The Last Adventure of Dr. Yngve Hogalum (The Magnetron Chronicles) Read Online Free Page B

backward, I can see but one path back to my starting point.”
    “ As is often the case,” concurred Dr. Hogalum, attempting rather ineffectively to nod his head. “Now, please confine yourself to the pith of this particular path. Precisely what have you planned for me that requires only my head?”
    Dr. Hogalum ground his molars audibly as I described the brain ’s ability to direct the body with small electrical discharges which obliged muscles to contract. At length, I declared with some immodesty that I believed a human brain—with the appropriate bridging apparatus—could attain the capacity to control machinery directly, without any manual interaction.
    “ Fascinating, Magnetron,” Dr. Hogalum mocked. “But what in blazes does this have to do with me?”
    I strode toward my creation, which was concealed beneath an unremarkable sailcloth tarpaulin.  “Behold!” I said, suddenly aware that I had spent a lifetime wanting for the opportunity to issue that very command. “I give you…” I intoned majestically, assuming a magnificent pose suitable to revealing my foremost invention.   I gave the release cord an efficient yank—thereby sundering an elaborate pulley system formerly affixed to a beam in the laboratory ceiling.
    “ Behold!” said I again, tugging at the irksome tarpaulin fabric. “I give you…”  Struggling mightily, I finally managed to unveil my creation—a streamlined craft unlike any previously seen upon this Earth. “I give you… The Caelestis !”

Chapter 11 ~ Magnetron’s Curse
    “ When Dr. Hogalum had asked my name, the only word I could speak was ‘magnetron,’ a word I had heard in my afflicted dreams…”
    Dr. Hogalum was uncharacteristically speechless, his jaw repeatedly dropping open and snapping shut. For the first time I could remember, I had impressed him. “Magnificent, isn’t she?” I said, beaming with pride. He agreed emphatically and asked if the Caelestis was the product of my unusual gift. I shook my head, reminding the doctor that I considered it a curse, not a gift.
    Let me explain: In the course of one of the final battles of Chancellorsville, I received a bullet wound that pierced my brain and rendered me comatose for weeks. I should certainly have died from my injury, as I was left behind when General Hooker was forced to retreat under the acute duress of General Lee’s assault. As my comrades were repulsed to stronger defensive positions, I exhausted my last moments of consciousness dragging myself toward a nearby woody thicket.
    I awoke weeks later in a clean bed under the care of Dr. Hogalum, who had found me whilst searching for an errant golf ball and transported me to his home in a secluded area southeast of Charlottesville. I had a profound case of amnesia, and was also unable to speak intelligibly. When Dr. Hogalum asked my name, the only word I could speak was “magnetron,” a word I had heard in my afflicted dreams, a word whose precise meaning remains a mystery to me. It was many months later until I was reunited with my mother and came to know my true surname, Mugglesworth.
    As alluded to earlier, I arise nearly every morning intoxicated by visions of astonishing inventions from the future: telescope boxes that permit a viewer to observe events from every corner of the world; self-propelled carriages that permit the driver to go anywhere on land at speeds exceeding that of the fastest locomotive; tiny devices that permit the user to listen to perfectly faithful recordings of symphonies at the mere touch of a button.
    For many years I have kept a tablet of writing paper at my bedside, so that I might record the workings of these inventions, but within a few moments I find myself gazing uncomprehending at meaningless scribbles. I have been inspired by many of my sketches, and I have managed to support my household and unusual pursuits from the sale of my Vegetable-Musket, a device which eases the burden of many thousands of women by