Braun strode confidently into the ship.
No one was around to greet him. It was a gag they had worked up, he figured. All right, he'd play along.
Through the ship he went, calling out names. Echoes rang hollowly in the vast interior, but they were the only answer. He kept wandering and calling, wandering and crying out. Finally, he was screaming hysterically.
It was a long time before the fact got through solidly to him. He was alone on the ship.
So far as he could tell, it was the Venture IV. Everything about the ship was the same. It was his ship. Wherever he had been, he was back on his ship. He had to keep on assuring himself of that. It was either the Venture IV ... or an exact duplicate. But the other duplicate had duplicated the people, too.
"Where is everybody?" he screamed.
He went on screaming for a long time. A very long time....
Smoke curled up from Braun's cigarette to join the dense layers near the bar's ceiling. Light shone through the blued stratifications in blurred blobs as through fog.
"That's the story," said Braun huskily.