x
Kransnoyarsk535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmD5uK5qjh
May 29th, 1880535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxoEoxzoLc
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHInFrba8hJ
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbwAKM2PdV
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCGFgLNNsR
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...)535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXcbRlmryP
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjTxdhMGi4
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PNnRxWdzI
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0EkwdUdzG
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqc5p1o5Bn
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFnYTFbMyn
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0Qw33cfZy
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QlUR6nK4y
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0kQuHKwCE
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZO2Dad8Dv
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!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheW2Zc8rkn
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrWgTiozpv
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WRaByktYe
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoSs7xEsBX
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEuX3M6nIN
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpswZbfYYvm
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs38f9d3G7y
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFf74XfoUt5
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?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYb7DBAp8GM
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCk66pBZMm2
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, 1880535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkxoEoxzoLc
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHInFrba8hJ
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbwAKM2PdV
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCGFgLNNsR
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...)535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDXcbRlmryP
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbjTxdhMGi4
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4PNnRxWdzI
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0EkwdUdzG
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXqc5p1o5Bn
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFnYTFbMyn
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0Qw33cfZy
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QlUR6nK4y
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0kQuHKwCE
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZO2Dad8Dv
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!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheW2Zc8rkn
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgrWgTiozpv
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WRaByktYe
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoSs7xEsBX
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwEuX3M6nIN
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpswZbfYYvm
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs38f9d3G7y
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFf74XfoUt5
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?535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYb7DBAp8GM
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCk66pBZMm2
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyBy0N3wg6
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDAh6QCrku
"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."
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDAh6QCrku
"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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3JLFtcXU3
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6HklnLzed
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...535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EDKeNORxx
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3v42zHa3q2
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKabYCqq1H5
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRYo5JsiMv
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....535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgZxcgevoS
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzcWK4F1QX
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1noY9vYuU
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4onyajaWF
"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!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoDUYyahsT
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFD06KNXEJ
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlj2UxC2Vae
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ddM5jT95T
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuI0pKDwNC
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHbg9bEa3r
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHFRmTlDW6
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZhZJYSeDS
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7RvuxZlIf
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolS0hEvGKB
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6HklnLzed
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...535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EDKeNORxx
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3v42zHa3q2
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKabYCqq1H5
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRYo5JsiMv
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....535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWgZxcgevoS
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzcWK4F1QX
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1noY9vYuU
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4onyajaWF
"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!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaoDUYyahsT
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFD06KNXEJ
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlj2UxC2Vae
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ddM5jT95T
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSuI0pKDwNC
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHbg9bEa3r
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoHFRmTlDW6
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZhZJYSeDS
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7RvuxZlIf
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolS0hEvGKB
"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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5bL4WEjRe
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5GzUXvDgh
"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."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡME1xGfgDHV
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOGCQRag7e
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKOaFJghn4
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVoFNr0qeD
"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."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24a9LZ7kKF
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGmopNRg5AY
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD0tcwTgkO
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXr3OBZMcPm
"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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiyPxb0K7t
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wimyz0QUL
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡat9y7hKcEQ
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXXEMNeT7P
"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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bYAdhyNKg
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dT39rGeDU
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48SmUO5XNk
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXD3bYBc4FY
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmdDaEqAdp
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeFIvv4wwP
"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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNADUTaSY4
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsuJ2VrFwZ
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mUcxkF2WH
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsRSPjacbpV
"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!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6eyPB2XeX
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡud3S99cDEG
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Cgocv4M5F
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaNa6atQAGg
"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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMP86w0Vw0E
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsh0RlF9JSW
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzdQCW4IWE
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMxzXcglwy
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8OIgPCalS
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4RiYO0njm
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndOFuDb14s
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbO9z5YBHTq
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTuRan1cxp
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJPyUlTa4Cp
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTC2viJmieY
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqHXnoyTfbD
"Hang on," said I..."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JR4U4beeg
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1IDotX52f
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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaa3AT9oOKb
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFsN8kEiHGq
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....535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLQ5Xkzaf5
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYoeoU6bBF
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7eVlA238f
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkqwDnqZYfj
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5GzUXvDgh
"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."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡME1xGfgDHV
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzOGCQRag7e
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvKOaFJghn4
535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmVoFNr0qeD
"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."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24a9LZ7kKF
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD0tcwTgkO
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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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuiyPxb0K7t
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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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡat9y7hKcEQ
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"Excuse me, but I'm sacrificing myself to science," he confided to me in a loud whisper. (I swear to you, Ludmilla---by Mars and Jupiter---that I am not inventing this Yanovich is a mirror for my own personal soul!) "Why, if I went to Moscow to present a proper report to the authorities, they'd make me a professor or even a privy councilor on the spot. You have the floor of Moscow all about you, sir, is this not so?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bYAdhyNKg
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48SmUO5XNk
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgmdDaEqAdp
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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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlNADUTaSY4
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mUcxkF2WH
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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!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6eyPB2XeX
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Cgocv4M5F
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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?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMP86w0Vw0E
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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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzdQCW4IWE
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt8OIgPCalS
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndOFuDb14s
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTuRan1cxp
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"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTC2viJmieY
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"Hang on," said I..."535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JR4U4beeg
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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.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaa3AT9oOKb
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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....535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTLQ5Xkzaf5
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