Professor Lake

The western investigation

Lake belongs to the university contingent of the expedition in At the Mountains of Madness. His biological interests differ from Dyer’s geological priorities, although both depend on the same transport and drilling system. When unusual markings suggest an unexpectedly complex form of ancient life, Lake presses for further work in the direction from which the evidence comes.

Dyer initially regards the diversion as a threat to the planned schedule. Lake’s persistence is vindicated scientifically when the sub-expedition uncovers extraordinary material. The disagreement is not between a competent scientist and a merely irrational adventurer: it concerns the value of following an anomaly when time, fuel and weather impose constraints.

Sources: At the Mountains of Madness — original text

Discovery and anatomical investigation

At the mountain camp, drilling opens a cavern rich in remains. Lake recovers fourteen of the strange barrel-shaped organisms, eight relatively complete and six damaged. He describes their fivefold arrangement and begins examining their external and internal structures.

The anatomy resists his first classifications. Features associated with plants coexist with locomotion, sensory organization and complex internal systems. Lake revises his interpretation as he works, rather than instantly identifying a familiar kind of monster. The highly developed nervous system particularly enlarges the discovery’s significance.

The specimens’ preservation is equally puzzling. Their tissues are unusually tough, and warming affects them in ways not readily explained by their apparent antiquity. The dogs’ hostility is evident, but Lake does not understand it as a warning that the organisms can revive. The historical and biological context available to him is insufficient for that conclusion.

Sources: At the Mountains of Madness — original text

The wireless voice of discovery

Lake sends successive bulletins as the work develops. The reports include observations, corrections, excitement and plans for bringing Dyer’s group to the site. They make the early part of the story a discovery experienced at a distance. Dyer can recognize its magnitude without being able to inspect the organisms directly.

Communication also gives the public a partial account that cannot easily be withdrawn. The announced discoveries help inspire later Antarctic interest, including the expedition Dyer eventually tries to stop. Lake’s success thus has an afterlife beyond the immediate camp.

When the transmissions cease during worsening conditions, the same distance becomes a source of fear. The relief party cannot know whether it is facing equipment failure, weather damage or a more serious disaster. Lake’s formerly abundant voice is replaced by silence.

Sources: At the Mountains of Madness — original text

Death and the later reconstruction

Lake does not survive the destruction of the camp. Dyer subsequently explains how the intact specimens awakened, defended themselves and investigated their surroundings. The bodies and equipment left behind reveal an inquiry conducted from the other side of the anatomical table.

The story withholds the identity of the human whose dissected remains are found in the laboratory tent. It should not be stated as a demonstrated fact that this individual is Lake. What is clear is that one of the ancient bodies Lake had dissected was later gathered and buried by the awakened beings.

Lake’s narrative role persists after his death. His precise observations help Dyer recognize the builders of the city, while the reversal of investigator and specimen makes his work part of the story’s larger challenge to human centrality. He discovered a civilization’s bodies before anyone in the expedition understood that a civilization was present.

Sources: At the Mountains of Madness — original text