1
00:00:49,842 --> 00:00:54,513
I am Adrian Tripod,
the Director of this place,

2
00:00:54,597 --> 00:00:56,766
the House of Skin.

3
00:00:57,975 --> 00:01:02,605
In a sense, my present
incarnation was generated

4
00:01:03,773 --> 00:01:07,860
by the mad dermatologist
Antoine Rouge.

5
00:01:09,820 --> 00:01:13,657
The House of Skin
began its existence

6
00:01:13,741 --> 00:01:17,369
as a residential clinic
for wealthy patients

7
00:01:17,453 --> 00:01:22,249
who were treated for
severely pathological skin conditions

8
00:01:22,333 --> 00:01:25,753
induced by
contemporary cosmetics.

9
00:01:58,661 --> 00:02:01,831
Antoine Rouge,
who at the time,

10
00:02:01,914 --> 00:02:05,918
was considered little more
then a gifted technician

11
00:02:06,001 --> 00:02:09,130
seized control of the house
many years ago

12
00:02:09,213 --> 00:02:13,217
and guided it towards
a more fantastic species of research.

13
00:02:15,594 --> 00:02:20,224
There was much opposition
to the Rougian ascendancy

14
00:02:20,307 --> 00:02:22,518
in certain high places.

15
00:04:35,484 --> 00:04:40,572
The House is undeniably in decline.

16
00:04:43,534 --> 00:04:48,414
Somehow, without
my direct comprehension of it,

17
00:04:49,748 --> 00:04:54,378
it has fallen into the hands
of my two sullen interns.

18
00:04:57,589 --> 00:05:00,134
Their purposes

19
00:05:00,217 --> 00:05:02,803
are entirely opaque to me.

20
00:05:04,471 --> 00:05:08,892
As are the purposes
of so many others.

21
00:05:23,198 --> 00:05:26,118
Before the disappearance
of Antoine Rouge,

22
00:05:27,619 --> 00:05:31,373
there were many strange creatures
in residence here.

23
00:05:33,959 --> 00:05:38,547
But for some time now,
there has only been one.

24
00:05:39,923 --> 00:05:42,051
And he...

25
00:05:45,137 --> 00:05:47,806
...I believe, I have noted

26
00:05:49,391 --> 00:05:54,313
a whitish, aerated
amorphous affluence

27
00:05:54,396 --> 00:05:57,191
oozing from his ears.

28
00:05:59,234 --> 00:06:01,737
I am not quite certain.

29
00:06:04,490 --> 00:06:07,534
My interns have also noted
the deadly emergence

30
00:06:07,618 --> 00:06:12,790
of this secretion
which we call Rouge's foam.

31
00:10:47,814 --> 00:10:50,484
It has been mandatory
to cremate all those

32
00:10:50,567 --> 00:10:53,278
who have died from Rouge's Malady.

33
00:10:53,362 --> 00:10:56,990
Although during the period
of secretion and haemorrhage,

34
00:10:57,074 --> 00:11:01,620
the various pathological fluids
are relatively harmless,

35
00:11:01,703 --> 00:11:05,624
even essentially attractive.

36
00:11:07,501 --> 00:11:10,796
These fluids soon develop

37
00:11:10,879 --> 00:11:14,675
a virulence
which can be devastating.

38
00:11:16,009 --> 00:11:21,723
There was a time
when Rouge's Malady appeared

39
00:11:21,807 --> 00:11:25,727
only in post-pubertal
human females.

40
00:12:20,323 --> 00:12:27,247
It is perhaps natural
that in my present confusion

41
00:12:28,415 --> 00:12:34,129
I should find my way to
the Institute of Neo-Venereal Disease.

42
00:12:37,758 --> 00:12:41,553
In the exhilarating days
of Rougian administration,

43
00:12:41,636 --> 00:12:46,308
there was much collaboration
between the House and this institute.

44
00:13:52,749 --> 00:13:58,463
My former colleague
has somehow withdrawn.

45
00:14:00,006 --> 00:14:02,300
He himself has contracted

46
00:14:02,384 --> 00:14:06,429
a species of venereal disease
from one of his patients.

47
00:14:08,098 --> 00:14:11,017
He was once a fierce sensualist

48
00:14:12,102 --> 00:14:15,730
but he has now become
a pure metaphysician.

49
00:14:17,148 --> 00:14:21,278
His body has begun
to create puzzling organs.

50
00:14:21,361 --> 00:14:24,948
Each one very complex, very perfect,

51
00:14:25,031 --> 00:14:30,120
unique yet seemingly
without function.

52
00:14:32,163 --> 00:14:34,291
As each is surgically removed,

53
00:14:34,374 --> 00:14:38,545
it is quickly replaced by another
equally mysterious.

54
00:14:42,841 --> 00:14:46,386
He has taken to breaking
into the specimens room

55
00:14:47,470 --> 00:14:50,849
and stealing the jars
containing these organs.

56
00:14:53,602 --> 00:14:57,564
His body, he insists, is a galaxy.

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

58
00:15:02,027 --> 00:15:04,779
He becomes melancholy
when they are far from him.

59
00:15:06,239 --> 00:15:08,950
His nurse says that his disease

60
00:15:09,034 --> 00:15:13,204
is possibly
a form of creative cancer.

61
00:15:15,123 --> 00:15:17,792
I believe that this is
what they have said.

62
00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:21,755
It is difficult
to recall so many dialects

63
00:15:21,838 --> 00:15:25,300
when one has remained
so long in isolation.

64
00:16:43,420 --> 00:16:45,422
I have found a position
as a therapist

65
00:16:45,505 --> 00:16:48,049
with the Oceanic Podiatry Group.

66
00:16:49,050 --> 00:16:51,302
They support
their theoretical structure,

67
00:16:51,386 --> 00:16:56,141
in part, by a grossly
distorted interpretation

68
00:16:56,224 --> 00:17:00,311
of the later evolutionary writings
of Antoine Rouge.

69
00:17:03,398 --> 00:17:08,737
Still the closeness of certain
Rougian concepts is comforting.

70
00:17:11,990 --> 00:17:15,410
The technique I am to attempt
is the invocation

71
00:17:15,493 --> 00:17:17,829
of the genetic history of feet.

72
00:17:18,872 --> 00:17:23,585
That is, tentacles, lobed fins,
flippers and so on.

73
00:17:25,462 --> 00:17:29,215
By these
and other more esoteric means,

74
00:17:29,299 --> 00:17:33,344
I am to reverse
the psychic relapse, now so common,

75
00:17:33,428 --> 00:17:37,140
which can occur
under intense genetic pressure.

76
00:17:39,017 --> 00:17:42,103
I am, thereby,
to encourage patients

77
00:17:42,187 --> 00:17:45,356
to bear the burden
of a suddenly alien gravity.

78
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:47,525
To walk, for example,

79
00:17:47,609 --> 00:17:52,363
when they would prefer to revert
to more primitive oceanic forms.

80
00:29:31,145 --> 00:29:33,773
I have achieved
a sort of equilibrium

81
00:29:33,856 --> 00:29:37,568
in my anonymity here
at Metaphysical Import-Export.

82
00:29:38,778 --> 00:29:41,906
It has been simple
to remain aloof

83
00:29:41,989 --> 00:29:44,700
from the internal workings
of this corporation

84
00:29:44,784 --> 00:29:48,746
because as a minor
intramural courier

85
00:29:48,829 --> 00:29:51,373
I am not required
to communicate

86
00:29:51,457 --> 00:29:55,628
with many candidates
for executive positions with whom I deal.

87
00:29:56,921 --> 00:29:58,756
As a consequence, however,

88
00:29:59,965 --> 00:30:03,469
I am uncertain
as to what constitutes

89
00:30:03,552 --> 00:30:08,849
the significance of their incessant
exercises and competitions.

90
00:33:43,814 --> 00:33:48,027
When Antoine Rouge disappeared

91
00:33:48,110 --> 00:33:52,448
soon after he had himself
contracted the disease

92
00:33:52,531 --> 00:33:54,742
which bears his name,

93
00:33:56,493 --> 00:34:00,914
we believed that
he had preferred to die alone

94
00:34:02,082 --> 00:34:06,003
in an exile only partially self-willed.

95
00:34:08,547 --> 00:34:15,262
Still, he on one occasion
remarked that Rouge's Malady

96
00:34:15,345 --> 00:34:18,390
could not possibly be fatal to Rouge

97
00:34:19,558 --> 00:34:23,896
though it had already killed
hundreds of thousands of women.

98
00:34:26,732 --> 00:34:31,904
And it is true that his death
was confirmed only

99
00:34:31,987 --> 00:34:37,242
by certain authorities
who had long wished for his death.

100
00:34:42,581 --> 00:34:48,587
Yet, the Rouge,
as my mentor, and I

101
00:34:49,922 --> 00:34:52,508
were preternaturally close.

102
00:34:55,427 --> 00:34:59,098
And I feel sure

103
00:35:01,266 --> 00:35:04,895
that he no longer exists.

104
00:35:54,778 --> 00:35:57,447
I have been studying
the stereoscopic card

105
00:35:57,531 --> 00:36:00,784
delivered to me
by the man with webbed toes.

106
00:36:01,952 --> 00:36:05,706
Though his manner was brutal,
the card he left me

107
00:36:06,790 --> 00:36:10,878
was both inviting
and peculiarly flattering.

108
00:36:13,463 --> 00:36:16,633
Yet it was perhaps
because of the perverse sexual nature

109
00:36:16,717 --> 00:36:18,635
of the card's images,

110
00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:22,055
so reminiscent of those
which had gained an odd popularity

111
00:36:22,139 --> 00:36:24,683
at the House of Skin

112
00:36:24,766 --> 00:36:29,646
which decided me against contacting
these subtle colleagues

113
00:36:29,730 --> 00:36:31,857
as they describe themselves.

114
00:36:34,193 --> 00:36:39,031
I fear, however,
that if I remain here much longer

115
00:36:39,114 --> 00:36:43,368
my hard won equilibrium
may become a morbid stasis.

116
00:39:06,803 --> 00:39:11,266
My former difficult patient
now welcomes me with open arms.

117
00:39:12,809 --> 00:39:14,770
He no longer limps

118
00:39:14,853 --> 00:39:20,025
and claims that as a result of
my abortive attempt at oceanic therapy

119
00:39:20,108 --> 00:39:23,653
he feels he has come to terms
with his mutant toes.

120
00:39:26,031 --> 00:39:29,576
He adds something
elaborately philosophical

121
00:39:29,659 --> 00:39:34,456
about sea creatures,
air and water,

122
00:39:36,166 --> 00:39:39,378
but his idioms
are extremely obscure.

123
00:40:43,150 --> 00:40:45,569
As I had anticipated,

124
00:40:45,652 --> 00:40:49,197
I have been invited to join
a gathering of conspirators.

125
00:40:50,699 --> 00:40:54,995
Their purposes are,
as yet, opaque to me.

126
00:40:55,078 --> 00:40:57,873
As are the purposes
of so many others.

127
00:41:01,293 --> 00:41:04,796
It is, however, quite clear

128
00:41:05,881 --> 00:41:09,092
that they are
heterosexual paedophiles.

129
00:41:09,176 --> 00:41:12,345
A group specifically outlawed

130
00:41:12,429 --> 00:41:15,348
though increasingly pervasive,
nonetheless.

131
00:42:58,577 --> 00:43:02,205
We are now all disciples
of a new master it seems.

132
00:43:03,623 --> 00:43:05,750
He is called Jomkin.

133
00:43:07,752 --> 00:43:12,841
He describes these provocative
spheres as his aquaria

134
00:43:14,342 --> 00:43:17,596
and directs me to engage psychically

135
00:43:17,679 --> 00:43:20,307
any aquarium
for which I feel empathy.

136
00:43:22,934 --> 00:43:27,355
I cannot deny my attraction

137
00:43:27,439 --> 00:43:32,861
to certain of these perverse
multi-dimensional images.

138
00:43:51,421 --> 00:43:56,051
Jomkin suggests
that there must evolve

139
00:43:57,010 --> 00:44:02,557
a novel sexuality
for a new species of man.

140
00:44:04,601 --> 00:44:07,979
An emergent genetic biochemistry

141
00:44:09,731 --> 00:44:14,235
for a most innovatively
reproductive form of life.

142
00:44:18,031 --> 00:44:22,118
He mentions Antoine Rouge.

143
00:44:25,789 --> 00:44:30,085
But... I cannot

144
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:37,050
seem to see the connection

145
00:44:38,885 --> 00:44:40,929
between

146
00:46:07,348 --> 00:46:11,227
Adrian Tripod has been accepted
by the Board of Directors

147
00:46:11,311 --> 00:46:15,315
of the Gynaecological
Research Foundation.

148
00:46:15,398 --> 00:46:17,442
The Liaison Officer complains

149
00:46:17,525 --> 00:46:21,237
that his feet and legs
are most unpredictable.

150
00:46:21,321 --> 00:46:26,618
He is afraid that they will give out on
him entirely some day without warning.

151
00:46:26,701 --> 00:46:29,621
And so when he is alone,
he does not walk.

152
00:46:31,164 --> 00:46:35,126
He notes the vastness
of the Foundation's quarters

153
00:46:36,211 --> 00:46:39,714
and the difficulty in reaching aid

154
00:46:39,798 --> 00:46:43,176
for those
suddenly rendered helpless.

155
00:46:44,511 --> 00:46:49,057
In this connection, he mentions
the Foundation's hired gunman

156
00:46:49,140 --> 00:46:52,310
who apparently has a tendency

157
00:46:52,393 --> 00:46:56,397
to misinterpret
subtle social confrontations.

158
00:46:57,857 --> 00:47:02,654
Adrian Tripod is
to be directly introduced

159
00:47:02,737 --> 00:47:04,823
to the subject of his study.

160
00:47:06,407 --> 00:47:08,660
She is a research import

161
00:47:09,536 --> 00:47:12,747
brought at great expense
from a great distance

162
00:47:12,831 --> 00:47:16,084
across several
most contentious borders.

163
00:47:17,418 --> 00:47:20,755
The Corporation
Metaphysical Import-Export

164
00:47:20,839 --> 00:47:23,383
has been involved in the venture.

165
00:47:25,134 --> 00:47:30,640
He stresses the complex nature
of prematurely induced puberty

166
00:47:30,723 --> 00:47:36,187
which leaves such a subject
vulnerable to Rouge's Malady

167
00:47:36,271 --> 00:47:38,731
and is unable to guarantee

168
00:47:38,815 --> 00:47:42,777
that she is not already
somewhat defective in this respect.

169
00:52:48,416 --> 00:52:51,252
At an obscure hotel for transients,

170
00:52:52,295 --> 00:52:57,758
the same one some had said,
that the faded mad dermatologist

171
00:52:57,842 --> 00:53:02,180
Antoine Rouge occupied
during those last years in exile,

172
00:53:04,265 --> 00:53:08,352
Adrian Tripod secures
temporary accommodations

173
00:53:08,436 --> 00:53:11,480
for himself
and his fellow subversives.

174
00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:01,364
The concierge speaks at length
about a root-like excrescence

175
00:54:01,447 --> 00:54:04,992
which has begun to grow
from one of his nostrils.

176
00:54:06,619 --> 00:54:11,415
He believes it to be an extension
of certain cerebral nerve cells.

177
00:54:11,499 --> 00:54:17,046
A modified antennae, perhaps,
a delicate sensing organ.

178
00:54:17,129 --> 00:54:19,882
Attuned to what?

179
00:54:22,885 --> 00:54:26,097
I ask him about Antoine Rouge

180
00:54:27,682 --> 00:54:30,601
but he does not answer.

181
00:55:47,094 --> 00:55:49,889
Although for safety's sake,

182
00:55:49,972 --> 00:55:54,852
we shall be without
Jomkin's guidance for some time,

183
00:55:54,935 --> 00:55:57,355
we have agreed among ourselves

184
00:55:58,356 --> 00:56:00,608
that there must be no delay

185
00:56:00,691 --> 00:56:05,696
in attempting to impregnate
our strange, unfathomable captive.

186
00:59:56,218 --> 01:00:00,389
Adrian Tripod senses

187
01:00:01,390 --> 01:00:05,519
the presence of Antoine Rouge.