Mechanically he ate and slept in the days that followed, dimly aware of a giggling, wild-eyed stranger in some remote corner of his mind, waiting to overtake him if he showed awareness of his presence. He pushed away too, the thought of Bryan and Hughes, forgetting in the sameness of his days that he had ever been anything but alone. At first he had cried a little in his lonesomeness, but as the weeks went on he remembered only that once there had been others who had deserted him. He nodded familiarly to the stars, smiling a little; there was only himself and them, shining steadfastly above him. They would never change--never desert him! Time went by unnoticed. The green dot of Earth became a glowing green and blue orb, circled by a tiny white dot. The computer changed its rhythm--above the control board the "strap-in" warning flashed unseen as the rockets fired swinging the ship into the turnover, ready for orbit with the satellite ferry station. Williams gazing with dreamy pleasure at the jewelled curtain above him was hurled against the port by the sudden surge of acceleration. The ship heeled over, twisted, then turned---- Williams hung head down, screaming, as the black curtain tore, the stars falling dizzily away--_below_ him.... [Illustration: _He screamed once, falling face down through the stars, through the gold-inlaid, dizzying, beautiful, sickening...._] * * * * * A year later, the psychiatrists, quite pleased with themselves found him ready for duty again; not in Space of course, but the hero of the first Mars expedition was always sure of a job with Space Authority. Now he could even look up at the stars at night without screaming with vertigo. Tonight walking confidently along the country road, fragrant and dotted with shining pools after the recent rain, he looked up thinking nostalgically, "the patines of bright gold...." A coldness about his feet halted him. He looked down and once again the black curtain tore before his eyes--once more they were there, the cold unfriendly stars, swinging in the empty void-- Below him. Falling downward past the whirling suns, he screamed, hardly aware of the choking wetness in his lungs.... About him the inch-deep shining pool rippled for a moment and was still, reflecting once more the floor of Heaven.