ued to count
the intervals extended so that I was made weary of counting.

And while this illusion of the extension of time and space persisted and
grew, I found myself dreamily considering a new and profound problem.
Morrell had told me that he had won freedom from his body by killing his
body--or by eliminating his body from his consciousness, which, of
course, was in effect the same thing. Now, my body was so near to being
entirely dead that I knew in all absoluteness that by a quick
concentration of will on the yet-alive patch of my torso it, too, would
cease to be. But--and here was the problem, and Morrell had not warned
me: should I also will my head to be dead? If I did so, no matter what
befell the spirit of Darrell Standing, would not the body of Darrell
Standing be for ever dead?

I chanced the chest and the slow-beating heart. The quick compulsion of
my will was rewarded. I no longer had chest nor heart. I was only a
mind, a soul, a consciousness--call it what you will--incorporate in a
nebulous brain that, while it still centred inside my skull, was
expanded, and was continuing to expand, beyond my skull.

And then, with flashings of light, I was off and away. At a bound I had
vaulted prison roof and California sky, and was among the stars. I say
"stars" advisedly. I walked among the stars. I was a child. I was clad
in frail, fleece-like, delicate-coloured robes that shimmered in the cool
starlight. These robes, of course, were based upon my boyhood observance
of circus actors and my boyhood conception of the garb of young angels.

Nevertheless, thus clad, I trod interstellar space, exalted by the
knowledge that I was bound on vast adventure, where, at the end, I would
find all the cosmic formulae and have made clear to me the ultimate
secret of the universe. In my hand I carried a long glass wand. It was
borne in upon me that with the tip of this wand I must touch each star in
passing. And I knew, in all absoluteness, that did I but miss one star I
should be precipitated into some unplummeted abyss of unthinkable and
eternal punishment and guilt.

Long I pursued my starry quest. When I say "long," you must bear in mind
the enormous extension of time that had occurred in my brain. For
centuries I trod space, with the tip of my wand and with unerring eye and
hand tapping each star I passed. Ever the way grew brighter. Ever the
ineffable goal of infinite wisdom grew nearer. And yet I m