Page:Evgenii Zamyatin - We (Zilboorg translation).pdf/173

Rh RECORD THIRTY

The Last NumberGalileo’s MistakeWould It Not Be Better?

Here is my conversation with I-330, which took place in the Ancient House yesterday in the midst of loud noise, among colors which stifled the logical course of my thoughts, red, green, bronze, saffron yellow, orange colors and all the while under the motionless, marble smile of that snub-nosed ancient poet.

I shall reproduce the conversation word for word, for it seems to me that it may have an enormous and decisive importance for the fate of the United State—more than that, for the fate of the universe. Besides, in reading it, you, my unknown readers, may find some justification for me. I-330, without preliminaries, at once brought everything down upon my head.

“I know that the day after tomorrow the first trial trip of the Integral is to take place. On that day we shall take possession of it.”

“What! Day after tomorrow?”

“Yes. Sit down and don’t be upset. We cannot afford to lose a minute. Among the hundreds who were arrested yesterday there are twenty Mephis. To let two or three days pass means that they will perish.”

I was silent.

“As observers on the trial trip they will send electricians,