x
Kransnoyarsk368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDWw6UFTYrl
May 29th, 1880368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5DSmKlAvf
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCXfXyeRo8
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAixAhxGNu
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLn3MDSCvSp
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...)368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58urUArQku
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9G8ZO1xTO5
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuBaWHCKoI
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsRRLJSuUa
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHRFc5FklE
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2SZ45ukfb
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCJ3398BIJ
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqcwEK4ARM
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfyMaAlIBB
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZP1cNJfMMd
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!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjmjXnKbql
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNN5rvhboJ
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36q1TIgUZJ
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5unqus4MA
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONRfc7pzOL
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7IFFCVNUo
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmX1Uw81Dha
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOeyuE882A2
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?368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZH3jFAutL
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRicBMe3EKP
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, 1880368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5DSmKlAvf
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCXfXyeRo8
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAixAhxGNu
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLn3MDSCvSp
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...)368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ58urUArQku
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9G8ZO1xTO5
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuBaWHCKoI
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsRRLJSuUa
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHRFc5FklE
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs2SZ45ukfb
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCJ3398BIJ
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqcwEK4ARM
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmfyMaAlIBB
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZP1cNJfMMd
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!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjmjXnKbql
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMNN5rvhboJ
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ36q1TIgUZJ
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5unqus4MA
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONRfc7pzOL
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7IFFCVNUo
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmX1Uw81Dha
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOeyuE882A2
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?368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZH3jFAutL
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRicBMe3EKP
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu49mPaOfXD
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOL36rkVaeW
"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."
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOL36rkVaeW
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7WtznarHZl
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2MEQsscLR
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...368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUXcfUod5Y
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglbPP5Sjir
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxTjNUucmR
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLebLfEOiF
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....368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHlfQ1QaFi
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHU3ykrpNB
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52BwA3KX1R
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rcQn4EVxg
"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!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64b4xH9QQo
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRNdVQhe0z
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6vAwZXSoY
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJnBMa2uJo
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8bPSfVgxs
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsMsKnHTV1
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLJNmWqsmN
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8YJBalpBC
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsgSegxEvj
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEwqydT91p
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2MEQsscLR
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...368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtUXcfUod5Y
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglbPP5Sjir
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxTjNUucmR
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLebLfEOiF
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....368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhHlfQ1QaFi
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHU3ykrpNB
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ52BwA3KX1R
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rcQn4EVxg
"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!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64b4xH9QQo
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRNdVQhe0z
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu6vAwZXSoY
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJnBMa2uJo
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8bPSfVgxs
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpsMsKnHTV1
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLJNmWqsmN
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl8YJBalpBC
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsgSegxEvj
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEwqydT91p
"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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoXezp35vVk
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwC0ZgeMZ4
"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."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWFJHIjj0u
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OGgPGHYRk
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL25O6Cg6kz
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0lCY8Qy3Q
"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."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKe7R8SRTN
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8mapfPACv
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLLdbxDmPF
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPHBQFAh1Y
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxj6yXFZnhA
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmQxF4bkHT
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MIXopxGCx
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GoPW0rRsw
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSIydOZrCs
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKFad96Cre
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlCPfUtnC6
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA2lj0Ztqjf
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkwZGQGQE9
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tXGDvICre
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd5QH0GLX2
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEHWldX3j5
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDG0HAPFUPG
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1kUu7bDsq
"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!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoROwS3szSD
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ehx2gUV1j
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTRQz6wtPC
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQOVyM24Le
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNIStKLvkP
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYxUipkHQy
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6H474l6KWI
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSi0EiQtiQA
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd6ezCjU8M
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jAeS1QA3H
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdgWqjqe0I
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YTQrDi3sq
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45ouPW0fQe
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmZ3GZuBKD
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt6YAKGZJY
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznpe5pvTMM
"Hang on," said I..."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1T5V2lCRX2
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpD8ADkq58
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFXncWv6zL
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtvqGNHHGe
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....368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFxx0msfKg
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqexrgSWG9a
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb06GLUaJfh
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNRpQnNkv3
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbwC0ZgeMZ4
"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."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwWFJHIjj0u
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6OGgPGHYRk
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL25O6Cg6kz
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK0lCY8Qy3Q
"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."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKe7R8SRTN
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLLdbxDmPF
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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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxj6yXFZnhA
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmQxF4bkHT
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MIXopxGCx
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GoPW0rRsw
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSIydOZrCs
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUlCPfUtnC6
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkwZGQGQE9
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3tXGDvICre
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd5QH0GLX2
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEHWldX3j5
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDG0HAPFUPG
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1kUu7bDsq
"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!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoROwS3szSD
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ehx2gUV1j
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLTRQz6wtPC
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQOVyM24Le
"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?"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCNIStKLvkP
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYxUipkHQy
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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6H474l6KWI
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd6ezCjU8M
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXdgWqjqe0I
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YTQrDi3sq
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ45ouPW0fQe
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmZ3GZuBKD
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNt6YAKGZJY
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznpe5pvTMM
"Hang on," said I..."368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1T5V2lCRX2
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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.368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFXncWv6zL
368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLtvqGNHHGe
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....368Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFxx0msfKg
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