WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:06.040 Section fourteen of we featuring Records twenty eight and twenty nine. 2 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:10.839 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in 3 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:14.679 the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please 4 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:21.920 visit LibriVox dot org. Wei by Yevgenizamutin, translated by Gregory Zilberg, 5 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:28.039 Record twenty eight. Both of them entropy and energy the 6 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:32.200 opaque part of the body. If your world is similar 7 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.759 to the world of the ancients, then you may easily 8 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:37.920 imagine that one day you suddenly come upon a sixth 9 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.200 or seventh continent, upon some atlantis, and you find they 10 00:00:42.200 --> 00:00:46.159 are unheard of cities, labyrinths, people flying through the air 11 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:49.600 without the aid of wings or arrows, stones lifted into 12 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.439 the air by the power of a gaze. In brief, 13 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:55.960 imagine that you see things that cannot come to your mind, 14 00:00:56.119 --> 00:00:59.280 even if you suffer from dreamsickness. That is how I 15 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:02.920 feel now. For you must understand that no one has 16 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:05.480 ever gone beyond the Green Wall since the two hundred 17 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:08.680 Years War. As I already have told you, I know 18 00:01:08.760 --> 00:01:11.319 that it is my duty to you, my unknown friends, 19 00:01:11.719 --> 00:01:15.560 to give more details about that unsuspected, strange world which 20 00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:18.400 opened to me yesterday. But for the time being, I 21 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:22.359 am unable to return to that subject. Everything is so novel, 22 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:25.040 so novel. It is like a rainstorm, and I am 23 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:27.760 not big enough to collect it all. I spread out 24 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:31.040 the folds of my unif my palms, and yet palefuls 25 00:01:31.079 --> 00:01:34.359 splashed past me, and only drops can reach these pages. 26 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:38.519 At first I heard behind me behind the door a 27 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:41.879 loud voice. I recognized her voice, the voice of I 28 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:46.719 three thirty, tense, metallic, and another one almost inflexible, like 29 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:49.920 a wooden ruler, the voice of you. Then the door 30 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:51.680 came up and with a crack, and both of them 31 00:01:51.719 --> 00:01:55.200 shot into the room. Shot is the right word. I 32 00:01:55.239 --> 00:01:57.079 three thirty put her hand on the back of my 33 00:01:57.239 --> 00:02:00.280 armchair and smiled over her shoulder, but only with her 34 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:03.200 teeth at you. I should not care to stand before 35 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:06.879 such a smile. Listen, she said to me. This woman 36 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:08.800 seems to have made up her business to guard you 37 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:11.520 from me like a little child. Is it with your permission? 38 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:14.719 But he is a child, Yes, that is why he 39 00:02:14.759 --> 00:02:17.159 does not notice that you that it is only in 40 00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:20.680 order that all this is only a foul game. Yes, 41 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:24.280 and it is my duty. For a second, in the mirror, 42 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:28.840 the broken, trembling line of brows. I leaped, controlling with difficulty, 43 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.800 the other self within me, the one with the hairy fists, 44 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:35.240 with difficulty, pushing every word through my teeth. I cried 45 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:38.560 straight into her face, into her very gills, Get out 46 00:02:38.599 --> 00:02:41.840 of here at once, Out at once. The gills swelled, 47 00:02:41.879 --> 00:02:45.319 it first into brick red lumps, then fell and became gray. 48 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.680 She opened her mouth to say something, but without a word, 49 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:51.599 she slammed it shut and went out. I threw myself 50 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:55.000 towards I three thirty. Never, never will I forgive myself. 51 00:02:55.319 --> 00:02:58.960 She dared you, But you don't think to you that 52 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:02.080 you that she This is all because she wants to 53 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:05.479 register on me, But I fortunately she will not have 54 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:08.639 time for that now. Besides, even a thousand like her, 55 00:03:08.919 --> 00:03:12.120 I don't care. I know you will not believe that thousand, 56 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:15.840 but only me, for after all that happened yesterday, I 57 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:18.680 am all yours, all to the very end, as you 58 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.599 wanted it. I am in your hands. You can now 59 00:03:21.639 --> 00:03:25.400 at any moment what, At any moment, but at once 60 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:29.439 I understood what. My blood rushed to my ears and cheeks. 61 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:32.639 Don't speak about that. You must never speak about that. 62 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:37.879 The other I my former self. But now how do 63 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.639 I know? Man is like a novel up to the 64 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:42.919 last page, one does not know what the end will be. 65 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:46.639 It would not be worth reading otherwise. She was stroking 66 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:49.000 my head. I could not see her face, but I 67 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:51.159 could tell by her voice that she was looking somewhere, 68 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:54.199 very far into the distance. She hooked herself to that 69 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:58.080 cloud which was floating silently slowly, no one knows where to. 70 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:04.439 Suddenly she pushed me away with her hand, firmly but tenderly. Listen, 71 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:07.159 I came to tell you that perhaps we are now 72 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:10.759 our last days. You know, don't you? That all auditoriums 73 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:15.080 are to be closed after tonight closed. Yes, I passed 74 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:19.519 by and saw that in all auditoriums preparations are going on, tables, 75 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:22.639 medics in all white. But what does it all mean? 76 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:26.240 I don't know. Nobody knows as yet. That is the 77 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:28.920 worst of it. I only feel the current is on, 78 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:33.439 the spark is jumping, and if not today then tomorrow. Yet, 79 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:36.920 perhaps they will not have time for a long while. 80 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:40.199 I have ceased to understand who are they and who we? 81 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:43.800 I do not understand what I want. Do I want 82 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.959 them to have or not to have? Enough? Time. One 83 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:49.279 thing is clear to me. I three point thirty is 84 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:52.279 now on the very edge, on the very edge, and 85 00:04:52.319 --> 00:04:55.680 in one second more. But it is folly, I said, 86 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:59.040 you versus the United State. It is the same as 87 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:00.959 if you should cover the muzzle of a gun with 88 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:03.879 your hands and expect that way to prevent the shot. 89 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:09.040 It is absolute folly. A smile. We must all go 90 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:12.959 insane as soon as possible, go insane. It was yesterday, 91 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:16.920 do you remember. Yes, she was right. I had even 92 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:21.519 written it down. Consequently, it really took place in silence. 93 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:24.319 I looked into her face at that moment. The dark 94 00:05:24.360 --> 00:05:29.639 cross was especially distinct. I dear, before, it is too late. 95 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:33.319 If you want, I'll leave everything. I'll forget everything and 96 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:36.480 will go there beyond the wall, to them. I do 97 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.199 not even know who they are. She shook her head. 98 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:42.560 Through the dark windows of her eyes, I saw within 99 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:46.360 her a flaming oven sparks, tongues of flame, and above 100 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:49.439 them a heap of dry tari wood. It was clear 101 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:51.959 to me that it was too late. My words could 102 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:55.839 be of no avail. She stood up, She would soon leave. 103 00:05:56.519 --> 00:05:59.240 Perhaps these were the last days or the last minutes, 104 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:03.560 asked her hand, No stay a little while longer, for 105 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:07.279 the sake. For the sake, she slowly lifted my hand 106 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:10.600 towards the light, my hairy paul, which I detest. I 107 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:14.680 wanted to withdraw it, but she held it tightly your hand. 108 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.040 You undoubtedly don't know, and very few do that women 109 00:06:19.120 --> 00:06:21.560 from here occasionally used to fall in love with them. 110 00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:24.600 Probably there are in you a few drops of that 111 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:27.319 blood of the sun and the woods. Perhaps that is 112 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:32.360 why I silence. It was so strange that because of 113 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:36.480 that silence, because of an emptiness of nothing, my heart 114 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:40.040 should beat so wildly. I cried, Ah, you shall not 115 00:06:40.120 --> 00:06:42.399 go yet, you shall not go until you tell me 116 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.040 about them, For you love them. And I do not 117 00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:48.439 even know who they are, nor where they come from. 118 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:53.600 Who were they? The half we have lost h two 119 00:06:53.920 --> 00:06:57.360 and oh two halves. But in order to get water 120 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:02.959 h two oh creeks, seas, waterfalls, storms, it is necessary 121 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:07.519 that those two halves be united. I distinctly remember every 122 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.480 movement of hers. I remember she picked up a glass 123 00:07:10.519 --> 00:07:13.399 triangle from my table, and while she talked, she pressed 124 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:16.800 its sharp edge against her cheek. A white scar would appear, 125 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:19.439 then it would fill again and become pink and disappear, 126 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:22.839 And it is strange that I cannot remember her words, 127 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:26.519 especially the beginning of the story. I remember only different 128 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:30.000 images and colors. At first, I remember she told me 129 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.279 about the two hundred years war. Red color on the 130 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:36.120 green of the grass, on the dark clay, on the 131 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:39.720 pale blue of the snow, everywhere, red ditches that would 132 00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:44.000 not become dry. Then yellow yellow grass burned by the sun. 133 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:47.759 Yellow naked wild men and wild dogs side by side, 134 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:51.959 near swollen cadavers of dogs or perhaps of men. All 135 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.639 this certainly beyond the walls, for the city was already 136 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:59.439 the victor, and it possessed already our present day petroleum food. 137 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:03.920 And at night, down from the sky, heavy black folds. 138 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:08.480 The folds would swing over the woods, the villages blackish red, 139 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:12.959 slow columns of smoke, a dull, moaning, endless strings of 140 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:15.920 people driven into the city to be saved by force 141 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:20.079 and to be whipped into happiness. You knew almost all this, 142 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:25.120 yes almost, But you did not know, and only a 143 00:08:25.160 --> 00:08:28.040 few did that A small part of them remained together 144 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.360 and stayed to live beyond the wall. Being naked, they 145 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:35.440 went into the woods. They learned there from the trees, beasts, birds, 146 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.399 flowers and sun hair soon grew over their bodies, but 147 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.200 under that hair they preserved their warm red blood. With you, 148 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:47.200 it was worse. Numbers covered your bodies, Numbers crawled over 149 00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:50.279 you like lice. One ought to strip you of everything, 150 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.879 and naked you ought to be driven into the woods. 151 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:56.240 You ought to learn how to tremble with fear, with joy, 152 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:59.320 with wild anger, with cold. You should pray to fire. 153 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:03.320 And we Mefi, we want Oh, wait a minute, MEPhI, 154 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:07.879 what does it mean, MEPhI? It is from Mephisto, you 155 00:09:07.960 --> 00:09:10.320 remember there on the rock the figure of the youth? 156 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:12.919 Or no, I shall explain it to you in your 157 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:16.039 own language, and you will understand better. There are two 158 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:20.240 forces in the world, entropy and energy. One leads into 159 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:25.360 blessed quietude, to happy equilibrium. The other did the destruction 160 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:31.679 of equilibrium to torturingly perpetual motion. Are, or rather your ancestors, 161 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:35.360 the Christians worshiped entropy like a god, But we are 162 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:38.840 not Christians. We at that moment a slight whisper was 163 00:09:38.840 --> 00:09:41.799 suddenly heard a knock at the door, and rushed that 164 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:44.799 flattened man with the forehead low over his eyes, who 165 00:09:44.840 --> 00:09:47.200 several times had brought me notes from I three thirty. 166 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:50.799 He ran straight to us, stopped, panting like an air pump, 167 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.639 and could say not a word, as he must have 168 00:09:52.679 --> 00:09:56.080 been running at top speed. But tell me what has happened. 169 00:09:56.360 --> 00:09:59.120 I three thirty grasped him by the hand. They are 170 00:09:59.159 --> 00:10:03.120 coming here, panted the air pump, with guards and with them. Now, 171 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:06.600 what's his name? The hunchback s, yes, they are in 172 00:10:06.679 --> 00:10:10.440 the house by this time. They'll be here soon, quick, quick, nonsense, 173 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:14.200 we have time. I three thirty was laughing, cheerful sparks 174 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:18.120 in her eyes. It was either absurd senseless courage, or 175 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:21.759 else there were something I did not yet understand. Ay, dear, 176 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.159 for the sake of the well doer, you must understand 177 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.759 that this for the sake of the well doer, the 178 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:33.159 sharp triangle smile. Well, well, for my sake, I implore you. Oh, yes, 179 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:35.720 I wanted to talk to you about some other matters. Well, 180 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:40.639 never mind, we'll talk about them tomorrow. And cheerfully, Yes, cheerfully, 181 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:43.519 she nodded to me. The other came out for a 182 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:47.080 second from under his forehead's awning and nodded also. I 183 00:10:47.159 --> 00:10:51.799 was alone. Quick to my desk, I opened this manuscript 184 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:53.960 took the pin so that they should find me at 185 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.559 this work, which is for the benefit of the United States. 186 00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:00.840 Suddenly I felt every hair on my head living, separated, moving, 187 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:03.639 What if they should read even one page of these 188 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.080 most recently written motionless? I sat at the table, but 189 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.679 everything around me seemed to be moving, as if the 190 00:11:09.759 --> 00:11:13.279 less than microscopic movements of the atoms suddenly were magnified 191 00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:16.720 millions of times. And I saw the walls trembling, my 192 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:20.840 pen trembling, and the letters swinging and fusing together to 193 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:24.679 hide them, but where glass all around to burn them, 194 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:27.120 but they would notice the fire through the corridor and 195 00:11:27.159 --> 00:11:31.000 in the neighboring room. Besides, I felt unable, I felt 196 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:34.720 too weak to destroy this torturing and perhaps the dearest 197 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:38.799 piece of my own self voices from a distance from 198 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.840 the corridor and steps. I had only time to snatch 199 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:44.440 a handful of pages and put them under me, and then, 200 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:47.279 as if soldered to the armchair, every atom of which 201 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.399 was quivering, I remained sitting while the floor on my 202 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:53.039 feet rolled like the deck of a ship, up and down, 203 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.720 all shrunk together and hidden under the awning of my 204 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:00.559 own forehead. Like that messenger, I watched them stealthily. They 205 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:03.200 were going from room to room, beginning right at the 206 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:07.120 end of the corridor. Nearer nearer. I saw that some 207 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:10.159 sat in their rooms torpid like me. Others would jump 208 00:12:10.279 --> 00:12:13.320 up and open their doors wide, lucky ones. Only I 209 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:17.200 could too. The well doer is the most perfect fumigation 210 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:21.480 humanity needs. Consequently, no peristalsis in the organism of the 211 00:12:21.559 --> 00:12:25.759 United States. Could I was writing this nonsense, pressing my 212 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.919 trembling pin hard and lower and lower, my head bent 213 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:32.360 over the table, and within me some sort of crazy forge. 214 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:35.039 With my back I was listening, and I heard the 215 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:38.120 click of the doorknob, a current of fresh air. My 216 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:42.000 armchair was dancing a mad dance. Only then, and even then, 217 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:45.480 with difficulty, I tore myself away from the page, turned 218 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:48.279 my head in the direction of the newcomers. How difficult 219 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:51.080 it is to play a foul game. In front of 220 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:55.519 all was s morose, silent, swiftly drilling with his eyes 221 00:12:55.639 --> 00:12:59.240 deep shafts within me, within my armchair, within the pages 222 00:12:59.240 --> 00:13:02.200 which were twitching in my hands. Then, for a second, 223 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:05.519 familiar every day faces at the door. One of them 224 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:09.200 separated itself from the rest with its bulging pinkish brown gills. 225 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:12.200 At once I recalled everything that happened in the same 226 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:14.519 room half an hour ago, and it was clear to 227 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:18.000 me that they would Presently. All my being was shriveling 228 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:21.360 and pulsating in that fortunately opaque part of my body 229 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:24.639 with which I was covering the manuscript. You came up 230 00:13:24.679 --> 00:13:27.320 to s gently plucked his sleeve and said, in a 231 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:30.879 low voice, this is D five O three, the builder 232 00:13:30.919 --> 00:13:33.519 of the integral. You have probably heard of him. He 233 00:13:33.559 --> 00:13:36.039 is always like that at his desk, does not spare 234 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:40.519 himself at all. And I thought, what a dear, wonderful woman. 235 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:44.200 S slid up to me, bent over my shoulder towards 236 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:46.679 the table. I covered the lines I had written with 237 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.559 my elbow, but he shouted severely, show us at once 238 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:52.799 what you have there, please. Dying with shame, I held 239 00:13:52.840 --> 00:13:55.240 out the sheet of paper. You read it over, and 240 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:57.639 I noticed a tiny smile jump out of his eyes, 241 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:01.000 jumped down his face, and slightly wagging it tail perched 242 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:06.200 upon the right angle of his mouth. Somewhat ambiguous. Yet well, 243 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:09.639 you may continue. We shall not disturb you anymore. He 244 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:11.799 went splashing towards the door, as if in a ditch 245 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.240 of water, and with every step of his I felt 246 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:16.960 coming back to me my legs, my arms, my fingers, 247 00:14:17.360 --> 00:14:20.799 My soul again distributed itself evenly over my whole body. 248 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:25.200 I breathed the last thing. You lingered in my room 249 00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.279 to come back to me and say in my very 250 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:30.080 ear in a whisper, it is lucky for you that 251 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:33.919 I I did not understand what did she mean by that? 252 00:14:34.679 --> 00:14:37.720 The same evening I learned that they led away three numbers. 253 00:14:37.960 --> 00:14:40.960 Although nobody speaks out loud about that, or about anything 254 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.879 that happened, this substensible silence is due to the educational 255 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:47.799 influence of the Guardians, who were ever present among us. 256 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:51.240 Conversations deal chiefly with the quick fall of the barometer 257 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:56.840 and the forthcoming change in the weather record. Twenty nine 258 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:02.960 threads on the face sprouts a natural compression. It is 259 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:06.840 strange the barometer continues to fall, yet there is no wind. 260 00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:10.759 There is quiet above. The storm, which we do not 261 00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:13.919 yet hear, has begun. The clouds are rushing with a 262 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:18.240 terrific speed. There are few of them as yet separate fragments. 263 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:20.960 It is as if there above us an unknown city 264 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:24.200 were being destroyed, and pieces of walls and towers were 265 00:15:24.279 --> 00:15:28.159 rushing down, coming nearer and nearer with terrific speed. But 266 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.559 it will take some days of rushing through the blue 267 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:34.159 infinite before they reached the bottom, that is us. Below, 268 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:40.519 and below there is silence. There are thin, incomprehensible, almost 269 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:43.600 invisible threads in the air every autumn. They are brought 270 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:47.360 here from beyond the wall. They float slowly, and suddenly 271 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:50.360 you feel something foreign and invisible in your face. You 272 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.960 want to brush it off, but no, you cannot rid 273 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:56.240 yourself of it. You feel it especially near the green wall, 274 00:15:56.279 --> 00:15:58.960 where I was this morning, I three point thirty made 275 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.600 an appointment with me to meet her in the ancient house, 276 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:05.039 in that apartment of ours. I was not far from 277 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:08.440 the rust red, opaque mass of the ancient house when 278 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:11.480 I heard behind me, short hasty steps and rapid breathing. 279 00:16:12.159 --> 00:16:14.879 I turned around and saw ninety trying to catch up 280 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:19.480 to me. She seemed strangely, imperfectly rounded her arms and breast. 281 00:16:19.759 --> 00:16:22.519 Her whole body so familiar to me, was rounded out, 282 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.480 stretching her unif. It seemed as though it would soon 283 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:27.960 tear the thin cloth and come out into the sun, 284 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:30.639 into the light. I think that there in the green 285 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:34.840 debris in springtime, the unseen sprouts try thus to tear 286 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:37.240 their way through the ground in order to emit their 287 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:40.559 branches and leaves and to bloom. For a few seconds, 288 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:43.440 she shone into my face with her blue eyes in silence. 289 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:47.919 I saw you on the day of unanimity. I saw 290 00:16:47.960 --> 00:16:51.519 you too, I at once remembered below, in a narrow passage, 291 00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:54.759 she had stood, pressing herself to the wall, protecting her 292 00:16:54.759 --> 00:16:58.080 abdomen with her arms, and automatically I glanced now at 293 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:01.279 her abdomen, which rounded the unuf. She must have noticed, 294 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:04.480 for she became pink and with a rosy smile. I 295 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:07.960 am so happy, so happy. I am so full of you, 296 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:11.079 understand I am. I walk and I hear nothing around me, 297 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:15.160 and all the while I listen within within me, I 298 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:18.759 was silent. Something foreign was shadowing my face, and I 299 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:22.279 was unable to rid myself of it. Suddenly, all shining 300 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:25.400 light blue, she caught my hand. I felt her lips 301 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:27.799 upon it. It was for the first time in my life. 302 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:31.039 It was some ancient caress as yet unknown to me. 303 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:33.759 And I was so ashamed, and it pained me so 304 00:17:33.880 --> 00:17:36.839 much that I swiftly, I think, even roughly, pulled my 305 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:41.599 hand away. Listen, you are crazy, it seems in anyway 306 00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:44.240 you What are you happy about? Is it possible that 307 00:17:44.279 --> 00:17:46.599 you forget what is ahead of you? If not now, 308 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:50.079 then within a month or two, her light went out, 309 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:54.160 her roundness sagged and shrank, and in my heart an unpleasant, 310 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:58.799 even a painful compression mixed with pity. Our heart is 311 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.319 nothing less than an idea. Pump a compression i e. 312 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:05.759 A shrinking at the moment of pumping is a technical absurdity. 313 00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:11.079 Hence it is clear how essentially absurd, unnatural, and pathological 314 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:14.880 all these loves and pities, et cetera, et cetera, which 315 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:20.960 create that compression. Silence to the left, the cloudy green 316 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:24.400 glass of the wall, and just ahead the dark red mass. 317 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:28.119 Those two colors combined gave me as the resultant what 318 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.799 I thought was a splendid idea. Wait, I know how 319 00:18:31.799 --> 00:18:34.319 to save you. I shall save you from to see 320 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:36.640 one's own child for only a few moments and then 321 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:38.880 be sent to death. No, you shall be able to 322 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.880 bring it up. You shall watch it and see it 323 00:18:40.920 --> 00:18:44.200 grow in your arms and ripen like a fruit. Her 324 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:46.799 body quivered, and she seemed to have changed herself to me. 325 00:18:47.880 --> 00:18:50.960 Do you remember that woman I three thirty, that of 326 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:54.359 of long ago, who during that walk, while she is 327 00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:56.920 now right here in the ancient house, Let us go 328 00:18:57.000 --> 00:18:58.640 to her, and I assure you that I shall arrange 329 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:02.720 matters at once. I already pictured us I three thirty, 330 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:05.799 and I leading O ninety through the corridors. Then how 331 00:19:05.799 --> 00:19:09.359 she would be brought amidst flowers, grass and leaves. But 332 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:12.359 oh ninety stepped back, the little horns of her rosy 333 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:17.200 crescent trembling and bending downwards. Is she that same one? 334 00:19:17.720 --> 00:19:22.640 She asked? That is I was confused for some reason? Yes, 335 00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:25.799 of course that very same? And do you want me 336 00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:29.000 to go to her to ask her to? Don't you 337 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:32.440 ever dare to say another word about it? Leaning over, 338 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:36.200 she walked away. Then, as if she remembered something, she 339 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:39.440 turned round and cried, I shall die. Be it so? 340 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:44.240 And it is none of your business? What do you care? Silence? 341 00:19:45.799 --> 00:19:49.319 From above, pieces of blue towers and walls were falling 342 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:53.319 downward with terrific speed. They will have perhaps hours or 343 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.240 days to fly through the infinite unseen threads were slowly 344 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:01.119 floating through the air, planting themselves upon my face, and 345 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.279 it was impossible to brush them off. Impossible to rid 346 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:08.359 myself of them. I walked slowly toward the ancient house, 347 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:12.720 and in my heart I felt that absurd, tormenting compression. 348 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.440 End of Section fourteen.