Free 01. Spirits of Flux and Anchor by Jack L. Chalker

chances on giving them any freedom at all.
     
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    Resigned, she made her way, with difficulty, through the crowd, which only gave way when she told each obstruction in turn she'd been called. Then they were very solicitous and their pity just dripped from them, yet it was mixed with a strong sense of relief as well. It's not me. It's not someone I know. And, in the midst of it all, the acute ob- server could pick out a small fortune in betting slips changing hands with each and every pick of the Sister General. Cass hated them for their pity and for their hypocrisy as well. I'm coming back, you bastards! she swore silently. I'm coming back to tear down this damned city and wipe those looks off your holier-than-thou faces.
     
    She reached the platform and was actually assisted up by two wardens as if she were some sort of honored guest. Talk about hypocrites! She was led over to where those called were assem- bling in neat rows. Most of them looked scared to death or still in shock, and one or two were trembling uncontrollably or sobbing softly to themselves. Occasionally someone would pass out in shock when a name was called, and there were several unconscious bodies around by the end of it.
     
    Finally, it was over. The last number had been called, and the crowd knew it, and gave the hun- dred and six lost souls on the stage the final indignity.
     
    They cheered. They clapped. They built their joy, into a thunderous crescendo that echoed off all points of the square and throughout the city, sweep- ing over the sobbing and shaking friends and fam- ily of those on stage who would now be declared property, then dead, never to be seen or heard from again.
     
    Out of a class of 3,941, 3,835 rejoiced, as did their friends and families. Although a hundred and six were now condemned, it was a small fraction
     
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    of the total, and would soon be forgotten except for the parents, siblings, friends, and relatives of those now gone. Even that, in time, would fade, as it always did, the same as if those hundred and six had been felled by accident or injury.
     
    It was not so surprising that three of the un- lucky picks did not show up for the public honor;
     
    rather, it surprised Cassie that so few had run for it. They didn't have a prayer, though, as the Sister General pointed out as soon as the crowd let her get a word in.
     
    "Know you all that the Holy Mother has chosen three and looked for them and they are not here," she announced. "Know that all those declared prop- erty of the state must surrender within one day of the first bell of Paring Rite. Know, too, that if those we will now designate are not turned over to the Temple here within that period they will be declared agents of evil and discord. Any who help them shall suffer the same fate as they. Any who do so much as give them a cup of water, or simply not report them at once and aid in their appre- hension, shall be guilty of a mortal sin beyond any redemption in this life and punished by terrible torments in their next, and shall forfeit all rights, citizenship, and property and themselves become property of the state. Even one who hides this from us cannot hide from the Holy Mother, who shall wreak a terrible vengeance on those who help thwart Her divine will."
     
    She read the names and numbers once again, and gave the benediction. The lottery drum was already removed to one side, and she turned and walked regally back up the steps to the Temple, and inside. Wardens flanked the miserable chosen, many of whom had to help their comrades merely stand, and they were then directed back into the Temple as well. Even Cassie found herself trembling slightly now that it was done, and more than a
     
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    little scared. Knowing that it was fixed and that it was all a lie did nothing to change the fact that she had been declared property and banished, and was now