"Surely you should know, Dirk Morris, that one cannot pass with impunity from one universe of vibration to another?"
Dirk said, "You mean that you, as I did, have become a ... a wraith to your own world? That henceforth you have no true existence on Nadron, as I none on Earth?"
Rima nodded quietly, sadly.
"But then," stammered Dirk, "if not on Nadron, where is your new plane of existence?" A hope caught and tugged at his heart. "Earth, perhaps? Our planet will become your new world?"
Rima shook her head. "No, Dirk Morris. The atomic pathway of Space-Time winds ever upward ... not downward to a lower vibrational plane. When this protective shield, which already wanes—" She glanced with a swift, despairing apprehension as the iridescence dulled, and a crepuscular wavering dimmed its outlines—"When this shield wanes, I shall move ... forward to a bourne I cannot guess. A better world, perhaps, or ... a worse—"
"No!" cried Dirk. He started forward, but within the blazing column a white arm rose in stern command.
