James Rolland, actor, is demonstrating the invention of Professor Graystroke, a space-folder, a device for interstellar travel. The crowd does not know that the whole thing is supposed to be a hoax--there is meant to be a trapdoor which will drop Rolland out, so that he can 're-appear' somewhere else a week later, providing him with a lot of good press. However, the trap door does not work, and the space-folder does, so Rolland is sent away--into the heart of a star. In the distant future, a mother and child in a museum look at a bust of James Rolland, "the courageous pioneer who gave his life willingly so that interstellar travel might be advanced".