Kransnoyarsk561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vZwOBl60m
May 29th, 1880561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGGna2tg2e
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKFO1z7YUT
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0YOJR5C8V
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUTwpP1x0f
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...)561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MPWqRM3DJ
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpWgST3Man
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRB3KNWS8w
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnx9972a8G
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlC0YTuGOq
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRQP7cMuVv
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEkCoRJodU
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8CM6TeNuST
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRoLHZUxQu
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9SkjzBGIC
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!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpCf2uwy6W
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDketauoS36
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ668Zxjj30f
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSR1h1s7pqM
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDr8izE0OGb
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkj8wlmuWb
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzFngiWOUV8
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU8VlYDDaVO
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?561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjfwoGLn7T
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVh7qQ3AcCw
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, 1880561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVGGna2tg2e
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKFO1z7YUT
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL0YOJR5C8V
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUTwpP1x0f
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...)561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MPWqRM3DJ
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpWgST3Man
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRB3KNWS8w
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnx9972a8G
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlC0YTuGOq
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRQP7cMuVv
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqEkCoRJodU
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8CM6TeNuST
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRoLHZUxQu
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN9SkjzBGIC
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!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNpCf2uwy6W
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDketauoS36
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ668Zxjj30f
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSR1h1s7pqM
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDr8izE0OGb
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkj8wlmuWb
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzFngiWOUV8
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU8VlYDDaVO
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?561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjfwoGLn7T
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVh7qQ3AcCw
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDZPI5YsvYs
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pDWTT21ms
"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."
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pDWTT21ms
"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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLh8r7mk8HO
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRpSfESRim
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...561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPa4QZsPye
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNnXv0J5a6
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsd3haUCo21
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArSVWxOwHq
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....561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2g5u2eWu3
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JFT09yEPD
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkjw0EOj2Z
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBstlSVkCpE
"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!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPUr9f6zWo
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJzwwxlsHw
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rArRKBTyB
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1Ii1JSx0a
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwkUnDWdL0
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZKmMvcGuh
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxNDV6YeVG
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvzA6LEYlA
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohvrrrf03Z
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FS1MLAAVp
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlRpSfESRim
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...561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPa4QZsPye
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqNnXv0J5a6
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsd3haUCo21
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArSVWxOwHq
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....561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2g5u2eWu3
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0JFT09yEPD
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpkjw0EOj2Z
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBstlSVkCpE
"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!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBPUr9f6zWo
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJzwwxlsHw
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rArRKBTyB
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP1Ii1JSx0a
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwkUnDWdL0
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZKmMvcGuh
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxNDV6YeVG
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvzA6LEYlA
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡohvrrrf03Z
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7FS1MLAAVp
"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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFPVXMjqcWr
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCarnyfQWg
"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."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKahp7neIM
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblbrsJq3iP
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJSAZxfRTE
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUXqOqzOgI
"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."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6WCI5iDK2
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSG737EydXB
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarWFJGZydp
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrNzQaZO1ei
"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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViXYBYhBry
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsaXpYTegDj
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYphBBdBdZ
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8kahShqot
"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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43V5uZfzq3
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGWo7enecl
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSskZ2qR7N
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuilDiwK3qw
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPnYFoNAYh
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTip8AfaZE
"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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22q4kiTsKq
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz24u91e1Gr
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7k9Z8Qh0I
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb1itFNGCJ2
"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!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcToZZmUNd
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGDlvPyQoIZ
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pgCfsT76D
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2uILj856R2
"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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSek1Npxlpf
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJeRM6x2jp
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXF3G4O3xJV
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiDR6Hk7Fsl
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZ5FPO3E4E
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyjKNBM8Oe
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhN2AwttQZ
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZqibOVvEU
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPOvtn6PLz
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcOfNyEIwO
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJZ5XnZqsD
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1VyXvmePfr
"Hang on," said I..."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYM1tT37RI
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnphZ5VUf2N
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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX3zDEqVnS
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AVmmp7635
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....561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSSXBVlV0u
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZb9rmmzBk
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRr7S2cMcjc
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeZOa32Kif
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCarnyfQWg
"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."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaKahp7neIM
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblbrsJq3iP
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJSAZxfRTE
561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUXqOqzOgI
"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."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6WCI5iDK2
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡarWFJGZydp
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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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡViXYBYhBry
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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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYphBBdBdZ
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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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43V5uZfzq3
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGSskZ2qR7N
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzPnYFoNAYh
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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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ22q4kiTsKq
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7k9Z8Qh0I
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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!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvcToZZmUNd
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4pgCfsT76D
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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?"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSek1Npxlpf
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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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXF3G4O3xJV
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZ5FPO3E4E
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhN2AwttQZ
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPOvtn6PLz
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"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJZ5XnZqsD
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"Hang on," said I..."561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYM1tT37RI
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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.561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX3zDEqVnS
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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....561Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSSXBVlV0u
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