No Chains Shall Bind Me (The Good Doctor's Tales Folio Seven) by Randall Farmer Read Free Book Online Page A

red with shame.  “You don’t ever, ever retag a Transform who belongs to another Focus.  That’s the height of rudeness.  You leave other Focuses’ households alone and they won’t interfere with yours.  You need to master your metasense so you can tell the difference between a tagged Transform and an untagged Transform.”
    Gail knew she deserved chewing out, but it sure as hell seemed like the other Focus could be a little bit nicer about this.  Ice cubes had more empathy than this woman.
    “I’m sorry, very sorry, Focus Adkins,” Gail said, as if she was a child caught stealing candy.  “I didn’t realize what I was doing and I certainly won’t do it again.”  Gail couldn’t believe she had made some other Focus’s Transform into one of her own.  According to the pamphlets, new Focuses needed to touch a Transform to bring him into their household.  Metasense, though.  Now that was a cool word, Gail thought.  So was ‘tagging’, ‘retag’, ‘tagged Transform’ and ‘untagged Transform’.  She couldn’t wait to use any of these new words around Van…
    Focus Adkins stared at Gail, a perfect goddess observing the flawed mortals below.  Gail found herself slouching in the chair, sloppier by the minute.  Yes, she thought, this is indeed a Focus.  She had a sudden moment of fear that something had gone wrong with her transformation, keeping her from ever becoming such a wondrous and terrifying creature.
    “Accepted,” Adkins said, disapproving.  “We won’t say any more about your unfortunate mistake.  I’m sure you’ve learned better.”
    Gail bit her tongue and avoided saying anything in response.  She concentrated on looking abashed, as if the Focus was her father.
    “Pay attention,” Focus Adkins said.  She radiated disdain at Gail’s crossed arms over her sunken chest.  “The Focus transformation is difficult and you’re going to need to learn quite a lot in a very short amount of time.  I’m going to cover it quickly.  This place has gone bad and I don’t plan on staying here any longer than I have to.  Neither should you.”
    Gail sat up straight again, straightening out her clothes as well.  Information!
    “Gone bad?  What do you mean, gone bad?”
    “It happens,” the Focus said , exasperated.  “Places where Transforms live for too long go bad.  The juice stops flowing well, the place itself becomes uncomfortable, and becomes no place to maintain a household.  You’re going to want to move your household out of here as soon as you can.”
    “But why?  What causes this?”  Gail leaned forward, elbows on the tiny table, intensely interested.  This wasn ’t in the brochures or in the background information Van had dug up so far.  She had to know.
    “No one knows,” Adkins said, now irritated.  “Now, why don ’t you wait with your questions and let me finish.”
    Gail wanted to grind her teeth at Focus Adkins ’ snippiness.  A thousand questions sat on the tip of her tongue, and patience had never been her long suit.  It took work to sit back in her chair and wait for Adkins to dribble her driblets.
    Adkins watched her for a moment, concentrating on something.  “Have the doctors here already given you their spiel about Transform Sickness?” she said.  Her voice was a rich and melodious alto.
    Gail nodded.  There was definitely something odd about this woman, something irritating.  The perfection.  The attitude of royal superiority.  A distillation of the worst attitudes of her parents’ generation, raised to the Nth power, and poured back into a single individual who appeared to be Gail’s age.
    Focused into a single individual, one might say.
    “Good,” Adkins said.  “Then I won’t repeat what you already know.  So listen up.  You have acquired a large and dangerous job, and you’ll need to learn quickly.”
    Gail ’s stomach churned, the same acid upset she got every time she got into a confrontation with anyone who