x
Kransnoyarsk486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2hF1NJgbL
May 29th, 1880486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwjy0HGJ4J
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27hZOWfPB3
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEl4rblRKx
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaj94674SzN
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...)486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFRqPjd9J9
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbUwpx6lWt
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrs32nIKYCB
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMpvVrg3Io
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6mZBCz0HV
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqY01CA6b94
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZJCWUxP5e
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKp4mgBxc6
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQOtYa17QW
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDYRUf1E49
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!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBr0sjZnfY7
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoJvfXcEdB
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbr0rPJMhg
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKme7XpnpK
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQNow5QN0v
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakYa60M38e
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovSxyBrwkC
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCovBefsiH
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?486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yfkG1N2XB
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VDxPjUFR0
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, 1880486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwjy0HGJ4J
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27hZOWfPB3
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSEl4rblRKx
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaj94674SzN
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...)486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFRqPjd9J9
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCbUwpx6lWt
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrs32nIKYCB
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMpvVrg3Io
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK6mZBCz0HV
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqY01CA6b94
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZJCWUxP5e
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKp4mgBxc6
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQOtYa17QW
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjDYRUf1E49
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!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBr0sjZnfY7
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPoJvfXcEdB
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMbr0rPJMhg
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKme7XpnpK
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVQNow5QN0v
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡakYa60M38e
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovSxyBrwkC
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlCovBefsiH
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?486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yfkG1N2XB
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VDxPjUFR0
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQLXCxB2gkJ
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDfL2N3Xid
"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."
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDfL2N3Xid
"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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd2hCYKrNIJ
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgm1unT9M5A
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...486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhnXIfxqbC
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZga8CxqAR6
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzWRBJ2VhV
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT91pQTuJJO
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....486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXSuD5aRju
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyqlrI4kzf
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0K2f6ETOnf
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK8X3jcrFK
"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!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6ApCa7sEB
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnTs82YqQZ
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6w0RN9HlF
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOa5u5buTWt
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHagRD4Ngs
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAWvJaHrIz
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0skEgjMRbp
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJWqBq2EPg
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerSOllJv8r
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4e3sY2qpgH
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgm1unT9M5A
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...486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkhnXIfxqbC
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZga8CxqAR6
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzWRBJ2VhV
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT91pQTuJJO
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....486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXSuD5aRju
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyqlrI4kzf
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0K2f6ETOnf
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK8X3jcrFK
"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!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh6ApCa7sEB
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnTs82YqQZ
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx6w0RN9HlF
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOa5u5buTWt
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsHagRD4Ngs
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAWvJaHrIz
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0skEgjMRbp
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBJWqBq2EPg
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerSOllJv8r
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4e3sY2qpgH
"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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQJ88mpOEVF
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLHeTS0Fmv
"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."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspHTYsr0DO
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJPm5wn16I
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14NMOPF8Yx
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBG8OruYkvF
"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."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBwxevQPNC
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ko3XYN9YR
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8RGKhoPiH
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdpKqYOVFO
"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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKiCrMTVYD
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJJOHgsD1D
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJbN9PI7EW
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQRQRMwpoO3
"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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9wK4Jo2MW
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkIs7emOCH3
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mnAzxYznw
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVgIcCK9GGk
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgOr93SwWF
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdTppp8Diig
"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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKju3G5IPR
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOSSGCWRiF
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhAoq2Z0V8
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4goIjs4m1C
"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!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwvmixxBR9
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQRewWU0iV
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tOpElb2E1
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MxBcKJOjT
"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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXxBqJo7ly
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDcUgAezEo2
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5RdLQpmbW
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQCA95CyfTG
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHjFx5htAl
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX16OADhX3L
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIq0AsyLBmm
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLxrYvEWtE
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcuM4Yi8KB
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhP6kaYQayX
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUmXVnNlqv
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6XP4wROze
"Hang on," said I..."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtyjP8dQu3
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCsHbxWs45
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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4T2FpXwJ2
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHRtn3m3VV4
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....486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡir9dhStJ86
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXfvQuXrgS
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLeRP5QFyj
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW8hUnhOwZ7
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLHeTS0Fmv
"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."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspHTYsr0DO
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJPm5wn16I
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14NMOPF8Yx
486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBG8OruYkvF
"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."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBwxevQPNC
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8RGKhoPiH
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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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKiCrMTVYD
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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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJbN9PI7EW
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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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi9wK4Jo2MW
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mnAzxYznw
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgOr93SwWF
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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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKju3G5IPR
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhAoq2Z0V8
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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!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwvmixxBR9
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tOpElb2E1
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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?"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjXxBqJo7ly
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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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5RdLQpmbW
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHjFx5htAl
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIq0AsyLBmm
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcuM4Yi8KB
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"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUmXVnNlqv
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"Hang on," said I..."486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtyjP8dQu3
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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.486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT4T2FpXwJ2
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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....486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡir9dhStJ86
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