An omagulous toad is a miniature universe inside a sphere used to generate power in Heaven and Hell. The metapsychic faultline doesn't like the toads so the only toad is plated in gold in the La Lantis basement.
Another toad was brought to Lexis via skyship, however the ship crashed leaving it at the bottom of the sea. An experiment to create a mimic field and allow the toad to be safely used in Chalakanesia caused a massive explosion. Heineman threw the skyship toad over the continental shelf to resolve the situation.
The omagulous toad, the universe in a tin can which had long been used to generate the power needed to run the machineries of La Lantis, was clearly interacting with the toad in the wreck of the Zuzu Magore. But why? [EoH Ch17]
These days, the sole remaining omagulous toad on Chalakanesian soil was safe in the basement of La Lantis, buried beneath enormous amounts of gold shielding. While it remained there, it could be thought of as a clean, safe source of energy, efficiently powering all the elaborate devices protected by the golden dome of La Lantis. But very few people in Chalakanesia trusted it any more. [NoP Ch2]
'The skyship, yes,' said Teladex, a bit regretfully, as if he would like to have been able to avoid being straightjacketed into the role of representing the device. 'There are obviously some bugs in our much-cherished machinery. Hence the tragedy with the Zuzu Magore. I believe our technicians are going to run some tests with a normalizer, to gather more data.'
'A normalizer?' said Heineman.
Heineman was scrupulous in his intellectual habits. If he didn't understand something, he asked. It was a habit which had been instilled in him at school by Miss Davlix Keats, a much-loved teacher who had taught him at the age of eleven. In the years of Heineman's working life, that habit of inquiry had been confirmed by the practice of accountancy - in particular, by his work as an auditor. If an auditor doesn't understand something, then he makes it a priority to find out.
'A normalizer,' said Teladex, 'is a gadget. Something for the technicians to play with. They have a pet name for it - they call it an omagulous toad, I've no idea why.'
'So what is it, exactly?' said Heineman.
Teladex spread his hands in a gesture which disavowed all knowledge.
'Yes, yes,' said Heineman, embarrassed by the man's crassness. Leading the way into the House Jubiladilia, he sought for a way to divert conversation to safer subjects, and fell back on the matter of the toad. 'One last question. About the toad, I mean.'
'Yes?' said Grindle-Joyce.
'Teladex called this thing a normalizer,' said Heineman. 'But if this omagulous toad is actually a, a universe in a tin can, if it really is so weird and wonderful, then why by water is it called a normalizer?'
'Why by water,' said Grindle-Joyce, savoring the Chalakanesian phrase.
'Well?' said Heineman. 'Why is it called a normalizer? It sounds more like an anomaly, an anomalizer to me.'
Grindle-Joyce laughed.
'You're exactly right,' said Grindle-Joyce. 'The omagulous toad is an anomaliser. And that, my friend, is exactly why it's called a normaliser.'
Heineman was politician enough to understand that.
Despite their hurry, they were too late to see the moment of the toad's emergence from La Lantis. By the time they got there - Heineman elbowing a few people unnecessarily in his haste - the thing was out in the street. Sitting there. It was not much to look at - in fact, Heineman thought it looked like a grossly enlarged version of the bauble that hung from the weird and wonderful hat often favoured by Senator X'm X. It was just a big gold-colored sphere, which would have been just about large enough to contain a young mongoose, had it been hollow.
If Grindle-Joyce was to be believed, then this gold-colored sphere was hollow with a vengeance, and there was an entire universe inside it. But Heineman found this hard to believe. He felt a big sense of letdown. Others shared his emotions, the crowd losing interest. The bored guard standing watch near the toad with a frygun in his hands plainly expected no problems.
'I thought you said it looked like jade,' said Heineman, remembering back to an earlier discussion he had had with Grindle-Joyce.
'That's when its self-protective force field is operating,' said Grindle-Joyce. 'At the moment, it's using its mimic field.'