Chapter 1

"So, you are Elisha Chambers?"

The frightened girl standing in front of him nodded, biting her lip.

"You were arrested at 1:15 this morning for disorderly conduct."

She nodded again.

"Answer me, girl, don't just nod."

"Yes sir. I was arrested last night, not sure of the time."

"The time is rather significant, girl," said Sergeant Charles Mansell. "Are you aware that the new optional CP laws came into force at midnight last night?"

The lovely blonde girl shook her head, and muttered, "Not really sir. I mean, I have heard of the new law but didn't know when it was coming in."

"It means because you were arrested after midnight that you qualify under the new laws."

"I see." Actually it was pretty obvious she had no real idea what he was talking about, which pleased him. He was looking forward to explaining everything to her. In detail! He opened his notepad and picked up a pen.

"Okay, let's get some details down. You are nineteen years old?"

"Yes sir," she said, struggling to remain composed.

"Any previous offences?"

"No, sir," she stammered.

"Excellent. So you do qualify then, the CP option is only available for first offenders under twenty five years of age. So that means you are the first offender to be offered the option since we had the machine installed. Want me to explain what is involved?"

"Yes please sir." Her face was pale, her voice shaky.

The sergeant briefly explained the background to the new law, but as he did so he reflected on the whole sorry saga. How it had taken many years for people to begin to realise that the 'modern' way of raising children was not proving a success. The evidence was all around, graffiti on walls and street signs, drunken rampages every night as youths spilled out of pubs urinating and vomiting in the streets, girls staggering around drunk in skirts that exposed their panties when they fell down. And the general public was offended when they read in the newspapers reports of magistrates sentencing such offenders to short bouts of community service or even being given suspended sentences that left the offenders and their friends believing they had been let off scot free.

Even so, it was not obvious what could be done to restore sanity and impose decent standards on the young people. Everyone seemed to agree that fathers could not be trusted to administer a spanking without getting sexually aroused and far too often taking advantage of the one being disciplined. And even the idea of court administered corporal punishment was fraught with problems, as demonstrated by the few countries in the world which still practiced such discipline. How could you ensure a sentence of a couple of dozen strokes with a cane was administered equally to each culprit? And how could you ensure that male and female judges awarded equal doses of corporal punishment without their personal views biasing the sentence?

But at least the debate had started, and once people were talking about it the topic quickly became main-stream. Several political parties adopted the issue as part of their platform, although none was able to frame a coherent and viable way of reintroducing old fashioned discipline into either the family or the courts. A referendum was held drawing enough votes to result in a Proposition being placed on the agenda for the next election.

Even then the reform would probably not have been approved had not a spectacular new development been announced just weeks before the vote. In front of a crowded news conference, an inventor demonstrated a computer controlled spanking machine!

The television and newspapers were full of pictures of the machine being demonstrated with a heavy leather strap, then with a cane, on a realistic female dummy dressed in a blouse and panties. The commentary explained how a person to be caned would remove skirt or trousers before going over the bench, but there would be no physical contact with the officials administering the punishment.

The man explained that, with such a machine, a court imposed sentence could be carried out with meticulous and absolutely repeatable severity, and no human contact was involved. But as the man then explained you could even pre-program the computer with fixed penalties for each type of offence, and you could have an equation which adjusted the penalty to match the culprit's age weight and other factors.

Suddenly it seemed possible that corporal punishment could be restored to what many felt was its proper place in the upbringing of the nation's youth, with no danger of it being abused. There was even talk of parents being allowed to have one of the machines in the home, used under appropriate supervision of course.

When he finally finished the explanation of the history of the new law, Sergeant Mansell smiled up at the lovely girl standing shivering in front of his desk. She was still in the party clothes she had been wearing the night before, a tight white very short miniskirt, lovely long bare legs, and white platform high heel shoes. Her straight blonde hair came down over her shoulders. Her makeup was mussed, probably from kissing boys at the party she had been attending, and her handbag had been confiscated when she arrived at the station, so there had been no opportunity to restore her face, but Sergeant Mansell thought she looked beautiful.

He was praying that she would accept the CP option, and if she did he would try to make her undress completely for it. The new machine had been introduced very quickly, the regulations governing its use were still very sparse, and were not yet specific about clothing requirements. All it did say was the bottom was to be bare. He had studied the spanking frame in the room down the corridor, and wondered how a girl's skirt would stay up over her back during a long caning. He decided he would make the girl remove her dress!

"Are you aware of the normal penalties for disorderly conduct?" The girl shook her head desperately, her lovely hair flying. "As a first offence, you would expect to receive at least three months in a young offender's institution."

The girl went pale. "But I'm taking exams in December," she moaned.

"Interesting. That's one of the reasons the CP Option rule was brought in, to avoid young people missing out on academic qualifications just because of some relatively minor offence and bad timing."

"So what should I do?" Her lovely eyes gazed at him, beseeching him to help her.

"Obviously you should take advantage of your good fortune and accept the option that the new laws provide. That way you can go home tonight and get on with whatever studying you should have been doing last night instead of partying."

She lowered her eyes, looking down at the floor, panting, still not sure what was involved, and the sergeant couldn't stop letting his eyes run down her long legs. He was wondering whether he should make her part her feet when she went over the machine, the handbook and not discussed that issue. The bench had long support struts sticking out behind, she could stand with her feet inside or outside of them, and he decided he would definitely insist she had her feet outside.

He also would leave her in those platform shoes, which would lift her bum nicely. He rather wished she had been wearing stockings, stay-ups, or with a garter belt, but realised the skirt was too short, and he was glad she wasn't in panty hose, he hated those. It had been very many years since he last saw a young girl in stockings and suspenders!

Imagining what she was going to look like over the spanking bench with the dress removed, he knew it would be hard to keep his hands off her, and reminded himself that all of the spanking machines had live TV coverage to a central monitoring station specifically so the authorities could ensure officials didn't exploit the opportunities presented by the new rules.

"If I do decide to take the option, what exactly will happen?"

"We have one of the new spanking machines in a room out back, you will be bent over it and an appropriate number of strokes, of strap or cane, will be administered by the machine to your bottom. Actually you will have the honour of being its first customer." He smiled as he said this, though she didn't return the smile!

"Spanking machine? How does it work?"

"Like I said just now, these machines have been brought in to ensure that all punishments are given equally. I just place you over the bench, arrange the machine behind you, then dial in your details, mainly age, sex, and the offence. The machine looks up the standard punishment for those details and administers it without me being involved. I will not even be in the room. Just you and the machine."

'After I arrange you properly', he thought, and grinned, remembering the hours he had already spent practicing arranging the dummy supplied with the machine. He knew he could also watch the event through the one way mirror provided. Forcing himself to look strict but not aroused, he suggested they go see the machine, before she decided. She nodded nervously so he stood up and showed her out of his office, then let her go ahead down the corridor, his eyes on her pert bottom as she walked in front of him.

They came to a door with a large newly painted sign, 'Punishment Room'. "That's it, the machine is in there." The girl groaned as she stood waiting for the door to open.

Reaching past her he opened the door, ushered her inside, then stepped in after her.

"Oh my god," she moaned when she saw the machine and the bench, then slowly looked around the room, taking in what was obviously the spanking arm sticking out of the machine, and the row of spanking straps and paddles and canes along the wall, each on a numbered hook. On the far wall was a large mirror, in which he could watch her face as she looked around.

"You will be placed over this bench and strapped down securely. The machine will tell me which implement to fit in the spanking arm, then after I fit the selected implement and check that it is correctly lined up, I will leave you to it".

"You won't even be in the room?"

"Nope, that's all part of the concept, no way for the official to be involved, other than in preparing the culprit. Totally anonymous spanking delivered by machine. I go outside to the control cubicle, enter your particulars, then just press start! I will come back in after the punishment is finished, undo the straps, and you will be free to get dressed and go home."

"Straps, you say?"

"Yes, we have to be sure you can't move during the punishment, it's not like when a dad was spanking his daughter and could stop if she put her hand in the way. We must also ensure you stay exactly in position so the machine knows where to apply each stroke. So you will be securely fastened over the bench, at wrists and thighs, and with a strap over your waist holding you firmly in position. For your own safety of course."

He was watching her face, enjoying the play of emotions as she contemplated all this.

He smiled sweetly and asked, "So, Elisha, tell me, were you ever spanked by your father?"

She shook her lovely head emphatically, "No, never." Actually she blushed as she said that, it wasn't quite true, as with most girls her dad had spanked her on a couple of occasions, when she was in her bedroom and her mom was out of the house. "It wasn't allowed back when I was a little girl."

"Indeed it wasn't," the Sergeant agreed, thinking that it wouldn't have been that many years ago that she was going through her childhood with no effective discipline. No wonder she was now in this position!

"Under the new rules parents can purchase one of these machines, and use it at home so long as they follow the regulations."

"Oh my god," she whispered, thinking how dad would have loved it.

"Might have done you some good to have grown up with one of those machines in your house, regular use might have stopped you running astray, prevented you appearing here now."

"I suppose," she whispered again, imagining her dad with such a machine in the house. "What do you mean by regular use?"

Sergeant Mansell was intrigued by the look on her face, he wondered just what she was thinking. Elisha was remembering dad's hands touching her at every opportunity, and how there had been nobody she could complain to. She imagined her father strapping her to this machine in his study and playing with her all day long!

"The rules stipulate how often a parent can put his or her child on the machine, once a week is apparently considered normal. And as I said the machine decides the actual punishment that is administered each time. All the machines are connected to a central administrative centre so excessive use can be prevented."

That reminded him that there was a blue 'connect to admin office' button on his computer, and he was very aware that he had not yet pressed it, where the manual said very firmly that he should have pressed it before taking any person into the punishment room. He just didn't want to share this beautiful girl with faceless people in head office.

"Once a week! Wow. So anyway, if I agree to take this option, how many strokes will I get, and what with?" She was looking up now, at the line of straps and canes and paddles along the wall.

"I have no way of knowing, it's entirely decided by the computer. By the way this will be my first time using the machine, so forgive me if I take it a bit slowly." He stepped forward, his hand low down on her back gently urging her to do stand closer to the machine, to the bench where if she agreed she would experience pain.

"After you are in position I have to enter your details, age, sex, weight, and the offence you are being punished for, and the machine tells me what implement to install off that rack on the wall, I fit it and line the arm up with your bottom, then I just go off and leave you in its care."

'And I sit on the other side of that one way mirror so I can watch it all, ' he thought excitedly, knowing he would be masturbating as soon as he got in the other room.

"And if I don't agree then I would get three months in prison?"

"Well, most likely in a young offender's institution. Not quite as bad as prison."

"If I take the option, will anyone have to know?"

"Nope, that's one of the main benefits of the new scheme, your friends and employer or teachers don't need to know anything about it, whereas if there's a court case and you get sent off to an institution then it will be in the paper and you will be away for months and everyone will have to know. With this option, nobody will even know you have been spanked."

He could tell that Elisha was pondering her options, her eyes now fixed on the bench in front of her, anticipating pain as she lay over it. The bench was rather like a tall wooden bar stool, bolted onto a large wooden plinth. The bench was short, she could see that when lying over it her head would be hanging out beyond the frame.

She could tell from placement of the spanking machine at which end her feet, and her bottom, would be. She could see straps near the top of the legs at that end, and guessed those would go around her upper thighs. Half way down the uprights at the other end were more straps, and she guessed that those would be for her wrists. There was a thick leather strap hanging down from the middle of the cross frame, obviously that was to go over her back, pinning her down to the bench. She panted as she imagined what it was going to feel like, she would not be able to move, and would just have to accept whatever punishment this machine awarded.

"So you have no say in how many strokes I will receive?"

"No, none at all. That is the whole idea, the sentence for each offence has been determined by committee long before the machines were delivered. I just put you over the bench, strap you down, and that's my input. After that I just leave you to the machine."

"Can I have some time to think about it?"

"I suppose I could send you back to your cell, have you brought back tomorrow. How did you find your cell?"

"It was horrible; the bed is just a wooden board."

"The beds in those institutions are not much better. Imagine three months of that. And I am told that some of the other inmates are pretty nasty and make demands on pretty young girls like you." He paused to let that sink in! "But yes, if you want to go back for another night in your cell while you decide, that's okay."

She was silent for a few minutes. He could tell she was not eager to go back to that horrible cell, and even less keen to go to an institution where she might get mauled. But also she was not eager to lie over the bench and let some machine spank her! She looked around the room again, obviously trying to pluck up the courage to accept her fate. Suddenly she thought of something. "What must I wear?"

"The rules are specific, I am afraid. If you were in a skirt you could just take that off, but in the dress you are wearing I fear you will have to remove the dress. And your panties too, if you are wearing any." He let her absorb that news, enjoying her embarrassment. "I see your legs are bare, that's probably just as well. Panty hose would have to come off too, if you had been wearing those. The rules say that stay up stockings can be retained, but stockings held up by suspender straps must be removed along with the garter belt or whatever is holding the stockings up."

He enjoyed her embarrassment as they discussed her underclothing.

"You may keep your bra on," he said, wanting to see the effect that had on her. To his delight she blushed, but didn't answer. Sergeant Mansell actually didn't know very much about girl clothing. Even though he was sure her legs were bare he fantasised that she might have a corset on under the dress. Finally he felt he had to know. "Please advise me what you are wearing under the dress."