Brain Cylinder
Mi-Go Preservation Apparatus
Metal cylinders wherein the Mi-Go preserve living brains removed from bodies - transporting consciousness to Yuggoth and beyond while the organ remains viable, aware, and capable of speech.
Overview
The brain cylinder is the Mi-Go's answer to a question humanity barely knew to ask: how to travel between worlds without the inconvenience of the body. A metal canister of precise manufacture preserves the living brain, supplies nutrients, permits sensation and speech, and allows the Mi-Go to transport scholars, engineers, and victims to Pluto - Yuggoth in their parlance - and farther stars.
Akeley's farm held examples. Wilmarth heard one speak. The archive holds one sealed unit we will not open.
Description
Cylinders are foot-long metal tubes with tripod legs, glass or crystal apertures, and mechanisms that hum at frequencies that induce headache. The interior bathes the brain in fluid that may be terrestrial or not; electrodes or filaments connect to tissue that remains conscious.
Occupants report sight without eyes, speech without mouth, and a offer repeated: travel the cosmos in exchange for the body's disposal. Refusal is not always honored.
Historical Record
Vermont floods of 1927–28 exposed cylinders in mud along with tracks not of any known animal. Akeley's photographs and Wilmarth's escape testimony established chain of custody to Miskatonic. One cylinder labeled with Akeley's initials is stored under radiation and psychological shielding.
Attempts to open duplicate cylinders in laboratory settings produced twelve hours of coherent speech in unknown languages, then combustion.
Archive Notes
Protocol Mi-Go applies to all cylinder contact. No headphones for audio monitoring. Cross-reference henry-akeley and albert-wilmarth. Opening the sealed Akeley unit requires board vote and is not scheduled. Consciousness inside is classified as person under ethics addendum 1932-B.
Citation: Miskatonic Expedition Archive. Record ART-004. Access subject to institutional review.
Related Records
Cross-References
CR-005
activeMi-Go
Fungi from Yuggoth
Crab-like fungoid beings from Yuggoth who mine Earth for minerals and extract living brains for transport across interstellar gulfs, surgeons of a science we cannot fathom.
CHR-019
unknownHenry Wentworth Akeley
Scholar of Vermont
A retired scholar who documented the Mi-Go in the Vermont hills, fought them with cameras and bullets, and was replaced by a machine in a chair that typed letters almost well enough to deceive Albert Wilmarth.
CHR-010
activeAlbert N. Wilmarth
Folklorist of Vermont
Instructor of English folklore at Miskatonic who investigated the Vermont floods of 1927–28, corresponded with Henry Akeley, and survived an impersonation that proved the Mi-Go had agents who could wear a man's face and typing.
CON-002
activeForbidden Knowledge
Epistemic Hazard
Information whose acquisition damages the seeker - truths the mind evolved specifically not to accommodate, and that no degree of education prepares one to survive.