Worse, Seven didn’t dare walk outside of the area where the house was—or had been—because that must be the focus of whatever was happening. If he just sat there and thought back to the twentieth-century house, perhaps time would reverse itself. But the environment itself was rather unsettling. There were no ground lights at all, and from his position, the floating cities were no brighter than stars. A very fine rain was falling, so fine that it was more like a mist, and the grass was wet, and the trees made a murmuring sound as the water fell from one leaf to another. Otherwise, silence.

Why a thousand years in the future, where before he’d only bounced back and forth between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? “Cyprus,” he called, and again there was no reply.

Seven shivered. His body was wet, and though the air was warm enough, the rain had soaked through his polyester suit. No wonder mortals carried umbrellas, he thought, miserably. Nor did he dare leave his body while it dried out, for fear a time reversal might come and whisk his body off without him. But how was it that all of this happened when he still had a body on?

Cyprus existed in every time, and so did he, Seven mused, so he couldn’t be lost. But he felt very lost indeed. If he remembered his history properly, in one probability, the earth in this century was a largely uninhabited planetary reservation area designed to protect nature, with visitors restricted. In another probability, though, the planet was nearly dead, bearing the lethal debris of countless nuclear wars. And in still another probability, it was just in the process of developing a new civilization.

But Seven had no way of knowing which future he was in, except that it “grew out of” the Brainbridges’ presents—both of them!

Despite himself, Oversoul Seven noticed that the area was bathed in a soft mysterious air that now seemed enhanced by the rainy mist. In some strange way, the landscape seemed enchanted and enchanting. On the other hand, it also possessed a quiet waiting quality—as if it were a stage, in the few moments before a play was to begin…. Or, Seven thought suddenly, as if he were witnessing a probability-in-the-making.

And was this the Brainbridges’ earth?