Introduction

 

The Second Great Depression of 2129 resulted in a massive upheaval of the world's economic system. Whole countries, unable to provide their citizens with basic human needs, ceased to exist, and billions of people slipped back into an abject worldwide poverty not seen since the 1930s.

Slowly, the world's largest cities began to recover in the 2140s. As the regional centers of commerce, the large cities were better able to support their populations with economy-of-scale efficiencies. Over time, more and more people moved to the metropolises, seeking a better life. This migration created enormous wealth for a few and slums for most. These ghettos soon became the economic engines for the cities, providing a ready supply of cheap labor.

Meanwhile, the rural areas between the cities deteriorated further into no-man's-lands filled with dirt-poor migrants, lawless marauders and vigilantes. This region, called the outback, was a dangerous place to live and to travel even in the U.S.

Gradually, it became obvious that wealth distribution had effectively reverted to an 18^th Century model with one percent of the world's population controlling ninety-nine percent of its resources. It was equally obvious that labor could not practically exist in this new economic landscape with the liberal pay rates and rules of the 21^st and 22^nd Century. To provide jobs and to improve the lot of the working poor in the slums, many governments relaxed their laws on indentured and voluntary servitude. This dropped the price of unskilled labor to practically nothing and allowed skilled workers the long-term security they craved.

The VolServ laws in America were a model for the rest of the world. They allowed ordinary workers the right to contract for long-term "employment." Eventually, the rich extended these contracts to personal services and ultimately to sex. Given the world situation, this was not as morally objectionable in 2145 as it was in 2045. In fact, people were generally in favor of more "enthralling" VolServ contracts, including the right of attractive men and women to sell themselves into sexual service. These sexual extensions, known as the "thrall" provisions, gave some owners of VolServ contracts the right to demand intercourse and, in some cases, the right to use extreme BDSM techniques.

Ethan Maddox, a lawyer working for a prestigious East-Coast law firm gets caught up in a legal battle with charlotte Forester over a beautiful VolServ thrall, Kim James, owned by the late multi-millionaire Howard Forester. This entanglement and his dispute with Charlotte gets progressive worse when Ethan is forced to take Kim from Washington state to Nevada where her ePlant neural mesh is allowed by law.

The attempt to bypass Washington state law falters, however, when Kim is abducted in the Owyhee Desert by Rocco DeCastro and his biker gang. Ethan recovers Kim from the bikers after she is gang raped, but he is wounded in the process. By the time their ragtag band reaches Las Vegas things have gone completely off the rails. Ethan's friend, Bob Cushing, a Las Vegas hotel and casino owner, takes control. Using deception, he manages to switch Kim's identity with the insufferable Charlotte Forester then he ships Charlotte off to Saudi Arabia as a thrall. This saves Ethan's neck, and put's Charlotte's inheritance in Bob's control. It also allows Bob to hire Ethan as the new head of his project, AmerromA.

 

 

Chapter 1 - Annie

 

Charlotte was locking the shop's Annie Sawyer stood in front of the employment office for a long time. She had dreamed about this day, prayed for it for so long it had become a fantasy, an impossible goal that would remain in her imagination forever. Now it was here, a few feet away. This was her escape hatch, her portal into another world, a better world.

Ideally, she would become a Vegas showgirl. She had been wishing for this for half her life. She had the legs for it, the body, and she wasn't afraid of the hard work needed to succeed on the stage. But this was only one possibility, there were hundreds of others, hundreds of...

GO FOR IT...! A voice screamed in her head. Stop thinking about it and DO IT!

She stepped out into the street and ran across as if someone was chasing her. Thugs had chased her before, several times, but this was different. This time she was running towards something this time she was...

"Whoa...! What's your hurry? Can I help you?"

The man sitting behind the desk smiled warmly. Apparently, this kind of strange behavior was not that unusual.

"I, ah, I am looking for a job."

"Well you've come to the right place, young lady. That is exactly what we are here for. VEG, the Vegas Employment Group, stands ready 24/7 to match candidates with positions. Pleas, have a seat will you."

She hesitated. His mindless prattle was the same jive talk she heard in the ghetto. She thought about leaving, running away then realized she had nothing to run back to except more of the same. There was only one direction left for her, forward. She sat down tentatively in front of his desk then folder her hands in her lap. She knew she was not dressed properly for city born folk with her worn jeans and sneakers, but they were the best she owned.

"So, what kind of job were you thinking about, little lady...?"

Annie shrugged her shoulders. She preferred it when someone told her what to do, but since her father had run off and her mother had died of the flu, there was no one she trusted enough to obey. Somehow, she found the courage to speak.

"The, ah, sign outside said, 'Entertainment positions available - Must be 18 years old' I, ah, eighteen. I, ah, always wanted to be ... a showgirl."

He smiled and nodded his head, acknowledging the difficulty of her little speech.

"People are always looking to hire pretty girls like you, but jobs like that usually go to city born. Any other things you might like to do...?

She looked crestfallen but recovered quickly and shrugged again.

She knew the score: by city born he meant not from the slums, the functional equivalent of, "no ghetto-girls need apply." The best jobs, the decent jobs went to those who had money and connections, those classy, well-mannered girls who knew which fork to use and when to stop talking. It had been stupid of her to think...

"So, what else were you thinking...?"

She tried to hide it, but her crooked smile betrayed her disappointment. She had known that becoming a dancer, a real dancer, was a long shot, but she wanted to try, to see for herself. There were many high-paying jobs available to a pretty 18-year-old girl if she was "flexible." Annie also knew what they meant by "flexible." It was just another word for "fuckable."

Did it really matter, she wondered? Wasn't she prepared to do a lot more than fuck a man to get out of the slum? She had turned 18 yesterday and was already her, already applying for a city job. Did it matter what she did? This was about survival; if one of the gangs took her, she was finished. With her looks, the only choice was to get out or to find a protector, someone who could keep her safe in return for... She didn't want to think about what her "protector" would want in return. There was no resisting the poverty and despair found in the ghetto. This was her only chance to escape.

"Wha ... whatever you've got is okay, mister."

"Excellent! I have lots of openings for pretty girls in strip bars and gentlemen's clubs. All you need to do it take off your clothes and show your lovely body. These jobs don't pay much, but the tips are good, especially if you become a featured dancer. You have a chance to make some real money with those legs. Lap dancing pays well too...

"Lots of girls also make big money with side jobs, you know?"

She did know, he meant as a prostitute. She didn't want that; she had seen what whores looked like after a few years of fucking and sucking cock, after a few dozen abusive boyfriends and pimps. They became throwaways, trash. She didn't want to end up beaten and broke.

"I want to make enough money to quit in a few years."

Her friends had told her to say this. It was the key phase, the words that allowed the recruiters to consider VolServ. The man stared at her for a minute, moving his eyes from her hair and face to her slim well-endowed body.

"Would you consider voluntary servitude, Annie, a VolServ contract with thrall provisions?"

She nodded yes, hesitantly. The thrall provisions mean sexual services... She didn't care if those services paid well. Sex just wasn't that important to her, not compared to a comfortable life outside the slum.

"Well, okay! Now that's a horse of a different color. How long were you thinking...?"

The question confused her.

"How long a contract did you want, five years, ten...? We don't place anyone for more than ten."

"Five...," she said immediately.

In five years, she would only be 23, old but not too old.

"Okay," he said cheerfully, anticipating the large commission paid for VolServ placements. "You will need to pass a preliminary exam, to provide a DNA sample to prove you are 18, and to agree to a background check. If you do okay with all that, you need to pass a full medical and a psych test. The state also requires that you have a lawyer to advise you; we have several on call, as well as witnesses and notaries. This can get a little complicated, but we can help you through."

He was pulling forms from his desk as he spoke, clearly anxious to get something on paper.

"You are literate, right; you can read and write can't you, Annie?"

She nodded. There was no public schooling in the Las Vegas' slum anymore, but her mother had gotten her into the mission school before she... She had insisted that she attend school even though travel through the outback was dangerous.

"Yes, I, ah, I can. I have a high school degree."

"Great. You understand what a VolServ contract means, right? You know it requires you to perform acts of a sexual nature without regard to your personal preference, and to waive your legal and moral rights regarding confinement and due process, and...

She stopped listening as he rattled off the mandatory disclaimer.

"...The contract owner of a thrall has the right to have sex with you, to put you in bondage, and to discipline you at his or her discretion," he explained quickly. "You cannot terminate the contract without specific cause, such as permanent physical or mental damage. The owner might even rename you. The legal term for your status is enthrallment. You become an enthrallee, a thrall, and you lose your rights as an American citizen.

"Do you understand all of this and agree...?"

She nodded.

"Excellent. The best deal we have right now is with AmerromA. They are paying $68,000 for a five year-deal, but if you are ready to sign up today, I get you $75,000. If you bank the money with Desert Trust, you will have," he checked his computer, "$89,557 when the contract ends in five years. How does that sound?"

Her eyes lit up: $89,557 was more money than she could save in a lifetime, and that assumed she could find a job. She nodded again.

"Okay then...! As a provisional applicant, we can give you your preliminary examination immediately. Once you pass the exam, we will need to hold you here overnight and complete the other processing steps tomorrow. It is entirely possible we can have you starting officially with the AmerromA people tomorrow night.

"The sooner your contract starts, the sooner it's over."

His eagerness was putting her off a little but not enough to chase her away. She nodded, she had nothing to go back to in the slum. He handed her a form and she started reading.

 

I, ___________, with vaginal DNA sample attached, being of sound mind, and without any threat, coercion, or other illegal means of persuasion do agree to...

 

She stopped reading and looked up. This was just legal mumbo-jumbo. They could say anything they wanted in a contract and she wouldn't know. She signed at the bottom thinking she knew enough already about what it meant to be a thrall.

"Great," he said, quickly placing the signed document in his draw.

"That's it, easy, right? You are on your way. Like I said, we will handle the rest later."

He stood up and extended his hand. She took it and smiled.

"If you walk through that door, Annie, Miss Fielding will conduct the preliminary exam."

She smiled at him and walked through the door. It was easy, she thought.

 

***

 

"My name is Miss Fielding. Undress, please."

The woman in the exam room wore a white lab coat. She turned away to pull on a pair of latex gloves.

"Any allergy to latex, dear?"

"Ah, no," Annie said. In fact, she had no idea if she was allergic to latex. No one at the free clinic had ever asked her that question.

"Your clothes, please..."

Annie hurriedly pulled her t-shirt over her head, shucked off her old sneakers, and slipped out of her jeans. She was proud of her body, her firm tits, her narrow waist, her hard ass. She had been hiding her looks under baggy clothes since puberty, protecting herself from the packs of young thugs that roamed the slums looking for girls. There was no need to hide now. Now, all that precaution was going to pay off.

"Please, stand straight," she ordered. "Raise your arms over your head and cross your wrists."

She complied and the woman began taking pictures with a digital camera.

"We send these on to your potential employer for their preliminary screening. It's just a formality. I'm sure they will love your look."

Annie nodded, pleased.

"Lean over the table please, your bellybutton on top of the red dot."

She was suddenly afraid and put her hands over her breasts.

"Look, Miss, ah, Sawyer, this is just a preliminary medical exam and a kinetic test of your responses, but we don't need to continue if you don't want. You have the right to back out right up until you sign your contract. So, do you want to continue...?"

She nodded feeling dumb and walked to the stainless-steel table in the middle of the room. It was about two feet long and had rounded edges. Slowly, she bent over. The woman quickly belted the table's strap around her waist and pressed a button; four heavy chains lowered from the ceiling. Without asking, she strapped her wrists into the cuffs at the ends of the chains then raised her long legs one at a time and did the same with her ankles.

Annie closed her eyes and thought about what she could buy with $89,557. She could feel a breeze from the air conditioning between her legs, feel it blowing across the wetness inside her vagina. She closed her eyes again. Her friend had told her that...

There was a faint hum and the table under her midsection lowered slowly to the floor while the chains on her limbs took up her weight. Her head turned towards Miss Fleming, who smiled reassuringly. When the table finally separated from her torso, the chains on her limbs held her splayed open in midair. In a moment of panic, she wanted her to stop, but she didn't want to look stupid.

"Relax, it's fine," Miss Fleming said reassuringly.

She took a magnifying glass and began to examine her skin looking for... Looking for what...? Annie wondered silently, suppressing her protest.

"Lots of girls come to us with externally visible issues," Miss Fleming said as she spread Annie's ass cheeks, pushing her latex covered finger into her anus. "We like to know about issues before we send our applicants for their medical ... it is an expensive exam, you know?"

Annie started to squirm with the woman's finger up her ass.

"Good, very tight."

She took a spreader bar from a draw and strapped it between her knees, making it impossible for the girl to close her legs. Standing between her thighs, she inserted a speculum into her vagina. Instinctually, Annie tried to close her legs, but the chains and the bar made it impossible.

"Okay, you seem healthy and certainly comely enough for auction. Did he take you for auction?"

"AmerromA," Annie whispered quietly, still squirming from the spread of the speculum.

"AmerromA...!

"You are a lucky girl to be considered for AmerromA. They only take those with high potential. Most applicants go for the public auction at the Metropol."

She removed the speculum then moved back to the draw, out of Annie's limited sight.

"I need to test your response to pain. It's like a test of your reflexes like when the doctor bangs on your knee."

Annie braced for a tap on her knee but instead she heard the unmistakable sound of a whip and felt a sudden burning of a lash on her ass. She jerked away from the pain then began to thrash wildly as Miss Fleming casually whipped every part of her body. She was still shaking in pain, quivering in fear, when Miss Fleming pushed the vibrator into her cunt.

Suddenly, her body was undulating, fucking itself with a wild abandon she had never experienced before. She couldn't control it, couldn't stop; the pain, the vibration, the helplessness all came together in a blinding flash of orgasmic ecstasy. Her mind stopped recording, stopped remembering what was happening. Her climax, when it came, was quick and violent, too extreme for her conscious mind to absorb. She faded out.

When full consciousness returned, she was face-down on the floor, still naked, her wrists in shackles behind her back.

"Good, you're awake. Congratulations, you passed. I took a vaginal DNS swab while you were out. We include it with the application. Tonight, we hold you in the kennel for observation then add our observations to your paperwork when we ship you to AmerromA."

Annie could feel the lines left by the whip; they were still burning. Miss Fleming helped her to her feet and walked her into another room. Cages, like those used for medium size dogs, filled the room Two girls raised their heads painfully to watch. Manacles held their wrists behind their backs, chained to the bars at the top of the cage. Miss Fleming turned her around and carefully backed her into the cage.

"Your wrists, please, Annie."

Annie lifted her arms to the top of the cage where Miss Fleming snapped the manacle chain to the bars. She felt a gnawing pain in her shoulders.

"Good luck," she said as she locked the room's door.

A small night light and the red glow of a camera remained on. She could hear the other applicants moaning. No one spoke; what was there to say? Would they really keep her caged like this for the entire night, she wondered?