I cleared my throat. "Unless they go mad and really believe the dream
they are living. But as you know, sir, the rate of madness among
Dreamland inmates is only slightly above the norm for the population as
a whole."
"How do prisoners like that adjust to reality?"
Was he deliberately trying to ask tough questions? "They don't. They
think they are having some kind of delusion. Many of them become
schizoid and pretend to go along with reality while secretly 'knowing'
it to be a lie."
Coleman removed a pocket secretary and broke it open. "About these new
free-choice models--do you think they genuinely are an improvement over
the old fixed-image machines?"
"Yes, sir," I replied. "By letting the prisoner project his own
imagination onto the sense tapes and giving him a limited amount of
alternatives to a situation, we can observe whether he is conforming to
society to a larger extent."
"I'm glad you said that, Walker," Councilman Coleman told me warmly.
"As I said, I've been following your career closely, and if you
get through the next twenty-four-hour period as you have through
the foregoing part of your Dream, you will be awakened at this time
tomorrow. Congratulations!"