Arthur wasn't joking when he said he was going to sleep.
He truly went to sleep for about ten hours straight.
But during his sleep, strange events unfolded elsewhere in the Cosmos.
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First off, in a part of the Cosmos that fewer than 10 of its inhabitants could even conceive of, was a universe brimming with hundreds of trillions of galaxies and even more stars and planets, each teeming with flora and fauna, their conditions perfect for sustaining life in almost every form.
Yet, not a trace of sentient life could be found within this universe.
Even the planets in this universe lacked wills or consciousnesses.
The only 'sentient' in it was a woman seated in the centre of a vast garden, leisurely sipping her afternoon tea.