He'd felt himself swimming upward for a long time, but he had no way of telling hours from years. All he knew was he was rising through water and stars, earth and fire, toward something necessary and far away, woman's voice told him: Swim. Breathe. Rest. Swim. Breathe. Rest. And that was what he did.He broke the surface and looked up to an intensely red ceiling with bright blue lights. Quivering air, shadows forming and vanishing. Space collapsing. Space expanding. Sounds, too, punishingly loud: mechanical, electronic, pneumatic, ethereal."Unbelievable, " said a voice."Hello, Archie, " said another."I'll get Dr. Stebbins. "The conversation was much too fast and complex for Archie to follow. He understood two things. One was that he was terrified. The other was that he had lost something huge and it would never come back.He looked and saw monsters over him: eyes, nostrils, teeth. He tried to open his mouth but his will gave way before it could happen. His lips burned and his throat burned and the ferocious colors mage him close his eyes and settle back down into where he'd been for so long, hovering just below the surface, protected, safe in his river.Swim.
