After a time he realized that he was hearing it, and that he did not know when it had begun. It was the same as before, a vast echoing sky-sound, not in words, but in meaning. And then he knew.
He stood up again. All around him he could sense the other worlds, more clearly than ever. They were like sheaves of shadows, multiplying in every direction. He found one where there was something in the air that said, "Here." There was a welcoming feeling in that world, a feeling of belonging, of peace and acceptance. He gathered himself, reached in, and turned with a convulsive effort.
Then there was no one in the forest but the dead man hanging from the tree.
From
The Book of Gene, Chicago, 2036:
Then his enemy rose up before him to kill him; but GENE touched him with the power that was in him, and he fell dead on the ground. Then GENE said, "O God, what shall I do?" And God answered, "Hang this one from a tree, and come to another place that I have prepared for you; and let not your disciples sorrow, for I will return you to them at the proper season and will gladden their hearts: and then you shall come in your glory." So it was done; so it was told; and so it shall be.
A poet, a millionaire, a circus freak, Gene Anderson was all of these and much more. An incredible eight-and-a-half-foot giant, he had a power, a gift that enabled him to reach into other worlds and bring back miracles into this one.
He saw a magnificence in the universe that nobody had ever seen and brought the light of truth to man where only darkness had been. But like all prophets, he was feared as much as loved -- and hated by one tortured soul who was determined to see him die . . .