I happened to obtain a copy of this correspondence between Teodore Sturm and Morley Sorley, shortly after the screening event at the Lubbock Flatland Film Festival. Enjoy...
Teodore Sturm writes:
Morley, I received your recent communication only yesterday-I'm in the Gobi doing research on pre-Tibetan chariot hubcaps. I know, I know, out of place out of time- but you have to follow the artifacts. I think these hubcaps may have been originally obtained by Jean Francios Gerbillon, a French Jesuit priest that crossed this desert in the 1600s.
Since our laptop batteries exploded some weeks ago, your email was sent to us by the most ingenious courier service. We are many days out from Ulaanbaatar. We have an email drop there but the only service to us is by train (which coincidentally, has also exploded!) However, there is a small but thriving butterfly courier service.
Here is how it works.
1) your message arrives at Ulan...
2) local artisans with the most incredible microscopic eyesight, paint with tiny brushes, your email message onto the wings of local butterflies (always 3 for redundancy)
3) the butterflies are released to follow a special pheromone that we took with us to our camp.
Ausgezeichnet! - I received your message perfectly about the reunion in Lubbock celebrating Guy Fawkes day. Incredible no? We do a modified reverse of this to send messages.
I must report my health is of some concern since I am recovering from the bite of an air-snake (my ear). These Gobi denizens have inflatable bladders which they fill with ingested air. When the sun rises enough to produce localized heating in the snakes, but the ambient air is still somewhat cool, these reptiles can hover and glide for an hour or two in the early morning or late twilight. Few people die from these bites but they have sometimes intolerable side effects which in my case will remain unnamed. The blast of it is you just cannot hear them approaching when they are in glide mode. We now put sticks into our back collars that will protrude above our heads. Kind of a very primitive London WWII balloon barrage principle. This has proved to be somewhat successful but they are very clever.
I must go now, my passion, my arbeiten, awaits. Try to contact that remarkably tall fellow who always seemed to be at the fringes of our last meeting some 27 years ago. The information I have is - (email address removed to prevent spam) In my heart of hearts I believe this might be a fell address so take your usual precautions.
The very best regards Morley and as always I am,
Very truly yours,
T. Sturm
