The man moved forward and stood looking out across the mountains. But
he appeared to be seeing much further--into infinity itself. He said
nothing.
"Please. Why am I here?"
The man paid no attention. He finished regarding whatever had
interested him and turned back into the cave.
"Please."
At this word, the man stopped and turned. He looked at Lee for a long
moment. Then he said, "Be very careful. A fall from this height would
be fatal." With that he moved back into the cave, and....
Lee Hayden was lying in a sweat-soaked bed.
But his awakening was different from any he had ever known. Later,
trying to analyze this, he concluded he had awakened from not having
been asleep; awakened as it were, from an awakened state. When he tried
to rationalize this contradiction he could not do so. Neither could he
change it.
But he sprang from the bed with a wordless cry and was on his knees
clawing for the whiskey bottle. There was more than a double shot left.
He gulped it down. He dropped the bottle and sobbed. Then all strength
went out of him and he collapsed into sleep there on the whiskey-soaked
carpet....
* * * * *