Hector German Oesterheld
L'Eternauta

THE REVIEW

Khruner sat in front of me on a cold winter evening, it was snowing.

He began to sing a heartbreaking song like that of a distant death; he later explained to me that it was the death song of the Kol, but he told me much later.

After the song, the air remained still; the smoke from the cigarettes hung suspended between the floor and the ceiling. He stood up and slowly walked around the table, approaching me to introduce himself. I remained still and disoriented. Who was this man who suddenly appeared in my home? I glanced at the window; outside, there was only a deafening silence. It was still snowing, a stray dog was seeking a bit of warmth, curled up in a corner. Khruner extended his hand: "My name was Juan, Juan Salvo... or Galvez? I don't remember anymore, it's been an eternity that I wander through space/time trying to find my family..."

I introduced myself too. Khruner sat down again and began his incredible story.

They had conquered the world. After an incredible snowfall, they occupied all the places of power. They were helped by Skull, Koll, and Gurbos. They manipulate minds with impossible machines until every sentient species is enslaved to them, and resisting is futile. They gather people in stadiums and try to condition them artificially.

I listened with my mouth open, keeping all my questions inside: “Where? When? Who?”

Khruner's epic unfolds in stories of ordinary resistance and struggle until he finds himself trapped in a parallel universe, in a sort of continuum made of parallel worlds, always in desperate and futile search for his own family.

Then just as he had appeared, Khruner vanished. Outside, it’s snowing, or maybe it’s just imagination. I look at the now empty chair. Khruner is no longer, Khruner is gone, or maybe he was never there. But I will forever call him Eternauta or wanderer of space/time.

There’s a knock at the door; perhaps now they've come for me.

Buenos Aires 21.4.1977