x
Kransnoyarsk402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxYg74FAum
May 29th, 1880402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cmZazOgKd
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiBNzw5RMh
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkCWtdsnH3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGairlCFig
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...)402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wAVl0FGtb
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjqxvXZmd7
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoJsw1pAXo
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjA1zPMtNt
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUs3MT2Xzhz
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqIGQ5k62E
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUKC5fd6Ys
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6u3MI2RJA
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdGM3tLmWt
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYE1I2wa5k8
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!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshz3ktnr9C
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GIKZpKXx9
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA13JM5mrtX
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUWoTpTsnH
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iALK3RNJn
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtodu5OmIEn
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IsWTHnNcA
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYw4PrumEs
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?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9forJy1QPL
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscskylBOK8
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, 1880402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cmZazOgKd
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiBNzw5RMh
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkCWtdsnH3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGairlCFig
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...)402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wAVl0FGtb
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXjqxvXZmd7
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoJsw1pAXo
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjA1zPMtNt
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUs3MT2Xzhz
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqIGQ5k62E
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUKC5fd6Ys
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6u3MI2RJA
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdGM3tLmWt
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYE1I2wa5k8
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!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshz3ktnr9C
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GIKZpKXx9
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA13JM5mrtX
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHUWoTpTsnH
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0iALK3RNJn
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtodu5OmIEn
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IsWTHnNcA
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYw4PrumEs
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?402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9forJy1QPL
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡscskylBOK8
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrDzHkx9OE
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmyN9nyMVN
"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."
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmmyN9nyMVN
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCeTuyCnrwM
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGXqRddffY
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...402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqDTcTNxdu
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2A3rbSuiX
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZc7FZgB32
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHll8UmOIW
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....402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkd6LMwcG7
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmoVIiHkSm
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWIAdW6dYI
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3j46uoIoT
"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!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0OY7JYPSX
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7ofc6t9X9
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKolHXo5Za
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0wZPUEduG
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqobxfEe3Jf
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5i65GSL3Rt
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGuKm8QDNN
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOx4nZy1Ahf
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3OaF7LUb3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78QoDUnZtK
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGXqRddffY
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...402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqDTcTNxdu
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH2A3rbSuiX
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZc7FZgB32
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHll8UmOIW
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....402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzkd6LMwcG7
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmoVIiHkSm
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMWIAdW6dYI
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO3j46uoIoT
"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!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl0OY7JYPSX
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7ofc6t9X9
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKolHXo5Za
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb0wZPUEduG
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqobxfEe3Jf
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5i65GSL3Rt
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGuKm8QDNN
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOx4nZy1Ahf
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3OaF7LUb3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78QoDUnZtK
"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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPsUIIT8oOZ
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoSyGirETk
"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."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuh5sFsEcE
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97whsN28WX
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVxz8rDGC3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwsY5B2pRC
"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."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TEpMZ7az3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8696a9UYQG
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDbIggdnnz
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyX20BCtZ6
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbCQ9HHKPE
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmDJAcYTwr
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEP6VNhVSxd
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFsFriMxP8
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28DLAzNLur
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvWV0qA4cG
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrH1Lad1uP
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5CxVjFiZO
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBZDWx1eIM
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg35tOjPwFX
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOf6ENgejh9
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyd28GDbAG
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW51tpq9ixN
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuslH32XRq
"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!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYdhQlLztG
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmzoSeFJjN
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UNL0zcV3T
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoMNoMfWBR
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLsYlknI4v
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXqWBIibYG
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUR6LxlfRs
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TUVJvd70A
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8g6SmRiCw
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJ9TfLDzzd
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFBGxoM1NF
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4H5xSRwTI6
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsi0dyxvgLM
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUC8E9eo4EH
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2IO2FQyPy
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3afnzQsoT
"Hang on," said I..."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVyIXfjHZG
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAagtO6xQ4W
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MKpvJiGXb
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWJ2hnCKIW
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....402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWumqQzNyy
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpbPmnLVK0
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldpLZdHEXU
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIN4kIPjGFU
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdoSyGirETk
"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."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkuh5sFsEcE
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97whsN28WX
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcVxz8rDGC3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwsY5B2pRC
"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."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TEpMZ7az3
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8696a9UYQG
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDbIggdnnz
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHyX20BCtZ6
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbCQ9HHKPE
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmDJAcYTwr
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEP6VNhVSxd
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFsFriMxP8
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28DLAzNLur
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvWV0qA4cG
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFrH1Lad1uP
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB5CxVjFiZO
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBZDWx1eIM
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg35tOjPwFX
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOf6ENgejh9
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyd28GDbAG
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW51tpq9ixN
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKuslH32XRq
"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!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUYdhQlLztG
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmzoSeFJjN
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6UNL0zcV3T
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoMNoMfWBR
"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?"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLsYlknI4v
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXqWBIibYG
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUR6LxlfRs
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TUVJvd70A
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL8g6SmRiCw
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJ9TfLDzzd
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFBGxoM1NF
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4H5xSRwTI6
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsi0dyxvgLM
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUC8E9eo4EH
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf2IO2FQyPy
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3afnzQsoT
"Hang on," said I..."402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhVyIXfjHZG
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAagtO6xQ4W
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.402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MKpvJiGXb
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWJ2hnCKIW
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....402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWumqQzNyy
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtpbPmnLVK0
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldpLZdHEXU
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIN4kIPjGFU
402Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8pN3mzf02D
ns3.147.84.138da2
