“With an attitude like that teaching you shouldn’t be too difficult,” he smiles playfully, adding, “And don’t worry, you’ll pick it up easily enough.”

Arthur sits down on the sofa, which is large and comfortable for just such occasions, and perches on the edge of the cushion, leaning forward to unravel two of the wire tubes from the machine. “Right, so, in order for us to go into a lucid dream state and share subconscious space, each dreamer must be connected to the device using one of these. A light sedative passes through it to put us under, which works alongside the timer,” he pauses briefly to point it out, “We use this to keep track of how long we stay under for.” Fiddling with the dosage, he sets the timer for five minutes. “As it’s your first time, we’ll keep it simple. Five minutes in the real world should give us an hour in the dream world – it should be enough time to give you a taste and explain in more detail.”

Holding one of the rubes with a steady hand, he nods towards Bela’s wrist. “May I?”