Project Gutenberg 2022-10-12 Public domain in the USA. 164 Wollheim, Donald A. 1914 1990 Wollheim, Donald Allen Pearson, Martin Gordon, Millard Verne Gordon, Millard V. Musacchia, John B. 1916 2004 Musacchia, J. B. Nothing $aUnited States :$bFictioneers, Inc.,$c1942. Produced from Astonishing Stories, October 1942 Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Nothing" by Martin Pearson is a science fiction short story published in the early 1940s. It explores themes of existence, reality, and the concept of matter versus nothingness, set against the backdrop of a bombed building where the main characters find themselves trapped. The narrative combines suspense and a philosophical exploration of the nature of reality through a dialogue between two characters in a dire situation. The story centers on a young man and an old professor who become trapped in a collapsed cellar after a bombing. As they wait for rescue, the professor proposes a radical idea grounded in physics: if they visualize themselves and the surrounding rubble as “nothing” or energy, they can pass through the rocks and escape. Following the professor's hypnotic guidance, the young man experiences a surreal journey into the nature of matter, ultimately manifesting outside, while the old man remains trapped. Despite the protagonist's attempts to save the professor after his own escape, the stark reality of the situation hits hard when the rescuers find the professor deceased after two days of digging. The story raises profound questions about existence and the limits of human understanding. (This is an automatically generated summary.) 20220604081532pearson 1942 US Reading ease score: 84.0 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Bombings -- Fiction World War, 1939-1945 -- Fiction PS Text Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 34157 2025-07-27T10:28:47.880554 text/html 10137 2024-10-19T01:24:05 text/html 314085 2025-07-27T10:28:51.327624 application/epub+zip 312927 2025-07-27T10:28:49.210560 application/epub+zip 215837 2025-07-27T10:28:48.368595 application/epub+zip 1097509 2025-07-27T10:28:52.608525 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 1090473 2025-07-27T10:28:50.562579 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 28075 2025-07-27T10:28:47.771559 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 8231 2024-10-19T01:24:05 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17004 2025-07-27T10:28:52.754516 application/rdf+xml 29457 2025-07-27T10:28:48.766544 image/jpeg 4958 2025-07-27T10:28:48.565570 image/jpeg 2062345 2025-07-27T10:28:47.904609 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 en.wikipedia