From: blueshirt@indigo.news   
      
   DOCTOR OMEGA - By Arnould Galopin   
      
   (English translation)   
      
   -----------------------------------   
      
   *CHAPTER II*   
      
   “REPULSITE”   
      
      
   When I returned to consciousness, I saw in the gleam of a lamp   
   an enormous man who stood at my side, looking at me while   
   smiling.   
      
   I regarded him with an astonished expression and I prepared to   
   question him, when he said to me:   
      
   “Hmm? Dear Sir, it was time that I arrived. If I hadn’t we would   
   have all been blown up...and you first. But where is the doctor?”   
      
   “He is below,” I answered, filled with wonder in spite of myself   
   by the coolness of this stranger.   
      
   “What? He left you here without showing you how to regulate the   
   cupola-furnace?”   
      
   “He believed he would return immediately but I suppose he was   
   the victim of an accident.”   
      
   “It is necessary to go to see what occurred,” said the man, who   
   appeared in the clutch of a sudden concern.   
      
   I rose painfully, as though I had broken limbs, and followed him.   
      
   Arriving at the bottom of the staircase, we found the door which   
   gave onto the corridor closed.   
      
   “Ah! I understand,” said my companion. “He got locked out. This   
   would happen to him one day or another with his system of secret   
   locks. But how is it we didn’t hear him?”   
      
   “He shouted for a long time,” I answered. “Perhaps at the end   
   emotion overcame him. That wouldn’t be too surprising. I half   
   expected him to explode at any moment.”   
      
   The unknown did not answer. Placing his mouth against the wood   
   of the door, he called in a stentorian voice:   
      
   “Doctor! doctor!”   
      
   We heard a kind of growl. The man then leaned his shoulder   
   against the door and, without apparent effort, made it leap from   
   its hinges.   
      
   We found the doctor squatted in the hall. He appeared furious.   
   His hands were bloody, his clothes splattered with plaster. He   
   must have been making superhuman efforts to leave his prison.   
      
   I tried to speak to him. He pushed me back brutally. Then the   
   giant who accompanied me risked a tentative question.   
      
   “Enough, Fred!” shouted the doctor. “Enough! I don’t want to   
   hear.”   
      
   However he was calmed a little.   
      
   “And the cupola-furnace?” he asked.   
      
   “I assure you, doctor, there’s no danger since I arrived in   
   time,” answered Fred.   
      
   The scientist laughed a little. Then turning to me, he said:   
      
   “Ah! my dear Mr Borel! You must have been quite upset!”   
      
   Making a point of furnishing proof to the old man that I had the   
   courage of which I had been bragging, I answered in a very calm   
   tone:   
      
   “Me? Oh! I tried to avert the danger, but when I understood the   
   impossibility of that, I laid down and, on my faith, awaited   
   death.”   
      
   The doctor believed every word. But I saw on the face of Fred a   
   malicious smile. He knew better than anybody what to think of my   
   heroic attitude   
      
   Looking at the lock, he examined the bolts carefully.   
      
   “See.” he said to me, “when I went down to close this cursed   
   door which had opened from the effect of a gust, a even more   
   violent gale slammed it shut and I was a prisoner. My bolts   
   wouldn’t slide into their grooves and iron bar which connects   
   them was suddenly distorted It will be necessary that I fix   
   that.”.   
      
   The day had dawned.   
      
   “I believe,” added the doctor, “that after such a night, we all   
   have need for rest. Would you care to accept my hospitality?”   
      
   The prospect of hiking three kilometres on foot back to my   
   cottage hardly appealed to me, so I eagerly accepted the   
   scientist’s offer.   
      
   He led me to a furnished part of the room where a small cot was   
   covered with turkey-red cotton.   
      
   “You rest well,” he said. “I will awaken you about midday. It is   
   now four in the morning, so you will have eight hours of sleep   
   at least. Your nerves, as do mine, need to relax.”   
      
   The emotions which had been going through me had left me   
   drained. I threw myself onto the bed fully dressed and was   
   asleep almost at once.   
      
   I slept deeply and undoubtedly for a rather long time when I was   
   suddenly awaked by loud cries coming from outside. I sought to   
   understand some of the words in the middle of that confused   
   clamour, but I could distinguish nothing but wild howls and the   
   whines of threatening voices.   
      
   The door opened suddenly and the doctor appeared, followed by   
   Fred who held an enormous stick in his hand.   
      
   “You hear!” exclaimed the old man. “They want to break down the   
   door! They utter death threats and the gendarmes allow this   
   because there are gendarmes among them! My God! My God! What   
   means all that?   
      
   I too was anxious. I opened a window which gave on the plain. At   
   sight of me the cries rose:   
      
   “Ah! here he is! There he is!”   
      
   And, in the forefront of crowd, I saw my manservant and my   
   gardener.   
      
   I gave a burst of laughter and, turning towards the doctor, said:   
      
   “You have a bad reputation in the country. They take you for a   
   wizard My servants knew that I was on your premises. Then they   
   didn’t see me return, they supposed that you had killed me.”   
      
   Looking down from the window I harangued crowd. In a loud voice   
   I explained that Doctor Omega was not what they thought he was.   
      
   “He is a great man!” I exclaimed. “A marvellous man. Soon you   
   will hear of his amazing discoveries. Greet him, my friends!   
   Acclaim him! Did I say he honours France? He honours the whole   
   world!”   
      
   Frantic applause burst out. One might have thought a hail storm   
   was falling on a zinc roof.   
      
   The doctor, very moved, approached the window and gave an   
   awkward greeting. The acclamations redoubled.   
      
   For the first time in his life this modest scientist enjoyed the   
   honours of his triumph.   
      
   He wanted to say some words, but his small voice, paralysed by   
   emotion, emitted strange sounds—in turn serious and sweet, sour   
   and nasal. One might have been able to believe that he sang a   
   Tyrolian yodel. The crowd, which did not hear a word of this   
   short speech, did not express any less enthusiasm.   
      
   It had been enough to restore the nerves of a man who, that very   
   morning, had been treated as an enemy It is one of the defects   
   and also one of qualities of a crowd that it can change its   
   opinion so quickly.   
      
   When the cheers had ceased, I called my manservant, who was in   
   front of the hangar, and rapidly gave him some instructions.   
   Then turning towards the doctor, whose face radiated joy, I said   
   to him:   
      
   “Come to my home, my dear scientist. I offer you lunch.”   
      
   A few minutes later, accompanied by the doctor and Fred, I was   
   headed towards my residence.   
      
   The crowd opened respectfully to let to us pass and followed us   
   to my cottage.   
      
   There, I brought up from my cellar four barrels of excellent   
   wine and gave it to all the population of Marbeuf.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)