x
Kransnoyarsk373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNdhV02mIv
May 29th, 1880373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfveNUIOPW
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQlqdQg2E2
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFcOEQ0gFm
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaFsyHPs8R
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...)373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0yKT67SXG
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoHEBrXIJS
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPR9nVvcRzZ
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdw2tASDhk
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTXYQrjcRn
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXR1iZy6VK
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBQhR2YacM
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiLtE5KTJeo
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nn7QVR0Y8
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXYkWjLGA6
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!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ71KezpkDm
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWGSmYrdjN
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOLl9t6Huh
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DBGsnaWSn
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47aaJ7s3P8
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57cAefKlxN
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf54DJFmgNf
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4J1m27qrRi
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?373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmQZKa4obl
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpU4uJVZ0Qt
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, 1880373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnfveNUIOPW
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQlqdQg2E2
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFcOEQ0gFm
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeaFsyHPs8R
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...)373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0yKT67SXG
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUoHEBrXIJS
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPR9nVvcRzZ
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdw2tASDhk
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTXYQrjcRn
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXR1iZy6VK
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBQhR2YacM
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiLtE5KTJeo
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nn7QVR0Y8
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnXYkWjLGA6
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!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ71KezpkDm
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAWGSmYrdjN
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOLl9t6Huh
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DBGsnaWSn
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47aaJ7s3P8
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57cAefKlxN
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf54DJFmgNf
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4J1m27qrRi
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?373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmQZKa4obl
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpU4uJVZ0Qt
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSnuGCPoVW
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcGahuDkwJ
"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."
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcGahuDkwJ
"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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk5Mcv1OnAh
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgmziRC2vz
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...373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF0TJ0MrRh
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttUiWBn1ab
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7QtvcBYSM
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRbQ9Lr76P
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....373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdhBHTbymM
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9v5i0pnd8m
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIxdfLCQoO
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡju9Xoee5oi
"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!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOP32ZYHmvP
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYCdgRn42L
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zkkxRZfHb
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD78O7xjvJ7
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zyltDamBI
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgM4NeHwag
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY7olkJH32
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bJVZKzakd
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEU8tuHKhcF
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡij5dGc6hIm
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgmziRC2vz
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...373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF0TJ0MrRh
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡttUiWBn1ab
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7QtvcBYSM
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTRbQ9Lr76P
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....373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdhBHTbymM
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9v5i0pnd8m
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIxdfLCQoO
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡju9Xoee5oi
"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!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOP32ZYHmvP
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoYCdgRn42L
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6zkkxRZfHb
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD78O7xjvJ7
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zyltDamBI
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgM4NeHwag
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLY7olkJH32
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bJVZKzakd
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEU8tuHKhcF
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡij5dGc6hIm
"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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzS1kt2QsSx
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gnsYcrhmJ
"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."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdZSN2fuLh
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4fW2ccOuG
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBjJXNeSmu
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIvRsWO2fV
"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."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyyjUtlwJu
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXloDrFdLz8
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTIiMjsBIm
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKijMfi2OM
"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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyc7nl24BR
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGeWDJlggB
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLqvn8tUvD
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyxsdlMCkT
"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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡReYThb885n
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSNmElKi7np
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhK5qy5YwK
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi69osH1542
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXF1MjmdzVx
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRk3SIcb5VP
"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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGruf7mlC9w
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGHOVG5ZZh
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKz4X9QkT8X
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9y4HZSAUb
"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!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2Td0S6Tib
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtIjIzOK6Hl
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86VyHvsiGo
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4m2mwTt73
"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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0m8GDaMKs
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwpLENnSD4
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutUksjENux
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvksoJo9Auq
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyd4FJUiOc
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4X6l0j8dp
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWwdrFMw4u
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2o8ePcz5o
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJWSIU1SCD
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUlppX9Eoq
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfgVQwqE80
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPWc1WpbEe
"Hang on," said I..."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4Txt4xQEt
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWAFk1PfzG
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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ406GEZX1xK
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDlMvQvnkr
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....373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIjhnsljLU
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPb6NE98Vj
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4BG1vlOsF
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8j0hcTkDPL
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3gnsYcrhmJ
"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."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdZSN2fuLh
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV4fW2ccOuG
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBjJXNeSmu
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIvRsWO2fV
"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."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYyyjUtlwJu
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTIiMjsBIm
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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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSyc7nl24BR
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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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLqvn8tUvD
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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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡReYThb885n
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdhK5qy5YwK
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXF1MjmdzVx
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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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGruf7mlC9w
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKz4X9QkT8X
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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!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2Td0S6Tib
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86VyHvsiGo
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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?"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT0m8GDaMKs
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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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutUksjENux
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyd4FJUiOc
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCWwdrFMw4u
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJWSIU1SCD
373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCUlppX9Eoq
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyfgVQwqE80
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"Hang on," said I..."373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4Txt4xQEt
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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.373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ406GEZX1xK
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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....373Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwIjhnsljLU
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