something from the human world, "something of clay". At the end of the story, Silvia manages to come back, but the effects of her return are disastrous. As soon as she appears in front of Rick, Silvia realizes that something has gone wrong and that she has taken the place of someone else. In fact, she has taken her sister's body. There is a scene in which Rick sees Betty Lou (Silvia's sister) change and become Silvia, but it is just the beginning of the nightmare atmosphere which engulfs the story's ending. In fact, the process of transformation is not over. Slowly, every member of Silvia's family becomes Silvia. Rick runs away in a fright. The girl has assumed the role of a revenant who invades the body and mind of any living person and spreads like a virus, a curse, leaving no hope for redemption. At the end of the story, after a useless flight, after he has seen service-station attendants, waitresses and common people change into Silvia before his very eyes, Rick looks at himself in a mirror and sees his face slowly becoming Silvia's. Suddenly, the man is gone and only Silvia remains. The girl finds herself alone and does not understand what has happened. Adaptations "Upon the Dull Earth" was adapted into an audio drama, "Silvia's Blood", by The Truth. References http://etc.dal.ca/belphegor/vol3_no2/articles/03_02_Bettan_TerPKD_en.html https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-mitchell-1/silvias-blood External links Short stories by Philip K. Dick 1954 short stories Works originally published in Beyond Fantasy Fiction