Chapter 1

March 23rd 2273

Today, I woke up.

It felt like barely a moment had gone by since I was frozen, but apparently it was over two-hundred and fifty years. Two-hundred and fifty years since I'd said goodbye to my husband and son.

Now I was sat in a small room, dressed in a skin-tight leotard that somehow kept me warm despite being thin as paper. Now I had to try and adapt.

I woke up only half an hour ago. Apparently I’d been in surgery for several days, but I’d been woken slowly, my body now perfectly healed.

They’d tried to prepare me for this. For waking up and everything feeling surreal. It hadn’t worked, not one bit. But the nurse had been nice, offered me a drink, some clothes, and waited nearby while I got dressed, answering my questions.

I’d gone to sleep one day, unable to move my entire body. Within fifteen minutes of waking, I’d dressed myself. It felt like a miracle, but my emotions hadn’t caught up. Instead, I sat in a chair, waiting.

In a small bag at my feet I already had a bunch of documents, including ID and a rebirth certificate. They'd also placed a small chip under my skin. I'd been told it contained all my medical data and history. That it could help save my life. I didn't know what else it did, but I'd had no choice, no chance to reject it. Just like everything else, I'd woken to it already there. I’d sort of agreed to it many years earlier, knowing there would be things I'd not be able to predict.

“Auralia? Are you ready to meet your sponsor?” the woman in the perfectly white lab coat asked. I looked at her. She tried to give me a small smile, but her eyes were full of pity, not warmth.

I nodded.

“This way, then. His name is Daniel Bennet. He paid for your restoration and repair. He was once a rockstar and now he helps people get their lives back.”

Once more, I nodded. I couldn't quite get my head around it. When I had been frozen, I had been dying. I'd had motor neurone disease and it had ravaged most of my body. The future had found a cure.

So here I was, being led to meet the man who'd paid for it.

Waiting in an almost identical room to the one I'd just left was a tall, muscular man. His jet black hair was cut short, and his face well-shaven. Immediately he smiled at me.

“Auralia Minnet, I am so pleased to meet you,” he said. “Although I feel like I know you already. Your file was extensive.”

“Hi,” I replied, remembering my manners just enough to hold out my hand for him to shake. “Thank you.”

He didn’t take the hand, chuckling instead.

“Right,” the nurse said. “If I can just get you to sign here,” she handed me the clipboard that had been tucked under her arm and pointed to a line at the bottom. “Then Daniel can take you to your new home.”

“My new home?” I asked, only glancing at the paper, the pen, attached by a small chain, smacking into my hand.

“Yes. It's all detailed on that page and covered by the paperwork you signed when you were frozen.”

“Thank you, Sarah,” Daniel said. “Let's give Auralia a moment. I'm sure she wants to read through everything. And it can be a lot to process, isn't that right, my dear?”

My eyes met Daniel's. He still smiled but a shiver ran up my spine. There was something about the glint in his eyes, like he was looking at a new toy. One he'd wanted for years. But he was looking at me.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the clipboard and tried to read it quickly.

My eyes were immediately drawn to one section.

Any restoration fee and unpaid bills for being frozen form your life debt and will be paid for by your sponsor. Until this fee is paid back you will be the responsibility of your sponsor. You will work for them and live with them until you have covered the debt, any interest accrued at a reasonable rate, and any further expenses your sponsor incurs while taking care of you. At any point, your sponsor is at liberty to sell on your debt. Any buyer would then become your new sponsor.

I gulped. This wasn’t completely new. I had been warned that the company that froze me would seek ways to cover the costs once the initial deposit my family and I had made ran out.

And it wasn’t like I had a choice now. He’d paid for me to be thawed and healed. I’d gone to sleep unable to move anything but my eyes. I’d woken up able to move everything, my mind no longer trapped inside my own body.

After taking a deep breath, I picked up the pen and signed, agreeing to abide by the rules of sponsorship and relinquishing the cryogenics company from any further responsibility for me.

“Thank you,” I said, handing the clipboard back. I wasn't sure who the gratitude was for, exactly, but I was alive. That was more than I ever thought I’d be able to say for many months.

I tried not to think about my husband and child as Daniel motioned for me to go through the door ahead of him.

“My car is waiting outside to take us to your new home.”

“My new home?” I asked, more to make conversation than anything else.

“Yes. It’s not the largest, but it’s in a safe part of the city and I’m sure the other women will make you feel welcome.” Daniel smiled, walking along beside me as I pattered down a plain beige hallway.

A lump formed in my stomach. Other women? How many women does he mean? And why just women?

I didn’t voice any of the questions, my eyes drawn to the outside world as he opened the front door of the building.

Before me was the shiniest, cleanest, and quietest city I’d ever seen.

The buildings loomed tall, made of glass and metal, each surface glinting in the sunlight and reflecting patches of green trees and grassy areas. Plants filled almost every available gap, yet didn’t look out of place, immaculately cared for, shaped and vibrant.

Several roads weaved among it all, but the vehicles upon them were nothing like the cars I remembered. These were bubbles, floating inches off the surface, moving almost silently.

I followed Daniel as he strode towards one hovering in a parking bay nearby. As we approached, a hatch on the side glided upwards, revealing a plush interior, seats of deep red leather and a soft carpeted floor to match.

I raised my eyebrows as I sat inside. It took me a moment to notice we were no longer alone. Two men sat at one end of the bubble car, their clothing monochrome and their faces blank.

Looking to Daniel, I wondered how to phrase my question. Who are these two people? I thought rather than said.

“Oh, don’t mind Jake and Edward. They’re just my bodyguards.”

“Bodyguards?” I let out, my voice squeaking a little as the lump in my stomach hardened.

“Yes. Even in this day and age, it isn't a good idea to carry around as much wealth as I do and not have a little back up. I've also found that not every member of the normal population agrees with my chosen profession. But Jake and Edward almost never have to do anything.”

Once more, Daniel smiled at me. I tried to get my mind to form sentences and ask more questions, but it wouldn't cooperate. Instead, I sat back and watched the city pass by as we hovered along at an incredible speed.

While most of the city matched the first glimpse I'd had, I noticed we passed through several areas that were older and more run down. Here, people with unkempt clothes dotted the pavements and huddled in building doorways. Barriers lined the edges of the strange roads, keeping them from the bubble cars speeding past.

There were evidently still poor people in this future version of humanity.

Before long, the car moved into a more wealthy area once more, the buildings once again shiny and the people in a variety of crisp and new, brightly coloured clothing. Here, several restaurants and cafes had outside seating areas where men and women of all ages lingered, chatting. Many of their faces were happy, but it was only on seeing this large a group of people that I noticed something strange.

There weren't very many women among them. And there were almost no children at all. I frowned, sitting forward to get a better look.

“Not many women or children,” I said aloud when we passed yet another strip of places to eat and the situation was the same.

“No. We live so much longer than in your time, we don't need to have many children or have them any time soon. And our women...” Daniel trailed off, a hint of sadness on a face that had been nothing but happy so far. “A lot of our women died. We're still recovering.”

“I'm sorry,” I said, knowing I was offering a platitude I'd heard many times and never really appreciated.

“Don't be. It's one of the reasons you're now alive. Our world has adapted.”

“You're bringing all the frozen women back and healing us, aren't you? To help repopulate the planet?” I felt my stomach lighten again. It explained his earlier comment about having many women in his house. And it might also help explain the bodyguards.

My mind raced, trying to think through the implications. What I hadn't been told, and what I might not have understood the first time. There were so many possible ways things could have changed in the years I'd been as good as dead.

“Sort of. The people being brought back are predominantly women. But the healing can be expensive.”

“So people like you sponsor it?” I smiled at him. I knew what a sponsor was. It was a charitable giver. The document I'd signed had been worded to imply I needed to pay it back, but he'd still chosen to give it.

“Yes. People like me look at the database and choose the women we think will be the best fit. Who can adapt to the current culture best. We then weigh that up against the cost to restore them.”

Daniel didn't return the happy gesture, his face suddenly blank as he studied me. Alarm bells rang once more.

I tried not to give him anything to go on, relaxing my face before I went back to gazing out the window.

What's not right with this place? What is he not telling me? And how much had my healing cost?

So many questions swam in my head.

But my eyes gave me no clues. The city passing by was more of the same. Nothing so out of place that I could understand what might be going on.

“Almost there,” he said.

I glanced at him, meeting his eyes and smiling for only a second before I looked ahead, wondering which building would be his. Although I didn’t dare look at him again, I felt watched. Observed. Like he was checking my reaction.

Taking several slow breaths helped keep me calm. Maybe I was overreacting. I’d woken up in a strange place and didn’t really know anyone alive. It was natural to feel spooked out and not sure whom to trust.

But as the bubble car started to slow, my unease grew. Here the buildings stood farther apart. More men guarded their doors.

Unlike the rest of the city, there were far more women to be seen. That shouldn’t have been alarming in and of itself. Daniel hadn’t hidden the fact that he had a house full of women.

Their clothes were what gave me pause. Many were barely dressed, their skin on show in outfits that left little to the imagination. The vast majority had a sort of elegance to them, the way a concubine from the history books might have had, or a geisha from Japan, which in my mind left one impression alone.

They were prostitutes, or courtesans of some kind.

And that led me to one alarming conclusion.

Daniel was a pimp.