Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction May 1952. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Wheels Within By CHARLES DE VET Never ask "Who am I and where do I come from?" The answers may not be what you'd expect! Illustrated by DON SIBLEY * * * * * "When did the headaches first start?" asked the neurologist, Dr. Hall. "About six months ago," Bennett replied. "What is your occupation, Mr. Bennett?" "I am a contractor." "Are you happy in your work?" "Very. I prefer it to any other occupation I know of." "When your headaches become sufficiently severe, you say that you have hallucinations," Hall said. "Can you describe what you see during those hallucinations?" "At first I had only the impression that I was in a place completely unlike anything I had ever known," Bennett answered. "But each time my impressions became sharper, and I carried a fairly clear picture when my mind returned to normal the last time. I felt then that I had been in a room in a tall building that towered thousands of feet over a great city. I even remembered that the name of the city was Thone. There were other people in the room with me--one person especially. I remembered her very clearly." "Her?" Hall asked. "Yes." "Was there anything unusual about this woman?" "Well, yes, there was," Bennett said, after a brief and almost embarrassed pause. "This will sound pretty adolescent, but--" Hall leaned forward attentively. "It may be relevant. You're not here to be judged, you know; I'm trying to help you." Bennett nodded and spoke rapidly, as though trying to finish before he could stop himself. "She was a woman who exactly fitted an image I've had in mind for as long as I can remember. She was tall, fair--though brunette--very beautiful, very vivid, very well poised. I seem to have known her all my life, but only in my dreams, from my very earliest ones to the present. She's never changed in all that time." He halted as suddenly as he had begun to talk, either having nothing more to say, or unwilling to say it. "Have you ever married, Mr. Bennett?" Hall prodded gently. "No, I never have." Again, Bennett stopped, adding nothing more to his blunt answer. "May I ask why not?"