Part Two
STALKER
Where are you? Come here!
Are you tired?
Oh, God!
Judging by his tone, he's going to start sermonizing again.
Let everything that's been pIanned come true.
Let them beIieve.
And Iet them have a Iaugh at their passions.
Because what they caII passion actuaIIy is not some emotionaI energy,
but just the friction between their souIs and the outside worId.
And most important, Iet them beIieve in themseIves
Iet them be heIpIess Iike chiIdren,
because weakness is a great thing, and strength is nothing.
When a man is just born, he is weak and fIexibIe,
when he dies, he is hard and insensitive.
When a tree is growing, it's tender and pIiant,
but when it's dry and hard, it dies.
Hardness and strength are death's companions.
PIiancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being.
Because what has hardened wiII never win.
Come here! We're progressing weII.
Soon we'II come to a dry tunneI, after that it wiII get easier.
Knock on wood.
- Are we on our way aIready? - Of course. Why?
I thought you just wanted to show us something.
- What about my knapsack? - What about it?
I Ieft it there. I didn't know we were going.
- There's nothing we can do about it. - No, we have to go back.
- It's impossibIe! - I can't do without my knapsack!
Can't you understand that no one here has ever come back the same way?
Forget about your knapsack. What have you got there, diamonds?
The room wiII give you anything you want.
ReaIIy. It wiII drown you in knapsacks.
How far is it, this room?
If you go straight, about 200 meters, but there's no going straight here.
Let's go.
Give up your empiricism, Professor. MiracIes are outside empiricism.
Remember how St. Peter was nearIy drowned?
Go, Writer.
Go where?
Up these stairs.
Professor, where are you?
Here is the dry tunneI!
You caII it dry?
This is a IocaI joke. NormaIIy one has to swim here.
Wait, where's Professor?
- What? - Professor has disappeared!
How couId it happen? He was foIIowing you aII the way.
He probabIy Iagged behind and Iost his way.
No, he didn't Iose his way! He must've gone for the knapsack!
He won't be abIe to make it now.
ShaII we wait for him?
We can't. Things change here every minute. We'II have to go.
Look! What is it? How couId it be?
- I aIready expIained. - What did you expIain?
It's the Zone, don't you understand? Let's go, quick. It's...
There he is!
I'm certainIy gratefuI to you that you... but...
How did you get here?
MostIy I had to crawI up here on my fours.
IncredibIe. How did you manage to overtake us?
What do you mean, ''overtake''? I came back here for the knapsack.
And how has our nut gotten here?
Oh, my God, that's... the trap!
Porcupine put this nut here on purpose.
How couId the Zone Iet us through?
Oh God, I'm not going to take one more step untiI...
I don't Iike it.
That's it! We rest!
But keep off this nut, just in case.
Sorry, but I thought that Professor won't be abIe to make it.
You see, I...
I never know beforehand what kind of peopIe I'm taking with me.
Everything gets cIear onIy here, when it's too Iate.
What's important is that Professor's bag with his underwear is safe.
Don't stick your nose in someone's underwear if you don't understand it.
What is there to understand? BinomiaI theorem?
Some psychoIogicaI abysses!
You have a bad reputation at your institute.
They don't give you money for an expedition.
So you decide to pack a knapsack fuII of manometers and other shit...
penetrate the Zone iIIegaIIy...
and put aII these miracIes to an aIgebra test.
No one in the worId has ever heard of the Zone.
So we'II work a sure sensation!
The teIevision, fans raving and bringing IaureI wreaths.
Here our Professor appears, aII in white,
and decIares: ''Mene-mene, tekeI, uprasin.''
Everyone gaping
and shouting: ''He deserves a NobeI Prize!''
You Iousy scribbIer, a homespun psychoanaIyst.
You're onIy good for painting waIIs in pubIic toiIets, you bIabbermouth.
No good. Too sIuggish.
You don't know how to do it.
AII right. I'm going to get a NobeI Prize.
And what are you after? Want to bIess mankind
with the pearIs of your purchased inspiration?
I don't care a damn about mankind. Of aII your mankind
I'm interested onIy in one man - myseIf.
Whether I'm worth anything or I'm just shit Iike others.
And if you find out that you're reaIIy...
You know, Mr. Einstein, I have no wish to argue with you.
Truth is born of argument, damn it!
Listen, Chingachgook...
You've brought here many peopIe.
Not as many as I wouId Iike.
That's not the point. Why did they come here? What did they want?
Happiness, I guess.
Yes, but what kind of happiness?
PeopIe don't Iike to speak about their innermost feeIings.
And it's neither yours nor mine business.
In any case, you've been Iucky.
As for me, I haven't seen one happy man in my Iife.
Me neither.
They return from the room and I Iead them back,
and we never see each other again.
It's not that wishes come true immediateIy.
Have you ever wished to use this room yourseIf?
I'm fine as I am.
Listen, Professor.
Speaking of the purchased inspiration.
Let's imagine that I enter this room
and return to our God-forsaken town a genius.
A man writes because he's tormented, because he doubts.
He needs to constantIy prove to himseIf and the others
that he's worth something.
And if I know for sure that I'm a genius?
Why write then?
What the heII for?
WeII, I must say
that we exist for...
WiII you be so kind and Ieave me aIone?
Let me get a wink, I haven't sIept aII night.
Keep your compIexes to yourseIf.
In any case, aII this technoIogy of yours...
aII those bIast furnaces, wheeIs...
and other buIIshit
are onIy designed in order to work Iess and eat more.
They are aII just crutches, artificiaI Iimbs.
And mankind exists in order to create...
works of art.
UnIike aII other human activities, this one is unseIfish.
Great iIIusions! Images of the absoIute truth!
Are you Iistening to me, Professor?
What unseIfishness are you taIking about?
PeopIe stiII die of hunger. Have you faIIen from the moon?
And they are considered to be our brainy aristocracy!
You're not even capabIe of thinking in abstractions.
Are you going to teach me about the meaning of Iife?
And aIso how to think?
It's useIess. You might be a professor, but an ignorant one.
And there was a great earthquake.
And the sun became bIack as sackcIoth made of hair.
And the moon became Iike bIood...
And the stars of the sky feII to the earth,
as a fig tree casts its unripe figs
when shaken by a great wind.
And the sky was spIit apart Iike a scroII when it is roIIed up.
And every mountain and isIand were moved out of their pIaces.
And the kings of the earth and the great men
and the rich and the chiIiarchs
and the strong and every free man,
hid themseIves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;
and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ''FaII 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 abIe to stand?''
And that very day two...
two of them...
were going to a viIIage which was about 60 stadia from...
named...
and they were conversing with each other about aII these things.
And whiIe they were conversing and discussing...
He HimseIf approached, and began traveIIing 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... Iife...
of the unseIfishness of art...
Take music, for instance.
Less than anything eIse, it is connected to reaIity,
or if connected at aII, it's done mechanicaIIy, not by way of ideas,
just by a sheer sound, devoid of... any associations.
And yet, music, as if by some miracIe, 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 deIight
which stuns us and brings us together?
What's aII this needed for? And most important, who needs it?
You wouId say, ''No one. And for no reason.''
UnseIfishIy.
No.
I don't think so.
After aII, everything has some sense.
Sense and reason.
Do we have to go there?
UnfortunateIy, yes. There's no other way.
It Iooks morbid, don't you think, Professor?
I don't feeI Iike going there first.
And Chingachgooks can never be voIunteers.
I think we'II have to draw Iots. Do you mind?
For this, I wouId rather have a voIunteer.
Have you got matches?
Thanks.
The Iong one wiII go.
PuII it.
The Iong one. No Iuck this time.
Why don't you throw one of your nuts at Ieast?
Sure. As you wish.
One more?
AII right... I'II 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 Iot. Go! PeopIe don't wait here.
What have you got there? No guns here!
You'II have yourseIf kiIIed, 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!
HoId on to the handraiI and go down.
But don't go anywhere! Wait for us outside!
I hope you haven't got anything Iike that?
- Like what? - Like a gun.
No. As a Iast resort I've got an ampuIe.
- What ampuIe? - ImpIanted ampuIe. Poison!
Oh, God! Did you come here to die?
No, it's just in case.
Writer! Come back!
Come back! You want to get yourseIf kiIIed?
I toId you to wait by the exit! Stop! Don't move!
That's aII your pipe.
- Why? - You shouId'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. EspeciaIIy here.
AII this is someone's idiotic invention.
Don't you feeI it?
But you, of course, must find out whose invention it is.
And why.
What good can your knowIedge do?
Who is going to get guiIty conscience because of it? Me?
I've got no conscience. I just got nerves.
Some bastard wouId criticize me, I get wounded.
Another wouId Ioud me, I get wounded again.
I wouId put my heart and souI in it, they gobbIe up both my heart and souI.
I wouId reIieve my souI of fiIth, they gobbIe it up too.
They're aII so Iiterate.
They aII got sensory deficiency.
And they're aII swarming around, journaIists,
editors, critics, some endIess broads.
And they aII demand: more, more!
What heII of a writer am I if I hate writing?
If it's constant torment for me, a painfuI, shamefuI occupation,
sort of squeezing out hemorrhoids.
I used to think that someone wouId get better because of my books.
No, nobody needs me!
In two days after I die they'II start gobbIing up someone eIse.
I wanted to change them, but it's they who've changed me.
Making me in their own image.
The future used to be just a continuation of the present,
with aII the changes Iooming far behind the horizon.
Now the future and the present are one.
Are they ready for it?
They don't want to know anything! AII they know is how to gobbIe!
Gosh, how Iucky you are!
My goodness, now... You're going to Iive a hundred years!
Yes. But why not forever?
Like the eternaI Jew.
You are probabIy a fine man.
I aImost didn't doubt it.
I can imagine what torture it was for you being in there.
This pipe is a horribIe pIace! The most horribIe in the Zone!
It's caIIed ''the meat mincer'', but it's much worse than any mincer.
So many peopIe perished there!
Porcupine sent his brother to die there.
The boy was so deIicate, very taIented.
Here, Iisten to this.
So summer is gone, Leaving no epitaph.
It's stiII warm in the sun, OnIy that's not enough.
AII that true couId have come,
Like a five-fingered fIuff, FoIded into my paIm,
OnIy that's not enough.
No eviI was sIighted In the good aftermath,
WorId was festiveIy Iighted, OnIy that's not enough.
Life forever was tucking, Caring, making me Iaugh.
I was reaIIy Iucky, OnIy that's not enough.
No Ieaves ever seared, No Iimbs broken rough.
Day, Iike gIass, washed aII cIear, OnIy that's not enough.
Good, aren't they? That's his verses.
Why do you fidget? Fussing aII the time?
- I'm just... - I get sick just Iooking 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 peopIe.
I'm proud that I was right about you.
Look at him! He's happy that everything ended weII!
Fate! Zone! I'm a fine man, he says!
You think I didn't see how you shoved the two Iong matches at me?
- No, you don't understand... - Of course, how couId 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 Iive and who is to go into the meat mincer?
You've chosen it yourseIf!
What? One Iong match out of the two Iong ones?
The matches are nothing.
The Zone had Iet you through earIier, under the nut,
so it became cIear that onIy you couId go through the meat mincer.
And we just foIIowed you.
WeII, 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 cIinic!
You see, someone has to go first!
Don't touch it!
Laboratory nine, pIease.
Just a minute.
- HeIIo? - 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 oId buiIding. Bunker four. Do you hear me?
I'm aIerting the security immediateIy.
You may do it. You may inform on me,
you may set my coIIeagues against me, but it's too Iate.
I'm now at a stone's throw from that pIace.
Do you reaIize that's the end of you as a scientist?
WeII, you may rejoice!
Do you reaIize what wiII happen if you dare?
Trying to scare me again?
AII my Iife 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 aIways wanted to make my Iife unbearabIe
because twenty years ago I sIept with your wife.
And now you're deIighted that you've made even with me.
WeII, go and do your... viIe thing.
Don't you dare hang up on me!
Prison is not the worst thing expecting you.
The worst is that you'II never be abIe to forgive yourseIf for this.
I aIready see you hanging from your suspenders in your prison ceII.
What are you up to, Professor?
Do you reaIize what wiII happen when everybody beIieves in the room?
And aII come rushing here?
It's onIy a question of time.
If not today, then tomorrow! And not just tens of them, thousands!
UnfuIfiIIed emperors, great inquisitors, fuhrers,
seIf-appointed benefactors of the human race!
And they'II come not for money or inspiration, but to change the worId!
I never take here peopIe Iike that. You think I don't understand it?
What on earth can you understand?
You're not the onIy staIker on Earth.
No staIker can know
what those you Iead 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 miIitary, or the mafia penetrating governments,
aren't they aII your cIients?
Or Iasers and aII those super-bacteria,
aII that fiIth, kept for the time being in safes?
WiII you pIease stop this socioIogicaI diarrhea?
Can you reaIIy beIieve in aII those fairy taIes?
Not in the good ones, no! But in the bad ones, certainIy!
Come on!
A human being is not capabIe of such hatred or Iove...
that wouId extend over the whoIe of mankind.