x
Kransnoyarsk462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCwk81TfHyk
May 29th, 1880462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7GCgWuHlf
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyweTDhowr
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9tp5FldvZ
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWqrt0kqUh
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...)462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnIQDIJBic
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSvIJEvko3
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5tRw0JCeB
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNgFJq5XxF
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv09wtopAfo
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgJCmvMljI
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEs3K7FroE8
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ej9lQmStm
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzNQ1nBwRI
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5jhNw745q
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!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XHAfWQUSY
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjJSSlBErb
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8DIhg0Jsr
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagEjy9iop3
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLv05SHbH3n
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTMWMmMCPY
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSRKmB8niy
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqDfLwIiPc
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?462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAyKP1sCIh
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoWnYZTsPC
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, 1880462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7GCgWuHlf
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPyweTDhowr
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9tp5FldvZ
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWqrt0kqUh
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...)462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnIQDIJBic
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYSvIJEvko3
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp5tRw0JCeB
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNgFJq5XxF
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv09wtopAfo
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgJCmvMljI
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEs3K7FroE8
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ej9lQmStm
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJzNQ1nBwRI
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5jhNw745q
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!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XHAfWQUSY
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjJSSlBErb
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8DIhg0Jsr
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡagEjy9iop3
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLv05SHbH3n
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpTMWMmMCPY
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSRKmB8niy
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMqDfLwIiPc
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?462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAyKP1sCIh
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoWnYZTsPC
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4IYBeTIQTf
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXcfJFvsdy
"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."
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRXcfJFvsdy
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqQmsSyiPG
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuugwYK6a47
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...462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzVmiQXVwf
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgpqVH05n5
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoNNBCOFZk
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QC2DwN3BU
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....462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuPzx691wj
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDjkLT5hdu
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QsOlp8iRT
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchIbsmYnyF
"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!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2aNM3eObz
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lTxCxjo6m
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJR0TkbbSna
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnucJiJFNZ
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM96iw56kJ
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxr2gcL8URk
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomx3edShZh
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzGNd2gqdO
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bRZkbW1x3
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLV3AzK7dx
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuugwYK6a47
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...462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzVmiQXVwf
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMgpqVH05n5
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoNNBCOFZk
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QC2DwN3BU
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....462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtuPzx691wj
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSDjkLT5hdu
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QsOlp8iRT
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchIbsmYnyF
"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!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa2aNM3eObz
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lTxCxjo6m
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJR0TkbbSna
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnucJiJFNZ
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM96iw56kJ
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxr2gcL8URk
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomx3edShZh
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzGNd2gqdO
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0bRZkbW1x3
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLV3AzK7dx
"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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61mRW2zT7O
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLQhESH2MY
"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."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnmHimnDGR
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvhnr8YJjP
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48DUzNfYrG
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX28vYCFFqG
"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."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIKh0beLeX
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmhXAGpyJT
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVGpMMSPD4
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡih2mGGbY5Q
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqLWKDhv9i
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOYoICTTto
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuboWC4onH
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgzD3VYy4Q
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzGosn8Qon
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Jj0pyEMcO
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQgqsKebl4
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0j1kf3HKd
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDA9hQar3gv
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCYrbOorvmf
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTm3wmp07n
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaO0PkN5YXQ
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxNQYGsVk2
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlu4Bg9R53i
"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!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEE2y8fEogT
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRa9lNTRJk
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCo7ZQsAKMc
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktJpY5Vjth
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9aLsfIeaU
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPoImWXnpG
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4KwuMxRfN
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw01gfrwq0j
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoB5GQOhW61
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBYjHhisF8t
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxYNsz1c3m
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kz4SVuUPW
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDgTnTtqA3
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGsF3hMpT7
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjX5M3dGTN
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbXp8DfrvYX
"Hang on," said I..."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEIYrNUbur
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUZLa4dUAF
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSixUzB8e8x
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0WjTd2Ge3
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....462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVbMqCs0PH
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGbCSyi6Mv
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtu3KW9Dqn6
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9s9a0Xsgo
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLQhESH2MY
"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."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnmHimnDGR
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvhnr8YJjP
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48DUzNfYrG
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX28vYCFFqG
"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."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIKh0beLeX
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpVGpMMSPD4
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡih2mGGbY5Q
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqLWKDhv9i
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOYoICTTto
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZuboWC4onH
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfgzD3VYy4Q
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzGosn8Qon
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxQgqsKebl4
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDA9hQar3gv
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCYrbOorvmf
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiTm3wmp07n
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaO0PkN5YXQ
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxNQYGsVk2
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlu4Bg9R53i
"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!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEE2y8fEogT
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRa9lNTRJk
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCo7ZQsAKMc
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktJpY5Vjth
"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?"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9aLsfIeaU
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPoImWXnpG
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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4KwuMxRfN
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoB5GQOhW61
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZxYNsz1c3m
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4kz4SVuUPW
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDgTnTtqA3
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHGsF3hMpT7
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjX5M3dGTN
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"Hang on," said I..."462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbEIYrNUbur
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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.462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSixUzB8e8x
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd0WjTd2Ge3
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....462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWVbMqCs0PH
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