x
Kransnoyarsk487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxswZqGioQX
May 29th, 1880487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM7ldpUBIo
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlReBH4g2p
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtEzAxCn01
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63azZGQJGj
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...)487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6UlLZik1y
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42NjKaS1gk
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFztC2NTd8Y
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRna0qRlMM
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSDKdOWvVm
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcqJ5mIjma
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4p0zR9rj0
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWexCZ805RU
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3oSLKl08T3
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bhjfHpCgr
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!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hVYX4zwqN
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCWb9Nylja
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7G4tRkMkb
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJpPYgEcdz
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9slC0MUK8
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOb2FvbrKy
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKdqjeG6mm
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBUhw0oda7
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?487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyHLg4iFGi
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOON3stIZa
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, 1880487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPM7ldpUBIo
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlReBH4g2p
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDtEzAxCn01
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63azZGQJGj
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...)487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6UlLZik1y
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ42NjKaS1gk
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFztC2NTd8Y
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPRna0qRlMM
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSDKdOWvVm
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcqJ5mIjma
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4p0zR9rj0
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWexCZ805RU
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3oSLKl08T3
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bhjfHpCgr
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!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9hVYX4zwqN
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCWb9Nylja
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy7G4tRkMkb
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWJpPYgEcdz
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ9slC0MUK8
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOb2FvbrKy
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKdqjeG6mm
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBUhw0oda7
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?487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyHLg4iFGi
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDOON3stIZa
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4ZYmJQGH3
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76Z9MUzxDI
"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."
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76Z9MUzxDI
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheOaMQLTYa
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ry6RWrcn2
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...487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqtHQ5pw0v
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5ooOsMigG
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTXXmYgpVe
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQJVCgHPam
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....487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDIj4OfDsI
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEb9k6DFuC
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHy3Xh9T1M
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SE6g0Hy5W
"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!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAV7ySAHYnr
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhT9NyMxGt
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIjYLHYAqt
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSZ6hN6sCh
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DXZ5wFAzz
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9h4WAmX55
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaal7tfCcE
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1O2dnneUym
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkijRs4B6bV
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpckormU285
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Ry6RWrcn2
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...487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYqtHQ5pw0v
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5ooOsMigG
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTXXmYgpVe
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQJVCgHPam
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....487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvDIj4OfDsI
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEb9k6DFuC
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUHy3Xh9T1M
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SE6g0Hy5W
"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!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAV7ySAHYnr
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhT9NyMxGt
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeIjYLHYAqt
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSZ6hN6sCh
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DXZ5wFAzz
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg9h4WAmX55
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjaal7tfCcE
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1O2dnneUym
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkijRs4B6bV
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpckormU285
"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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCJiFTPfhj
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFOGjdxcZD
"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."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimyGVqKseN
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ipwx5rTdj
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡns9i2iYz2V
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRumyudjfyN
"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."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaElCRhCTX
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjm4Fnpuid
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTZv8scHaq
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZs4ZsjxGMn
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1j1DfiwCE
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wLXv4BEuX
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxixu4N3Jg
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5UBXAwUOT
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwYJkpDKD5
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyTivJkHOU
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUb6tL9oYq
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5IeDzPOjVm
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIv1f6AreWg
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VVSZvIpdP
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZQSzlIoQT
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZnyCtdvhm
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcASXq59YMp
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmha3mf5Qth
"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!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9M8Nljhlj
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFcfeitQ8r
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLV5DtAOfaM
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvL0pTKNvrj
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqMZEDMnZY
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGedhfPV8t
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnE1NYcIuwC
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4OghqUZWy
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmTbb6xIPu
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YSf3rpvmv
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvi3N5zW8i
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxh8HM3EYL
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWL90BkIWzm
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPa5gffwe2N
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekNxDQkAuq
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIS0zgSGN5N
"Hang on," said I..."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufvpcMYIhV
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAbFntE106
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5yORZyxxG
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPqSVa9SlD
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....487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34nZzIgkJy
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqFT69KmmZ
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyno8vEcXb
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgycfcEeKQ
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFOGjdxcZD
"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."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimyGVqKseN
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ipwx5rTdj
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡns9i2iYz2V
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRumyudjfyN
"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."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiaElCRhCTX
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjm4Fnpuid
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeTZv8scHaq
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZs4ZsjxGMn
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy1j1DfiwCE
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wLXv4BEuX
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxixu4N3Jg
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv5UBXAwUOT
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwYJkpDKD5
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGyTivJkHOU
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUb6tL9oYq
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIv1f6AreWg
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VVSZvIpdP
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZQSzlIoQT
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZnyCtdvhm
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcASXq59YMp
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmha3mf5Qth
"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!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9M8Nljhlj
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiFcfeitQ8r
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLV5DtAOfaM
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvL0pTKNvrj
"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?"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqMZEDMnZY
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjGedhfPV8t
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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnE1NYcIuwC
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4OghqUZWy
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvmTbb6xIPu
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YSf3rpvmv
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmvi3N5zW8i
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxh8HM3EYL
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWL90BkIWzm
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPa5gffwe2N
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekNxDQkAuq
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIS0zgSGN5N
"Hang on," said I..."487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡufvpcMYIhV
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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.487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5yORZyxxG
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPqSVa9SlD
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....487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34nZzIgkJy
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