"He tried to sit up and felt, numbly, a panic. There was nothing to sit up upon because he was hanging in nothingness."
Chap. 1, p. 7

"Burton felt less unreal. The being—the Tau Cetan!—talked so pragmatically, so sensibly, that he provided an anchor to which Burton could tie his senses before they drifted away again."
Chap. 4, p. 22

"They walked across the mile-broad plain and into the hills. On the way, several others joined their group. One was a little girl, about seven years old, with dark blue eyes and a beautiful face. She looked pathetically at Burton, who asked her in twelve languages if any of her parents or relatives were nearby. She replied in a language none of them knew."
Chap. 5, p. 31

"He did not feel so minute and unworthy now. The stars were inanimate matter, and he was alive. No star could ever...