Too late he noticed the wires leading from the light blanket. He touched the blanket gently—tiny shocks went through him, and the shocks were somehow translated into those weird crackling sounds that he found so curious. There must be electricity—in the blanket? In his consternation, George swore. But if he was out of his body, why should electricity bother him, if that was electricity? His consciousness started to stray. The scene began to get dim.

In desperation, George concentrated on the bedside table in front of his eyes, trying to keep it in focus. The smell of the late lilacs rushed up from the yard. The bedside table became increasingly visible. Then George heard a strange buzzing in his ears, or the sound of fire crackling, and suddenly a dizzying shift in his consciousness almost made him stagger. He felt as if he were flying through immense distances, even though he could plainly see that he hadn’t moved an inch.

This time George’s excitement nearly did sweep him back to his body, but his curiosity was even stronger; it kept him rooted to the spot, though for a moment his consciousness twanged like a rubber band, trying to be snapped in two places at once.

The room was the same, but again the furniture was different. Soft lights emerged from the ceiling, though George couldn’t see their source. A group of people, looking as if they were on a tour, stood looking at the room in which he stood. There were ohs and ahs, but no one saw him. Was he hallucinating all this? George wondered. “Let all hallucinations vanish,” he commanded mentally, with more confidence than he felt.

Nothing happened. George gasped; if he was right, then the people and room would have vanished if he were creating them himself. So he must have outdone himself. But where was he, and what was going on?

A voice came out of the walls, and George leapt back. “This is a replica of The George’s bedroom, containing artifact copies found or reconstructed from the original tell. The exact age is uncertain, but certainly these furnishings were in vogue before the mid-1900s. You’ll notice the ancient electric blanket, of course, plugged into wall sockets. Lamps that were turned off and on by hand.”

This was the most vivid out-of-body experience George had ever had. He was jubilant. He tried to see and hear everything he could, for later notation in his journal. At the same time, the clarity of the affair frightened him, too. Everything was almost too clear. Suppose … he couldn’t get back?