Objectives of Progress

Ugr loudly swallowed saliva in his throat from hunger and said to his son:

"I found out where we could get a lot of food. Look up. Every evening the sun, dim and hunger-swollen, climbs underground and in the morning it is strong and bright again. So, there is plenty of delicious rich meat underground. But it is very difficult to get. If we approach the edge of the world, it will escape like a deer escapes a hunter. But we shall not pursue it. We just have to dig a hole so deep that it ends at the other side of the earth. We shall climb into this hole and eat sun food."

Ugr stood up and tore out a nearby lonely bush, creating a small hole in the ground. He squated near the pit and started to dig the dirt with his hands.

As time passed, his son whose name was also Ugr, grew up and began to help his father. The digging went faster, even more so that the son started to dig with a rock shard.

Ugr the Third dug with a quite decent stone chopper

Ugr the Fifth attached a handle to the chopper and created a pick.

Ugr the Ninth invented how to make a wooden casing in the pit. Now the hole rather resembled a mine.

Ugr the Fifteenth installed a pulley near the mine to carry the rock up in baskets.

Ugr the Thirty Second reached iron ore deposits and made the first metal hoe.

Ugr the Thirty Ninth started to work with a chisel hammer, and the Forty Fourth dynasty member was the first to operate a mining machine.

Soon it became hot in the mine, so Ugr the Forty Eighth set up water cooling system.

Ugr the Fifty Third used a drilling device for penetration, which was replaced by pin-point blasting. Ugr the Fifty Seventh was the first to use it.

Ugr the Sixty Second reached magmatic associations and the work was brought to a standstill. Only Seventy Fourth Ugr moved forward, using liquid nitrogen cooling. Ugr the Seventy Fifth replaced nitrogen with helium, to almost no effect.

The great inventor, Ugr the Eighty Seventh, used all his mighty genius to deepen the pit. He created plasma holders and the work was in full swing again.

Materials with condensed electrone shells synthesized by Ugr the Ninety Sixth allowed to pass the core of the earth.

Materials with condensed electrone shells synthesized by Ugr the Ninety Sixth allowed to pass the core of the earth.

All these scientific advances were summarized by Ugr the Ninety Ninth, who constructed a universal underground rover relying on them.

Finally, Ugr the Hundredth made his way to the surface in his father's machine. It was early morning there. Tender breese was stirring fruit trees' crowns, huge coconuts were falling from coco-trees. Ugr took a look at the surroundings, quickly undressed, climbed into the biggest tree and plunged his teeth into the golden pulp of a fruit.

His eyes quickly dulled to a vacant gaze.

(c) Sviatoslav Loginov, 1990
(c) Translation from Russian - Denis Lianda, 2002
(c) Proofreading - Faina Khait, 2002

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