“You know the procedure,” the adjunct sighed. “Any emotional reaction outside the rig’s parameters must be approved by court order. You agreed to this when you joined Special Crimes and had the rig installed.”

“And you know that you’ve said that every time I’ve applied for a writ over the last four years,” Ritchie said. His rig allowed a slight twinge of annoyance, but no more. The designers obviously felt that a little annoyance could be beneficial to police work, but too much was detrimental to performance.

“Well, now that we have those pleasantries out of the way,” the adjunct said, “confirm your biometrics to get your court-ordered emotional writ.”

Ritchie swabbed his thumb with the provided sanitizing gel and authenticated. He felt a brief jolt as his neural rig synced with the Corrections server. Different cases received different writs, or none at all, but Ritchie always applied. It was better to feel something outside the rig’s confining range than nothing at all, and retirement was a long way away.

The court order flashed on the inside of his retina: official judicial approval, sixth circuit court: Writ of Intensity.

The flood of emotion was so overpowering it forced Ritchie to his knees.