The sounds of the American West gave way to the protesting whine of the college's mainframe as it spun down the simulation. The endless prairie -or in some cases the dark, packed earth- became a lecture theatre. Slumped students sat up straighter in their seats, rubbing at migraines from the month-a-minute dilation.

"Not bad! Not bad! Only 20% of you died of dysentery that time. That's certainly an improvement," the history professor exclaimed. "Don't think I didn't notice some of you slipping on the first boat back to England. That is not in the spirit of the game. Remember that you're there to learn about the birth of our great nation."

Simon pushed the neural interface up to glance at the clock on the wall. The minute hand had barely moved! At the mention of the 'birth' of a nation, he scowled at the classmate seated beside him. "You're unbelievable. It's a ten-month simulation - just control yourself for the first two goddamn months so I can skip the childbirth."

"Maybe I would if you didn't wear that slutty bonnet around camp," Abigail replied. "You're meant to be a modest Christian woman. You dress like a wantish trull."

"Even for the 19th century, you're a pig," Simon sniffed prissily. He rubbed his flat chest, grateful that it was no longer so tender and full for this brief interlude. "Just my luck to get paired with fucking Johnny Humanseed. I'll make my own way next time. I'm taking the wagon. You can walk for all I care."

"You say that every time. We both know you'll do no such thing, girl," she cooed, roughly stroking his thigh. It was curious to think that they hadn't even known each other's names when they entered the lecture theatre an hour ago. Now they were bickering like the old married couple they'd become, multiple times over. "If you've learned one thing, it's that the frontier is no place for a lady alone. You'll stay by my side as my woman. You need a big, strong man like me to protect you."

He scoffed, slapping away her groping fingers. Being sent into the simulation stimulated guaranteed that he'd spend the entire dilated experience horny as hell. He suspected Abigail had realized this before he had, and used these brief respites in reality to tease him mercilessly, knowing it assured her a lusty, compliant wife.

"Who can blame me?" she asked. "How else is a man to spend 2,000 miles of open road with nothing to do except you?"

"Pack a book or something! My body is not your in-built entertainment system!"

The Virtual Reality mainframe had finished venting its glowing radiators. The professor looked up at the clock. "Not long until lunch break. Enough time for a few more spins around the sun. Now I want you to take everything you've learned about the 19th century and really apply it this time." he remarked. He was fiddling with the time dilation dial. "This time you're not going to know when it will end, so I want you to live your lives like they really matter."

Simon groaned as the device clamped around his skull, dragging his mind kicking and screaming back into the Oregon Trail.