Trainingware Pt. 03

Diane gave me a slip of paper with Davey's Keycode, and after I read it aloud he went under right away. Then Diane helped me through the steps to become a frequent user, so I could just say "O-Mode" or "Deep O-Mode" to put him under, the way most parents do. She also had her homebrain register my authority to override Davey's personal privacy, so I'd be able to keep an eye on him with the monitor cameras when he was home. Finally, she took a few minutes reassuring me that I shouldn't be intimidated by Davey's greater physical strength because of the basic compulsion that made it impossible for anyone to use physical force against a frequent Keycode user. We ended up with Davey in normal O-Mode again, so he'd remember the things he heard.

"Now," Diane said, "I'm going to tell you what Davey did to me this morning that convinced me he needs discipline training right away!"

Her account was really raw! Davey learned Diane's Keycode illicitly, and used it to push up her Arousal rating and make her masturbate while he watched through the monitor cameras. That seemed like the closest thing to rape I could conceive of short of penetration! And after she caught him, she found out he was planning even more abusive things to do to her! Diane concluded her account by asking me to start Davey's training with the most severe one-day punishment in his training schedule for what he'd done to her. When I agreed Diane made David acknowledge he'd heard what was in store for him. Davey nodded, looking upset even in O-Mode.

Diane looked upset too. "I'm really in a hurry to get David out of the house and into training," she said. "When do you think you can start?"

Looking at Diane's anxious face, I realized that if I told her I could start right now, she'd hand Davey over to me without a second thought. I looked at Davey sitting there in his chair, tall and strong-looking, an attractive package of warm boy flesh, and I got a strong somatic feeling of what it would be like to be in charge of his discipline. It was exhilarating! But kind of frightening, too, since I really didn't know what I was doing yet.

Then I got a shock as I realized how selfishly I was reacting! I'd had lots of consensual BDSM Virtual Encounters, and that was fair, but there was nothing consensual about this! The plans I had for Davey weren't all that different from what Davey had wanted to do to Diane! We were both using Keycode control to do something mean to another person, overriding their will and causing mental anguish because we got turned on doing it. Of course I wanted to think that what I'd be doing really WAS different since Davey had been criminally anti-social when he abused Diane. I was going to correct his anti-social tendencies -- it was therapy!

But maybe I was just using that as an excuse to do what I wanted to do anyway! Thinking about it for a moment I decided the proper thing was to turn this job down if I couldn't convince myself that what I'd be doing was really for Davey's own good. Still, I didn't want to be hasty -- I'd take my time to understand what the training was supposed to accomplish. Anyway, my Bonded oath required me to learn more before I took charge of Davey.

"I need at least tonight and tomorrow morning to study the tutorial, Diane," I answered. Could you send him over tomorrow at eleven AM?"

"You can set up the compulsion yourself, Judy. You're in charge now!"

So I did! I created a compulsion for the first time, and Davey would be at my door at eleven on Sunday if he was physically able to get there.

-6-

As soon as I got home I stripped and took out my favorite peripheral, a Parted Roses IV. It only took me about a minute to reach my first orgasm picturing Davey's apprehensive expression when I met him in the kitchen. It was so Max that what made him anxious was knowing I'd be in charge of his discipline, and I ended with FOUR orgasms! A lot even for me!

When I was finished, I relaxed for a few minutes, then looked at my watch. It was four-thirty and Mom wouldn't be home until seven, so I sat down at my console and used the temporary access Diane had provided to access the Disciplinary Science tutorial overview.

The reward-avoidance training I was giving was just what I'd imagined from Diane's description, like some of the sex interactives I'd played on the BAD SOMA VirtSites, with much more serious pain and long-term sexual frustration. This form of training was the sexiest discipline mode there was, and I was a bit puzzled that it was permitted. It would obviously be a turn-on for some psychological agents unless there was a really tough entrance test to weed out anyone who got aroused that way. That would weed me out too of course, and then I could stop worrying about the morality of what I was doing.

But I kept reading and learned that the most valuable feature of reward- avoidance training was that it worked without causing trauma. Some Council AI's thought traumatic training could cause psychological problems in later life, but sexual domination was basically harmless. Any masochistic habits the subject picked up could be extinguished at the end of training with simple mental exercises. And the AIs didn't consider an agent getting aroused by controlling the subject to be a problem, as long as the training parameters were met. A certain amount of reciprocal arousal between subject and agent just improved the binding between them, and that was valuable in the reward area of the therapy. OK, that relieved one of my worries at least.

A lot of what was in the tutorial was technical stuff -- a prone positioner to constrain Davey while he was being whipped, settings for the Arousal mode, and for a high-tech paddle called a punishment wand. I went through the wand's functions and remembered something Diane had said about Davey buying one. It was pretty expensive nano-tech, so I phoned Diane and told her that to save money, Davey should bring the wand with him when he came to my house the next day. then I went back to studying the tutorial.

There were three phases to the training, and pain and sexual control were crucial during the first two phases. The basic idea was to keep a lot of tension by first intimidating the subject with whipping, then arousing the subject so much that he (or she) would actually be willing to accept more whipping to reach orgasm. Agents were enjoined to stay as unpredictable as possible, trying out new punishments frequently. Humiliation was an encouraged alternative to whipping -- the more sexually oriented the better -- assuming it could be carried out with enough force to make a lasting impression. I thought that wouldn't be too hard. I could question Davey in Deep O-Mode and find out what punishments he'd fantasized about. That was supposed to provide an extra erotic dimension, since he'd know he'd invented them himself. And if Davey's scenarios ran out after awhile, I had plenty of ideas of my own.

The tutorial had a monitor function to watch the session through my house cameras and warn me if I was doing anything wrong, and I was relieved to know I couldn't mistakenly do something that would harm Davey. The tutorial wasn't a real AI, it was just a little smarter than an ape, but of course it was an Expert and knew everything there was to know about discipline situations like this, including emergency medical treatment for unlikely emergencies. I'd also be able to connect an ear clip and have the tutorial tell more about Davey's reactions to the discipline, and a throat clip to ask questions.

I went through the tutorial at familiarization level and finished just as I heard the chime that said Mom was home. It was just after seven, so I went downstairs to the main kitchen, and Mom was already pulling some food out of the temporal and flashing it.

"Hi Judy!" Mom said cheerfully. "How about General Gao's chicken with balsamic rice and Aloo Paratha for Dinner? And maybe some NewFruit compote?"

"Sure, Mom." I took out plates and eating utensils to set the table. After about ninety seconds, we were both seated and starting to eat. We're pretty quick about meals in our house, so I knew I'd be able to get a lot of work in before I talked with Ms Fechtenbaum at eleven.

I told Mom I'd accepted a job from Mrs Carmody, and then there was a long, seemingly casual interchange, as Mom asked questions about what I was doing. I told her it was a training program for Davey Carmody, and that didn't cause more than a raised eyebrow, but when I mentioned that I'd have to turn on privacy while Davey was in my apartment, I knew this would be the crux. Mom wanted to know more details and when I said I'd given my Bond not to discuss it, I could see her getting worried. She knew some kinds of training had sexual elements, and I couldn't say sex wasn't involved, so it was some time before I found the right formula to calm her down.

Look," I said, "I can't talk about it, but I can say that I don't have to touch Davey Carmody at all while I'm training him."

There, that was true, and it didn't break my Bond -- I really wasn't required to touch him, but of course I could if I wanted to! And it was misleading in a useful way. I knew that when I said I didn't have to touch Davey, it pretty much covered the field as far as Mom was concerned. If she thought about my refusing to say sex wasn't involved after that, she'd probably conclude it was some attraction we both had outside of the training. She was already losing her concerned look.

"All right, Judy," Mom said. "I know you're a grown woman now, and I'm sorry if I seem to pry. Just promise me that if you ever start feeling bad about a Bond you take on -- or anything else! -- you'll come to me and tell me how you feel. I can get a Bond broken if it's bad for you."

"Thanks, Mom," I answered. "I can quit this job anytime I want, though, so I'll be fine. But I understand what you're saying, and I promise to come to you if I ever get into any kind of trouble."

I'd only promised this about a million times already, but I knew very well why she worried about me. I didn't mind reassuring Mom as much as she needed when I thought of all she'd done for me after she learned about my problem and divorced Caspar.

"Gotta go study, Mom," I said, and gave her a kiss, then went back to my room to study the details about phase one reward-avoidance training. I kept at it for more than three hours, until eleven o'clock, when it was time to call Ms Fechtenbaum.

The pretty woman who answered the phone and identified herself as Ms Fechtenbaum looked much younger than I'd expected! It struck me that the youthful appearance of a licensed psychological agent was one reason Diane thought it was reasonable to put a 19-year-old trainee in charge of Davey. I introduced myself, and Ms Fechtenbaum told me to call her Linda.

"So you want to be a psychological agent," she said. "Do you think this is going to be a career choice, or do you just want to do it for this one job?" She was addressing me like a mature colleague, so I tried hard to act the part.

"I'm really not sure yet what I ultimately want to do," I answered diplomatically, although I was actually quite sure I didn't want to make a career of this. "For now I'm just trying to do the job Mrs Carmody wants done, and I guess that means I need to apply to become a trainee."

"There's nothing easier," Linda said, and she did something on her keyboard to make a Form appear in split-screen. The Form listed the responsibilities I'd have, and things I was expected to do as an agent trainee. Everything looked simple and obvious as I glanced through it quickly. The Form clearly needed to talk to my school record, so I called that up and connected them. Then I had to use my Voluntatis palm plate to agree to my responsibilities. Two seconds after I was done I saw flashing words on the screen: "Application finalized: Judith Price accepted as psychological agent trainee," and then the date and a lot of boilerplate.

Linda was looking closely at the form. "Hmmm. VERY nice Maturity index. That's the main requirement in this field, of course, and I've never seen better ratings for someone your age." She nodded a few times, then looked up.

"So how can I help you? You should know I'm being paid for this consulting, double my usual rate for the time I spend advising you, and Diane Carmody asked me to tell you that it doesn't come out of your budget. I have the impression Diane is trying to economize a bit, but she'd certainly want you to get everything you need out of these conferences. Maybe you can just ask all the questions you have now, and then call me again when you have new ones."

"I'll do that, thank you! Uh, could you start by reassuring me that this is really the right thing to do for Davey? I know he did some awful things, but this training sounds like it's terribly hard on him, and I want to understand how it will benefit him."

"OK," Linda answered. "First of all, you have to understand that David has an extremely low Maturity index and high selfishness rating, nearly at the level that would trigger automatic involuntary conditioning. All his life he's been able to get his way by talking his Dad into things -- as Diane said, he's extremely manipulative."

"I -- I've heard that," I said, "So I have to be careful not to let him manipulate me."

"Not just that! What you need to do is perform a full exploration in Deep O-Mode at the beginning of every session of everything David's been thinking." Linda's voice was very forceful, but still friendly. "Remember, parents aren't supposed to pry into their children's private thoughts too much, but knowing everything is your job here! Make sure you're always aware of what he's really thinking. Once you understand his motivations and the way he rationalizes them, you won't be in any doubt about his need for this training. This is definitely for his own good. He's feeling more and more isolated from other people, and it's only going to get worse as he gets older, so he needs attention immediately." I nodded and resolved to learn David's motivations as soon as possible.

"Of course, he'll change during the training, and pretty soon he'll be more trustworthy, at least where you're concerned. If you follow the tutorial, in four or five weeks he'll be thinking about nothing but satisfying you that his behavior is acceptable. That doesn't mean he'll treat other people any better though, so you need to continue to progress through all the phases of the training. Have you been reading the tutorial?"

"Yes," I said. "I think I understand phase one pretty well, and I have some grasp of the others. Do I need to go deeply into phases two and three before I have my first session with Davey?"

"No. For the first few weeks, all you really need to do is follow the tutorial suggestions, or at least not stray too far from them. The end of phase one is a critical time, though -- it's extremely close to an extended traumatic experience, so you need to know what you're doing by then. The tough time you give David at the end of phase one is the only way to make him agree to extinguish core attitudes that make him so immature and selfish. And you've got to build up to that point by getting him in the habit of being reflexively obedient when you tell him to do something."

"Right," I answered, "That reminds me of something. Should I fix it so Davey can't talk, so he won't try to argue with me? He was that way this afternoon."

"No! You've got to be in charge! He'll think he's won a victory if you don't stand up to him on a personal level. Let him talk, but don't let him derail you from your agenda. Interrupt him, put him in the positioner, whip him, punish him in some other modality, whatever you have in mind to do next."

Linda paused for a moment in thought, and then went on, "In fact you should never use compulsion for things you can make him do by intimidation. Just tell him you don't want him to try to manipulate you, and after a few days he'll be much more tractable. But if he lies to you or misleads you, you should punish him immediately. He has to learn he can't get away with that."

I was getting erotic feelings again, listening to Linda's explanations.

"I read about punishment modalities," I said. "Why is embarrassment such an important aspect of the training?"

"It's a type of sexually charged punishment that's particularly effective with modest boys, who connect embarrassment with sex as soon as they start having erections in public. David is extremely modest for his age - - top tenth of a percentile. Bathroom discipline would probably be the most effective humiliation for him. Withholding permission to use the bathroom is extremely basic; it could qualify as a full punishment modality for subjects who connect bathroom discipline with sexual embarrassment as David does. Your tutorial won't let you make mistakes, so you don't need to worry about causing him damage by making him wait to urinate or defecate."

Diane considered for a moment. "Actually there's a sexual peripheral you can use that's smart enough to keep David out of risk at all times, even when he's not at your house where your monitor cameras can observe him. You'll want to punish David outdoors sometimes, to stay unpredictable."

"What peripheral is that?"

Linda brought up a purchase ad for something called the Hubba-2 on split- screen. She said it was only one-tenth the cost of the old Hubba-Hubba, but it still cost two-thirds of my trainingware budget. I was hesitant, but Linda assured me that a Hubba-2 was well worth the cost, and the rest of my budget would cover everything else I'd need, so I ordered one for delivery the next morning. Then Linda checked she still had David's positioner specifications, and asked if I had access to a Manufact. Mom has dozens of them modifying our house all the time, so I found one that wasn't too busy and put the Manufact socket up on the phone screen so Linda could send David's measurements.

We talked about the pain intensity settings on the punishment wand for awhile and how the sex-surge would add sexual tension to David's whippings.

"I'd suggest starting with a sex surge setting of forty," Linda said. "Then, if you set the pain intensity below forty, you could eventually bring him to orgasm by whipping him. But of course you know you're supposed to start off with a pain intensity of eighty and adjust it to his baby-response threshold with a child-level Pain Sensitivity, right?"

"Yes, I understand about that," I answered.

"So it won't come anywhere near giving him an orgasm during a whipping at that pain intensity." Linda was nodding as she spoke. "But it will make him feel the whipping is erotic at a deep level, so you can keep the tension up. He'll feel quite aroused at the end of each whipping round."

I was pretty red-faced by this time, lubricating freely, and I was afraid Linda might notice how aroused I was. I was right, too!

"You enjoy the idea of punishing David, Don't you Judy?" she suddenly asked. "It's erotic for you. Right?"

I must have looked stricken, because Linda laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to get you in trouble. There's nothing wrong with enjoying your work, although agents don't usually talk about it. Of course you can't let it sway you from giving appropriate therapeutic training. If you make the punishments too hard on David, you'll end up a candidate for involuntary discipline yourself!"

"I -- uh," I paused to take a breath, "I gave my Bonded oath that I'd provide proper therapeutic training for Davey," I answered. "And even if I hadn't, I'd never modify his training in a way that could hurt his therapy."

Linda smiled at me, "OK, I believe you. I saw your Conscientiousness level on your school record. That leaves you with a lot of freedom anyway, since you can do nearly anything you want that isn't physically or emotionally harmful, and if you get off on punishing boys you're going to be in heaven for the next six to eight months. Of course you know you can't fuck David, right? Not until phase three, anyway, and that's several months away!"