Crime and Punishment

Slavery had another more subtle benefit however. Since crime was rare, the number of women serving as slaves was small. Slaves were therefore rare, and like most rare things, highly valued and coveted. In effect owning slaves conferred significant social status on the owner. Slaves were in effect the Ferrari's, Lear Jets, and 100-foot yachts of the 23^rd century and the competition to own them fierce not to mention expensive. As a result, slaves were almost exclusively owned by the most elite and wealthy members of society bringing the New Social Contract full circle and highlighting its consequences as well as its benefits to all.

The designers of the Servitude Laws and the New Social Contract were not content however with mere external influences such as social status and punishment to maintain the order. These had too often failed in the past, and despite the prevailing prosperity of the times, wealth and status were always relative things. As such, built-in internal mechanisms were required to reinforce these external controls. Once again, a bit of genetic tinkering provided the solution. Although the Decision had left women with unparallel personal power and confidence, these were checked by the usual cultural and sexual inhibitions euphemistically labeled the contrary virtues. Modesty, chastity, and humility were now hardwired. Although women remained sexually confident and free to choose their partners, marry or divorce at will, and otherwise engage in all forms of sexual behavior, whether singly, in pairs, or even in small groups, inhibitions that dampened immodest behavior were now genetically hardwired so as to reflexively reinforce the chosen societal norms and morality. Sexual activity therefore continued to be exclusively a private matter between consenting adults and conducted behind closed doors. Public nudity or sexual displays as well as pornography remained largely illegal and socially taboo.

The purpose of this tinkering (known as the Venkatesan Modification) however was not merely to control the public morals but to leverage these inhibitions as internal controls against discontent whether public or private. As such, this genetic hardwiring was accompanied by a predisposition towards making these taboo activities sexually stimulating. Thus for example, thoughts of appearing nude in public although personally frightening and humiliating were nonetheless accompanied by a small but nevertheless real thrill of sexual excitement that could be felt both physically and emotionally. The result was that a sub-conscious tension was established within the mind of each woman with regards to such anti-social behavior. This tension was then exploited towards the larger purpose of acting as an internal deterrent towards all types of misbehavior, by using the external act of public humiliation as part of the punishment proscribed for criminal activity within the Servitude Laws. Each woman was well aware of this tension both subconsciously and consciously. At the subconscious level fear and dread served to check desire and ambition. Consciously each woman knew the awful public degradation that awaited her if she chose to break society's rules in pursuit of personal gain. None could ever forget witnessing her first public humiliation.

Mandated by law as part of the civics' curriculum, all late-teenage school girls were required to attend at least one public punishment. There they witnessed the terrible spectacle of a convicted criminal being dragged into a public square, stripped naked, and exposed to public ridicule and physical punishment. The latter often consisting of spankings, whippings, and personal violations of both her body and her dignity. The result was to consciously reinforce the built-in mechanisms of the Venkatesan Modification. As such, each woman contained within her mind a self-reinforcing inhibition towards misbehavior. This internal check insured obedience to law and order (and most importantly the status quo) independent of external devices or controls. For the price of retaining a few sexual taboos and some outdated morality, peace and prosperity could now be guaranteed to all. Such is the material from which utopias and other golden cages are built. But cages work both ways.

With the New Social Contract in place, peace, prosperity and personal freedom guaranteed to all, and a new order of social elites firmly entrenched, the 24^th century ushered in the first near utopian world in human history. Those who disagree are few in number and chiefly composed of society's outcasts and malcontents. They are rightly ignored. However there are others, albeit few in number, but nonetheless witnesses to the realities of this utopia, and their disagreement cannot be so easily dismissed. For they have experienced first hand both its wonders and its horrors and both are paradoxically yet unsurprisingly found in the same place. It is there that this near-perfect world is ruled with a cunning and subtle yet iron fist by an elite group of ruthless, fabulously wealthy, and equally powerful women determined to maintain and extend their control.

For the unfortunate few who witness and experience this first hand, life is a harsh contradiction where near-naked slaves live side by side with the fabulously rich and powerful; where manual labor coexists with interplanetary transports bearing untold wealth; where goods are casually dispensed and friendships even more casually betrayed; and where amorality is valued even more highly than the most precious metals or rare gems. To these few, under the ever watchful eye of a jealous and powerful elite, tormented by this spectacle of waste and moral poverty, there are disquieting and unanswered questions...
Chapter 1: Crime

Guilty! The words struck Erin like a thunderbolt leaving her in a daze. Time seemed to pause and the courtroom around her receded into the clear fog of unreality. Erin watched with detached interest as the legal drama continued to unfold in slow motion around her, like some awful overly exaggerated and contrived story on a low-budget vid. Clearly this can't be happening she thought, surprised by her lucid and suddenly unemotional calm. In the expanded moment, Erin thought back to the unbelievable and still confusing, set of events that had brought her to where she now stood.

A short month ago, she had been sitting in her office at World Life, one of the largest insurance companies on earth, when her executive assistant, Lisa, had flashed a virtual persona with a message into her office. Two officers from the world Financial Investigative Services were in the outer office asking to see her.

Surprised, Erin inquired, "FIS? Did they say what they want?"

Inquiries from the FIS were not unusual, since they performed routine auditing. However, audits were almost always arranged in advance. Surprise visits were uncommon. Lisa's persona looked at her with the casual innocence she found so endearing, and blinked. "No they didn't. But they seem very insistent on seeing you immediately."

"OK," replied Erin, "Send them in."

Two women, dressed in standard FIS gray walked in. "Erin Brooke?" asked the first.

"Yes," replied Erin. "How can I help you?"

"I am agent Sims and this is agent Estrada," replied the first woman. "We are here to inform you that a formal inquiry has been opened regarding World's account with Custom Genetics. Since you are the account manager, we would like to ask you some questions."

Erin was a senior vice president at World and handled several of the insurance company's largest and most important accounts. Of these, Custom Genetics was perhaps the most significant due to the company's size and influence. Erin had started at World four years ago, after graduating college, as an executive assistant and worked her way up, earning an MBA along the way. She was considered at twenty-six, a rising star at the company.

Taken aback, Erin said, "Inquiry? I don't understand, please explain."

"Can we sit down?" asked agent Estrada. "This may take a few minutes"

"Of course" replied Erin standing up and motioning the federal agents towards two plush red leather chairs. The FIS officers sat down and looked at Erin impassively. Erin blushed and said "Can I offer you anything? Coffee, tea?"

"No thanks" said agent Estrada answering for both of them.

Both agents resumed their patient silence waiting for Erin. Erin blushed again and brushed a strand of her straight raven black hair from in front of her green eyes and moved to sit down, smoothing her tight skirt against the generous hips of her hourglass figure, as she did so. "How may I help you?" she asked.

Agent Estrada spoke again saying, "One of our junior auditors discovered an anomaly during a routine audit at Custom Genetics about a month ago."

"Anomaly?" asked Erin, folding her arms over her large full breasts.

"Yes," responded Agent Estrada. "It seems that a sub-persona of our auditor found a small variance in the hyper-derivative of a Toplitz exchange referring to a credit transfer made approximately one year ago. Normally, she wouldn't have investigated, since the variance was within normal bounds. However we had received an anonymous tip a week before detailing a newly discovered fraud virus that leaves this kind of signature."

"Anonymous tip?" questioned Erin. "This is very unusual. We usually receive notices on fraud viruses from the standard reporting authorities. I am not aware of any such virus in the daily releases."

"That's correct." Agent Sims replied. "We were skeptical and so did not report this information until we had a chance to confirm the accuracy of the report."

"You must understand," added Agent Estrada, "that we receive hundreds of such reports a week, although they are usually not given anonymously. We do not release such reports unless we can confirm the information. In most cases, the reporters send sufficient information to make confirmation trivial. However, as a matter of policy and practice release of such reports without confirmation could lead to a substantial volume of false alarms and cause companies such as World to waste significant time and effort."

"In the worse case" added Sims "companies and individuals might start ignoring legitimate postings, with disastrous long term results."

Yes thought Erin, this made sense. Even in the 24^th century teenagers and other mischievous persons were always trying to play a prank, gain publicity, or just plain disrupt the system. Some things would never change.

"So I take it you found out the report was true?" said Erin.

"Yes," replied Estrada. "We traced the transaction and found that, what appeared to be a 20 million loss, was actually a diverted deposit."

"Diverted?" asked Erin confused. "Diverted to where? What was the source of the 20 million?"

"Well" responded Sims, "The 20 million originated as an investment transfer from your office as part of a routine security roll over. We haven't found the destination yet. But we are working on it."

"How come Custom Genetics did not report this directly to us?" inquired Erin.

"We asked them not to" replied Sims. "We suspect criminal fraud and conspiracy and told them we would report the matter to you as part of our inquiry."

"You mean that you suspect someone inside World Life committed fraud?" asked Erin astounded. She had never heard of something like this happening at the company.

"No" stated Sims. "Until we can track to the destination of the funds, and determine there is truly a problem, we don't want to make any accusations. However we would like your cooperation since you are the account manager."

"Certainly" replied Erin. "You will have our full cooperation. If you can supply Lisa, my assistant, with the details, she will render any assistance you require. Is it alright if we investigate from our end also?"

"We can't stop you, of course," replied Estrada. "However, since this is a formal investigation, do not remove or destroy any records until we are done."

"Of course," replied Erin.

"OK then," said Sims as both agents rose. "We'll be in touch. Hopefully we can resolve this in a few days."

After the agents left, Erin asked Lisa to assemble the records for the Custom Genetic account and come into her office. She also informed her superior, Ellen Jackson, of the visit by the FIS agents.

"Start looking into this immediately and keep me informed" said Ellen.

"Already started; I'll let you know as soon as we find anything" said Erin.

****************************

Sitting in her office a few hours later with Lisa, had left Erin more confused than ever. Worse, Erin was becoming concerned. They had been going through the transaction records for Custom Genetics during the period identified by the FIS agents trying to trace the funds in question. Lisa had found the initial transaction almost immediately. Some short-term investment bonds had matured and Erin had decided to transfer the funds to a slightly longer-term instrument, due to a slight rise in interest rates. The initial step in this process required transferring the 20 million to a Canadian bank. From there it should have been invested in the new securities when they became available within a few days. Instead, it appeared that the funds went into a rather high-risk short-term derivative where the principal was lost. From there the trail went cold.

Although 20 million was not a significant amount of money for a company the size of Custom Genetics (their stock value varied by at least an order of magnitude more each day), it still represented a considerable sum, especially from an individual point of view. Most women could easily retire and live very comfortably on such a sum.

Worse from Erin's perspective, her digital signature appeared on both transactions, essentially authorizing the transfer. "Lisa, are you sure you remember my transfer of authorization allowing you to make the purchase?" asked Erin.

"I think so," replied Lisa. "I believe you were busy that day and so was I. My personal log shows that we were in the middle of the proposal for the General Fission account at the time."

Erin's own log showed the same results. The proposal had been extremely important since General Fission was World's biggest client. Everybody had been busy. Great thought Erin, this made things even more difficult.

It was late and both women were tired. Lisa looked over at Erin and said "Don't worry, I'm sure it all has a simple explanation and will work itself out. You look tired Erin. What do you say we go and get some dinner?"

Erin wasn't as confident as Lisa about the final outcome, but she was tired. It had been a long frustrating day. "Yes, I suppose your right" she replied. "Close up and lets go, I'm getting hungry too."

*****

Lisa and Erin had more than a working relationship. Lisa had become Erin's executive assistant 18 months ago when Carol, her current assistant, had left to return to school. Carol still worked at World, but only part time, and this was insufficient for someone as busy as Erin. Lisa was 24 years old and two years out of college. She was a petite blond woman with full breasts and narrow hips. Lisa was also a very caring person and took an interest from the beginning in taking care of Erin. She was always bringing her coffee, reminding her of personal appointments, and so on. For her part, Erin could not help notice the attentiveness of her pretty young assistant. Eventually a combination of long work hours and a few shared confidences led to the inevitable office romance. About two months ago, Erin had asked Lisa to marry her in the spring, and she had accepted. The engagement ring on Lisa's index finger testified to their impending wedding. Although such office romances were quite common, their particular situation was highly unusual. This was chiefly due to Erin's age.

At twenty-six Erin was both accomplished and stunningly beautiful. This in a society where to be average was to be smart and where even the ugliest were good looking. The fact that two young women working closely together should become romantically involved was quite ordinary and in many ways expected. What was unusual was that Erin should choose a younger partner. Marriage did not have quite the same meaning or duration as it had in the ancient past. In fact, the institution had become simultaneously more complex and fluid (although its primary purpose of creating recognized heirs for the passing of property remained). As might be expected, women still married for all the usual reasons: economic stability, emotional support and companionship, and, of course, to have children. However stability, companionship, and childrearing had all taken on subtler and more intricate meanings within the institution. In general, most women now married twice in their lives, once when they were young (typically a few years out of college) and once when they were older (and near the zenith of their careers).

In her first marriage a young woman married a (significantly) older woman. Both women made a contribution of genetic material at a local WCGRM reproduction center, and (typically) raised a single child. The marriage, in general, lasted until the daughter entered a full-time boarding school, usually around age 12. In the intervening dozen or so years the older women acted as the economic provider as well as a life and career mentor to her younger partner (and to a lesser extent their offspring). This provided the younger woman an opportunity to be a mother without sacrificing her career goals. After the dissolution of the marriage both women would be free to go their separate ways. Of course, couples still shared the common bond of their daughter and most continued, at a minimum, a cordial and lasting relationship throughout the remainder of their lives.

Later in life and in the prime of her career, a woman would marry again for a second time. This time she would choose a younger partner and act as her provider, mentor, and coach. The second marriage afforded an opportunity to have a second child without the hassles of motherhood or interruption to career. In simpler and more practical terms every woman got the chance to be a mother and to learn from an older, more experienced woman. Later, she returned the favor by helping another younger woman just starting out. Although there was no official obligation to follow this pattern of marriage and remarriage, the vast majority of women by and large followed this model for practical and economic reasons.

It is from this perspective Erin's and Lisa's marriage was highly unusual. Ordinarily both women would have chosen older, more experienced partners or, alternatively, simply moved in together as lovers. Marrying someone so close in age provided no practical advantage and went counter to the established purposes of the institution itself. In effect both women were making a binding commitment while being unable to take full advantage of its benefits.

However Erin was an unusual person. At almost 27, she was more accomplished than most her age and finally ready to tackle her first major relationship (or so she thought). It was the latter point over which she fretted though. Career-wise she was years ahead of her peers; relationship-wise she was very tardy. Embarrassingly tardy in fact; for Erin was still a virgin, something that was also highly unusual for a woman her age. This is not to say that she was socially backward or awkward or even that she was not attracted physically to other women. Rather she had simply prioritized her life differently than most (or so she rationalized). Education and career had necessarily come first, even if it meant certain 'sacrifices'. Erin was known to be single minded and stubborn to the point of obsession when it came to achieving the goals she set for herself. And she had been exceptionally dogged in the pursuit of her career objectives. Now that she had achieved success in this area, it was time to work on her personal life.