The moment they left me alone, I crawled straight for the door with a purpose.
I just had to press the little button and everything would work out.
And I wanted it to work out so, so badly.
I sat down on my bottom and stretched my arms forward.
Just reach it, and it’ll all work out…
Suddenly the panel beeped, and with a dull hiss the doors slid apart.
Time to run!
I tumbled out into a hallway that looked enormous by a baby’s standards, done up in pink and maroon.
Paintings hung on the walls, though I couldn’t make out what they showed.
Voices drifted from behind closed doors, along with some huffing and snoring.
But most of the noise came from the far end of the hallway, blocked off by two heavy curtains.
They looked far too heavy for my small body to push aside.
Looking closer, though, I spotted a gap between them, just wide enough for a kid to squeeze through.
I crawled toward my goal, huffing with effort.
My hands and knees got a little scraped and dirty—unfortunately, there was no soft carpet in that hallway, only worn wooden parquet.
But that wasn’t going to stop me!
A few minutes later, only the curtains stood between me and all that noise.
I squeezed through the narrow gap, nearly pinned under the heavy curtains as their full unliftable weight pressed down on me, but somehow I wriggled forward and stuck my nose against a wooden platform with a railing.
From below came men’s laughter, loud music, the clatter of cutlery, and some very appetizing smells.
The huge hall below was dimly lit by lamps set into the walls.
Strangely, the fixtures were also done in pink and maroon, casting the room into a mysterious half-light.
People sat at metal tables.
Some of them had something that looked like pistols at their belts.
If only I could remember what a pistol even was…
A round bar stood in the center of the hall, and behind it stood a robot.
Something about all of it felt very familiar—the armor and clothes the patrons wore, that humanoid machine indifferently polishing a glass.
Suddenly the lights went out.
A moment later a spotlight lit up the stage.
The curtain parted, and a girl walked out, swaying her hips.
A very graceful, beautiful girl—the fluid grace of her movements was mesmerizing.
I’m sure she could have been called stunning, if not for one fatal wrongness I simply couldn’t wrap my head around.
Everything in me was screaming that this couldn’t exist in reality…
her skin was green.
I shook my head, trying to chase the illusion away.
Two long tails growing straight out of her head swayed in time with her cat-like movements.
But that wasn’t possible!
Yet my eyes kept finding more strange details that somehow felt familiar at the same time.
A three-wheeled robot that looked something like a trash bin.
A couple of patrons who looked almost human, except for the small horns growing out of their heads and the black tattoos covering their faces.
A handful of girls who looked a lot like the performer, walking through the hall in extremely revealing outfits.
In a far corner sat a group of people fully encased in armor, helmets on, a jetpack or something like it standing next to each of them.
There was empty space all around that group, like everyone was avoiding them on purpose.
Looking closer, I noticed a thin trail of smoke rising from one man’s gun barrel.
In another corner sat a creature covered entirely in brown fur, standing over two meters tall.
Suddenly someone lifted me from behind and turned me around to face them.
A terrifying red face stared back at me—a black beard and two big horns rounding out an already monstrous mug.
Scared out of my mind, the smartest thing I could think to do was headbutt the monster in the nose with everything I had.
He didn’t even flinch—just laughed and carried me off somewhere, gently.
A couple minutes later we ended up in a dark room, full of girls of every color and height, all of them in nearly the same sheer clothing that barely covered anything.
Wait, no, that’s a lie.
My tear-blurred eyes caught a familiar shape—or really, I felt a familiar warmth before I saw it.
Mama was standing beside one of the girls, wrapping a small bandage around her shoulder.
The strange green-skinned woman winced but held still.
My kidnapper said something, and Mama came over to him.
He handed me over, ruffled my hair once, and disappeared through the door.
Holding me tight against her, she carried me through the halls at a near run.
She kept talking to me the whole way, but I didn’t understand a word and just wanted to sleep.
I think sleep caught up with me before we even made it back to the room…
Time picked up speed after that.
I could walk steadily now, even run a little, and I’d started talking.
That last part caught everyone off guard.
Not long after the incident, Mama started taking me along on walks and sit-downs with her friends outside the room.
As time passed, I found myself understanding more and more of what they said, without even trying.
By now, almost every phrase still sounded unfamiliar, but I could follow the general meaning.
As usual, they were talking about goings-on in our city—which, frankly, wasn’t much of a place.
From their conversations, I gathered we were very far from the galactic center, and as a result nobody up top cared about keeping order down here.
The police only patrolled the rich district; the rest of the city didn’t matter at all to the elite.
So real power here sat in the hands of pirates, bandits, and thieves, and our establishment was no exception.
It took me a long time to work out exactly where we lived.
But after a few weeks, I finally remembered the word I needed: brothel!
Mama, though, seemed to be a doctor here, at least from what I could piece together from scraps of conversation…
The girls were sitting in their spacious room, going over the latest gossip.
“Kelly, get this,” the green-skinned Twi’lek fumed—the same one who’d performed on stage earlier.
“Some upstart tried to bite off a piece of our Boss’s territory.
And on top of that, he demanded you as compensation, can you believe it?
Like he doesn’t want anyone but you.”
“So I take it Koven settled things?”
“Pretty much took the guy’s head off—though not before all his little attempts at chivalry.
A duel, if you can believe it, instead of just shooting the bastard and being done with it.”
“What do you mean, pretty much?”
one of the girls on the couch asked.
“The bastard ran.
The Boss started playing all noble about it, and the upstart didn’t get the memo.
The second his head was nearly split in half, his boys opened fire.
By the time we finished them off, the guy had already slipped away.
I’d have added a little something extra for you, honey.
But don’t worry—with a scar like the one the Boss gave him, that bastard won’t stay hidden for long.” The Twi’lek made a vivid gesture showing exactly what she’d do to the guy.
I was fully on board with her, and gave a happy little coo.
“See, even your son agrees.”
“When he grows up he’ll be my brave protector, won’t you, little one?” Someone ruffled my hair fondly.
“You’ll protect your mama?”
“‘Course I wiww, mama.”
Everyone was staring at me, and I stared right back.
It took me a second to realize what I’d just done.
“You said your first words!” Someone scooped me up and spun me around the room.
Her joy was so contagious I laughed right along with her.
“You good boy, you.”
Congratulations poured in from every direction.
Everyone wanted to pat my head, squeeze me, coo over me.
Then one voice cut through the noise and silenced the room.
“I’ll join in,” a deep bass voice said from the doorway.
“It’s nice to see such touching moments in this establishment.”
“Hello, Boss.”
The girls rose and bowed as one.
Standing in the doorway was a two-meter-tall humanoid—the same being who’d found me during my first great escape.
More than anything, he looked like a demon; at least, that’s how my mind described him.
Red skin, horns, a beard, an imposing height.
But for all that, he was, in contrast to his looks, a genuinely good man.
I had no idea how I knew that either, but it sat in my head as a solid, undeniable fact.
“Oh, come on, I’ve told you—when it’s just us, you can drop the formalities.
We’ve been working together for the good of our Shadow Front for a while now.”
Quiet laughter rippled through the room.
I didn’t get the joke, but I smiled along anyway.
“Oh, come on, Boss,” the Twi’lek shot back, hands on her hips.
“You’re our management, which means we’re supposed to address you how, exactly?” She raised a finger to the ceiling, held the pause, then finished.
“That’s right—re-spect-ful-ly.” She turned to look at me.
“Am I right, Seth?”
“Yesh.”
“Say Boss.”
“Bofs.”
“Don’t you dare teach the kid bad habits!”
“As if I would, Boss.”
Mama didn’t join the conversation—she just smiled, watching them.
“Come on, Seth, time for bed.
You’re already falling asleep.”
And she was right—without my noticing, my eyes had nearly slipped shut.