The car skidded sickeningly on loose gravel, crashed thunderously
through the railing bordering the highway, and richocheted, turning over
and over, halting as wreckage. Robert was crushed under the metal bulk,
losing consciousness.
Thrown clear, Ellen scrambled to the man, bent over him. Something more
than pain filmed his eyes; he heard himself muttering: "I'll come
back?--you wait--" in a failing whisper as illimitable darkness swept
over him, accompanied by dreadful nausea. A point of light appeared in
the void, expanding into a dazzling rectangle which split into thousands
of lesser planes; these shaped a geometric pattern which whirled
dizzily, humming, the drone rising in pitch with every sickening
revolution, becoming incessant mechanical scream----
"And this is death. This is past human endurance." With sudden
omniscience he knew that he WAS dead and the meaning of the spinning
pattern. The knowledge ebbed and carried with it all of his memories
except for Ellen's face and her name.
The wheeling design parted like a curtain, and Robert observed beyond it
a branching path spreading before him like a flattened tree. At the end
of every fork was Ellen's face, wavering and blurred. He fixed his
attention upon the nearest furcation, aspiring toward it desperately,
and sensed himself hovering in space.
Shock, as of lightning coursing his veins, knotted him with agony.
Involuntarily his eyes squeezed shut. Icy air tortured his lungs. As he
raised his voice in weak protest, the pain ceased and he relaxed, spent.
His eyes continued shut, as though the lids were gummed down. Failing in
many attempts to open them, he quested food, found it, and consoled
himself with it.
Occasionally plaintive voices babbled unintelligibly, arousing him.
Always, if he listened, he heard a gentle murmur reply to the voices.
And then everything was quiet. He felt very sleepy. Finally he dropped
off into slumber, deep and restful.
Between periods of sleep, Robert struggled with his heavy eyelids.
Memories might have associated his sightlessness with blindness--but he
had none. There were only Ellen's face and her name which, when
expecially desperate, he called again and again.
Gradually his vision became clear, and he stared in awe at a world of
immensity which was peopled with Titans. The picture of Ellen in this
gigantic place troubled him, for the colossal beings looked upon him as
an animated toy. Often he was elevated to their reeking mouths, kissed,
and dropped aside; if he were insistent upon attention, inquiring for
Ellen, the giants beat him and thrust him from their presence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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