girl--is she all right? Did I...?"

"She's all right." The doctor's voice was soothing. It pushed back the
shadows a little. "She's perfectly all right."

The visitor sensed a dulled relief in Mersey's mind. The shadows still
whirled, but they were less ominous. He suggested a question, exulted
as Mersey attempted to phrase it: "Doctor, am I real bad off? Can...?"

But still the shadows.

"We'll work together," said the doctor's voice. "You've been ill, but
so have others. With your help, we can make you well."

The traveler made a tremendous effort. He urged Mersey to say: "I'll
help, doctor. I want to find peace."

But then Mersey's voice went on: "I must find a new home. We need a
new home. We can't stay where we are."

* * * * *

The traveler was shocked at the words. He hadn't intended them to come
out that way. Somehow Mersey had voiced the underlying thoughts of his
people. The traveler sought the doctor's reaction, but Mersey wouldn't
look at him. The man's gaze was fixed on the ceiling above the couch.

"Of course," the doctor said. His words were false, the visitor
realized; he was humoring the madman.

"We had so much, but now there is no future," Mersey said. The visitor
tried to stop him. He would not be stopped. "We can't stay much
longer. We'll die. We must find a new world. Maybe you can help us."

Dr. Cloyd spoke and there was no hint of surprise in his voice.

"I'll help you all I can. Would you care to tell me more about your
world?"

Desperately, the visitor fought to control the flow of Mersey's words.
He had opened the gate to the other world--how, he did not know--and
all of his knowledge and memories now were Mersey's. But the traveler
could not communicate with the disordered mind. He could only
communicate through it, and then involuntarily. If he could escape the
mind ... but he could not escape. Mersey's eyes were fixed on the
ceiling. He would not look at the doctor.

"A dying world," Mersey said. "It will live on after us, but we will
die because we have finished. There's nothing more to do. The Change
is upon us, and we must flee it or die. I have been sent here as a
last hope, as an emissary to learn if this world is the answer. I have
traveled among you and I have found good things. Your world is much
like ours, physically, but it has not grown as fast or as far as ours,
and we would be happy here, among you, if we could control."