"Quest. Codes for the Novel" by Boris Akunin, summary Automatic translate

This book is a historical prequel to the main plot of the novel published in 2008. The text reveals the origins of the Fandorin family’s extraordinary abilities, linking the fate of the Russian scientist-prodigy Samson with the Napoleonic Wars. This alternative history is based on chemical brain manipulation: pharmacological discoveries determine the victories of great military leaders and reshape the political map of Europe.

This work belongs to the experimental "Genres" series. This cycle also includes "Children’s Book," "Spy Novel," "Fantasy," and "Children’s Book for Girls." This book is the fourth in the series.

Samson Fandorin’s plans

At the end of August 1812, the Russian and French armies converged on the field of Borodino. Among the militiamen of the Moscow province was Samson Fandorin, a 24-year-old extraordinary professor of physics, mathematics, chemistry, and botany. From early childhood, Samson demonstrated exceptional intellectual abilities. He circumnavigated the globe, studying brain physiology, poisons, and secret shamanic practices.

Fandorin’s research resulted in the creation of the "Brain Constitution" and a number of drugs. He invented "Gnosis," a means for instant photographic memorization of texts, and a genuine love potion. With the help of the love potion, the professor married his colleague Kira Ivanovna Golm. The marriage blossomed into a sincere attachment, but the war separated the couple. The scientist was sent to the front.

Samson obtains a secret order from Commander-in-Chief Mikhail Kutuzov. Fandorin’s common sense prompted a logical solution. To stop the enemy army, he must neutralize the source of its power — Emperor Napoleon. To implement his bold plan, the professor uses berserkite. This powerful drug, created from fly agaric extract and rare Yakut herbs, dramatically enhances reflexes and physical strength.

Assassination attempt on Napoleon

During the battle for the Shevardinsky Redoubt, Samson takes a dose of berserkite. In a battle-trance, he dodges cannonballs and operates on wounded soldiers with incredible speed. The French capture the fortification. Impressed by the professor’s surgical skills, Staff Surgeon Desmoulins mistakes him for a Württemberg doctor and invites him to the regimental infirmary. At dawn before the decisive battle, Fandorin infiltrates the French command headquarters.

Using the night fog and the remnants of his berserkite, Samson sneaks into the field buffet. He adds a colorless potion to Napoleon’s broth. This concoction, made from henbane and corrosive sublimate, completely suppresses the volitional activity of the human brain. Samson hopes that the commander will lose the ability to quickly command his troops. His calculation pays off. During the Battle of Borodino, Bonaparte falls into apathy.

The Emperor rejects the marshals’ pleas for a change of tactics. He monotonously repeats orders for frontal assaults. The Grand Army suffers enormous losses. However, Samson, at a distance, sees no real results. Succumbing to deep despair, he drinks pure fly agaric extract and charges at the guards with a saber. The guards stun the youth with their rifle butts.

Captivity and new discoveries

Samson awakens in the carriage of the French Emperor’s personal pharmacist, Baron Ancre. The doctor is guarded by two deaf-mute Egyptian Coptics, the twin brothers Aton and Khons. Ancre saved Fandorin from execution. It turns out that the Baron discovered poison in the broth, understood the cause of Napoleon’s stupor, and administered an antidote.

Ancre openly tells the young man about himself. He is also a chemist and the creator of a special hypermnesia elixir. This potion switches the brain of an epileptoid person into a state of genius-like insight. It is the baron’s secret preparation that makes Napoleon the greatest strategist of the era. Without the potion, the emperor is just an ordinary general.

Samson realizes the logical flaw in his original plan. It’s not the puppet that needs to be eliminated, but the creator of the elixir. The professor decides to kidnap Ankr and deliver him to Russian headquarters. As the French enter empty Moscow, Fandorin slips a guard a sleeping herb solution and escapes.

Fire and ambush

The fugitive makes his way to his home in the University Quarter. Kira managed to evacuate to Nizhny Novgorod. She left a bag of chemicals and a message for her husband in a hiding place behind a bas-relief of Mikhail Lomonosov. Samson goes to Kitai-Gorod to get the missing ingredients. In an abandoned pharmacy, he is overtaken by a second Copt. While escaping from his pursuer, the professor accidentally triggers an explosion of chemicals, igniting a massive fire in Moscow.

Samson is once again captured by Ankra. The pharmacist has taken up residence in the Kremlin’s Elizabeth Palace. He treats the young man with great reverence and allows him freedom of movement within the fortress. During his walk, Fandorin witnesses the execution of Muscovites accused of arson. Using Kutuzov’s safe conduct, Samson rescues two police officers — Lieutenant Khryashchov and the walker Lyashkin. The professor orders them to ambush Ankra as the army retreats from the city.

During the march, Samson feigns a sprained leg and blows a police whistle. The police attack the baron. Khryashchov plunges a sapper’s knife deep into the pharmacist’s abdomen. In a stunning move, Ankr kills both attackers. He pulls the blade from his guts and asks Samson to help stitch the wound. Overcome by primal terror, Fandorin flees.

Preparation of Modestin

The professor hides in Countess Razumovskaya’s secret laboratory. There, he analyzes the baron’s astonishing vitality. Samson deduces that Ankr’s body is imbued with a regenerator. This incredible substance stimulates the instantaneous regeneration of damaged cells and heals torn tissue. Samson synthesizes a new weapon: modestine gas. A refined poison of Haitian sorcerers, modestine suppresses a person’s will while preserving their communication skills, turning the victim into an obedient executor of another’s orders.

French marauders settle in the palace. Waiting for the right moment, Fandorin uses modestine on the gang leader’s live-in girlfriend. The zombified woman helps the professor escape the building. As he leaves the palace, Samson encounters Aton and Khons. At the same time, the robbers return to the courtyard. They open fire on the fugitive.

The Copts shield Samson from bullets with their bodies. The guards are killed, but one bullet pierces the professor’s lung. Fandorin falls dead at the feet of Ankr, who has arrived in a carriage. The Baron performs a complex surgical operation, fusing Samson’s damaged tissue and bones with his regenerator. Several weeks later, Fandorin makes a full recovery.

Confession of the Judge

The French army retreats. Near Maloyaroslavets, Samson makes a final attempt to send Kutuzov a dispatch about Bonaparte’s whereabouts. He finds a detachment of Cossacks under Colonel Antsiferov. The Cossacks attack the Emperor’s retinue, but the Polish cavalry repulses them. Fandorin abandons the Cossacks, hides his wedding rings near the Church of the Transfiguration of the Savior, and returns to Ancre.

That night, the Baron reveals his true nature to Samson. Ancre belongs to the secret order of Judges, who have guided the development of humanity for millennia. The Judges prevent the world from descending into absolute chaos or freezing in absolute order. They are armed with vast scientific knowledge. Ancre is called "The Rationalist." He was born in France on the eve of St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre and is 240 years old. He is sustained by a special elixir of immortality.

The judges direct history by choosing a strong leader and stimulating his abilities with a hypermnesic drug. The Baron admits, "I’m tired of carrying this burden." He has long sought a successor with an outstanding scientific mind and has found one in Samson. Ankr offers the young man the chance to take his place. The condition is harsh: he must forever sever all ties with the past, family, and homeland.

To prove his intentions, Ancre commits treason. He advises Napoleon to retreat along the devastated Smolensk road. This condemns the Grande Armée to certain destruction, but saves Russia from defeat.

The finale

Samson retreats to his empty estate. He ponders the choice between personal happiness and his duty to all humanity. First, he throws the vial of the elixir of immortality out the window. Then he goes down and finds the bottle. Fandorin records a farewell audio message for Kira on the "telephone" device he invented.

In his message, Samson says he’s leaving forever for a higher purpose. He hides the converter in the family’s hiding place — the marble grotto of Mnemosyne — and drinks the elixir of immortality. The professor follows Ankr to Paris, bidding farewell to his name forever. In the winter, a pregnant Kira arrives in burnt-out Moscow. She immediately finds the hiding place of the physical-chemical converter in the Rectory.

The woman realizes the danger and decides to listen to the message only after the baby is born. The birth is extremely difficult. Doctors perform a Caesarean section. The surgery saves the baby’s life, but kills Kira. Before she dies, she manages to smile. In a weakening voice, Kira whispers to the obstetricians, "Name him ’Isaakiy." These were her last words.