Novel synopsis

Chapter 1 – Strangers

1. A young boy, tied up to the bed is being punished by his master for betraying him with a girl, Mimea – a property of another man, Raoul. He is restrained and painfully aroused by the drug he's been given, and in the same time is unable to come because of the ring on his penis. Who those two are we know, but let's pretend we don't, as their names aren't given (the scene is probably intended as a kind of prologue that wouldn't give out too much). In general – it's quite similar to the one in "Dark Erogenous."

2. A short description of Midas – the city of pleasure and sexual enjoyment.

3. Friday night, hideout of the gang – Bison, Kirie – the youngest, 17-year old member mentions there's a pet auction in Mistral. Riki – the leader doesn't listen to it, he seems completely uninterested. That makes the younger boy really angry – he feels ignored and thus – humiliated.

4. Guy – another gang member, Riki's closest friend, and his former lover muses about changes that occurred in Riki. Once he was lively, impulsive and charismatic, now he is calm, quiet and somehow stranger.

5. Three years back – one evening Riki visits Guy at his place. Guy already sees first changes in him – he is drinking expensive alcohol, appears to have money from some suspicious source he doesn't want to reveal. He's somehow nervous, keeping repeating about rare chances and leaving Ceres.

6. A story of revolution – and why it isn't easy to leave Ceres. People of Ceres – a district of Midas – once claimed their freedom from the computer control and independence from the rest of the city. And Midas gave it to them canceling their citizenship, announcing Ceres a separate town. First they thought it was a victory. Then they realized, it was a way to deprive them of their livelihood. Ceres couldn't really go without Midas, because it WAS dependent on Midas. And without Midas help, the slum came into being.

And now, after three years of absence, Riki is back. Changed. Grown up (he's 20 now), secretive, and somehow looking down at his companions.

7. An auction in Mistral Park. Bison after all show up at the place. Riki and Kirie have a little quarrel. Afterwards Riki reflects his aversion towards Kille – the boy reminds him of himself three years ago, and he can't stand it. Crowds of people in the Park – blondies and the other elite from Tanagura all around...

8. A few words about planet Amoi. A few words about Tanagura – a nearby city of the elite keeping it's protective arm over Midas. Tanagura is ruled by the supercomputer, Jupiter.

A better description of the system of social classes in the two towns. Master-pet relationships described, and what other towns on the planet think about it (they don't approve of it, but since Tanagura is the most powerful one, they don't say it out loud).

A pet can be any young, good-looking person from Midas. Pets bred by the Academy are considered the most exclusive and of the best quality, and of course they look down at all the other pets. With their appearance they resemble the blondies – they also usually have blonde hair. However nothing is said about their intelligence and presumably they are not particularly clever.

The elite are genetically engineered, physically perfect people. Their bodies are artificially designed and sterile. Their IQ exceeds 300. The blondies – the highest of the elite, are the only ones who have a right to personally talk to Jupiter.

9. Suddenly Riki feels somebody's eyes on him. He turns and sees a blondie watching them from the distance. This sight throws Riki off balance. Riki knows the man very well. His name is Iason Mink. He's smiling at him, what makes the boy unreasonably angry. Kirie sees the blondie's interest and decides to introduce himself. He goes unstopped by the rest.

10. A few monotonous months pass, almost a year since Riki came back to Ceres. Kirie left them for good. There are rumours that he is making business with "the androids" and is pretty prosperous. (Who/what exactly androids are and what they do, isn't explained. Possibly the rumour referred to the elite, but it is made clear that the elite and the androids aren't the same.)

11. Then one day Kirie arrives in his new expensive car to their hideout. He asks Guy if he has reconsidered an offer. It turns out that Guy received a proposition from Iason. Iason wanted Guy to become his pet. That of course raises serious suspicion in Riki.

Chapter 2 – Flashback

12. Five years back. Riki's and Iason's first encounter. One evening Riki goes down some Midas street with an intention to pick some pockets. He's being caught in the act by two blondies. One of them leaves immediately hurrying somewhere, but the second stays with the mongrel. Riki wants to pay him back for his silence. They go to the Midas brothel and there Riki offers his body to him. He is curious if it's true that "the artificial humans" don't have sex, and he wants to find out what in that case the blondie will do. The very scene similar to the one in the anime. Afterwards they split not even knowing their names.

13. The meeting leaves Riki feeling terribly humiliated – not only was he aroused, he also begged and cried for completion. His relationship with Guy begins to collapse.

14. Some time later Riki starts making business with a black market broker – Katze. He proves really skilled. He wins himself a name "Riki the Dark". But the things he sometimes has to do make him feel really nasty. He keeps repeating he will leave Ceres one day... (see: p. 5)

15. Thoughts about Iason haunt Riki. Their second meeting occurs during some auction. Riki spots the blondie who apparently is heading somewhere, and without thinking rushes after him. They finally face each other in some isolated room in the back of the Auction Hall. It turns out to be a trap – Iason informs Riki he won't let him go.

16. An hour later Riki is already in Eos. He is angry. But it seems that being kidnapped doesn't annoy him as much as the fact that he is kept alone. In the next room Iason and his fellow blondie – Raoul Am watch Riki on the screens. Raoul thinks a mongrel pet is a really bad idea. The first and second scene from "Dark Erogenous".

17. Kirie meets with Iason. He informs the blondie that Guy is still rejecting his offer. He inwardly envies the other mongrel – he wants to be Iason's pet himself. He tells him that once Guy and Riki were a couple. For the first time we hear that homosexual relationships are common in Tanagura and Midas because there are hardly any women.

18. Iason talks to Raoul. He says that he is going to get Riki back. He had removed his pet ring, what would normally equal canceling his registration. But with Riki the situation is different. Normal pet regulations don't apply to non-citizens since they have no IDs. Thus it will be easy to bend the law here. Raoul warns him. He is breaking the regulation, keeps a pet for three years. Iason makes a confession that he thinks he loves Riki.

19. The short depiction of Riki's training. First Iason intends to couple him with some other pet, but the idea quickly gets suspended. He keeps Riki naked for the first month to make him get used to his nudity. For the next two months Riki is forced to masturbate in front of Iason's eyes and to present his intimate parts to him. Iason isn't rough, but he definitely is implacable. Riki in turn is of course defiant and obstinate, constantly making troubles – but it only seems to excite Iason. Other pets don't accept a mongrel among themselves, but Riki doesn't care. And after six months Iason couples with Riki himself. It's physically very painful for the boy (ehm... sizes), but he isn't very angry. That's when Riki gets his pet ring. That's when Iason realizes that Riki is special to him, and that he will never let him have sex with anyone except himself. Even watching Riki masturbating in front of the hologram of naked woman makes him mad. Suspicions start to arise in Eos, but Iason doesn't care.

Chapter 3 – Again

20. Katze shows up in Ceres and takes Riki for a talk. He wants him to warn Kirie about the dangers of dealing with Iason and stop him before he gets hurt. He confesses to Riki that he was once Iason's furniture.

21. Furniture are guards for the elite's pets and decoration in Eos apartments. They are also responsible for the household chores. They are all young boys from Ceres chosen from among Guardian's proteges. Guardian is a place where most of the Ceres children are born and raised. Katze claims that it's in fact sponsored by Tanagura or more specifically – by Iason. It's a kind of payback for the boys and a way to control the birth rate in Ceres – that's how the female population is kept low.

Katze had been chosen. And although he was shocked when he found out he would be castrated, it wasn't that bad at all. He tells Riki how he once managed to steal Tanagura secrets and how he was punished. He is afraid of Iason. Riki however refuses his request to warn Kirie – he doesn't want to have anything to do with the boy.

22. Kirie and Guy go to Iason. Guy finally yielded to Kirie's urges. At Iason's place Kirie takes his payment and leaves. Guy, seeing he's been actually sold, feels cheated. But he doesn't really fight to leave.

23. A few days later Riki, anxious with Guy's vanishing, meets Kirie. Kirie – proud of himself – tells him what he did. Riki gets mad and tells Kirie to stay out of his sight if he wants to live.

24. He goes to Katze. Katze says that he doesn't think it was about Guy. They both know what it was about, but they don't say it out loud. Katze tries to encourage Riki to go to Iason, at least to talk to him. But Riki doesn't want to go. He is afraid he won't be able to resist his old master. After a year of being alone, he is really starving for physical contact.

25. And after another couple of days Iason pays him a visit. He is disappointed Riki didn't come by himself. A scene similar to the one in the anime. He offers he will set Guy free if in turn Riki comes back to him. He takes Riki easily – the mongrel, indeed, can't resist him. He puts the ring back on place. He leaves, telling Riki he is expecting him back.

26. He gets into the car driven by Katze and heads home. He isn't really happy with the meeting. He wants something more from Riki than just sex. But he can't see how they could get along in this society – other than in master-pet relationship.

27. Right after being released from Eos, Guy visits Riki in his flat. But when he's already there, they somehow can't communicate. Seeing a hickey on Riki's neck, Guy suspects that the other boy has a lover. Riki in turn, is restless wandering if something happened between Guy and Iason.

28. Katze visits Guardian to choose new furniture for Eos. The host of this place – Jad Kuga is regarded as an elite of Ceres, thus his son Manon Soul – a boy more-less Riki's age, looks down at everyone in the slum. Ex-furniture holding such a high position really annoys him. He tries to humiliate Katze offending him, but is put down with a few sharp words in return. Now he really hates the man.

Chapter 4 – Darkness

29. Kirie pays a visit in Guardian. He is trying to seduce Manon. He hopes coupling with the elite will boost his own position. Manon yields to Kirie's charm quite easily. He tells him about the incident with Katze.

30. Some time later Bisons are invaded by the police and taken to the Police Centre. The policemen ask them about Kirie. They apparently are looking for the boy. They release Riki after they find his name in the pet registers, and not much later they release the others too.

31. Next morning Guy visits Riki. They, as always lately, have a hard time together, and just when Guy is about to leave, they realize there is someone else in the room...

32. Kirie and Manon sneak into the basement of Guardian. They want to see a secret lab that – as Manon claims – Katze told him about. They indeed find the lab. But the sight of the humanoid scary creatures there throws them so much off balance that they run in panic.

33. The unexpected guest is Kirie. He sits curled up in the corner, looking so terribly frightened that almost out of his mind. Riki, still mad at him, starts to beat the terrified boy. Finally Guy manages to calm him down, and at the same moment Kirie unexpectedly shouts out his feelings for him. Riki is completely stunned, but finally he agrees to hide the boy.

34. Iason and Katze are talking in the park. Katze informs Iason that his people didn't succeed in finding Kirie yet. He checked the boy's background. Kirie had no close friends, no lover, the only person he seemed to be concerned with was Riki, with whom he constantly argued. Iason makes a comment, that it could mean he had feelings for Riki and suggests to check Riki's place. The remark about love from Iason's lips surprises Katze. But in the same time it makes him feel somehow better. By the way – it's mentioned that those walks together were Katze's and Iason's little habit. ;)

35. Katze pays Riki a visit. He tells him why he is looking for Kirie. The boy saw too much and has to be taken care of. Manon who was with him in the lab has gone mad. At first Riki denies he hides Kirie, but when Katze threatens he will use truth serum on him, he gives in. Katze takes Kirie and leaves. Guy who is also there, is really angry that Riki gave the other boy away so easily.

36. Riki lies alone in his flat, thinking. Guy hasn't talk to him since the incident with Kirie. The ring is biting into his flesh... reminding him. He can't stop thinking about things Iason could do to him...

Chapter 5 – Sore Heart

37. Kirie's erotic and a bit scary fantasy with Riki playing the main role.

38. Riki is back in Eos. He sits in Iason's penthouse apartment, smoking and thinking about his decision, when a new furniture – Kyaru comes in informing him that the next day he is expected to go to the medical inspection.

39. Next day, Kalga 84 – the specialist clinic for pets and furniture. After the last examination, Riki is called to one of the rooms where he is awaited by Iason. There are also Raoul and Kirie. Kirie was apparently given some kind of mind tampering, as he seems unaware of the world around. After Raoul walks the boy away, Iason shows to Riki what Kirie had in his mind – the blondies somehow managed to record his naughty visions. Riki is aware that Kirie isn't the only one who looked at him like that – all the members of his gang did (it's mentioned earlier in the book). Suddenly scared with the erotic effect he has on the other men, he plasters himself to Iason asking him for help.

40. Two months later Guy and Luke visit a hacker in Ceres. They want to find out if Guardian has some connections to the black market and if Riki has something to do with that. They think that's the reason of his disappearance.

41. The hacker promises to help them and after they leave, he immediately calls Katze. Katze discusses with Iason who at the moment is in his place, what to tell to the two mongrels, then they come back to their previous subject. Iason wants Katze to give Riki a job on the black market. Riki came to him pleading for it, saying that he can't stand being trapped in Eos. Iason wants to fulfil his request. He has already moved him to Apatia. Katze asks him if he loves Riki. Iason to his surprise isn't mad at such a straight question, nor is he trying to deny. He just smiles sadly.

42. And so the Bisons are given the info about some minor illegal business run in Guardian. They are disappointed, but no longer a threat.

43. Riki and Iason are having sex. Afterwards Riki asks his master if it's true that he has problems because of keeping a mongrel pet. Iason seems delighted with the concern. Seems like Riki cares for him, even if just a little. The sequence similar to the one in the anime.

44. The Bisons are waiting on the street opposite to the entrance to Apatia. Apatia is an exclusive hotel in Midas where the elite keep their lovers. Riki was seen here with some "extremely handsome man" and they want to check it out. Half an hour later Riki indeed shows up and enters the hotel. They follow him.

45. Riki in his apartment suddenly hears a knock at the door. He opens without asking, expecting Iason. And he sees the Bisons. They want explanations, he doesn't want to talk to them. That's when Iason shows up. He, on the contrary, wants to explain everything and asks them in. He tells them Riki is his pet, and when they don't believe him, makes a little display. He orders Riki to lick his boots. When the boy doesn't want to comply, he uses the pet ring.

Riki's pet ring is not only fitted with a tracking device, it is also connected to he ring Iason wears on his finger. By this means he can control Riki – give him pleasure, pain, and even make him pass out.

So Riki – after receiving several painful shocks – complies. Leaning to Iason's feet he just smirks bitterly at himself – maybe it was about time for the truth to come out.

46. Afterwards Riki asks Iason to leave. He wants to talk to his gang. And the blondie does leave. Riki tells the others that the three years he was absent, he also spent with Iason. Guy is angry. He thinks Riki came back to Iason to set him free. He says that not everything is over.

Chapter 6 – So Long Good Bye

47. Riki talks to Katze. He tells him, he is concerned with Guy's words.

48. Guy visits one of the Ceres oldest inhabitants – he is famous for his great knowledge about Ceres. The young mongrel copies plans of Dana Bahn from him. Dana Bahn is an old deserted mine complex situated inside Ceres.

49. Guy studies the plans closely. The rest of Bison watch him curiously, but he is very secretive and doesn't give his plans away.

50. Saturday evening. Riki leaves Katze's place and almost immediately bumps into Guy. The other man insists they go to a bar and talk. Riki tries to get rid of him when he suddenly feels dizzy...

51. He wakes up in some old, shabby room. Guy informs him they are in Dana Bahn – the tracking device in Riki's ring is useless here. He tells Riki he wants to hear his true feeling. Riki says that as long as he has the ring, he belongs to Iason and Guy has no right to interfere. The scene very similar to the one in the movie. Ending up with Guy's decision to take the ring off.

52. Iason calls Riki from his office. Nobody answers the phone. It's late, the blondie starts to worry – Riki has never stayed out so late. Raoul comes. He is concerned with Iason losing his position. He says, he wouldn't like to be the one who would tamper with Iason's mind. Again – the scene very similar to the one in the anime.

53. Katze is worried too. He can't sleep at night. He suspects Riki's disappearance is Guy's doing. First thing in the morning, he calls Iason. First word Iason says into the receiver is "Riki." He is disappointed hearing Katze. He tells him to stay out of this. He disconnects leaving Katze with a sore heart and a load on his mind (he REALLY is concerned with those two). He decides to act anyway.

54. Two days later. Midas and Tanagura have been searched thoroughly – to no avail. The tracker is still silent. Guy calls Iason. He tells him he has something to return to him. They make an appointment – Wednesday, 15:00, Dana Bahn.

55. And two days later Iason takes a taxi and goes to Habei – Midas district closest to Dana Bahn. Taxis don't go inside Ceres, so rest of the way he goes on foot. He meets Guy in front of the mine, they go inside. The conversation is very similar to the one in the anime. Guy shows him the ring. Iason gets mad. He grabs Guy and twists his hand so badly that the bones crack, probably shattering into pieces inside the arm. Guy isn't going to give up in spite of the pain – when Iason again asks where Riki is, he spits at him then says they will both die in this place. At the same moment the first explosion can be heard.

56. Riki wakes up after the surgery. He checks his crotch and just as expected – finds nothing there. Guy is not in. Riki waits. When suddenly the door opens, it's Katze. He scolds Riki, calling him an idiot. Riki tells him about his feelings. He doesn't blame Guy for what he did. When they were together Guy was always the dependent one, always accepting Riki's whims and moods, so now it's like a payback. But in the same time, he doesn't want his relationship with Iason to end. Only it's too late now. They go together to Dana Bahn.

57. Again – the sequence very similar to the one in the anime. They arrive at the place. Katze wants to go inside, but Riki insists he will do it. He goes, finds Iason and unconscious Guy. Explosions rock the place. They get to go out, the gate collapses, Iason trying to save Riki gets his legs cut. He tells Riki to take Guy and go. Riki does. But when they are outside, he leaves Guy with Katze, and comes back to his master. To die with him. Because risking his life like that, Iason showed him how much he loved him. Their final talk very similar to the one in the anime.

58. Great explosions in Dana Bahn ruin also nearby parts of Ceres and Habei. Raoul summons Katze and asks where Iason is. He thinks the explosions could have something to do with his disappearance – he managed to track down that Iason went to Habei. Katze tells him everything, omitting only the fact that Guy has survived. He knows Raoul will inform Jupiter about the event, and that – save for the computer – nobody will find out the truth. Iason's name can't be blemished.

59. Katze comes back to his place. And finally gives way to his emotions. He begins to cry desperately. The scene from the anime.

60. Guy wakes up in the hospital and quickly realizes his whole arm has been removed. Next day Katze pays him a visit. He tells him about Riki's last wish – change Guy's identity and face, erase his memory. Katze didn't order it yet. First he wants to talk to Guy. He says that face and identity are to be changed anyway. But the memory... Katze thinks Guy should live with the knowledge of what he did. After all that's what is called living. He tells he thinks Riki and Iason really loved each other. Now he and Guy are the only ones that remember and can talk about it.

The End