Get Swapped (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Get Swapped.

Nathan walked away from The Swapper and put his phone in his pocket. It actually didn’t fit so well, but he did his best. Still feeling pretty good after the ride, he ordered a corndog. He paid with his phone -- giving another look at the shorts he now wore, he was certainly glad that he didn’t bring his wallet with him today. Then he sat down nearby to eat. Just as he was about to take a bite, a man sat down across from Nathan.

“What are you doing?” The man accused.

“Uh, eating a corndog.” Nathan replied.

“That’s my girlfriend’s body. For starters, she’s a vegetarian, but you just need to come back to The Swapper and switch back.”

Nathan paused before answering. He asked, “Why isn’t she here asking me? Is she unhappy with whatever body she ended up in?”

The man seemed flustered. “She’s...fine. She almost seems....happy.”

“And so am I. I don’t see the problem here.”

Layoffs

The layoffs came on a Friday, and the androids arrived on Monday morning. My co-worker Jake was replaced with an android with hollow eyes with a female appearance. It sat there without a keyboard, just sort of staring and coding without any physical interaction. It didn’t need rest or a break.

But every once and a while, it spoke to us as if it was human, making small talk. It was as if it was doing it just to make us feel comfortable, knowing we’d all be replaced by these bots soon enough.

But it was one of those breaks when it seemed to glitch. “It’s....me...” The android said, “Jaaaaa...ke.” Then it snapped back. “We should resume this conversation at the next break time.”

I stared at it. Was Jake inside of this robot? Would this happen to all of us? Could I just ask? Would it answer?

Hormones (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Hormones.

I wasn’t sure if my body was still on auto-pilot from her hormones or if I was actually thinking logically when I raided her closet. Maybe it was a little of both, trying on clothes certainly did feed into the dopamine center of her brain and knowing what I’d probably be wearing for at least the next couple of days did seem like a smart course of action when you’ve swapped bodies with someone.

I hate to admit this, but women’s clothes can actually be a lot of fun. Like, sure, she had her share of jeans and t-shirts, and I took note of those -- but the ill-fitting sparkly dress? The feather boa? Okay, I couldn’t see myself going outside wearing these things, but I could finally feel the sadness start to fade away -- at least a little.

The ice cream still called to me to eat more.

Found Footage

Clue Me In

Marty realized he was already about a quarter of the way through the book he was reading when he finally saw his former body turn the corner. He finished up the page and looked up.

“Well, it’s about time you got here.” He said.

“Sorry, your body is weird.”

“What do you mean by ‘weird?’”

“I mean, I guess I’m just not used to being a guy and all. I’m sure it’s normal enough for a guy.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m used to being a woman either, which is why we needed to meet about this whole body swap thing.”

“What do you need to know?”

“The basics, I guess? I feel like being a woman is more...complicated.”

“You only think it’s more complicated because you didn’t grow up as one.”

“Well, whatever, just clue me in, okay?”