radio guidance system. The landing on the planet takes place under extremely harsh conditions, through atmospheric vortices. The ship touches down not in a dry desert, but in a swamp of heavy and tritiated water.

Assault on the Venusian swamps and desert

When the hatch is first opened, hot mud flows into the caisson. It turns out that the flames from the photon reactor have baked the top layer of mud into a hard, "asphalt-like" crust. During his initial reconnaissance, Bykov uses grenades to fend off an attack by an unknown, large, native animal.

The crew unloads the transporter "Boy." A rapidly growing Venusian mold is discovered inside the "Khius," destroying some of the food supplies, and the premises are disinfected with ultrasound. After abandoning the ship, where navigator Krutikov remains on duty, the five-man detachment on the "Boy" heads north toward Golconda.

The transporter navigates a narrow basalt gorge during a Black Storm — a radioactive dust storm. Emerging into the black desert, the researchers discover the wreck of Indian scientist Bidhan Bondepadhyay’s spacecraft. The Indian specialist kept records and a radio beacon running until his final moments.

Near the "Teeth of Venus" rocks, "Malyk" is caught in a second hurricane and suffers damage to a support arm, which Bykov repairs himself. During a stop, pilot Spitsyn suffers an oxygen leak, returns to the transporter, and vanishes without a trace. A fruitless search through the rocky debris yields no results, and Ermakov orders the crew to move on.

On the shores of Uranium Golconda

The team reaches the shore of the Smoky Sea — a seething shroud surrounding the central crater of Uranium Golconda. Geologists collect valuable samples of uranium, thorium, and transuranic elements. Continuous radiation exposure and the harsh climate undermine the team’s health: Dauge begins to experience delusions and hallucinations, Bykov suffers from eye pain, and Yurkovsky develops ulcers.

The researchers select a level site for the Uranium Golconda-1 launch site. Bykov blasts away obstructing rocks with atomic mines. The group sets up three radio beacons with selenium-cerium radio batteries and raises the USSR flag. Communication with the Khius is lost, and flares from flares appear on the southern horizon.

On the way back, the transporter’s path is blocked by the "Red Ring" — a colony of glowing microorganisms that feed on radiation. An underground nuclear explosion occurs beneath the transporter. The "Boy" melts into the scorching sand. Ermakov dies inside the jammed vehicle. Bykov and Yurkovsky manage to pull the seriously ill Dauge out through the upper caisson.

Return through hell

Bykov and Yurkovsky set out on a hundred-kilometer hike to "Khius," carrying the unconscious Dauge on a stretcher. Overcoming terrible thirst, scorching heat, delirious fits, and leg failure, they press forward. Yurkovsky loses courage several times, but Bykov forces him to keep going.

After walking one hundred and fifty thousand steps through desert and ravine, the exhausted, crawling men reach the landing site of the Khius, but the ship is gone. In its place, only a charred platform remains.

Meanwhile, events unfold on the Khius. Navigator Krutikov, left alone, nearly fell victim to the ship’s sinking into a soft swamp. Krutikov started the engines, lifted the Khius above the quagmire, and landed it on a rocky outcrop nearby. Later, the navigator sets out to search for his comrades and finds Bykov, Yurkovsky, and Dauge.

The rescued researchers board. The receiver switches on, picking up the clear call signs of the installed beacons of Uranium Golconda. The Khius sets course for Earth.

Epilogue

Two and a half years later, Yurkovsky writes a letter to Bykov, who has graduated from the Higher School of Cosmogation, married, and is raising a son. Venus is bustling with life: glass highways, a city, and an underground factory have been built, and the rocket launch site receives dozens of photon ships daily. The melted transporter "Boy" is mounted on a pedestal as a monument to the pioneers who paved the way for humanity to the planet’s riches.