The seats around the lecture hall were full. This part of the course was always popular. After all, it was a chance to hear from a master and to see his work first hand - not an opportunity that many people would have. Everything had been set out, ready for today's lecture. All that was needed now was the professor.
A hush fell as an unassuming man in a green surgeon's smock took to the stage. He looked around the room, waiting for silence to fall. Then his voice rang out clearly from behind his mask. "Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for being prompt. I am pleased to see so many of you here. Allow me introduce myself. I am known as the Surgeon."
He paused for a minute, gauging the reaction of his audience before continuing. 'Truth," he said. "That is what we all seek. There are many philosophers who would debate the nature of truth." He held out his hands long enough for the nurse accompanying him to help him put on a pair of latex gloves.
"Thank you," the Surgeon said. He turned his attention back to the audience. "Some would say there is no such thing as an objective truth." The Surgeon could see that his audience was starting to grow restless. "But we do not concern ourselves with such arcana. Here, we believe in an objective and personal truth."
The Surgeon gestured. From the area behind the stage, a pair of men in orderlies' uniforms brought in what looked like the mutant offspring of a dentist's chair and a wheelchair. Strapped within its embrace was a naked body. The audience leaned forward as one, their interest renewed. The Surgeon allowed himself a momentary smile of satisfaction.
"In our case, we are interested in the truth concerning our subject." As the Surgeon talked, he busied himself around the stage. "Our subject exists. Our subject is here. But what is our subject concealing from us?"
The nurse wheeled over a microphone stand, placing its black bulb close to the mouth of the man in the chair. There was an audible click, and the sound of panicked breathing could be heard over the halls' public address system.
"We shall endeavour to find out what our subject knows. We shall pit our skills and our knowledge against our subject's fortitude and foolishness." The Surgeon went to a small instrument table and picked up a scalpel. He held it up to the light, so that everyone in the hall could see it. "And we will find out what our subject knows, even if we have to cut it out."
Once again, the Surgeon paused and looked around the lecture hall. Everyone's attention was focussed on him. "Watch and learn, ladies and gentlemen. Watch and learn."
