Into the Fourth Dimension by Ray Cummings

They turned away in the void -- away from the dark-light mystery of the realm of death, and drove themselves back to the Big-City. The search for Brutar's encampment was at the moment futile; they knew they could not reach it. And though Bee had escaped with Eo, she did not know whether I escaped or not.

They hoped to find me safely returned to the Big-City. But I was not there. But still Thone felt that I might come. To Will -- with his inherent, instinctive conception of a placid, measured Time -- the delay seemed dangerous. He was impatient; anxious to do something. But there was nothing which of himself he could do; and Thone was an Intelligence very keen. Will decided that upon Thone he must rely.

They went back to the home globe, to rest and to wait for my possible arrival. Will in a way was glad of the inactivity, for he remembered that of Thone's plans he knew almost nothing. He would learn all he could; and with something definitely arranged, they could act to better purpose.

Will felt the pangs of hunger. They brought a glowing brazier wherein something smouldered. He ate -- inhaled, there is no word for it. Satisfied his pangs; and drank of the silver mist which came flowing into the globe at a word of command. And slept; lost consciousness, to find himself in blackness with Time wholly gone.

But still I did not come back to the Big-City. There were times when with Thone, Will journeyed about the city streets, gazing at this strange life. He saw thought-workers, as I had seen them in Brutar's encampment. Saw the water being created; saw the thought-matter moulded and spun into new globes -- moulded to all the diverse purposes of this Ego-life.

He slept again; several times; and ministered to the slight wants of his tenuous body. A great length of time seemed passing; and still I did not arrive.

There were many talks that Will had with Thone. Ala and Bee were generally there, as befitted those of their sex.

Sex? It was interesting to Will. The creation of the individual Ego of this strange realm, so different an existence, and yet in fundamental conception so like his own. Already he believed that the same Creator governed both. With strange ways that we mortals so little understand, over all the realms, the states of existence, the Universes that possibly could exist -- only one Creator held sway. The Thought -- there could be but One.

Will said, "You once spoke, Thone, of yourself as Ala's parent. And the necessity of the Thought to the creation of Ego-life. Will you explain that? In our world we have two sexes. Have you also?"

"Yes," said Thone. "In the higher forms of life -- we humans, as you would say -- there are, like yours, two sexes. Call me a man -- and Ala a woman. The difference is one of mental capacity; mental qualities, inherent perhaps to the Ego. I call it the Soul, though we have no name for it. I mean that something which makes each individual different from every other.

"The qualities inherent to the individual mould and form the mentality. Characterize thus, what we call its sex. The one sex is a complement to the other. An attraction exists between them -- a desire for proximity so that of their own inherent force they will draw together. And the one mentality derives force -- a mental life-force -- from the other. An exchange -- for it yields its own necessary qualities in return. Thus we have the mating -- the basis of the family. Without it no complete mental health is possible. There is no mentality capable of existing in health by itself."

"And a birth? " Will suggested.

"Communion of thought. The desire, the longing of two closely interwoven mentalities of complementary qualities. When they combine with an intensity of longing, the thought-matter they mutually create brings into existence another, smaller shape like themselves. It is very small -- very tenuous -- scarce to be seen save by those two who have produced it. It lies inert. Almost formless, though they sit beside it and strive with their loving thoughts of what it should be -- strive to give it form. It may continue to lie inert; and at last in spite of their efforts, it may dissolve, dissipate -- be gone, back into Nothingness from whence they drew it. The Thought was not within it; it never was anything then save a human longing unblessed.

"Or again, the Thought may be there. It lives. Grows ponderable. Moves of itself. Thinks of itself. Then it _is_ something itself -- something independent of all save its creator-divine. The little nourishment of its body is easily supplied; the mother-parent gives it lovingly the needed gentler nourishment of the mind; daily she adds to it the loving tendrils of her thought-matter so tenuous that to the sight it seems mere light.

"But if the spark is there, glowing brightly, the little Ego lives. Grows in size. Displays a growing mental capacity of its own. Its own mental qualities make themselves known, to identify it as a man-child, or a woman-child. And the Ego, developing, brings it to individuality. It is Itself; unlike everyone else. The new Individual. That, my friend Will, is a birth."

Will thought a moment. "There is a beauty to it."

Bee said, "I don't quite understand -- " She gazed at Will, puzzled; and Will felt and understood her confusion. He said:

"Your explanation, Thone, seems to make Man differ from Woman only in qualities of the Soul and Mind. You do not speak of the body; yet to me, Ala here appears of very different form from yourself."

Thone smiled. "You say, 'to me. ' You have answered yourself, my friend. The physical aspect of everything is but the reflected image of it within our own mentality. The gentleness of Ala -- those qualities which make her what she is -- are seen by you in the form of what you call a woman."

"But," protested Will, "does she not look the same to you?"