And there was a great earthquake.
And the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair.
And the moon became like blood...
And the stars of the sky fell to the earth,
as a fig tree casts its unripe figs
when shaken by a great wind.
And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up.
And every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
And the kings of the earth and the great men
and the rich and the chiliarchs
and the strong and every free man,
hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;
and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ''Fall on us
and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb,
for the great day of His wrath has come,
and who is able to stand?''
And that very day two...
two of them...
were going to a village which was about 60 stadia from...
named...
and they were conversing with each other about all these things.
And while they were conversing and discussing...
He Himself approached, and began travelling with them.
But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.
And He said to them: ''What are these words...
you are exchanging with one another, and why are you sad?''
And one of them, named...
Are you awake?
You were speaking of the meaning...
of our... life...
of the unselfishness of art...
Take music, for instance.
Less than anything else, it is connected to reality,
or if connected at all, it's done mechanically, not by way of ideas,
just by a sheer sound, devoid of... any associations.
And yet, music, as if by some miracle, gets through to our heart.
What is it that resonates in us in response to noise brought to harmony,
making it the source of the greatest delight
which stuns us and brings us together?
What's all this needed for? And most important, who needs it?
You would say, ''No one. And for no reason.''
Unselfishly.
No.
I don't think so.
After all, everything has some sense.
Sense and reason.
Do we have to go there?
Unfortunately, yes. There's no other way.
It looks morbid, don't you think, Professor?
I don't feel like going there first.
And Chingachgooks can never be volunteers.
I think we'll have to draw lots. Do you mind?
For this, I would rather have a volunteer.
Have you got matches?
Thanks.
The long one will go.
Pull it.
The long one. No luck this time.
Why don't you throw one of your nuts, at least?
Sure. As you wish.
One more?
All right... I'll go.
Hurry up, Professor!
There's... There's a door here!
Go that way! Open the door and go in!
Me again? Do I have to go in first again?
You've drawn the lot. Go! People don't wait here.
What have you got there? No guns here!
You'll have yourself killed, and us too!
Don't you remember the tanks?
Drop it, I beg you.
Don't you understand?
If something happens, I can save you, but not this way...
I beg you! Who are you going to fire at?
Go, we haven't got much time!
There's water here!
Hold on to the handrail and go down.
But don't go anywhere! Wait for us outside!
I hope you haven't got anything like that?
- Like what? - Like a gun.
No. As a last resort I've got an ampule.
- What ampule? - Implanted ampule. Poison!
Oh, God! Did you come here to die?
No, it's just in case.
Writer! Come back!
Come back! You want to get yourself killed?
I told you to wait by the exit! Stop! Don't move!
That's all your pipe.
- Why? - You should've gone in there first.
He was so scared that he went the wrong way.
One more experiment.
Experiments, facts, truth of the highest instance.
There's no such thing as facts. Especially here.
All this is someone's idiotic invention.
Don't you feel it?
But you, of course, must find out whose invention it is.
And why.
What good can your knowledge do?
Who is going to get guilty conscience because of it? Me?
I've got no conscience. I just got nerves.
Some bastard would criticize me, I get wounded.
Another would loud me, I get wounded again.
I would put my heart and soul in it, they gobble up both my heart and soul.
I would relieve my soul of filth, they gobble it up too.
They're all so literate.
They all got sensory deficiency.
And they're all swarming around, journalists,
editors, critics, some endless broads.
And they all demand: more, more!
What hell of a writer am I if I hate writing?
If it's a constant torment for me, a painful, shameful occupation,
sort of squeezing out a hemorrhoids.
I used to think that someone would get better because of my books.
No, nobody needs me!
In two days after I die they'll start gobbling up someone else.
I wanted to change them, but it is THEY who've changed me.
Making me in their own image.
The future used to be just a continuation of the present,
with all the changes looming far behind the horizon.
Now the future and the present are one.
Are they ready for it?
They don't want to know anything! All they know is how to gobble!
Gosh, how lucky you are!
My goodness, now... You're going to live a hundred years!
Yes. But why not forever?
Like the eternal Jew.
You are probably a fine man.
I almost didn't doubt it.
I can imagine what torture it was for you being in there.
This pipe is a horrible place! The most horrible in the Zone!
It's called ''the meat mincer'', but it's much worse than any mincer.
So many people perished there!
Porcupine sent his brother to die there.
The boy was so delicate, very talented.
Here, listen to this.
So, summer is gone, Leaving no epitaph.
It's still warm in the sun, Only that's not enough.
All that true could have come,
Like a five-fingered fluff, Folded into my palm,
Only that's not enough.
No evil was slighted In the good aftermath,
World was festively lighted, Only that's not enough.
Life forever was tucking, Caring, making me laugh.
I was really lucky, Only that's not enough.
No leaves ever seared, No limbs broken rough.
Day, like glass, washed all clear, Only that's not enough.
Good, aren't they? That's his verses.
Why do you fidget? Fussing all the time?
- I'm just... - I get sick just looking at you!
I'm so happy! It's not often that everyone who goes makes it.
You did everything right. You're good, kind, honest people.
I'm proud that I was right about you.
Look at him! He's happy that everything ended well!
Fate! Zone! I'm a fine man, he says!
You think I didn't see how you shoved the two long matches at me?
- No, you don't understand... - Of course, how could I?
I'm sorry, Professor, no offense meant,
but this jerk has chosen you to be his favorite.
Come on, it's unfair!
And me, a second-rate creature, he shoves into that pipe!
Meat mincer! To think of such a word!
What right have you got to decide
who is to live and who is to go into the meat mincer?
You've chosen it yourself!
What? One long match out of the two long ones?
The matches are nothing.
The Zone had let you through earlier, under the nut,
so it became clear that only you could go through the meat mincer.
And we just followed you.
Well, it's too much...
You can't even imagine how dangerous it is to make a mistake here.
But someone had to be first!
Yes? No, it's not a clinic!
You see, someone has to go first!
Don't touch it!
Laboratory nine, please.
Just a minute.
- Hello? - I hope I'm not disturbing you.
- What do you want? - Just a few words with you.
You've hidden it. I've found it.
The old building. Bunker four. Do you hear me?
I'm alerting the security immediately.
You may do it. You may inform on me,
you may set my colleagues against me, but it's too late.
I'm now at a stone's throw from that place.
Do you realize that's the end of you as a scientist?
Well, you may rejoice!
Do you realize what will happen if you dare?
Trying to scare me again?
All my life I've been afraid of something. Even of you.
But now I'm not afraid of anything, I assure you.
Oh God, you are not even a Herostratos.
It's just that you've always wanted to make my life unbearable
because twenty years ago I slept with your wife.
And now you're delighted that you've made even with me.
Well, go and do your... vile thing.
Don't you dare hang up on me!
Prison is not the worst thing expecting you.
The worst is that you'll never be able to forgive yourself for this.
I already see you hanging from your suspenders in your prison cell.
What are you up to, Professor?
Do you realize what will happen when everybody believes in the room?
And all come rushing here?
It's only a question of time.
If not today, then tomorrow! And not just tens of them, thousands!
Unfulfilled emperors, great inquisitors, fuhrers,
self-appointed benefactors of the human race!
And they'll come not for money or inspiration, but to change the world!
I never take here people like that. You think I don't understand it?
What on earth can you understand?
You're not the only stalker on Earth.
No stalker can know
what those you lead bring with them and what they take from here.
And the number of unmotivated crimes is on the rise!
Isn't that your doing?
Take coups d'etat by the military, or the mafia penetrating governments,
aren't they all your clients?
Or lasers and all those super-bacteria,
all that filth, kept for the time being in safes?
Will you please stop this sociological diarrhea?
Can you really believe in all those fairy tales?
Not in the good ones, no! But in the bad ones, certainly!
Come on!
A human being is not capable of such hatred or love...
that would extend over the whole of mankind.
Well, money, a woman, maybe a desire for revenge,
let my boss be overrun by a car, that I can understand.
But ruling over the world! A just society!
God's kingdom on earth!
These are not just wishes, this is ideology, action, concepts.
Unconscious compassion is not ready for realization yet.
As a regular instinctive impulse.
There cannot be happiness at someone else's expense.
I can see quite clearly now
that you plan to overwhelm mankind with good deeds.
As for me, I'm not a bit worried about you or myself,
and least of all about mankind.
Because you're not going to achieve anything.
At best you'll get your Nobel Prize.
Or rather you'll get something absolutely incongruous,
something you don't even think about. Something like this telephone...
You dream of one thing, but you get quite another.
Why did you do that?
Telephone... electricity...
Look, very good sleeping pills.
They don't make ones like that any longer. Why so many of them here?
Maybe we'd better be going?
It will be dark soon... Difficult to come back.
By the way, it's absolutely clear to me
that all this poem reciting and making detours
is just a form of apologizing.
I can understand you. Difficult childhood, bad environment...
But don't have any illusions, I'm not going to forgive you.
Will you please stop it, do me a favor.
Professor, come here, please.
Wait a minute. Don't be in a hurry.
I'm in no hurry whatsoever.
I know, you're going to get mad.
Anyway, I must tell you...
We are now... on the threshold...
This is the most important moment in your life.
You must know that...
Your innermost wishes will be made real here.
Your most sincere wish! Born of suffering!
No need to say anything.
You just have to...
concentrate and try to recall your whole life.
When a man thinks of the past, he becomes kinder.
And most important...
Most important...
You have to believe!
Now you can go.
Who wants to be the first?
Maybe, you?
Me? No, I don't want to.
I understand, it's not easy, but it will pass.
I doubt...
that it will pass.
If I begin recalling my life,
it's very unlikely I'll get any kinder.
Besides, don't you feel how shameful the whole thing is?
Humiliating yourself, sniveling, praying?
What's so bad in praying?
It's just your pride speaking.
Calm down, you're not ready yet. It happens quite often.
Maybe, you first?
Yes, me.
We see before us Professor's new invention!
An appliance exploring human souls! Soulmeter!
It's only a bomb.
What?
You must be kidding.
No, it's just a bomb. Twenty kilotons.
What for?
We had it assembled with my friends.
With my former colleagues.
This place will never bring any happiness to anyone.
But if this thing gets into the wrong hands...
Though, I'm not sure any more.
We came to the conclusion then...
that we shouldn't destroy the Zone, after all.
Even if it's some miracle, it's still part of nature,
and therefore, a hope in a sense.
They had hidden that bomb, and I've found it.
The old building, bunker four.
I guess there must be a principle...
Never do anything that cannot be undone.
I understand everything, I'm not some maniac.
But as long as this plague lies in the open, accessible to any scum,
I can get no peace, no sleep.
Or maybe, my innermost won't let me do it?
Poor man, some problem he's invented for himself.
Give it to me!
You're a civilized man, aren't you?
- Why? What's the matter with you? - You, lousy hypocrite...
Why? What have I done... to you?
He wants to destroy your hope!
That's all people have got left on this earth!
It's the only place they can come to,
if there's no hope left for them.
You yourself have come here!
Why destroy hope then?
Shut up!
I can see through you!
You don't give a damn about people!
You just make money, using our... anguish!
It's not even the money.
You're enjoying yourself here. You're like God Almighty here.
You, a hypocritical louse, decide who is to live and who is to die.
He deliberates!
Now I see why you stalkers never enter the room yourselves.
You revel in all that power, that mystery, your authority!
What else is there to wish for?
It's not true! You... you're mistaken.
A stalker must not enter the room.
A stalker must not even enter the Zone with an ulterior motive.
Remember Porcupine?
Yes, you're right, I'm a louse.
I haven't done any good in this world, and I can't do any.
I couldn't give anything even to my wife.
I can't have any friends either. But don't take from me what's mine!
They'd already taken everything from me back there, behind the barbed wire.
So all that's mine is here. You understand? Here! In the Zone!
My happiness, my freedom, my self-respect, it's all here!
I bring here people like me, desperate and tormented.
People who have nothing else to hope for.
And I can help them!
No one else can help them, only I, the louse, I can!
I'm so happy to be able to help them that I want to cry.
And that's all. I don't want anything more.
I don't know. Maybe.
Anyway, excuse me, but...
You're just a God's fool.
You have no idea what's going on here.
Why do you think Porcupine hanged himself?
He came to the Zone with a mercenary motive.
He made his brother die in the meat mincer because of money.
I know. But why did he hang himself?
Why didn't he come here again, not for money, but for his brother?
In way of repenting.
He wanted to... I don't know. He hanged himself a week later.
Because he realized that not just any wish comes true here,
but only your innermost wish.
Not what would you holler at the top of your voice...
Coming true here is only what's in line with your nature,
with your essence, of which you know nothing.
But it's there, in you... directing you all your life.
You didn't understand anything, Leather Stocking.
It wasn't greed that had done Porcupine in.
He was crawling in this puddle, begging to bring his brother back.
But what he got was only money, and he couldn't get anything else,
because render unto Porcupine the things that are Porcupine's!
And things like conscience, anguish, they are just inventions.
He realized that and hanged himself.
I'm not going to your room.
I have no wish to pour my filth over somebody's head.
Even yours.
And then to put my neck into the noose, like Porcupine.
I'd rather drink myself to death in my mansion, in peace and quiet.
You don't understand anything about human beings, Chingachgook,
if you take to the Zone people like me.
And something else...
Why do you think that this miracle really exists?
Who told you that wishes actually come true here?
Have you seen a single man who's been made happy here?
Was it Porcupine?
As a matter of fact, who told you about the Zone,
about Porcupine, about that room?
He did.
Then it makes no sense to me at all.
What's the use coming here?
It's so quiet...
Can you feel it?
What the heck... Why not chuck it all,
take my wife, Monkey, and move over here.
For good.
There's no one here. No one can hurt them here.
So you're back.
Where did you get this?
He got attached to me. I couldn't leave him there.
Well, shall we go? Monkey is waiting.
Are you coming?
Does any one of you need a dog?
I've got five of them at home.
So you love dogs, don't you?
What?
That's very good.
All right, let's go.
You can't even imagine how tired I am!
God only knows!
Calling themselves intellectuals, those writers and scientists!
Don't get so excited.
They don't believe in anything!
They've got the organ with which one believes, atrophied for lack of use.
Stop it. Come on. Go to bed. Don't lie here...
It's too damp here for you... You shouldn't lie here.
Take it off.
Oh God, what people...
Calm down, it's not their fault.
You ought to pity them, not to be angry with them.
Haven't you seen them? They've got empty eyes.
The only thing they can think about...
is how to sell themselves not too cheap!
How to get as much as possible for their every emotional movement!
They know they were ''born for a purpose'', ''called upon''!
After all, they live ''only once''!
Can people like that believe in anything?
Stop it, calm down.
Try to sleep, will you? Go to sleep.
And nobody believes. Not only those two. Nobody!
Whom am I going to take there?
Oh, God...
And what's most awful...
is that no one needs it.
No one needs that room. And all my efforts are just in vain.
Why do you say that? Stop it.
I'm not going there with anybody, again.
Do you want me to go with you?
Where?
You think I've got nothing to ask for?
No...
You can't go there.
Why not?
No, no.
What if it wouldn't work with you, either?
You know, my mother was against it.
You've probably noticed already that he's not of this world.
All our neighborhood laughed at him.
He was such a bungler, he looked so pitiful.
My mother used to say: ''He's a stalker,
he's doomed, he's an eternal prisoner!
Don't you know what kind of children the stalkers have?''
And I... I didn't even argue with her.
I knew it all myself, that he was doomed,
that he was an eternal prisoner, and about the children.
Only what could I do?
I was sure I would be happy with him.
Of course, I knew I'd have a lot of sorrow, too.
But it's better to have a bitter happiness than...
a gray, dull life.
Perhaps, I thought it all up later.
But then he approached me and said: ''Come with me.''
And I did, and never regretted it.
Never.
We had a lot of sorrow,
a lot of fear, and a lot of shame.
But I never regretted it, and I never envied anyone.
It's just our fate, our life, that's how we are.
And if we haven't had our misfortunes, we wouldn't have been better off.
It would have been worse.
Because in that case, there wouldn't have been any happiness.
And there wouldn't have been any hope.
I love your eyes, my darling friend,
Their play, so passionate and bright'ning,
When a sudden stare up you send,
And like a heaven-blown lightning,
It'd take in all from end to end.
But there's more that I admire:
Your eyes when they're downcast
In bursts of love-inspired fire,
And through the eyelash goes fast
A somber, dull call of desire...
The End