MA-16 (Patreon)

Another missed chapter

RM

I wiggled and jiggled my way over to the waiting room. As I passed through the doorway, my hip bumped the door-frame and I winced.

“Ow, dammit!”

I rubbed it and felt the loose flesh roll under my fingers, wincing when it touched the bruised area. My body was wider and shorter than I had been and it was going to take some time to get used to.

A packet was left on the shelf of the sliding window with “Robert Adamson” on the sticker. I picked it up, then sat down.

Opening it, I saw a welcome letter.

WELCOME TO YOUR NEW EXPERIENCE Robert Adamson!

You have been placed into the life experience of Joyce Reagan. She is a 62 year-old hair-dresser and fashion designer who lives in Queens New York where she has lived her entire life. She works at “Curly Sue’s” Beauty Parlor, has a dog named Mr. Patty that she usually takes everywhere, is a heavy smoker, heavy drinker, and is not in the best of health.

You’ve been given a portable VR headset and headphone combination for the induction process. You will be given 15 sessions that cover all aspects of her life from friends and relatives, speech patterns and behaviors, work and home habits and skills, past history and relationships, and more. By the end of the 15 sessions you will know all there is about Joyce and more!

Once you have entered Joyce’s life, we encourage you to take things slow. Tell people you are taking some time off, need some down-time, etc. Sleep helps the integration process, and you will find you will need many hours of sleep to start. During these times, you can play your induction sessions because they do their job while you sleep!

ADDENDUM: You have also been added to the staff of Lord Mallory Inc! Congratulations on your new and exciting career as a INSURANCE ANALYST position! We want to make your onboarding as smooth as possible so you can integrate into our staff environment and get to work as soon as possible!

Included in this packet are:

*Executive Apartment address, location and keycodes

*Company vehicle parking location and keycodes.

*Parking Validation

*Subway pass

*Health Insurance Questionnaire (prefilled)

*Technology Use Contract

*Kogobook Tablet

*Miscellaneous

Work Hours: Lord Mallory INC: M-F 8-5 PM

Curly Sues: M-F 6-10pm

Sat: 8-10pm

I sank in my chair reading those hours. How on earth was I going to be able to work that much? Especially as a 62 year old out of shape woman with health problems?

The packet went into detail regarding dress codes (Business casual for Lord Mallory, Smock and uniform for Curly Sue’s), parking instructions for the apartment, and other sundry items.

I looked at the VR helmet, and put it on. It had a power button on the side and was connected to my mobile device.

A chime sounded, and the screen materialized in front of me. Joyce Reagan Life Experience Induction Series. You will be presented with 15 induction programs that will acclimatize you to your new Life Experience. These will induce a hypnotic state within you, and you will not need to do anything other than relax and allow the induction to complete. Once started, the induction cannot be interrupted for any reason. They will take approx ninety minutes to complete and you will not notice the passage of time while the induction program is running.

Are you ready to complete Induction One Behavior and Habits? 

I saw a red NO button, and a green YES button. With my right hand, I moved my ‘cursor’ to yes, and ‘clicked it, by blinking my eyes.’

White static noise filled the screen. Frowning, I wondered when the program would start. A few moments later the static cleared and said END PROGRAM? Y,N.

That was strange. I blinked on the Yes, and the screen returned to transparent.

I took it off and stared at the headset. I thought it must be defective, so I decided to find Exmuritious and let him know. I was strangely stiff and sore which…

“Oh, perfect.” A deep voice said from the doorway. “You’re wife just completed her transition, also.”

“Wait, what?” I said.

He grinned. “It’s always like that the first time. You’ve been in here over two hours.”

I blinked. “How can that be possible?”

“The induction process inhibits your time sense. It’s not like sleeping, you feel like you literally don’t exist for the time your under.”

That scared me. What kind of changes had they made? I was also weirdly lethargic, like I needed to sleep.

“Follow me, and let’s reunite you with your wife. She’s excited to see you.”

“Oh, gawd, have you told her yet about me?”

“She’s had enough to deal with returning to her old body. You’ll need to ease her into it, I’m afraid.”

I nodded and hurried after him.

###

Karyn sat in a recovery chair, staring down at her body in horror, holding up a mirror to see her face. “What on earth happened to me?”

Exmuritious nodded. “The previous occupant thought she was going to be there for the rest of her life, and decided to alter your visage.”

She looked into a hand mirror, brushing back the platinum locks. “I’m a bimbo! What the fuck!”

“Honey, it’ll all be okay,” I said. “At least you’re back in your body.”

For the first time I noticed that when I said body, it came out bawdy. I guess the induction program had an impact on me.

“Who are you?”

I smiled. “It’s me, darling. Robbie.”

She shook her head, closing her eyes, her tresses flailing back and forth. “No, no, no, no no!”

I took her in my arms, holding her. “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s not forever. We can get you all fixed back up again and back the way you were, you’ll see!”

She stared up at me, tears streaming down her face. “Is that really you?”

“Your one and only goofball.” I smiled, using her term of endearment for me.

She hugged me fiercely. It was an awkward sensation given we were both rather well endowed.

“Oh, God…Robbie, you don’t know how awful it was in Mexico. I was a MAN!”

I smiled, “I heard.”

“I mean, I know you’re a woman now, but jesus Robbie, how on EARTH did you ever get used to that between your legs? I mean, I must have racked myself fifteen times!”

I laughed.

She sighed. “And you did this for me? So I could be me again?”

“You know I would have done anything.”

She nodded, crying, caressing my face. “But you’re so old!”

“You know it’s only temporary. And we get to move to New York!”

Her eyes widened at that. “Really? Can we afford that?”

I nodded. “I’m going to be…ah…working for Lord Mallory Inc for awhile. And then I get to earn back into a male body again!”

“How long will you have to work for them?”

Exmuritious smiled. “He will serve the rest of your rotation, Karyn. Half the length.”

“So like five years?”

I nodded, shrugging my shoulders. “Possibly. And I could possibly earn enough to get my own body back in thirty days if I can raise enough capital.”

She shook her head. “Okay, it’s a bit much to take in all at once, but I trust you Robbie.”

“If you two will follow me, we can get you on your way to your new home,” Exmuritious said.

Karyn held my hand as we followed him, and I realized we were about the same size.

One month, Robbie, I thought. One month and I could get my body back and at least be with her as man and wife again.

***

It took an hour to get to the Airport, and we were shortly in the air over the ocean.

“You sold the house?” Karyn said during our long plane flight.

“I needed capital in order to qualify for the event.”

“But, Robbie, our house?” She wiped tears from her eyes. “I loved our house.”

I shrugged. “We can always go back someday, honey. This is only temporary.”

“I know, I know.”

While we flew, I put on the VR headset and initiated induction sequence two: “Behaviors and Habits part Two.”

As before, it felt like I’d just put on the headset, when the program ended and I took it off.

Karyn snored softly beside me, her head resting on my shoulder.

“Anything I can get you Ma’am?” the flight attendant said to me, after seeing I was awake.

“Gin and tonic, twist of lime,” I said.

“Right away!”

She scurried away, and I shook my head, realizing how easy that came to me. As Robbie, I would have ordered a soft drink, but Joyce loved gin.

I looked down at my nails, and tisked. They needed repair. I dug in my purse and pulled out my nail kit.

I had a month to put together enough funding to return. While I hadn’t exhausted what I’d put together, the trip to Italy had cost a fortune. Regardless, I was still about a quarter of the way to what I’d need in a month in order to get back into my body.

It seemed wrong that I’d need to pay almost a million euros in order to be put back into my original body. But that was the crazy world I now circled. Bodies were a commodity, and I had to make up for the fact Karyn had hers stolen. That I was paying the people who stole it in the first place, did not escape me.

I was now on the inside, and could operate to bring the whole thing down.

Flexing my right hand I looked at my nails. I’d put a fresh base coat while I’d been ruminating, and they looked much better.

 Eighteen hours later, we were back in the States and in my new Executive Apartment. I’d put all of our stuff in storage back in Utah, but I had no idea if we’d need any of it since the apartment was fully furnished.

We were so exhausted, we didn’t even look at the surroundings or the fact we had a gorgeous view of Manhattan. We shucked off clothing, and a few moments later we were asleep.

I wondered what the morning would bring.