
In a snow‑laden Chicago night, George Jameson drifts through the city’s empty streets, searching for any distraction from his restless thoughts. He boards the old elevated train and strikes up a conversation with a mysterious young woman who seems to thrive on talking to strangers. Their dialogue is intimate yet odd, hinting at a deeper loneliness that both share. As the train rattles through the dark, an unexpected jolt shatters the moment.
The sudden crash throws George into darkness, and he awakens to the soft, lilac‑toned voice of a nurse named Karen, who insists he’s in a hospital and that his body will be rebuilt. Disoriented and seemingly without limbs, he grapples with a reality where he can think without moving, and where his very sense of self feels untethered. As he tries to piece together what happened, the mystery of the girl and the strange voice deepens, inviting listeners to wonder whether he’s truly alive—or something else entirely.
Language
en
Duration
~22 minutes (21K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Greenleaf Publishing Company, 1954.
Credits
Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2021-09-13
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1931–2009
A science fiction writer and longtime fandom figure, he is best remembered for the fast, comic Agent of T.E.R.R.A. adventures published as Larry Maddock. He also wrote under several other names, including the shared pseudonym Howard L. Cory.
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