Bordello della Libertà (Aethertales Book 2) by J. D'Urso, E. Bryan Page B

it’s been a long time since you’ve
visited your homeworld in Romaea, but I know for a fact that you’re still a legend
there!”
    “Well,
I wouldn’t pat myself on the back too much, but I have to admit that my insides
got those Tellurian men and women more than a few blessings from their marble
gods. Some were so pleased that I bet a few even started praying to the Creator
instead!” She sprinkled a dash of Pecorino over Sudika’s dish and laughed,
“What better form of assimilation is there than in the arms of a fit
prostitute?”
    Then
they heard footsteps through the doorway, and a man just as foreign as the
placated Tellurians entered the Bordello della Libertà . Sudika assumed
him to be a new client, but Lucia was suspicious. She knew better than anyone
that a man in a dark suit with opaque sunglasses wasn’t just a customer who
wanted anonymity. She’d seen his type before. It seemed the government had
wandered its way through her door beneath a wooden sign.
    ••
    S UDIKA
    The look
on Lucia’s face was disconcerting, and Sudika knew the oddly dressed man was
the cause of it. He wore his black suit with its tan trench coat like some sort
of gangster from an ancient age when prostitution was not the only outlawed
industry, but alcohol as well. His ensemble was complete with a brimmed hat and
spats on his shoes. He looked like he was on official business of some kind,
and based on Lucia’s distrusting glare, it couldn’t have been anything good.
Slipping off his mirrored shades he identified himself before she could even
question him.
    “My
name is Trygassi,” he declared, “local representative for the Sexual Labor
Union of Talpretta. I require just a minute of your time.”
    Lucia
extinguished the blue flame of her gas stove and threw down her washcloth onto
the tiled countertop. “We don’t have a minute to spare for your kind. There’s
only so many orgasms you can fit in a day, and just like time, orgasms are
money.”
    “If
you don’t listen to what I have to say, then all you’ll have is impotence,” he
sneered. “I’m sure you’re aware that on our sensible, collectivist planet, we
only permit brothels to operate if every single employee is a registered member
of the S.L.U.T.”
    “I’m
also aware that such a law hasn’t been passed in this city.”
    “Perhaps
not, but it has been proposed, and I have no doubt that it will be approved. To
prevent any lapses in employment when that day comes, myself and other
representatives will be organizing all brothels to join our fight against
greedy capitalists who would gladly exploit them.”
    Lucia
sighed. “It’s unions like yours that contributed to the devastating collapse of
manufacturing on Old Earth. Thankfully, my ancestors escaped before ever
witnessing such a fall.”
    “All
lies, I can assure you,” he insisted. He set his briefcase on the counter and
clicked open the latches, and revealed a mountain of cheap, paper flyers. “If
you’d like to enlighten yourself to the truth, then take a look at this
literature. I implore you to distribute these amongst your employees. These
pamphlets prove in less than two hundred words the myriad benefits of organized
labor.” He pulled out another stack of legal paper. “I only need them to sign
this roster, as evidence that they’ve been provided with such information. I
have quotas to meet, of course.”
    Lucia
took a cursory look at the blank list and slowly tore it in half. “They will
sign no such thing,” she growled. “I’m not about to fall into your little trap.
You’ll run back to your bosses and use my employees’ signatures as evidence of
their unwitting decision to join your union.”
    “Is
that really such a travesty?” Trygassi asked. “We’re offering them protection .
For just a paltry five percent of their income, and the restriction of working
hours to a fairer and far more limited work week to grant the less productive
employees more hours, and the