x
Kransnoyarsk424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQw9VDCE644
May 29th, 1880424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUTs3Vc50J
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYMY9mhGnE
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMxMvSGaiH
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47YC8dD4Pe
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...)424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3TZntX5lB
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYMDuzYnKJ
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6SCOh4AHZ
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppCI5Amby0
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qKKXv5Jtw
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡultJVQy1zS
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhywpxot5u
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayD6FOE6U6
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYLieJyzFm
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokBGc2K5T6
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!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡub2Bwpubm2
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFE0UvakcO
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGB52pPMwK
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJGLdN4S01
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1UuFIdCX0
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6X3Wm2aHO
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopJd8f3NIq
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRhRCWsY4h
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?424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFQpxV7SvO
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSl1WOkMgy
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, 1880424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeUTs3Vc50J
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYMY9mhGnE
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMxMvSGaiH
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ47YC8dD4Pe
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...)424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3TZntX5lB
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYMDuzYnKJ
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL6SCOh4AHZ
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppCI5Amby0
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qKKXv5Jtw
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡultJVQy1zS
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhywpxot5u
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayD6FOE6U6
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYLieJyzFm
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡokBGc2K5T6
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!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡub2Bwpubm2
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFE0UvakcO
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZGB52pPMwK
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJGLdN4S01
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1UuFIdCX0
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6X3Wm2aHO
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopJd8f3NIq
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRhRCWsY4h
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?424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFQpxV7SvO
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtSl1WOkMgy
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzHovG9zzj
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxyLXWRlCe
"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."
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAxyLXWRlCe
"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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEjO983dxK
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSohzEKCXG
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...424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOMfhnAZYh
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzzngIk69g
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡru4kO7Caxy
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSDrklMgwN
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....424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8xceQ8ial
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEjiue5Q5v
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jVkrbX36h
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm891FsyWWS
"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!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBYGKpOZDq
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs755Qshs5f
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBzW7xWO9w
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9O6Vulhv5
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1zG6PFoQT
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCmpD1WTFx
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxM3pexhzto
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0wB9XPhM6
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1pXRtGjuI
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5r6CKiUGgH
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSohzEKCXG
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...424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFOMfhnAZYh
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOzzngIk69g
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡru4kO7Caxy
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSDrklMgwN
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....424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT8xceQ8ial
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuEjiue5Q5v
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jVkrbX36h
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm891FsyWWS
"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!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBYGKpOZDq
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs755Qshs5f
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRBzW7xWO9w
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9O6Vulhv5
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1zG6PFoQT
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCmpD1WTFx
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxM3pexhzto
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw0wB9XPhM6
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1pXRtGjuI
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5r6CKiUGgH
"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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcZeo5x3Pd
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgkFJquVk2W
"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."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMLzbE9erM
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFmJIJRU0T
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSdMwGtSXv
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlsoTKTuxB
"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."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTzVO94Fp9
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqdewhZAH1
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRKF5H5lCk
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeWV2tPTuDR
"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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHCrM2s1Js
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6DRtwrA7S
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEYFjPDnQl
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCzELDQQ1Q
"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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvcOkvTclm
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GOTxgy1k5
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6KBCRA04n
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx482tjqt0P
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1gUkhDmJ5
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0IUYfvPEMP
"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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtCioLazKp
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO0CLG81Nm5
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFsMluNGmV1
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1A8aDRu2Iv
"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!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRoXVV4cYv
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFFyKOVEWl
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyDX2xb6Sr
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPcVxPHgKK
"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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbOurFGN89
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3nMdsveFqV
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZy7MFEO6Fm
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9PIioIKyP
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8FgblaFJk
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsSQ6HJ06g
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jMP9VTwoa
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFhYDqqX8r
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HqTcSx8qK
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpwn7wnUwH
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJbxLVeZQo
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpKXrErnZfn
"Hang on," said I..."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNotQ90PTRU
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9eCUoNzHB
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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡint6hZgVxI
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxRmjeVza3R
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....424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoesz0QQdV
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvS1Zidqgz
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHBKYZJz6v
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8j3YBwam5
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgkFJquVk2W
"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."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMLzbE9erM
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaFmJIJRU0T
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSdMwGtSXv
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlsoTKTuxB
"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."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTzVO94Fp9
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRKF5H5lCk
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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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHCrM2s1Js
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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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEYFjPDnQl
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTCzELDQQ1Q
"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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvcOkvTclm
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6KBCRA04n
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1gUkhDmJ5
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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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQtCioLazKp
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFsMluNGmV1
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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!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRoXVV4cYv
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMyDX2xb6Sr
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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?"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzbOurFGN89
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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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZy7MFEO6Fm
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw8FgblaFJk
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jMP9VTwoa
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8HqTcSx8qK
424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpwn7wnUwH
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJbxLVeZQo
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"Hang on," said I..."424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNotQ90PTRU
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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.424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡint6hZgVxI
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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....424Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoesz0QQdV
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