Free BoundByLaw by Viola Grace Page A

Arcal, 2913.” Col sat quietly and waited for the next question.
    “Marital status?”
    “Single.”
    “Sexual preference?”
    Col blinked, “It has never come up, but I suppose hetero.”
    The clerk raised a brow. “You don’t know?”
    “I have never been attracted to anyone. At that point, I will suspect that I will figure it out.”
    The clerk smiled, “I will type in unknown. ”
    Col nodded and waited for the next question.
    “Where were you born?”
    “Norcallic province. Afrith city.”
    The clerk paused, “What is the nature of your physical talent?”
    Col shifted in her chair and she heard the guards tense behind her. “Flight. I am a flier.”
    “When did you first manifest your talent?”
    “Age fifteen.” Col wove her fingers together and held the image of that first day in her mind.
    “What were the circumstances? Be as specific as you can be.” The clerk’s fingers started tapping and Colah started speaking.
    “My family and I were at the seaside. I had climbed one of the sand cliffs and was standing, looking down at my family on the beach before closing my eyes and enjoying the stream of air past my face. The wind tugged at my clothing and I felt it wrap around my body one limb at a time.
    “When it wrapped around my feet, I opened my eyes and I was hovering ten feet above the sand cliff. I panicked and dropped to the ground, but the cliff gave way under me and I started to fall.
    “My talent flickered on and off as I tried to control my descent. My mother said later that it looked like I was surfing down the wall of sand.”
    The clerk smiled. “Were there any witnesses?”
    “No. Not that I am aware of. I was alone on the cliff and everyone was watching my sister in the water until the sand slide started.” She shrugged.
    Though Resicor’s rules regarding talents were strict, they would not punish Col’s family for her physical talent. She took comfort in that fact.
    If you were born on Resicor and had a purely psychic talent, you were assured of a government position. If you had a talent with physical aspects, you were removed as a danger to society and sent to live within the dome where your family could visit once per season. The key point was, if you had a physical talent and used it in public, you were fair game. However, if you were able to subvert it and keep it from gaining attention, you could live a normal life.
    Keeping her flight hidden from the population had ceased the moment she was thrown off the building. It wasn’t her fault, but news crews and the guards had seen her, so there was no going back. Someone had to be the flier and go to the dome, so she accepted that now was her time.
    “Do any of your siblings have a talent that you are aware of?”
    Col chuckled. “No. No physical or psychic talents that I am aware of.”
    “Why did you define it in such a way?”
    Col moved slowly and rubbed her temple. “I have often said that my sister has a talent for ticking me off.”
    The clerk laughed outright before she sobered. “Do you know what happens next?”
    Colah went through what she knew. “There will be a medical test, restriction implants and a blocking suit before I am sent to the dome.”
    The clerk perked up. “The restriction suits now take the place of implants. There won’t be anything invasive.”
    Col smiled at the pale woman who had the look of a deep scanner. Her sarcasm came out despite her polite intentions. “Oh good. Out of all of the things that I had dreaded about this day, invasive surgery was one of them. One would hate for an imprisoning to be invasive.”
    Colah rose to her feet and turned to the guards who levelled their weapons at her. “Well? Shall we lock me up, or do we have somewhere else to be today?”

Chapter Two
    The medical procedures made her annual physicals look like a pedicure. Why her stamina needed to be recorded was beyond her, Colah only ever ran when something was chasing her.
    They stripped her of her street