Particularly since they were moving ever so slowly to look at me.

These creatures were alive!

I went back and bent over the smaller one, the hunted. Yes one foot was definitely lower, the one on the other side raised a fraction.

I wasn’t looking at sculpture or artifacts. I was in a world of slow—moving crystalline life.

“Well why not?” I reassured myself. “You’re not mad, Jim, you have just finally used your exquisite powers of observation to observe what should have been obvious from the first.”

I tried to remember my chemistry. Glass was neither basically a liquid nor a solid when in a disordered state. And wasn’t water glass a liquid? As we are carbon based, so—there could be—there certainly were!—life—forms based on silicon. There would surely be some exotic chemical compositions and reactions involved. But all around me was living proof that it could happen.

With the side of my shoe I cleared away enough broken fragments from the path to make a space to sit down. I rested my chin on my arms, braced on my kneecaps, held the position as long as I could.

Yes—the two animals were moving. Slow metabolism and slow life. Entropy obviously moved at a different speed here, at least with these glass creatures. Too bad I couldn’t stay and see who won the race. Maybe if I came back in a day or two I would find out. But exploring had better take precedent over sight—seeing; it was hot and I was already beginning to feel thirsty.

The path along the cliff edge was dropping down towards the ocean below, until it eventually ended on a glassy beach. With all the fancy glass this planet sure had great sand. The water—if it were water—was clearer here. It was a tidal sea and the tide was going out. Ahead, in a finger of eroded rock, were sparkling tide pools. I went and bent over the first one—and something scurried into a crack. It wasn’t the only thing living in the pool. Tiny fishlike creatures with trailing appendages flitted away from my shadow. And they didn’t look like glass. They were living in the water, which maybe wasn’t water. “Try it, Jim, you might like it,” I advised myself. I scooped up a handful and sniffed. Smelled like water. Took a drop on my fingertip and touched my tongue to it hesitantly. Water. Slightly tangy—but still water. I sipped a bit of it and it went down well with no obvious ill effects.

But that would be enough for now. That tang could be anything—and I wasn’t terribly thirsty yet. I would wait and see if there were any bad reactions. I walked on along the beach towards the small islands just offshore. These were little more than sandbars. There were larger ones, also green and farther out, but these were close enough to see in some detail. There was growth of some kind on them. Green, unlike the crystalline forest and plants. Chlorophyll? Why not—anything was possible. Water and possibly food. Things were beginning to look up.

They looked like bushes—and something was moving in them… Not the wind, there was scarcely any to speak of.

Living creatures? Animals of some kind? Edible or intelligent? I would settle for either or both. I strode Out knee—deep in the sea towards the closest one. The water was very shallow and I might be able to reach it without swimming.

“Hello!” I called out. “Anyone there? I am a kind and peaceloving stranger from far away and mean you no harm. Mi vidas yin. Diru min—parolas Esperanto?”

The figure moved out of the shade, waved and called out.

“About time you showed up.” “Angelina!”

Chapter 11

I was paralyzed by joy, petrified by pleasure. Standing stock—still, shouting her name aloud. Smiling foolishly while she waved and blew me a kiss.

Then she dived into the water, being far more practical than I was and not just standing there shouting and waving. A half dozen strong strokes and she rose up out of the water beside me like a goddess from the sea. Damp and solid with her clothing dripping wet and in my arms. Laughing aloud with pleasure, kissing me with an excess of loving enthusiasm.

Forced to stop from lack of breath, still holding to each other, not wanting to be separated.

“You feel all right—feel great,” I finally said. “You are all right, aren’t you?”

“Couldn’t be better, particularly now with you here. Bolivar and James—?”

“They’re the same. We’ve all been working hard to find you. I won’t lie to you and say we weren’t worried. I’m sure that you can well imagine our feelings.”

“I certainly can! But you got here so fast. It hasn’t been much time at all. How long have I been away? It can’t be more than two, maybe three days at the most. The days are so short here that it is hard to tell.”

We started back to the beach. I shook my head. “You were here only a few days—from your point of view. I’m glad of that because that means that you didn’t have much of a chance to really get worried. But we are beginning to find out that time seems to move at a different rate in each different universe. Different entropy rate, that’s what Professor Coypu says.”

“I don’t understand—different rates? And different universes?” “That is what this whole thing appears to be about. Slakey has found a way of moving between these universes. So while only a few days went by here for you—it has been well over a month that has gone by since you vanished. I’ll tell you in great detail what fascinating things have gone on during that time, but first, please, what happened to you?”

She was no longer smiling. “I made a mistake, Jim, and I’m so sorry that I got everyone all worried and involved. I thought I could do this on my own. I really thought that the Heaven thing that the other girls believed in was all some kind of crooked scam. And I know all about crooks and scams. Master Fanyimadu seemed such a greasy slimeball I never thought he would react like he did—~or that he would be helped by his twin brother…”

“Wait, my love—please start again, and from the beginning—I beg of you. Sit beside me in the sand, that’s right, arms entwined. Big kiss or two, right. Now from the very beginning if you will. All I know about what happened is that message you left for me in my computer.”

“I was pretty cocky when I recorded it. Rowena and all the other girls were so excited about seeing Heaven that, I, well, wanted to see for myself. It took a good deal of convincing—as well as a lot of money—to set up the trip. I didn’t want go unarmed so I had my gun, a grenade or two, the normal items. I planned to take a look at Heaven—then find out what kind of con job Fanyimadu was playing. But it never got that far. We met him at the temple and he gave us a theological pep talk, then told us that it was time to go. He took us by the hands and Rowena and I were following him when there was some kind of movement, some kind of thing happening, I can’t describe it.”

“Neither can I. It’s the going through or over or to a different universe.”

“Then you’ll know what I mean. But it ended suddenly and we were still in the temple when this stranger appeared, looked just like Fanyimadu, and was shouting some kind of warning and pointing at me. Well, you understand, I just worked by reflex then—”

“Reflex involved a certain amount of gunfire, some explosions, a little self—defense?”

“Of course, you know how it is. Rowena was screaming and fainting, I was knocked down, but I still did plenty of damage you will be happy to hear. Then, I don’t know how it happened, we were here in this crystal world, the three of us. The two men and me. They ignored me; one of them seemed to be hurt and the other was bandaging him. I was just diving towards them when they were gone. Just like that. Bang. When I found myself alone I, well, just looked around.”

“Was anyone else here?”

“No one that I could see. It was lonely of course, and I missed you, and it was sort of frightening and depressing at first. But that was easy enough to ignore once I started exploring. There was really nothing else that I could do, I followed that broken—glass path to the ocean—isn’t this the most incredible place you have ever been! I drank the ocean water and it seemed all right. There is a kind of grass and some shrubs on the little islands. They bear tiny orange fruity things too—but they are poison. I found that out the hard way. “But—you’re all right?”