The Gardener's Favorite Poisonous Flower

When itinerant traveler Orbit, also known as “Ollie,” gets stranded without permit or paperwork in the authoritarian city-state of Belote, the only place that will hire him is as a caretaker, or “gardener,” at the male brothel Le Jouet Queue. He quickly discovers that all of the companions working there are furless, half animal and half human beings who are treated as pets, property, and sometimes even as livestock for slaughter.

For many of the furless there, life at the brothel is a…