n
another era of time, perhaps a creature of substance. But what?

I concentrated. I remembered the symbol _Marl_. I was or had been an
entity _Marl_. Were there others back there, somewhere? There must have
been, must be yet. Was I the only _Marl_ who metamorphosed into this
state of rational entity? Surely not. Yet I could contact no other
rationale around me as far away as I could probe. How far was that? How
could I know. Was it far enough to reach the other _Marls_, or were they
scattered thinly throughout infinity around me like the flecks of mass?

I was suddenly ill. The symbol _malaise_ came to me as the proper
description of my malady. I grew dizzy with my sickness. I wished to
regurgitate, to cast off this cold, frightening sensation. Yet I was
provided with no physical means of doing it. It filled me throughout all
my thinking. It was I. I thought to exist. I thought depression,
sickness. Therefore I was the malady and it was a hell of malcontent
beyond symbolical description.

What was wrong with me? I was frightened. I was concerned for my
existence here alone. What was it called? The idea shimmered there on
the fringe of perception, then fairly leaped into my consciousness.
Existing alone as pure reason was worse than no-existence, was worse
than dying or never having been at all. I need another _Marl_. To exist
happily, I must have at least one other _Marl_ to communicate with, to
share my thoughts, to share my being.

Is this a necessity, a condition peculiar to me as I am, as reason, or
is it a condition that came across the barrier with me from that other
state? It must be the latter. An entity of pure reason, having come into
existence as reason, would need nothing but himself. Why? Because he
would be _without emotion_.

"I am _emotional_," I thought. "I am entity of almost pure reason, but I
have inherited emotion from my previous state. It is a disorder of
thought, but it can be a pleasant disorder when the emotion is the right
one; or, if unpleasant, when satisfied.

"But I could not have emotions as I am now. They are _cortical
responses_, or are supposed to be. What is _cortical_? No, they are a
sort of illogical reasoning, nothing physical--" The rest eluded me.

"I am lonely," I thought. "Loneliness stems from fear and fear is a
basic emotion. I am very lonely. I have been lonely for a long time,
bringing it with me here. I would rather sate my loneliness than live to
eternity, than k