Free

It was as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

“I’m free,” he said.

Though the computer had recognized the shifts in the subject’s body, the relaxation of the shoulders, the lifting of the head, and a thousand other micromotions man had programed it to read and respond to, there was still a noticeable lag before its constructed response was playing out its speaker system.

“Of course you are. You always have been.”

What some would call a sad smile passed over the young man’s face.

“I know. I see that, now.”

Free, he turned and walked away.