Dr. Jolly proceeded to lecture with the help of magnified photographs. He explained how Cobb had come across remarkably old maps in South America suggesting an Antarctic coastline not yet buried in ice. He showed some pictures from the Leviathan expedition, then some from the recovery of the ancient seeds in 1913. Then came the recovery of Cobb himself, and there was some oohing and aahing as the audience got to witness the scientist-explorer himself being found in a great block of ice, and then brought all the way back home.
"We were anxious to study him," said Jolly. "Perhaps in death, he could shed light upon his last moments of life, and anything he learned at that time." Jolly then showed photographs of the ice being laid out on a table, and buckets of meltwater being continually taken away. "This photographer, incidentally, is in the employ of the Imperial Society, and was most interested in a fair, sober, accurate record.
"It is also a matter of record with the society that we found what appeared to be Cobb, but at an incredible size. His face and even his birthmark all checked out. Somehow his body grew to be well over seven feet tall.
"All that might have been enough, ladies and gentlemen, enough to make this one of the great scientific mysteries of our time -- but there was even more. Take a good look at these photographs of his face and stature, take a very good look -- because, ladies and gentlemen, what happened after that was not at all to be expected. It was so incredible that even now I still do not quite believe it, but you may now all judge for yourselves.
"My friends, I give you ... the man who has cheated Death, the man who fell asleep one day at the age of thirty and then awoke to find himself triple that age ... the Lazarus of the South Pole -- Manly Cobb!"
Cobb strode out, very thankful for all that Brumbelow Brothers had been able to do for him. He faced a sometimes gasping but otherwise quiet and bewildered audience.
("Lazarus of the South Pole?" he murmured to Jolly.)
("I thought it quite pithy," Jolly defended softly.)
Cobb took center stage. "Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. If you disbelieve what you see and hear, then do believe this: that no one shares more in your disbelief than yourself. I have no idea how I got tall, or why I should feel so strong and heart after sixty years of what I can only guess was some form of suspended animation. Frankly, life would be a bit simpler right now if I could have remained the man I always was. But I do assure you -- I am Manly Cobb."
The audience erupted into confusion as some cameras flashed away. Cobb took a deep breath. He had just opened Pandora's box, although he had seen no way around that. |