I can't appreciate pleasure unless every so often I feel real fear and real pain."As strange as Tiffany's logic might have sounded to someone who didn...t know her, Cecilia realized that what she was saying did make sense, given her past and her circumstances. The criminal's needs simply were a more extreme version of what Jason needed during the first couple of months she was disciplining him in her dorm room. Tiffany's punishments were much more ritualized and much more painful than anything. "What you were going to say?" The storeowner said. "Call it a gift.Speaking of gifts, I'm sure we can get you hooked up."Fingering the rack, he pulled out a purple outfit that went well with thenail polish she was wearing. "I am sure it will make your relationship withyour boyfriend different than it has ever been before. You needn't justchange your clothes, when you can change yourself as well." "How?" Jackie asked."You can latex your own body." The storeowner said. "I'll be a night in bed. By the time I regained my wits, the alley was empty. Climbing unsteadilyto my feet, I checked my phone was okay and headed off to find a ridehome. I must have had more to drink than I'd thought.When I woke in the morning, after a night filled with strange dreamsthat I couldn't quite piece together, there was no sign of a hangover.Just a sense that the world was somehow out of focus, as if I wereseeing it through a mist. But I felt no pangs of alarm, just a deeptranquility. I looked briefly at. They had no income tax, no property tax, and no import tax... No taxes at all! His mind reeled at the idea that every member of Centauri Federation was entitled to basic services and amenities, because they were considered a right. Basic housing was provided free. Education was free, well that made sense, because anything you wanted to know was just pumped into your head. Food was free. Then again, with replicator technology, why would anyone ever go hungry? Computer services were free, because.