x
Kransnoyarsk367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡogsvqvpKUL
May 29th, 1880367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX54ihHKmPQ
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGrDNk27mi
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8dC3TX2L8
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDv74uLKE9G
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...)367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JbtjShuc8
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRajAKPks9
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPYAGJUiUf
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xQAiPTXtj
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPV5qAMtBnV
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJhaIuVGv6
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YvTAeb4U9
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgAl7bauVt
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJtqFXsWM4
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNd2oPRdQYo
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!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8Nu3oatis
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCS1c8srCW
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pIpsXw0ru
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssyPZi0j1b
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6E4K6hr9UV
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShGHULMN0u
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi23nxysavj
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gj4Ftegm5
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?367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6W5bv24PaZ
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeC8QMimY21
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, 1880367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX54ihHKmPQ
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGrDNk27mi
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8dC3TX2L8
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDv74uLKE9G
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...)367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7JbtjShuc8
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRajAKPks9
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPYAGJUiUf
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5xQAiPTXtj
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPV5qAMtBnV
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoJhaIuVGv6
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YvTAeb4U9
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjgAl7bauVt
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJtqFXsWM4
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNd2oPRdQYo
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!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8Nu3oatis
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCS1c8srCW
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pIpsXw0ru
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssyPZi0j1b
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6E4K6hr9UV
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡShGHULMN0u
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi23nxysavj
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4gj4Ftegm5
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?367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6W5bv24PaZ
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeC8QMimY21
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4hdJFQyIw
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkZBjW3wMo
"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."
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkZBjW3wMo
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTc12zCkFvT
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ENEeUe2qH
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...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5AbRp4Smc
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdbu8zoKcf
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4h4543rV3
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaYL2AuCAe
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....367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDBHOMTeLa
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPS461t71e
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwRB27TsCg
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHwbOblm6W
"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!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEJ0BomMy4
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57WDIQKND3
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gYFBky8ZY
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKYL0Hu8VN
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMCXE6nCnq
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTsS9Uauge
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgpWCnxvmX
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDze5mJWnIA
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyR7sH71GV8
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPffclEYYB
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ENEeUe2qH
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...367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5AbRp4Smc
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdbu8zoKcf
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4h4543rV3
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaYL2AuCAe
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....367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDBHOMTeLa
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPS461t71e
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwRB27TsCg
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHwbOblm6W
"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!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEJ0BomMy4
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ57WDIQKND3
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gYFBky8ZY
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKYL0Hu8VN
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMCXE6nCnq
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTsS9Uauge
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgpWCnxvmX
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDze5mJWnIA
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyR7sH71GV8
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPffclEYYB
"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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzv1UmGt0p
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ti0c3lAR8
"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."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVdK2ygJBL
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzd5yENxbL
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrHykqHDYy
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0156C4e1RR
"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."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcT3VBUWOZF
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtLRGnBAnjx
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aZQ4xx4JD
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NTuoy3Eg6
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBODB2Pmqpe
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjg2lzH1LPb
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oUEhAlL0F
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfJzgn5TVz
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkD2ZLhgS6
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVPQkivTMT
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpAkqpVWtf
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2U7u6myWks
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8Zcx30yNg
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzuSxNPrFUQ
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aoYM7qhUC
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56MBFj7Bct
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrYgV0qmRg
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcVSzgj6Fz
"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!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DB4nrVvUp
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUhquSMbKE
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKCca9zGXJ
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5w2LnYEJo
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9a1fFnJLe
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqv19ywVlCo
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegM29xnoRR
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMpOc3bju9
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUpLJ49F06
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlmIKwdKMO
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJXOzoIqbI
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqV7eOnV9g
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQZYL2CLAc
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8zLA8lWLU
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1alLlit8HR
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAY497ZE3AP
"Hang on," said I..."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZBi7uzykn
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFlfDmsDoXj
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXgHtmymp4
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwi5Dd3QyVu
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....367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYi4xkjmE7Y
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrkyhcJgaV
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1bi2253dEn
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiYhi72acY
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ti0c3lAR8
"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."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVdK2ygJBL
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMzd5yENxbL
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrHykqHDYy
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0156C4e1RR
"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."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcT3VBUWOZF
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6aZQ4xx4JD
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3NTuoy3Eg6
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBODB2Pmqpe
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjg2lzH1LPb
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oUEhAlL0F
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfJzgn5TVz
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkD2ZLhgS6
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpAkqpVWtf
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2U7u6myWks
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi8Zcx30yNg
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzuSxNPrFUQ
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1aoYM7qhUC
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ56MBFj7Bct
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdrYgV0qmRg
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCcVSzgj6Fz
"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!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DB4nrVvUp
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUhquSMbKE
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKCca9zGXJ
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5w2LnYEJo
"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?"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9a1fFnJLe
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqv19ywVlCo
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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegM29xnoRR
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUpLJ49F06
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlmIKwdKMO
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJXOzoIqbI
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqV7eOnV9g
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQZYL2CLAc
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8zLA8lWLU
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1alLlit8HR
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAY497ZE3AP
"Hang on," said I..."367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZBi7uzykn
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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.367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAXgHtmymp4
367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwi5Dd3QyVu
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....367Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYi4xkjmE7Y
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