Well Hidden

Martin knew it would only be a matter of time before Tara woke up and realized they had transformed into each other. He had hidden the spell book under a panel in his floor, but the panel itself was much too obvious. He’d have to move the carpet and then the couch. With Tara’s weaker frame, that proved to be a challenge, but he did manage to do it in time.

He just needed to plan ahead so he could pretend that he was just as surprised as she was. When she suggested they switch apartments for a few days, Martin was hesitant. To potentially leave her alone so close to the book? It seemed risky. He tried suggested just packing a few things in an overnight bag while staying at their original places to adjust, but Tara was insistent.

Martin finally relented, figuring the book would be safe in the hiding spot. But he still needed to come up with a plan to get back inside his place so he could destroy the magical spell once and for all in order to keep Tara’s body forever.

First Date (Part 1)

I told myself after the Great Shift that I would never date anyone. Ever. It felt like it was going to be too weird with my male brain telling me I still liked women, but the hormones of my new female body telling me something very different.

I don’t think it helped that most guys seemed like the type of sleazeballs you would expect -- I wasn’t sure if the Shift made guys who were still guys worse, or if it was the women now in male bodies overcompensating...or both. No matter what, dating felt like it was off the table.

Until I met Alex.

He approached me on the street one day with a compliment that felt like it should have come from a gay man’s lips. Somehow, it actually made me blush and feel comfortable -- unlike many other ruder compliments I had received. He spoke to me like a person and not an object. When he finally asked for a date in our conversation, it was so awkward and shy that I just had to say yes.

London (Part 2)

View Part 1 of London

Considering part of me was panicking on the inside about swapping bodies with someone and I’m sure the woman I swapped with was doing the same, I think we were doing a very good job of keeping all of that fear on the inside. She commented that was “a very British thing.” I quickly transitioned to point out another very British thing nearby: Tower Bridge!

I made her take a selfie of me...or, well, I guess it was a selfie of herself, wasn’t it?

She noted again how odd it was to hear me speak with her voice, particularly given my American accent. I said the same thing back to her -- but accents reversed, of course. We continued to talk and laugh, and I thought about if the circumstances weren’t so weird, I probably would’ve asked this woman out.

Ball Buster

A collaoration with RookRealms! (based on this comic)!

RookRealms:
rookrealms.com | DeviantArt | BlogSpot

Tight Fit

It was the little things that Peter was trying to give himself credit for in the aftermath of the Great Shift. Dealing with a new gender overall was a little overwhelming, so he tried to figure out a little bit at a time.

Today’s task was something as basic as “trying to squeeze into Marlene’s leather pants.” It seemed silly, but it was one of the things he first tried when swapping into her body with no success. But today? Well, today, he nailed it!

As he marveled at this accomplishment, he realized that there would be one more related task he’d have to get through at some point later in the day -- and that was managing to take these extremely tight leather pants off somehow. As much he struggled with getting into them, he imagined this would truly be the bigger challenge!

Sunday

Something felt off, though Jim was having a hard time placing what exactly. As he ran out onto the field that day, the crowdwas still cheering, just as they did every Sunday. The cheerleaders were cheering on the sidelines, just as they were every Sunday. Yet it all felt...wrong.

He tried to put it out of his head once the game began. But on the very first play, someone yanked on his ponytail. It resulted with a flag on the play, but it caused Jim alarm. He hadn’t recalled his ponytail ever being yanked on before, not once. It didn’t sit right with him.

Maybe someone else noticed something was wrong, but he was too afraid to ask. While he sat on the sidelines, he watched the ads on the big screen for beauty care, shoes, and athleisure. This wasn’t quite how he remembered things, but he couldn’t remember how they were supposed to actually be either...

The Past Few Days

As the necklace still hung around his neck still, William thought about the events of the past few days. It all started when Francine found the necklace, and they touched it at the same time. They never expected for their bodies to literally morph into each other.

While swapped, William did some research and found all about the necklace. It was something called the Medallion of Zulo. Realizing that enough time had passed, he was excited to tell Francine. However, she had assumed she would be trapped as William forever -- and ended up taking her own life.

It was difficult for him to get over. He thought about swiping a piece of his own clothing to go back to his own body, but explaining how he came back from the dead might be tricky. As a result, he decided to continue on as Francine. He still had the Medallion though. He could still swap with just about anyone else he wanted; he simply chose not to.

Third World

“To become a woman, would you give up your privilege? Go from a white man living in a rich country working in an office to a poor brown woman working in a field in some third world country?”

The question lingered in Brad’s head. He had enthusiasticly said “Yes” without thinking it would actually happen. The thrill of imagining himself as a woman was just too great to say otherwise. And yet waking upp the next morning, that was exactly the type of woman he had become.

It was hard to enjoy his new body when waking up in the hot and sticky enviornment with no air conditioning. When the work began, things got worse. Despite the grueling nature of all this, he told himself he’d find the time to enjoy what he had been given. He just needed one moment...

Not Psyched

Would most people be psyched to become one of the hottest celebrities in the world moments after she appeared on stage presenting at a major awards show? Probably. Not me, however.

I had been a guy, and certainly not the blonde- hair, blue-eyed guy either. And yet now? I was wearing some sort of long gown and dealing with pale skin and long hair. It was driving me mad.

And yet all the comments I got were about how good I had done or how hot my body was. I hated it. But could I even tell anyone who I really was? Would anyone even believe me about all this?

Late at Night

It wasn’t the body that Bruce had a hard time adjusting to, it was moments like these.

Alone. Waiting for a bus. It was probably something he had done countless times as a man; he had never thought much of it. But since becoming a woman, it was scary. He clutched his purse tightly; he held his keys in his hands; he had to be prepared if someone attacked him. He felt weak and small. He wasn’t sure if he even could defend himself successfully.

And it was all because of that stupid taxi. The one that stole his body from him, leaving in that driver’s body for weeks. This body’s boyfriend had been the one he wanted to swap with, but somehow he ended up as her instead. He broke up with the guy shortly after, and that put unnecessary expenses like cabs off the table. He’d never find the magic taxi again, and he was forced to take the bus, even late at night.

Systems

Dennis jumped up from his seated position when Lucy walked by his desk. She was hoping it was good news.

“I have the systems looking through the backend subroutines. It’s about 30% done, but there’s nothing in there that explains why we swapped bodies just yet. We’ll continue to keep this on the downlow, and I’m sure it will find something soon,” He chirped.

She didn’t think anything of his over-eagerness. In fact, she thought it was because he was as ready to swap back as she was. When, in fact, he just didn’t want her looking at his screen. He hadn’t been scanning anything. He knew exactly what caused the body swap: HE DID. He knew he’d have to give Lucy her body back eventually, but if he could hold out as long as possible -- he just loved being her!

The Mod

Hours, Not Days

It might’ve been okay if he had some sort of purse with some sort of identification. It might’ve been okay if anyone else on the street had been giving any sort of indication that they were also swapped into the wrong body. So Theo could only stand there in a state of confusion on the street in the body of a woman, not knowing quite what to do.

Everyone else was going about their day. If he started talking about being in the wrong body, they’d think he was crazy. His own body seemed to have just vanished, and that was perhaps the only person who would almost certainly understand and sympathize.

And to be a woman? With no ID? No wallet? No money? The urgency of finding a solution was in hours,not days.

All in the Family (Part 2)

View Part 1 of All in the Family.

“So, what the f*** did she do?” Amber asked from inside her mom’s body. Secretly, she was happy her mom got in trouble while they were swapped.

The principal was taken aback by this woman’s language, but he did his best to ignore it. He explained, “While, typically Amber’s behavior involves violating the dress code or smoking in the bathroom, in this case she was talking back to her teacher.”

“I was correcting a basic fact!” Amber’s mom protested from inside Amber’s body, “My degree in --”

Realizing her mom’s mistake, Amber quickly interjected with an insult, “She’s a f***in’ know-it-all. Let me straighten this s*** out at home, and maybe she can avoid detention this time?”

Quite frankly, the principal thought he had it all figured out. He assumed Amber’s mom was just a bad influence, and -- all things considered -- Amber herself was probably doing quite well in spite of it. He couldn’t have been more wrong, but at least he was satisfied in his own head. He decided to let Amber off with a warning.

Scarred

Lucy had given Rhett some pretty clear guidance about her skin care routine after he found himself in her body after the Great Shift. It was one of the many things he didn’t even think about back in his own body, so he didn’t really listen; he didn’t really care.

In hindsight, he wished he had.

The acne got pretty bad before he actually started to do something about it. But it was much too late. What was once a smooth and beautiful face was now covered with acne scars. He would never be nearly as beautiful as he was when they first swapped. The doctors told him he could start wearing makeup in a few weeks after the treatment was complete, but to very dilligent about cleaning it off.

Rhett sighed. Makeup was another thing he didn’t want to do. It was another thing that was going to remind him of his new gender...

Safe

It had started raining shortly after the Great Shift. Justin assumed his body was probably not far from where he had been. He looked out of the balcony from the apartment he was now in; it was only a few blocks away. He had tried calling his own number several times without an answer.

He hoped hoped his body was safe, but did he really want to risk going out there at night while it raining into a city where all sorts of people swapped into the wrong bodies were likely going crazy? No, it just didn’t make any sense.

He was safe in this apartment; he was safe in this woman’s body. At least for now. At least until morning. Once he woke up, he could figure more out. He could figure out his next steps.

Catch-22

“It’s fairly simple,” Dr. Wilson Goldstein tried to explain it all to his colleagues, “If souls are quantum wavefunctions entangled across two bodies, then by carefully engineering the interaction Hamiltonian, we can swap the identities by allowing one wavefunction to collapse into the other’s physical vessel. Time evolution under this coupling could produce a near-perfect transfer of self.”

Yet he was pretty sure it was falling on deaf ears. Ever since the Great Shift put him into Isabella’s body, they hadn’t taken him seriously. And yet here he was presently an equation that could offer a potential way to reverse the effects of the Shift, to get everyone back in their own bodies, and they still weren’t paying attention. The Catch-22 nature of the situation wasn’t lost on him. The solution for undoing the body swap was right in front of them, but they just couldn’t see it because of the body Dr. Goldstein happened to have been swapped into...

Lucky

I sat on the runway of the airport in northern Alaska. I could feel the cold air blow on my bare legs. I realized how happy I was to be alive, as the odds really weren’t in my favor.

The Great Shift had swapped me into this woman’s body -- a pop star riding in a private jet. We were fortunate the pilot didn’t swap with anyone. When word came down to land, he was able to do so without incident. Many other planes, particular small, private ones, weren’t so lucky.

It would’ve been very possible for my time inside this body to be quite sure if things hadn’t lined up just right. But now I’m preparing for a new life thrust into the body of a celebrity. But for now? Well, for now, we’re stranded at this remote airport in the Arctic.

The Virus

Difficulty (Part 1)

Orson had a lot to think about as he rode the subway back to Hannah’s apartment. For starters, the very fact that the experimented had worked was a big win today. Of course, that’s exactly why he was heading to Hannah’s apartment instead of his own -- he had invented a body swapping machine.

It still seemed impossible, yet the fact that he was now an Asian woman in her late 40s proved it wasn’t. They would’ve swapped back immediately, but the device seemed to having some difficulty doing so, and Orson was sure he could fix it in the morning.

One night as Hannah couldn’t possibly be so bad. It might even be interesting to spend some time as a completely different person to get a different perspective. Hannah never talked much about her life outside of work, and even after they swapped, Orson didn’t get many details besides the basic facts. He realized he actually had very little idea what he was getting himself into.

In the Future

They tell me that hundreds of years ago, people used to live on Earth, and that it used to be a somewhat magical place filled with grass and trees and other such things. I certainly prefer the metallic orbitals throughout the solar system. While things like grass might’ve made Earth a nice place, there were other aspects that sounded like a nightmare.

For all their love of grass, they still destroyedit all along with the rest of the ecosystem. Now we only ever travel to surface to bring back oxygen deposits for the orbitals. I’m also told racism and bigotry were rampant. Such things seems so silly now that aboard the orbitals we can change our race or gender with a simple thought.

I apparently had a thought about being a woman in a dream and woke up as one. I haven’t gone back since. But the hate that would’ve befallen me on Earth for having such a thought? I have been told it was intense. Perhaps it was the length process of transition back in the day that made it so frowned upon? I don’t know. It still seems hard to believe humans were ever so primitive.

Writer's Block

Shortly after the Great Shift, Eric pitched a story to write for the newspaper about his own personal experience finding himself in a woman’s body. His editor loved the idea, but once he started to try to get working on it writer’s block struck.

What exactly could he say that hadn’t been said by slews of people on the internet already? He knew he was a better writer than most, but many of those raw, initial reactions had been just so powerful. People wrote about feeling strange about being in a dramatically different body -- their new gender, their new age, their new life.

And while he had become a woman like many others, it hadn’t exactly felt life-changing. There was just something remarkably ordinary about the woman he had become. But maybe that was the angle? Maybe a sense of self persisted that didn’t matter or care what the outside shell looked like? Maybe there was a story in here about how things weren’t nearly as strange as they first seemed...

Sick

Brad could never remember being in more pain. His body hurt even more now than that time he tore his ACL freshmen year. Did Gretchen really feel like this all the time?

With each small, painful step, it was hard to believe he was going to in her body from here on out. He was convinced the Great Shift had been some sort of practical to joke God was playing on him. After all, to go from a superstar on the college football team to...well...this? Swapping bodies with Gretchen had to be the worst possibility in the world.

She was another student at the school, and actually only 19 years old. When it first happened, he thought she was like 60. She had explained everything about herself shortly after they swapped. Apparently, she had some disease that he couldn’t remember the name of that made her look like that and that caused all the pain he was experiencing. She gave him her medication; he was taking it; it just wasn’t helping.

Parking Lot (Part 1)

It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was in the wrong body; Jake could feel it right away. Everything from the pulled back hair to the tighter clothes gave it away, not to mention an overall feeling of just “different” due to the fact that he was now a woman.

He was still curious about what he looked like as he wandered into a parking lot. He checked himself out in the mirrors at first, to get a better look at his face. Then he tried to look in the sides of the cars to get a better look of his overall body.

It was an insane experience seeing a different body from the one he was used to move in response to his actions. He no longer controlled himself; he controlled her. He was her...whoever she was! She might even be cute if he could muster a smile, though he certainly wasn’t ready to smile. Now he just had to figure out exactly who “she” was.

Why Not Both?

Words couldn’t describe how much I hated being in Anne’s body. It wasn’t the fact that she was a woman; I told myself I could cope with the new gender that I now found myself in. No, it was how out of shape she was. Her body wasn’t what I would call fat, it was just...I could feel fat in places I wasn’t used to. I was pretty sure she also smoked. All of this was making me pretty winded as I tried to hit up the gym’s rock wall.

To make matters worse, she was there with my body. I could see her out of the corner of my eye. She wasn’t doing anything to keep my body in shape. She was just...lingering by the vending machine. I could only imagine she hadn’t bought anything, because it wasn’t filled with the sort of junk food at she probably wanted.

I could only hope that we would swap bodies back soon. If we stayed like this too long, I was probably going to push hers too hard, or she was going to do something to absolutely ruin mine. Possibly both.

Happy Homemaker

Tracy told me I would get the hang of cooking; I’m still convinced I’m going to burn the house down.

I was actually a little worried after we swapped genders that she was trying to force me into her role around the house; it was not something I had ever forced upon her. I made good money, and once we married, she asked if she could quit her job. I didn’t see why not. She tookon the role of happy homemaker, and we planned to start a family.

But we couldn’t seem to have children, and the doctors recommended a radical treatment -- advanced gender swapping therapy. It had mostly been used for transmen and women; a new procedure that could change everything about your fully functional gender. But it was being explored by couples with fertility issues. We decided it was our only hope.

Once she became a man, my wife insisted she go back to work. We were both working for a while, but she told me I needed to focus on getting pregnant. She insisted I quit. We compromised, and I went on sabbatical. Now I’m the one homemaker, though not quite as happy as she was doing it. And, unfortunately, I wasn’t getting pregnant any easier than she had been.

No Returns or Exchanges

Causing a Scene

Everyone on the street was staring at me. I couldn’t blame them; I was absolutely causing a scene. But then again, you couldn’t really blame me either.

After all, I suddenly found myself in someone else’s body. But it wasn’t just a different body, I was a completely different gender -- and those differences were drawing my attention. It wasn’t just the obvious ones you’d expect either, like certain private parts. It was also things like my now long hair or my butt. And then there was her clothes. They seemed to indicate she was successful, but they also felt kinda sexy. And, in fact, I’m sure her professional appearance made people even more likely to stare due to the very unprofessional way I was behaving.

What I still couldn’t figure out was how the heck this happened -- or even exactly who I had become!

Cycle

Andy couldn’t believe he was still stuck in Ahra’s body. It had been well over twelve hours since they had first used the Medallion of Zulo to swap bodies, yet they still weren’t changed back after multiple attempts. Andy fell back against the couch with a sigh.

Ahra paused for a moment as she looked at him up and down before asking a simple question, “Why did you wear that? I thought you were super excited about dressing in skirts and heels and stuff while in my body?”

Andy shrugged, “I just woke up feeling...I dunno...off? I wanted to be in something comfortable.”

It was like a lightbulb had just gone off in Ahra’s head as she smiled. “I know what’s going on!” She said, “I read about it, but I didn’t think about it. It’s one particular condition of when the medallion won’t work. If a woman’s on her cycle! And you’ve probably just started mine. Trust me, it explains the comfortable clothes you wanted.”

Andy’s heart sank. He had been curious about being a woman, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to go through that aspect of it. He supposed he didn’t have a choice now though...

Drunken Impulse (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Drunken Impulse.

Nick remembered how miserable it was waking up the first morning in Leah’s body. But it’s not like the days that followed got any better. While he wasn’t waking up hungover again, it was still waking up in a body that wasn’t his own -- that was worse.

Despite searching all over the place, there didn’t seem to be another Body Swap Clinic (although they did still see the ad every once and a while) or anything else that offered such services. It meant that he was not only going to be stuck with Leah’s body, but also her life. He was going to have to go to her job and wear her clothes...and he had only just met her that night!

If only they had gone out to get matching tattoos instead...

Not Misplaced

I couldn’t entire blame her, I suppose. I was asking a lot of questions about her life before she demanded I stop the cab to let her out in the middle of the trip. Her distrust wasn’t exactly misplaced; though I doubt she anticipated what I was plotting, nor did it really matter as we had already driven far enough.

She stormed out and threw cash at me. I told her to have a nice day, and suddenly it was me throwing her an extra $50. I don’t think I will ever forget the look of shock as she drove away now that she was the one inside that smelly cab driver’s body.

And I had become her.

I remembered where she asked to be dropped off, and I noted the bus had a stop around there. So I waited. I didn’t’ anticipate the feeling. Maybe it was still her brain chemistry from being weirded out in my cab, or maybe it was the realization that I was now a woman alone on a dark street in the middle of the night -- but I genuinely had a strange feeling of dread.

Android Sci-Fi Body Swap

Tuition (Part 1)

I didn’t talk much about the accident that turned me into a woman at college. It’s not because I didn’t want to; it’s because I signed an NDA. If the story about what happened to me came out, it would likely affect enrollment and donations, so they paid me a settlement to keep quiet. I got a full scholarship too while they re-enrolled me with a new name. The only condition was I couldn’t tell anyone except my parents.

But you know what? I didn’t even really care! Being a woman didn’t feel fundamentally different to me, and having a free ride to attend college was a great deal! I adapted; I adjusted; and I loved it!

Fully Baked

Glen found it hard to fight the urges after the swap. With each breathe, he could feel the weight on his chest move up and down. It was a distraction; he tried to put it all out of his mind. But his new female body was telling him to do things, things he couldn’t resist.

The influence of this body’s hormones started innocently enough; he began to cry at movies he never would have before. The feelings got more intense. He looked at his girlfriend, who was now in the body of a man; he wanted to do things for her. Things he never would have imagined doing back when he was a guy..

Finally, he gave in. He got to the kitchen to prepare. This would be the best damn sourdough ever. He’d be so proud of himself if he could get it just right, and he was sure his girlfriend would appreciate just how delicious it was. Why fight this wonderful urge for so long?

A Glass of Wine

Tori watched as Oliver downed an entire glass of wine at once. She couldn’t blame him, though she was quite worried that he was going to get her body really drunk. However, it was not like they were going anywhere. Everything was shut down due to the Great Shift, and she figured they were lucky enough to have swapped with each other. They had also both been home at the time.

Of course, there was still the basic fact that she was now in the body of her own boyfriend, and he was now in hers. This mysterious element of this had been worrying enough before notifications began streaming through their phones. Of course, they realized just because they knew they weren’t alone in this situation didn’t make it any less weird...hence bringing out the booze.

They had both started slowly, but the alcohol in the blood just made them worry more about their new bodies. It wasn’t going to get any better any time soon.

Thought Through

“So, you caught me,” Chet said flatly to Fiona with handcuffs on his wrists, “But what -- exactly -- is your plan now? I can’t imagine you have a body swapper to switch us back, and I’m not going to tell you where mine is. Plus, consider that you are in the body of a male criminal who has a young woman handcuffed at a cafe on the street. If I start shouting, how well do you think this is going to turn out for you?”

“Then why haven’t you shouted?” Fiona asked.

“Because I have an insane curiosity about wondering just how far you thought this all through.”

In all honesty, she hadn’t. All she knew was that Chet had stolen her body. Catching him was as far as her plan went, but she had to have some way to force him to swap back with her; she had to figure out some way, right?

Incognito

Leonard thought swapping into the body of a world famous supermodel as a result of the Great Shift would be a hassle. He figured he’d be recognized on the street all the time and be harassed constantly.

It didn’t happen.

He just found a pretty easy trick to go incognito; it was as simple as not doing his makeup or his hair. With a bare face, he was practically unrecognizable in the supermodel’s body -- though he still certainly had a body that just didn’t quit.

He could still live a normal life for the most part...that is when he didn’t embrace the modeling side. She was, after all, famous; and those gigs often paid a lot of money. It was just in his downtime when he went unnoticed...

Take a Vacation!

Mary had to really convince her husband Calvin to take a vacation with the rest of the family. He was a workaholic who put in long hours in order to provide for his family. While he may have seemed distant, this was simply the way he showed his love. Still, he finally relented and ageed to go to the beach resort with Mary and the kids.

He so wished he hadn’t.

There was a strange electrical storm one night that must have mixed with something in the air, causing people in the area to switch bodies. Calvin woke up in the body of a college woman on a weekend trip with her sorority sisters.He could only think of two things: The first was how there was no way he’d be able to go back to the office like this. The second (and much more important) was the state of his family. He had been trying to call them ever since he had awoken to no luck. He could only hope they were okay.

Normal

Jason awoke with an obvious problem. This wasn’t his body. He had become a woman. What was most surprising was how normal everything seemed. His house was seemingly arranged the same with only small differences to allude to his changed gender -- dresses hanging up in his closet instead of pants, for instance.

The news on the television and the internet had no reports of sudden changed genders. He presumed if he went out that people would just know and accept him like this, and yet...could he bring himself to do that?

He wasn’t sure what it would be like to walk out into the world as a woman, in a brand new body. He was scared. Yet he wasn’t sure if it mattered if he was ready or not. Work was in a few hours, and he had a bunch of important meetings to attend.

Transphobes Go to Hell

Ladies Night (Part 3)

View Part 1 of Ladies Night.
View Part 2 of Ladies Night.

Conrad returned to his dorm and attempted to change himself back into normal. It didn’t work.

He tried a few more times, and it was still not working. He told himself that he could at least change out of the dress he wore. Seeing his new female body in that way for the first time was weird, but he tried not to focus on it as he rapidly changed into a sweatshirt and jeans that were both big on his now small body.

After examining his invention for a while and looking over the corresponding code, he found a flaw. It could only change a person once. There didn’t seem to be a workaround.

He could still envision a world of application for his device, but he’d have to do it all with this new body. And after what he experienced at Ladies’ Night? Well, he wasn’t sure he was going to enjoy living the rest of his life as a woman one little bit.

Hacking the Code

VR technology had come a long ways in the past five years. Instead of just presenting sights and sounds, the latest tech literally implanted feelings into your brain. And thanks to an exploit and a bug that Trevor had discovered, it could do so much more as well.

With only a minor hack of the code, he was able to transfer his entire consciousness from one user to another. Introducing this code at a public VR center, ending his session in a different body from the one he started in was a breeze.

A smirk ran across his face as he took to headset off, and he could finally enjoy his achievement. Jasmine’s body was now his. Meanwhile, his original body still had another half hour of time on the device; he’d be long gone by that time. Jasmine would be stuck in his body and never able to find him. The plan was far too perfect.

Volunteer (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Volunteer.

Orion soon went to the computer to try to figure out what happened. The logs were fried and searching for life aboard turned up only a few scattered blips. For a ship that should have around 500 people for proper breeding purposes, this was terrifying. He might be able to get some additional systems online, but without a properly sized crew, he was sure things would just go down again. He was so caught up in the work, he didn’t notice the figure approaching from behind.

“And how did you escape, Little One?” The voice asked, startling Orion.

As Orion turned, he saw the figure. It was his first time seeing an alien, though he had heard of other ships that had encountered some here or there. He had to be at least seven feet tall, and Orion felt particularly vulnerable in his now female body.

“What did you do to everyone?” He asked.

The alien seemed genuinely confused. “We are but scavengers, following in the wake of more violent species. You’re crew is likely dead, and we are taking valuable pieces from your ship. Had we known you were here, we would have let you be.”

Orion sighed. He knew he didn’t have many options. “I’ll make a deal. Take whatever you want from the ship. But in exchange? You set me up for life. Whether that’s on your planet or on your ship. Whatever. I’m taken care of.”

“You’re life could be quite lengthy.”

“It’s also a big ship. Plenty to pilfer. It’s a fair exchange and you know it.”

The alien though for a moment before nodding. “Deal.”

One-on-One Lessons

Practice for the college football team started that day mostly like normal, though the middle aged woman running out onto the field raised more than a few questions.

She approached the coach, and he asked the obvious question, “Who the hell are you?”

“It’s Jack O’Connor,” The woman said, “I guess there’s the thing called Swap Class that’s a requirement for graduation.”

“Jesus, O’Connor! That’s a freshman class! You should’ve gotten it out of the way three years ago! Why are you just getting around to it now!? And none of that explains why you’re in the body of a forty year old!”

“Well, yeah, it sort of does. See, because I didn’t know about it, I ended up in a one-on-one class. There was no one else to swap with, so I swapped with the professor, Mrs. Chambers.”

“Well, let me talk with the administration and see what I can do. We certainly can’t have you running around the field like this!”

Non-Event

Every now and again I could swear I saw the reflection of my old male body, the one I had before the Great Shift. Maybe my brain was operating on some sort of instinct, as if it just a persistent expectation causing a hallucination.

And I should probably be clear here: I’m not unhappy about who I became in the Great Shift, and who I’ve become since then. I know people who are outright devastated by their new bodies; I’m not one of them. I wasn’t overjoyed either, I felt like the change from male-to-female was lateral.

I eventually met with a therapist who suggested seeing my old body was because of how much of a non-event I treated the Shift as. Without the emotional jolt other people got from their new bodies, my brain just expected things to continue as normal.

The Body Swapping Machine

Eccentric

Edward had never wanted to be a supermodel. He was pressured into the profession after the Shift swapped into a supermodel’s body. He reluctantly agreed to do all the hair, the makeup, the clothes, and everything; but he hated every minute of it.

And after a few months of this, he decided to try to sabotage his career. It wasn’t enough to quit. Why? Because his body would still be famous; it would never end.

It started with little things like picking his nose in public. He cut back on things like showering. He aimed to be repulsive. He didn’t count on how much repugnant behavior because tolerated when you are beautiful. Instead of being “gross,” he became known for being “eccentric.” Somehow it was making him more in demand as a model, and it was infuriating.

Why Would You Do That?

“Look, I’m sorry,” Bethany shouted over to Wesley, who she saw sitting on the beach.

He ignored her. She was the last person he wanted to talk to, but he kept approaching and apologizing.

“You just seemed so happy in my body. And everything felt so right while I was in your body. I’m sorry I tossed the medallion.”

“Do I seem happy now? Ever since you told me this would be permanent, do I look like I have enjoyed being you? Or being a woman at all? Or even embraced a feminine attitude in the slightest? I enjoyed it when I thought it was temporary. Sure. But forever? I didn’t want this forever. But you know what annoys me the most about it all? You didn’t even ask! You just made an assumption that I wanted to stay as a woman! That I wanted to stay as you! Why? Why would you do that?”

Bowsette (Part 2)

View Part 1 of Bowsette.

With the Mushroom Kingdom fully under his control thanks to the Super Crown, Bowser figured he could finally take the thing off and enjoy his reign. The only problem? The damned thing wouldn’t come off! It was stuck on there, and that meant he was stuck like this!

He thought, how would Mario undo the effects of a Super Mushroom? Maybe if he got hit by a koopa shell or a spiny? Well, no, those were both his henchmen; they’d have no effect on him. He could probably let Mario or Luigi out to stomp on his head or hit him with fireballs, but letting either one of those plumbers out of the dungeon was a clear threat to everything he had done here!

He sighed. Bowser guessed he’d just have to live with being stuck as Bowsette. It wasn’t that bad really, was it?

Database

John checked the database in the company file again just so he could remember his name. The swap had happened a few days ago, an error in a test of a new device had caused everyone at the company to swap bodies. John found himself in Ellen’s body -- which had been wildly awkward and uncomfortable for him at the time.

The days passed and people awaited news about switching back to their own bodies. It never came. As it turned out the researchers discovered that by just staying in someone else’s body long enough, you’d basically adjust -- mannerisms, interests, pesonality, and even memories would return -- and it would be just like you never swapped in the first place.

Something about his personality being consumed by Ellen’s didn’t sit right with John. As he became more comfortable with things like being a woman and the shape of his body, he tried his best to hold onto himself. He knew he was losing, however. The database of who swapped with who was one of his last reminders to tell himself he was really John. If the company ever deleted it? Well, he’d be in trouble. He’d be 100% Ellen for sure, so he made a backup copy. He only hoped he’d remember the copy existed...

Hot

I sat and waited for her outside her office. I had so many questions. I thought I had hit the jackpot after the Great Shift put me into Andrea’s body. She was one of the hottest women I knew. And yet I could never pull it off; I kept looking like sh*t. I needed her advise.

She laughed when she saw me. And she explained being hot wasn’t just about wearing the shortest dress in her wardrobe; it was about how to wear that dress. Hiding her cellulite? Well, that often involved wearing tights under the dress. The bags under her eyes? Dealt with my the correct makeup. Split ends? She told me to remember to blow dry in the morning.

It sounded like a lot of stuff I didn’t want to do. I had always thought she just naturally hot. Andrea replied that was almost never the case. It took work.

Drunken Impulse

Going to a tatoo parlor with a woman after getting drunk with her at a bar is a bad idea; going to the Body Swap Clinic with her is worse. Nick was already drunk by the time the commercial came on the television at the bar; Leah joked about going; and, for some reason, it all seemed to make sense in the moment.

Heck, even for the rest of the night, Nick was having a blast in Leah’s body; she was loving being him too. They were just both too drunk to really think about it.

It wasn’t until the next morning when the consequences of their hasty decision sunk in. Now sober, they both rushed back to the clinic, but found that it was now shut down. It seemed they were having a final night “Going Out of Business” sale.

Nick and Leah desperately started looking for another location or comprable service or anything...

The Influencer | Part 3

View The Prologue of The Influencer.
View Part 1 of The Influencer.
View Part 2 of The Influencer.

Space Tourism

Colonizing space has been a long slow process. It involved transporting people in spaceships across very long distances with cloning and other advanced technology.

But space tourism sprung up overnight. Once those people were established on a distant planet, teleporting just the thoughts of people on Earth into clone bodies on distant worlds just became a norm. It was just as easy to teleport your thoughts back to Earth. Though mistakes did happen.

After returning home from his vacation, Dorian found his thoughts were placed back into the wrong body on Earth. The paperwork and waiting periods to sort it all out were lengthy. And until they had it all figured out, he’d be stuck in the young woman’s body where his thoughts were placed. He was told it would be quicker if whoever had their thoughts in his body had come forward, but so far, they had no luck locating that person...

Cigarette Break

Brett had hoped the Great Shift would break him of his cigarette habit. After all, he figured, it was his body that was addicted to the nicotine, right? And yet, even now that he was in Li’s body, he found himself starting back up again. He could only assume it was more about the mental addiction than the physical one.

Of course, he knew he had to hide this bad habit from Li. If she found out he was smoking in her body, she’d be so angry! Though he hoped she might give him a little leeway. After all, he had been receptive to listening to everything else she had told him. He dressed her body the way she wanted it dressed. He tried to act as ladylike as he could pull off. All of that was to please her. Maybe she could give him this one little thing every once and a while?

Eh, who was he kidding? Li was way too much of a control freak to let something like this slide.

X-568

Emily watched as X-568 pushed buttons on a retro device that looked like it ran on vacuum tubes.

“I find it hard to believe that this is the thing responsible for switching us into these bodies and teleporting us back in time. That looks older than dirt!” She complained from inside a man’s body.

“I assure you, the device always disguises itself to feel appropriate for the time and location it inhabits.” X-568 explained, “I have been doing this for a lot longer than you have. This is not my first time needing to locate the device, nor is it my first time as a woman.”

“I know, you told me you are from the future and you’ve been all these different people in all these different times. And I was brought along...why? Was it a mistake? Or were you just lonely?”

Falling Down

Sayuri watched as Jason fell on his butt and laughed about it yet again. It wasn’t just that he was failing so often, it was about his attitude. Did he not know how serious this was for her?

Yes, they had swapped bodies. That meant he would have to be the one competing in her gymnastics tournament tomorrow. He didn’t need to be win or be perfect; he just needed to be good enough to not threaten her scholarship. And, quite honestly, right now he was probably performing at a level that would get her kicked off the team. Yet he still somehow thought it was funny every time he fell on his butt?

She continued to coach him through the night, but it felt like she made absolutely no progress. She was sure that if they didn’t swap back, she was going to get kicked out of college, and then who knows what he would do with her body!?

Boring

The Great Shift turned a lot of people’s worlds upsidedown. But for me? Well, despite becoming a woman, things still felt relatively normal. Perhaps part of that was because I became a relatively normal woman. She lived in the same boring surburb; we knew mostly the same boring friends. Her fashion style was average, and I was quick to return to the same average routines.

There were periods and places of unrest, but that seemed so far removed from our little town. We all just kept going and moved on. For me, that meant that I was now a woman, but I tried not to feel any different about it. I tried not to live my life any different either. And so far that’d been working out just fine.