Kransnoyarsk358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvzCEktBRy
May 29th, 1880358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3w865Nat42
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qxVFtTgjl
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTjEQk9xLdT
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRhYAW5raS
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...)358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNUBqKrxDJ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84PsaDMimc
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RCEOZ6wAC
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbuJNC49XT
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OcgIqb0IK
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPw9t7I5XG
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYM8OJUNJXB
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkF7mvH7DmY
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiW2UgCOce
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7eG0UxtXF
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!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDkdNDPj72
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlD13D69PJX
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNequFqD1O
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsCRGNQBKx
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMUskU9A8W
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVUP5srPuq
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmzazN1dum
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzS5Im2b0zh
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?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVShvPvXZ1l
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVswnRyTWfR
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, 1880358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3w865Nat42
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qxVFtTgjl
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTjEQk9xLdT
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJRhYAW5raS
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...)358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUNUBqKrxDJ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ84PsaDMimc
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3RCEOZ6wAC
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbuJNC49XT
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1OcgIqb0IK
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPw9t7I5XG
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYM8OJUNJXB
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkF7mvH7DmY
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiW2UgCOce
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH7eG0UxtXF
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!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlDkdNDPj72
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlD13D69PJX
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNequFqD1O
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsCRGNQBKx
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMUskU9A8W
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRVUP5srPuq
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtmzazN1dum
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzS5Im2b0zh
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?358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVShvPvXZ1l
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVswnRyTWfR
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6KUdGtBCJ2
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxRerLeR2y
"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."
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvxRerLeR2y
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvN8cVXFKQU
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskhizoQDwT
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...358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxATVSCxndw
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCYAyNEyh9
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65dB5JXSSr
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYRJoriZmU
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....358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznYecqy2zR
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDp3DrIISsX
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPOfYcIogL
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAp8aJg2RBh
"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!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2l3DGMFkpN
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXrUHiRKZZ
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7WJn12SmL
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHACkc7rUIt
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0Xkjam4R1
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW47PcWiIIx
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOV9iMEPPtI
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoEQ3g6blm
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gZorAHUQ4
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGtMXtEpHm
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskhizoQDwT
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...358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxATVSCxndw
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCYAyNEyh9
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65dB5JXSSr
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYRJoriZmU
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....358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡznYecqy2zR
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDp3DrIISsX
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGPOfYcIogL
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAp8aJg2RBh
"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!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2l3DGMFkpN
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXrUHiRKZZ
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7WJn12SmL
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHACkc7rUIt
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt0Xkjam4R1
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW47PcWiIIx
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOV9iMEPPtI
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoEQ3g6blm
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gZorAHUQ4
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGtMXtEpHm
"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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJWdDbd75Lk
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTh9BN9DJrz
"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."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOu4g2Ign5
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdKGxroYjX
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3kOYBizaD
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuysPKI0Cty
"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."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwAYgZVWwo
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjobymLhYw
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOBYSGypb2
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHMsc2Qcw1h
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhETDpc7DCN
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK6JxXMoOR
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSW2Iza4XHM
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixWTouq1jB
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwIBTO21cY
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGv5rQaLDO
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUm1ivGyxc8
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQz0KSUVH0k
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqPKzTYgKW
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0osTjCmSz
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCk68fRVOP
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9X1JSqyQ4
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7EhpDda48
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLsj6YJSEI
"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!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vC7bhIdQZ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpUKjTyYsz
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsisXu8WJm
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoLIFq9byX
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjqz1gWXva
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0osYd6Suy
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjAGwjlXng
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvA0ODzADk
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYd0DrEmJV
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBHlLqTalt
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjkXeD6oya
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhml1ivJ6w
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAA3R0LXXl
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94wX0mRoBM
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXJpkyQHpY
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK29yCYi9TP
"Hang on," said I..."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCjvzYgU5S
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9W5Fi42DaM
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmigwqBXghJ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7C4EpCTz7
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....358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOrDgXb30L
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGc5fl9LVxO
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5dpFGbxbhw
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbJ7S2wUDw
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTh9BN9DJrz
"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."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjOu4g2Ign5
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdKGxroYjX
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3kOYBizaD
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuysPKI0Cty
"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."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwAYgZVWwo
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"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyOBYSGypb2
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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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhETDpc7DCN
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmK6JxXMoOR
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSW2Iza4XHM
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡixWTouq1jB
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIwIBTO21cY
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUm1ivGyxc8
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTqPKzTYgKW
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG0osTjCmSz
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBCk68fRVOP
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9X1JSqyQ4
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV7EhpDda48
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLsj6YJSEI
"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!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vC7bhIdQZ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGpUKjTyYsz
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsisXu8WJm
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfoLIFq9byX
"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?"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgjqz1gWXva
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0osYd6Suy
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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjAGwjlXng
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Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYd0DrEmJV
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBHlLqTalt
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAjkXeD6oya
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhml1ivJ6w
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAA3R0LXXl
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94wX0mRoBM
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeXJpkyQHpY
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"Hang on," said I..."358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCjvzYgU5S
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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.358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmigwqBXghJ
358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7C4EpCTz7
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....358Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAOrDgXb30L
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ns 172.70.34.228da2
and then Add to home screen.