MA-27 (Patreon)

Getting to Abu Dhabi turned out to be easier than expected. Stephen Fisher, in his infinite He is such a good man goodness, had passports in Karyn and my name as Jessica and Madeline Fuller. They were neatly stowed in the glove compartment of the small SUV, along with a ten thousand dollars in traveler’s cheques.

God Bless the organized man.

Overall the flights took seventeen hours. Seventeen hours with a two hour layover in France with a person in a ten-year-old body.

“I’m bored,” She said, after the first two hours.

“Honey, I know, but this is going to be a long flight, you know this.”

“Can I go to the bathroom?”

“You just got back from the bathroom.”

“I know, but I have to go again.”

I sighed, letting her get out of the seat.

“Hard flying with children,” the woman on my left in the window seat said.

“Yes,” I nodded. I didn’t want to get into details, that the ten-year-old child I was with was really my thirty-two-year-old spouse.

“Cherish them while young, the time passes quickly,” she said.

“Don’t I know it.”

“I’m Edith,” the woman proffered her hand.

“Madeline Barnett,” I said, almost automatically. It was strange how names came so easily with the body.

“How old is she?” The woman smiled.

“Ten.”

Edith patted my hand. “They are such a delight at that age.”

I smiled and nodded.

We’d been looking over our shoulder since our mad dash. I kept imagining men in black suits with sunglasses carrying briefcases and apprehending us at every rest stop, the airport, the gate, leaving on the plane—but no one had.

I expected them when we arrived, but we deplaned without incident.

The sun was setting as I rented another small SUV from the airport. We had less than three hours until the ignition of Ambition, and I figured we would just make it in time.

“Can we please get something to eat?” Karyn said, from the back seat. “I’m starving.”

“Honey, we don’t have time. Here’s some snacks—“

“I’m sick of airplane food!” she yelled.

I spied the golden arches and turned the vehicle into the drive-through lane.

“What do you want?”

“A happy meal!”

I sighed.

Very little of what I would consider ‘Karyn’ remained inside the little girl. She remembered her name, remembered our life, and had memories going all the way back to her own childhood as Karyn, yet she acted very much like the child whose body she inhabited.

I placed our order, then handed Karyn the happy meal. She grinned wildly as she pulled out the toy; a small rainbow-colored pony. Several people on the flights had donated various stuffed animals and other amusements to her. She had an infectious smile and her light blue eyes knew just how to pull heartstrings with just a look.

I knew the location of Ambition from the plot maps I’d been privy to during my time at Lord Mallory INC. It was out in the desert, east of the city about 60 km. After studying the GPS locations, I took what I hoped would be the correct highways.

Turned out, I didn’t have to drive far. Traffic backed up along the desert highway less than twenty miles outside of town. I could see a crystal pyramid lit up in the distance with spotlights careening across the sky.

Apparently, Transmigration Studios wanted to advertise the location of the event.

We turned off the highway, following the line of vehicles toward the pyramid. Blue laser beams pirouetted in the air angled down toward the structure. We passed under an archway that had “Welcome to AMBITION!” marked in seven-foot sans-serif letters.

“Are we driving right up to the main entrance?” Karyn said.

“I don’t know what else to do.”

Steel fencing topped with barbed wire surrounded the facility with guard-posts and armed security patrolling in four-wheeled motorized light-duty vehicles. Spotlights lit the entire compound. There would be no ‘sneaking in’ to the facility,

I’d have to bluff my way past the entry.

We got to the main entry gate, and I was directed into a long file of vehicles.

“What are we going to do, Mommy?” Karyn said.

“Just...follow my lead, honey.”

We got to the front and a security guard shined a flashlight in our faces. “Tickets?”

“I’m with Lord Mallory INC.”

He nodded, grabbing a tablet from his podium. “Name and position?”

“Uh...Joyce Reagan and I was head insurance analyst.”

He frowned a moment, then paused. “Ah, yes, you’re expected.” He printed out a metallic ‘STAFF’ badge with my name on it. He printed a ‘GUEST’ badge for Karyn and handed them bot You can follow the blue lane markings to the employee’s entrance along the side.”

Shrugging, I nodded then drove in the direction indicated.

“So, we make our escape after being put in these bodies, and you just tell them your name at the entry gate?” Karyn said. “Was that wise?”

“These kinds of companies...sometimes the right-hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.”

“But what is going to happen here, Mommy?”

“I’m hoping we can get back to our original bodies, baby. This is going to be some kind of mass Migration event, and I hope we can get back to who we were.”

“All these people are going to change bodies?”

“That’s what I think is going to happen.”

“But you aren’t sure?”

“I’ve never been told what, exactly, is going on out here.”

I parked the car where I was guided. “Well, let’s see what’s going on.”

Opening the door for Karyn, I helped her down. She gripped my hand with her tiny one, tightly.

“I’m scared, Mommy.”

I squeezed her hand. “If for some reason we get separated, meet me back here, okay?”

She nodded, looking up at me with tears brimming in her eyes.

I knelt and looked her square in the face. “Look, if it looks like things are going to go pear-shaped, we’ll get out of here, I promise.”

“Okay.”

“We have to try to find our bodies. Do you think you can help me do that?”

“Yes, Mommy.”

“You know I’m not really your Mommy, right?”

“I know you’re Robbie, but in my brain it makes me feel better to call you Mommy. Plus it helps with our cover.”

I knew it was more than that, but I let it slide.