"It worked!" He stood, startled by the sound of his own voice. What had worked?
Looking around, he wasn't quite sure if he should be more worried that he didn't know why he had said something he didn't understand, or about the fact that he was in a place he didn't recognise with no memory of having arrived there. A word caught his eye. Phone. He rolled it around his head. Yes. He could make a call. He should make a call. A number emerged from his growing consciousness. Should he be worried about that feeling of expansion, as though just a moment before there had been nothing? That he had been nothing. Absent. Empty. What had worked? What had he done?
He put his drink down beside the phone. A classic, he thought, savouring the taste in his mouth. He didn't recall taking a sip.
He lifted the receiver and dialled the number, punching the digits with a wary finger.
"Hello. It's st