x
Kransnoyarsk365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOGh8bT1L9
May 29th, 1880365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5cCXvh4WU
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuzRwIHVXB
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbO7EVUHcy
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRMlvUoPJC
Here I am in Siberia, and you're oh, so far away. Ah, but how I wish you had been at my side last night so that I could squeeze your hand in the starlight and ask for your advice on matters interplanetary, of which a humble doctor and scribbler knows nothing. (Apart from the fact that the heavens are vast and dreary, and that time stretches out intolerably till this planet will be as cold as space itself...)365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJttps1tE3G
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQa6kDwtRhh
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQ8qj6E1zZ
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhXOfRHo5S
Kransnoyarsk is a first-rate town---particularly after such vile Oriental shitholes at Tomsk. God alone knows why they send exiles here to Kransnoyarsk! This must seem more like a reward, what with the grand forested mountains encompassing the city like high walls, and the broad swift Yenisey winding its way through---worthier of Levitan's deft brush than the Volga will ever be! And I mustn't forget the town itself. Why, there are paved streets and gracious churches and handsome houses built of stone! But they do send exiles here, and they've done so for years. Result? Krasnoyarsk is quite cultured in addition to being picturesque.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu96Byfh9a0
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxThAQ8JwX
Anyhow, I have fallen in with an army doctor and two lieutenants all on their way to the Amur. We intend to travel onward together, so I shall hardly have need of my revolver. Boldly would I harrow Hell itself in company with this trio.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1g40ZAx8Qr
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkVJR5syp3
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EvZx1sxQ0
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxcxIvdp1h
And now, I shall tell you about these brave fellows. Dr. Aho is something of a philosopher and pessimist---and, by turns, an idealist. Half the time he speaks of the new and happy life awaiting us in some distant future epoch when we'll all fly across Siberia by balloon, and when a sixth sense will be developed so that our brains can reach out to the stars. Then he grows gloomy (worn down by his own enthusiasm) and it's all a case of: "We can't be real. The present can't be real. This is all a nightmare in someone's mind a thousand years ahead!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XZYbQeZWt
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9x6aP5ebA
Then there's the great Baron Kuzma Mishin. The Baron really puts it out as a military man, growling the letter 'R' deep in his through like the doyen of some posh cavalry regiment. He is forever barking at people. You'd think he was ordering a Cossack to be flogged for cowardice when he calls for a cup of tea and jam on black bread. Generally, he's abusive in company that he doesn't know, but just you get him on his own and he's quite a kindly, sensible man---with a concern for society. "The avalanche is coming," he'll warn you. He thinks Science might save us, though. And he has read Herber Spencer, or at least claims to have. But he does throw his weight around, and there's quite a lot of weight to throw.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTWkxnS5lv
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClDUbtzD5m
Last, but not least, is Rudolph Abramovich, who never glances at any reading matter save a newspaper. I'm sure he hasn't lifted an intellectual finger for the past two decades. All that interests our Rudolph is hunting and boozing, and once he has made up his mind on a subject it would be far too much trouble to alter his opinion. Only thing he had fixed in his mind is that Aho and Mishin are both excellent wise fellows, so he has a habit of dropping the drollest apercus into the conversation, which are all warped echoes of something the other two men have said. Invariably these "mottos" are way off the beaten path, like the wisdom of some demented old babushka.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKgdmDfb17
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULUVN5tBVV
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVmqC8atUA
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVVA40D6jD
Everything on the journey thus far has turned out contrary to expectation. In Tomsk where the local ladies are as charming as a butt of frozen herrings---fit males for a walrus---who would have imagined that the Assistant Chief of Police would be a connoisseur of my works? Who would have expected him to do me the honor of driving me on a tour of the local house of prostitution, as his way of paying respect to my literary achievements?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRcyIEA17S
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUN56j10vBV
Anyhow, there was I forming a wholly favorable impression of the town on our promenade around its surprisingly clean streets---when Mishin must suffer a sudden attack of drought. So, we all had to perform an about-turn into the less salubrious quarter of town to find him an inn on the double for medicinal relief. Oh ho, thought I: Tomsk revisited?
May 29th, 1880365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5cCXvh4WU
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOuzRwIHVXB
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjbO7EVUHcy
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRMlvUoPJC
Here I am in Siberia, and you're oh, so far away. Ah, but how I wish you had been at my side last night so that I could squeeze your hand in the starlight and ask for your advice on matters interplanetary, of which a humble doctor and scribbler knows nothing. (Apart from the fact that the heavens are vast and dreary, and that time stretches out intolerably till this planet will be as cold as space itself...)365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJttps1tE3G
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQa6kDwtRhh
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQ8qj6E1zZ
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyhXOfRHo5S
Kransnoyarsk is a first-rate town---particularly after such vile Oriental shitholes at Tomsk. God alone knows why they send exiles here to Kransnoyarsk! This must seem more like a reward, what with the grand forested mountains encompassing the city like high walls, and the broad swift Yenisey winding its way through---worthier of Levitan's deft brush than the Volga will ever be! And I mustn't forget the town itself. Why, there are paved streets and gracious churches and handsome houses built of stone! But they do send exiles here, and they've done so for years. Result? Krasnoyarsk is quite cultured in addition to being picturesque.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu96Byfh9a0
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxThAQ8JwX
Anyhow, I have fallen in with an army doctor and two lieutenants all on their way to the Amur. We intend to travel onward together, so I shall hardly have need of my revolver. Boldly would I harrow Hell itself in company with this trio.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1g40ZAx8Qr
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkVJR5syp3
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5EvZx1sxQ0
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxcxIvdp1h
And now, I shall tell you about these brave fellows. Dr. Aho is something of a philosopher and pessimist---and, by turns, an idealist. Half the time he speaks of the new and happy life awaiting us in some distant future epoch when we'll all fly across Siberia by balloon, and when a sixth sense will be developed so that our brains can reach out to the stars. Then he grows gloomy (worn down by his own enthusiasm) and it's all a case of: "We can't be real. The present can't be real. This is all a nightmare in someone's mind a thousand years ahead!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XZYbQeZWt
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9x6aP5ebA
Then there's the great Baron Kuzma Mishin. The Baron really puts it out as a military man, growling the letter 'R' deep in his through like the doyen of some posh cavalry regiment. He is forever barking at people. You'd think he was ordering a Cossack to be flogged for cowardice when he calls for a cup of tea and jam on black bread. Generally, he's abusive in company that he doesn't know, but just you get him on his own and he's quite a kindly, sensible man---with a concern for society. "The avalanche is coming," he'll warn you. He thinks Science might save us, though. And he has read Herber Spencer, or at least claims to have. But he does throw his weight around, and there's quite a lot of weight to throw.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTWkxnS5lv
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡClDUbtzD5m
Last, but not least, is Rudolph Abramovich, who never glances at any reading matter save a newspaper. I'm sure he hasn't lifted an intellectual finger for the past two decades. All that interests our Rudolph is hunting and boozing, and once he has made up his mind on a subject it would be far too much trouble to alter his opinion. Only thing he had fixed in his mind is that Aho and Mishin are both excellent wise fellows, so he has a habit of dropping the drollest apercus into the conversation, which are all warped echoes of something the other two men have said. Invariably these "mottos" are way off the beaten path, like the wisdom of some demented old babushka.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKgdmDfb17
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULUVN5tBVV
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVmqC8atUA
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBVVA40D6jD
Everything on the journey thus far has turned out contrary to expectation. In Tomsk where the local ladies are as charming as a butt of frozen herrings---fit males for a walrus---who would have imagined that the Assistant Chief of Police would be a connoisseur of my works? Who would have expected him to do me the honor of driving me on a tour of the local house of prostitution, as his way of paying respect to my literary achievements?365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRcyIEA17S
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUN56j10vBV
Anyhow, there was I forming a wholly favorable impression of the town on our promenade around its surprisingly clean streets---when Mishin must suffer a sudden attack of drought. So, we all had to perform an about-turn into the less salubrious quarter of town to find him an inn on the double for medicinal relief. Oh ho, thought I: Tomsk revisited?
"This fatal attraction for low life!" proclaimed the good Dr. Aho, as we hastened towards the dives. "It proves how democratic we Russians are..."
"Quite right," said Mishin. "The prince shall sit down with the pauper."
"Probably the Prince is a pauper," observed the Baron, with a raucous laugh.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQEEuXBQvfn
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXjHmoKCot
"That's because there are too many Princes and Counts, and Barons, if you'll forgive me," said Aho. "But who's to say that's such a bad thing? In the future everybody may be ennobled."
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXjHmoKCot
"That's because there are too many Princes and Counts, and Barons, if you'll forgive me," said Aho. "But who's to say that's such a bad thing? In the future everybody may be ennobled."
Mishin nodded. "Ennobled by the magic of Science. One chap will be a Count of Chemistry, and another a Grand Duke of Dentistry."
"The trouble with all these intellectual blokes," said Abramovich, "is that they have their heads too far up their asses." And he remembered to add, "Present company excepted, naturally."
"That's when we Russians feel most at home," Aho said. "With our heads stuck up our asses. And why should that be? Is it because our ordinary lives are so stuck in the mud? Is it because we're all just stuck in a bad dream, anyway?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEfdNtdINv1
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKi3jHhWRR
Abramovich seems to possess an uncanny sixth sense for inns; quite soon we found a fairly decent one. Decent, if one overlooked the blue fog of wood smoke proceeding from the stove...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFkrPjW0aU
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPD5ECj0L7
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9XDeX8BZv
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnN8QwCQ6Ij
Sitting nearby there was a man whose face was as flabby as a boiled turnip. From time to time he buttoned up his coat resolutely then unbuttoned it again in a perfect imitation of frustration---as if he ought to set out on some trip but was unable to make up his mind. Every time this happened, he edged a little closer to us, trying to eavesdrop on our conversation in the usual manner of inebriates, the better to rudely butt in....365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3boqUnzkD
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlINfKzhV2
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwSHFGUNCX
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qgbdxqwCI
"Pardon me, gentlemen," interrupted our rotten turnip, "but science is the most noble and beautiful pursuit of all!" His voice had a self-righteous lilt, with undertones of wheedling incrimination. "Pardon me, but in my opinion your scientist struggles with Nature---out of his love for Humanity!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqQOGGkPAr
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3IzM5Cw9t
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaV8cq6SFr
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfo4l29WFUS
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4BJxpuZWf
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkOTZrnBTM
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5lmai8QR3
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZFZwTGzfb
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMuAxSapbv
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7CsPQXEiDT
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPKi3jHhWRR
Abramovich seems to possess an uncanny sixth sense for inns; quite soon we found a fairly decent one. Decent, if one overlooked the blue fog of wood smoke proceeding from the stove...365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFkrPjW0aU
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPD5ECj0L7
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt9XDeX8BZv
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnN8QwCQ6Ij
Sitting nearby there was a man whose face was as flabby as a boiled turnip. From time to time he buttoned up his coat resolutely then unbuttoned it again in a perfect imitation of frustration---as if he ought to set out on some trip but was unable to make up his mind. Every time this happened, he edged a little closer to us, trying to eavesdrop on our conversation in the usual manner of inebriates, the better to rudely butt in....365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3boqUnzkD
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRlINfKzhV2
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwSHFGUNCX
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qgbdxqwCI
"Pardon me, gentlemen," interrupted our rotten turnip, "but science is the most noble and beautiful pursuit of all!" His voice had a self-righteous lilt, with undertones of wheedling incrimination. "Pardon me, but in my opinion your scientist struggles with Nature---out of his love for Humanity!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqQOGGkPAr
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB3IzM5Cw9t
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaV8cq6SFr
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfo4l29WFUS
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4BJxpuZWf
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWkOTZrnBTM
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu5lmai8QR3
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZFZwTGzfb
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMuAxSapbv
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7CsPQXEiDT
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
Naturally, Yanovich shuffled himself even closer to us.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPGs4jqUcJz
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5DKS3cSXY
"Pardon me, gentlemen, but banality is the whole trouble---you've hit the nail on the head. The ordinary human being is downright idiotic. You can see that easily in these God-forsaken Siberian hellholes."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVWyeXdvrO
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Bhav9kdCj
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjKgfTPFg5
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtUx5CayjY
"But nature is even stupider. The Earth whirls around the Sun, like a child's spinning top: how trivial it all is! At any moment a dark star or a wandering moon might crash into us. Splat! And that's all. Goodbye to the Parthenon and to Venice Srenissima." Tears rose to Yanovich's eyes. "Look at your average Siberian---a beast is he not? Mind you, he's your ordinary run of Russian peasant who's been brutalized."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAx3JRrLk9
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHWqwW9qtT
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttHuX1hj1F
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWuVeaP4HNZ
"Mark my words, sirs, compared with him the tribes a few hundred versts north of here are noble..." and Yanovich hunted for the word, "savages. Well, almost. Compared to him they're quite magnificent. They're heroes. But how can they be heroes if they've always stayed here?---that's what mystifies me. They never rose above their condition. Whereas we Russians have sunk down to it. Ah, the disgusting flatness of it all! And under the surface everything is rotten and decayed....What was I talking about?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuencglptj
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUg38r5WJla
At this moment, the wick in the nearest lam started humming loudly. Yanovich pricked up his ears as if he heard something rush through the sky above the roofs of Krasnoyarsk. He buttoned his coat swiftly and ran out of the inn, leaving the door wide open. Thus, we were able to see him standing in the street, staring up at the night sky as if to reassure himself that all the stars were in their right places. Or maybe he was only wondering whether it was going to rain, since his boots had holes in them. Presently, he returned, unbuttoned and subsided right up against us.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGOgjCn1Ut
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuY7dbFeHM
"Excuse me, but I'm sacrificing myself to science," he confided to me in a loud whisper. (I swear to you, Ludmilla---by Mars and Jupiter---that I am not inventing this Yanovich is a mirror for my own personal soul!) "Why, if I went to Moscow to present a proper report to the authorities, they'd make me a professor or even a privy councilor on the spot. You have the floor of Moscow all about you, sir, is this not so?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEJSin1gbt
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IkkScLZpC
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZRhRLxmiG
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9Uce7uoZk
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzRcXC1sjE
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXsoBod1aR
"Ah, Moscow!" cried Vasilyev, in tipsy torment. "Freedom, fulfillment! Afterwards I could drain the bogland. With all the trees down, I could sell the timber and plant wheat. Alas, it's too cold for that...Anyway, the mosquitoes! And the people: too corrupted. Maybe you two men of Science might help me present a good report?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfCw5H0PEw
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGR40gal2E
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76TSTCn2W1
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRNcCboxgN
"Scientists! You ordinary scientists!" he sneered. "If the Earth blew up tomorrow, they'd go on staring down their microscopes like England's Lord Nelson at Gibraltar!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZORjyOZTXD
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60OBuT5zYj
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDez2fbEoKk
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryRxWrDtRp
"Would they listen to me? As for the authorities...well, that's our whole sickness, is it not? Authority: how we worship authority. Ah, I can see how you hate me for not acting like a hero and setting off forthwith to Moscow and fame---but it's not so easy. There aren't many authorities on an event like this---except for the Biblical narrative of Sodom and Gamora, destroyed by God. I can't persuade anyone in Krasnoyarsk to do anything about it. In Moscow, who gives a shit about Krasnoyarsk?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQBoiEnEus
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgfyLBNLu1z
By now Baron Kuzma was in an orgy of wrath. He grabbed Yanovich by the lapels. "What in the hell are you going on about?" he shouted into the man's face.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6NQLdjnIk
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAS4k0q8yym
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6CQR61Qc8
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvtttg9w1b2
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXg0KDlYbi
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnsQHfDtY7Y
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrERgkb0mb
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuflpwoOlB
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIo4KZAo5VI
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvgyuEeH6gi
"Hang on," said I..."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiwRLg4F8Y
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5cBUqAUDJg
Because my celestial charmer, I had heard of it---hadn't you? I refer to the enclosed clipping from the Siberian Herald, which I originally intended for quite another 'sanitary' purpose.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebbVYGpJy9
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FYWV2Ghzu
Yanovich went on to spin us the tallest tale I'd ever heard, of massive destruction a few hundred versts north of Kransoyarsk up by the Stony Tunguska River. I shall list his "details" in a moment, since I want to ask you quite seriously, Ludmilla: What do you make of this? My telescopic tormentress, I wish your frank scientific opinion....365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNH9z8I0tn
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvr6f8GCxBb
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeB5xiaaFMU
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWMemGv4U95
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO5DKS3cSXY
"Pardon me, gentlemen, but banality is the whole trouble---you've hit the nail on the head. The ordinary human being is downright idiotic. You can see that easily in these God-forsaken Siberian hellholes."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVWyeXdvrO
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Bhav9kdCj
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjKgfTPFg5
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtUx5CayjY
"But nature is even stupider. The Earth whirls around the Sun, like a child's spinning top: how trivial it all is! At any moment a dark star or a wandering moon might crash into us. Splat! And that's all. Goodbye to the Parthenon and to Venice Srenissima." Tears rose to Yanovich's eyes. "Look at your average Siberian---a beast is he not? Mind you, he's your ordinary run of Russian peasant who's been brutalized."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEAx3JRrLk9
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttHuX1hj1F
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"Mark my words, sirs, compared with him the tribes a few hundred versts north of here are noble..." and Yanovich hunted for the word, "savages. Well, almost. Compared to him they're quite magnificent. They're heroes. But how can they be heroes if they've always stayed here?---that's what mystifies me. They never rose above their condition. Whereas we Russians have sunk down to it. Ah, the disgusting flatness of it all! And under the surface everything is rotten and decayed....What was I talking about?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjuencglptj
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At this moment, the wick in the nearest lam started humming loudly. Yanovich pricked up his ears as if he heard something rush through the sky above the roofs of Krasnoyarsk. He buttoned his coat swiftly and ran out of the inn, leaving the door wide open. Thus, we were able to see him standing in the street, staring up at the night sky as if to reassure himself that all the stars were in their right places. Or maybe he was only wondering whether it was going to rain, since his boots had holes in them. Presently, he returned, unbuttoned and subsided right up against us.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGOgjCn1Ut
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"Excuse me, but I'm sacrificing myself to science," he confided to me in a loud whisper. (I swear to you, Ludmilla---by Mars and Jupiter---that I am not inventing this Yanovich is a mirror for my own personal soul!) "Why, if I went to Moscow to present a proper report to the authorities, they'd make me a professor or even a privy councilor on the spot. You have the floor of Moscow all about you, sir, is this not so?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIEJSin1gbt
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZRhRLxmiG
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzRcXC1sjE
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"Ah, Moscow!" cried Vasilyev, in tipsy torment. "Freedom, fulfillment! Afterwards I could drain the bogland. With all the trees down, I could sell the timber and plant wheat. Alas, it's too cold for that...Anyway, the mosquitoes! And the people: too corrupted. Maybe you two men of Science might help me present a good report?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDfCw5H0PEw
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76TSTCn2W1
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"Scientists! You ordinary scientists!" he sneered. "If the Earth blew up tomorrow, they'd go on staring down their microscopes like England's Lord Nelson at Gibraltar!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZORjyOZTXD
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDez2fbEoKk
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"Would they listen to me? As for the authorities...well, that's our whole sickness, is it not? Authority: how we worship authority. Ah, I can see how you hate me for not acting like a hero and setting off forthwith to Moscow and fame---but it's not so easy. There aren't many authorities on an event like this---except for the Biblical narrative of Sodom and Gamora, destroyed by God. I can't persuade anyone in Krasnoyarsk to do anything about it. In Moscow, who gives a shit about Krasnoyarsk?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhQBoiEnEus
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By now Baron Kuzma was in an orgy of wrath. He grabbed Yanovich by the lapels. "What in the hell are you going on about?" he shouted into the man's face.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6NQLdjnIk
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6CQR61Qc8
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXg0KDlYbi
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrERgkb0mb
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"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIo4KZAo5VI
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"Hang on," said I..."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiwRLg4F8Y
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Because my celestial charmer, I had heard of it---hadn't you? I refer to the enclosed clipping from the Siberian Herald, which I originally intended for quite another 'sanitary' purpose.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebbVYGpJy9
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Yanovich went on to spin us the tallest tale I'd ever heard, of massive destruction a few hundred versts north of Kransoyarsk up by the Stony Tunguska River. I shall list his "details" in a moment, since I want to ask you quite seriously, Ludmilla: What do you make of this? My telescopic tormentress, I wish your frank scientific opinion....365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcNH9z8I0tn
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