Robert - A free citizen of the Jocastain Arcology

This was not how Robert envisioned spending his twenty-first birthday.

Growing up he'd always pictured this day being one of celebration; receiving his shares which had been held in trust, partying with his friends, maybe even purchasing a or two. His father had been a wealthy and modestly powerful man after-all, a low-level official in the aristocracy of the arcology. He had been able to afford quite the comfortable living for his family, a cushy apartment in the upper mid-levels, luxury vehicles, and a security . He had been the right hand of one of the real movers in the arcology's politics and his star had always been ever rising. But that was the problem.

His father had been.

When Robert was fifteen his father had died suddenly, forcing his family into an uncertain future. According to the law, as the eldest (and only) son, Robert was the sole heir and rightful inheritor of all his father's property; but until he turned twenty-one he didn't have access to the finances. As such his assets were held in trust until he came of age. His mother and elder sister, being women, weren't allowed to operate as his guardian and executor of the estate. That right fell upon his father's lawyer, who ended up being quite untrustworthy. Over the years the snake liquidated the family's assets and pocketed the money for himself, leaving the family near-destitute. Knowing that he'd be fired first thing on Robert's twenty-first birthday, he emptied the rest of the accounts and went into hiding. The only things the law prevented him from selling was the shares and, more importantly, the human property; that required the consent of the male head of household.

Financially ruined, Robert's mother was to submit herself to slavery just to buy her children enough money to make it to Robert's birthday. That money bought them time, but Robert was still to negotiate a deal to sell his older sister to an interested buyer. Although it wasn't set to go through for another month, it was a sale that the young man really didn't want to make.

Robert was in a bad way.

Now he sat at a table in the poorly-lit backroom of one of the ubiquitous clubs in the lower levels of the arcology. Across from him was Harold Dux, a middle-aged, balding, moderately overweight, greasy man, who was receiving a blow-job from one of his conditioned whores. The man also just-so-happened to have purchased Robert's mother. Earlier that day, Robert had cashed out what remained of his inheritance and had gone to Harold with the intention of buying her back. Unfortunately, Harold had invested quite a lot of money in 're-conditioning' Robert's mother, and the price for her was significantly more than Robert could afford. Fortunately, Harold had a weakness for gambling.

Even more fortunately, he was a terrible poker player.

The game was "Vexas Hold'em"; long popular from even before The Fall, and Harold had just gone all-in. They'd been playing for a while now, and Robert had done fairly well, pretty much cleaning Harold out. The older man should have quit a long time ago, but that compulsive gambler got the better of him; and Harold, foolishly, had put up Robert's mother for one last hand.

Robert had been indifferent to his hole cards: K♥ and J♥. When the flop: Q♥ 5♠ 9♥ came up his spirits vastly improved. And with the turn: 10♥ it took everything he had to keep his body neutral. He already had the King-high straight-flush, and the hand. Harold was pulling at the hairs of his neck-beard, which Robert had quickly deduced meant he had something small, but needed something else to make it better. Then came the river: 5♦.

Harold slapped his hands together and jumped up from his seat, nearly knocking the bleach-blonde blowing him over in the process, and shouting in glee "Yes! Boo-yah!" He then flipped over his cards: 9♠ and 9♣, as his average sized cock began spurting it's load everywhere. "You see that!?" he said snapping his fingers, while his face contorted in orgasm "That's a poker hand boy! That's how you win!"

"Actually..." Robert waited until Harold's jerking member stopped before he replied, finally allowing a smirk to cross his lips while flipping over his own cards. "That's how you lose."

Harold's face fell in an instant and he slumped down into his chair. If he were anyone else, Robert would be concerned that the man would renege on their deal. Thankfully, Harold was something akin to an honest man. An exceptionally rare commodity these days, especially in the lower levels.

"Double or nothing!" he declared indicating the blonde who'd gone back clean his shrinking penis. "You'll get Kagney if you win."