chapter 1

"Four years in state custody," the judge looked down at her, every measure of authority he possessed written across his face.

Her heart dropped and she suddenly couldn't breathe, shaking in the small shift dress she had been given to wear. It covered the tops of her thighs, if only barely. She hadn't seriously expected to do time. Like, seriously, she was a rich white girl, they don't go to prison.

She squeezed her eyes shut and counted to three, just like her mother had always taught her to do when something scary happened. When you opened your eyes on three whatever scared you would be gone.

One.
Two.
Three.

Hours or days could have passed. Julia couldn't be sure of the time, as everything since the courtroom had been a numb haze. She knows she collapsed, and that guards carried her away to a different cell, this one a little gentler than the ones she had been held in pre-trial. The sheets were cool and pressed and reminded her of home.

Home

It sent a pang of electricity to her heart, a familiar experience now. She wouldn't be home for four more years. And she'd heard all the rumors about what doing time in the new experimental prison funded by Exoplan was like. The mega Corp employed gratuitous use of Virtual Reality and drugs to "enhance" sentences for prisoners. These enhancements could then be bought by whoever had the money. No permanent physical damage, but it will certainly feel like it. "Victims of Crime on the Internet Focus Prison" had been shown to reduce recidivism.

Belatedly, Julia realized she could feel her body being hooked into some sort of restraint system, with tubes and wires being attached all over her now nude body. She processed this all at the speed of molasses. Before she could say anything, a helmet was lowered down over her head, covering her face completely.

Just as her new world sprang to life around her, Julia finally grasped just how desperate her situation was. The shock physically hurt when she knew exactly who had engineered her punishment. He'd built it especially for her. There was an overly large bariatric bed, in fact, every thing in the little suite was comically oversized.

Arthur.