A Pleasure to a Prequel

The flashy man summoned a serious looking guy to his side and whispered to him. The guy nodded and then left. Oh, was this a bank run to get more cash? It turned out no.

"I raise you." the flashy man said trying to sound like a woman. "Can you match three million?"

"Three million." I pretended to be impressed. I had that in chips right here. He had to see that. "Gee, I'm not sure. Can you?"

The flashy man accepted a pad from one of his guys and then on the pad he showed me pointing with his long decorated fingernail pictures of a house by a lake surrounded by woods.

"This house is worth much more."

"I'll have to take your word for it."

"I raise you this house and to match you have to bet another three million."

The local rules said I didn't have to accept this. Besides he hadn't shown me that he actually owned this house. But then again, I had started gambling with only a few thousand and now I had a few million so who was I to complain. Sure, he could give me his house and I could sell it or just use it as a vacation home cause I was definitely coming back to this planet. If not for all the nudity all over the place I'd invite my mom and my sister to come live here.

And by nudity all over the place, really really really this was a clothes optional planet. Half the models in the ad posters up everywhere were naked. In fictional programs here if there happened to be a love scene then the actors actually had sex and you could see it all. Sure most people wore clothes in public but I didn't go a day without seeing at least one random moron naked strolling the streets shopping with only a carry bag and bare skin. I would go to some office to meet a business contact and the receptionist would be butt naked except for some fancy collar on her neck and then wonder why I was staring while she asked if I wanted a complimentary blowjob that I couldn't accept.

To see flashy man's house I put up my millions and perhaps he thought that I would allow the cards to decide my fate but now that a free house was up for grabs and this was more interesting than just more money I decided to take the pot. I went all in. Oh, he did not like that. The discomfort on his face made him look like he was taking a shit through the wrong hole. Whichever whole he actually had.

"I think now I understand the kind of man you are."

"We're just playing cards. Friendly game of cards, right guys."

"Lola! Somebody bring me Lola." the man called out. I didn't know who that was so I waited. He was making arrangements so I'd let him make arrangements before I beat him. Two guys brought one of the dancing girls to us. It was her, my favorite girl. She was there standing just across the table from me. Was I blushing? I was certainly smiling. It was her. She was dressed in a brown shoulder to ankle coat to cover her figure. Still I recognized her well enough. I had watched her dance and that dance was now etched into my memory. It was then that I noticed she had a similar collar on her as that one waitress I had thought was so sexy. The flashy man ordered Lola to take the brown coat off and underneath she was wearing a shirt and some shorts. Well, how about that. I had expected her to be naked.

"What is that?" the flashy mad angrily berated her in his very feminine voice.

"I'm sorry. It gets so ..."

"Off! Let my friend see everything."

I had actually already seen everything. This was unnecessary.

The young woman looked worried but then she swallowed and gave me a manufactured smile. She stripped to her nude form and then the flashy man had her turn around a few times so I could see her from every angle.

"You're very beautiful." I commented to her to be kind.

"I match your millions with her." flashy man said.

"Excuse me." she asked.

"Shut up, girl. Take her out of here." Flashy man ordered and the girl was escorted away by one guy and the other started to pick up the dancer's clothes. I felt sorry for her to be talked to like that after being degraded in such a way. I had already seen her dance, I didn't need her to do that. I felt my blood getting hot with violence coursing into my hands when they marched her away. I really had better not hear that anyone harmed her or any of these other girls in here. Then flashy man addressed me. "Well, what do you think?"

"She is very beautiful." I said with disapproval in my tone.

"I match your millions with her. She's one of my best. If a man wants to take her to bed it would be at least 100 million. You can get her on discount."

Oh, I see what he was doing. He thought he could win if only he could get to the cards instead of folding. Man, I really wanted him to fold. I really did. I had taken everything from him that I wanted and now my own ego was telling me that I wanted to force him to fold. I didn't have to accept a night of sex with his dancer who I assumed also doubled as a prostitute. This was really making me angry. I had liked her. I felt sick to my stomach to hear that she was a whore with her body up for sale. It also didn't sit well with me that she hadn't been keen to be undressed in front of me. Something felt wrong in all of this. Now I really wanted to beat flashy man and take his money.

Still, 100 million! Wow. Talk about a High Rare Whore.

Rares were a unit of currency in the Empire a really long time ago but the phrase 'high rare whore' just stuck around for some reason even after rares were gone. I was sort of thinking about that to keep my face from revealing any emotion related to my cards or how angry I was. Rare was short for 'rare item'. Rares were replaced by 'Secure Coins' which the Emperor's ministers thought would be colloquially called 'My Coins' but they weren't. Instead everyone started to call them 'Shields' because the image of the coin had a shield next to the encryption number. Shields were the bigger denomination and 'Bits' were what people called it when you broke a shield into smaller, um, bits. Shields were replaced by the money we have now which used to go by the official name of 'Government Regulated Unified Denominations'. About 300 years ago the official initialization of the money was 'GRUD' but for some reason no one called it that. Normal people called it 'Creds' and the name stuck. Eventually the government gave up and now the money is just called Creds but it's not short for anything anymore.

Still there were a lot of old phrases that still used either Rare or Shield. A two rare attorney was something good while a two bit attorney would likely get your head cut off. Raise a shield for someone meant take up a donation to help someone who needed charity. I got the wrong shield meant getting denied a loan. Rare find meant getting lucky and receiving a windfall. Plus when I thought about it saying high cred whore just didn't sound right for some reason.

My mind came back to the game and pretended to look at my cards again. That was part of how I played. My mannerisms were unpredictable because I put out a lot of fake chatter. I didn't try to lock up in order to not to feel anything. I displayed an ever changing set of emotions and I was good at it. I was always fidgeting with something just to throw them off. Everything was designed to let me win because there was no other reason to play. Now with this hand I could force him to lose on just house rules but then he'd scramble to try and offer me something else and he might even be offended. I scratched the back of my head and rolled my shoulders. It didn't really matter. That house was mine already anyway. Let him put up the girl and I can just give her the night off in appreciation for the really great and super sexy take clothes off dancing performance she gave me earlier. And her name was Lola. Ms Lola you are a treasure. Maybe I could take her out to dinner and let her know I didn't expect any sex from her at all, that I just wanted to show her a good time. Maybe after she had a night like that with me she'd give up being a prostitute and maybe I could use a business contact to get her a better job.

"Call."

The flashy man grinned and in that moment looked more like a woman than a man but it didn't hold and his lips parted all the way to a huge smile making him look more like a man than a woman as my money glittered in his eyes.

"It has been a pleasure doing business with you." he said.

"I'm just playing a friendly game of cards." I said.

"Very friendly. Yes, my friend, you will always be welcome in Brazfix. Don't ever book a hotel. You stay with me, darling. I take care of you." he said in what I found out later was an eastern accent.

We both turned over our cards and then the excitement on his face melted away as he realized I had the cards to beat him.

"Wait!" I said. "Does that mean that I win. Oh, man. I hope that doesn't damage our new friendship, ahem, darling. I was really starting to like you. But look, I'll be happy to let you stay at my house whenever you want." I was being a bit of an asshole gloating like that but he offered me sex with a prostitute to get to this and the girl hadn't looked that happy about it so he deserved it in my book. Better this than me tearing out his throat. Believe me, he's getting off easy.

The flashy man's face turned ashen and he looked down as he put his face in his hands. One of his guys came to put a hand to his shoulder but flashy man jerked away from the touch. Then he raised his face up and looked like he was emotionally trying to compose himself and get back to a public show of dignity. He stood up and came around the table to me. I was still just being calm as I sat there. He extended his hand to me to shake. I stood up to be polite and I shook his hand. In that moment as we shook he pushed in and hugged me. As he was hugging me I felt him tighten his grip and press the front of his chest up to me which either had tits or man boobs and I didn't know which.

"We will be friends." he said to me. "No one else would dare defeat me. It has been a long time."

"That makes it sound like I'm in trouble."

"No. Indeed not. I respect you, Imperial." Then he looked over at the chips and cash. "That is a lot of money for a kid like you. My boy. Wow. Just Wow. Where are you going to spend all of that?"

"Don't know. I guess I'll have to think of something. I hear if you go to Razna and donate enough money they let you pray to some naked goddess with them. I always wondered if pray was a euphemism for something else."

Flashy man smiled. "With talk like that you're going to steal my heart and take it with you along with my money. How about this. We can go together and find out."

"Oh, but it's on the other side of the Republic and you know what jerks those guys are."

The expression on flashy man's face indicated that she did indeed. Or he did indeed. Ok, back off. I was getting confused. How hard was it for him to fucking pick one?

...

The next day I slept. The day after that I got all of my stuff packed and then I waited. I made a few calls for business and wrapping up loose ends but there really wasn't a reason to stay. Sure I could continue to just enjoy this place but I was starting to think that if I didn't leave I'd never leave. I called a car and then went to spaceport.

Bags were checked and I had my ticket info ready. I waited to board the shuttle going up to the interstellar cruiser and then Brazfix would only be a memory, a very very good memory.

"I'm sorry, can you wait a moment." the spaceport clerk lady told me. I didn't feel anything was suspicious so I nodded and sat back down. Then I saw everyone else go through the line and go to get on the shuttle. I was still waiting and I was the only one still there so I went up to the lady.

"Can I get on yet?"

She gestured for me to hand her my passport and she scanned it. "Oh, I'm sorry. The local city hall placed a hold on you. I can't let you board."

"What do you mean there's a hold on me? No. That can't be right."

"I'm sorry. I can't let you on."

I looked at the time. "Ok when is the next shuttle."

"There are shuttles all day at the top of the hour."

"Great. Who do I call to fix this?"

The lady didn't know but she called her boss but the boss didn't know so she called another boss and that boss didn't know. Great. So I called the company lawyer at the Imperial outpost station and the lawyer called the government and the government confirmed that I couldn't be held for breaking the law or anything so I should be allowed on the shuttle so I could leave the planet. I then explained that to the lady running the counter but she scanned my passport and again the machine said I could not get on. Just then I got a call from the lawyer. He had gotten a call back from the government. The lawyer then was asking me if I had purchased a slave.

"A slave? No."

Ok so before I go forward. I didn't know this at the time but when someone was convicted of a crime which was a lessor offense without the intention of breaking the law instead of death then one punishment they could get was community service. But on this planet community service didn't mean you lived out your regular life but had to give up weekends to help the poor. No. On this planet community service meant that your normal life was over and you were in service for years, decades, or even the rest of your life. The government then sold the community service worker to the highest bidder and that new owner of the work contract could make the community service worker do ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING. The workers were treated like property and in the past things had gotten out of hand so frequently that there was a public outrage against the system so some laws were put in place to protect community service workers from overly abusive owners. A little abusive was ok but not overly abusive apparently.

"So they're basically slaves." I commented to the lawyer after he explained it.

"Yep, that's what we'd call them. So my question is, did you buy a slave?"

"No."

"They say you're registered as the new owner of some girl named Lola."

"Lola. But that ... Oh shit."

"Does that oh shit come with an explanation?"

"I might have won her in a poker game."

"Poker game!"

"Gambling is legal here."

"Well fuck. Then sorry. You can't leave."

"Why not?"

"Slave owners have to provide for their slaves and according to the government records you haven't set up anything for this girl Lola. If you leave she'll be homeless. You have a duty to her you have to fulfill first."

Duty? Well I'm an Imperial we always fulfill our duty but did I really have a duty here?

"I have no intention of owning a slave. Can I grant her her freedom?"

"Let me ask."

I was put on hold and while on hold I started to look up the laws for community service workers. Then the lawyer came back on the line.

"No, you can't grant her freedom unless you pay off some huge fine she has on her head."

"How much is the fine?"

"The guy mentioned about two hundred billion."

"How much? That has to be a mistake."

"We told you before you went down there not to piss anybody off."

"I didn't. Everyone was always super happy to do business with us."

"What were you doing playing cards over a slave?"

"I didn't know she was a slave. I thought she was a ... (embarrassed gulp) ... prostitute." Oh, man this looks bad.

"Then why were you ..."

"I wasn't going to sleep with her. She was a dancer. It wasn't supposed to be serious. It was just a friendly game of cards."

"Too friendly for me."

"Can I give her to someone else? Sell her? How do I get out of this?"

"From what they told me, you're stuck with her. There's a law against speculation in workers so you can't flip her to someone else and you can't sell her for less than her work contract is worth."

"How much is her contract worth?"

"You don't have papers or nothing?"

"No. I didn't know this was a real thing."

"Something like a few million. The guy didn't tell me exactly."

"Well, I won her in a card game. Can I lose her in a card game?"

"Not for the next year. You're stuck there. I hope you have some place to stay but accommodations is the least of your worries. You can't leave for a year but your visa expires in two more weeks."

"Oh shit."

"Our agreement with the government only lasts as long as your visa. If you stay longer than that you're fully subject to their laws there and if they catch you with no visa then ..."

"They execute me."

"What were you thinking?"

"Obviously this can't be how it goes down. They can't execute me for staying when they're the ones not letting me leave. Talk to someone. Explain it. Fix it."

"I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, stay at the spaceport. Don't leave. You can't be in violation of the visa if you're in the spaceport."

"Any chance you can get me on a shuttle today? I'll pay for the girl to have a house and enough money for food or whatever. Surely I can manage being her owner from off planet."

"I'll see what I can do. Sit tight."

So I waited. The shuttle left and then the next one came. The next crowd of passengers came to go up to space and then they left and I was still sitting there.

Finally around the time that the second to last shuttle was landing the lawyer called me.

"Please tell me I can get on the bird that just got here."

"Sorry. But I do have good news."

"Anything less than I'm free to leave is not good news."

"They're not going to execute you."

"That's obviously not all of it."

"They understand that things shouldn't be this way. Ownership of a community service worker's contract should never have been transferred to you if you didn't know anything about the responsibilities that came along with it. They arranged a hearing so you'll have to go to court. Until that court hearing our original agreement with the government stands."

"Can the hearing be soon?"

"It's tomorrow morning."

"Oh, that's fast."

"You bet. So go back to the penthouse. I'll meet you for court tomorrow morning. Don't worry. We'll get this sorted and we'll leave together tomorrow."

...

My lawyer was very optimistic about this but I was worried. The hearing happened in this huge grand hall but it was empty of any people save for us, one guy from the government and the judge. Because of all the distance between everyone we had to speak up at the top of our voices to be heard. All of us except the judge. He was some very old guy and he was the only one allowed to use a speaker to project his voice so he spoke in a low soft voice that boomed over us and echoed around all the walls and out the door down the building.

Both my lawyer and the government representative were in agreement about everything. There was no dispute really and we just needed the judge to rubber stamp what we'd already agreed to.

1: I had not known the girl was a slave.

2: I had not known that I would become her owner.

3: I didn't have legal permission to stay on Blelm so I had to depart.

4: I could not take the girl with me.

5: I would happily release her to any other owner at no cost.

6: If no other owner would take her then I would provide her with a place to live and income for basic essentials.

7: The agreement between the government and the company should stand for as long as I was on the planet regardless of how long that was.

The judge looked over the notes and I could hear his breathing. "I'm sorry but this just doesn't make sense. You won the girl in a card game."

"That is correct your honor." my lawyer said.

"You seem to have won a lot of money at this game. All tax free. Interesting."

"The tax agreement between the corporation and the government was deemed to be mutually beneficial." the government guy said.

"There was also a house up for grabs in this game. You rich people sure are funny." the judge said. "I see you've already put in an order to change the locks and get a paper deed on record. You took the initiative for that yourself."