Bliss (short story)

Bliss was the sixth and final story in the anthology True Stories.

Plot
Benny arrives on the planet Bliss and, skipping the instructional video, enters Bliss City, where she sees only robots. She follows one into a house and finds a woman lying in a bed, connected to a machine by wires which Benny trips over, waking the woman up. The woman, the Singing Starlet of the Seven Isles, is annoyed and gets Benny to plug her back in, after which the robot starts cutting her fingernails.

Benny tries to examine the robot and unwittingly sets off an anti-theft alarm, leading to her being arrested and taken to the tower in the centre of the city. She admits to not having watched the instructional video and is made to do so; she sees the people of Bliss returning from the War and entering dreams whilst the robots care for them. She asks to see the last man to go to sleep, who is at the top of the tower, and wakes him up, learning that he is the King and that everyone is dreaming in order to give their lives meaning.

The King returns to his dream and Benny is taken away to be put on trial. In his dream, the King drinks tea and is disappointed when iy does not burn his mouth as tea does in the real world. He decides that he wants to wake up, the first person in Bliss City to do so.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * The King
 * Singing Starlet of the Seven Isles

Worldbuilding

 * Benny has visited the planets Leafy Paradise, which was covered in dust, and Verdantia, which was covered in ice.
 * Benny once spent twenty-four hours queueing for Ultimate Excitation, a waterpark with only one slide.
 * The people of Bliss fought in the war.
 * Benny brings a change of underwear, two old lipsticks and some biscuits.
 * Benny passes through security scanners.
 * The Singing Starlet won the Sing-A-Song Song-Singer Song Contest.
 * Benny is given soup.
 * Bliss Spaceport is on Arcadia Drive.
 * The King asks for tea.

Continuity

 * Benny jokes about the Knights and Knaves riddle, which she was previously confronted with on Mars. (AUDIO: The Pyramid of Sutekh)
 * Benny is put on trial. (PROSE: Transcription of Court Session: Bliss City Council Records B116 22 Trial)