Frauleinstein

Chapter X: It's Alive!

Chapter X

It's Alive!

Dr. Pretorius stared at them. He held the jar and stared, his gaze sometimes straying to the jar but mostly centred on his two stooges. It had been several minutes, and both Dieter and Friedrich were beginning to feel a bit self-conscious.

"So, uh," said Dieter as he and Friedrich began backing out of the room. "If that's all, we're just going to the staff break room. But, you know, if you need anything else..."

"If I need anything else?" yelled Pretorius furiously. "If I need anything else! You haven't even explained this yet!" he screamed, indicating the brain floating in his arms.

"Well, it's a brain," said Friedrich, telling the doctor just about everything he understood about the situation.

"I can see it's a brain, you fool!" shouted the doctor. "I told you to bring me the body of Valeria Engel! So why have you brought me this?"

"I think you said for us to bring you her brain," Dieter suggested. "I'm pretty sure you said, 'Bring me Valeria Engel's brain.'"

"You wouldn't want the rest of her," Friedrich added. "There really wasn't much left that would have been any good to you."

Doctor Pretorius began to calm down, as at this point he couldn't say for sure what he might have said earlier. 'Bring me Valeria Engel's brain' did sound like the type of thing he might say in a dramatic moment.

"But how can I be sure this truly is Valeria Engel's brain?" he asked, holding up the jar to view the brain within.

"Well it was the only one that wasn't smash..." Friedrich started to say before Dieter kicked him.

"Oh don't worry about that, doc," said Dieter. "Everything was really well organized. All the drawers, and shelves, and jars and things. Everything in its place, filed away perfectly."

"That's right," said Friedrich. "Alphabetical, even."

"No mistake doc, that's your brain."

Doctor Pretorius was obviously thinking through the situation. "The brain is preserved in Formaldehyde. Do you know what formaldehyde preservative does to a brain?"

Dieter and Friedrich looked at each other. "Preserves it?" Dieter suggested with a shrug.

"It can cause irreversible cross-linking of the primary amino groups in the proteins," Pretorius explained. "There has also been damage to the cerebral cortex. It was obviously not removed with reuse in mind. The medulla is intact, though..."

"Well there you go," said Dieter encouragingly. "You got a good medulla, and that's a start!"

"Sure!" Friedrich joined in. "Rinse it out, scrape off the bad bits. It should be fine."

Pretorius looked dubious, but Dieter continued to encourage him. "This is a brain, doc, and brains is what you do! You can do this, you know you can!"

"Rinse it out? Scrape off the bad bits?" Pretorius considered the suggestion. "I suppose that a thorough rinse in distilled water could halt the effects of the formaldehyde. Then any damage could be carefully removed, and replaced with cells from the Austrian body's brain. Do you know, it's just as I stated in my thesis. They called me mad, at the Academy..."

"Not just at the Academy," said Friedrich.

"...but now, I'll prove them all wrong!"

Doctor Pretorius set the jar down on the laboratory table, threw some switches on the console behind him, and then put on a pair of rubber gloves with renewed enthusiasm. He turned to the brain, and removed the lid from the jar.