1
00:00:00,334 --> 00:00:03,295
(Pulsing and crackling)

2
00:00:39,707 --> 00:00:42,501
(Pulsing and crackling fades)

3
00:00:49,842 --> 00:00:54,513
I am Adrian Tripod,
the Director of this place,

4
00:00:54,597 --> 00:00:56,766
the House of Skin.

5
00:00:57,975 --> 00:01:02,605
In a sense, my present
incarnation was generated

6
00:01:03,773 --> 00:01:07,860
by the mad dermatologist
Antoine Rouge.

7
00:01:09,820 --> 00:01:13,657
The House of Skin
began its existence

8
00:01:13,741 --> 00:01:17,369
as a residential clinic
for wealthy patients

9
00:01:17,453 --> 00:01:22,249
who were treated for
severely pathological skin conditions

10
00:01:22,333 --> 00:01:25,753
induced by
contemporary cosmetics.

11
00:01:41,185 --> 00:01:44,605
(Rhythmic croaking and birds tweeting)

12
00:01:58,661 --> 00:02:01,831
Antoine Rouge,
who at the time,

13
00:02:01,914 --> 00:02:05,918
was considered little more
then a gifted technician

14
00:02:06,001 --> 00:02:09,130
seized control of the house
many years ago

15
00:02:09,213 --> 00:02:13,217
and guided it towards
a more fantastic species of research.

16
00:02:15,594 --> 00:02:20,224
There was much opposition
to the Rougian ascendancy

17
00:02:20,307 --> 00:02:22,518
in certain high places.

18
00:02:29,150 --> 00:02:33,112
(Indistinct atmospheric sounds)

19
00:03:25,372 --> 00:03:28,417
(Cawing)

20
00:04:09,291 --> 00:04:12,378
(Buzzing)

21
00:04:35,484 --> 00:04:40,572
The House is undeniably in decline.

22
00:04:43,534 --> 00:04:48,414
Somehow, without
my direct comprehension of it,

23
00:04:49,748 --> 00:04:54,378
it has fallen into the hands
of my two sullen interns.

24
00:04:57,589 --> 00:05:00,134
Their purposes

25
00:05:00,217 --> 00:05:02,803
are entirely opaque to me.

26
00:05:04,471 --> 00:05:08,892
As are the purposes
of so many others.

27
00:05:23,198 --> 00:05:26,118
Before the disappearance
of Antoine Rouge,

28
00:05:27,619 --> 00:05:31,373
there were many strange creatures
in residence here.

29
00:05:33,959 --> 00:05:38,547
But for some time now,
there has only been one.

30
00:05:39,923 --> 00:05:42,051
And he...

31
00:05:45,137 --> 00:05:47,806
...I believe, I have noted

32
00:05:49,391 --> 00:05:54,313
a whitish, aerated
amorphous affluence

33
00:05:54,396 --> 00:05:57,191
oozing from his ears.

34
00:05:59,234 --> 00:06:01,737
I am not quite certain.

35
00:06:04,490 --> 00:06:07,534
My interns have also noted
the deadly emergence

36
00:06:07,618 --> 00:06:12,790
of this secretion
which we call Rouge's foam.

37
00:06:13,957 --> 00:06:17,127
(Whimpering)

38
00:07:57,603 --> 00:07:59,813
(Rhythmic pulsing)

39
00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,059
(Rapid rhythmic pulsing)

40
00:08:39,228 --> 00:08:42,022
(Pulsing stops)

41
00:09:46,128 --> 00:09:50,924
(Wind howling, birds tweeting)

42
00:10:11,862 --> 00:10:14,698
(Ghostly sounds)

43
00:10:47,814 --> 00:10:50,484
It has been mandatory
to cremate all those

44
00:10:50,567 --> 00:10:53,278
who have died from Rouge's Malady.

45
00:10:53,362 --> 00:10:56,990
Although during the period
of secretion and haemorrhage,

46
00:10:57,074 --> 00:11:01,620
the various pathological fluids
are relatively harmless,

47
00:11:01,703 --> 00:11:05,624
even essentially attractive.

48
00:11:07,501 --> 00:11:10,796
These fluids soon develop

49
00:11:10,879 --> 00:11:14,675
a virulence
which can be devastating.

50
00:11:16,009 --> 00:11:21,723
There was a time
when Rouge's Malady appeared

51
00:11:21,807 --> 00:11:25,727
only in post-pubertal
human females.

52
00:11:30,107 --> 00:11:32,609
(Repetitive hooting and birds tweeting)

53
00:12:20,323 --> 00:12:27,247
It is perhaps natural
that in my present confusion

54
00:12:28,415 --> 00:12:34,129
I should find my way to
the Institute of Neo-Venereal Disease.

55
00:12:37,758 --> 00:12:41,553
In the exhilarating days
of Rougian administration,

56
00:12:41,636 --> 00:12:46,308
there was much collaboration
between the House and this institute.

57
00:12:56,777 --> 00:13:00,280
(Crackling)

58
00:13:51,081 --> 00:13:52,666
(Bird tweeting)

59
00:13:52,749 --> 00:13:58,463
My former colleague
has somehow withdrawn.

60
00:14:00,006 --> 00:14:02,300
He himself has contracted

61
00:14:02,384 --> 00:14:06,429
a species of venereal disease
from one of his patients.

62
00:14:08,098 --> 00:14:11,017
He was once a fierce sensualist

63
00:14:12,102 --> 00:14:15,730
but he has now become
a pure metaphysician.

64
00:14:17,148 --> 00:14:21,278
His body has begun
to create puzzling organs.

65
00:14:21,361 --> 00:14:24,948
Each one very complex, very perfect,

66
00:14:25,031 --> 00:14:30,120
unique yet seemingly
without function.

67
00:14:32,163 --> 00:14:34,291
As each is surgically removed,

68
00:14:34,374 --> 00:14:38,545
it is quickly replaced by another
equally mysterious.

69
00:14:42,841 --> 00:14:46,386
He has taken to breaking
into the specimens room

70
00:14:47,470 --> 00:14:50,849
and stealing the jars
containing these organs.

71
00:14:53,602 --> 00:14:57,564
His body, he insists, is a galaxy.

72
00:14:57,647 --> 00:15:00,275
And these creatures
are solar systems.

73
00:15:02,027 --> 00:15:04,779
He becomes melancholy
when they are far from him.

74
00:15:06,239 --> 00:15:08,950
His nurse says that his disease

75
00:15:09,034 --> 00:15:13,204
is possibly
a form of creative cancer.

76
00:15:15,123 --> 00:15:17,792
I believe that this is
what they have said.

77
00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:21,755
It is difficult
to recall so many dialects

78
00:15:21,838 --> 00:15:25,300
when one has remained
so long in isolation.

79
00:15:59,709 --> 00:16:02,337
(Crackling)

80
00:16:43,420 --> 00:16:45,422
I have found a position
as a therapist

81
00:16:45,505 --> 00:16:48,049
with the Oceanic Podiatry Group.

82
00:16:49,050 --> 00:16:51,302
They support
their theoretical structure,

83
00:16:51,386 --> 00:16:56,141
in part, by a grossly
distorted interpretation

84
00:16:56,224 --> 00:17:00,311
of the later evolutionary writings
of Antoine Rouge.

85
00:17:03,398 --> 00:17:08,737
Still the closeness of certain
Rougian concepts is comforting.

86
00:17:11,990 --> 00:17:15,410
The technique I am to attempt
is the invocation

87
00:17:15,493 --> 00:17:17,829
of the genetic history of feet.

88
00:17:18,872 --> 00:17:23,585
That is, tentacles, lobed fins,
flippers and so on.

89
00:17:25,462 --> 00:17:29,215
By these
and other more esoteric means,

90
00:17:29,299 --> 00:17:33,344
I am to reverse
the psychic relapse, now so common,

91
00:17:33,428 --> 00:17:37,140
which can occur
under intense genetic pressure.

92
00:17:39,017 --> 00:17:42,103
I am, thereby,
to encourage patients

93
00:17:42,187 --> 00:17:45,356
to bear the burden
of a suddenly alien gravity.

94
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,525
To walk, for example,

95
00:17:47,609 --> 00:17:52,363
when they would prefer to revert
to more primitive oceanic forms.

96
00:18:36,991 --> 00:18:39,994
(Chirping)

97
00:18:50,547 --> 00:18:54,759
(Chirping grows louder)

98
00:19:04,894 --> 00:19:06,688
(Chirping stops)

99
00:20:42,033 --> 00:20:46,204
(Rattling)

100
00:21:32,834 --> 00:21:36,754
(Rapid whirring)

101
00:22:09,037 --> 00:22:11,581
(Grows louder)

102
00:22:19,672 --> 00:22:21,549
(Silence)

103
00:22:41,152 --> 00:22:43,654
(Cawing)

104
00:22:48,076 --> 00:22:50,536
(Cawing grows louder)

105
00:23:13,309 --> 00:23:16,771
(Chirping)

106
00:23:28,282 --> 00:23:31,661
(Rhythmic beeping)

107
00:24:09,323 --> 00:24:11,409
(Silence)

108
00:24:55,161 --> 00:24:57,997
(Seagull squawking)

109
00:26:55,406 --> 00:26:58,451
(Mechanical engine sound)

110
00:28:33,379 --> 00:28:36,048
(Electronic sounds)

111
00:29:31,145 --> 00:29:33,773
I have achieved
a sort of equilibrium

112
00:29:33,856 --> 00:29:37,568
in my anonymity here
at Metaphysical Import-Export.

113
00:29:38,778 --> 00:29:41,906
It has been simple
to remain aloof

114
00:29:41,989 --> 00:29:44,700
from the internal workings
of this corporation

115
00:29:44,784 --> 00:29:48,746
because as a minor
intramural courier

116
00:29:48,829 --> 00:29:51,373
I am not required
to communicate

117
00:29:51,457 --> 00:29:55,628
with many candidates
for executive positions with whom I deal.

118
00:29:56,921 --> 00:29:58,756
As a consequence, however,

119
00:29:59,965 --> 00:30:03,469
I am uncertain
as to what constitutes

120
00:30:03,552 --> 00:30:08,849
the significance of their incessant
exercises and competitions.

121
00:32:57,101 --> 00:33:00,145
(Water gushing)

122
00:33:43,814 --> 00:33:48,027
When Antoine Rouge disappeared

123
00:33:48,110 --> 00:33:52,448
soon after he had himself
contracted the disease

124
00:33:52,531 --> 00:33:54,742
which bears his name,

125
00:33:56,493 --> 00:34:00,914
we believed that
he had preferred to die alone

126
00:34:02,082 --> 00:34:06,003
in an exile only partially self-willed.

127
00:34:08,547 --> 00:34:15,262
Still, he on one occasion
remarked that Rouge's Malady

128
00:34:15,345 --> 00:34:18,390
could not possibly be fatal to Rouge

129
00:34:19,558 --> 00:34:23,896
though it had already killed
hundreds of thousands of women.

130
00:34:26,732 --> 00:34:31,904
And it is true that his death
was confirmed only

131
00:34:31,987 --> 00:34:37,242
by certain authorities
who had long wished for his death.

132
00:34:42,581 --> 00:34:48,587
Yet, the Rouge,
as my mentor, and I

133
00:34:49,922 --> 00:34:52,508
were preternaturally close.

134
00:34:55,427 --> 00:34:59,098
And I feel sure

135
00:35:01,266 --> 00:35:04,895
that he no longer exists.

136
00:35:20,911 --> 00:35:24,164
(Static-like pulsing)

137
00:35:54,778 --> 00:35:57,447
I have been studying
the stereoscopic card

138
00:35:57,531 --> 00:36:00,784
delivered to me
by the man with webbed toes.

139
00:36:01,952 --> 00:36:05,706
Though his manner was brutal,
the card he left me

140
00:36:06,790 --> 00:36:10,878
was both inviting
and peculiarly flattering.

141
00:36:13,463 --> 00:36:16,633
Yet it was perhaps
because of the perverse sexual nature

142
00:36:16,717 --> 00:36:18,635
of the card's images,

143
00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:22,055
so reminiscent of those
which had gained an odd popularity

144
00:36:22,139 --> 00:36:24,683
at the House of Skin

145
00:36:24,766 --> 00:36:29,646
which decided me against contacting
these subtle colleagues

146
00:36:29,730 --> 00:36:31,857
as they describe themselves.

147
00:36:31,940 --> 00:36:34,109
(Metallic pulse and dripping)

148
00:36:34,193 --> 00:36:39,031
I fear, however,
that if I remain here much longer

149
00:36:39,114 --> 00:36:43,368
my hard won equilibrium
may become a morbid stasis.

150
00:36:54,254 --> 00:36:58,091
(Metallic pulse
and dripping grows louder)

151
00:37:03,555 --> 00:37:05,724
(Silence)

152
00:39:06,803 --> 00:39:11,266
My former difficult patient
now welcomes me with open arms.

153
00:39:12,809 --> 00:39:14,770
He no longer limps

154
00:39:14,853 --> 00:39:20,025
and claims that as a result of
my abortive attempt at oceanic therapy

155
00:39:20,108 --> 00:39:23,653
he feels he has come to terms
with his mutant toes.

156
00:39:26,031 --> 00:39:29,576
He adds something
elaborately philosophical

157
00:39:29,659 --> 00:39:34,456
about sea creatures,
air and water,

158
00:39:36,166 --> 00:39:39,378
but his idioms
are extremely obscure.

159
00:40:43,150 --> 00:40:45,569
As I had anticipated,

160
00:40:45,652 --> 00:40:49,197
I have been invited to join
a gathering of conspirators.

161
00:40:50,699 --> 00:40:54,995
Their purposes are,
as yet, opaque to me.

162
00:40:55,078 --> 00:40:57,873
As are the purposes
of so many others.

163
00:41:01,293 --> 00:41:04,796
It is, however, quite clear

164
00:41:05,881 --> 00:41:09,092
that they are
heterosexual paedophiles.

165
00:41:09,176 --> 00:41:12,345
A group specifically outlawed

166
00:41:12,429 --> 00:41:15,348
though increasingly pervasive,
nonetheless.

167
00:42:58,577 --> 00:43:02,205
We are now all disciples
of a new master it seems.

168
00:43:03,623 --> 00:43:05,750
He is called Jomkin.

169
00:43:07,752 --> 00:43:12,841
He describes these provocative
spheres as his aquaria

170
00:43:14,342 --> 00:43:17,596
and directs me to engage psychically

171
00:43:17,679 --> 00:43:20,307
any aquarium
for which I feel empathy.

172
00:43:22,934 --> 00:43:27,355
I cannot deny my attraction

173
00:43:27,439 --> 00:43:32,861
to certain of these perverse
multi-dimensional images.

174
00:43:51,421 --> 00:43:56,051
Jomkin suggests
that there must evolve

175
00:43:57,010 --> 00:44:02,557
a novel sexuality
for a new species of man.

176
00:44:04,601 --> 00:44:07,979
An emergent genetic biochemistry

177
00:44:09,731 --> 00:44:14,235
for a most innovatively
reproductive form of life.

178
00:44:18,031 --> 00:44:22,118
He mentions Antoine Rouge.

179
00:44:25,789 --> 00:44:30,085
But... I cannot

180
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:37,050
seem to see the connection

181
00:44:38,885 --> 00:44:40,929
between

182
00:44:44,307 --> 00:44:48,645
(Non-descript scraping and cutting)

183
00:45:27,267 --> 00:45:29,102
(Silence)

184
00:46:07,348 --> 00:46:11,227
Adrian Tripod has been accepted
by the Board of Directors

185
00:46:11,311 --> 00:46:15,315
of the Gynaecological
Research Foundation.

186
00:46:15,398 --> 00:46:17,442
The Liaison Officer complains

187
00:46:17,525 --> 00:46:21,237
that his feet and legs
are most unpredictable.

188
00:46:21,321 --> 00:46:26,618
He is afraid that they will give out on
him entirely some day without warning.

189
00:46:26,701 --> 00:46:29,621
And so when he is alone,
he does not walk.

190
00:46:31,164 --> 00:46:35,126
He notes the vastness
of the Foundation's quarters

191
00:46:36,211 --> 00:46:39,714
and the difficulty in reaching aid

192
00:46:39,798 --> 00:46:43,176
for those
suddenly rendered helpless.

193
00:46:44,511 --> 00:46:49,057
In this connection, he mentions
the Foundation's hired gunman

194
00:46:49,140 --> 00:46:52,310
who apparently has a tendency

195
00:46:52,393 --> 00:46:56,397
to misinterpret
subtle social confrontations.

196
00:46:57,857 --> 00:47:02,654
Adrian Tripod is
to be directly introduced

197
00:47:02,737 --> 00:47:04,823
to the subject of his study.

198
00:47:06,407 --> 00:47:08,660
She is a research import

199
00:47:09,536 --> 00:47:12,747
brought at great expense
from a great distance

200
00:47:12,831 --> 00:47:16,084
across several
most contentious borders.

201
00:47:17,418 --> 00:47:20,755
The Corporation
Metaphysical Import-Export

202
00:47:20,839 --> 00:47:23,383
has been involved in the venture.

203
00:47:25,134 --> 00:47:30,640
He stresses the complex nature
of prematurely induced puberty

204
00:47:30,723 --> 00:47:36,187
which leaves such a subject
vulnerable to Rouge's Malady

205
00:47:36,271 --> 00:47:38,731
and is unable to guarantee

206
00:47:38,815 --> 00:47:42,777
that she is not already
somewhat defective in this respect.

207
00:47:44,863 --> 00:47:47,448
(Static-like noise)

208
00:48:22,442 --> 00:48:24,485
(Silence)

209
00:49:54,409 --> 00:49:57,704
(Loud indistinct atmospheric sounds)

210
00:50:25,356 --> 00:50:27,734
(Silence)

211
00:51:31,589 --> 00:51:34,008
(White noise)

212
00:51:42,475 --> 00:51:45,019
(White noise grows louder)

213
00:52:31,691 --> 00:52:34,026
(Silence)

214
00:52:48,416 --> 00:52:51,252
At an obscure hotel for transients,

215
00:52:52,295 --> 00:52:57,758
the same one some had said,
that the faded mad dermatologist

216
00:52:57,842 --> 00:53:02,180
Antoine Rouge occupied
during those last years in exile,

217
00:53:04,265 --> 00:53:08,352
Adrian Tripod secures
temporary accommodations

218
00:53:08,436 --> 00:53:11,480
for himself
and his fellow subversives.

219
00:53:38,090 --> 00:53:41,093
(Distant birdsong)

220
00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:01,364
The concierge speaks at length
about a root-like excrescence

221
00:54:01,447 --> 00:54:04,992
which has begun to grow
from one of his nostrils.

222
00:54:06,619 --> 00:54:11,415
He believes it to be an extension
of certain cerebral nerve cells.

223
00:54:11,499 --> 00:54:17,046
A modified antennae, perhaps,
a delicate sensing organ.

224
00:54:17,129 --> 00:54:19,882
Attuned to what?

225
00:54:22,885 --> 00:54:26,097
I ask him about Antoine Rouge

226
00:54:27,682 --> 00:54:30,601
but he does not answer.

227
00:54:42,405 --> 00:54:46,575
(Loud birdsong)

228
00:54:50,913 --> 00:54:53,374
(Dull white noise)

229
00:55:47,094 --> 00:55:49,889
Although for safety's sake,

230
00:55:49,972 --> 00:55:54,852
we shall be without
Jomkin's guidance for some time,

231
00:55:54,935 --> 00:55:57,355
we have agreed among ourselves

232
00:55:58,356 --> 00:56:00,608
that there must be no delay

233
00:56:00,691 --> 00:56:05,696
in attempting to impregnate
our strange, unfathomable captive.

234
00:56:34,975 --> 00:56:37,812
(Pulsing)

235
00:56:41,816 --> 00:56:44,402
(Static-like noise)

236
00:57:20,020 --> 00:57:22,106
(Silence)

237
00:58:23,667 --> 00:58:26,253
(White noise and pulsing)

238
00:58:44,271 --> 00:58:46,899
(Pulsing continues)

239
00:59:56,218 --> 01:00:00,389
Adrian Tripod senses

240
01:00:01,390 --> 01:00:05,519
the presence of Antoine Rouge.

241
01:01:31,563 --> 01:01:36,068
(Indistinct atmospheric sounds)