He glanced down at the prone figure of Mulvaney, hesitated. It seemed
callous to leave the patrolman like this. But there was nothing
that could be done for Mulvaney now. Except, perhaps, to answer the
questions of the police about what had happened to him. And Bryan
didn't feel like answering questions. He'd had little sleep that
morning, and exhaustion made his body leaden. And he had the feverish,
light-headed feeling again, the aftermath of his paralysis.
He turned aimlessly and walked down one of the paths, until he found
himself at the edge of an invitingly dark grassy expanse. He dropped to
the ground behind some tall bushes and closed his eyes. He seemed to
be floating in a lightless, depthless sea. Soothing waves of sensation
washed over him. He drifted away on warm tides that held nothing of
sound or feeling.
* * * * *
And then the nothingness was gone. He stood on a flagstone path that
ran between a lane of trees. At one end the path led to a curving
stairway that wound up a rocky slope to a building of pink stone.
Peace and quiet lay over the scene, like a crystal blanket of supernal
clarity.
Realization came to him, bringing with it an electrifying amazement.
He was back--back in that strange and exotically beautiful other-place
which seemed to be Leeta's home!
Leeta! Eagerness and wild joy flamed in him, then. There was still a
chance. It was not hopeless after all--not too late....
His senses rushed toward the other end of the path, and now he detected
a muted piping, like the shrill whispers of excited children. He sent
himself toward it.
The familiar shifting again. He stood at the edge of the broad shallow
depression he had seen before, with the pool of inexplicable force at
its center. The flowers that crowded here were as incredibly luxuriant
and gorgeous as he remembered them, filling the air with their thick
perfume. And once more he felt the aura of vital power that radiated
from the pool, boundless, awesome, god-like.
And kneeling beside the pool as before was the slender figure he was
seeking--Leeta. Only dimly was he aware of the other shapes around
her, the giant bird, the mosquito-men. She was holding the mystically
shining crystal globe, even now she was bending to lower it to the
surface of the pool.
Into his mind flashed the chilling picture of Mulvaney, horribly
sprawled, motionless-empty. He knew he had to prevent what was about to
take place.
Urgency leaping in him, he sent himself toward the pool. Leeta had to
see him this time! He threw all his will into the thought in a mighty
burst of effort. She had to see him!
And she saw him.
With the globe extended in her hands, she stiffened. Her tilted liquid
eyes flared wide. A stark unbelieving amazement seemed to grip her slim
body. And in a fashion that was somehow a normal function of his senses
here, he realized that she saw him as he had seen her back at the park,
mistily unsubstantial, weirdly glowing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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