"I am Adrian Tripod, the director of this place, the House of Skin." "In a sense, my present incarnation was generated by the mad dermatologist," "Antoine Rouge." "The House of Skin began its existence as a residential clinic for wealthy patients who were treated for severely pathological skin conditions induced by contemporary cosmetics" "Antoine Rouge, who, at the time, was considered little more than a gifted technician," "seized control of the House many years ago and guided it towards a more fantastic species of research" "There was much opposition to the Rougian ascendency in certain high places." "The House is undeniably in decline." "Somehow, without my direct comprehension of it," "it has fallen into the hands of my two sullen interns." "Their purposes are entirely opaque to me." "As are the purposes of so many others." "Before the disappearance of Antoine Rouge, there were many strange creatures in residence here." "But for some time now, there has only been one." "And he..." "I believe..." "I have noted... a white-ish, aerated amorphous effluence oozing from his ears." "I'm not quite certain." "My interns have also noted the deadly emergence of this secretion... which we call" "Rouge's foam." "It has been mandatory to cremate all those who have died from Rouge's malady." "Although, during the period of secretion and hemorrhage, the various pathological fluids are relatively harmless, even... sensually attractive." "These fluids soon develop a virulence which can be devastating." "There was a time when Rouge's malady appeared only in post-pubertal human females." "It is, perhaps, natural that in my present confusion" "I should find my way to the Institute of Neo-venereal Disease." "In the exhilirating days of Rougian administration, there was much collaboration between the House and this Institute." "My former colleague has somehow withdrawn." "He himself has contracted a species of venereal disease from one of his patients." "He was once a fierce sensualist." "But he has now become a pure metaphysician." "His body has begun to create puzzling organs:" "each one very complex, very perfect, unique, yet seemingly without function." "As each is surgically removed, it is quickly replaced by another, equally mysterious." "He has taken to breaking into the specimens room and stealing the jars containing these organs.." "His body, he insists, is a galaxy and these creatures are solar systems." "He becomes melancholy when they are far from him." "His nurse says that his disease is possibly a form of creative cancer." "I believe that this is what they have said." "It is difficult to recall so many dialects... when one has remained so long in isolation." "I have found a position as a therapist with the Oceanic Podiatry Group." "They support their theoretical structure, in part, by a grossly distorted interpretation of the later evolutionary writings of Antoine Rouge." "Still, the closeness of certain Rougian concepts is comforting." "The technique I am to attempt is the invocation of the genetic history of feet." "That is: tentacles, lobed fins, flippers, and so on." "By these and other more esoteric means," "I am to relapse the psychic relapse, now so common, which can occur under intense genetic pressure." "I am, thereby, to encourage patients to bear the burden of a suddenly alien gravity." "To walk, for example, when they would prefer to revert to more primitive oceanic forms." "I have achieved a sort of equilibrium in my anonymity here at Metaphysical Import-Export." "It has been simple to remain aloof from the internal workings of this corporation because, as a minor intramural courrier," "I am not required to communicate with many candidates for executive positions with whom I'd deal." "As a consequence, however," "I am uncertain as to what constitutes the significance of their incessant exercises and competitions." "When Antoine Rouge disappeared, soon after he had himself contracted the disease which bears his name," "we believed that he had preferred to die alone, in an exile, only partially self-willed." "Still... he, on one occasion, remarked that Rouge's malady... could not possibly be fatal to Rouge" "though it had already killed hundreds of thousands of women." "And, it is true that his death was confirmed only by certain authorities... who had long wished for his death." "Yet... though Rouge, as my mentor, and I were preternaturally close" "And..." "I feel sure that he no longer" "exists." "I have been studying the stereoscopic card delivered to me by he man with webbed toes." "Though his manner was brutal, the card he left me was both inviting and peculiarly flattering." "Yet it was, perhaps because of the perverse sexual nature of the cards' images," "so reminiscient of those which had gained an odd popularity at the House of Skin which decided me against contacting these subtle colleagues as they described themselves." "I fear, however, that if I remain here much longer my hard-won equilibrium may become a morbid stasis." "My former difficult patient now welcomes me with open arms." "He no longer limps and claims that, as a result of my abortive attempt at Oceanic Therapy," "he feels he has come to terms with his mutant toes." "He had something... elaborately philosophical about sea creatures, air, and water," "but his idioms are extremely obscure." "As I had anticipated," "I have been invited to join a gathering of conspirators." "Their purposes are as yet opaque to me." "As are the purposes of so many others." "It is, however, quite clear... that they are heterosexual pedophiles." "A group specifically abhorred though increasingly pervasive nonetheless." "They are now all disciples of a new master, it seems." "He is called Tiomkin." "He describes these provocative spheres... as his aquaria" "and directs me to engage psychically any aquarium for which I feel empathy." "I cannot deny my attraction to certain of these perverse, multidimensional images." "Tiomkin suggests... that there must evolve a novel sexuality" "for a new species of man." "An emergent, genetic biochemistry for a most innovatively reproductive form of life." "He mentions" "Antoine Rouge... but..." "I cannot... seem to see any connection" "between." "Adrian Tripod has been accepted by the board of directors of the Gynecological Research Foundation." "Their liason officer complains that his feet and legs are most unpredictable." "He is afraid that they will give out on him entirely some day, without warning." "And so, when he is alone, he does not walk." "He notes the vastness of the Foundation's quarters and the difficulty in reaching aid for those certainly rendered helpless." "In this connection, he mentions the Foundation's hired gunman who, apparently, has a tendency to misinterpret subtle social confrontations." "Adrian Tripod is to be directly introduced to the subject of his study." "She is a research import brought, at great expence, from a great distance across several most contentious borders." "The corporation Metaphysical Import-Export has been involved in the venture." "He stresses the complex nature of prematurely induced puberty which leaves such a subject vulnerable to Rouge's malady... and is unable to guarantee that she is not already somewhat defective in this respect." "At an obscure hotel for transients... the same one, some have said, that the faded mad dermatologist, Antoine Rouge, occupied during those last years in exile..." "Adrian Tripod secures temporary accomodations for himself and his fellow subversives." "The concierge speaks at length about a root-like excrescence which has begun to grow from one his nostrum." "He believes it to be an extension of certain cerebral nerve cells." "A modified antennae, perhaps." "A delicate sense organ, attuned to... what?" "I ask him about Antoine Rouge." "But he does not answer." "Although, for safety's sake, we shall be without Tiomkin's guidance for some time," "we have agreed among ourselves that there must be no delay in attempting to impregnate our strange unfathomable captive." "Adrian Tripod senses the presence" "of Antoine Rouge." "subtitles: depostio"