Martin found himself lying on a very comfortable piece of furniture, a kind of bed in the shape of a table. He was in a little room, with only one door and no windows. Everything was perfectly symmetrical. There was another table opposite his, on which there was some unfamiliar scientific equipment. There was no other furniture except for two strange wooden chairs and some shelves and cupboards along the walls. Sitting on one of the chairs was an old well-dressed man with a white beard, which made him look like some sort of a professor. Martin jumped off the bed and looked nervously at the man, who raised his head and smiled at him.
"Don't be afraid," he said, in a mysterious but reassuring voice. "Come over here and sit down."
Martin walked over and sat down on the chair facing the professor. "All right, where am I?" he demanded. "What is this place?"
"I will explain. Come with me and I will show you."
Martin followed the professor to the table which he had already looked at briefly. Now that he was close to it, he could see a small sphere, about the size of a tennis ball, made up apparently of a lot of tiny specks of dust floating about. Focused on it was a large intricate-looking microscope. The professor looked through it and fiddled around with some dials and levers on the side of the instrument. Then he told Martin to look through. "See if you can recognise this," he said. Martin put his eye to the glass and was amazed by what he saw. It looked exactly the same as the solar system. There was the sun, and all the planets revolving around it. The professor took over again, and when Martin looked through the second time he saw an exact replica of the Earth. More amazed than ever, he watched the professor make further adjustments to the machine. This time Martin saw a part of his own country, including one of the larger cities.
"But how did you do it?" asked Martin. "I can't believe you could make a model of the Earth and other planets on such a small scale. It's impossible. It must be some sort of trick."
"Oh, no," said the professor, "it's not a trick. And it's not just a model. That is actually your universe. The other specks of dust you see are other universes."
Martin stared at the professor, bewildered. "Ridiculous," he muttered. His head began to ache at the enormity of the suggestion.
"It's true. You see, I made this sphere of what looks to you like dust, and observed it to see what would happen. It was not until a short time ago that I discovered what I had been hoping for. I found that life had appeared on one of the particles. There were a number of interesting-looking creatures of many shapes, but there was one type which looked like me. This was your own species, of course. I studied one of the land masses on this particle, with instruments which you would never be capable of understanding. Then I worked on a way to bring a member of your species here with me, with obvious success. I have actually made you infinitely larger. It was a simple process of bringing your mind first and reconstructing your body around the mind."
Something in Martin's head seemed to snap. "I don't understand," he was crying. "Let me out of here. I want to go home."
"I'm afraid that can not be done," said the professor.
"Why not?"
"For one thing, it would be almost impossible to put your mind back on your own planet, and in its correct proportion, and I would find it even harder to reconstruct your body around it. If I did, you would be a most peculiar shape, and you would certainly never live a normal life again. For another thing, quite a number of years have already elapsed on your planet during our short conversation. If you ever could get back, you would be a few centuries ahead of the time when you left."
As the professor spoke, Martin was growing paler. Finally he let out a scream. "I'm dreaming!" he yelled, terrified. "I'm getting out of here! I'm going home!" He ran to the door, turning the knob, and pulling it. "Unlock this! He cried. "I demand that you unlock this door!"
"Poor boy!" muttered the old man. "You can't open that. It just doesn't open!" He watched sadly as Martin tried to batter it down by hurling himself against it.
After half an hour, Martin lay exhausted, sobbing, on the bed.
"You see! The professor was saying. "You can't get out, because there isn't anything outside that door. Those walls are the end of everything."
"You mean this room is just floating about in space?"
"Space? There is no space. All your space and infinity and eternity there, inside that little ball. Those four walls are the end, the limits. There is no outside. So you will be staying here with me. You'll be good company for me and you'll be able to help me with my next sphere, which is, at present, in the planning stages."
"But how?" asked Martin, pulling himself up and leaning against the door that could not be opened.
"I'll teach you. You'll have plenty of time to learn. You see, for us there is no such thing as death."
Martin walked slowly to the table, and stared longingly into the sphere of dust, as the centuries slipped past silently.