“Yes, the harrow,” answered the officer, “a perfect name for it. The needles are arranged similarly to the teeth of a harrow and the whole thing works something like a harrow, although it is stationary and performs with much more artistry. You’ll soon understand it anyway. The condemned man is laid here on the bed—you see, first I want to explain the apparatus and then start it up, that way you’ll be able to follow it better; besides, one of the gears in the designer is badly worn, it makes a horrible screeching noise when it’s turning and you can hardly hear yourself speak; unfortunately spare parts are difficult to come by around here—well, so here is the bed, as I said before. It’s completely covered with a layer of cotton wool, you’ll find out what that’s for later. The condemned man is laid facedown on the cotton wool, naked of course; here are straps for the hands, the feet, and here for the neck, in order to hold him down. So, as I was saying, here at the head of the bed, where the condemned man is at first laid facedown, is the little felt gag that can be adjusted easily to fit straight into the man’s mouth. It’s meant to keep him from screaming or biting his tongue. The man has to take the felt in his mouth since otherwise the neck strap would break his neck.” “That’s cotton wool?” asked the traveler, leaning forward. “It certainly is,” the officer said with a smile, “feel for yourself.” He grabbed hold of the traveler’s hand and guided it over the bed’s surface. “It’s specially prepared cotton wool, which is why you don’t recognize it; I’ll come to its purpose in a minute.” The traveler was starting to feel the stirring of interest in the apparatus; he gazed up at it with one arm raised to shield his eyes from the sun. It was a large structure. The bed and the designer were the same size and looked like two dark steamer trunks. The designer hung about two meters above the bed; they were joined at the corners by four brass rods that practically gleamed in the sunlight. The harrow was suspended on a steel band between the two trunks.
The officer had barely noticed the traveler’s previous indifference but definitely sensed his burgeoning interest, so he paused in his explanations in order to give the traveler time for undisturbed observation. The condemned man imitated the traveler, but since he could not shield his eyes with a hand, he blinked up into the sun.
“So, the man lies down,” said the traveler, leaning back in his chair and crossing his legs.
“Yes,” said the officer, pushing his cap back a little and mopping his sweaty face with his hand, “now listen! Both the bed and the designer have their own electric battery; the bed needs one for itself and the designer needs one for the harrow. As soon as the man is strapped in, the bed is set in motion. It quivers with tiny, rapid vibrations, both from side to side and up and down. You will have seen similar contraptions in sanitariums, but for our bed, all the movements are calibrated precisely, for they must correspond to movements of the harrow. But it is the harrow that actually carries out the sentence.”
“And just what is the sentence?” inquired the traveler. “You don’t know that either?” the officer said in astonishment, and bit his lip. “Excuse me if my explanations seem a bit incoherent, I beg your pardon. The commandant always used to take care of the explanations, but the new commandant seems to scorn this duty; but that such a distinguished visitor”—the traveler attempted to wave this distinction away with both hands, but the officer insisted on the expression—”that such a distinguished visitor should not even be made aware of the form our sentencing takes is a new development, which”—an oath was about to pass his lips but he checked himself and said only: “I was not informed of this, it’s not my fault. In any case, I’m certainly the man best equipped to explain our sentencing, since I have here”—he patted his breast pocket—”the relevant drawings made by our former commandant.”