Kransnoyarsk427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2wP1nnLuWF
May 29th, 1880427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGuiPq3uK7
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqrZSMqtrt
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuuqueKXYZ
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKNuatEiCQ
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...)427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYlN5eqbEU
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4SuICLsIP
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrTfSRQ2mS
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6XeNSA85X
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVc6F2PppI
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKY7GqCtRIZ
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50AHuxjvnu
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RiiOhAAmQ
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMchopnuDU
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDAihstG93
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!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdaadLMFT0
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTRBRe08JZ
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJ8qF8ggaE
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZvHCGDNTQ
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkazwFOqftj
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HymdsVeSV
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbUR5SnviO
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlAPTdpxGlb
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?427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mSB61EO4E
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBljrKiw262
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, 1880427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGuiPq3uK7
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEqrZSMqtrt
How are you, Ludmilla, my favorite stargazer?427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuuqueKXYZ
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKNuatEiCQ
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...)427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYlN5eqbEU
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi4SuICLsIP
But first a scribbler should set the scene, don't you think?427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJrTfSRQ2mS
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6XeNSA85X
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVc6F2PppI
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKY7GqCtRIZ
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50AHuxjvnu
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RiiOhAAmQ
Can you read my writing? This ink is disgusting. Blot and splotch and splotch and blot!427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGMchopnuDU
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDAihstG93
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!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEdaadLMFT0
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvTRBRe08JZ
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJ8qF8ggaE
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZvHCGDNTQ
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkazwFOqftj
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2HymdsVeSV
Yesterday evening, out I sailed in company with these three musketeers to see the town...427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIbUR5SnviO
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlAPTdpxGlb
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?427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1mSB61EO4E
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBljrKiw262
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxilmhDuIv8
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mmpaLdpfM
"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."
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mmpaLdpfM
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡelPd1jRVxc
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvt6BVoArx
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...427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrOrnEJ2CvL
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuSMRD6Pr2
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPjgoSJSql
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd71E2o76Et
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....427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjQxYaI8SR
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn0oUVpwsq
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQOC686uIw
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhhDlUw7Gf
"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!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGj9J7V7rIz
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDR8aEBq3IU
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLxTaDfhO0
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBYg5AbfAw
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbs4qLOURP
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zxUB6VBM5
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46OUOvEd7J
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpgT8vfg2W
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhKp4EWvxT
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiD02yplGRn
"Away with you, you banal Milorad Yanovich! How could someone by your name know one iota of the heights of human thought?"
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkvt6BVoArx
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...427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrOrnEJ2CvL
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuSMRD6Pr2
We ordered ourselves a bottle of Smirnov 21 (would you believe it?) and drank a toast to our journey's next phase.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPjgoSJSql
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd71E2o76Et
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....427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjQxYaI8SR
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKn0oUVpwsq
His chance arose when Aho said something or other to me, "speaking as one man of science to another...."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQOC686uIw
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRhhDlUw7Gf
"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!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGj9J7V7rIz
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDR8aEBq3IU
Our Russian genius for soulful generalizations....427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLxTaDfhO0
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBYg5AbfAw
"Quite right," agreed Abramovich. "Nature, red in tooth and claw, must be tamed by the brave hunter!" He poured himself another glassful.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQbs4qLOURP
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7zxUB6VBM5
Mishin went bright red in the face. "Just who the hell do you think you are, anyway?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ46OUOvEd7J
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpgT8vfg2W
"Milorad Yanovich, by your leave, sir!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhKp4EWvxT
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiD02yplGRn
"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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLKYd0JBj5
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOV5YCD8ZkL
"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."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76w7N64Env
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNB4UZd1Co
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzLSJDQ8TY
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbK9yjuh4n
"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."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpzXQfREI5
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIUwxZE0yZ
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPAktG980P
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvW5O4jjzl
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyERAorOFh
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLdhtGDozU
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR68iQOAsSd
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLREBGynCVN
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mjCMJDdey
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH3XuDQf6Tq
Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSyGMaigRX
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsgMBOtnTF
Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw35jaGWi9c
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyPO7KjeJp
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpULy4bSdLa
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63w11IhnJ6
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivvAkrz6MF
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4RiFPu4yb
"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!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBCv2GSUMJ
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHs6erWouQ
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGflBzRNyp
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2THswDDQk
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwhybrNMXl
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWQ14GvAKw
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4AKvyViue
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWOk960RL9
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQvPhlbUco
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOtmKnoCY6
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NKCGPDm4Q
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3AqHSQ1JL
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1zqneRl4R
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGXpzIFUVw
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsenetpOsx
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJlVUVZrjN
"Hang on," said I..."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXMDjaLv8h
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiqp3KuR3F
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqOUKfYDC5
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ev8vlAtz7
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....427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrxGjJGTUT
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGV5YVxIVGT
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVMNewbxsSs
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFGyjOf5zxj
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOV5YCD8ZkL
"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."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76w7N64Env
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNB4UZd1Co
"Present premises excused," chipped in Abramovich.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkzLSJDQ8TY
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxbK9yjuh4n
"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."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxpzXQfREI5
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIUwxZE0yZ
"A brute needs the whip," quoted Abramovich.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPAktG980P
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvW5O4jjzl
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyERAorOFh
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLdhtGDozU
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR68iQOAsSd
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLREBGynCVN
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7mjCMJDdey
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Reluctantly, I conceded the fact.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSyGMaigRX
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Mishin nudged Abramovich in the ribs. "We've got ourselves a provincial bore. Sic the dogs on him, Rudolph!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw35jaGWi9c
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyPO7KjeJp
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpULy4bSdLa
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ63w11IhnJ6
As soon as those words were out, to my not very great surprise Yanovich became jealously hostile.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivvAkrz6MF
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt4RiFPu4yb
"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!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyBCv2GSUMJ
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHs6erWouQ
"Turning a blind eye," Abramovich dutifully supplied.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJGflBzRNyp
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2THswDDQk
"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?"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwhybrNMXl
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWQ14GvAKw
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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4AKvyViue
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWOk960RL9
Our turnip was shaken, but all the drink he had swilled gave him courage.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQvPhlbUco
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOtmKnoCY6
"You smart Muscovites haven't even heard! And it's the greatest mystery of the age."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NKCGPDm4Q
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3AqHSQ1JL
"If you don't tell me, then, by God, I'll beat the living shit out of you!"427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO1zqneRl4R
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGXpzIFUVw
"The explosion that devastated the Taiga. The visitor from beyond. You haven't heard."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDsenetpOsx
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"Hang on," said I..."427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXMDjaLv8h
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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.427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqOUKfYDC5
427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ev8vlAtz7
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....427Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrxGjJGTUT
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ns3.16.130.16da2
然後按「加至主畫面」