The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum

Chapter 10 ~ Magnetron Uncovers a Secret

"I want you to explain in detail how it has come to pass that my severed head is now displayed in your laboratory, and I want you to do so now!"

Suicide?  The concept was too alien, and insufficiently buffered to gain entrance to my consciousness.  I stammered like a dithering cretin for several interminable seconds until I was able to stammer a superfluous response: "K-k-k-illed yourself?"

"Yes, yes, killed myself.  It was an accident, of course." Dr. Hogalum offered a brief and dispassionate account of his death occurring after ingesting a powerful medication of his own formulation.  I absorbed little of the detail, so relieved was I to hear he had not purposely taken his own life.

But what of Petión's contention, that his spirit was profuse with the fervor of retribution?

"Twaddle!" was Dr. Hogalum's reply.  "I had formulated a remedy potent enough to rid me of a pernicious case of cancer, but also so concentrated as to teeter on the brink of toxicity.  Sadly, I miscalculated the dosage.  So you see, your Petión fellow is mistaken, Magnetron, as are you if you think you can sidestep my line of questioning by initiating your own.  I want you to explain in detail how it has come to pass that my severed head is now displayed in your laboratory, and I want you to do so now—without delay!"

I was quite unable to resist asking about his cancer—an explosive and hitherto undisclosed confidence—but Dr. Hogalum once again arrogated control of the exchange, forcing me to apologize again for my circumlocution.

I attempted with some difficulty to untangle the intricate sequence of events.  "As my plan advanced," I said at some point during my explanation, "I often felt as if I were in a complex labyrinth weighing innumerable options, each presenting itself unbidden.  As one course of action proved untenable, another potentiality arose to take its place, and at length, I arrived at an end I had scarcely foreseen at the outset.  And yet, looking backward, I can see but one path back to my starting point."

"As is often the case," concurred Dr. Hogalum, attempting rather ineffectively to nod his head.  "Now, please confine yourself to the pith of this particular path.  Precisely what have you planned for me that requires only my head?"

Dr. Hogalum ground his molars audibly as I described the brain's ability to direct the body with small electrical discharges which obliged muscles to contract.  At length, I declared with some immodesty that I believed a human brain—with the appropriate bridging apparatus—could attain the capacity to control machinery directly, without any manual interaction.

"Fascinating, Magnetron," Dr. Hogalum mocked.  "But what in blazes does this have to do with me?"

I strode toward my creation, which was concealed beneath an unremarkable sailcloth tarpaulin.  "Behold!" I said, suddenly aware that I had spent a lifetime wanting for the opportunity to issue that very command.  "I give you…" I intoned majestically, assuming a magnificent pose suitable to revealing my foremost invention.   I gave the release cord an efficient yank—thereby sundering an elaborate pulley system formerly affixed to a beam in the laboratory ceiling.

"Behold!" said I again, tugging at the irksome tarpaulin fabric.  "I give you…"  Struggling mightily, I finally managed to unveil my creation—a streamlined craft unlike any previously seen upon this Earth.  "I give you… The Caelestis!"