Thief of Time - Atom

The door was no more substantial than mist. There were Auditors in the workshop, but Susan moved through them like a ghost.

The clock glowed. And, as she ran towards it, it moved away. The floor unrolled in front of her, dragging her back. The clock accelerated towards some distant event horizon. At the same time it grew bigger but became more insubstantial, as if the same amount of clockness was trying to spread itself across more space.

Other things were happening. She blinked, but there was no flicker of darkness.

'Ah,' she said to herself, 'so I'm not seeing with my eyes. And what else? What's happening to me? My hand... looks normal, but does that mean it is? Am I getting smaller or bigger? Does-?'

'Are you always like this?' said the voice of Lobsang.

'Like what? I can feel your hand and I can hear your voice - at least, I think I can hear it, but maybe it's just in my head - but I can't feel myself running-'

'So... so analytical?'

'Of course. What am I supposed to be thinking? "Oh, my paws and whiskers"? Anyway, it's quite
straightforward. It's all metaphorical. My senses are telling me stories because they can't cope with what is really happening-'

'Don't let go of my hand.'

'It's all right, I won't let you go.'

'I meant, don't let go of my hand because otherwise every part of your body will be compressed into a space much, much smaller than an atom.'

'Oh.'

'And don't try to imagine what this really looks like from outside. Here comes the cloooccckkkkkkk-'

***

The Thief of Time - p322-323