I noticed that the obscurity which had taken the place of the ground was shrinking and condensing. The nether stars were no longer visible through it.

Soon the earth below me was like a huge circular table-top, a broad disc of darkness surrounded by stars. I was apparently soaring away from my native planet at incredible speed. The sun, formerly visible to imagination in the nether heaven, was once more physically eclipsed by the Earth. (Flickr)