Kransnoyarsk565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIp6XPgkBUg
May 29th, 1880565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB48pJtjMfa
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmbOVugkku
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7HaKyBFcg
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWiaaZ2myz
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...)565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaaRPR7MYm
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV70k1wohiv
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Wqu3gMrIC
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIcmjfG2QN
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1IdB2TnHb
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1w3otWlxm
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiK1ewhxju9
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdeo2fHGo8h
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubA8qDnRza
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbVN3Cl3yz
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!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXidt9oL3o
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7RsU1P05W
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxgQwUZVLt
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAePXB8Vnd
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrl57Su34xb
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsU7o8geq51
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHFLKhGePj
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkLKE2Hul9
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?565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1wKMpTveh
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXppIBoenA
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, 1880565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB48pJtjMfa
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpmbOVugkku
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7HaKyBFcg
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUWiaaZ2myz
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...)565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBaaRPR7MYm
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV70k1wohiv
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Wqu3gMrIC
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdIcmjfG2QN
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1IdB2TnHb
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1w3otWlxm
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiK1ewhxju9
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdeo2fHGo8h
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubA8qDnRza
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbVN3Cl3yz
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!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXidt9oL3o
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo7RsU1P05W
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxgQwUZVLt
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAePXB8Vnd
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrl57Su34xb
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsU7o8geq51
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHFLKhGePj
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkLKE2Hul9
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?565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1wKMpTveh
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSXppIBoenA
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5E2D3Svf8
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ukVyJmbMF
"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."
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ukVyJmbMF
"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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0sbJSWyV1F
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHiSrbHDof
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...565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHff0GV5Vf
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYI2EqA6CE
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUcORKI5cj
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBvU7IQJ69
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....565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIw2U09ucB
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMFg5Bm6vX
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2wFQ328IM
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfhwlOvTDz
"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!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Vt7vnt2w4
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYxv7rzvWEe
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBr9aglaejJ
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNxcxCWEKI
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64YmN9KUkA
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpe1t3Qb2fT
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA422kXjdjO
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYg4XzxU3ah
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOVezG6Aqi
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZksyUxKtz9
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHiSrbHDof
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...565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHff0GV5Vf
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYI2EqA6CE
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUcORKI5cj
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXBvU7IQJ69
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....565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIw2U09ucB
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdMFg5Bm6vX
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2wFQ328IM
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcfhwlOvTDz
"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!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Vt7vnt2w4
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYxv7rzvWEe
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBr9aglaejJ
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNxcxCWEKI
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64YmN9KUkA
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpe1t3Qb2fT
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA422kXjdjO
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYg4XzxU3ah
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOVezG6Aqi
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZksyUxKtz9
"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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYrOaKNlfn
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZEcniwcMO
"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."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33DQL3RLzY
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgK6OMYnFp
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6Wpm74MLx
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAr7BW0hmle
"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."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMc56ibgLc
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOFP8ADgmkG
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJB0XCMhMHr
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT5UE0ioKwo
"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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2k8KFDxnTJ
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7qjLCFrlMq
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZjFwPiHTk
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjF7YFOvYJ
"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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpgEd7qD4H
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAFCWxur2S
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqYLVdFYDc
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJIeHxtrgsk
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDnBTcwwnd
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIXa7Zfa4F
"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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWuUGwapye
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8B0T9eizf4
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbJ1uONnSD
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRdL0Ve5ry
"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!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7A8jza2cA0
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHbqd6Qzu7
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1puc22bDTx
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2gqip2anG
"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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfQPiMOFmX
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnj0ah1vJ30
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBKy3UPa3K
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2zmI4xWXgN
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6n2reMUdLi
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEc7ykp2rXo
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiT7q6X5yk
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOVh3foruR
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHhTYI0trC
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMVx2VSX2R
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3dkEewXSh
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXo0bkoswBJ
"Hang on," said I..."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufXRhf55LL
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39lsZe6NRc
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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaJb9Loza1
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBnIDjOvzy
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....565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9urRkV3ouI
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnrZpV8Td9
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaZIQOSxdbC
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshHQq89sv8
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSZEcniwcMO
"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."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ33DQL3RLzY
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwgK6OMYnFp
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI6Wpm74MLx
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAr7BW0hmle
"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."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMc56ibgLc
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJB0XCMhMHr
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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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2k8KFDxnTJ
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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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIZjFwPiHTk
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcjF7YFOvYJ
"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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpgEd7qD4H
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNqYLVdFYDc
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDnBTcwwnd
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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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWuUGwapye
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbJ1uONnSD
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRdL0Ve5ry
"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!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7A8jza2cA0
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1puc22bDTx
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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?"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfQPiMOFmX
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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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMBKy3UPa3K
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6n2reMUdLi
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiT7q6X5yk
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUOVh3foruR
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLHhTYI0trC
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKMVx2VSX2R
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3dkEewXSh
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"Hang on," said I..."565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufXRhf55LL
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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.565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtaJb9Loza1
565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEBnIDjOvzy
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....565Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9urRkV3ouI
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