Approaching Oblivion (Jezebel's Ladder Book 4) by Scott Rhine

sex with you again.”
    “I-I
wouldn’t say that.”
    “How
would you define it?”
    He
winced. Meekly, he said, “I tried to be nice to her. I fed her a few times. I
even let her shower and did her nails.”
    Mercy
whispered in Red’s ear. She in turn addressed the witness. “Speaking of nails,
who scratched the letter R into your side?”
    “Yvette.”
    “Why?”
    He
blinked several times. “You’d have to ask her.”
    “Why
did you let her?”
    “I
deserved the pain.”
    “Why?”
    He
tried to dam his mouth shut, but blurted, “Because I hurt her after she
escaped, so she wouldn’t warn Lou about the blinding. I bruised her mouth and
right arm. I’d let someone beat me a hundred times to make up for that.”
    “Judge,
let the record show admission to these charges as well, plus what he did to
you.”
    “He’s
somewhere in excess of thirty penal years already, but let’s focus on the rape
charge for now.”
    “It
wasn’t rape!” Toby insisted. “I wasn’t right in the head. I love her, and she
knows that. She loved me back. She’s the only one who does.”
    “How
do you know she loves you?”
    “We
pair-bonded. You can’t force someone to do that against their will.”
    “You
think she wanted to be with you for life in this twisted closet existence where
she only woke to meet your needs? Or, did she infect you with Ethics in an
effort to stop the abuse. In which scenario would she brand you with an R for
rapist?”
    Toby
doubled over in pain. “Somebody kill me,” he begged when he could talk again.
    “Proof
of both his imbalance and regret,” Zeiss said, returning to the bench.
    “Do
you wish to change your plea?” asked Lou.
    “Guilty,”
replied the defendant.
    “Accepted.”
    Before
Red could ask more questions, Zeiss prompted, “Sentencing, your honor?”
    “Evaluation
will come first,” Lou said. “We’ll confine him in the Olympus storage area to
sleep. It’s our only locked room. Dr. Baatjies, because of diminished capacity,
the exact sentence length and terms of your service will be withheld until you
are no longer a danger to yourself or others. Dr. Auckland, how long is that
likely to take?”
    “We’ll
try drugs one at a time, starting with the antidepressants, because once he
realizes what he’s done he’ll be suicidal. Each drug takes a minimum of two
weeks to ramp up in his system before we can tell and then about the same to
taper off. I can get him baseline functional with drugs in under a year. He
won’t freak out every time we jump if we monitor his meds, but long term Yvette
would need to help. He still needs rehabilitative counseling and help to
integrate the Ethics page.”
    “Until
Yvette agrees to and completes his treatment, Toby has no access to off-duty
women. He can only visit women on duty with their consent, and then only with
an armed third party present.”
    “This
is outrageous. How can we function as a colony like this?” the mayor
complained.
    “Better
than if Yvette and I had ended up dead,” Lou said. “Next we’ll address
reparations. Most of Yvette’s possessions were divided up when we thought she
was dead. Further, Yvette can’t serve until she has healed. By contrast, as a
doctor in high-risk zones, you will receive a luxurious allotment. To remedy
this inequity, the court suggests giving her half your earnings and belongings,
including insurance and death benefits.”
    Oleander
placed a computer pad in front of Toby with a financial legal document
displayed.
    “You’re
not going to kill me?” asked Toby, sounding disappointed.
    “We
can’t. You’re linked to someone we all love. If we killed you, she’d suffer.”
    “Will
she ever forgive me?”
    “She
might, eventually, if you demonstrate remorse and change. I won’t count on her
ever touching you again, though.”
    Toby
lowered his head. “I’m inextricably bound to the one woman in the world who
hates me.”
    “Oh,
I think we all do, Baatjies,” said