The Outsider

July 26

Ralph wakes early and finds Holly sitting in a lawn chair. She recounts an incident in which she found Bill looking up at the night sky, and he said, “[S]cientists are starting to believe that there’s no end to the universe” (477). Jeannie, who has joined Ralph and Holly, nods and adds, “[M]ore things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy” (477).

Holly uses a black light to take pictures of the corner of the room where the outsider sat while it talked to Jeannie. The pictures show spatters of organic matter. Holly theorizes that the outsider has to remain close to Claude Bolton in Texas, but it also projected an avatar of itself into the Andersons’ living room.

Ralph and Holly meet Howie and Alec at the airport in Cap City. They theorize that the outsider can absorb some of its target’s thoughts and memories, but not perfectly.