You don’t have to open your eyes to know you’re not on the beach.
There’s warmth but it’s not the sun—the low crackle of flames suggests a fireplace. At first you think you’re not completely in the program, because you can feel a tightness that hugs your body like the VR suit, but you realize it’s thermal underwear, snug down your arms and legs, trapping in your body heat. No, this is definitely not the beach.
You get the feeling you’re supposed to be asleep—an image forms in your mind, the scene you’re in now. You see yourself stretched out in a recliner of some sort, propped up in front of a cozy fire, wearing long johns and a flannel shirt and jeans, thick gray socks, a book opened against your chest as if you dozed off while reading. The room around you is bathed in an orange glow th
