Bordello della Libertà (Aethertales Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

no expense for the renovation. Trygassi, while at the bank withdrawing
union dues from the S.L.U.T.’s accounts for his own personal spending, was
approached by a man in a straw hat, dark sunglasses and a button-down bedazzled
with tropical flowers, who thrust a subpoena into his hand and disappeared out
the door without a word. He was sentenced to personally pay for the lost income
of all those hard-working harlots who surrendered hours to the lackluster and
lazy. The courts drained his bank accounts, which were already overflowing with
silver and gold, but even with all his unearned and undeserved wealth, he still
couldn’t make up the difference; he surrendered all assets, even the clothes on
his back, and was left hungry and naked in the street. And when higher
government agencies uncovered his years of tax evasion, they threw him in jail,
and denied him an orange uniform, because he couldn’t afford one. Lucia, on the
other hand, bought herself a new designer dress, which she wore to the exoport
on the other side of town.
    Sudika
stood at the boarding gate with a leather handbag and a mountain of luggage
behind her, packed full with low-cut blouses and miniskirts imported from the
extravagant boutiques of Coral Grove. She held a stack of paper Talents in her
hand, clutched to her heart like a gift she refused to give away or even allow
to be seen, simply because she cherished it so deeply. Her smile and wide-eyed
expression conveyed her sense of excitement, of hope and faith in the future;
in the same moment, Lucia couldn’t discern the glistening tears as a mark of
joy or of sadness, perhaps both. It was something Lucia had encouraged for a
long time, and now that the two of them had reached the crossroads they’d
always imagined with such optimism, Lucia couldn’t help but miss her protégée
before she’d even boarded the shuttle.
    “So
the city’s free again,” Sudika said with a wistful smile. “I guess it’s my
turn, now.”
    “You’ll
never have to worry about living these horrors again,” Lucia insisted. “On Acadica,
the S.L.U.T. would never gain a hold on even a single brothel. The unions have
never had power in the Colonies, and they have no future there.”
    “It
sounds like a utopia.”
    “Well,
as close as humanity can get.”
    It
was a world where Sudika could work to the fullest extent of her ability, never
limited by arbitrary caps on her hours for the sake of those who had no desire
to work hard, or work at all. She could speak her mind without concern for the
childish and narcissistic sensitivity of others, for it was a world where the
right to not be offended was an unheard-of phenomenon. Even those who disagreed
with her opinion would fight to the death for her right to say it, and she,
Lucia knew, would do the same. Acadica was a world for a girl like Sudika. She
would never again have to live in fear of an ideology that sought to lower her
to the level of society’s most unproductive dregs, or organizations who
condemned her for her achievements, viewing achievement as evidence of
selfishness and contemptible pride. On Acadica, achievement was the pinnacle of
personal value. “Need” was a worthless societal currency, and when Lucia
watched Sudika step onto the shuttle with a tearful smile, she knew that she
would need for nothing, for the only limit to her prosperity would be the
limits she imposed on herself. And Lucia knew that self-limitation was something
Sudika, nor any of her Freedom Whores, would ever allow.

 
    About
the Authors
     
    J. D’Urso
and E. Bryan, the creators of the novelette series Aethertales and the
full novel The Aetherverse , first met at Binghamton University in 2008.
D’Urso, an Italian-American from Long Island, NY, received a BA in the Arabic
language but has since entered the healthcare field, first in New York City and
more recently Washington, DC. Bryan, an Argentine-American living in South
Florida, obtained two BAs in History and Political