GO STARLESS IN THE NIGHT
Roger Zelazny
Darkness and silence all about, and nothing, nothing, nothing within it.
Me?
The first thought came unbidden, welling up from some black pool. Me? That's all.
Me? he thought. Then, Who? What ...?
Nothing answered.
Something like panic followed, without the customary physical accompaniments. When this wave had passed, he listened, striving to capture the slightest sound. He realized that he had already given up on seeing.
There was nothing to hear. Not even the smallest noises of life—breathing, heartbeat, the rasping of a tired joint—came to him. It was only then that he realized he lacked all bodily sensations.
But this time he fought the panic. Death? he wondered. A bodiless, dark sentence beyond everything? The stillness ...
. . .