A summary of Boris Akunin’s "Quest" Automatic translate

Boris Akunin’s novel was published in 2008. It’s structured like a computer game, with a two-tiered plot, where the present day is closely intertwined with the historical past. The text is divided into levels, with special codes inserted between them. These secret fragments reveal the backstories of the main characters, transporting the reader to the era of the Patriotic War of 1812.

This book is part of the literary series "Genres." The author conceived the series as a collection of works from various classic genres. This text demonstrates the principles of the spy novel with elements of science fiction. The author blends historical facts with his own fiction, creating a dynamic narrative. Other novels in the series explore the canons of children’s literature, fantasy, and detective fiction. Readers are given the opportunity to view familiar events from a unique perspective.

Formation of the detachment

The main storyline begins in 1930. American billionaire J.P. Rothweller summons biologist Galton Nord, a low-level employee at an ethnopharmaceutical center. The magnate reveals alarming news to the young scientist. Top-secret experiments to create a specific chemical compound are underway in the Soviet Union. Scientists are extracting an extract from the brains of deceased prominent figures. The resulting substrate is capable of greatly enhancing human intellectual abilities. The Bolsheviks are stealing the brains of famous Western politicians from crypts and morgues, hoping to use them in their experiments. Rothweller fears the imminent establishment of communist world domination.

Nord receives orders to go to Moscow immediately. He must find the hidden laboratory, destroy the experimental results, and eliminate the very possibility of producing the drug. The doctor selects two assistants from the proposed options. The team includes German biochemist Kurt Eisenkopf and former Russian princess Zoya Klinsky. Eisenkopf, who was faceless after being wounded by a flamethrower at the front, wears skillfully crafted synthetic masks. Klinsky is an accomplished surgeon and has already visited Soviet Russia. Rothweller promises the expedition unlimited funding. The magnate supplies the agents with a miraculous linguistic syrup. The drink allows one to learn Russian in their sleep in one week.

Collision on the road

The team sets sail for Europe on the luxury German steamship Europa. Galton quickly discovers he is under close surveillance. Soviet agents make two attempts on the expedition leader’s life. They attempt to poison Nord with carbon dioxide in an isolated baggage hold, and then boil him alive in a closed Japanese bathhouse. Galton miraculously survives thanks to the timely intervention of his assistants. The agents are tracked down, disarmed, and interrogated right in their cabin. The location of the secret experiments is revealed. They are being conducted at the Institute of Proletarian Ingeniology, headed by Professor Pyotr Gromov. A captured albino Chekist commits suicide by stabbing himself in the eye with a fountain pen. Under the influence of a chemical stimulant, the saboteur manages to utter the necessary word before dying.

Dangerous Moscow

Upon arrival in Moscow, the agents change their appearance, disguising themselves as ordinary Soviet trade union delegation members. The team finds a vacant apartment in the city center and sets up a temporary base there. The group secretly infiltrates the Museum of the New Humanity, which conceals Gromov’s guarded bunker. Nord discovers a hidden audio message in one of the plaster bas-reliefs. An unknown voice in French prompts the American. The instructions direct the biologist to search for further secret vaults. Galton uses deduction and discovers another encrypted message in the antique parquet floor of the former English Club.

The expedition establishes contact with Oktyabrsky, the head of military counterintelligence. The Soviet military leader fiercely hates Professor Gromov and the head of the political police, Kartusov. Oktyabrsky is convinced of the dangers of chemical drugs. The potions have a destructive effect on the mind of the state leader. The general provides the Americans with transport and helps them infiltrate the underground laboratory. Nord kills eight guards, one by one, making his way through the labyrinthine bunker. The doctor engages Gromov in a duel of wits using an advanced lie detector. The device punishes any insincerity with painful electric shocks.

Revealing secrets

During interrogation, the laboratory director confesses to using a cellular regenerator. The elixir of immortality helps Gromov survive fatal wounds. The professor obtains the secret elixir of power exclusively for the leaders of the Bolshevik state. Oktyabrsky treacherously breaks into the laboratory and shoots the unarmed scientist point-blank. The bunker is mined and blown up with powerful dynamite charges. Galton, Kurt, and Zoya flee by car. Nord, horrified, realizes the true nature of what is happening. General Oktyabrsky and the beautiful Zoya have long been romantically involved and are acting in concert. The American decides to continue the search independently.

The doctor successfully deciphers an old note from the murdered Gromov. The document contains the geographic coordinates of new hiding places. Galton abandons Soviet counterintelligence agents and secretly disembarks at a small railway station near Maloyaroslavets. In the abandoned Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, Nord finds a safe hidden under a stone step. A special silver compass from the hiding place leads the expedition members to a closed forest reserve. After scaling a high fence with the help of a portable hot air balloon, the saboteurs infiltrate the territory of an elite village.

An ancient estate is hidden behind barbed wire. A decrepit, sick old man lives there in strict isolation. Soviet guards respectfully call him "the Patient." The old man is dying from a severe allergic reaction to insects. The Bolsheviks have tried in vain to extract the secret chemical formula from him. The Patient tells a shocked Galton the incredible story of his long life. Here, the narrative takes a sharp leap into the past.

The era of great wars

The novel returns to 1812. The young Russian professor Samson Fondorin possesses a unique, brilliant mind. He invents fantastic chemical preparations that dramatically enhance muscle reflexes. During the Battle of Borodino, Samson secretly infiltrates the French camp. He mixes a mind-numbing poison into Napoleon’s broth. The young scientist’s goal is to stop the bloody war. He wants to save Russia from total enslavement. The plan is thwarted by the sudden intervention of the French Emperor’s personal apothecary. The doctor gives the monarch the antidote just in time.

This cunning pharmacist turns out to be Baron Ankr. The elder belongs to an ancient secret order of independent Judges. He invisibly guides the development of human civilization, dispensing a secret elixir of power to elected rulers. Ankr invites Fondorin to become his disciple and sole successor as arbiter of world destinies. Samson agrees for the greater good of fundamental science. He cold-bloodedly fakes his own death in the Moscow fire. Professor Kira’s wife soon tragically dies during difficult childbirth. The child miraculously survives.

Back to reality

The action shifts back to 1930. The dying patient from the Moscow nature reserve turns out to be an aged Samson Fondorin. Horrified by the senseless cruelty and bloodshed of the Russian Revolution, he stopped administering the elixir to the communist leaders and voluntarily hid in the wilderness. The old man takes a chemical antidote to immortality. Before his death, Fondorin gives Galton a tiny vial containing the last portion of the genuine elixir of power. The insects trigger a fatal anaphylactic shock in the old man.

Nord’s colleagues commit an unexpected and treacherous betrayal. Eisenkopf steals the vial containing the precious drug and flees the estate without a trace. Zoya coldly surgically removes the dead Samson’s head from his body. She takes the great old man’s priceless brain with her in a special metal container. Galton returns to New York a broken man, physically exhausted, and mentally devastated. The doctor reports to his powerful employer the crushing failure of his mission.

An unexpected ending

J.P. Rothweller calmly reveals the true state of affairs to the doctor. The American billionaire is the immortal Baron Ancre, who has replaced his aged corporeal shell. The betrayal of Nord’s colleagues was premeditated by the experienced old man himself. Eisenkopf will hand over the miraculous elixir to Adolf Hitler. This harsh political action will create a powerful strategic counterweight to the Soviet military threat in Europe. Samson Fondorin’s head will serve as biological material for a unique brain transplant.

Rothweller insistently offers the shocked Galton the position of new Judge. The billionaire sincerely believes the American biologist is the ideal candidate for this high and responsible position. To fulfill his new mission, Galton forever gives up his personal happiness and romantic relationship with Zoya Klinsky. Nord accepts the heavy burden of secret global power and agrees to bear this responsibility for the rest of his days.

The book ends with a short newspaper article from the future. In the fall of 1993, the elderly Dr. Nord dies under strange circumstances in a plane crash. The Rothweller Medical Institute is successfully headed by a young Chinese man, Liu Wu-xin, saved by surgeons. This Asian genius becomes the latest hidden guardian of the fragile global balance.