originally published in Nyctalops No's 8,9,10 - April 1973 - January/February 1975
Dr. Christopher Evans-Douglas, prodigy and mathematics genius, boogies off to a remote cabin in the mountains of Idaho, to study the occult. it seems CED is plagued by strange dreams of an alien city and alien library, and bodiless, mental beings who inhabit synthetic bodies in the form of floating metallic spheres, which come with retractable limbs.
It turns out these are actually a branch of the Great Race of Yith, a branch which has reestablished itself on the home planet. CED soon finds himself mind-exchanged, and takes up life as a sphere.
Two (colleagues? friends?) named Laszlo and Dunaway arrive in the mountains, guided by Guozar Aldecoa, in search of the cabin, and of CED for reasons that aren't clear. Along the way they are attacked by a bigfoot, and by stone-age-y beast men.
Eventually they find the cabin. They find CED in a trance/coma. An attempt to awaken him goes horribly wrong. Meanwhile, back on Yith, the colony is attacked by Flying Polyps.
Laszlo and Aldecoa end up in the Australian desert, retracing the steps taken by Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee in "The Shadow Out Of Time". They find that the Flying Polyp colony in the region is very much alive, and very, very active.
This story, like any round-robin, is messy. Although it is coherent and the first two sections relate nicely to one another. The third seems to come out of nowhere and have little connection to the first. At least the writing styles mesh.
It also isn't especially good. I've never been all that thrilled by the Great Race, and long sections detailing their life as metallic spheres is even less interesting than their life as super-limpets. Only Aldecoa works as a character, and the bigfoot attack is absurd. The final third is actually pretty atmospheric and gripping, but in the end its a somewhat pulpier take on the last portion of "The Shadow Out Of Time". In all, competent but a bit pointless.
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