CHAPTER 5 – BORDELLO ON THE MOVE
The Zero-G Nirvana asteroid
13:22 (Universal Time)
Saturday, October 3, 2325
East Outer Gallery and Access Point, Main Promenade Deck
A.M.S. KOSTROMA, docked to the Zero-G Nirvana asteroid
Main Asteroid Belt, Solar System
Leaving the bridge of her ship after it had docked at one of the docking towers of the Zero-G Nirvana asteroid, Tina arrived at the West Access Point, on the Main Promenade Deck, in time to greet the first persons coming from the asteroid’s installations. She smiled at the small, graying and a bit overweight man leading the first group of fourteen people coming in on an electric minibus: John Gacey Gerhard was not what someone would call a handsome man, but he was the owner and chief manager of the Zero-G Nirvana, the most popular space brothel in the Solar System, and was a very astute and intelligent businessman. He also had the virtue of being an honest man in a trade too often ruled by criminals. In turn, Gerhard’s first move after stepping out of the minibus was to come to her and warmly shake her hand.
‘’Captain Forster, or should I say ‘Commodore Forster’, it is a pleasure to meet you again, especially in such a momentous occasion.’’
‘’And it is a pleasure as well for me to see you again, Mister Gerhard. Your people must be anxious to see their new home awaiting them on New Venice?’’
‘’Quite! I myself can’t wait to be there and reopen my establishment in the Tau Ceti System. I had plenty of success here but living on an asteroid eventually becomes a bit of a strain, no matter how luxurious and comprehensive the facilities are on it. To be able to live and work in the open air, next to a nice beach, will be like a dream come true for me and my people. Have you seen the site chosen for my establishment?’’
‘’Yes, I did, Mister Gerhard. My ship was the one which carried the site construction crew to New Venice some three weeks ago. The foundations and underground plumbing and wiring systems are now completed and ready to receive the structures of your new brothel. Those structures, built on Hygiea, are presently carried by my ship, so we will be able to leave for New Venice as soon as all your materiel and personnel here will be aboard. Once in orbit of New Venice, your people will have to wait a few more days on the KOSTROMA, to give us time to put down the structures of your establishment and connect them to their foundations. There will then be a general inspection and testing phase, to make sure that there are no glitches with the buildings. If all goes well, you and your people will be able to occupy your new complex in at most two weeks.’’
‘’Excellent! For that period of time my people will be aboard your ship, I have a few ideas and proposals about it that I would like to discuss with you, once my people will all be in.’’
‘’Then, we shall discuss that over supper tonight, in our business-class restaurant. But let’s take care of your people first. My hosting personnel will now start to assign cabins to you and your employees. They will occupy part of the top floor of my Outer Apartments Ring Complex, so you will all be close to each other. Please don’t think that this is meant to ostracize your people, Mister Gerhard. Since we have families with young children living in the Outer Apartments Ring Complex, I wanted to avoid having children wander around the cabins you will occupy.’’
Gerhard nodded his head once at those words, his expression sober.
‘’And your decision was a judicious one, Captain Forster. I may be in the sexual entertainment business but I have no wish to expose children to close contacts with my entertainment specialists, most of whom normally wear rather skimpy outfits. As you may know, pedophilia and child abuse are severely looked upon in my establishment.’’
‘’I know and I admire the way you conduct your business. In turn, know that the commercial establishments on this Main Promenade fully stocked up on products prior to coming here, so your people will be able to fully enjoy their stay on the KOSTROMA.’’
Gerhard was obviously pleased to hear that and turn around to signal to his employees to come out of their minibus.
‘’OKAY, PEOPLE! COME OUT AND GO TO THE RECEPTION DESKS TO GET REGISTERED AND GET A CABIN.’’
As some 300 men and women disembarked from the fleet of minibuses which had brought them in, Tina pointed at the vehicles now lined up along the access tunnel.
‘’Those minibuses, do you intend to bring them to New Venice, along with the rest of your materiel?’’
‘’Yes, I do!’’ replied the brothel manager. ‘’They will be useful there to carry my customers around the new site of my bordello.’’
‘’Then, I will have a couple of my cargo handlers guide them to our vehicle garage, which is on another deck, via our cargo lifts.’’
Tina took a minute to call her cargo master, Denise Lonsdale, and ask her to send a few of her people to the reception point. She then returned to the side of John Gacey Gerhard, who had just finished getting registered aboard and who now had his cabin key card. Tina’s eyes then hooked on a man of impressive stature who was about to arrive at one of the registration desks. The man was tall, blond and athletic, with an impressive set of muscles. However, what had caught Tina’s eyes was his dress, a body-hugging coverall made with a stretching fabric that left little to the imagination of onlookers.
‘’Holy… This guy either has an incredible set of tools or he padded his groin area with a rolled towel.’’
Gerhard grinned, amused by her remark.
‘’Oh, I can certify that he didn’t pad his groin with some rolled up towel, Captain: he didn’t need to. This is one of my star entertainment specialists: John ‘Dick’ Richards. Some would call him a freak of nature but I can assure you that my female customers are crazy about him.’’
‘’Hum… The way that my own female receptionists are now looking at him, I would tend to believe you about that. Madam Lee, the owner and manager of the sex club established on this Main Promenade, may well attempt to hire him during his stay aboard.’’
‘’If it is only for the duration of our stay on your ship, then I have no qualms about some of my employees working in your sex club, Captain. My people won’t be adverse about being able to make some extra money by working while on your ship. All of my entertainment specialists do their work because they like it, not because necessity pushed them into the sex business. I bet that your single and unattached crewmembers will also appreciate our presence during our stay, like that fantastic-looking young blonde manning one of the reception desks.’’
Looking at the woman pointed at by Gerhard, Tina giggled with amusement before replying to the brothel owner.
‘’Eve Silisca is indeed fantastic-looking but I doubt that she will show any special interest into your ‘Dick’ Richards.’’
‘’Oh, how so? Is she frigid or does she simply prefer other women?’’
‘’Neither of those reasons. I will tell you a secret about her, but only if you swear not to repeat it to anybody else.’’
Intrigued by that, Gerhard nonetheless nodded his head once.
‘’Alright, I swear to keep to myself your secret, whatever it will be.’’
Tina then bent down to whisper in Gerhard’s ear. The man’s face showed utter surprise and disbelief but, to his credit, he didn’t repeat out loud what he had just heard, instead looking at Eve Silisca with bulging eyes.
‘’Holy shit! I am a great connoisseur of women but your Eve had me completely fooled. I would have gladly hired her in a second, just by looking at her.’’
‘’And I can tell you that you were far from the only one to be fooled by her looks, Mister Gerhard. The funny thing is that Eve is fully able to perform various sex acts and please partners if she wished so. However, her reactions would then be faked, while she has no real interest in or need for sex.’’
‘’Still, as a hostess, she is perfect for the job: beautiful, intelligent and with a perfect memory.’’
‘’That she is! Well, if you will follow me, I will personally guide you to your cabin.’’
When John ‘Dick’ Richards came to the reception desk manned by Eve Silisca, he was not a little surprised to see that she stayed completely professional in his presence and registered him with what was simple, pure politeness and courtesy. However, the same could not be said about the two young women manning the desks adjacent to her desk. One of the women, who was single, took a moment to approach Eve and speak in a low voice to her.
‘’Which cabin did you give to your last customer, Eve?’’
Eve, in response, painted a ‘mildly amused’ look on her face and answered her in an equally low volume of voice.
‘’Cabin F026. His name is John ‘Dick’ Richards.’’
‘’Thanks! I will try to visit him as soon as I can, before half of the women on our ship starts lining up at his door.’’
The receptionist then returned to her own desk in order to serve her next customers, leaving Eve free to record this latest example of the significance of sex in the lives of Humans…or of about any other living species.
18:08 (Universal Time)
‘The 3-Star Table’ business-class restaurant
Restaurants and cafeterias deck, Level 10, A.M.S. KOSTROMA
On approach to New Venice, Tau Ceti System
John Gacey Gerhard, guided by the Maître D’, found one graying oriental woman already sitting at the table reserved by Tina Forster. The latter was however still not there. The oriental woman got up from her chair on seeing Gerhard approach and shook hands with him while smiling to him.
‘’Good evening, Mister Gerhard! My name is ‘Madam Lee’ and I am the owner and manager of the Jupiter Sex Club, established on the Main Promenade Deck. Captain Forster was a bit delayed by some ship business and will be here in a few minutes.’’
‘’Pleased to meet you, madam.’’
Gerhard sat down next to Madam Lee as a waitress filled glasses of cold water and put menus and a wine card on the table before walking away, leaving Gerhard alone with Madam Lee, who then spoke again.
‘’Have you had a chance to visit the Jupiter Sex Club yet, Mister Gerhard?’’
‘’Not yet, but I intend to do so soon. How large is your establishment in terms of employees?’’
‘’Oh, it is nothing in comparison with your own business. I have a total of 27 employees, of which eight women and four men are actual entertainment specialists. However, business has been both good and constant, thanks to the busy space transportation schedule of the KOSTROMA. The passengers traveling on the KOSTROMA generally stay aboard for only two to three days, to be then replaced with a new batch of passengers heading for the next destination. There is thus a constant roll of passengers and, as a result, they don’t have time to grow blasé about my limited roster of entertainment specialists. The same cannot be said about the single members of the ship’s crew, who tend to go planet-side at every stop in order to find new excitement. Tina invited me to have supper with you and her in order to discuss that aspect of ship life.’’
‘’I see! So, if I understand you well, Captain Forster would like me to provide some of my entertainment specialists in order to spice up the shows in your club while we are in Space, correct?’’
‘’Correct! By the way, this kind of temporary arrangement is quite usual aboard the KOSTROMA. Entertainers of all kinds who travel aboard this ship are routinely invited to perform while in Space, in order to break the usual ship routine.’’
‘’And what are the usual financial arrangements for those temporary entertainers, Madam Lee?’’ asked Gerhard, seeing a definite value in the proposal.
‘’Basically, if we talk about my club, the passing entertainment specialists who perform in it during their stay get to keep the tips they receive from the customers, plus get an hourly pay of fifty credits if they only dance, or two-thirds of what they would earn via private sex acts while using one of the privacy booths of my club.’’
‘’That sounds quite generous to me, Madam Lee. I am sure that many of my entertainment specialists will be most interested by those financial terms. Of course, the fact that they were going to spend many days in Space while my new resort is being completed, resulting in them not making their usual revenues in tips, will be a big factor in deciding them to perform in your club. I will thus have a collective talk with them tomorrow morning about this. Maybe you could attend that meeting as well, so that you could answer any questions my people would have about your club.’’
‘’That sounds like a good idea, Mister Gerhard. I will be there at the time and place of your choice.’’
‘’How about your own club, at nine in the morning? I doubt that you would have many customers at such an early hour.’’
‘’Indeed! In fact, our normal daily opening time is at eleven in the morning, Universal Time. We will thus have plenty of time to discuss as a group before the first customers walk in. By the way, I heard about one particular entertainment specialist of yours whom I would definitely like to employ during his stay aboard the ship.’’
Gerhard grinned in amusement on hearing that.
‘’Let me guess: the women on this ship are already blabbing about John ‘Dick’ Richards, right?’’
‘’The one exactly! He is said to be a true phenomenon.’’
‘’He is, Madam Lee. On top of being incredibly well equipped, if I may say so, he also knows how to use his personal tool in a masterful way and knows about everything possible about women’s pleasure points. My female customers at the Zero-G Nirvana asteroid were positively crazy about him.’’
‘’Gee! Any chance that I could hire him on a permanent basis?’’
‘’Not a chance!’’ replied at once Gerhard while smiling. ‘’He is too good to let go. However, I will be glad to lend his services to you for the duration of our stay aboard.’’
‘’Excellent! In case you didn’t notice, at least half of the crew of the KOSTROMA is female and quite young. As a result, my poor male dancers are heavily solicited and could certainly use some help.’’
Gerhard’s smile then turned into a grin.
‘’Then, your female crewmembers better hold on to their panties for the next couple of weeks, Madam Lee.’’
Just then, Gerhard spotted Tina Forster, who was approaching at a fast walk.
‘’Aah…here comes our intrepid ship’s captain!’’
Playing the perfect gentleman, the brothel owner got up from his chair and pulled a chair for Tina, then pushed it gently back towards the table once Tina sat down, getting a ‘thank you’ in exchange. Sitting back in his chair, Gerhard smiled to Tina.
‘’I hope that you were not retained by a serious problem, my dear.’’
‘’Oh, it was nothing to be worried about, John: it was a simple false alarm about an outer airlock door showing ‘open’ when it was in fact closed and locked. A team of electricians dealt with it quickly enough.’’
‘’Still, an outer airlock door showing itself to be supposedly open is not something to neglect. I would have done the same as you if that had happened on my asteroid and would have personally made sure that it was checked out.’’
‘’Talking of your asteroid, you haven’t told me yet what will happen to it, now that you left it with all your furnishing and supplies. Will it stay empty from now on?’’
‘’Oh no!’’ replied at once the brothel owner. ‘’Such a Space installation is too precious and valuable to be simply abandoned. I actually made a very profitable deal with those suckers from the European Union, who bought my asteroid and the fixed installations still inside it so that it could become the new base station for a Space mining company recently created and financed by the European Union, or EU in short. The EU also bought a number of Space facilities from the Sverdlovsk Group, which has been lately moving gradually its population and assets out of the Main Asteroid Belt and reestablishing them in the Tau Ceti System, mainly on New Venice. You will understand that all the Spacers’ League citizens have been dreaming for a long time to be able to live on the surface of a fully habitable world. Now that we have over a dozen habitable worlds available for colonization, there is no turning back on the general move of the Spacers’ League’s population towards the habitable star systems nearest to Earth. This will thus leave the various governments on Earth free to buy and occupy the old Spacers’ league’s Space installation and take over the mining of the Solar System’s resources.’’
‘’And that is a truly momentous period for Humanity, John, and one that is thankfully happening in a peaceful way. Uh, from the words you used to describe your deal with the EU concerning your asteroid, may I conclude that you fleeced them, John?’’
The brothel owner responded with a wide smile and a wink of one eye.
‘’Just a little bit, Tina. Just a little bit. So, what will happen in the next few days?’’
‘’Well, we are due to enter a low orbit over New Venice tonight and will then wait in orbit until we have confirmation from the ground construction crew that your chosen site is ready to receive the prefabricated structures of your new resort. Then, my ship will do a slow vertical descent from orbit and will put down the various modules we are carrying on top of their foundations. It should then take a day or two for the ground crew to make sure that the structures are perfectly aligned and level before fixing them permanently in place. Only after that will we start transferring your supplies and support equipment and craft to your new resort, something that should take another two to three days. Thus, your people should be able to move into their new homes on New Venice in about a week. I suppose that you will want to resume your commercial operations soon after that and start greeting customers, right?’’
‘’Correct! As many said in the past, ‘time is money’. I invested a lot in this move to New Venice and I need to make some profits as quickly as possible. And you, my friend, how busy is your schedule for the next few weeks and months?’’
‘’Oh, it is definitely a busy one, John: after this job is done, I have a number of secondary transport contracts for supply runs to a number of our new colonies, following which I have in succession four big contracts to transport in place the elements of a number of modular cities, to be delivered respectively to the Jurassika and New Shouria Systems. I expect lots of other similar contracts for the next few years, so my ship will stay a busy one.’’
‘’I am glad to hear that, my friend. How about ordering a bottle of fine wine to celebrate our respective accomplishments?’’
‘’That sounds like an excellent idea, John.’’ replied Tina, smiling to Gerhard.