
Part 1
On the night before his wedding, a nervous groom-to-be finds himself alone in a cramped apartment, wrestling with a restless mind and a crossword puzzle. As thoughts of his beloved Betty drift through his head, the ordinary world suddenly fractures when two massive, mirror‑like spheres materialize in his living room, their surfaces distorted like a funhouse reflection. The sudden presence of these alien entities shatters his reality, leaving him to confront a terror he can’t quite name.
The spheres communicate without words, transmitting thoughts directly into his mind and commenting on his very humanity. Their curious, almost mocking dialogue reveals a perspective that sees humans as clumsy inventions, while simultaneously probing the strange changes the protagonist feels within himself. As the clock ticks toward the wedding, he must grapple with the unsettling question of whether he can ever return to the life he once imagined, or if the encounter has irrevocably altered his fate.
Language
en
Duration
~11 minutes (11K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Royal Publications, Inc,1955.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2022-02-05
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1915–1979
A lively pulp-era science fiction writer, he built his reputation on clever short stories packed with odd inventions, sharp twists, and a playful sense of what the future might bring. His work appeared in magazines like Unknown, Astounding, and Galaxy, and it still feels brisk and inventive today.
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