This lengthy text is an excerpt from the science fiction novel Ubik by Philip K. Dick. It centers on Joe Chip, an employee of Runciter Associates, an anti-psi prudence organization specializing in countering psychic abilities. Following a disastrous mission to the moon where his boss, Glen Runciter, appears to be killed by a bomb, Joe and other surviving inertials (individuals who can nullify psychic powers) experience their reality deteriorating, with objects and even people regressing through time. They discover this is occurring within a form of half-life, a state experienced after death where consciousness is temporarily maintained at a moratorium, and that they are being preyed upon by a malevolent half-lifer named Jory who consumes the remaining life force of others. The text details their struggle against this decay and the mysterious substance Ubik, advertised by a seemingly alive Runciter through commercials and notes, which promises to reverse the temporal regression and combat the effects of half-life. Ultimately, Joe learns that he and the others are indeed deceased, experiencing a collective half-life, and their fight against Jory is a battle for continued existence on this side of reality, a battle in which Ubik serves as a crucial but often fleeting defense.