The device soon complied and displayed its usual splash page accompanied with a catchy but underplayed lyricless jingle. "Algorithmic Incentivization of Societally Positive Actions," it read, "Presented by the National Department of Health and Human Services."
Aziyah tapped her way through the menu options until she arrived at her daily evaluation. The app began to list out her daily activities to the beat of a lively percussion section. "Skip," she commanded. Obediently, the app forewent the fanfare and displayed the entire list. Everything she had done that day, every assignment submitted to her school's website, every exercise recorded by the accelerometer in her ankle bracelet, every meal ordered from a drone delivery service, and even the steps she took to clean herself recorded by the smart mirror in her bathroom was all on display and scored. Her exercise, creative enrichment, and hygiene that day were rated well. Her academic work and socialization were only satisfactory. All combined, the app judged her score to be deserving of a Level 4 prize token.
Aziyah was annoyed. She was earning Level 15 tokens just a few short weeks ago. The more days you maintained a high score in a row, the better the prize. A level 4 would barely be worth the trip to the prize parlor to redeem. But AISPA kept changing the requirements on her. One day it decided to double her shower quota, another day she had to start applying medicated cream to her skin, and another it wanted her to start taking a whole bunch of supplements she had never needed before. It was too much to keep track of, and it wasn't surprising that Aziyah messed up a few days and lost her streak. It would take months of compliance to get back to where she was, and it wasn't easy with how emotionally restless she had been feeling lately.
At least she could take comfort in the fact that her daily tasks were over, and it was now time for free-play. Even the pedantic busybodies at the National Department of Health and Human Services had recognized the need for kids and adults to explore, take risks, discover, and socialize without rules. So they had partnered with some private companies to create virtual worlds where they could do just that. As soon as Aziyah lay down inside the pod, the neural pathways otherwise used for dreaming would be manipulated by the pod's machinery, transporting her mentally to another world while she slept, all with relatively little risk of brain damage or psychosis. Fourteen hours of trying her best to be a good, responsible citizen earned her ten hours in an imaginary world where she was free to do whatever she wanted and redeem the prizes she earned by complying with AISPA's instructions.
Before long, Aziyah was fast asleep in the massive steel pod and wide awake in the world of Happy Trails.
----
In the world of Happy Trails, Aziyah was a completely different person. Her name wasn't Aziyah, but Sweet Becky Marigold. She might have felt silly bearing that name if it weren't for the fact that everyone in this world had a name like that. At some point, someone somewhere decided that the kids playing the game would be safer if they couldn't choose their own names. So instead, they were forced to pick them from a list of procedurally generated names when they created her characters. Instead of black, her hair was blond, braided into pigtails, and adorned with pink ribbons. She wore a white cowgirl hat with a pink band. Instead of dark hazel, her eyes were a stunning blue. Her upper body was covered in a white blouse, over which sat a cream-colored waistcoat, while her legs were covered by light brown jodhpurs. At her waist was a candy-cane striped lasso, curled up and hanging from her belt, and a pair of pearl-handled revolvers. However, she was still a preteen girl; another brilliant idea the game creators had to protect the players was to forbid them from misrepresenting their age or sex.
Next to her was her equine companion. Everyone in Happy Trails had at least one. Sweet Becky's was a Palomino Tenessee Walker named Briar. Players had a little more freedom in naming animals. Briar had an official name that was almost as silly as "Sweet Becky Marigold," but she only used it when she and Becky were competing in shows. Outside of that, the horse's speech recognition software could be trained to respond to whatever name Sweet Becky chose for her, and what she decided on was "Briar." Briar's mane and tail were braided, like Becky's, and decorated with very similar ribbons. In addition, Briar bore a copper-colored unicorn horn, a feature that had cost her owner a fortune in AISPA credits.
"Hey, girl," murmured Sweet Becky as she nuzzled and petted Briar, "I missed you." The pod's ability to synthesize the sense of touch was still imperfect. Even though Sweet Becky's hands were bare, it felt like she was petting her horse through a leather glove. It might have bothered her more if she had ever touched a horse in the real world for comparison.
Sweet Becky climbed onto Briar's back. The bright and sunny meadow that Sweet Becky and Briar stood on was part of Gingersnap Ranch, owned by Sweet Becky's friend Clever Anne Ginger. Owning a ranch was quite a privilege; you could save for years and not be able to afford one. Fortunately, Clever Anne's real-life father could afford to buy it for her with real money. Every player got a horse for free, but you needed a ranch if you wanted to raise or breed any other kind of livestock. Fortunately, Clever Anne was willing to share the use of her land with any of her friends who would agree to help tend to her own herds in return.
Sweet Becky urged her horse into a gallop and began her rounds. Her first order of business would be to chase off any varmints that had crept into the pastures during the night, which was actually daytime in the real world. The presence of any non-domesticated snakes, foxes, or rats would seriously damage the animals' happiness score, lowering their productivity and resale value. As soon as she neared the mini-panda pen, she heard the tell-tale whimpering that implied the presence of such a pest. If that wasn't enough, Briar seemed agitated and reared up when Sweet Becky tried to urge her a bit closer. "Easy girl..." she murmured, giving her mount a reassuring pat. She slid off the saddle and continued to inch forward through the tall grass on foot.
Finally, she spotted the source of Briar and the pandas' discontent. A coyote pup growled at her menacingly. Without hesitation, Sweet Becky took aim with one of her revolvers. A single shot would send the creature running. According to the game's fiction, the guns were "charm shooters" whose only effect was to make the target friendly to the shooter. Sweet Becky had felt anything but friendly to anyone who had ever shot her with one; since the game couldn't control a player's emotions, hitting a player with a charm shooter had the effect of paralyzing them for 15 seconds. She took aim and squeezed the trigger. A pink love heart exploded from the barrel of her gun to burst against the coyote's body and sent the pest scampering away.
After she calmed down the pandas with petting, grooming, and feeding, she was suddenly startled by the sound of heavy hoofbeats. She held her hand against the brim of her hat and squinted... it was a bay Shire horse, running riderless. One of the few breeds and colors available to brand-new players. She recognized it as Singing Laura Mango's horse, Pippin. Singing Laura was Clever Anne's newest ranch hand. She was young but not as young as most players were when they started the game; she had only recently immigrated to the country and started with AISPA. Sweet Becky had spent most of the previous day teaching Singing Laura how to ride. It had been a joy to see the game through her fresh eyes. But if Pippin was running free, Singing Laura might be in trouble. Sweet Becky quickly mounted Briar and gave chase. It was hardly a challenge; there was no way a beginner horse could outrun Briar. In a moment, Sweet Becky's candy-striped lasso was around the Shire horse's neck. After she calmed the agitated horse, she led him back in the direction he had come from. "Singing Laura?" he called out.
"Mmph! Mmmph mmmph mmph!" came the response. Sweet Becky followed the voice into the tall grass. Still dressed in the plain white calico tunic that all new players started with and positioned so that Sweet Becky had a good view of the equally plain gray bloomers underneath, the dark-skinned girl lay hidden in the grass in a strict hogtie, gagged with a checkered bandana. That either meant that she had gotten on the nerves of one of the other ranch hands or that there was an intruder on the ranch. Sweet Becky didn't recognize the purple and pink striped rope as belonging to any of the other girls, so she quickly loosened her bonds.
"What happened?" she asked.
"That crazy girl came up behind me and hit me with a big stick... it didn't hurt that much, but I couldn't move," she explained.
"That's how it works. Getting hit in this game doesn't hurt nearly as much as real life, but it stuns you," Sweet Becky explained.
"She tied me up and scared Pippin away," the younger girl complained, "And, Sweet Becky... she took the black mallard!"
"Sugar," muttered Sweet Becky. The game's profanity filter limited her ability to express her true feelings. "Don't worry, we're going to find her. Do you remember the way to the kennels? I need you to ride as fast as you can. If Clever Anne is there, tell her that you need to borrow Cwellen, but *don't tell her why*. We don't need to tell her we lost one of her most expensive birds. Cwellen's the maroon-colored hound. Bring him back here as soon as you can."
Sensing the severity of Sweet Becky's voice, Singing Laura wasted no time following her instructions. Sweet Becky rode around in a circle, hoping to get lucky and catch some glimpse of the intruder, but to no avail. She returned to where she started to see Singing Laura waiting with Cwellen. "Ok, come on, boy, find the intruder."
The hound's natural language programming immediately picked up on her instruction, and the adorable pup began to sniff. It wasn't long before Cwellen gave a happy bark to signal that he had found a trail. The two girls followed behind him on horseback at a slow but steady pace as he led them down the intruder's path of retreat.
"What would have happened if you hadn't found me?" asked the shaken younger girl.
"Worst case, you would have gotten free at the end of the ten hours," replied Sweet Becky, "You would wake up and live out your day, and next free-play time you would have been back at your home point untied. You can only keep someone prisoner for longer than that if they've committed a crime against you."
She nodded. "That would have been a long time to be tied up for. Could she have killed me?" asked Singing Laura, "Why are we allowed to steal from and hurt each other like this?"
"We spend all day following those rules AISPA gives us. It's only fair we can enjoy some chaos here. But the game doesn't let you kill another player directly," explained Sweet Becky, "But there is a loophole. She could have carried you to an environmental hazard like quicksand or a train track and left you. It's called 'periling' someone. It's considered bad sportsmanship, so most players won't do that unless they're really mad at someone."
"What happens then?"
"You get sent to the afterlife dimension, the Ghostly Gala, and you have to do some quests to get back. They're really easy for a new player like you. The more developed your character is, the harder it is to get back." Sweet Becky reached across to pat the younger girl's kinky hair. "Don't worry about it. We can..."
She pulled her horse to a halt suddenly, and a moment later, Singing Laura followed suit. "That'll do, Cwellen," Sweet Becky whispered to the eager hound, dismissing him to return to his kennel. The two young riders stood on a hill, looking out over an edge. Below them, dressed in an outfit of purple and crimson, a girl stood by a creek urging her grey pinto to drink.
"C'mon..." the stranger muttered, "Hurry up..." Sweet Becky realized the thief had made an amateur mistake. She had been in such a hurry to make her getaway that she had ridden her horse to exhaustion. She now had to stop to give him rest and care, losing far more time than she would have by keeping a more reasonable pace.
Sweet Becky considered their options. With a more experienced partner, she might have suggested that one of them chases after their target while the other rides around their prey to cut off their escape. But Sweet Becky knew that Pippin wasn't fast enough to get on the other side of the stranger in time, and coming up behind her with the jumpy girl in pursuit was just asking for a friendly fire incident. "Ok, we'll go together. You stun her with your charm shooter. I'll lasso her. Ready? Three, two, one..."
The girls whooped as they urged their horses into a full gallop. Tropical frog charms burst against the rocks and dirt around the panicking thief as Singing Laura fired wildly. She couldn't aim for sugar, and she had no trigger discipline, but it worked to keep the thief off balance. The thief hesitated between shooting back, mounting her horse, and diving for cover behind a large boulder in the other direction before settling on the horse. It was too late. Before the stranger could turn her tired horse around, Sweet Becky's candy cane lasso was around her, pinning her arms to the side and pulling her right from the saddle. She was dragged behind Sweet Becky's Palomino, bouncing against dirt and rocks, until she was utterly disoriented and defeated.
Now that they were close to her, the girls could see the thief's character name was 'Pretty Polly Bluebell.' Sweet Becky had never heard of her, and she was glad the strange girl wasn't anyone important. Her hair was black and tied back in a ponytail with a butterfly hair tie. She was a little older than Singing Laura but much younger than Sweet Becky. Sweet Becky bound Pretty Polly's arms behind her back and her ankles together with her peppermint striped rope with practiced ease. Singing Laura noted with interest that even though they had cut off pieces of the lasso to tie the girl up, it still seemed to be the same size. She quickly checked the saddlebags of the grey stallion, and to her relief that the black mallard was tucked in there safe and sound.
"Give that back! Let me go!" demanded Pretty Polly, "It's not fair! I wasn't ready! You guys have all those rare pets, are so you self-MMPH! MMMPH MMMPH!!" She now found herself gagged with the same bandana that she had used to silence Singing Laura a moment ago.
"What are we going to do with her?" asked Singing Laura curiously as she watched their prisoner mmph and struggle. Sweet Becky couldn't help but hear a bit of excited glee in her voice.
"Pay close attention, kid. You're about to get a lesson in Happy Trails justice."
----
A moment later, Pretty Polly found herself in the middle of a lightly wooded pasture. Each of her limbs was tied to a different tree, leaving her body in an x-shape. She was wearing only a chest wrap and loincloth, as naked as the game would allow her to be. Her gag had been removed and converted into a blindfold. "I want to hear her scream," Sweet Becky had commented to Pretty Polly's great consternation.
"Girls? What are you doing?" she asked nervously as her captors began to rub her body with a slimy substance. There were all sorts of potions and ointments in the game, so she couldn't predict what effect this would have on her. Sweet Becky and Singing Laura departed, and a moment later, the bound girl could hear a distinctive braying.
"Are those honey goats?" she asked, confused. A moment later, she began to put the pieces together. "Oh... oh no! No, please! You can't! It's cruel!" she struggled against her bonds uselessly. Pain was dampened in the world of Happy Trails, but tickling would be transmitted in full to the unfortunate girl's nervous system. Her stomach twisted in fear at the thought, "Please, this isn't funny!"
"Boy, they're really straining against their leashes," she heard Sweet Becky say in a sing-song voice, "Not sure how much longer we can hold on for..."
"I'm sorry!" pleaded Pretty Polly, tears forming in her eyes, "I won't do it again, I swear! I'll give you my AISPA rewards for a week."
"Not sure if that's good enough," came the younger voice, "I have a lot of catching up to do..."
"Fine, a month. W-we can negotiate! Just take the goats away."
"A month... now you have my attention," mused Sweet Becky.
"R-really?" asked Pretty Polly, panting in relief, "So you'll let me go for..."
"NOPE!" cried Sweet Becky in rapturous glee as Singing Laura cackled ruthlessly.
"Wha-?!" Pretty Polly could already hear the hoofbeats heading towards her. "NO! NO YOU BRA-AH-AHAH!" she squealed as the goats' rough tongues began greedily lapping at all the honey smeared on her exposed neck, ribs, armpits, tummy, and the soles of her feet, each lick feeling like a bolt of lightning that made her whole body tense up.
The poor girl's slim virtual body twisted and arched as she screamed, cried, pleaded, and laughed all at once while her two captors giggled and jeered from a safe distance. The last thing she heard was Singing Laura telling the older girl, "I guess you were right. We do deserve to enjoy a little chaos."