I say, "Soon." I can remember no conception of time, save in terms of
the events within my ken. How _long_ it was from our crossing the
borderline until we reached the city I do not know--we moved, walked
and entered the city. How far we walked--that too I do not know.
The people we passed did not heed us; the globes, from whatever angle
we viewed them were circular, seemingly flat, but always flat in the
unseen dimension. We passed close to one. It appeared solid. It had no
apertures--no doors nor windows. A man went by us--a shape in the guise
of a man; and he entered the globe by passing through it. It yielded to
his passage; its substance closed after him, opaque, sleek, glistening
as before.
We stopped at a globe of larger size. Ala said, "I will leave you here.
And when I come back--we will go together to the meeting place. They
are waiting for you."
Will nodded. "Very well, Ala. How long before you come?"
Again she was puzzled. "How long? Why, I will come."
She left us; I did not see how or where she went.
Will said, "Come on. This is our house they have given us."
Together we passed through the side of the globe. I felt almost
nothing--as though I had brushed against something, no more. Were the
globes of a material solidity? I do not know.
Within the globe was a hollow interior. Call it a room. The same
luminous twilight illumined it. A room of circular concavity. No walls,
no ceiling; it was all floor. We walked upon it and though we had
passed through it, nevertheless it sustained us; and in every position
beneath us seemed the floor, above us the ceiling. A memory of the
vanished gravity of our earth came to me. The word--the conception--had
no meaning here. Yet we had _weight_; the substance upon which we
rested attracted us perhaps. I cannot say.
We gazed around us. There were places of rest--rectangles of a misty
white into one of which I found myself instinctively reclining as
though with a need of physical quiet. A sense of ease came to me; but
it was only vaguely of the physical. I was indeed now barely conscious
of a body; but of my mind I was increasingly aware. I could be tired in
mind. I was, and I was resting.
* * * * *
Will and Bee were resting also. I saw upon Bee's face that same queer,
wistful expression which had marked Ala's; I saw her regarding me
intently; and I answered her affectionate smile.
Will said, "The strangeness is leaving us. I'm tired--I wish I did not
have to talk, but I feel that I should."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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