"The Hunchback of the Morgue" "Damned imbecile, can't you play another tune?" "You're boring us!" "Leave him alone Hudo, he doesn't know another one" "Bravo Hudo!" "Listen, would you be able to take on beer like you do women?" "You don't think I'm afraid of a scholar like you, right?" "Waitress, bring four of the big ones, my treat" "Take heart oh brave one, time for the second cup" " Good for Hudo!" "Hurrah!" " Don't leave Hudo" " I'm very sorry, but I have to go" " Stay Hudo, you can still drink more beer" " I'm very sleepy" " Don't leave" " So long champ" " Leave him alone" "Hudo" "You damned hunchback, I'm drunk and you're trying to rob me?" "Get out of here you abortion of Satan, your toad's face makes my stomach turn" "All of my love to Hudo" "Ilse" "Your skin is very pale Hudo, you no longer have that tan coloring that women liked" "How proud you were of your beauty" "How you laughed at my curved back." "You didn't think your end would be as a pile of carrion in the hands of inept students" "You like how I cut you to pieces?" "...and the cretin thought we'd get married" "Hey gorilla, leave that pile of trash there, we'll bring it in" "You know that Professor Orla doesn't want you in vivisection chamber, get out!" "You know the students have a special predilection for your mandrill's face" "Please" "Professor, I've also written the results of the latest analysis" "Dr. Tauchner, please go to the director's office" "Don't worry Ilse, you'll be able to go back to the country soon" "Continue with the same medication, and give her liver extract as well" " Very well" " Take heart" "Her temperature won't drop and she coughs continuously" "It's logical, the lungs are practically torn apart" " She's very sick, isn't she Doctor?" " There's no solution" "These will surely be her last days" " Thank you Gotho" " Why do you cry?" " I'm not crying" " Yes, you're crying for Hudo, but he died thinking of you" "I know that he carried your photograph in his wallet" "You're very kind." "You do everything you can to console me" "I'm so alone that I don't know what would become of me without your visits" "Do you really want me to come to see you?" "Yes Gotho, you're the only one that remembers me, the only person I can talk to" "From now on I'll come every day." "I'll bring you flowers, you like them, right?" "Very much." "It's been so long since I've seen the countryside" "Come." "Sit at my side and talk to me" "I'll close my eyes, I'll see the things you tell me about, everything I used to like and have lost forever" "Don't say that" "Monkey faced hunchback!" "Hunchback!" "Madman!" "Get up" "Come with me," "I'll take care of you at home" "I'm alright, you shouldn't go out of your way" "No you're not, that wound is very deep, but don't worry, I'm a doctor and will cure you" "No, it's alright now, and besides I have to go back to the hospital" "I didn't know you were in a hurry." "Are you going to visit someone?" "Yes, a young girl who's very sick, but I know she will get better" "I'd be very happy if that happened." "Do you like this girl?" "I don't know." "She played with me as a child, everyone else said I scared them" "Time went by, and when I heard she was in the hospital I went to see her" "But she must have family, someone to look after her" "No, her parents have died, I'm the only one who remembers her" "You're very kind Gotho, I'm sure she's grateful" " What's her name?" " Ilse" "Ilse." "That's a very pretty name" "Well, there we are." "It was nothing, you'll be better tomorrow" "If that's not the case come and see me" "You've been very kind to me" "I..." "This way you won't catch a cold" "Take me by the roses Gotho" "I'm very happy." "I wouldn't mind if these were my last moments" "You shouldn't say that, I think you're alright" "If the professor let you out it's because you're getting better" "Let's not fool ourselves." "I know my life is near it's end" "The professor knows that going out to the garden can't hurt me much" "You shouldn't have done that, it's forbidden" "What do I care?" "There's nothing that isn't forbidden for me" "Don't think like that Gotho" "There are many people that appreciate you, myself among them" "These roses are my last joy" "If I could have a bouquet every day..." "You'll have it" "Enough." "I see that I'll have to separate you and inform Dr. Meyer of this situation" "Come with me Marlene" "You can tell your superior that he'll get the completed cerebral anatomy revision tomorrow" "He's very interested, I've never seen him so impatient" "By the way, you still haven't explained what sort of work you're doing" "The secrecy shouldn't surprise you," "Orla doesn't want it to reach the university staff" "I don't know... there's something about Orla that bothers me" "Dr. Meyer" "Eva and Marlene were..." "well, I separated them" "I suppose you remember Elke, she was a student of yours." "Now she's my assistant" "She's too kind with the patients, but she has an extraordinary gift for psychiatry." "This is Professor Tauchner, my fiance" " A pleasure" " Enchanted" "Oh sweet princess of the apes, your servant Gotho, loveliest of the hunchbacked gorillas, renders tribute to your beauty, and hopes that your disgusting snout will be full of the aroma of these roses" "Don't make fun of her or I'll kill you!" "Enough, stop it." "You should be ashamed, you could have killed him" "Fortunately he's coming round." "Help me lift him Tauchner" "Gotho... these roses are so beautiful..." "I see... flowers... many flowers..." "You shouldn't have brought me... so many flowers Gotho" "She just died." "If you had arrived just a moment earlier you would have seen her alive" "You can stay for a bit if you wish, I have to let the doctor know" "Here's your Ilse." "Prepare her, she's going to be dissected" "Hey Ludwig, a gold chain." "Ilse doesn't need it anymore, for what they'll give us for it, we can dedicate a few drinks to her eternal rest" "Sleep little one, rest." "Gotho will guard you while you sleep" "But now I must leave you for a moment," "I must give a bouquet of roses, to someone... who doubted your beauty" "Hey, more beer!" "We're dry!" "What the hell is going on?" "A face, in the window!" "You're dreaming, there's no one at the window" "Come on, stop this foolishness" "Bravo Hans" "Well, goodbye everyone, I'm off to bed" "Take care Hans, you wouldn't want to bump into the devil on the way" "Take in their aroma,because this will be the last scent in your life" "You can't imagine it, it was terrible." "Both bodies are completely torn apart" "Any clues as to who the killer might be?" "The person in charge of the morgue, a deformed man by the name of" "Wolfgang Gotho,has disappeared, but according to our reports he suffers from mental retardation," " everyone agrees he's very peaceful" " Any indications of his whereabouts?" "None." "There's another significant detail:" "one of the cadavers that was going to be dissected has disappeared as well, it was the body of a young woman who had recently died" "The hunchback was very close to her" "A new crime has just been discovered" "A student named Hans Burgher" " has been found strangled in his home" " Hans Burgher, if I remember right he had a strong argument with Gotho this morning" "Put out a general alarm, we need to find the hunchback as soon as possible" "Sleep little one" "I should never have left you alone, but no one will be able to bother you here" "They won't be able to hurt you" "Come in" "I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but there are two gentlemen who wish to see you" "They're police officers" " Let them in" " Yes sir" " Good evening" " Good evening" "Good evening." "To what do I owe the honor of your visit?" "I suppose you know about the three murders committed last night?" "Yes, of course, it's truly frightening." "But please, sit" "We thought that maybe you could provide us with some information regarding the matter" "Our suspicions lie on the hunchback who's in charge of the morgue" "Gotho?" "That's not possible, he wouldn't hurt a fly" "Nevertheless he's disappeared." "If he were innocent he'd have no reason to hide" "Do you have any idea where he could be?" "Not the slightest" "The death of Ilse, that girl he had great affection for, must have deeply disturbed him" "I expect he'll appear any time now and everything will be cleared up" "And now gentlemen, if it doesn't bother you we'll continue this conversation on the way to the hospital." "I'm sorry, but work calls" "What's going on Gotho?" "I need your help" "I never would have imagined a place like this" " No one will be able to find us" " Is that the only entrance?" "No, there's another that leads to the ruins of the abbey" "Will you really help me Professor?" "That depends on you Gotho." "You must do everything I tell you" "Here it is Professor" "I had read some stories about the Inquisition's activities in places like this, but I never thought they still existed, much less here" "Professor, Ilse is asleep." "I know only you will be able to wake her" "I promise to do it Gotho, but you'll have to help me as well" "I'll have to move my laboratory underground." "It isn't easy to do what you ask," "I'll need the proper equipment" "I know you'll be able to do it Professor," "I know you will" "Trust me Gotho." "And don't leave this place, the police are looking everywhere for you" "I was naive to think that they'd approve the project, they're just a bunch of scientific mummies and anything that smells of innovation or real science scares them" "So the decision is final?" "Absolutely and irrevocably, here, read this" "As you see, the terms are conclusive." "The University staff unanimously agrees to suspend the investigations and expressly forbids us to continue using the hospital facilities" "It's regrettable but we have no choice but to quit" "Quit now that we've nearly achieved it?" "What sort of scientist are you?" "For the first time in history we have the opportunity to create artificial life" "and you talk of quitting?" "I understand your reasons Dr. Orla, but I doubt another solution exists" "It exists, I'm already in the process of moving the laboratory to a secret location" "I have the help of a person that in spite of his insignificance could be extraordinarily valuable to us" "Secret location?" "What do you mean?" "You'll get a chance to see the location tonight, and as to the person, as you must learn it sooner or later," "I'll tell you it's Gotho," " the hunchback of the morgue" " Gotho?" "I thought he disappeared" "He's here, in a safe place will no one will be able to find him or us" "I suppose you know that he's accused of three murders" "Of which he's very probably not responsible." "And besides, what does it matter to us?" "The very fact of going on with our experiments places us outside of the law" "I regret to say I don't agree." "Dealing with a murderer doesn't just sicken me, but it can have complications for us" "Gotho isn't a murderer, he's a poor idiot who only attacks when he's injured" "You may be right, but something tells me we mustn't carry out a project of this sort" "Come Tauchner, cast aside those fears" "Tonight we'll go to the meeting place and you'll see I'm right" "And now let's go over those amino acid chromatograms" "I have a great interest in the progress of the metabolism of those isolated organs" "As you can see, the protein structure remains unaltered" "I still don't understand where we're going," "And yet we're very close to our destination." " It must be underground" " Exactly, the most impregnable of the underground labyrinths" "We just be at least 25 meters below the surface" "Yes, that's the approximate median depth of these chambers" "In the beginning they were part of the Teutonic knights' fortifications during the crusades" "Later they were cells and torture chambers for the Inquisition" "It's truly astounding" "And it's not the first time they've been used since the time of the Inquisition." "During the war some people, Jews mostly,used it as a refuge" "By god Orla, you didn't tell me there was" "That's Ilse, a friend of Gotho's." "She died a few days ago and I've promised to wake her up" "When will you awaken her Professor?" "Soon Gotho, very soon" "Professor, I can't understand how you could have promised Gotho that that poor girl would come back to life, you know that's impossible" "Impossible, Dr. Tauchner, is a word that as a scientist should not exist in your vocabulary" "Nevertheless, I agree, though I don't think that should matter to us" "But that poor madman trusts you" "It's obvious that having killed three times he could kill again" "What will you do to avoid your promise?" "Everything will be resolved in due time, leave that poor imbecile to me," "I can handle him" "Let's be clear Tauchner, sometimes science has to travel tortuous paths" "The end in this case is sufficiently important to justify the means" " I really don't know what to think" " Come, come Tauchner, cast aside those fears once again." "Glory awaits us and sooner or later mankind will recognize our labors and will be grateful" "So that's it, we'll keep going forward, but Maria worries me, she's been against this sort of work since the beginning" "Talk to her, there's no one better than you to make her understand our position" "Try to understand, the move to the cave was the only solution" "You have no reason to explain, you already know where I stand" "If I keep helping it's only because of you" "But not just for me,for our career, for our future." "Orla's experiments could have hundreds of applications" "His attempt is useful, and most of all important" "Important?" "What isn't important?" "But this scares me, the work and its unforeseen consequences scare me, and most of all Orla scares me, I can't help it" "He has great defects, I know that, but no one can deny his value" "Yes, he's a great scientist who destroys anything in his way" "All the necessities are here and what amazes me is that he did it all himself" "Now look at this" "Careful, don't get close" "Sulphuric acid, I don't understand" "Exactly" "We'll use it to destroy the unsuitable anatomic specimens and organic residue" "Come on, there's two more boxes left" "This is all your doing Gotho" "One day you'll be famous" "When will you wake up Ilse Professor?" "Soon Gotho, very soon" "This isn't my night." "Damned queen of hearts" "Come on man, you haven't lost that much" "It's that disgusting smell of corpses that makes me sick" "That carrion's been rotting away for nearly two weeks and it's nearly falling apart" " Yes, but we can't do anything" " Of course we can, throw it in the acid tank" "But we'd have to tell the professor" "We'd be doing the professor a favor," " he's hinted that himself" " Let's not think about it anymore" "You two go get it" "Ilse, Ilse, your flowers, I cut flowers for you" "You've killed her." "You've killed her!" "Murderers!" "You're crazy, she's been dead two weeks!" "She was the only thing I had!" "Wretches!" "No Gotho, I beg you!" "No!" "It was them!" "No Gotho,no!" "I'm exhausted, it's been a terrible day" "Yes, but we're about to achieve it" "I've observed a sample under a microscope and there's something that unnerves me:" "it's definitely just a gigantic cell" "I know It's a single plasmodial cell." "The nuclei lie diffused within the protoplasm" "And yet it's beginning to differentiate organs." "At the current rate of growth the artificial gestation period will only last another week" "Yes, yes, it's evident we've reached the most important period, there's no doubt" "I'm intrigued by the disappearance of Albert and the other two" "The police interrogated Maria and me, they suspect Gotho." "I don't know what to think" "If they disappeared it doesn't matter to us, we no longer need them" "The less indiscreet witnesses the better" "Our science is already complicated enough without us dealing with domestic problems" "Maria's lateness worries me." "She should be here by now" " Gotho!" " Don't be afraid Dr. Meyer," "I'll take you to the laboratory." "Please, follow me" "Now do you understand how absurd your doubts were?" "We're about to achieve the greatest success in history" "It's true, the nuclei reproduce at great speed, the protoplasm grows, and what's more the differentiation continues" "According to my calculations the accelerated embryonic in the artificial system will only last two more days." "Soon it was take it's final form" "Perhaps... human" "So you're saying you're unsure of the experiment's final result" "So anything could be possible, even something monstrous" "All scientific investigation is by nature unforeseeable" "Don't be afraid Dr. Meyer, nothing will happen" "I don't know" "The soluble protein and glucose levels aren't diminishing" "If the creature refuses these nutrients we'll have to use another if we don't want the cellular growth to halt" "It will be necessary to use natural organic nutrients" "We can make sure of it immediately" "What's the matter Gotho?" "I've been looking for you everywhere" "We have a lot of work, you know that" "Professor, I'm grateful for what you've done for me, but" "But what?" "I don't understand you" "You see..." " I don't want to remain here" " But you had promised to help me" "It was for Ilse Professor, only for her, and now... she's dead" "You can't do this, the experiments are too far along" "Gotho, I can keep helping you" "I don't need it, thank you Professor" "I've thought of leaving and turning myself over to the police" "They'll kill you Gotho!" "They're looking for you for the murder of the orderlies" "And what does that matter anymore?" "Without Ilse nothing matters" "You mustn't be sad Gotho, you'll have a new Ilse," "I will create her for you" "Really Professor?" "She'll be the same?" "Naturally Gotho, do you doubt it?" "No." "What must I do?" "Trust me and help me with everything." "Tonight you'll go to the morgue There's a fresh cadaver;" "I need its head" "Halt!" "Halt!" "What is this, what's going on?" "Gotho, do you think it's right to come at this hour?" "Miss, I..." "Police, open the door please" "Go on, get in there and don't make a sound." "Close the door" "Open up!" " Good evening" " Good evening" "I'm sorry to bother you but we're chasing a dangerous killer who escaped in front of this house." " Have you seen or heard anything?" " Absolutely nothing" "We advise you to close your windows and keep them closed, the killer can't be far" "I will." "Anything else?" " No Miss, just be careful" " Very well." "Don't worry" " Good night" " Good night" "I don't know why you're helping me, I'm a murderer, they said so" "I know more about you than you imagine, and I also know why you killed those men, but I don't think you're a murderer." "If someone loved me like I know you loved Ilse, it would be marvelous" "You mustn't say that, you mustn't make fun of a poor man like me" "No one can love me, everyone laughs at me, at my hunch, at my ruined face" "I only inspire fear or disgust." "No one, not even Ilse, could have been happy by my side" "You're mistaken Gotho." "Sometimes kindness and love can be greater than beauty" "You're very kind to me Ms. Elke" "You've done a good job Gotho." "I should extract the brain and then..." "But I can't wait" "Will you need more cadavers Professor?" "They nearly caught me today" "Next time we'll acquire the materials more easily," "I don't want you in danger" "You're too important to be risked again" "You see Gotho, how the most insignificant person can be useful to science and mankind?" "They just have to allow themselves to be led by a true leader" "Tauchner mustn't learn of this, he wouldn't approve" "But you need a new Ilse, and that requires fresh cadavers" "Professor, it's finished" "Halt, who goes there?" "Professor Orla, you?" "Catch him, don't let him escape" "I've killed him, he's dead!" "I didn't mean to do it, I didn't mean to!" "Yes yes, you've killed him, it can't be helped." "Come now, hurry!" "We'll take both bodies." "Cover the hole as if nothing had happened." "Go!" "I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to!" "No!" "The cellular growth has halted once more" "The creature refuses dead cells" "It's necessary we feed it live material, do you understand Gotho?" "Live material" "Come in please." "Sit, the professor will be right with you" "I fear this visit won't clear up anything" "I think it will" "Dr. Orla was closest to Gotho." "If we find him we'll have the key to this whole mess" "I don't think the latest disappearances and the graverobbings are the hunchback's work" "I'm not so sure." "It could be that they're common thieves in search of jewels but there's something that just doesn't fit" "Hello gentlemen." "I'm sorry I've made you wait." "To what do I owe your visit this time?" "Strange things keep happening Professor, the latest is the desecration of many graves" "My partner believes it's just a matter of thieves looking for jewels but the bodies have disappeared too." "Have you been offered corpses to dissect lately?" "Of course not, the faculty wouldn't allow it." "We have enough at the hospital" "A business matter like that is against the law, right?" "Sometimes, and forgive the expression Dr. Orla, scientists pay the law little heed" "By the way, how is your work progressing" "Well, it's at a complete standstill" "Hurry Gotho, it's about to transform." "We have to lock it up quickly" "Hurry up, let's go" "Get out, hurry!" "It broke the container Gotho, it shattered it into a thousand pieces!" "We have the new being Gotho, and I, Orla, am its creator" "Maria, you have to understand, the experiment has been a success" "Dr. Orla, for the first time in the history of biology, has created artificial life" "Yes, it was a success, a triumph of science." "I've never denied Orla's scientific value," " but what is the cost?" " I don't understand you" "What do you mean "what is the cost"?" "You're a scientist and you know it, the cost is sacrifices, sleepless nights, work!" "And something else Fred:" "human lives." "How many men have died to achieve Orla's dream?" "But he isn't responsible, you know that." "It was the work of a madman" "Yes, Gotho, who Orla protects and deceives so he'll follow his orders" "Can't you see?" "Orla isn't trying to save mankind or anything besides his own pride or perhaps something else, ambition, it's the ambition to achieve that moves him" "But he says that thanks to his discoveries many lives can be saved" "It's not true, and even if it was, you can't save one life by destroying others" "No, morality must stand above science" " It's true, but what can we do?" " Abandon the project" "I beg you Fred." "You can't continue this way, all of the hunchback's crimes are really Orla's crimes, he's the only one responsible" "It's true." "For a time he managed to deceive me, but we can't go on with him" "We'd become accomplices, if we aren't already, of all the horror he's created" "I'm happy that you've finally understood" "Calm down Tauchner, the experiment has been a success" "Don't abandon what could be the greatest triumph of your life" " A triumph stained with blood!" " And what else could I do?" "How many beings, living and dead, have ended up in that container to fulfill your megalomaniacal desires?" "Gotho, Gotho, subdue him!" "No Gotho!" "I need him" "You shouldn't have come Gotho, it's very dangerous and I don't want anything to happen to you because of me" "I had to see you again, but if you want I'll leave right away" "It's not that Gotho, I'm afraid the police will catch you" "They're looking for you everywhere" "I don't understand you,no one has ever concerned themselves over me like that" "If it wasn't for what you did, I would think you were making fun of me" "And what is there to make fun of?" "Your physical defects?" "Everyone does it." "Only Ilse let me be near her, but she never loved me" "And you, do you still love her?" "Yes." "I'm afraid that being here with you now" " I'm betraying her" " I'm sure that if she could see us she wouldn't disapprove" "Dr. Meyer, Marlene has disappeared Her bed is empty, her companions say they haven't seen or heard anything" "It could be it's a new crime by that hunchback the police are looking for" "Gotho?" "It couldn't have been him" " Why are you so sure?" " I don't know" "I'm convinced that there's someone hiding behind that poor man in this whole business" "You could be right." "Well, I have to go out now." "If by the time I'm back there's no news of Marlene we'll inform the police" "Where's Tauchner?" "If it makes you feel better he's very close to you, and perfectly healthy" "One of my patients has disappeared" "I know it's your doing and I'm determined to tell the police" "At the point where things are, I wouldn't advise it" "Unless your willing to follow my plans" "I can't allow you to leave these chambers" "What plans are those?" "Very simple" "It's absolutely necessary to have an abundant amount of living human tissue,and for that" "I've chosen your reformatory" "The girls in it are trash and no one will miss them" "Besides, you as the director can justify their disappearance" "If you accept Tauchner's life won't be in danger." "If not..." "But what are you using those girls for?" "It's best you see for yourself." "Come" "It's horrible, it devoured her!" "I can explain" "It didn't take long to learn that the creature had a tendency to develop in the manner of the creatures which it devoured" "At first I tried to feed it cadavers, but it refused them" "I wanted to synthesize a humanoid, that's why I had Gotho kidnap the girls" "Fred!" "Fred!" "Where are you?" "Gotho!" "And on top of Marlene's disappearance now Dr. Meyer and her fiance are gone as well, that's why I've called you" "I don't understand why you didn't call us after that girl disappeared," "Marlene, was that it?" "Yes." "The reason I didn't call you is because of Dr. Meyer's disappearance" "She was in charge of filing a report" "That girl might have simply run away" "We'll speak with Orla about the disappearance of Dr. Meyer and her colleague Dr. Tauchner, since he's assistant he may have news of him" "As you can see I've also had problems." "Some strangers robbed me after beating me but I still hadn't had time to let you know" "So you don't know anything about your assistant?" "Yes, I seem to vaguely recall him talking about a trip to resolve some family matters" "It's been several days since I've heard from him" "Do you think Dr. Meyer might have gone on that trip with him?" "It's possible." "In any case I can't tell you much about her as I hardly know her" "Today I saw your body, it was like Ilse's, and soon, very soon you will be like her and Gotho will love you forever, forever" "It's the most astounding thing imaginable, but it's there" "It keeps growing and growing but it needs more nourishment, understand Gotho?" "More, more, much more" "Hurry Gotho, hurry to the reformatory" "Hurry!" "Hurry!" "Gotho, you have to help me, me and Professor Tauchner, you have to help us escape" "I can't, the Professor would be upset." "He's been very kind:" "he'll make a woman like Ilse for me" "But Gotho, how can you- how can you believe that?" "Orla can't do such a thing!" "Listen Gotho, don't go, please!" "Listen Tauchner, listen for the last time!" "We're near the greatest discovery in history!" "There's something more than biology in this" "The creature is a primordial, one of the beings that inhabited the earth long before man, it's bloodline is the most ancient in the world!" "Occult books like the Necronomicon and old treatises on magic and alchemy are full of references to these sorts of beings, and I," "I've given it the opportunity to take shape in this artificial life form!" "A very interesting story, but one that I'm absolutely not interested in any longer" "That creature, though it's only a child, is the bearer of all the secrets of the previous civilizations and it will reveal them to us Tauchner!" "It will reveal them to us." "The world at our feet..." "Neither Maria nor I will collaborate with you any longer Dr. Orla, it would be adding mores crimes to the existing ones" "Very well." "Then you force me to do it" "You shall be nourishment for the primordial" "It's restless." "It needs food Gotho, it needs food!" "That scream, in the underground chambers, it's a woman" "Go get her Gotho." "Go get her!" "Gotho, you wretch!" "Where has that disgusting ape gone?" "The creature is hungry and if we don't feed it it will destroy us all" "Hurry, the primordial needs more nourishment" "No, not her!" "She was kind to me and she won't die!" "Alright," " go for the others" " No, not them either, you're the guilty one, you've deceived Gotho, I'll kill you!" "Maria!" " Please, Elke, we must save her" " Let's go" "Hurry and take Elke, the door is about to break" "We can't defeat him, he'll kill us both!" "Gotho, where is Gotho?" "Translation:" "Turdis April 2010"