What Freedom Means.

[tiger]

This time I was taken not to the clinic, somewhere in the down town area instead and into the offices of the local Department for the Welfare of Created Beings. This time the grilling was much more detailed, and more uncomfortable. They had me sitting in a hard plastic chair with no tailhole for hours on end, in a stuffy room. They wanted to know as much information as possible about what I did for my master. They also asked me more questions about finances. When I asked why, they told me that Master had accused me of stealing from him. I related the refund of the rent to the investigators, and they seemed to nod. Two of them went outside the room at that point.

One of the investigators came in with my trunk. Setting it on the table, he opened it and started removing the money I had so painstakingly built up over time from it. "Where did you get this?" they asked me. "Master permitted me to work side jobs during my time off as long as they did not conflict with my normal work requirements. The $5000 you see is the result of saving the payments from over 5 years worth of side jobs during my time off." They asked me what sorts of jobs I did. I explained that they ranged the gamut from helping a friend of Master build a deck in his back yard (that was the first one) to cleaning restrooms to acting as a chaperone and almost everything legal in between. I explained that I refused several side jobs when it was obvious that the job in question might be illegal, even though they paid rather well. They asked me if I skimmed any money from the allowance that Master gave me. "The first few months, I returned the unused portion of the money to Master at the end of the month. After that he stated that I could keep it, or put it toward next month, or whatever. He did not care what I did with the excess money, and he specifically stated that if I wished, I could keep it." The lead investigator leaned forward. "What were you planning on doing with this money?" I became a little nervous but answered him. "I was planning of attempting to buy out my indenture, if permitted to do so. I had heard rumors about other morphs doing the same thing, and if it were possible, I wanted to do the same thing." He nodded. "So you acknowledge that you are unhappy as property, then?" I shook my head. "No sir. Being property matters little to me. What matters to me is that I am useful. If I held my own indenture, I could choose when I wanted to be useful, and in what manner. This way, I could help society as a whole instead of just my owner." One of the investigators had a look of shock on his face for a brief moment. The lead went on with the interview, asking me to detail the experiences where I was injured and how. The first few went ok, as they were all job related injuries. The fifth incident I had difficulty with. "Sir," I began, "I have a problem with this next incident as it does not reflect well on myself or Master." The lead nodded and replied. "Yes, we are aware of the programming about such things. However, I am ordering you to tell me the entire string of incidents, regardless of how they reflect against you or your master. I promise you that no harm will come to you from telling us. Please, continue."

I related to him the incedent where Master got angry with me over a mistake that I made in storing some of the inventory at the store, and the damage he did to my leg. It tok several weeks for the muscles to heal fully from that. There were several lessor incidents which I related, and then launched into the one that I feared the most.

"I was doing a side job for another one of Master's friends. They had purchased a shed and needed someone to help them put it up in their back yard. I was ordered to help him out in return they would pay me and Master. Master would be paid for him loaning me to them, and I would be paid for performing a side job on what would normally be my time off. THe project went OK until we went to put the plywood sheathing on the outside of the shed's frame. One of the frame members broke and I fell through, damaging my arm in the process. The friend got angry with me, as he thought I did this on purpose. I do not know why he thought this, as the frame looked intact when we put it up. The beating he administered broke my already damaged arm and rendered my unconcious. I woke up two days later in the clinic. When I was released after being healed, Master gave me another beating for costing him all the money from the side job and losing him the time off I requred to heal." I was twitching as the memories of it came back. The lead investigator tried to get more out of me at that point, but the Doctor requested that I be given some time to compose myself. A break was declared, and everyone cleared out of the room except for myself and the Doctor, who started scratching my head. It calmed me down a bit, and he went and got me a drink and some lunch, as it was almost 1 pm.

After lunch, they showed me out of the interview room, and into an office. They explained that I would be told what would happen to me here.

To be continued...