Project Gutenberg 2019-12-14 Public domain in the USA. 98 Lewis, Art Ritter, Bob Vassi Produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, January 1961 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Vassi" by Art Lewis is a science fiction short story written in the early 1960s. The narrative revolves around themes of isolation, existential dread, and the intersection of reality and the unknown. The story follows Julia Fenway, a woman faced with terminal illness, who encounters Vassi, a time traveler from a distant future, leading her to contemplate profound questions about life, death, and the possibility of escape from her grim fate. Julia, a file clerk, learns from her doctor that she has only a few months left to live. Alone and consumed by despair, she suddenly begins to hear a voice in her head—Vassi, an invisible historian from the future. As their conversations unfold, she learns of Vassi's capabilities and the possibility of time travel, with a desperate wish for escape from her mortality. When Vassi suggests experimenting with her cat, Belle, Julia is torn between her love for the cat and her yearning for survival. Ultimately, she resolves to end her life, believing that she could join Vassi in a world free of sickness. The story culminates in a tragic and poignant ending, reflecting the overarching themes of longing for connection and the quest for hope in the face of overwhelming despair. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 97.4 (5th grade). Very easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Time travel -- Fiction Terminally ill -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 54879 2025-06-24T08:49:07.317662 text/html 31398 2024-10-17T15:16:53 text/html 413489 2025-06-24T08:49:09.514581 application/epub+zip 412332 2025-06-24T08:49:07.851592 application/epub+zip 85555 2025-06-24T08:49:07.581592 application/epub+zip 449480 2025-06-24T08:49:10.976624 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 442582 2025-06-24T08:49:09.274620 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 116181 2022-09-27T14:21:20.259639 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 47528 2023-09-26T07:19:17.112638 text/plain 27730 2024-10-17T15:16:53 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16157 2025-06-24T08:49:11.141565 application/rdf+xml 29841 2025-06-24T08:49:07.682563 image/jpeg 4568 2025-06-24T08:49:07.630644 image/jpeg 558755 2025-06-24T08:49:07.335668 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog