Nael arrived at the compliance center at 10:58 on a Tuesday. He gave his name at the front desk. The technician handed him a form.
The form asked for his patient ID, the date of his last documented dream, the number of days elapsed, and whether the current gap was a first occurrence. He wrote: first occurrence. This was not technically accurate (he had gone twenty-six days at thirty-one) but that gap predated the current regulation, and nothing in the form asked him to account for unregulated history.
He was assigned to Bay 4. The cot was adjustable. A second technician attached monitoring leads to his temples, his wrists, and at the base of his skull. She told him it would take as long as it took. Most patients under two weeks fell into sleep within twenty minutes. At twenty-two days, he might take longer.
He took fourteen minutes.
The dream: a building he didn't recognize, looking for a room. The hallways kept extending. He was not frightened. He understood the room existed. At some point he stopped looking and sat down against the wall. He waited. Something happened (he could not name it) and then he was rising.
He woke at 12:41.
The technician noted the time and removed the leads. She printed his compliance receipt and stamped it. She told him his next scheduled window would open in twenty-eight days.
He sat up, rescheduled next week's appointment (a work meeting he had moved twice already) and went back to his desk.