The Resurrectionist The Lost Work of Dr. - By E. B. Hudspeth Page 0,24

scientific benefit of studying the creature whilst it was alive and moving before me, I am unable to understand how it managed the apparent dilemma of three brains, three wills, and only one body to command. This is a great point of intrigue to me, and a burden on my ever-increasingly curious studies.

I find it baffling that the tail of the creature has the structure of that belonging to a serpent, and yet the chimæra has none of a serpent’s functionality; it could neither slither nor coil upon the ground. I suspect that the tail is merely a system used for balance.

The musculature of the lion’s head seems to outweigh (by measure of weight, proportion, and tension) the other two heads. I concluded that the central vertebral joint, the trithoracic vertebra, can resist enough torsion to accommodate the animal moderately but not effectively.

The diet is another curiosity. All three heads, whose origins are from creatures of differing diets, must surely share a common digestive tract and other similar requirements for basic functionality. I imagine there must have been ample opportunity to benefit from such an arrangement; the goat could graze whilst the lion rested, perhaps.

It is likely that a more modest, necessary, and adaptable animal evolved from the chimæra, though I have no evidence to that end. It is my belief that the chimæra could not have survived a respectable length of time in its environment.

LIKE THE CHIMÆRA, THE CREATURE KNOWN AS THE CERBERUS ALSO HAS THREE HEADS—ONLY IN THIS CASE, THE HEADS ALL BELONG TO THE SAME SPECIES. BLACK EXPERIMENTED WITH DOGS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. WE KNOW OF THE WORK DONE WITH DARWIN’S BEAGLE, BUT WE DO NOT KNOW THE FULL EXTENT OF BLACK’S EXPERIMENTATION WITH POLYCEPHALOUS CREATURES.

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CANIS HADES

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KINGDOM Animalia

PHYLUM Vertebrata

CLASS Echidnæ

ORDER Praesidium

FAMILY Canidæ

GENUS Canis

SPECIES Canis hades

I ORIGINALLY BELIEVED THE hell-hound was a singular creation, much like the ganesha and the chimæra. However, I had the peculiar fortune to come into the possession of eight beasts, all of which appeared to have perished together as a pack. Several of the beasts had two or three heads, and one of the dogs possessed six. A specimen with three heads and a serpent tail is the case for study here.

There must be some element in the bone, blood, or brain of the cerberus and the chimæra that allowed for the growth of multiple heads. These creatures are not mere mutations born of unnatural conditions; their design is far too deliberate and intentional. Despite their superficial similarities I have no evidence that these two creatures are closely related. I am not related to a fish simply because we both have a single head.

The cerberus would have been warm blooded with many traits likened to other mammals: a four-chambered heart, normal-sized organs, mammary glands, et cetera. A natural conclusion to draw would be that the serpent auxiliary to the body of the cerberus (as well as the chimæra) had adapted appropriately, losing the need for cold-blooded temperature regulatory systems. Similar adaptations are found in other reptiles, such as the Dermochelys coriacea, the leather-back turtle. There may be a shared ancestry among these reptiles, suggesting that the bloodlines are vast and still flourishing in regions yet unknown.

CREATING THE PEGASUS WAS A MASSIVE UNDERTAKING; IT IS EASILY THE LARGEST OF DR. BLACK’S CREATIONS. HE HAD TO DESIGN AN ELABORATE HOIST-AND-PULLEY SYSTEM JUST TO MOVE THE ANIMAL TO HIS OPERATING TABLE. MORE RIGGING WOULD BE NEEDED TO SUPPORT THE CREATURE IN ITS DESIRED POSTURE WHILE ON DISPLAY (IT WAS LIKELY IN THE SAME POSITION AS WAS DRAWN AT RIGHT).

Months of labor used to construct wings that can never work. I have sewn the muscle carefully to their respective locations; I have taken care with the nerves and skin and all of the fibers of the tissues of the beast’s flesh … but it does not live. I do this, only to show that it could have and once did live.

—SPENCER BLACK

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PEGASUS GORGONIS

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KINGDOM Animalia

PHYLUM Vertebrata

CLASS Gorgonis

ORDER Perissodactyla

FAMILY Equialatus

GENUS Pegasus

SPECIES Pegasus gorgonis

FAMED FOR ITS ASCENT to Mount Olympus, the pegasus has inspired many tales of wonderment.

The size and breadth of the animal’s wings afford it a greater capacity for flight than might seem possible; certainly the riddle is simple once one peers beyond the veil of the flesh. The air sacs throughout the animal’s body would have to be more than twice (by measure of proportion) the size of any bird’s, thus allowing tremendous breathing potential.