Free Tech Tack by Viola Grace

Chapter One
     
     
    Ainora faced her interviewer with all the calm she could muster. She hadn’t been able to adjust the appointment any longer. If she had skipped today’s events, they would have arrested her.
    “Yes, I ha ve a talent.”
    The security guard and the empath were surprised. Her interviewer blinked as she organized her next question.
    “Why haven’t you come forward?”
    “There wasn’t any need. No one can tell that I have a talent, so why should I worry about it. I am no threat to Resicor or its people.”
    The interviewer tapped her finger on the table. “You are hardly one to judge.”
    Ainora cocked her head. “I beg to differ. I am a very good judge of my talent.”
    “What is your talent?”
    She laughed. “I thought you would know since you went to the trouble to bring me in.”
    “The report that your co-worker filed was lacking in detail. He suspected your abilities were more than natural.”
    Ainora stretched and put her hands behind her head. “They are completely natural. Urak couldn’t match me on any details even if I don’t use my additional senses.”
    “How did you know?”
    “That it was him? There is only one person at the firm that hangs over my shoulder trying to discover my secrets as I repair the equipment. It got him into trouble on several occasions. Last month, he stopped following me, so I am guessing that that is when you got the tip off.”
    The empath in the corner smirked.
    “You really thought that it would work to simply ignore your obligation to declare the talent you had acquired?”
    Ainora smirked. “I didn’t acquire it. It is as much a part of me as your toenails are part of you. There was nothing to declare. At no time did I smuggle them through customs.”
    The interviewer slammed her hand down on the table. “This is not a joke.”
    She sat forward and put her own hands on the table. “Yes, it is. There is another talent in this room and she is allowed and encouraged to use her talent each and every day. For her, it is a job, a part of her that she can use daily. What is the difference?”
    The interviewer paused and regrouped. “Your talent is dangerous.”
    “Really? What is it?”
    Ainora waited while the woman flipped through the files.
    She sat quietly and waited.
    Finally, the woman sat up. “It doesn’t say. What is your talent?”
    “I diagnose technology. Nothing more, nothing less. Where others have to guess at a problem, I know. That is all. My repair skills were learned in the same type of course as is available across the continents. Anyone can gain the skills to do the repairs I do. The only thing that makes me a talent is that one flash of insight when I look at a piece of technology. For that moment in my day, I am now here and will not be able to walk out under my own recognizance. I am now destined to be watched by my own people and rejected by my community, all because a jealous jackass pointed a finger. Oh, I am not stupid. I have already been fired, and I know that there is no future for me here on Resicor. So, all that remains is what are you going to do with me?”
    The people in the room with her became completely still. Insight and acceptance of her reality was obviously not something they were expecting.
    The interviewer got to her feet and took the file out of the room with her. She was gone for three hours.
    When the door opened again, the interviewer was pale grey and the man following her had a hard glint in his eyes. “Come with me, Miss Lenz.”
    Ainora shifted. “Who are you?”
    The man narrowed his eyes. “I am the one who decides where you spend the rest of your life. Now, come with me.”
    The interviewer swayed toward her, but Ainora stayed seated. She felt the pressure on her mind and raised an eyebrow.
    “Saying please would work much better.”
    His cheeks flushed darkly. Through gritted teeth, he said, “Please, come with me.”
    Ainora got to her feet. “That wasn’t so hard. Didn’t your