thout hope there is little to be
afraid of. You want now only to get it over with._

_You step forward into the lock._

_The door behind you shuts. You sense that the one before you is
opening, but there is not much time. The burst of air carries you
forward. Perhaps you scream, but you are now beyond sound, beyond sight,
beyond everything. You do not even feel that it is cold._

CHAPTER I

There is a time for sleep, and a time for waking. But Hyrst had slept
heavily, and the waking was hard. He had slept long, and the waking was
slow. _Fifty years_, said the dim voice of remembrance. But another part
of his mind said, No, it is only tomorrow morning.

Another part of his mind. That was strange. There seemed to be more
parts to his mind than he remembered having had before, but they were
all confused and hidden behind a veil of mist. Perhaps they were not
really there at all. Perhaps--

_Fifty years. I have been dead_, he thought, _and now I live again.
Half a century. Strange._

Hyrst lay on a narrow bed, in a place of subdued light and
antiseptic-smelling air. There was no one else in the room. There was no
sound.

_Fifty years_, he thought. _What is it like now, the house where I lived
once, the country, the planet? Where are my children, where are my
friends, my enemies, the people I loved, the people I hated?_

_Where is Elena? Where is my wife?_

A whisper out of nowhere, sad, remote. _Your wife is dead and your
children are old. Forget them. Forget the friends and the enemies._

_But I can't forget!_ cried Hyrst silently in the spaces of his own
mind. It was only yesterday--

_Fifty years_, said the whisper. _And you must forget._

_MacDonald_, said Hyrst suddenly. _I didn't kill him. I was innocent. I
can't forget that._

_Careful_, said the whisper. _Watch out._

_I didn't kill MacDonald. Somebody did. Somebody let me pay for it. Who?
Was it Landers? Was it Saul? We four were together out there on Titan,
when he died._

_Careful_, Hyrst. _They're coming. Listen to me. You think this is your
own mind speaking, question-and-answer. But it isn't._

Hyrst sprang upright on the narrow bed, his heart pounding, the sweat
running cold on his skin. _Who are you? Where are you? How--_

_They're here_, said the whisper calmly. _Be quiet._

Two men came into the ward. "I am Dr. Merridew," said the one in the
white coverall, smiling at Hyrst with a brisk professional smile. "This
is Warden M