x
Kransnoyarsk482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡryE3kP1KXY
May 29th, 1880482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EdP1y7ie4
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoly0fG66zY
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kLiORd2bX
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CLMW8RPoW
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...)482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXjNxjGxDu
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzSIMyu2Gq
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUKw8mLJ7r
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUPznyh1MX
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5XDlLH1Cc
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoIEqtdBmGr
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmd2y2YE8Bk
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNNyOZB4HB
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXq3BIVO3St
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFcPVqEVUpT
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!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNR5gyfZhT
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQMRgjWGJY
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9Tjy9sukH
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HgYYlU23b
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3MKzcNR4O
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMwOIHZ8sQ
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpT6WRvJah
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhKbVJ0BVk
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?482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uA3ZmMMX7
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3y5LVVUId9
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, 1880482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EdP1y7ie4
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoly0fG66zY
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9kLiORd2bX
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CLMW8RPoW
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...)482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXjNxjGxDu
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHzSIMyu2Gq
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUKw8mLJ7r
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUPznyh1MX
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ5XDlLH1Cc
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoIEqtdBmGr
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmd2y2YE8Bk
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDNNyOZB4HB
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXq3BIVO3St
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFcPVqEVUpT
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!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNR5gyfZhT
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQMRgjWGJY
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9Tjy9sukH
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HgYYlU23b
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb3MKzcNR4O
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMwOIHZ8sQ
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQpT6WRvJah
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhKbVJ0BVk
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?482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9uA3ZmMMX7
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3y5LVVUId9
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiV2oHY8vzz
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDUq8P7eaO
"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."
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDUq8P7eaO
"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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDRG46kmAGU
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13Al40w6Rr
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...482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn7sx36sig
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgCz1aDXY4
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrMIwYsvFL
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBDVaXGNR4
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....482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRelZR7Yjn
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflPjDSv2up
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BIC2dAb4f
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPNEcqA6eI
"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!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgb4O8z7msU
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJC8uiXnPpq
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbUf0AYOJb
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMv25f1szN
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqUPfjdb7E
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtwyUPs5ia
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61Cy4AZlgO
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymp9GZez3O
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD5E4v11Q7
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwA7GFxqisY
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ13Al40w6Rr
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...482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn7sx36sig
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgCz1aDXY4
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrMIwYsvFL
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBDVaXGNR4
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....482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRelZR7Yjn
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflPjDSv2up
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3BIC2dAb4f
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPNEcqA6eI
"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!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgb4O8z7msU
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJC8uiXnPpq
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbUf0AYOJb
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOMv25f1szN
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqUPfjdb7E
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtwyUPs5ia
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ61Cy4AZlgO
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymp9GZez3O
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbD5E4v11Q7
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwA7GFxqisY
"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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8RuZXBuaTd
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡclR59VZI2C
"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."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1gK4HERZx
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUz1K7Syd5a
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglUnRXAROp
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7fGy8EaFq
"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."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUe3mAqKxn
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnRcZhQaU9
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtnstP0nSt
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVaNCJOl3O6
"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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLVPvy6Blx
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIa9aKCoGW
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Ao1zR8P6Y
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEFlmVzcmGA
"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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbPiv0TKr9
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0u8UED7PY3
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiEzNMxwzo
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKbF1iKiyO
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ3K2Qgh3A
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRb3HVXirjo
"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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5YGdhasgS
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27vgOY5LfM
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrhVXpy6Ut
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMXQiUoTLs
"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!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMyucXSvVU
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjVOE8AfhWY
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtylZifEOAS
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AnGKi2mAQ
"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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgVqlzPtTGt
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZzakHzezBN
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvynAO2NgC
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwVONjqj3j
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uy4W1INyW
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lKwvX09A0
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSmW1ka8Jk
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKH4wn8GUqv
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRjDZgkPKj
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4jpuouwlB
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GXsA3Mn3i
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgCzyzCp5A
"Hang on," said I..."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIEri3KbdA
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJeZiVxmxYT
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlr9XOECOsp
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7I0UtQlB5
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....482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI59qHIFyIC
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvSRNWZ4WI
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD8ph32d8ju
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFjIOAhhKn
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡclR59VZI2C
"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."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1gK4HERZx
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUz1K7Syd5a
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡglUnRXAROp
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7fGy8EaFq
"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."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFUe3mAqKxn
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtnstP0nSt
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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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOLVPvy6Blx
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIa9aKCoGW
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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Ao1zR8P6Y
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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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbPiv0TKr9
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAiEzNMxwzo
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ3K2Qgh3A
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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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5YGdhasgS
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27vgOY5LfM
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmrhVXpy6Ut
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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!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMyucXSvVU
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtylZifEOAS
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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?"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgVqlzPtTGt
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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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnvynAO2NgC
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uy4W1INyW
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSmW1ka8Jk
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKH4wn8GUqv
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuRjDZgkPKj
482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4jpuouwlB
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5GXsA3Mn3i
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"Hang on," said I..."482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIEri3KbdA
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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.482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlr9XOECOsp
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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....482Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI59qHIFyIC
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