x
Kransnoyarsk396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrZaJk2KtZ
May 29th, 1880396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVrPZNWPHb
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXKtBznU5z
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKQerU1iUQ
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRpGmhCIHk
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...)396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9l70Qi5Hec
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZYpQTI8jm
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XJo4EYW5s
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4tDefDmSP
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrSZyQ4ZOd
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYHYuef4OA
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNc8YOl5lb
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbQKVKWu3K
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mMNZ1GpU1
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikQ5Peqt7A
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!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvZQLEOCoK
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmofwGyUotC
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPzNrWXXFn
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOrpt4i8Gc
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxE3IZ2hsns
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9vrJaiBSo
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA62QWk3SNp
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWO74sipGm
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?396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6y66PXQn3O
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzxHsTFkvd
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, 1880396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxVrPZNWPHb
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFXKtBznU5z
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKQerU1iUQ
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRpGmhCIHk
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...)396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9l70Qi5Hec
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZYpQTI8jm
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3XJo4EYW5s
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4tDefDmSP
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrSZyQ4ZOd
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYHYuef4OA
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNc8YOl5lb
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbQKVKWu3K
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mMNZ1GpU1
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikQ5Peqt7A
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!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvZQLEOCoK
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmofwGyUotC
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrPzNrWXXFn
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOrpt4i8Gc
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxE3IZ2hsns
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9vrJaiBSo
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA62QWk3SNp
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWO74sipGm
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?396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6y66PXQn3O
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzxHsTFkvd
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrYNBZWZCy
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHYVMemiQz
"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."
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHYVMemiQz
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbfdQ4kqlK
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDMhOi3cec
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...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYjDagkrdK
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64WNUeZj3C
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCoC4EgeqT
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAor0OFGaW
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....396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHBcpBXsEL
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwH23O4VEI
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssYyZigAKi
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQbakodRQe
"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!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyJzggrLaG
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9PJFp921n
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pg0pwMUIN
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00ifg2bfxS
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRwP96jZFK
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0vcmmFtVg
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgQYPR2Pzy5
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAwEtUr8UC
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfg9eAHOMdE
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxpwtMd1Xx
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDMhOi3cec
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...396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqYjDagkrdK
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64WNUeZj3C
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvCoC4EgeqT
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAor0OFGaW
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....396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJHBcpBXsEL
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwH23O4VEI
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡssYyZigAKi
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjQbakodRQe
"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!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyJzggrLaG
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9PJFp921n
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pg0pwMUIN
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00ifg2bfxS
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkRwP96jZFK
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj0vcmmFtVg
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgQYPR2Pzy5
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXAwEtUr8UC
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfg9eAHOMdE
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxpwtMd1Xx
"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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDaEK9BAjN
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpYrqo65pq
"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."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfkFuqaqEs
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMHVgtOegd
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa356hkTrur
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDiUw9M6XT
"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."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8XXzRpNBh
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHpRHNlq3w
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhQtzJ5HnY
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiz2wVgtMM
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmvLnfknsF
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjM9WFG3oWV
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7H56s4fnOS
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEaGY1m3ud
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBbg27Ccdr
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyL5qTFl6va
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWKu0ZZYm3
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vJFOts4QM
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIerJdKwbVc
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVEiFzqtMS
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd8F2BUMBu
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFd3NPLp6P
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9olq0L9cJF
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySz0opYGpE
"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!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70KBliO17P
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkMGsSkE49
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgpErDs0f1
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCln1mwyn9
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUa3monw4O
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuiLecL6Sk
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwMHmwMvEg
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYhUX81tuo
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhI6sRBIHJ4
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDBQ9aTUSC
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolV6jqfPV7
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatOaIMhG6P
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD2dI5iQYI
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbin6QzvwF
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQRS6y24ZS
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCCzlD7V1c
"Hang on," said I..."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZCiFbt3Ed
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3l2LYNeqez
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbMZW8910l
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA03DbYVJR2
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....396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTjIRzcpjz
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7EuwkCtGb
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8BjTumwj2
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtF0ld8Z1n
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpYrqo65pq
"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."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfkFuqaqEs
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkMHVgtOegd
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa356hkTrur
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDiUw9M6XT
"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."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP8XXzRpNBh
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhQtzJ5HnY
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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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQmvLnfknsF
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjM9WFG3oWV
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7H56s4fnOS
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEaGY1m3ud
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBbg27Ccdr
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWKu0ZZYm3
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIerJdKwbVc
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVEiFzqtMS
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLd8F2BUMBu
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdFd3NPLp6P
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9olq0L9cJF
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡySz0opYGpE
"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!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70KBliO17P
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkMGsSkE49
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDgpErDs0f1
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCln1mwyn9
"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?"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUa3monw4O
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTuiLecL6Sk
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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDwMHmwMvEg
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhI6sRBIHJ4
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡolV6jqfPV7
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡatOaIMhG6P
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD2dI5iQYI
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbin6QzvwF
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQRS6y24ZS
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"Hang on," said I..."396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZCiFbt3Ed
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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.396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDbMZW8910l
396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA03DbYVJR2
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....396Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWTjIRzcpjz
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