Throughout the universe, surrounding many different planets are large orbiting casinos. Planetary governments typically owned these structures and would build roughly one for every two planets within their jurisdiction. But, in some rare cases, these palaces of greed were governed by a single person.

Dancing around a particularly drab-looking planet—close to no oceans, the dominating color being a sandy brown—was a spinning roulette wheel with giant advertisements jutting out the sides. Connected in the middle of the main ring was a colosseum sporting a glass dome rising above the seats. A long pillar located below the stadium stretched out into space. The structure looked like a pin one might attach to a jacket. However, the scale was beyond imagination. 

The penthouse suite was located within the green zero of the roulette wheel. An entire section, measuring almost 250 meters in length, was dedicated to the owner and his family’s residence. Although the owner of this establishment, Mr. Ruza, lived a life of elegance, he allocated a slight portion of his wealth to his most favorable people. Guest rooms, suites for high rollers, and unique rooms for friends were all available at Ruza’s. 

Incomparable to the planet below, Ruza’s had turned into a functioning city with all it offered. There was a shopping, residential, and entertainment district, not to be confused with the red light district, where Mr. Ruza himself had a lot of say in designing. Ruza’s had become not only a tourist destination for travelers but a home to many.

Few among those who lived under Mr. Ruza’s rule were allocated as many privileges as Mr. Ruza’s first and only son, Kuza. Having been raised within Ruza’s, he was the proof that Ruza’s was not only a tourist trap but a place to live and raise children. Kuza spent his entire life exploring every nook and cranny of the structure his father owned. At this very instance, Kuza is a twelve-year-old boy scampering around the monolithic structure, a baby lion cub surveying the prairie, observing what will one day be his. 

Kuza was a young boy, roughly in his teens, orbiting a planet made years harder to track, and without a universal system, most people were left without knowledge of their age. As technology advanced, life spans became longer, leading to people caring less and less about age. Added to this was the enhancement in suspended animation, or cryo-sleep, a way of suspending the body during long-distance travel through space. 

Kuza had rich blonde hair, almost gold when the sun fell through the tinted casino windows. His eyes were a bright blue. He had a stocky build, surprisingly on the more muscular side rather than the assumed fatter build that most of the Ruza relatives had acquired through decadent feasts.

Kuza had finished exploring a sector and had decided to return home. But on the private shuttle ride back to Kuta’s home, he was hit by a nagging sensation. His body wished to explore more. Kuza knew he would be late for dinner if he stayed out now. It was also hard to stop the driverless shuttles before they reached their destination. Kuza thought hard about how he could solve this underlying desire. As the shuttle rounded the last corner before the entrance to Kuza’s house, it struck him.

“The guest rooms!”

Kuza had recently forgotten about the guest rooms because they had been empty for a long time. However, after the stadium's construction, the guest rooms were packed full. Kuza assumed his father was planning to throw a celebratory party for the grand opening of the new stadium and had made sure his friends were there to see it.

Kuza had heard stories from his father of previous gladiatorial events hosted in the old stadium but couldn’t remember the specifics; he was younger then, and his father had stopped telling him stories.

As Kuza walked through his home, he greeted maids, chefs, gardeners, and any other personnel he passed while making his way to the guest suites. There was a large shared garden and entertainment center outside the guest wing. It was not that the rooms didn’t have ample entertainment, but most of the people staying were already friends, so they spent their time together. Kuza recognized some familiar faces from the crowd: his dad’s childhood friend who found success somewhere in the galaxy, his mom’s friend from her days as a waitress, and some other familiar faces. 

Kuza recognized his cousin, who lived in Ruza’s residential district, and waved at him. In return, he received a shy half-wave from his cousin, who immediately turned away and continued chatting with someone Kuza didn’t recognize. Kuza, mood dampened by a swift rejection, carefully observed the crowd, finding someone he could start a conversation with. As Kuza gazed through the packed garden, he slowly turned his attention to the empty entertainment area. Sitting to the right of an oversized L-shaped couch was an unfamiliar man in a VR headset, either watching porn or playing a video game, and next to him, alone on the sofa, was a boy roughly Kuza’s age, watching an older movie on the theatre sized screen in front of him.

Kuza said his mandatory hellos to those he recognized and went to the couch. As he approached the sofa, he got a better look at the boy. He was scrawny, too skinny for his own good, and looked roughly average height. The boy had white hair and dark eyes; this contrast shocked Kuza, but he was bored and didn’t want to spend more time cooped up in his room, so he pushed forward.

Kuza sat on the couch next to the mystery boy and looked at the screen. It was an old Earth movie, an animated one that follows a robot left on a trash-filled wasteland of a planet. It was a funny film to watch almost five centuries after Earth was abandoned in the same shape as this movie.

Kuza giggled slightly to himself, finally eliciting a reaction from the mystery boy. A slight glance in Kuza’s direction was all that the boy gave up. Kuza met the boy’s eyes and asked him,

“Do you like Earth movies?”

The boy quickly returned to the screen, shying away from Kuza’s questions.

“Aw, c’mon,” Kuza grumbled. “We’re probably the same age. At least talk to me!”

The boy stole a peek at the annoyed Kuza sitting beside him and stood his ground, remaining silent.

“Fine, I guess we’ll just watch the movie. Not like I wanted to be friends or anything.”

Kuza huffed out a sigh before returning his attention to the movie. They were nearing the climax, and Kuza finally remembered how much he had liked this movie, stealing his attention from the mystery boy. After around half an hour of dedicated watching, Kuza’s attention was suddenly ripped away from the movie screen by the boy sitting beside him.

“Are we even the same species? I doubt you’ll live as long as me even if we were friends,” the mystery boy grumbled.

“Well, I guess we’d have to talk to figure that out, wouldn’t we?”

The boy remained silent.

“Okay, well, let’s start simple; my name is Kuza Ruza; what’s yours?

“Balthazar.”