"Do you ever get lonely here in Chicago?" George smiled. "Sometimes," he said. "You lonely, kid?" "Awfully. I like to talk to strangers. Then I don't feel quite so lonely." "Oh." She was quiet for a minute, her eyes friendly, but her trim body stiff against the city. "Don't let the town get you down, kid." He was giving _her_ advice! She looked at him wistfully. "Maybe it's not so bad. Only the people who are fitted to live in a world like this keep on living. There are a lot of people who don't see it the way we do." "Could be." She was a strange girl, he thought, to be talking this way. Young, pretty, and fed up already. "Why do you ride the El at night?" he asked. She smiled. "I can meet people--other lonely people--who don't know me and don't want to pry. I can talk to people, and learn things. And then I never see them again. I can't talk to people in a crowd." Through the windows he could see the lights of a sleeping city flash by like speeding fireflies. "Never thought of it that way," he said. Suddenly, without warning, the hurtling elevated car leaped under him. He was thrown to the floor as the car jumped the tracks and twisted upon itself. George saw the lights go off and heard the girl scream--and then her scream was cut off, sharply, by the grinding, tearing crunch of impact. Blackness. * * * * * "Good morning, George. Did sleep well?" There she was again--that soft, quiet voice! _Sleep? I don't know if I did or not. Is it morning?_ "Yes--a beautiful morning." Her voice was like lilacs, George thought. Sweet, soft lilacs. "Lilacs? Thank you, George." _Go away! I don't want you to hear my thinking._ "Then don't sub-vocalize. Don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of it. Just think without trying to move your tongue and your lips, and I can't hear you." _Where am I?_ "You're in a hospital." Her voice was gentle, soft. _And you?_ "I'm Karen--your nurse, George." _How bad am I? I mean--I remember being on an elevated train when it crashed._ "You're going to be all right. The doctors will have you all put back together again. You just need some new parts." _It was that bad, huh?_ "You almost died. But you're alive now. Please get well, George." _What kind of shape am I in?_ She didn't answer immediately. "How do you feel?" _I--I don't feel! What's the matter--! I can't feel my body! I--Where is my body!_ "George, please try to understand. You're safe, you're alive. You're not crazy, and this isn't a nightmare...." _Where is my body?_ He tried to scream it, but no sound came. "Please, listen to me. You're in a hospital. You're being kept alive by the best doctors we have, and by machines made by those doctors. Physically, there isn't much left of you, but we're going to give you a new body. Please be patient. And please co-operate." The thought was staggering. New body! _Then all that's left of me is_--