x
Kransnoyarsk448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVL9hZUmO9O
May 29th, 1880448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxikNWICXct
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8n8atbgju
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMIPs5nTbE
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28Mvrdn881
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...)448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZiFqXDeVV
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sJ0SnXG9S
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3QYtXutoT
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6Zqrl4hJq
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6Vjx5ozN9
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1c6NDdQOBm
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPon9byYgr
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe12QyruOLV
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7XliSURKM
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgy9WmEi97G
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!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfItEXlTnva
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPxCKVU7QB
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOw0L7PNWKr
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVyHjhcETC
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaRe3kFOmx
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qjZQ0WR3T
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqB6tDauGXd
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbCypXxkj0
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?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QPtBb9VIC
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMARjspFX9
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, 1880448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxikNWICXct
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8n8atbgju
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyMIPs5nTbE
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28Mvrdn881
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...)448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZiFqXDeVV
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sJ0SnXG9S
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3QYtXutoT
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6Zqrl4hJq
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6Vjx5ozN9
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1c6NDdQOBm
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPon9byYgr
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe12QyruOLV
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7XliSURKM
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgy9WmEi97G
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!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfItEXlTnva
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPxCKVU7QB
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOw0L7PNWKr
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVyHjhcETC
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDaRe3kFOmx
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qjZQ0WR3T
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqB6tDauGXd
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbCypXxkj0
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?448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QPtBb9VIC
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMARjspFX9
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtc9wYvoVuI
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzwpoPLSmT
"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."
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzwpoPLSmT
"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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz5dTdvy0dg
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgzZENMtkm
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...448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSpqP3w9Vi
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtX1ZdXr45W
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWkrt80Xyc
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2f6qLbd2Ej
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....448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6WOyJZmH2
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tvLxADWcS
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIogVZLdsqt
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvZNSoLTYV
"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!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1i6djG6KS
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8dA4aJ7Ca
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFM07bYvEB
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh29UXyl1ho
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkkboK18Le
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhl0dYU8PJ
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOotYmpTw1
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1CEwmorYD
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqnVkOruau
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ng8UwAHwX
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgzZENMtkm
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...448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHSpqP3w9Vi
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtX1ZdXr45W
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWkrt80Xyc
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2f6qLbd2Ej
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....448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6WOyJZmH2
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tvLxADWcS
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIogVZLdsqt
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGvZNSoLTYV
"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!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz1i6djG6KS
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8dA4aJ7Ca
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyFM07bYvEB
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh29UXyl1ho
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlkkboK18Le
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPhl0dYU8PJ
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOotYmpTw1
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA1CEwmorYD
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqnVkOruau
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ng8UwAHwX
"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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uXwRnzWXE
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsqZiJc6eV
"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."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD4SdgePIy
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRBBlbyBH2
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeQ3Zxe9vL
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMW4TZmCfQH
"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."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLfvVFuVX6
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6VBxtxqMNY
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdWaBF0b26
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IyS8zfred
"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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTEQDxxtGV
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqIYLNYf76A
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaQHr4vhHX
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tO8VSJ42S
"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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3byJFIA0j
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyjlAuKZyT
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVexqFtpaH
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfTz4cfaG4
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJd3iFvzDjv
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4yHdXbtID
"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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8S2okXnAE
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6TtnkfF5w
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXf8UG9c8m
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXC4tgP2qZp
"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!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡST40a6nvXL
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRaP8CgYr0M
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQU3bNVtOL
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ETofzvL2P
"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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AzEWeGnS1
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZQqONoamQ
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLgNahoZqX
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QvMkqLwhL
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOReAMq64Q
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOav1coJ8vD
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeqdFM2iL8
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6eNVpKBF64
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3UorsIBHJ
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztPY397pe8
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41iq9DjR4v
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuH2cZ5pZeb
"Hang on," said I..."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gvnzY766b
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtW4m4jwuwK
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDjsaE74iG
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9oxIq6hGY
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....448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmMWvvfwRG
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoajIH6kFDT
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0frMXTOaHV
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbBn77TFPAG
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsqZiJc6eV
"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."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD4SdgePIy
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRBBlbyBH2
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeQ3Zxe9vL
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMW4TZmCfQH
"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."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLfvVFuVX6
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJdWaBF0b26
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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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyTEQDxxtGV
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqIYLNYf76A
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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaQHr4vhHX
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tO8VSJ42S
"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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3byJFIA0j
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVexqFtpaH
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJd3iFvzDjv
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4yHdXbtID
"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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8S2okXnAE
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6TtnkfF5w
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXf8UG9c8m
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXC4tgP2qZp
"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!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡST40a6nvXL
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQU3bNVtOL
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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?"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AzEWeGnS1
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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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLgNahoZqX
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHOReAMq64Q
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxeqdFM2iL8
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ3UorsIBHJ
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztPY397pe8
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41iq9DjR4v
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"Hang on," said I..."448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gvnzY766b
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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.448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDjsaE74iG
448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh9oxIq6hGY
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....448Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbmMWvvfwRG
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