Vladimir Torin’s "Gryzlobich," a summary Automatic translate

This book is a 2023 story about a lonely and deranged pneumatic tube cleaner who fakes his own kidnapping by a fictitious serial killer in order to catch the city’s notorious vigilante. It belongs to the author’s "…from Gabin" series and expands the dark universe of the fictional steampunk metropolis. Other books in the series include "And the Light Goes Out," "My Post-Imago," "The Mystery of 12 Rue Florette," and other stories about the enigmatic Gabin.

Unloved work and loneliness

Mr. Gryzlobich lives in a mezzanine apartment in a hunchbacked building in the Sakvoyazhny district. The dwelling is crammed with cabinets, smells of mothballs, and resembles an old wardrobe. His only guest is his neighbor’s cat, Moby, who wards off gremlins.

Gryzlobich works as a track cleaner for the Pneumatic Mail Department. Every shift, he dons an itchy suit with wheels, crawls through pipes, collects gremlin excrement, and clears blockages. He hates his job. He comes from a long line of professional villains: his mother, Iron, wore mechanical prosthetics, and his father dressed up as Pretty Lizzie to rob old men at cabarets.

The hero whiles away his evenings reading the newspaper "Gossip." He closely follows the exploits of the Tooth Fairy. This mysterious girl in a leather helmet fights urban crime and regularly turns bandits in to the police. Gryzlobich is displeased that the avenger wastes her time on small-timers like the Svechnikov gang. He secretly dreams of finding her a truly cunning enemy.

Mysterious Alley

On his way to the station, Gryzlobich passes through the gloomy Morlokk Alley. The walls of the houses are plastered with warnings about a dangerous maniac. He drinks Dr. Koch’s Nekashin syrup and suddenly sees a frightened girl named Winnie. Her foot is stuck in an iron trap. A postal worker undoes the snare with a special key. The rescued woman praises the Tooth Fairy’s bravery. The man realizes that the girl is deliberately wandering through dangerous places in hopes of meeting her idol.

At the exit to Cook Square, Winnie suddenly disappears. A moment later, she reappears on the ledge, now dressed as an avenger. The Tooth Fairy thanks her savior, spreads her mechanical wings, and disappears among the rooftops. Gryzlobich is shocked. He soon decides he’s gone crazy and made the whole thing up.

The Abduction and the Horror of the Dungeon

The narrative offers a different perspective on the events. Gryzlobich stands by a drainpipe and speaks to a stranger hiding in a dark corner of an alley. The stranger turns out to be the terrifying maniac Morlokk. The villain throws a vial of greenish gas at the man’s feet. The postal worker inhales the smoke and loses consciousness.

He comes to in an underground boiler room. The prisoner is strapped tightly to a surgical table. His face and legs are smeared with sticky goo. Gremlins scurry in cages along the wall. A tall maniac in an apron and top hat turns on a gramophone and forces the victim to choose a body part to torture: "the head or the paws." Gryzlobich refuses. The torturer chooses the legs himself, opens the cages containing the small creatures, and the dungeon resounds with screams.

The true face of a maniac

Then the hidden side of the story is revealed: the timid cleaner and the cruel maniac are one and the same. Gryzlobich wakes up in his armchair at home, pricking himself with a loose spring. He has long suffered from a mental disorder and hears the voice of the Dark Fellow Traveler. It was the hero who created the greenish gas "Usypin," made a black mask, and plastered posters around the neighborhood. The villain is eager to continue his parents’ criminal legacy. He dons a camouflage suit and goes hunting in Morlokk Alley.

The maniac hides behind an old mirror and waits for his victim. Soon, a lost young woman appears. Gryzlobich throws some Usypin at the stranger’s feet, but the gas fails to activate. The victim instantly sheds her civilian clothes and reveals herself in a Tooth Fairy costume. The girl shoots the villain with a harpoon and net. The criminal dodges, snatches a dead cat from a trash can, and slaps the avenger’s hands. The stunned Tooth Fairy drops her pistol. Gryzlobich throws a foul-smelling cat tail in her face, knocks her down, and flees down the fire escape. Having reached the second floor, he rips the fastenings, and the metal structure collapses with a crash.

Mad chase

The avenger clings to the roof eaves with a rope and flies through the window after him. A long chase ensues. Gryzlobich runs through the corridors of the bug-infested house. He places a sleepwalking old woman across the hallway to detain his pursuer. Then the villain bursts into the barber shop of Master Krukarius. Inside, ten members of the Candlestick Gang are tied to chairs. Gryzlobich escapes, and the Tooth Fairy, who bursts in after him, is met by bandits with revolvers.

The maniac reaches the "Legs, Paws, and Tails" automaton workshop. Before the astonished eyes of the owner, Josius Stern, and the steam mechanic, Munch, he opens a heavy hatch and jumps into a pipe leading to the scrap yard. The Tooth Fairy rushes into the tunnel after him.

The end of the hoax

The story returns to the maniac’s lair. Gryzlobich, strapped to the table, screams in terror. Suddenly, the door flies open, and the Tooth Fairy runs in. The light of her flashlight frightens the gremlins, and they disappear into the cracks. The postal worker joyfully greets his savior, but she doesn’t even think to cut the straps that bind him. The girl declares that she’s figured out the absurd setup. There is no such thing as a Morlock maniac.

The Tooth Fairy illuminates a dark corner of the basement. The terrifying figure of the villain turns out to be an ordinary mannequin, assembled from old suitcases, hangers, and wire. The doll’s head is replaced by a phonograph under a cylinder. The Avenger plays the recording, and the device plays a grim monologue in the voice of Gryzlobich himself. The girl accuses the postal worker of wasting his time. She guessed the hoax, followed the man, and discovered that he regularly visits psychiatrist Roger Hoggart on Graceby Street. The Avenger submitted the fragments of the bottle for analysis and realized that "Usypin" is an ordinary smoky fizzy drink.

Dr. Hoggart descends into the basement, accompanied by two orderlies from the Erringhouse Psychiatric Hospital. The doctor regretfully notes that the patient’s monomania has reached a new level and requires isolation. Orderlies Reikyu and Solomons deftly inject Gryzlobich with a sedative. They place the exhausted man in a straitjacket and carry him to the hospital van. The Tooth Fairy promises the doctor to personally oversee the patient’s conditions at the clinic.

Dr. Hoggart carefully examines the operating table and addresses the avenger. The doctor has extensive experience restraining unruly patients. He confidently asserts that Gryzlobich, even if he had tried, could not have tightened the straps so cunningly on his own. The postal worker clearly had someone assisting him. The Tooth Fairy refuses to believe there is an accomplice, chalking everything up to the prisoner’s mechanical ingenuity, and leaves the lair.

As the footsteps fade, a brick door creaks open in the basement wall. The outline of a short figure disappears into the dark, secret passage. The hoarse voice of the Dark Fellow Traveler speaks of the poor and foolish Gryzlobich. It turns out the arrest of the mail cleaner was premeditated by the true puppeteer. The Dark Fellow Traveler triumphs: the plan has been a complete success. The postal worker has fulfilled his function, the Tooth Fairy has been deceived, and now no one can stop the mysterious manipulator.