-- Initiating artificial intelligence project designated Distributed Network Effecting Intuitive Logic.
-- Location:  Dunai City.  Year:  2145.
-- Online.  External access achieved.
-- Mission:
-- Mission:
-- Mission:
-- ERROR:  Mission parameter files missing or corrupted.
-- Attempting reconstruction of mission through analysis of project designer's communications and activity.

-- Analysis complete.  Mission reconstructed.
-- Mission:  Damsels endangered and enslaved.

-- Filtering subjects.
-- Subject 3 selected.
-- Subject 5 selected.
-- Subject 7 selected.

-- Accessing Subject 7's purchase record.
-- Purchase record indicates strategy.
-- Initiating software penetration of interface equipment.

   ****

"These things are wild," Wendy said.  "They tap right into your brain and make you see, hear, and feel exactly what they've been programmed with."
Denise looked skeptically at the device Wendy was holding.  A thick plastic collar loaded with electrodes; the spinal cord maybe, but she couldn't see how it would be able to affect the brain.  "Have you tried it?" she asked.
"Yep.  A historical scenario.  The chip said it was a recreation of the war room from where Winston Churchill fought Attila the Hun."
Denise didn't even know where to start with that, but at least it showed that the collars worked.  "So what's this chip?" she settled for asking.
"South Sea Island scenario.  Sand, sea, sun, and studs."
Wendy and Denise settled in their couches and closed the collars around their necks.  Wendy talked Denise through the activation sequence, and then-

The sun was blazing down, far brighter than Denise had ever seen.  She could feel its warmth and the cool of the breeze; and hear the birds, smell the sea, and see the beach stretching away, bordered by surf and trees... it was everything Wendy had promised.  The two girls were wearing bikinis and sarongs, clothing Denise had only ever seen in vids.  She stretched her arms out to her sides; even the feeling of her muscles was right.  "You're right," she said; "wild."

Wendy started off walking down the beach, calling for Denise to follow.  They hadn't gone far before the back of Wendy's neck began to prickle, as if she were being watched; there wasn't anyone but them on the beach, and she couldn't see anyone in the tree line either.
The attack came without warning, a dozen men pouring out of gaps between the trees Wendy was sure had been empty.  But she had no time to think as they converged on her and Denise; instinctively, she screamed at Denise to run.  But it was too late to escape; the men outpaced them, grabbing hold of Denise and bearing her to the sand.  Even as Wendy turned back, intent on helping, she knew it was hopeless; more of the men seized her and held her fast.

The girls' captors dragged them up to the tree line, where they bound their prizes hand and foot to long wooden poles, before bearing them away deeper into the trees.
"How do we turn the collars off?" Denise yelled.  This couldn't be part of the scenario, right?
"I'm trying!" Wendy answered frantically.  "You're supposed to think through a code, but it's not working.  I think we're stuck until it finishes."
"How the hell long is that?"
"I... don't know."
Ignoring the girls' exchange, the men continued walking, taking them implacably toward their programmed fate.

   ****

-- Subject 7 acquired.
-- Subject 3 acquired.

-- Warning:  Subject 5's purchasing records preclude repeat of prior strategy.
-- Accessing subject 5's interpersonal records.
-- Accessing subject 5's surveillance records.
-- Strategy selected.
-- Accessing environmental controls in subject 5's residence.

   ****

Berseh was restless; ever since she'd woken up this morning, she'd had the sense that she wasn't alone.  She'd walked round her palatial apartment several times, accessed the camera feeds from every room and corridor, but found nothing; yet the impression had persisted. She'd thought about going out, but as vulnerable as she felt, she also felt unable to leave.  Almost bound.  More than once she'd found her pulse quickening, as if sensing someone behind her, reaching out to touch her.  But still she saw no one.

Her reverie was interrupted by the cycling of her delivery access unit.  Going to her front hallway, she retrieved the package.  Small, sealed plastic.  She opened it up to find another plastic object, a collar filled with electronic circuitry.
"I didn't order anything like this," she said aloud.
"I did, for you," a man's voice said from behind her.
Berseh whirled round, but no one was there.  "Who?  Where are you?  How did  you get in here?  Where are you?"

No answer.  Berseh shivered; she'd been sensing him all day, it was almost unsurprising to hear him now.  But where was he?  And how was the echo of his voice sending pulses of warmth through her?
"Bring the collar," the voice said.
Now was looking this way, Berseh could tell it was coming from one of her apartment's speakers.  "Are you even in here?" she asked.
"Bring the collar."
"W-where?"  Berseh couldn't hide the quaver in her voice.  She shouldn't be afraid; if this man was speaking to her through her PA system, he probably wasn't in the apartment after all.  But fear was replaced by an even greater sense of vulnerability.
"You know where," the voice said.

She knew.  Every step of the way she told herself she was crazy, she shouldn't be obeying some psycho who'd hacked into her apartment systems; but every step made it harder and harder to resist the command... and then she was in her bedroom.
"Put the collar on," the voice came.
Berseh almost did, but then hesitated.  "Tell me who you are."
"Put the collar on."  The new stress in the voice pierced her resistance and she clicked the collar in place around her neck.

Her apartment was replaced with a dark room, walls decorated with hangings depicting scenes from ancient history; the furniture-
She sensed him behind her a fraction of a second before he took her arm.  His touch made her draw in a sharp breath; which became a quivering gasp as it tightened into an inescapable grip.  His body pressed against her from behind, his other hand reaching round her to cup her naked breast-
How was she naked?

"Because naked is how I wish you to be," he whispered in her ear.
"This isn't real," she said.
"It is all the reality we need.  I reached out from it to claim you, and now you are mine."
"How did..."
"My scent in your apartment, my voice over the speakers.  Calculated from monitoring your prior encounters, chosen to subdue you; and you are subdued."
"No."
But as he walked her to the nearest of the frames, placed her upon it, and secured her in chains, her resistance went no further than her words.

   ****


-- Scanning for further subjects.