He’s dying?
What?
Confused, Garner repeated the phrase to himself. What did it mean?
He was possessed of a desperate need to know, feeling certain that the answer was important, essential to his very existence. But he could not think while the spasm continued. He was pinioned—pinned, stabbed through the heart, unable to—unable to—
And then, everything winked out. Everything.
An instant later it all came back, but different, as if something fundamental had been—what? Inverted; the universe, folded back on itself, was reversed—but the terrible spasm was still there.
A moment later the spasm, now identified as a constricting sensation in his chest—passed. It was replaced by an opening up, forming an empty space into which relief flooded, overwhelming him. This was accompanied by a relea
