the flowing orange cape, and finally a woman's head. It was the same
one--the minus woman.

"It's true," I said.

The woman seemed to understand. "Yes," she said. "All that you told Red
Brewer is true, Jay Hayling. For you, I am a minus woman. For me, you
are a minus man. But we have bridged the gap. For the first time in
eternity, plus and minus, positive and negative, can meet on even
terms."

"Better not come too close," I said.

"Nothing will happen," she replied. "We are now alike." She stooped
toward the fallen figure on the floor. "Help me with this child. He's
unconscious."

"Child!" I said. "If he's a child, they grow 'em big in the minus
world."

But as I lifted Jay off the floor I wondered if he was as big as I'd
always thought. It wasn't his weight. Nothing weighed very much on this
asteroid, but it was his frail body. He seemed to be a boy of sixteen,
rather than a man stationed 300,000,000 miles in space.

I carried him out of the laboratory into the living quarters and placed
him on his bunk. I loosened his clothing, noting at the time that he had
been right about his garments not fitting him.

"You've made him lose weight," I said.

"What makes you think so?" the woman asked.

"Because every screwy thing that has happened since we came here a year
ago must have an explanation."

The woman smiled. "Don't think too harshly of me." She looked very solid
now. Her body had lost that tenuous look. She was no longer nebulous and
cloud-like. "Certain things were necessary in order for me to proceed
safely through the gap between the positive and negative worlds," she
explained.

I looked at Red again. His face was smooth and I knew he hadn't shaved
in more than a week. "You've made him younger," I said. "Well, he
shouldn't kick at that."

The woman nodded. "I turned the young man inside out. In a moment the
transition will be complete. You will be our next entrance to this
universe...."

From Red's bunk came a wail. A bawl, like a tiny baby. A dying baby.

Some people die of age. Red died an infant. As for the minus woman--she
was murdered on an asteroid.

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Imagination Stories of Science and
Fantasy_ July 1953. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor
spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of Project Gutenb