Justice/Freedom [Fiction; Dystopia]

He wasn't sure exactly how he had gotten here, the bars adding vertical relief to an otherwise bland wall. The light streams out, but the shadow never leaves when the light outside shades through. Straight, standing tall, narrow. You had to be these things to to be able to float in and out of the bars. They made sure of it directly by enforcing rules and indirectly by not enforcing other rules.

The beatings were getting better, but the social life is not one that a healthy 15 year old would be too interested in. And who knew that such a 'high class' boot camp for kids who engaged in white collar crime would be so violent? Maybe it was just a way of evolving the young men as they re-entered society: The white collar criminal who was most effectively violent was in charge, though sometimes a smart one gamed the system and took out the top dog. Or so he'd heard.

All in all, it was torture not having something to play with. To take apart and see how it works. To understand and try to make better. This is what was wrong with him, the judge said, 'another example is too good to pass up.' Where did the justice system start going wrong?

And now to be a shadow to get through the bars. Some wanted power but even the dumbest wanting power wanted out . The hardcore hackers wanted to get out because they wanted to take more stuff apart, change it, whatever. The broken rest simply paid penance not only to the State but to the more predatorial in this ring of Hell. Who knew that taking apart that Apple system would be a violation of so much copyright? Who knew that extending it to do more without proper licensing violated enough software patents to make Microsoft cringe?

Who knew? Why, everyone did. But to some it was still worth the risk despite the heavy feet of capitalist/lobbyist inspired Law. The price?

Freedom.