No Substitutions

"No Substitutions" by Jim Harmon is a science fiction story that pictures a future where prisons are replaced with Dreamland, an artificial reality where convicts live out their wildest dreams. Warden Walker, responsible for managing Dreamland, struggles with moral issues about how the prisoners are treated. The tale takes a turn when Councilman Coleman makes Walker doubt what is real, hinting that Walker might also be trapped in a Dream. Different inmates express conflicting ideas about being locked up versus escaping as they talk to Walker and want to go back to Dreamland. Walker has to question his own ideas about what is real, what it means to be free, and if life has any meaning when it's not real, as he's trying to understand his role and what's actually happening. The story makes you think about what it means to be human and the rightness or wrongness of living a fake life.