produce it in a state of absolute
reality.

Witness: Jane saw a tiger in the companionway. Clear in her memory was
the image of the tiger she had shot at in India. The mind-stuff saw it
and reproduced it in reality. The water buffalo came from my own mind.
I killed one exactly like it a year ago. The ice bear was out of
Murdo's memory as was the black leopard and the snake.

Witness: The three animals created inside the ship did not appear
until the mind stuff from outside penetrated the hull and entered the
ship. They were of normal size. But the animals created outside the
ship were far out of proportion, the ice bear especially. Why?
Because, I believe, the mind stuff is denser in the void. There it has
more strength.

My defense against the mind stuff was formulated almost accidentally.
I remembered the sequence of Jane's tiger. She saw it, entered my
cabin, realized its significance, and fainted. I looked into the
companionway and saw the tiger fading.

So I knocked out Murdo for final proof and got it. As soon as he
lapsed into unconsciousness the recreations from his mind turned back
into sparkling fog. Obviously, and a heaven-sent phenomenon it is--the
mind stuff immediately loses its subject-image when the mind from
which it came goes unconscious. The mind-stuff has no memory of its
own and cannot hold its recreated image in the evolved form under
conditions of unconsciousness. The answer now becomes simple.

I drugged Murdo before he regained consciousness. I drugged the other
three by means of whisky and food. They have been unconscious for
twelve hours. Nothing has happened. I shall keep them that way.

The mind-stuff is trying to complain to me. Almost petulantly; as a
child. I sense it sharply. It does not understand the wrong it has
done and feels it has been deprived of its right.

I have no time for the mind-stuff. I guard myself against it and
ignore it. There are other things on my mind. Shall I go back if we
ever escape from the sparkling fog? I don't know. I don't want to go
back. I want to go on and on forever just like this. But the others
cannot go on like this. It would be murder. I don't know.--I don't
know.

I must keep awake. I use drugs. I must not sleep--not sleep.

We have cleared the fog. The instruments are working again. Again the
stars glow. What shall I do. _Melody...._

* * * * *

_Kennedy_ looked up from his reading. "As I said,