When Mr. Clarke agrees to visit his friend Dr. Raymond, he is dubious about the proceedings he is to witness.

In pursuit of what Raymond calls “transcendental science,” the doctor intends to make a small incision in a woman’s brain, allowing her to see past the world of the senses to a reality beyond imagining—a realm where, Raymond says, one can see the great god Pan.

Though the experiment is an apparent failure, it will not be Clarke’s last brush with the sinister beyond.