Author's note:
This story is a fantasy, set in a fictional, dystopian world. It is a romance and an adventure. If you are looking for reality you might want to give this a pass.
--------
The party was kicking into high gear and Arnie Cooper had been leading the charge. It was the end of an old year and the start of a new one and this group of friends had been hitting the booze like prohibition started at midnight.
They were staying at a small resort on St. Stephen's Island, a small somewhat unpopular (cheap) island in the Caribbean.
As usual, the ingestion of mass quantities of alcohol brings about extremely bad decision making.
Arnie had left his girlfriend Jo behind in London. She had to work and he had absolutely no desire to spend New Year's Eve alone in his apartment, so he agreed on this last minute trip with a few friends.
A guy that they met at the resort said that he knew a place that they could could get some real, native home made sugar cane liquor that would make regular booze seem like water. The three friends loaded up into the aging Datsun sedan and drove off into the dark night.
They pulled into a driveway that lead to a barn. They all got out of the car and walked into the barn. That was when the world went black for Arnie Cooper.
----------
Arnie Cooper's eyes fluttered and finally opened. He was on a gurney, a very uncomfortable gurney. Straps held him down so he couldn't move.
He had no idea where he was, the room was dingy and industrial looking, it smelled of agriculture, grain and manure.
There were voices around him, just out of eye sight. It was a conversation in a foreign language. Nothing sounded familiar, it wasn't German, French or Spanish. It didn't sound like Mandarin, Cantonese or Korean.
Someone had noticed that he was awake so they came over to the gurney and spoke in a few different languages, eventually trying English.
"You are awake? Who are you?"
Arnie opened his mouth to speak his name but...he didn't know his name.
"I don't know. I can't seem to remember."
"You were robbed, beaten and left for dead, probably on a small island in the Caribbean, many of our Anglo workers are sourced there. You have been sold to this company. If your God has mercy on you, you will never regain the memory of your past life."
Arnie strained to think, surely I know who I am!
"My job is to get you physically healthy. Then you will be sent to work."
"What kind of work?"
"You are a big man so I expect it will be heavy labour."
"I haven't got any personal memory but I do know that slavery is wrong."
"You call it slavery, it is human trafficking. If you were a woman you would have been put to work in a brothel right away. You've been beaten badly. You will work when I patch you up."
----------
Arnie was two days in recovery. Guards were at every door to ensure no runners could escape.
The food was barely edible but it seemed to keep hunger away.
His first job was digging. Sadly it was digging graves for workers who had lost their usefulness and couldn't be sold.
Arnie had been a fair athlete in school. He had always responded well to exercise so the constant digging helped build and tone his muscles. While he dug he imagined a whole different life. Was he married, single, was he rich or poor?
There was always the hope that he would get his memory back but the longer he was without it, the less likely he would.
One very hot day of digging graves he pulled off the dirty T-shirt he was wearing. His heavily muscled arms and chest glistened with sweat. It was damn hard work but he had seen what happened to those who fought the system or lost their value to their owners. So he worked hard.
It was unusual to see non-industrial vehicles in the compound but there was a Maybach driving by where he was working. It stopped briefly right where he worked. He didn't lift his head. It was better not to know more than needed.
He glanced up to see a driver get out and open the rear door for a passenger. She was tall, and had long black hair. She went straight into the barn.
It was an hour later and another grave was begun before two men came from the office and indicated he should follow them.
He was led back to the building where he had gained consciousness when he first arrived. He was hosed down and sprayed with a liquid soap. They indicated he should wash.
He was then given a robe and marched to the office and a room where two people were seated, the woman and a man. The man spoke.
"Take off your robe."
"Sir?"
"I said, take off the robe."
He untied the robe and let it fall from his shoulders. The woman stood and walked towards Arnie. She looked up at him with a smile. She lowered her eyes to his chest, his waist, his crotch and his feet. She walked around him, inspecting him like a slab of beef.
"He'll do," she commented.
Arnie was guided out of the office and back to the medical building where he was given a pair of pants and a shirt to wear. He was given a pair of shoes. He was told to get in the passenger seat and was chained in to an anchor in the floor.
The driver was silent and so was the woman in the back. He had learned that asking questions always lead to bad results. He would be told what to do when it was required of him. At least the seat was comfortable and the air conditioning was nice and cool.
An hour in the car brought them to a small airfield where a private jet had been prepared for takeoff. The woman and Arnie left the car and boarded the jet.
If the car was luxurious then the jet was otherworldly. This woman was obviously a woman of power and wealth.
After takeoff she spoke to him for the first time.
"Do you have a name?"
"I assume so, I have no memory."
"How is it you became chattel?"
"I don't know. They tell me I was taken from an island in the Caribbean."
"It is a ruthless business but a necessary one for the world to function. You commanded a high price."
"Did you buy me or am I on loan?""
"I bought you."
"You have said more to me in just a few minutes than anyone I've met."
"I'm a talkative person, and I enjoy speaking English, I can use the practice."
"Can I ask what my duties will be?"
"I'll have you doing all sorts of things but right now I'm more interested in inspecting my purchase. They washed you but I'd prefer one of my people give you a bath once we land"
A young woman came and collected Arnie and took him to a large bathing pool. He was scrubbed until he thought the skin would come off. He was given a robe and led back to his new owner.
"Just stand over here by the window so I can see you in the natural light. Take off the robe."
Arnie let the robe fall, he was self conscious but he knew better than to protest.
