Journey Through the Impossible (6 page)

(He sits with his head in his hands, overcome)

Eva (going up to him): Your hand is burning, George.

George (looking up): Eva! It's you! (To Mme de Traventhal) And you,
grandmother.

Mme de Traventhal: Are you in pain, George?

George: Yes. I feel as if I'm being consumed by a constant fever,
which no human medicine can cure.

Eva: Not even friendship?

Mme de Traventhal (in a low voice, pointing to Eva): Not even love?

George: Eva! (Going up to hei) Eva dear, you know I love you and that
my heart is yours-and yours, too, grandmother. But my imagination is stronger than my heart. Every hour of the day and night it
carries me away from this castle, far away from this country,
beyond the ends of the earth and almost into unknown worlds.
And I hear a voice calling me: "Forward, farther, still farther!"

Eva: Calm yourself, George, I beg you. Ah! If you really loved me....

George: I do love you, Eva. Our two lives will be one some dayafter my dreams have been realized. But until then I'm not completely yours. I feel it. First I must go where my destiny calls me.

Tartelet: And one would need exceptional legs to follow him.

Eva (taking his hand): You're planning to leave us, then.

George: I'll come back to you, Eva.

Eva: And what if you don't find me here when you come back?

George: Not find you here! What do you mean?

Eva: I don't know. I just feel as if some danger is threatening me.

George: Danger? What danger?

Mme de Traventhal: What is it, girl? Speak up.

Eva: For some time now, whenever I leave the castle with old Niels,
I've been followed by a man whose presence really terrifies me.

George: Who is this man?

Eva: I don't know, but he has strange, bizarre ways, and he frightens
me. He seems to know in advance what I'm going to do and where
I'm going to go.

George: And you say he follows you everywhere?

Eva: Everywhere, and the strange thing is that he only stops when I
go into the church. There, at the threshold of the Holy Place, he
gets an even stranger look on his face. His lips are twisted with
bitter irony and an angry fire burns in his eyes.

George: And when you are in the church?

Eva: My soul becomes calm again, especially when Master Volsius
plays the organ.

George: Master Volsius?

Eva: Yes, the new organist. I believe he's attached to the cathedral at
Aalborg.9 He's a musical genius. I'd almost say he's a superhuman
artist. When he plays the accompaniment for the psalms of penitence, you can see the darkness of hell open up before your eyes.
When he sings of the glory of the Almighty, you are carried off to
Paradise itself. The walls recede, as if by some marvellous spell,
the church vanishes, and his genius calls forth a heavenly vision,
surrounded by the most sublime harmonies.

Mme de Traventhal: Yes, Eva, yes. I've felt the same ecstasy as you
have while listening to him.

Eva: It's more than ecstasy. You can see what that great artist is trying
to express. You can see it, grandma, you can really see it.

Tartelet: And I've seen it too. Yes, yes, I've seen this miracle, and I've
been assured that this man is more than a peerless organist. He
produces the most miraculous sounds with my poor old violin. He
could make houses dance.

(Enter Niels)

Niels: Madam, the doctor is here.

George (hastily): A doctor?

Mme de Traventhal: Yes, my dears, I've sent for a doctor to come
and see me. I heard that there is a very famous doctor in Aalborg
right now, and I've asked him to come. He will give me some good
advice-and you, too, Eva, and George and Tartelet.

Tartelet: But I'm not sick.

Mme de Traventhal: People are always sick-more or less. I've
observed that doctors have the greatest success....

Tartelet: With healthy people.

Mme de Traventhal: Show in Dr. Ox.10

George: Is this the Dr. Ox who carried out those extraordinary experiments that doubled people's vital capacity under the influence of
oxygen?

Mme de Traventhal: Exactly.

George: I'm curious to see him.

Tartelet (aside): Mr. George doesn't need any extra oxygen, though.
He needs to have a little less of it.

Niels (announcing): Dr. Ox.

Tartelet: Some charlatan, no doubt.

(Enter Dr. Ox, through the door at the back)

Eva (aside, terrified): What's this I see? It's him, the man who keeps
following me!

Ox (to Mme de Traventhal): You sent for me, madam. Here I am.

Mme de Traventhal: Doctor, I heard that you were in Aalborg,
where your great reputation has preceded you, and I wish to have
your opinion....

Ox: About this young lady, perhaps.

Eva (hastily): No, no, not about me.

Mme de Traventhal: Eva is in excellent health.

Ox: Are you quite sure? See how pale and nervous she is. (He takes her
hand.)

Eva: Oh!

Ox: This delicate hand trembles in mine. (Eva quickly pulls her hand
away, but he seizes it again) It's like fear, or terror, even. But we'll
calm that.

Eva (moving away from him): You're mistaken. I'm not frightened or
terrified. (Aside) My intuition tells me this man has brought misfortune to our house.

George (to the doctor): Doctor, I'm happy to meet you. I've followed your
wonderful experiments-from a distance, but with great interest.

Ox: Indeed?

George: Increasing the oxygen content of the air, transforming the
body and the soul! Doubling, even tripling, the vital capacity!
That is magnificent.

Ox: It's also very simple, sir. The human body is like a burning stove.
I simply found a way of putting on a little more coal. But let's get
straight to the point, sir. You're the one I'm here to treat.

George: Me?

Mme de Traventhal: Doctor, what are you talking about?

Ox: There's no point in beating about the bush, madam. This young
man's health is a matter of great concern to you.

Mme de Traventhal: Yes, of course.

Ox: And to you also, miss.

Eva (coldly): George is my fiance, sir.

Ox (aside): Your fiance. (Aloud) Now, his mind harbors dreams that
seem insane to you, and you want to cure him of the grandiose
ideas that are simmering in his brain.

George: So that's it. They brought you here to see me.

Ox: You, and no one else.

Mme de Traventhal: Who told you that, sir?

Ox: In this country, madam, everyone knows your name, and this
young man's story is known to everyone but himself.

George: What is he talking about?

Ox: You expect me to make him well. All right, I'll undertake to cure
him. But don't expect me to turn his thoughts away from the glorious goal he's been pursuing for so long.

Eva: What do you mean?

Ox: Do you think that by compressing a gas you can prevent it from
exploding? Of course not. On the contrary, let him give free rein
to his ambition. Don't stifle his noble rapture. Let him say how far
he wants to go, and then let us try to prepare the way for him.

George: What I want, doctor, is to surpass what has been done by the
heroes whose names are written in these books, to go beyond the
frontiers that they could not cross. Professor Lidenbrok penetrated into the bowels of the earth. I want to go all the way to its
central fire. Captain Nemo, in his Nautilus," sought independence in the depths of the sea. I want to live in that element, and
travel through it from pole to pole. The daring Michel Ardan
enclosed himself in a capsule and went into orbit several thousand
leagues above the earth. I want to fly from one planet to another.
That's what I want, doctor. Is it impossible?

Ox (in a powerful voice): No!

Eva: How dare you say that, sir!

Ox: No! A thousand times no! You will know what you aspire to know,
and your eyes will see what you aspire to see, if your courage does
not fail.

George: It will never fail. Go on-but isn't this all an empty dream?

Ox: I will lead you into reality itself.

George: Into reality!

Ox (taking a vial from his pocket): See this vial. Anyone who drinks a
few drops of this potion will be carried away with the speed of a
thunderbolt, and under conditions of a new life, to regions where
man is forbidden to go. There will be no more intervals of time
and distance. Men will fly as fast as lightning. Days will go by in
a few seconds, years in a few minutes.

George: And will I reach the earth's central fire?

Ox: Yes!

George: And the bottom of the ocean?

Ox: Yes!

George: And go as far into outer space as I want?

Ox: Yes!

George: Ali! That would truly be an impossibility.

Ox: An impossibility that you will accomplish, because I will make
your body capable of going unharmed to places where men burn,
to places where they drown. You'll be able to breathe even where
there is no more air to breathe. You'll be carried away as if by a
whirlwind, and return as the hero of the impossible, the hero who
explored the most unfathomable mysteries of nature.

Eva: To try to do something like that is not only insane, George, it's
criminal, it's sacrilegious.

Mme de Traventhal (terrified): Yes, my daughter is right. In heaven's
name, sir, say no more.

George: Let him speak, grandmother, let him speak. Doctor, I
believe in you. I'm ready to follow you.

Eva: George, you'd be deserting us, deserting the woman who took
you in and loved you as her own child. And deserting me, too,
George!

Ox (shouts): Go ahead, beg, weep, soften his heart, weaken his soul,
cast him back into his childhood, this son of Hatteras, just when I
was about to make a man of him.

Mme de Traventhal (to Eva): Good God!

George (shouts): Son of Hatteras, did you say? I'm the son of Hatteras, the son of the daring navigator who made his way to the
North Pole?

Ox: Yes, yes, that illustrious man was your father.

George: My father! The man whose wonderful tales I read so avidly.
The man I always wanted to imitate.

Ox: And you will surpass him if you want to.

George: Ah! Nothing will ever stop me now.

Mme de Traventhal: Alas! All is lost.

Eva: This man is the evil genius of our family.

Ox (aside): Now he is mine!

(Enter Master Volsius)

Master Volsius: Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, am I at the home
of Mme de Traventhal?

Mme de Traventhal: You are, sir. May I know ... ?

Volsius: Madam, as I was leaving the cathedral I happened to find this
prayer book. Thinking it belonged to someone in the castle, I
took the liberty.... Perhaps it is yours, madam?

Mme de Traventhal: No.

Volsius (to Ox): Is it yours, then, sir? Yes, it must be yours.

Ox (drawing back): Mine?

Volsius: Take it, sir, do take it.

Ox (still drawing back): Mine? This book? No, I tell you, no!

Volsius: Oh! Don't be afraid. It won't burn your fingers.

Eva (approaching): It's my prayer book. I left it behind in church this
morning. Thank you for bringing it back to me.

Ox: But who are you, sir?

Volsius: I, sir? I am the organist at the cathedral.

Eva: Master Volsius!

All: Master Volsius!

George: Volsius, the great musician!

Volsius: Volsius, the humble organist, sir.

Ox (aside): What's he doing here?

Eva: Ah, sir, we have heard you many times in the cathedral, and been
thrilled by your sublime harmonies!

Volsius: I am only a poor musician, miss.

Mme de Traventhal: The doors of Andernak Castle will always be
open to you.

Ox (aside): We'll see about that.

Mme de Traventhal (introducing): My granddaughter Eva.

Volsius: How do you do?

Mme de Traventhal (introducing George): Her fiance, George....

George (hastily): George Hatteras.

Volsius: The son of the famous Captain Hatteras?

George (excitedly): Yes, yes, he's my father, and I'm going to equal his
achievements, and even surpass his discoveries, thanks to the
learned Dr. Ox.

Volsius (turning to Ox): Dr. Ox! I have heard a great deal about Dr.
Ox. I hope I find you well, Dr. Ox?

Ox (turning his back on him): Very well ... Master ... Volsius.

Volsius: They say, doctor, that you have the power to make the
human body capable of going through the impossible.

Ox: And what they say is true, Master Volsius.

Volsius: Even capable of understanding those mysteries that God
seems to have reserved for Himself alone.

Ox: Yes, we shall penetrate those impenetrable mysteries.

Volsius: And you are offering the son of Captain Hatteras an opportunity to carry on in his own name the attempts that failed, even
in mythology-an opportunity to repeat the experiments of
Icarus?

Ox: Yes, but without destroying his wings.

Volsius: The adventures of Prometheus?

Ox: Yes, but with no danger from the vulture's talons.

Volsius: And the efforts of the Titans?"

Ox: Yes, but with no danger of being struck by Jupiter's thunderbolt.

Volsius: In fact, then, you are very strong.

Tartelet (aside): My goodness, it seems to me that the organist is the
cleverest of them all.

Ox: I think, Master Volsius, that you are making fun of the power this
potion bestows. Well, drink a few drops of it, and you will have no
more doubts.

Volsius: Thank you, doctor, but I have no need of it.

George (reaching for the vial): Give it to me, then. Give it to me.

Volsius (stopping his arm): Young man, the vain attempts I have just
mentioned may not have touched your soul. No one believes in
this fictitious mythology. But open the holy scriptures and there
you will find more ambitious arrogance, more audacious rebellions-and more dreadful punishments. And they are real, and so
terrible that Dr. Ox himself would be afraid to face them.