What can await in Russia at the beginning of the twenty-first century for a former honored inventor, a former leading engineer, and now a motor mechanic of pre-retirement age? Nothing but a meager pension. What could await a patient with terminal tuberculosis in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century, even if he was the heir to the throne? Nothing but the inevitable imminent death. What awaits the Russian Empire itself at the beginning of the twentieth century? Nothing good... that is, death in the fire of two lost wars and three revolutions. But what will happen if these three “nothings” are put together?