In our curious embodiment from spirit the substance of our bodies is an
etherealized matter, loosely, I might say, flocculently, disposed, and
while it conveys sensations of a certain tone or key of vibratory
intensity, it will not respond to any violent or coarse shocks. They
simply cannot be carried. They escape us. Are the people all alike
amongst the Martians?'
"'Oh, no,' returned Chapman, who pointed to the widening spaces in the
beams between the slow Deimos and the fleeter flying Phobos, 'there are
great differences. I have seen that. In materialization some seem badly
put together, and these resemble our former terrestrial bodies. They
grow old, they succumb to disease, they feel changes of weather and they
have less vitality. Yes,' and he drew nearer, 'it is these unhappy
misbirths in this spirit land who retain the sin of earth and cannot
survive and get the _Kinkotantitomi_ or irreverently, as the earthling
would say, the grand bounce. They are fired off the planet.'
"He paused and laughed. How strange this almost human laugh sounded, and
yet how pleasant! I looked at him with a deep affection. He noticed the
impression, and quickly drawing me to him, said half timidly:
"'Dodd, that sort of laugh and those words of mine just used, are not
Martian, they don't belong to these rarefied beings here. They have a
human or earthly taint, and they frighten me. I seem so lonely
sometimes. My stray fun which I once enjoyed on earth must somehow be
forgotten here.
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