Trevor awakened slowly, rising above the dark sea of oblivion only to
sink again, conscious in those brief intervals that he lay in a bed and
that his head ached.
There came a time when he rose, not to sink again. After a while his
eyes opened, and he saw a metal ceiling.
"We made it," he said.
"Yes, you made it," said a friendly voice. "This is Solar City. You've
been here quite a while."
Trevor turned his head to the voice, to the white-jacketed doctor
beside his bed. But he didn't see the man or the room. Not at first. He
saw only, upon the bedside table in a tray, a tawny eye that winked and
glittered at him.
A sun-stone.
His hand started to rise weakly to his face. The doctor forestalled him.
"Don't bother. It's out. And a delicate job getting it out, it was.
You'll have a headache for a while, but anyone would take a headache
for a sun-stone!"