He was about to throw off the skin and mingle in this condition where he and the Magellanic Clouds and Joe the Security trooper's toothpick had a single existence, when he was back in the chair in the office.
His body settled over him again. He felt compressed and imprisoned and robbed. His head turned as if it were on antiquated pulleys and his arms and shoulders were strung together awkwardly.
"It's bad to be back, isn't it? You'll never get used to that. But that was one hell of a Dive."
Fred Williams looked at the other people in the office. There were ten of them and Dr. Howard Sprinnell. Three were women, and all except the doctor had large eyes.
That was what you noticed about them, their enormous gentle eyes and their slightly thin faces. The doctor held a mirror up for him to see his own face, and it was much the same.
"They thought we had lost you there for a while," said the doctor. "All Divers do that on their first trip out—but you, I'm told, almost joined the Lord."