Trainingware

Third of nine parts.

Copyright 2009 by F. Diriger

-5-

Judy

I was working on homework Saturday after lunch when the house phone rang. Mom answered, and after a pause I heard my phone-tune and picked up. It was Davey Carmody's Mom, asking if I was interested in doing part-time work. I'd been looking for an after-school job, so I asked what she wanted done.

"You'd be providing a kind of training to an individual who needs it badly!" She sounded kind of tightly wound as she answered, but after a pause she spoke more normally. "I'm afraid I can't tell you any more until we meet. It's, uh, delicate, and I'm going to require your Bonded word not to repeat anything I tell you to anyone else."

Wow! Mysterioso! I decided I'd like to hear the details at least, before I made a decision, so I immediately agreed to come over to discuss it.

I live close to the Carmody house, so I walked there in only a few minutes. Mrs Carmody was cordial when she answered the door, but seemed not to remember we'd met before when I'd come to visit Davey. We sat down at the kitchen table and she got right to business.

"I need to access your school records, Judy, if that's all right with you?"

I'd given transcripts to half a dozen potential employers by now, so I was used to it. I told the wallscreen to connect to my school, then touched the input to give authorization. A moment later my transcript came scrolling out. Mrs Carmody looked it over for a minute or so, then nodded, looking pleased.

"This is excellent, Judy. You have a very high TechIQ and Maturity Index. Maturity is very important for the job I want you to do! And I see that, um, you also have excellent conscientiousness ratings in your work." She looked up at me, and I did my best to appear modest. "I think you'll be perfect for the job I have, if you're willing to take it."

"Thank you, Mrs Carmody," I answered, but I was beginning to worry a little. When she'd said, "if you're willing to take it," she'd sounded like the job might be a bit repulsive in some way.

Mrs Carmody took out a slip of paper and read it aloud. "Will you give me your Bonded promise that you'll never repeat to anyone anything I tell you this afternoon, or anything we discuss, or any actions you take on the same subject at a later time, unless you have my permission?"

Then she handed me the slip, so I could read it. It made me feel like a real Corporate to be giving a bond like this. I put my hand on the Voluntatis plate she had on the table and started reading. I noticed the note was smart, since all the pronouns changed to the first person when I touched it to take the oath. When I finished I knew I wouldn't be able to repeat anything I was told without a legal override, which was pretty rare.

"OK, good." Mrs Carmody gave a small sigh. "Do you know anything about psychological agents? What they do?"

I thought for a minute. "I don't know much. They usually deal with problem kids, right? Like involuntaries, uh, involuntary discipline subjects. And the agents find some way to make them act more socially, and accept authority."

"That's very good," Mrs Carmody said, nodding, "Now how would you feel about becoming a trainee psychological agent?"

I still wasn't sure what she was asking.

"I guess -- I guess I could do that. Is that the job you called about? You want me to train to be a psychological agent?"

Mrs Carmody hesitated before answering. "Yes. You'd be administering a therapeutic treatment called 'Reward-Avoidance Training', and it would involve whipping the person you'd be in charge of as part of the training. Would you be able to do that, Judy? Whip someone as a punishment?"

I flushed. I hadn't known psychological agents did that kind of thing. I began to worry that Mrs Carmody somehow knew about my VirtWeb interest groups, although they were supposed to be utterly private. I spent a lot of time at the BAD SOMA site because I got turned on both by giving whippings and getting whipped myself when I found a cute boy partner I liked.

"I, ah, I could do that I guess, Mrs Carmody." My face was hot and my voice sounded strained, so I worried that even if she didn't know about my VirtWeb preferences, she might be able to guess from the way I was reacting. But she put an entirely different interpretation on my flushing face.

"Are you sure, Judy?" Mrs Carmody sounded concerned. "I couldn't help noticing you seemed embarrassed when I brought this up. If you think whipping someone -- hard! -- is something you wouldn't want to do, we can just drop this right now. I'm certainly not going to think less of you because you don't want to hurt another person."

I took a calming breath so I'd sound more rational when I spoke again.

"I wouldn't have any trouble whipping someone if that was an appropriate therapy that I would carry out as a psychological agent."

I knew Mrs Carmody only had two kids, Davey and his little sister . . . I'd forgotten her name . . . Gwynn! Right. Was Mrs Carmody talking about having me discipline Gwynn? I'd whipped girls a few times in interactives and my friend Maureen and I had done it with each other. It was a slight turn-on for me, but I much preferred it with boys, and I'd never even done it with boys except in BAD SOMA Encounters, where the whippings were pretty Min most of the time. I always wanted to set the VirtSuit pain induction up high so the whipping would really hurt, but most of the boys I met wouldn't agree to that unless I took very short odds on the Bet.

Or was it possible that Mrs Carmody was talking about having me discipline DAVEY! God, that was such a turn-on idea! Davey was the smartest boy in the school! He'd been advanced two years ahead of his age group, and people were always pointing me out because I'd been advanced one! And he was really cute too! Vrai Reynard! He had golden blond hair and a classical face, and he was tall and athletic-looking, although I never saw him exercise much. And he had really nice legs and a cute butt when I saw him in Gym shorts. A lot of the girls I knew had their eye on him, and I'd been attracted to him since I started noticing boys! He was kind of egotistical, I could see that, but he was still fun to be around and his conceit didn't bother me too much. Yeah! But he could be really sarcastic! I knew he was mean to people sometimes -- Never to me! -- but I could imagine he might be a real brat at home!

"Now there's one other element to this," Mrs Carmody continued, "and it involves sex. I don't mean to be offensive if you don't want to discuss this, but you must know there are a large number of therapies that involve sexual tension between therapist and patient." She paused for a moment, probably to give me a chance to object to discussing it, then continued in a rush.

"I don't mean you'd have to couple, or anything!" Then, more slowly, "But you'd be in charge of withholding or providing sexual gratification to the person you were disciplining. It's part of the therapy we've settled on. Do you think you'd be able to do that?"

It was really old-fashioned to say "couple" instead of "fuck". Everybody said "fuck" now, even the News Media! But this sounded more and more like she was talking about Davey, the way she mentioned coupling and the therapy "we've" settled on -- I was pretty sure she meant herself and her husband.

"I, uh, I wouldn't expect to have any trouble . . . ah, acting sexually on someone I was disciplining if that was the appropriate treatment, Mrs Carmody." I was a little proud of how adult that sounded. "But it would depend a lot on who you're talking about. Is this a boy or a girl, and how old?" Mrs Carmody gave me an appraising look, and I tried to look like a responsible seventh year high school student, just interviewing for a job.

"OK," Mrs Carmody sighed, "I guess I can't keep the details from you any longer. You know Davey, right?"

Even though I'd been half expecting it, it was a shock to hear I was being asked to discipline Davey, and I felt another flush rise to my face as I started picturing details of what I'd be doing to him: whippings and sexual control! I realized I was starting to lubricate at the thought of it.

"Sure," Mrs Carmody," I managed to choke out. "Davey's at the same study level with me in Web Science and Math, and we've spent time after school together."

Mrs Carmody suddenly had another thought. "You're -- nineteen, right?

"Yes, that's right," I answered. "I turned nineteen last May."

"So you're only about a year older than Davey," she said in a musing tone. "He turned eighteen in June, but he acts like such a selfish brat all the time, you'd think he was pre-school! Of course, it's pretty obvious he's really an adolescent male the way he's always obsessing about sex!"

I made some sort of non-committal noise, and Mrs Carmody rushed on, telling me what Davey did last Summer, subverting the monitor cameras to spy on her and Gwynn, then being sent for discipline, and talking his parents into letting him out of it after his first whipping. I could see why Mrs Carmody was upset, since Davey obviously didn't have much respect for her or the household, but I could kind of understand his motivation in spying on his stepmother. I wouldn't mind seeing Mrs Carmody with her clothes off myself! She's extremely attractive, a natural redhead with a warm, rosy complexion. Of course I knew she'd only been Davey's stepmother less than a year, so he hadn't done anything really incestuous.

"I just found out today that he was lying to us about nearly everything when he got out of training last Summer. He was traumatized by his whipping all right, but he never had any intention of trying to reform. He's just a born manipulator."

"I guess I can picture that in him," I said, trying to take a part in the conversation. "Davey has always seemed a little bratty to me, too."

"I'm sure he's a lot worse than you can imagine!" Mrs Carmody said angrily. "When he spied on us he even saved vid clips of me using the toilet!"

She paused for a moment, then continued in a calmer tone of voice.

"You'll get advice about how to carry out Davey's training from his original psychological agent, Linda Fechtenbaum, and there's a training tutorial that can monitor to make sure you don't make any mistakes, but the basic idea is that Davey will need his agent's cooperation to reach orgasm. As I understand it, Linda was going to require him to modify his behavior before she gave him any relief, and she wouldn't just permit him to masturbate: she'd administer the stimulation herself." Mrs Carmody stopped for a second and got an apologetic look.

"Through peripherals, of course, Judy -- I should emphasize that. I don't mean you'd have to touch him if you're willing to take the job."

I nodded, breathing rather heavily, as Mrs Carmody went on.

"The idea is that Davey won't be able to resent his agent when he's so dependent on her for sex; at some deep level he'll be grateful when she brings him to climax. Between the whippings and sexual control, the agent can make good progress on psychological modification." Mrs Carmody suddenly looked hard at me again.

"Is this all something you can do?"

God, I was getting so aroused! I tried to figure out what the question really meant from Mrs Carmody's viewpoint, and how I should answer it.

"I wouldn't have any problem acting as psychological agent for Davey," I said, as mildly as possible.

"Good. But there are a few more things I should tell you. First, Davey has a very strong crush on you, and that's valuable in a therapy like this." Then, apologetically, "Naturally you'd have all the authority you need to keep him under control, so he won't be pestering you all the time."

Hmm. Mrs Carmody really didn't seem to be into sex very much. I'd always thought Davey liked me that way, but he'd never asked me to fuck, so it was good to know for sure!

"The second thing is that while Davey is under your control and not allowed to masturbate . . . " Mrs Carmody faltered a little here, then continued. "He'll have very strong sexual needs and you'll have to be careful how you handle that. It's important that he doesn't think the sexual part disgusts you, or that you avoid doing it longer than the tutorial says is therapeutic. If you're ever in doubt, you should follow the tutorial's advice."

There was a pause before she went on. "It would actually be optimal if he thought you were enjoying it -- teasing him and acting like you're having fun, before you let him reach orgasm." Diane's face was flushing now, for the first time, and she took a deep breath before continuing.

"Do you think you can act that part well enough to convince Davey?"

"I, uh, like Davey," I answered hesitantly. "I think he's cute. So I don't think I'll have any trouble making him think I enjoy . . . interacting with him this way." I was afraid I'd said a little too much, as Mrs Carmody looked at me appraisingly for a minute.

"I don't know," Mrs Carmody sounding worried. "You've looked embarrassed and upset while I've been discussing this. Are you sure you can handle Davey in these training sessions? You'd have to be hard on him to stay in control!"

"I'm positive I can handle the job, Mrs Carmody." I started using mental control to lose my sexual flush, something I didn't normally do since it makes me feel like an emotionless cyborg.

"I can only offer double minimum hourly wage, but you'll be paid for all the time you spend with Davey, after school every day until dinner. And some time on the weekends, if you're able to do that. Linda Fechtenbaum got everything out of the way in her daily seventy-five minute sessions, so you ought to have plenty of time to yourself after an initial learning period. I understand Davey's training should last six to eight months, so it might last until graduation in June. Are you willing to take the job at that pay?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I think it's a pretty good pay, as long as I can study some of the time." I really didn't care about the pay at that point -- I would have offered to do this for free for a month, or even paid premium VirtWeb rates to do it for a few hours at a time.

Mrs Carmody took a deep breath and seemed to relax for the first time since I'd arrived. Then she pulled out a large sheet of smart paper with a contract she'd written up, saying she wanted my Bonded word on how I'd perform my job as trainee psychological agent. Since this was a Geas -- a Bond that made me actually perform a set of tasks -- I needed AI advice, and Diane told me to call my family service and charge it to her. The AI confirmed there weren't any trick clauses in the contract: I just had to do everything reasonable to keep Davey's training within therapeutically correct parameters. And I had the classical out: I could resign the job anytime by notifying Mrs Carmody, and then I'd drop all obligations except not telling anyone what I'd been doing. So I read through the Geas wording with my hand on the Voluntatis plate.

After the contract was registered, we decided that I should hold Davey's sessions in my apartment. My Mom's hobby is classical Gates architecture and she spends half our income on Manufacts to enlarge our house, so I have a large suite to myself, with a private entrance. Of course I'd have to say something to Mom about turning on my privacy lock with Davey visiting every day, but I figured I could just say I was giving Davey training, letting it sound like a school thing. I was kind of surprised when Mrs Carmody had to give me permission to discuss Davey's training with my mother only in a general way, but then I recalled that I couldn't talk about it with anybody without permission.

"I'm sure this will work out fine, Mrs Carmody," I said slowly, thinking about how to handle Mom.

"I want you to call me 'Diane' from now on," she said. "You have a difficult role here, and I want to be your ally and friend. Just let me know if there's any help you need. I've worked out a budget for trainingware equipment and Web access Ms Fechtenbaum said you'd need. You can buy anything you want with the money if you and Ms Fechtenbaum agree it's appropriate. When I talked to her earlier, she said she was going out to an early concert, but you should be able to reach her around eleven tonight. I hope that isn't too late for you."

I explained that I only needed to sleep about five hours a night, so I was usually awake until well after one AM.

After Diane explained about the budget, she stood up, and I did too, figuring we were done. I was trying to think if there was anything else I needed to know before I went home, when Diane spoke again.

"I'd like to have you start exercising Davey's Keycode now, Judy." She hesitated as my face flushed again, and then sounded apologetic. "I mean if you're willing. I know this is all coming at you very fast, so if you need to take some time . . ."

"No, Ma'am," I answered. "I think I should get started as soon as possible."

Diane reminded me to use her first name and walked out of the kitchen. I heard her go up the stairs in front and come down a moment later with heavier footsteps behind her. I began to feel grateful that my shorts were waterproof so my wet underpants wouldn't soak through to make my arousal obvious. I heard Mrs Carmody say something in the hall before she walked back into the kitchen, explaining that she'd ordered Davey not to talk, even when he wasn't in O-Mode, so he wouldn't give us a lot of arguments. I nodded, breathing heavily.

As Davey came into the room and saw me, his eyes widened and his pace slowed. Then he began staring at me with an expression I didn't understand, but as his face grew more and more flushed I realized what he felt was an extremity of embarrassment. At some point his eyes met mine looking back at him, and he got a frightened expression and looked down at the floor.

"I've been keeping Davey in No-Sex since his actions this morning," Diane said. "I didn't want to have to deal with his sexuality for awhile. But I brought him back to Nominal since you're here and you're going to be treating him with sexual tension." She sounded a little disgusted. "You can see he has an erection already. He seems to be like that half the time these days from what he told me when I questioned him!"

I looked at Davey, standing in O-Mode posture with his hands at his sides. I knew he'd tried to hide an erection a few times when he was over at my house, but he couldn't do that now. I could see the outline of his erection clearly, making his fly bulge out, and his face got even redder as he heard Diane talking about it. Diane told him to sit down in a chair near the table, and he moved quickly, probably to make the bulge in his pants less prominent. Then Diane put him in Deep O-Mode so he wouldn't remember later what we said.

"I'm going to put him back in No-Sex when you're not around. I'm really not up to having to deal with David's sexuality right now. But you can change his Modes around any way you want as soon as you take charge. It's probably wrong to keep him in No-Sex as a regular thing, but at least for now it will keep him from rubbing himself raw fantasizing about having you punish him. He actually gets aroused by things like that!"

Max! Lim Sup! If Davey got turned on by the idea of having me discipline him, that was all I needed to make my dream fantasy complete! It struck me as I listened to Diane telling me about Davey's sexuality, that she didn't really mean to be so negative. She was just kind of low-wattage about sex herself, so she thought it was kind of distasteful, but she also wanted to be modern and open-minded in talking about it, which made for a strange mix.

Diane brought Davey out of O-Mode entirely after she told him I was going to be a frequent user of his Keycode. Davey glanced up at me just once before he lowered his eyes again, still looking flushed and scared. I could see his erection again.