The Project Gutenberg EBook of Am I Still There?, by James R. Hall

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Title: Am I Still There?

Author: James R. Hall

Illustrator: Leo Summers

Release Date: December 26, 2009 [EBook #30763]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction September
1963. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

AM I STILL THERE?

Which must in essence, of course,
simply be the question "What do I
mean by 'I'?"

by JAMES R. HALL

ILLUSTRATED BY LEO SUMMERS

[Illustration]

* * * * *

Lee slid off the examining table and began buttoning his shirt. He had
had a medical examination every six months of his adult life, and it
always seemed strange to him that, despite the banks of machines the
doctor had which could practically map a man from a single cell
outward, each examination always entailed the cold end of a
stethoscope against his chest.

He tucked his shirt into his pants and turned to the examining doctor
who was writing on a chart.

"Well?" Lee asked him.

"Sound as a dollar," replied the doctor. "Of course Dr. Flotman or Dr.
Roberts might turn up something on their electronic monsters, but I
see no reason why we can't go ahead on schedule."

Lee felt relieved. Even while being examined by technicians, M.D.'s
and biologists, he had been conscious of the hundreds of little dull
pains which had nibbled like mice in every corner of his brain.
Sometimes he felt like a piece of his brain was being completely
smothered, a horrible sensation of having a part of his head severed
from him. This would go away, but would appear again in a different
area, usually in about fifteen to th