x
Kransnoyarsk298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHHaNjrvyoq
May 29th, 1880298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4KmpiYHy3A
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06Fct32Dp4
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcKWyMuQzN
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH45RXSUw9G
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...)298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79kV4oRN80
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKy7Qj2zoT
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpRwQUGDws
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WDs0YA6lO
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhOCPMyXuz
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59Bm4lbB7h
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWgiJNsMw4
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHSrWGVcEX
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9gKvVyA5a
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FBmW4nTiS
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!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMffISZg37
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Swua6Y7iA
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OTuDwEV5H
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgX2aFSMD17
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUwY62Jt0Q
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsoli852Yk
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6WzzZu66P
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXl1CLAMNsl
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?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS01gi59fjW
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUP7vtD5D9E
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, 1880298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4KmpiYHy3A
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ06Fct32Dp4
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhcKWyMuQzN
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH45RXSUw9G
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...)298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79kV4oRN80
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKy7Qj2zoT
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXpRwQUGDws
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WDs0YA6lO
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhOCPMyXuz
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59Bm4lbB7h
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWgiJNsMw4
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHSrWGVcEX
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb9gKvVyA5a
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FBmW4nTiS
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!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMffISZg37
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Swua6Y7iA
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OTuDwEV5H
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgX2aFSMD17
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUwY62Jt0Q
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsoli852Yk
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6WzzZu66P
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXl1CLAMNsl
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?298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS01gi59fjW
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUP7vtD5D9E
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZQVLvxJR8J
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvyzSaEPpW
"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."
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvyzSaEPpW
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWeOuy0z01z
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3zs1j4ZXr
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...298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkA5zomVgq
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwywCeCVIv
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDxQsk1GA2
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7GIyjuLnR
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....298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGSOdMHuEz
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVnMSqGeoZ
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVKfIpfiv8
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTo3sgIqcb
"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!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yz9tLRTTV
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYkwBm8hN1
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsg1judBhc
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf862CtoMoj
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQtWB5Bv4A
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGeQSnup5M
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0eplfo8ud
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcIXnQnCGm
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqntATvw4k3
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcW6Dodll7
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3zs1j4ZXr
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...298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkA5zomVgq
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKwywCeCVIv
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDxQsk1GA2
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7GIyjuLnR
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....298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGSOdMHuEz
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSVnMSqGeoZ
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlVKfIpfiv8
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTo3sgIqcb
"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!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yz9tLRTTV
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYkwBm8hN1
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbsg1judBhc
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf862CtoMoj
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQtWB5Bv4A
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGeQSnup5M
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0eplfo8ud
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcIXnQnCGm
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqntATvw4k3
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOcW6Dodll7
"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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡes4z5yOvmM
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxKIOz8quy
"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."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPHztcRCn6
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGLAFDCBsf
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bifaLOY5D
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71gNQXwxoq
"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."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetzWW2Vxv2
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBHjqlnbiU
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PgXgwFfQc
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYiUqnY7K3
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B7IcvC2Bo
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeg3qKIFkn0
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkLAyZ09QM
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7Y49NS3NM
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55SZHGYWhq
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡph1AkBjb0w
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYzpdHcV3h
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7792VzepPZ
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnQvMyfcCt
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0X4Df7G9BM
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPVFpn1LHV
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYMzTncFaM
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOjhJEKB8L
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhamPVoNXk
"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!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNEsS7OFAG
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRQf9dt4Vj
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNu31yj0Qt
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQ7qiZDvxg
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoirc19rn6F
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeXCHYO212
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0qJURQ4Ea
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVi5mIadX5C
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnc03XHEfC
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnnynEvom2
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzVKllvmVk
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3XnlyTydH
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3rSjSVg6b
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xpRxSkmCs
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFV13Fb0OFF
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjt8RSWKQaM
"Hang on," said I..."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydkP3wyfE5
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWUoHFNgfW
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSxsMnT1Kn
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmrP7NjBKQ
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....298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljNIPgpgEO
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBSXgHxTzEX
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnXqsPvPfj
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj3Uu2QCoVL
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgxKIOz8quy
"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."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDPHztcRCn6
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGLAFDCBsf
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bifaLOY5D
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71gNQXwxoq
"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."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetzWW2Vxv2
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PgXgwFfQc
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYiUqnY7K3
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1B7IcvC2Bo
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeg3qKIFkn0
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtkLAyZ09QM
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG7Y49NS3NM
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ55SZHGYWhq
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdYzpdHcV3h
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnQvMyfcCt
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0X4Df7G9BM
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPVFpn1LHV
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwYMzTncFaM
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOjhJEKB8L
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhamPVoNXk
"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!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwNEsS7OFAG
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRQf9dt4Vj
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNu31yj0Qt
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQ7qiZDvxg
"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?"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoirc19rn6F
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDeXCHYO212
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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0qJURQ4Ea
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVi5mIadX5C
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjnc03XHEfC
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfnnynEvom2
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzVKllvmVk
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3XnlyTydH
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3rSjSVg6b
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xpRxSkmCs
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFV13Fb0OFF
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"Hang on," said I..."298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydkP3wyfE5
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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.298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSxsMnT1Kn
298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmrP7NjBKQ
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....298Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljNIPgpgEO
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