ocable, and no man has yet escaped it no matter where
upon the planet he may be when the appointed time for his execution
comes. I was given the usual period of grace in which to put my affairs
in order. Instead, I have labored unceasingly here in my laboratory, and
my labors have borne fruit. I am the first man in Xollarian history to
find a means of escaping the dread death penalty.

"Briefly, I discovered a way by which I can flee to your far-distant
universe, where not even the powers of the Council of Three can follow
me. That way lies through the door of inter-dimensional Space. In Space
as you know it, the almost unthinkable distance of a million light years
separates Xollar from the dwarf star you call your Sun. Yet, traveling
_between_ Space, the two planets nearly touch each other. The same
situation of being near neighbors in inter-dimensional Space holds true
with Xollar and at least seven other planets located in widely separated
parts of your universe.

* * * * *

"Let me try to illustrate what I mean by traveling between Space. We
will assume a nearly two-dimensional universe in the form of a circular
piece of paper three feet in diameter. There is a dot in the exact
center of each side of this paper. To a two-dimensional creature, forced
to travel only on the surface of the paper, the distance between the
two dots can never be less than thirty-six inches. Yet by cutting
_between_ the two surfaces and going directly through the paper the dots
are less than one-hundredth of an inch apart.

"Such is the case with Xollar and the planets in your universe which are
our immediate neighbors in inter-dimensional Space. In order to reach
those planets I had only to develop a method of using sufficient force
to cut _between_ the three dimensions of intervening Space. In solving
this problem I developed both an inter-dimensional net to bring beings
from your universe to mine, and an inter-dimensional gate to permit
beings to pass from here back to worlds in your galaxy.

"You have already seen the workings of the net. It was the device of
green fire that brought you here. The use of the net was a vital part of
my plans, for without the use of a physical body from some world in your
universe I could not hope to live longer than a few minutes after
leaving Xollar via the inter-dimensional gate. The inherent
characteristics and basic elements of your galaxy and the Andromedan
univers