Kransnoyarsk509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNPyqr48Pl
May 29th, 1880509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0h1YZZNXe9
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ESHdagtfr
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZLu2tnCZm
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjqRojJMxS
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...)509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevv18OhEta
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFCupx4Iw2
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8pp0S6ldd
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRQnlWjH3I
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEU3ttSr5d4
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKvt0EzHNi
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70pkWezV1k
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzOUZueYlM
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqwvyZ48BG
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bqB3SJqGL
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!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPIysyzdAj
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYQkLkjsPU
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiYCLtvLDS
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvTkyRQuxC
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3bTgTY0lh
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9ow47pe6p
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmhFyS3Zhd
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNDpQsUT31
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?509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBrS3O65qT
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oU7vmFXJW
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, 1880509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0h1YZZNXe9
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ESHdagtfr
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZLu2tnCZm
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjqRojJMxS
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...)509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevv18OhEta
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFCupx4Iw2
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd8pp0S6ldd
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzRQnlWjH3I
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEU3ttSr5d4
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKvt0EzHNi
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ70pkWezV1k
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzOUZueYlM
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiqwvyZ48BG
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bqB3SJqGL
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!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMPIysyzdAj
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYQkLkjsPU
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoiYCLtvLDS
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvTkyRQuxC
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF3bTgTY0lh
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9ow47pe6p
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmhFyS3Zhd
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNDpQsUT31
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?509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBrS3O65qT
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8oU7vmFXJW
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDT90Ckbdh5
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6l8vZV8hJ
"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."
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY6l8vZV8hJ
"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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXWOJpi8TNA
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bvOiTHy8z
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...509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sLq8CYAZw
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdkpkG9kP9
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnnw3BnWGX
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXdqPEsddt
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....509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPu9prtVEGJ
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5ooxPPmKq
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhADQqd6O1
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv61bJaUdcb
"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!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfe4p8fh78
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdI5on3votX
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hjGmc811Y
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArutCcovj0
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEawRf7pvuc
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLwiO2Lw7w
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuS0TOM2wO
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzJRNG7pIng
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Wmlm6rduu
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnVV5wPEDF
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6bvOiTHy8z
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...509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2sLq8CYAZw
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdkpkG9kP9
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnnw3BnWGX
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXdqPEsddt
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....509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPu9prtVEGJ
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG5ooxPPmKq
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhADQqd6O1
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv61bJaUdcb
"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!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfe4p8fh78
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdI5on3votX
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6hjGmc811Y
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArutCcovj0
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEawRf7pvuc
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVLwiO2Lw7w
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYuS0TOM2wO
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzJRNG7pIng
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Wmlm6rduu
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnVV5wPEDF
"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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMxpfrxfcuo
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EadaY1S2Y
"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."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5icgJgAgZt
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmeEB8aBcv
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYVUQpGqAo
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA13kAHu32J
"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."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa841BYsTgt
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniZ2KhwwXr
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dejI8d889
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhRbXO5dNl
"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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4g6DyPwrdw
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcx1JynWxgs
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVIE3rCYdl
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLqulbjU4Xb
"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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIX3Gbxgq9
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8qJN1IG7I
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGUS4FNbqS
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRtofk1qXvx
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFv5ksqTDX
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Nii1shZHK
"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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFl2Iite6H2
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKsHpwoRMnh
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOoNmTG0dk
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ783qaN3ajv
"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!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3faPz4xQMM
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmxn5PC1qn1
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwrLRvAbRv
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRbB4elSX76
"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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQ2HIubzWW
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMJpE3gGKm
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnK4QyskLN
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuuObHftYRX
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMdDr8FWR7
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWqmfPsRQc
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUXlhMMzSu
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycqFmDLN2H
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZKfHBu8OE
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKMD7n7XlI
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURMLn66VpS
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡassCH9WxrL
"Hang on," said I..."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYKDw9UGb6
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39H5FO1L8u
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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWbioewvql
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8E6oBN4eNK
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....509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSM3bXC8VdO
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsC2mFwJuU4
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509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjecPLupLSK
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4EadaY1S2Y
"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."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5icgJgAgZt
509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmeEB8aBcv
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgYVUQpGqAo
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"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."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa841BYsTgt
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4dejI8d889
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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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4g6DyPwrdw
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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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVIE3rCYdl
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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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUIX3Gbxgq9
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGUS4FNbqS
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFv5ksqTDX
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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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFl2Iite6H2
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As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSOoNmTG0dk
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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!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3faPz4xQMM
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"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwrLRvAbRv
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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?"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQ2HIubzWW
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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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnK4QyskLN
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMdDr8FWR7
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"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIUXlhMMzSu
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"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjZKfHBu8OE
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"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡURMLn66VpS
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"Hang on," said I..."509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHYKDw9UGb6
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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.509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWbioewvql
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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....509Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSM3bXC8VdO
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然後按「加至主畫面」