Maxwell Joseph Donaldson stood before the court completely relaxed and unrepentant. He had not only confessed to the rape of the nineteen year old woman, but had boasted about it. He wasn't worried, he had been sent to prison before for the same crime and was certain that he could take anything the penal system could dish out to him.
At six foot two and two hundred pounds of solid muscle, he was not afraid of anything and was physically capable of taking more punishment than most men. His dark hair and almost black eyes, craggy chin and broad physique had gotten him more women than he could count, but he always wanted the ones that didn't want him, thus he turned to rape.
His defense attorney stood beside him and waited for the judge to read out the sentence. This was no trial, it was a formality, everyone in the court knew he had done it and they were just waiting for the governmental machinery to complete its work.
The judge, the honorable Karen Winters smiled down coldly at Donaldson. This time it would be different. He didn't know it yet, but he was about to go down in history.
"Maxwell Joseph Donaldson, you stand convicted of rape in the first degree and it is this courts' judgment that you be held in the newly established Hargrove prison. This is a minimum security facility located on the east coast.
"As you are no doubt aware, in the last few years, virtual reality has been perfected and the government has recently passed a law dictating that unrepentant criminals such as yourself may be punished at the courts discretion in the world of virtual reality, or the Realm as it is more commonly known.
"You are sentenced to two years less a day of confinement, during which time you will be subject to two sessions per day of treatment in the Realm. The morning session will be program VR452-1R; the afternoon session will be with the prison AI physiologist.
"As you have not only confessed to the crime, but boasted about it in open court and for the record, there will be no appeal of this verdict or sentence. Bailiff remove the prisoner, court is adjourned." With a sharp rap of her gavel Karen Winters sentenced Max Donaldson to history.
In the year 2082, scientists and computer companies' perfected virtual reality and mass produced it for the planet. The individual simple slipped on the glasses, a pair of wrap around completely blackened specs, with extensions that placed a connector pad on each temple and activated the system. A key board and virtual hands appeared in front of them and they were able to select the program that they wanted.
For business, it was a great time and space saver. People could type; retrieve files, even tele-conference with ease, from anywhere, no need for large offices of desks with bulky computers. It was only in the relaxation mode that things changed. A person could experience anything they wished, with no effect on the body at all. If someone was on a very strict diet, they could slip into the Realm and eat whatever they wanted and not worry about their diet. Someone confined to wheelchair could climb Mount Everest. The tactile stimulations were completely real, at least to the mind. Small electrical impulses fed directly to the frontal lobe and then to the cerebral cortex convinced the mind that the body was really experiencing the images it was fed.
Within weeks of the release, the world government, in the time honored way of governments everywhere, stepped in to regulate a business that needed no regulation. They passed laws and regulations limiting the amount of time a person could spend in virtual reality, or the Realm.
This was of course completely unnecessary. The companies involved had already imposed stronger limits than the government could possibly have dreamed of. The companies saw the drop in productivity when people spent too much time in the Realm and set up hard wired governors in the glasses long before the government could have thought of such things.
But the world government took things farther than the companies' thought and some enterprising and devious individual in the Justice department wrote up a memo suggesting that criminals be dealt with through VR. In a rare move of sanity, this suggestion was adopted and implemented with such speed that companies' could not keep up with orders. The governors were left in place and a special area of the Justice department began writing code for just such criminals.
Max was in processed at Hargrove and locked down for the night. He was an old hand at prison and was ready for usual treatment of new prisoners, but was mildly surprised at the accommodations. He was housed in a private cell, complete with a reasonable comfortable bed. He settled himself in for the night and relaxed as much as possible, the back of his mind still ready for trouble.
Morning call came a five am and Max was rousted with the rest of the prison population. After morning abolitions and a surprisingly good breakfast, the inmates were led back to their cells. Max found it hard to keep up with the line of moving bodies and as soon as he reached his cell he collapsed on his bunk and passed out. The mild sedative slipped into his food kicked in and he was barely conscious when the guards came into his cell and slipped the VR glasses on and activated the system. He didn't even hear them laugh as they read the program that was called up for the rapist. They didn't restrain him, there was no need as the glasses completely overrode the mind's control of the body.
Max found himself walking down a broad boulevard in bright sunshine and felt himself smile. If this was Justice's idea of punishment, then bring it on. He heard the click of high heels and smiled at the thought of girl watching. Maybe they were using him for a study of male predators. There were only three other people in sight, large men built very much like himself. He heard a wolf whistle and looked around to see who they were whistling at and saw the image of a young woman in the large window of the department store and stopped dead with a scream of shock coming from his throat.
She stared back at him with the same shock he was feeling and he moved his hand, only to see her match his movement. She was blonde, with her hair in pigtails, a white blouse, complete with neck tie, a short plaid skirt to match the tie, thigh high white stockings and four inch heels. She had a backpack over one shoulder and small purse over the other.
Max stood there in shock for a minute and then started to dig into the purse, as the girl did the same. He came out with a driver's license, complete with his, or rather her picture. The state was blurred and the harder he concentrated on it, the blurrier it got. Only the personal data of the girl was readable. Maxine Josephine Donaldson, age nineteen, height five foot four, weight one hundred pounds even. It was the footnote at the bottom that really caught Max's attention, for it was not on any driver's license he had ever seen before, Status: Virgin.
Looking up in horror Max saw that the three men were approaching where he stood. Stuffing the id back in the purse, Max started walking quickly down the street only to realize that the men were following and closing. Max's predator's instincts kicked in, but now they were trying to get him out of the same situation that he had put too many girls in.
He knew better than to head down an alley or any place dark.
'Stay to the well lit areas, with lots of people.'
He told himself,
'they won't try anything in front of witnesses.'
The only problem was that there were no other people around. Max looked left and right for an avenue of escape and took the only one he could see, a revolving door into the department store whose window had shown him what he was.
Once he was inside Max saw that he was still alone and that there were no other exits. The men filed in through the revolving door and started to close in around him. His heart was pounding and he was starting to sweat. He was in the same position he had forced other women into and now he knew the fear that they felt. He looked up into the face of the lead thug and was shocked yet again to see his own face peering down at him, a look of sadistic pleasure etched onto every line. A quick glance at the other two showed him the same face and the same look.
"Come here to play pretty?" The first thug questioned.
Max tried to respond, but his vocal cords were paralyzed. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
"Look," the second thug said, "she wants to suck cock. See how she opens her mouth for it. I say we give it to her."
"Good idea." The third agreed, grabbing her arms roughly.
Max struggled, but they were much too strong for him now. He pulled back and tried to wrench himself free.