through it!

Ross had a second, perhaps two, of stupefied wonder. Lying on a soft
surface, he was enfolded by a warmth which eased his bruised and frozen
body. There was a sharp prick in his thigh, another in his arm, and the
world was a hazy dream until he finally slept in the depths of
exhaustion.

There were dreams, detailed ones, and Ross stirred uneasily as his sleep
thinned to waking. He lay with his eyes closed, fitting together odd
bits of--dreams? No, he was certain that they were memories. Rossa of
the Beaker traders and Ross Murdock of the project were again fused into
one and the same person. How it had happened he did not know, but it was
true.

Opening his eyes, he noticed a curved ceiling of soft blue which misted
at the edges into gray. The restful color acted on his troubled, waking
mind like a soothing word. For the first time since he had been struck
down in the night his headache was gone. He raised his hand to explore
that old hurt near his hairline that had been so tender only yesterday
that it could not bear pressure. There remained only a thin, rough line
like a long-healed scar, that was all.

Ross lifted his head to look about him. His body lay supported in a
cradlelike arrangement of metal, almost entirely immersed in a red
gelatinous substance with a clean, aromatic odor. Just as he was no
longer cold, neither was he hungry. He felt as fit as he ever had in his
life. Sitting up in the cradle, he stroked the jelly away from his
shoulders and chest. It fell from him cleanly, leaving no trace of
grease or dampness on his skin.

There were other fixtures in the small cylinderlike chamber besides that
odd bed in which he had lain. Two bucket-shaped seats were placed at the
narrow fore part of the room and before those seats was a system of
controls he could not comprehend.

As Ross swung his feet to the floor there was a click from the side
which brought him around, ready for trouble. But the noise had been
caused by the opening of a door into a small cupboard. Inside the
cupboard lay a fat package. Obviously this was an invitation to
investigate the offering.

The package contained a much folded article of fabric, compressed and
sealed in a transparent bag which he fumbled twice before he succeeded
in releasing its fastening. Ross shook out a garment of material such as
he had never seen before. Its sheen and satin-smooth surface suggested
metal, but its stuff was as supple as fine silk.