Impossible!
The voice in the loudspeaker at the door said, "Burckhardt?" But he
was unable to answer.
A heavy rumbling sigh. "I see," said the voice. "You finally
understand. There's no place to go. You know it now. I could have told
you, but you might not have believed me, so it was better for you to
see it yourself. And after all, Burckhardt, why would I reconstruct a
city just the way it was before? I'm a businessman; I count costs. If
a thing has to be full-scale, I build it that way. But there wasn't
any need to in this case."
From the mountain before him, Burckhardt helplessly saw a lesser cliff
descend carefully toward him. It was long and dark, and at the end of
it was whiteness, five-fingered whiteness....
"Poor little Burckhardt," crooned the loudspeaker, while the echoes
rumbled through the enormous chasm that was only a workshop. "It must
have been quite a shock for you to find out you were living in a town
built on a table top."