No Substitutions

In a near‑future society where traditional prisons have been replaced by immersive virtual worlds, the superintendent of Dreamland oversees a controversial program that consigns the most dangerous offenders to endless, tailor‑made fantasies. The job is grim: every night the warden sends a mind into a sensory movie that can last for years, keeping the inmate occupied while the real world is spared the threat. He has become accustomed to the sterile routine, the endless pills, and the quiet satisfaction of a system that promises humane confinement without execution.

When the stern Councilman Coleman arrives, the routine is shattered by a probing interview that forces the warden to defend the ethics of his work. Coleman questions whether the dream simulations truly serve rehabilitation or merely mask cruelty, and he introduces a new “free‑choice” model that could let prisoners shape their own imagined realities. The conversation ends with a cryptic warning: survive the next twenty‑four‑hour cycle, and you may awaken tomorrow—otherwise, the line between dream and reality may blur forever.