''The Air Seller'' (rus. Продавец воздуха) is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel by Russian writer Alexander Belayev. It was first published in 1929, in several issues of ''

Vokrug Sveta ''Vokrug sveta'' (russian: Вокруг света, literally: "Around the World") is a Russian geographic magazine. It is the longest running magazine in the Russian language. The first issue was printed in Saint Petersburg, in December 1861, a ...

'' magazine. The first book edition was in 1956.

Plot

Meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

Georgiy Klimenko and his Yakut guide Nikola are investigating a strange wind anomaly in

Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia),, is the largest republic of Russia, located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of roughly 1 million. Sakha comprises half of the area of its governing Far E ...

Eastern Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, when they are caught prisoner by a megalomaniac villain Bayley. With a gigantic air-sucking device, built by Swedish scientist Engelbrecht, Bayley is slowly stealing the Earth's atmosphere. The deeply frozen oxygen is stored in a vast cryogenic warehouse. Bayley plans to create oxygen deficit and then to start selling fresh air, thus eventually becoming the master of the world. He even boasts of having trade relations with Martians, though the credibility of this claim is left unclear. Klimenko soon discovers, however, that Bayley is not the one who pulls the strings, but there are wealthy and influential Western imperialists behind the plot. Engelbrecht's daughter Nora is sympathetic to the prisoners. She helps Nikola to escape and warn the Soviets of the danger. However, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

is unable to assault Bayley's base directly, since that would risk an explosive vaporization of the frozen air (Bayley demonstrates the possible consequences by releasing a portion of said air, leveling enormous areas of Siberia and the Europe.). Bayley holds Nora hostage in order to keep Engelbrecht under control. Realising the danger Bayley's plans impose to the Earth, Nora commits suicide by exposing herself to the frozen oxygen. Now free and lusting for revenge, Engelbert sides with Klimenko. The base is finally stormed by the Red Army, shown a safe passage in by the escaped Nikola. Bayley, facing imminent capture, swallows some frozen air balls and explodes.

Film adaptation

The novel was adapted into film in 1967 by

Odessa Film Studio Odesa Film Studio ( uk, Одеська кіностудія художніх фільмів) is the Ukrainian, formerly Soviet film studio in Odesa, one of the first in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. It is partially owned by a governmen ...

and director Vladimir Ryabtsev, with Artyom Karapetian as Bayley and Gennady Nilov as Klimenko. at the official channel of Odessa Film Studio

References

External links

Александр Беляев. Продавец воздуха
(

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

since 2017) 1929 science fiction novels Soviet science fiction novels Novels by Alexander Beliaev 20th-century Russian novels Russian novels adapted into films {{1920s-sf-novel-stub