This story is suddenly going an unexpected direction. Hold on ;-)
Year: 4104
Accepting Human Bookings – beginning Spring 4104!
It was a bit ironic to find a flyer for "escape pods" on a table in the bar of a local cluster cruiser. Escape pods – coffin-esque capsules that allowed the user to "live" whatever life they fancied for the duration of their pod-booking – were only recently approved for human use. Several other species had been using them for centuries, but human governments were stubbornly old-fashioned.
Of course, just because human bookings were being accepted didn't mean most humans could even vaguely consider going for one. They were expensive. A three hour, full-sensory experience started out at 500-credits. For comparison, the hypervodka in front of him was a quarter-credit.
Knocking back the rest of his drink, Jack picked up the flyer and walked the two miles to the pod palace. He asked to speak with the senior sensory specialist and within an hour had transferred 1.5 million credits for a year in a pod. He knew exactly how he'd be spending that year. Jack almost laughed when he thought of the look Ianto would have given him if he'd known Jack had just spent what would have been about 30 million pounds. Ianto was always so practical….
After going through all preliminary requirements, physical and psychiatric evaluations, interviews and orientations, Jack took his sensory specialist aside and had her draw up a contract. After the first year, Jack authorized renewal of his pod booking every year indefinitely. As long as his bio-readings were still reflecting a positive overall mood, Jack wanted to live his experience for as long as possible. It would be 33 years before he'd even spent a billion credits. There was no problem there.