"Can you hear me, Alan?" The voice was definitely feminine. But he couldn't really place it anywhere. He raced through memories, only to find out he didn't have any. It's a sad thing to find out, or so he thought.
"Alan? Can you hear me?"
"Who are you?" He managed to ask. His voice was not familiar. He felt more and more disturbed. What did he remember?
"I'm Jenny. A nurse."
He scanned his memory once more. He did remember things. All sort of things. Books he'd read. Movies he'd seen. It's strange; he liked them all. He couldn't remember a single thing he didn't like. "Jenny? Do I know you? Where am I? What ... what happended to me?"
"Calm down, Alan. You don't know me, and" --
"Why do you keep on calling me Alan? Is that really my name?" He wasn't really sure of that. "Yes, it is your name. You're in the Springfield City Hospital." Her voice was a little disturbed. The strange disturbance he suffered from quickly turned into fear. "Hospital? What happened to me?"
"Let's leave that for later, Alan. I want to see how you're doing first. We couldn't talk with you for a very, very long time, you know." "How long?" he asked, but not aloud. He paused. He wanted to stop everything; to press Esc, Ctrl-Break, or even Ctrl-Alt-Del.
"Alan! Alan, stop it! Don't fall asleep now. You mustn't!"
"How long? How long am I here?" He was afraid of the answer. And then came the shock; fear turned into horror as the answer formed in his ears. "Over five years now." The full impact of the words took time to register in his mind.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?" he shouted, and he couldn't help it. He panicked. "Alan, please, don't panic." That phrase had a familiar ring to it. He forced himself to calm down. He grabbed his fear, and slowly shaped it into anger. "Why are you holding things from me? I have the right to know."
"Fine. You will be told everything, as soon as we'll see you're capable of handling it. It's not an easy thing." He knew that last phrase. From a movie. There was something disturbing about the way it should be continued.
"How long ... ?" Jenny asked, and she wasn't talking to him. A new voice answered, "Two more minutes. Go on." "Who are you?" he asked, and the voice answered, "I'm a doctor; never mind now. Talk to Jenny, Alan."
"Jenny. Why would I want to talk to Jenny? And why wouldn't you talk to me?" Pieces of the puzzle were NOT falling in place. Nothing seemed right. Or sounded right, for that matter. "Jenny, please. I really believe I can handle it. Talk to me. Answer me. Tell me the truth. Was I involved in an accident? Whatever made me lose my memory? Why, why on earth am I hospitalized?"
There was a short pause. And then, "Congratulations, Alan. You've just passed the Turing Test."