Frankenstein Theory Read Online Free PDF

growled.
    With breath and thought paused, I waited.
    Nothing. The heart remained still.
    “ I don’t understand, Doctor. Every calculation was exact. I am never wrong with such things.”
    Igor dismissed himself and returned to the converter. The machine was an iron wall of knobs, levers, gauges, and wires. Igor’s knowledge of the machine was as intimate as that of a lover. The wretched man knew nothing else. He saw Galvani as God and bioelectricity as his mistress.
    I extracted the paddles and tossed them, unceremoniously, to the stone floor. They clattered and clanked to a stop. Igor lowered his goggles and blinked against the flickering lamplight.
    “ What did we do wrong, Victor?”
    Igor had only ever referenced me by title or surname. Hearing the monstrous tone of his voice wrap itself around my first name was disconcerting.
    “ We did nothing wrong, Mr. Fishka. The spark of life was too long removed from the vessel. I knew this would be a profound obstacle.”
    Igor shuffled in close to me. “How do we surmount the issue?”
    I spun around to face the cadaver and plunged my gloved hands into the melange. What, only moments before, had been a sacred altar of possibility was nothing more than an offensive, rotting stew. I pulled away handfuls of gut and tissue and tossed them to the floor.
    “ We feed the vermin to rid us of our misgivings.”
    I turned to Igor and tilted my head slowly from one side to the other. “And we start anew—this time, however, without waging a war against entropy.”
    Igor shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
    To help explain our dilemma, I snatched up a scalpel, sliced the heart from Henry’s thorax, and held it toward Igor. “This is too far removed from life to be considered anything but meat. The heart that once beat so true within the breast of my dearest Henry may as well be nothing more than last night’s roast. What we need, Igor, is a donor that has yet to be blessed by the hooded figure of death.”
    “ What good would it do to attempt to give life to the living?”
    Igor’s ignorance brought a bout of much-needed laughter. “How well-connected are you to the local coroner?”
    “ Why do you ask, Doctor?”
    “ We are in need of a service only a man such as he can provide.”
    Igor wheezed. “I’m listening.”
    “ Would you say the office is held by a just and fair man?”
    Igor unleashed a throaty laugh that punished his larynx. “How long has it been since you’ve had any dealings with the local government? It is as corrupt as any you will ever find. A slip of a coin and you can have your way with any official. Prostitution, gambling, profiteering, laundering…all welcome trade.” Igor revealed a smile filled with blackened and cracked teeth. “Tell me what it is you desire and I will endeavor to make it happen.”
    I covered the corpse and removed my gloves in silence. Igor stood by my side, a patient sentinel, awaiting orders. When I turned back to the little man, I thought certainly he would soil his trousers with anticipation.
    “ What we need for this study is a body with life freshly removed. Based on what I have witnessed thus far, I would say no more than twelve hours dead. Is it within the realm of the possible that you can, in some way, procure such a subject?”
    Igor nodded. “It may require the greasing of palm with coin, but it can be done.”
    “ The Frankenstein purse strings shall open wide for this endeavor.”
    Without another word, Igor vanished from the laboratory. The silence was a joyous backdrop to the chaos running rampant within my mind.
     
    xXx
     
    As I pulled the secret door to the laboratory closed, the scurrying sound of rats fell victim to the silence of darkness. It was at this same moment, each night when I departed from my work, that I felt disconnected from self, from soul. All that inspired me lay within the depths and wells of Castle Frankenstein. The trivialities beyond the boundaries of science meant