"I doubt it, but maybe I will. Just a slight, improbable maybe. But I guess you're grasping at straws now. Say on." "Better send him back, George," Myra said. "I got you into this and you don't know what it's all about, but you better do what he says." "Do _you_ know what it's all about?" "No, I don't. But I know more than you, and I know that you better not horse around." "Well, I'll listen to what he has to say. But I better tell you now that I doubt if I'll send him back. I didn't really call him, you did. Now _you_ send him back." "If I could I would. I don't want to play around like this. It can cause trouble. If he loses his temper, George--well, just don't say I didn't warn you." "Unfortunately," Arl admitted, "it takes me a long time to lose my temper. It never used to be that way. But Narka--that's the queen--has tamed me. A king should not be so impetuous, she told me, only she's as impetuous as hell. That's the trouble. She's all the time telling me to do things which will make me more polite, more refined, more cultured--none of which she does herself. The result is that I've become more of a figurehead, and she's the real power. It's regrettable." "That's not an uncommon situation," George assured him. "But just what are you titular king of?" "Then you do want to hear my story!" "Yeah, yeah. I said I wanted to hear it. I didn't say I'd do something about sending you back, but go ahead and tell me if it will make you happy." "Okay. I'll begin with a question. Do you know anything about the fourth dimension?" * * * * * George was silent, but Myra said: "I know all about the fourth dimension." "You just think you do. Actually, you don't know a thing about it. A lot of fuzzy thinking here in the world of three dimensions, but you really don't know a thing about it." "Oh," said Myra. "You tell her, Arl, old boy," George said. "You tell her. That guy Fort didn't know what he was talking about." "Fort? Fort? Oh--yes he did. He knew _what_ he was talking about. But he didn't know how or why. This is a world of three dimensions, right?" "Uh-huh." "Well, let's assume you had a world of two dimensions. Of length and breadth, but no thickness. How would you get a world of three dimensions?" George said, "Search me," but Myra went into a long explanation which George didn't understand at all. When she finished, Arl shook his head. "Just what I thought. A lot of fuzzy thinking. Unfortunately, you're way off the beam. It's really simple. You have a world of two dimensions--length and breadth, and all you have to do to get a world of three dimensions is extend that world in a new direction--perpendicular to the first two. That direction is up or down, as the case may be. Either way, it's a direction at right angles to the first two, and the result is a world of three dimensions, this world." George said he understood. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to send you back," he added.