He was turning his head, nestling into the soft cushion when he heard the voice.
At first it was barely audible, like words floating around in a dream state. This murmuring went on for some time before the voice took on a new clarity and a sense of recognition.
“Ah! Yes. There you are!”
Startled by this, he tried to open his eyes, but without success.
“Good morning,” the voice went on. “You imagine that you are laying on a sun lounge besides a swimming pool. You think you are on holiday, staying at a hotel on the Spanish Costa Brava. You are totally convinced that you are there for a week, enjoying the warm weather. This is an illusion.” A brief silence. “We can now explain that this scenario is false and put in place to enable us to keep you completely relaxed while we carry out our Earth Species Testing Regime. You were, in fact, transported to our ship several weeks ago; your time. All tests have now been completed.”
He gripped the sides of the sun lounge and waited.
“Normally…” the voice went on, “well, normally we would return you to your bed and make adjustments to your time period. This would allow you to wake up with the certain knowledge that you had experienced a particularly strange dream. Normally, that is.”
A long silenced ensued while the man, as warm and comfortable as he was, considered snapping himself out of it and looking for the waiter. He could do with another rum and coke. His eyes still refused to open.
The voice started up again. “Resistance, yes, understandable in these circumstances. The situation is not normal. As I have said, you could wake up in bed with all memory of what has really happened to you being completely erased. However, there is a choice here. It is one for you. Our testing protocols do not allow us to take you without… without your permission. We would like to take you back for further testing. This is very rare. We would need you for approximately three of your Earth years. After this, the same return and time adjustment would be made. This would all be carried out, but it would be followed by one major difference. On waking, you would find yourself in possession of a lottery ticket that would bring you a substantial fortune. One that would provide comfort for your remaining years.”
He wished he could open his eyes.
“You can open your eyes and give us your answer.”
He looked around. It was dark. It was a huge space. He lay on a hard table. He felt sure that he was naked under the sheet.
“Your answer?” The voice boomed now, filling the cavernous void.
His lips parted. “Yes.”
Moments later, he was fluffing up his pillow and nestling his head when he became aware of the ticket.
He sat up, switched the bedside light on and stared at it. He only had a vague memory of buying it. He would check the paper tomorrow.
Meanwhile, with the pillow comfortable, he dozed off back to sleep.