"Quest 2:
The Game Begins" by Boris Akunin, summary

This computer game-novel transports the reader to Moscow in 1930, where an American sabotage group is attempting to gain access to the secrets of Bolshevik neurophysiology. Written in 2008, the narrative is styled like a classic text adventure game, complete with levels, clues, and branching paths that can lead to the heroes’ deaths if they choose the wrong path.

The text is included in the literary series "Genres." This cycle brings together the writer’s experiments with various fiction formats, including the well-known "Children’s Book," "Spy Novel," and "Sci-Fi."

Steamship Europe

American physician Galton Nord receives an audience with billionaire J.P. Rothweller. The philanthropist entrusts the doctor to lead a risky expedition to the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks are funding large-scale research into a genius extract. Nord assembles a team of scientists. He is joined by biochemist Kurt Eisenkopf, who conceals his war-devastated face behind realistic silicone masks. The team arrives at port and boards the German steamship Europa. The third agent is Russian aristocrat Zoya Klinsky.

Eisenkopf provides Nord with secret preparations — so-called Samsonites. These liquids stimulate the brain and act as biochemical mediators of knowledge. By drinking doses of the preparation before bed, the doctor instantly masters Russian. The glossary is based on texts by Pushkin, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Lomonosov.

During the transatlantic crossing, unknown individuals twice stage sophisticated assassination attempts on the group’s leader. The perpetrators plant an empty wallet in the cargo hold. The doctor bends down to retrieve the bait, after which the watertight doors are locked. The room fills with carbon dioxide from the fire suppression system. Zoya accidentally passes through the corridor and frees the commander. The next day, the Japanese bath attendant is killed with a paralyzing poison. The perpetrator twists the valve of the gas burner under the cedar barrel, attempting to boil Nord alive. Eisenkopf kicks down the doors of the spa and shuts off the gas.

Nord provokes the enemy into open action. The Doctor climbs into the plane’s seat, secured to the deck catapult. The Chekist activates the launch mechanism. The plane is launched into the ocean. Nord seizes control, levels the plane, and parachutes with Zoya. The ship’s crew rescues the drowning survivors.

That night, Soviet agents storm the Americans’ cabin. A brief firefight ensues. The team captures an albino Chekist named Kroll. The prisoner refuses to give up information and stabs himself in the eye with a steel pen. Eisenkopf injects the suicidal agent with an experimental brain stimulant. The drug takes effect within seconds. The dying agent manages to whisper a single word: "Rectory."

Rectory

In the port of Bremershaven, Comintern agents are supported by an aggressive crowd of striking dockers. The saboteurs escape execution thanks to a diversionary maneuver by German stormtroopers. The expedition members undergo a radical transformation in appearance. The biochemist dons the mask of an elderly peasant, the princess disguises herself as a stern Komsomol member, and the doctor transforms into a Soviet engineer. The group crosses the border disguised as a loyal trade union delegation.

Arriving in Moscow, the agents move into the empty apartment of a repressed priest on Herzen Street without permission. Following up on a Chekist’s dying hint, they visit the Museum of the New Humanity. The institution is housed in the historic university Rectory building. The tour guide confirms Rothweller’s suspicions. The Institute of Proletarian Ingeniology operates underground, under the direction of the secret Professor Gromov. Specialists dissect Vladimir Lenin’s brain, sliced into 30,000 micron layers.

That night, Nord and Eisenkopf break into the locked museum. They turn off the streetlights, short-circuit a transformer box, and climb through a window. In the memorial library, the doctor finds a secret niche behind a bas-relief of Mikhail Lomonosov. The hiding place contains four antique flasks. Nord drinks one of the samsonite bottles, risking poisoning with a paralyzing toxin. A message in French echoes in his mind. The anonymous caller tells him to seek the solution from the Soviet leader’s personal pharmacist, adding the phrase "Omnia explanare chez Mari-Gri."

English Club

The group returns to the safe house. The head of OGPU counterintelligence, Yan Kartusov, is waiting for them. The Chekist offers Dr. Nord to change sides and join the construction of a new communist society. The American categorically rejects this philosophical recruitment. Zoya activates a gas capsule disguised as a powder compact. The guards lose consciousness. The saboteurs escape across the rooftops of neighboring buildings, rent a taxi from a gypsy named Vitka, and temporarily base themselves in a club on the outskirts of the capital.

The princess is conducting archival research in the Rumyantsev Library. The abbreviation "Mari-Gri" refers to a historical figure, Countess Maria Grigoryevna Razumovskaya. Her luxurious mansion is now donated to the Museum of the Revolution. Nord makes his way into the former English Club. He methodically taps the interior elements and finds scratches on the parquet floor that form the Latin letters "OE." The extracted plaque conceals a second hiding place. The doctor analyzes the odors of chemicals. He selects a vial scented with bitter almonds, deducing the safe samsonite using reverse logic. A new audio message points to a locator hidden in an antique compass.

At the Gypsy club, the expedition is intercepted by Oktyabrsky, the head of army counterintelligence. The military hates the Chekists and fears Gromov’s biological experiments. Oktyabrsky gives the Americans a plan of an underground bunker, a portable drill for opening electronic locks, and current voice passwords.

The Secret Institute and the Search for the Locator

Armed with access codes, Nord and Zoya descend into the Institute’s dungeons. Eisenkopf suffers a severe head injury from a blow from a bronze bust and remains in the airlock. The agents methodically clear the corridors, eliminating the guards with silent pistols. Reaching Gromov’s personal laboratory, they find the professor at work. The scientist seats the princess in a special polygraph called the "Confessional." The device punishes the slightest insincerity with an electric shock. Zoya receives a powerful electric shock. Nord shoots Gromov. Oktyabrsky breaks into the office, finishes off the professor with shots to the head, and rigs the building with dynamite. The saboteurs leave the premises seconds before a powerful explosion.

Fleeing pursuit, the squad boards a train heading for the border. En route, Galton deciphers notes from Gromov’s confiscated file. The directions lead to the village of Zagorje near Maloyaroslavets. The agents disembark at the night station and head to the Transfiguration Cathedral. Nord notices carved initials on the stone staircase. A niche is hidden under the third step. Inside are three vials, antique wedding rings, and a silver compass. The doctor drinks the blue vial. A voice made of samsonite instructs them to follow the device’s beeping sound.

The Reserve and New York

Following the arrow’s direction, the squad makes its way through the forest. They discover a secret nature reserve. Eisenkopf uses a portable balloon to penetrate the fence, which is equipped with sensors. Within the location lies a model settlement for loyal citizens. The saboteurs evade patrols and reach a heavily guarded estate.

Nord organizes a diversionary maneuver. The guards abandon their posts. The agents break into the mansion. In a sterile ward, paramedics administer a lethal dose of a paralyzing toxin to a decrepit old man. Dr. Nord places the patient on a respirator. His bodily functions temporarily stabilize. The unnamed patient regains consciousness. It turns out this man synthesized the original elixirs of eternal life and absolute power. Horrified by the bloody consequences of the Bolshevik coup, he stopped supplying the drug to Gromov and took a chemical deactivator. The dying man points to a teddy bear in the children’s room. The biochemist cuts open the toy and finds a vial of ruby-colored liquid.

Zoya performs emergency surgery. She cuts off the corpse’s head to preserve the unique brain for future scientific preservation. Eisenkopf steals the red serum and escapes into the forest in a hot air balloon.

Galton Nord returns to the United States and reports the catastrophic failure of the mission. Billionaire Rothweller reveals the true nature of the events. He belongs to the order of Judges, who have controlled the global geopolitical balance for millennia. The late old man from the Moscow estate was his student and successor, named Samson. Kurt Eisenkopf carries out Rothweller’s direct orders. The biochemist is transporting the stolen serum to Germany to strengthen Adolf Hitler’s position. The Judge intends to pit the two dictators against each other, preserving civilization from the total domination of the communist bloc.

Rothweller offers Dr. Galton Nord the position of the new Judge. The condition of initiation requires a complete renunciation of personal attachments, emotions, and contact with loved ones. Nord reads a letter given by Zoya, pleading for a meeting. The text ends with a final choice, requiring the reader to make an irreversible decision: renounce supreme power for the sake of love or accept the burden of the Judge. Choosing the first option ends the game in failure. Accepting turns Nord into the director of a global institution, doomed to eternal solitude.