i assume you're wondering .  what all this has been about.
he's come on his own initiative. -- not something we encourage, mind you, but we like to know it exists.
what it amounts to is simply this .
a piece of paper was delivered to the wrong clerk. it was essential he bring it back to us. these complications have arisen because he had friends -- like you, among others -- friends unlikely to let a sleeping dog lie.
a mere slip. your friend mr. raban dealt only with claims that came in, another department being responsible for compensation that goes out -- this is correct?
through a very unfortunate -- and i might add extremely rare -- mishap, a document intended for the one department was sent to the other. and for the first time -- though your friend wasn't aware of it -- two and two could have been put together to make one.
you see, kafka, in all cases relating to the factory at orlac -- which is what this paper referred to -- the authority that puts in a request and the authority that grants it is, to all intents and purposes, the same authority.
-- you seem amused.
it's merely a matter of expediency. it's imperative that my room to maneuver not be hindered by .  bureaucratic ramifications.
-- if an obscure official up there in the distant mountains so far away from civilizing influences happens to meet with an unfortunate accident -- and should he tragically die in spite of the district medical officer's strenuous efforts to save him -- the firm wants to see the next of kin pacified and the disposition of the remains handled with the greatest possible .  efficiency.
i believe we've exceeded his expectations.
life is more than a chinese puzzle, my friend.
yes, well -- we're looking for a new village now. if we stay too long at one source .  people become suspicious.
but you're quite right that he didn't die in that cave-in. in fact, he didn't die at all. he was simply recalled -- by himself. as well as being head of medical records here and a director of your firm -- i'm dr. murnau, of course.
may i ask where your two warders are?
pity. they're an amusing pair, didn't you find? absolute innocents.
i so rarely get the chance of showing my work to anybody -- anybody capable of appreciating it, that is. you might say i'm a student of human reaction.
on the contrary, it matters a great deal. we're engaged in immensely important research here. i'm a revolutionary too, you know -- but a much more pragmatic one.
-- i can't very well administer experimental treatments to corpses -- and if they become corpses, why, they have their uses too -- that's why speed is essential. living tissue, even if its owner has passed on, is our most valuable acquisition.
we've tried transfusions on our .  volunteers. unfortunately, far from infusing superior characteristics it's tended to make them insane -- murderous even -- a condition we've had occasion to make use of.
-- and the new patients they bring me aren't usually as dexterous as you've been in evading us. not perfect specimens by any means, but not the type of person who'll be missed either.
as a matter of fact you've caught us in a state of considerable excitement. our latest preparation we believe -- we pray -- is perfected. it should take years off her.
and if not -- well, there are always what i call my caprices of vivisection.
actually, if it weren't for the aberrant dilemma posed by someone like yourself -- continually asking for out-of-date files -- i'd probably give up my revisionist policies altogether. i'm sure what we have to do is start instead at the very inception -- with the embryo -- from a single cell even. the lure of the golem -- the man-made man. you appreciate that, i know.
to corrupt the image of man and then offer redemption .  this is the dawn, kafka. a new man is being born here. a more resilient man .  a superman.
to a new world -- of gods and monsters.
just stands by the operating table, waiting for them. he knows there's no way out and he's far too practical a man to waste energy running or screaming.