What happened after that is pretty hazy. Lola and Clara led me through a fantastic passageway into the open, and conducted me to the Central Plaza. I remember making a speech of some kind. I remember three of the amazon women racing madly toward me, trying to reach me and shut me up. I remember starting to run in the middle of my speech, turning, slugging it out with the three women. They were like pillars of stone. They closed in on me.
And I blanked out. Sometime later, I awoke—
And saw the patient, kindly face of Professor Ostrov peering down at me.
"What are you doing here?" I demanded. "Did you suspend yourself too? And what's been going on?"
"This is the year 1957, son," he said calmly. "Everything is all right."
"Like hell it is," I snapped. "Where am I? What—"
"You're in my laboratory," he said. "You've been under-going preliminary psychological tests before I put you into the somno-casket. I've been keeping close electroencephalographic check on you all the time you were living through that purely fictional incident."
I sat bolt upright. "You mean that never happened?"
"Merely a test," he said mildly. "But I'm happy to report that you showed commendable adaptability in strange situations, that you handled yourself well—though we observed one momentary lapse in stability—and that, in general—"
I got off the table and silenced him. "I want to thank you, Doctor."