by Paul Kane
My mouth fell open. “How could you know that I discovered body parts?”
“Logic. The newspaper account spoke of such a thing, and you come rushing in the door, obviously excited, even a little frightened. So if a severed arm was found there the other day, it stands to reason that you too discovered something of that nature. That is a bit of speculation, I admit, but it seems a fair analysis.”
I sat down in a chair. “It is accurate, but I have seen one thing that you can not begin to decipher, and it is more fantastic than even severed body parts.”
“An ape that ran upright?”
“Impossible!” I exclaimed. “You could not possibly know.”
“But I did.” Dupin paused a moment, lit his pipe. He seemed only mildly curious. “Continue.”
It took me a moment to collect myself, but finally I began to reveal my adventures.
“It was carrying a package of some kind. I believe it contained body parts because I found an arm lying in the burned wreckage, as you surmised. Something I believe the ape dropped.”
“Male or female?” Dupin said.
“What?”
“The arm, male or female?”
I thought for a moment.
“I suppose it was female. I didn’t give it considerable evaluation, dark as it was, surprised as I was. But I would venture to guess—and a guess is all I am attempting—that it was female.”
“That is interesting,” Dupin said. “And the ape?”
“You mean was the ape male or female?”
“Exactly,” Dupin said.
“What difference does it make?”
“Perhaps none. Was it clothed?”
“A hat and overcoat. Both of which it abandoned.”
“In that case, could you determine its sex?” Dupin asked.
“I suppose since no external male equipment was visible, it was most probably female.”
“And it saw you?”
“Yes. It ran from me. I pursued. It climbed to the top of a warehouse with its bag, did so effortlessly, and disappeared on the other side of the building. Prior to that, it tried to hit me with a trash receptacle. A large and heavy one it lifted as easily as you lift your pipe.”
“Obviously it failed in this endeavor,” Dupin commented. “How long did it take you to get to the other side of the ware-house, as I am presuming you made careful examination there as well?”
“Hasty would be a better word. By then I had become concerned for my own safety. I suppose it took the creature less than five minutes to go over the roof.”
“Did you arrive there quickly? The opposite side of the building, I mean?”
“Yes. You could say that.”
“And the ape was no longer visible?”
“Correct.”
“That is quite rapid, even for an animal, don’t you think?”
“Indeed,” I said, having caught the intent of Dupin’s question. “Which implies it did not necessarily run away, or even descend to the other side. I merely presumed.”
“Now, you see the error of your thinking.”
“But you’ve made presumptions tonight,” I said.
“Perhaps, but more reasonable presumptions than yours, I am certain. It is my impression that your simian is still in the vicinity, and did not scale the warehouse merely to climb down the other side and run down the street, when it could just as easily have taken the alley you used. And if the creature did climb down the other side, I believe it concealed itself. You might have walked right by it.”
That gave me a shiver. “I admit that is logical, but I also admit that I didn’t walk all that far for fear that it might be lurking about.”
“That seems fair enough,” Dupin said.
“There is something else,” I said, and I told him about the basement and the body parts floating in water. I mentioned the red cloud that lay thick against the moon.
When I finished, he nodded, as if my presentation was the most normal event in the world. Thunder crashed then, lightning ripped across the sky, and rain began to hammer the street; a rain far more vigorous than earlier in the evening. For all his calm, when Dupin spoke, I thought I detected the faintest hint of concern.
“You say the moon was red?”
“A red cloud was over it. I have never seen such a thing before. At first I thought it a trick of the eye.”
“It is not,” Dupin said. “I should tell you about something I have researched while you were out chasing ape-women and observing the odd redness of the night’s full moon—an event that suggests things are far more desperate than I first suspected.”
I had seated myself by this time, had taken up my own pipe, and with nervous hand, found matches to light it.
Dupin broke open one of the books near the candle. “I thought I had read of that kind of electric blue lightning before, and the severed limbs also struck a cord of remembrance, as did the ape—which is why I was able to determine what you had seen—and that gives even further credence to my suspicions. Johann Conrad Dippel.”
“Who?”
“Dippel. He was born in Germany in the late sixteen hundreds. He was a philosopher and something of a theologian. He was also considered a heretic, as his views on religion were certainly outside the lines of normal society.”
“The same might be said of us,” I remarked.
Dupin nodded. “True. But Dippel was thought to be an alchemist and a dabbler in the dark arts. He was in actuality a man of science. He was also an expert on all manner of ancient documents. He is known today for the creation of Dippel’s Oil, which is used in producing a dye we know as Prussian blue, but he also claimed to have invented an elixir of life. He lived for a time in Germany at a place known as Castle Frankenstein. This is where many of his experiments were performed, including one that led to such a tremendous explosion it destroyed a tower of the castle, and led to a breaking of his lease. It was said by those who witnessed the explosion that a kind of lightning, a blue-white lightning, lifted up from the stones to the sky, followed by a burst of flame and an explosion that tore the turret apart and rained stones down on the countryside.”
“So that is why you were so interested in the lightning, the story about it rising up from the warehouse instead of falling out of the sky?”
Dupin nodded, relit his pipe and continued. “It was rumored that he was attempting to transfer the souls of the living into freshly exhumed corpses. Exhumed clandestinely, by the way. He was said to use a funnel by which the souls of the living could be channeled into the bodies of the dead.”
“Ridiculous,” I said.
“Perhaps,” Dupin replied. “It was also said his experiments caused the emergence of a blue-white lightning that he claimed to have pulled from a kind of borderland, and that he was able to open a path to this netherworld by means of certain mathematical formulas gleaned from what he called a renowned, rare, and accursed book. For this he was branded a devil worshiper, an interloper with demonic forces.”
“Dupin,” I said. “You have always ridiculed the supernatural.”
“I did not say it was supernatural. I said he was a scientist that was branded as a demonologist. What intrigues me is his treatise titled Maladies and Remedies of the Life of the Flesh, as well as the mention of even rarer books and documents within it. One that was of special interest was called the Necronomicon, a book that was thought by many to be mythical.”
“You have seen such a book?”
“I discovered it in the Paris library some years ago. It was pointed out to me by the historian M—. No one at the library was aware of its significance, not even M—. He knew only of its name and that it held some historical importance. He thought it may have something to do with witchcraft, which it does not. I was surprised to find it there. I considered it to be more than a little intriguing. It led me to further investigations into Dippel as not only the owner of such a book, but as a vivisectionist and a resurrectionist. He claimed to have discovered a formula that wou
ld allow him to live for 135 years, and later amended this to eternal life.”
“Drivel,” I said. “I am surprised you would concern yourself with such.”
“It was his scientific method and deep understanding of mathematics that interested me. My dear friend, much of what has become acceptable science was first ridiculed as heresy. I need not point out to you the long list of scientists opposed by the Catholic Church and labeled heretics. The points of interest concerning Dippel have to do with what I have already told you about the similarity of the blue-white lightning, and the interesting connection with the found body parts, the ape, and the curious event of the blood-stained moon, which I will come back to shortly. Firstly, however, was Dippel’s mention of the rare book. The Necronomicon, written by Abdul Alhazred in 950 AD, partially in math equations and partly in verse. He was sometimes referred to as ‘The Mad Arab’ by his detractors, though he was also given the moniker of ‘Arab Poet of Yemen’ by those less vicious. Of course, knowing my penchant for poetry, you might readily surmise that this is what first drew my attention to him. The other aspect of his personality, as mathematician and conjuror, was merely, at that time, of side interest, although I must say that later in life he certainly did go mad. He claimed to have discovered mathematical equations that could be used to open our world into another where powerful forces and beings existed. Not gods or demons, mind you, but different and true life forms that he called ‘The Old Ones.’ It was in this book that Dippel believed he found the key to eternal life.”
“What became of Dippel?”
“He died,” Dupin said, and smiled.
“So much for eternal life.”
“Perhaps.”
“Perhaps? You clearly said he died.”
“His body died, but his assistant, who was imprisoned for a time, said his soul was passed on to another form. According to what little documentation there is on the matter, Dippel’s experiments were concerned with removing a person’s soul from a living form and transferring it to a corpse. It was successful, if his assistant, Hans Grimm, can be believed. Grimm was a relative of Jacob Grimm, the future creator of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. But of more immediate interest to us is something he reported, that a young lady Dippel was charmed by, and who he thought would be his companion, took a fall from a horse and was paralyzed. Grimm claimed they successfully transferred her soul from her ruined body into the corpse of a recently dead young lady, which had been procured by what one might call midnight gardening. She was ‘animated with life,’ as Grimm described her, ‘but was always of some strangeness.’ That is a direct quote.”
“Dupin, surely you don’t take this nonsense seriously.”
He didn’t seem to hear me. “She was disgusted with her new form and was quoted by Grimm as saying ‘she felt as if she was inside a house with empty rooms.’ She leaped to her death from Castle Frankenstein. Lost to him, Dippel decided to concentrate on a greater love—himself. Being short of human volunteers who wanted to evacuate their soul and allow a visitor to inhabit their living form, he turned to animals for experimentation. The most important experiment was the night he died, or so says Grimm.”
“The ancestor of the creator of Grimm’s Fairy Tales seems an unlikely person to trust on matters of this sort.”
“That could be. But during this time Dippel was having exotic animals shipped to him in Germany, and among these was a creature called a Chimpanzee. Knowing himself sickly, and soon to die, he put his experiments to the ultimate test. He had his assistant, Grimm, by use of the formula and his funnel, transfer his soul from his disintegrating shell into the animal, which in turn eliminated the soul of the creature; the ape’s body became the house of his soul. I should add that I have some doubts about the existence of a soul, so perhaps essence would be a more appropriate word. That said, soul has a nice sound to it, I think. The experiment, according to Grimm, resulted in an abundance of blue-white lightning that caused the explosion and left Grimm injured. In fact, later Grimm disappeared from the hospital where he was being held under observation and arrest for alchemy. He was in a room with padded walls and a barred window. The bars were ripped out. It was determined the bars were pulled loose from the outside. Another curious matter was that the room in which he was contained was three floors up, a considerable drop. How did he get down without being injured? No rope or ladder was found. It was as if he had been carried away by something unknown.”
“Come, Dupin, you cannot be serious? Are you suggesting this ape pulled out the bars and carried him down the side of the wall?”
“There are certainly more than a few points of similarity between the story of Dippel and the events of tonight, don’t you think? Consider your description of how effortlessly the ape climbed the warehouse wall.”
“But, if this is Dippel, and he is in Paris, my question is how? And his ape body would be old. Very old.”
“If he managed eternal life by soul transference, then perhaps the ape body does not age as quickly as would be normal.”
“If this were true, and I’m not saying I believe it, how would he go about his life? An ape certainly could not ride the train or stroll the street without being noticed.”
“I am of the opinion that Grimm is still with him.”
“But he would be very old as well.”
“Considerably,” Dupin agreed. “I believe that the body parts you saw are for Grimm. It is my theory that Grimm received a wound that put him near death when Castle Frankenstein blew up. Dippel saved him by transferring his soul to a corpse. Unlike Dippel’s lady love, he managed to accept the transfer and survived.”
“So why did Dippel go after the body parts himself? Wouldn’t he have Grimm procure such things? It would be easier for the one with a human body to move about without drawing so much attention.”
“It would. My take is that the human soul when transferred to the soul of a corpse has one considerable drawback. The body rots. The ape body was a living body. It does not; it may age, but not in the way it would otherwise, due to this transformation. Grimm’s body, on the other hand, has to be repaired from time to time with fresh parts. It may be that he was further damaged by the more recent explosion. Which indicates to me that they have not acquired the healthy ability to learn from their mistakes.”
“After all this time, wouldn’t Dippel have transferred Grimm’s essence, or his own, into a living human being? Why would he maintain the body of an ape? And a female ape at that?”
“My thought on the matter is that Dippel may find the powerful body of an ape to his advantage. And to keep Grimm bent to his will, to maintain him as a servant, he only repairs him when he wears out a part, so to speak. Be it male or female parts, it is a matter of availability. If Grimm’s soul were transferred into a living creature, and he could live for eternity, as male or female, then he might be willing to abandon Dippel. This way, with the ape’s strength, and Dippel’s knowledge of how to repair a corpse, and perhaps the constant promise of eventually giving Grimm a living human body, he keeps him at his side. Grimm knows full well if he leaves Dippel he will eventually rot. I think this is the Sword of Damocles that he holds over Grimm’s head.”
“That is outrageous,” I said. “And wicked.”
“Absolutely, but that does not make it untrue.”
* * *
I felt cold. My pipe had died, as I had forgotten to smoke it. I relit it. “It’s just too extraordinary,” I said.
“Yet the Necronomicon suggests it is possible.” With that, Dupin dug into the pile of books and produced a large volume, thrusting it into my hands. Looking at it, I saw that it was covered in leather, and that in the dead center was an eye-slit. I knew immediately what I was looking at was the tanned skin of a human face. Worse, holding the book I felt nauseous. It was as if its very substance was made of bile. I managed to open the book. There was writing in Arabic, as well as a number of mathematical formulas; the words and numbers appeared to crawl. I slammed the book shut agai
n. “Take it back,” I said, and practically tossed it at him.
“I see you are bewildered, old friend,” Dupin said, “but do keep in mind, as amazing as this sounds, it’s science we are talking about, not the supernatural.”
“It’s a revolting book,” I said.
“When I first found it in the library, I could only look at it for short periods of time. I had to become accustomed to it, like becoming acclimated to sailing at sea, and no longer suffering sea sickness. I am ashamed to admit, that after a short time I stole the book. I felt somehow justified in doing this, it being rarely touched by anyone—for good reason, as you have experienced— and in one way I thought I might be doing the world a justice, hiding it away from the wrong eyes and hands. That was several years ago. I have studied Arabic, read the volume repeatedly, and already being reasonably versed in mathematics, rapidly began to understand the intent of it. Though, until reading the newspaper account, I had been skeptical. And then there is Dippel’s history, the words of his companion, Grimm. I believe there is logic behind these calculations and ruminations, even if at first they seem to defy human comprehension. The reason for this is simple; it is not the logic of humans, but that of powerful beings who exist in the borderland. I have come to uncomfortably understand some of that logic, as much as is humanly possible to grasp. To carry this even farther, I say that Dippel is no longer himself, in not only body, but in thought. His constant tampering with the powers of the borderland have given the beings on the other side an entry into his mind, and they are learning to control him, to assist him in his desires, until their own plans come to fruition. It has taken time, but soon, he will not only be able to replace body parts, he will be capable of opening the gate to this borderland. We are fortunate he has not managed it already. These monsters are powerful, as powerful as any god man can create, and malicious without measure. When the situation is right, when Dippel’s mind completely succumbs to theirs, and he is willing to use the formulas and spells to clear the path for their entry, they will cross over and claim this world. That will be the end of humankind, my friend. And let me tell you the thing I have been holding back. The redness of the moon is an indication that there is a rip in the fabric of that which protects us from these horrid things lying in wait. Having wasted their world to nothing, they lust after ours, and Dippel is opening the gate so they might enter.”