Starboy’s first memories were being on display, of grasping, hungry hands, of Feeling too much. His legal name probably wasn’t Starboy, but thats what people called him. His father called him Candy sometimes. He was a good boy, he did as he was told. His first, ahem, partnering with a client, was when he was a teenager. His father said that he had been too delicate to let the rough clientele use, until he was older. From then on it was most days he’d have to satisfy one or another. He didn’t have much time to himself, truly to himself, he was usually dressed scanty on display, but out of reach. Only at night when he was supposed to be asleep was he truly alone.
He dreamed of freedom. He didn’t know much about the world outside of his father’s truck and home. Glimpses from the door as clients were shown their options and given a sales pitch. The magazine tablet rack in the lobby, or glimpses of magazines on client tablets as they wait. It looked nice. People on beaches, by slick vehicles, amongst huge plants and basking in the sun. The clients usually walked in wearing more clothes than anyone else Starboy knew except for his father. There were other workers with him, mostly women, but a few men as well.
Netaray, her skin dyed a permanent blue, was the eldest, she sang songs for the clients and seemed to be bursting with music. Kemont, broad and firm, he was quiet, especially around Starboy. Melont, the one who had given Starboy his name, who never wore anything from the waist up because she said it was intensely uncomfortable. Buck, a common favorite, she was a high price, but clients paid. Aside from them was a constantly changing array of workers, and a solid foundation of sexbots.
It was from one of the newcomers that Starboy learned to desire escape. When Exilen had first appeared, Starboy and him had gotten along very well, but when Exilen asked him for help escaping Starboy resisted. Exilen had made many impassioned pleas to convince Starboy of the greatness of escape, and Starboy refused, this was the only life he had ever known. Realizing that Starboy wasn’t going to help he turned on him, and got as many other of the workers to turn on him as well. It was a brutal time, until eventually his father exchanged them all for other workers.
With space to breathe, but comfort cracked, Starboy would spend time lying awake in his private bed. Thinking about the outside. He began to long to see it, out of curiosity. He asked his father if it might be possible, but was met harshly. He didn’t speak up about it again, but he kept an eye out for all things Out. He even managed to sneak a magazine tablet into his personal bed, and would spend some time investigating the various magazines available. People in types of buildings Starboy didn’t know the purpose of, in grassy fields, crowds having fun together. He began to ache for it.
Opportunity to escape was extremely rare for most workers, but for Starboy, son of Arlion Opplinier of Arlion’s Pleasures, opportunities were only very uncommon. His father would have him hold doors, move light loads. Heavy labor would callous his soft skin, so it was avoided. Opportunity to escape came one dark night. His father told him to clear dishes from the lounge area, and while he was doing that another worker, a laborer, left the front door of the building open while going out to retrieve a pallet of soft drinks.
He knew that a chance was unlikely to come again. He hurried to his personal cabinet, grabbed the most covering clothes he owned, and swiped some snacks that had been left behind in the lobby, before scurrying through the door into the poorly lit night. In truth it was early morning, as the workers(slaves) of Arlion’s Pleasures were kept on a sleep schedule ideal for the midnight rush of clients. It was misting lightly, in itself novel to Starboy, his father had kept him out of the rain. He ran, he wasn’t sure where he was going, but he felt that he would know it when he saw it.
Unfortunately, Starboy wouldn’t find it. He would get lost in the streets, and find himself wandering. He eventually collapsed, exhausted, in a ditch by the road, by a brightly lit building. He wasn’t hungry, he had eaten his snacks, but he was thirsty, and he had walked more than he had walked in the last 6 months. He lay there, curled in one of his sheer shawls he had brought with him, and watched the sky. Clouded by light pollution, but with spots of light moving by.
Starboy awoke on a bed in a brightly lit room, something attached to his arm, and a dull ache in his head and limbs. A lady was there, something like a magazine tablet in her hands. She seemed pretty tired herself. She had dark hair, a white lab coat. She wasn’t very tall.
Starboy opened his mouth to speak, but only a small sound came out. He swallowed to try again, as the lady looked up and began to put away the tablet.
“You’re awake, thats good. Jens found you in the ditch in front of the hospital this morning, figured you’d need treated for exposure and a general health checkup. You’re doing fine, no diseases or injuries.” She paused uncomfortably.
Starboy opened his mouth
“You’re an escaped slave. Human Capital, they’d want me to say. You have a vice ring tattoo on your lower back. Legally we’re supposed to turn you in so you can be uh, distributed appropriately.”
Starboy shook his head. “I don’t… want to go back”
The doctor sighed. “I bet you don’t.”
She looked away and then back at Starboy, face clearly showing distress.
“It's just… you’re so young… I knew some vice rings had children, but you know, you don’t see it with your own eyes… and now you’re here right before me… you’re so young”
“I’m 15” Starboy said
This did not seem to improve her mood.
She paced. Starboy watched her. She seemed nice enough. He wasn’t really sure what she was talking about. He didn't’ want to go back and she didn’t want to take him back. There wasn’t any issue, right? Though come to think of it, what was he going to do when he got out of here? He had, of course, been to the doctor before. He had gotten a serious disease once or twice and had had to stay a quarantined night in a small room with a controlled atmosphere. This place was much cleaner and well lit. He had been in a place like this only once. His father had called it a laboratory.
Starboy looked away from her, and turned towards the room. It was clean. Very brightly lit, all things considered. He was used to the dimly lit interior of Arlion’s Pleasures, and the general night-lit world. His night of exhaustion had thrown off his generally night-centric rhythm of wakefulness and sleepyfulness. The sun shone through the window in the room, making him squint. Really, his eyes had begun to hurt. He closed them.
She sighed, and Starboy opened his eyes. She looked like she had made up her mind about something.
“Whats your name anyway?”
“Um, I’m called Starboy, but my father calls me Candy”
“Your father? You have a father?”
“Yeah, he owns the establishment”
“He…” She looks somewhat stricken, and attempts to regain her composure. “My name is Carlynna. You seem to be well enough, when I get off of my shift, I’ll attend to you. Just sit tight.”
“Ok”
Starboy leaned back and closed his eyes, and Dr. Carlynna left the room.