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Christ's crucifixion. The narrator begs him to stop his demonstration, but
Baumoff insists that the narrator only observe and take careful note. The flickering darkness returns, and the house begins to shake. Baumoff begins to imagine that he is reliving Christ's final hours, which by putting himself in the place of Christ, verges on blasphemy; as he describes what he is imagining, the narrator himself sees a vision of Christ carrying the cross. Baumoff screams some of Christ's last words on the cross, "
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As the pain of his self-inflicted torture reaches its maximum, a gasping
Baumoff cries out Christ's words again. The cry is repeated a second time, but this time by a mocking, demonic voice. In the darkness, the building shakes, and the narrator is knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds
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Baumoff then goes on to demonstrate what happens when the substance is "burned" (metabolized) within his own body. While the narrator watches in horror, Baumoff's heart rate and respiration increase dangerously, and he begins driving metal spikes into his hands and feet to simulate the pain of
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Science-fiction, the Early Years: A Full
Description of More Than 3,000 Science-fiction Stories from Earliest Times to the Appearance of the Genre Magazines in 1930 : with Author, Title, and Motif
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and obsessed with the crucifixion. Baumoff believes that events following Christ's death (the darkening of the sky, the rending of the temple curtain, and shaking of the ground, as described in the
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and impede the transmission of light. Baumoff displays a tiny quantity of a chemical compound which, when crushed and burned, creates a region of temporary darkness.
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has been developed. Invented by a man named
Baumoff, this substance has the effect of creating a temporary area of darkness, into which light does not readily pass.
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The main body of the story describes the narrator's meeting with
Baumoff, who is described as a scientist who is also profoundly
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113:", a method used by Hodgson in many of his stories. It is learned in the framework story that a strange new
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William Hope
Hodgson's borderlands: monstrosity, other worlds, and the future at the fin de siècle
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Icons of Horror and the
Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares
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Baumoff dead, his face distorted. The rational explanation is
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Kümmel-Schnur, Albert; Schröter, Jens (31 July 2015).
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248:The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction
334:(or stories) published in the 1910s is a
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109:The story is told using a framework or "
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91:"Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani"
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87:"The Baumoff Explosive"
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