It must have been the absolute absence of external stimulus that woke her. That womblike sensation of insulation, of your interior always pushing against the outside world to stay under, asleep and recharging, was a familiar pattern in her life.  But she realized nearly at once that something was different this time. This time, there did not seem to be an outside world.

               Still lying down, and motionless otherwise, she blinked. She blinked again. Experience had taught her that whatever dream had…