The Ash Register

A person's worth is determined by a single machine. Core, auxiliary, reproductive association... — a few categories decide what job you can do, how much quota you get, and who you can marry. On the night before her final review, Sera Ashford discovers a parameter in the machine's firmware. The same hands, with a different ruler, measure a different person. She doesn't sign. She and Lian—a classmate judged as "auxiliary"—climb over the academy wall on the day of the final review, taking only two things: a stack of papers stolen from the archives, and worthless wire. — Description from novelcodex.org