The Party After (Part 1)

No one was quite sure what had caused the incident on campus that caused about 20% of the people in the area to swap bodies. It was enough so that everyone pretty much knew someone it had happened to, but it was still sort of weird when you noticed someone you hadn’t noticed before was swapped. It made the first frat party afterwards an interesting experience.

When Professor Lee shows up in a backwards baseball cap and flannel shirt, most of the frat brothers were sure she was there to shut it down. Helen Lee was known as a strict professor and the antithesis of fun. As it turned out, Brad Weiss was now the one in her body. Brad was one of the biggest party animals on campus, and wasn’t going to miss this one no matter what body he was in. Of course, he had to relate tales of getting sloshed with some of the others to convince people who he really was, which ultimately proved to be not that diffcult.

What was difficult for Brad, however, was trying to hit on some of his female classmates. While it had been easy with his former young and attractive male body, very few (if any) of the women at the party wanted to hook up with a middle aged chinese woman...

A Cabin in the Woods

Jim and Tyler had brought their girlfriends, Megan and Tina, to the remote cabin in the woods for a fun (and hopefully romantic) weekend. But a strange surge made the power to go out, and -- in a truly strange twist -- caused them to swap bodies. The two men inside the bodies of each other’s girlfriend went down to the basement to investigate.

Jim, now inside Tina’s Asian body, shined his flashlight on a bunch of wires. “Look at this,” He said, “This cabin doesn’t even have internet. What do they need all this for? This has got to be responsible for swapping our bodies.”

“I saw a breaker on the wall,” Tyler suggested, “Should I flip it? Maybe it’ll power on and swap us all back?”

“What if it makes things worse?”

“Dude, you are in my girlfriend’s body. How could things be any worse? Unless...unless you want to make out with each other this weekend?”

“What...no...weird, dude!”

“Why is it weird. I mean, I’m in your girlfriend’s body, and you’re inmy girlfriend’s body. It’ll be like we’re just making out with them without having to, you know, deal with them.”

Suddenly, Jim was considering not trying anything to swap back at all...

Iteration #56

The room seemed impossibly large to fit inside the architecture of the house, but that wasn’t even the weirdest thing about the space. As I looked around the room, there were clones of my body in suspended animation. Things got even creepier when a robotic voice echoed on the loudspeaker.

“You shouldn’t be here.” The voice said.

“Where even is here?” I asked.

“This is where you were born.”

“What do you mean?”

“Each time you die, your mind regerates here in a new body. And each time, it is more suited to your desires. And each time, improvemens are made. Your present form is iteration #56, Oliver.”

“Oliver? But that’s a guy’s name! My name is Olivia!”

“Desire for female form began in iteration #27. Memories between iterations are erased and replaced with suitable memories for each new form.”

“I used to be a guy? No way! No way! And who are you?”

“I am merely an AI to assist you and continue the iteration process. I am here to assist.”

Swapping Day

Everyone on the planet knew the day was coming, but not many people looked forward to it: Swapping Day. Every five years, a mandatory body swap was triggered, and everyone swapped bodies with someone else. In the distant past, it had been possible to swap bodies with anyone, but in the last hundred years or so, there were limits put in place. You’d end up as someone around your own age (within three months or so) some as someone with a similar level of health. Everything else was fair game.

Zaiden would learn that last bit after today’s swap, and he wasn’t exactly happy about it. In the previous four swaps, he had always swapped with another guy, but now he was a woman for the first time. He couldn’t believe he was going to be stuck as a woman for the next five years!

Welcome to the Year 3356

“Please, if you’ll allow me to explain,” The nebbish man at the computer explained, “I’m a historian. My team brought you to the present -- or the future as you would see it -- so we could learn more about your time.”

“But why the hell would you turn me into a woman?” Scott exclaimed.

“Only thoughts travel through the time vortex, not physical matter. We needed a host for you to inhabit once you get here. We can’t turn down volunteers who donate their bodies as hosts. And our selection of plucking people from the past is limited. We know little more than an approximate time we pulled you from and that your removal wouldn’t have any major consequences for the timeline. Speaking of which, would you mind telling me the exact year you were previously in?”

“2024.” Scott paused, “Removal? Aren’t you going to send me back once you’re done asking questions or whatever it is you do?”

“I’m afraid the time vortex is a one way trip.Welcome to the year 3356.”