The slave cannot free herself. She can be freed only by an owner. The condition of slavery does not require the collar, or the brand, or an anklet, bracelet or ring, or any such overt sign of bondage. Such things, as symbolic as they are, as profoundly meaningful as they are, and as useful as they are for marking properties, identifying masters, and such, are not necessary to slavery. They are, in effect, though their affixing can legally affect imbondment, ultimately, in themselves, tokens of bondage, and are not to be confused with the reality itself. The uncollared slave is not then a free woman but only a slave who is not then in a collar. Similarly a slave is still a slave even if her brand could be made to magically disappear or, if she has been a made a slave in some other way, if she has not yet been branded.
Renegades of Gor Book 23 Page 273
"He will have relinquished your ownership, as instructed," said the driver. "You are a slave between Masters."
"How can that be?" I asked.
"One who can be literally, legally, seized, claimed, captured, and sold, such things," he said.
"How is it that I am placed in such a status?" I asked.
"Presumably," said he, "to obscure antecedents, to cover a trail, to make it harder to trace you. It will be as though you, a slave, had appeared from nowhere, susceptible to being claimed by anyone."
Treasure of Gor Book 38 Page 53
"To whom do I belong?" I asked.
"You recognize, of course," he said, "that you are clearly and obviously, and indisputably, a slave?"
"Yes, Master," I said. There was no doubt about that, legal or practical.
Did he think that I, as a barbarian, might be ignorant of that? Did I not know what I was?
"At the moment then," he said, "you are an unclaimed slave."
"I am not sure I understand that status," I said.
"You can be claimed," he said, "by any free person."
"By a stranger, a passer-by, a child?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
Treasure of Gor Book 38 Page 438
"Claim me," I begged. "Please claim me! I beg to be claimed!
He reached down, and took my hair in his left hand, lifting my head. He then cuffed me thrice, first with the palm of his right hand, and then with the back of his right hand, and then, again, with the palm of his right hand.
There was no doubt that the blows were administered to a slave.
I tasted blood about my lips.
He then released me. "You are mine," he said.
Treasure of Gor Book 38 Page 439
"Speak," he said.
"I am a slave," she said.
"It is done," he said.
"I am now a slave, truly," she said. "I am a slave."
"But no more than an unclaimed slave," said Rupert. "You may now be tied, hand and foot, and left beside the road, naked, as an unclaimed slave."
Treasure of Gor Book 38 Page 455
