Swappers 2 Chapter Three (Patreon)

They met at the Los Angeles Swapatorium. Each wore the ubitquitous white jumpsuit of an active swapper, and they all bubbled with excitement.

“Dis is such a nice surprise!” Michelle said, waddling up the stairs. “I’s  glad you came, Jessica.”

She giggled. “Well, when Miss mentioned it, I knew this time I just had to come, if only to keep her out of trouble.”

“She need someone watchin’ her back for sure,” Justin said, chuckling.

Mindy fumed. “Hey, it’s not just me. All of us got in some trouble last time.”

“You can say dat’ again, girl.” Michelle said. “But it is too bad Candi can’t be here.”

“She has to hold down the fort while we are away,” Mindy said. “I have to have someone I can trust running things.”

People shuffled past inside the circular arena of the swapatorium, everyone excited and waiting for the big event to begin. Some people were meeting each other in person for the first time, others had pre-arranged things, like MIndy and company. Each swapping event followed the same format: A short introductory period where active swappers relaxed in the outer ring, the swap which in actuality took very little time, and then a reception where people “got to know” their new bodies and each other from new perspectives.

The chime sounded, and the inner doors opened. Like a theater, inside were dozens of pods each facing each other and with a control device rising up in between.  A wand extended out from each central unit covering the reclining pods where the swappers would lay.

Mindy and Jessica shared a kiss, and Justin and Michelle embraced each other tightly.

Justin placed his hand on Michelle’s extended belly. “Going to miss Junior this week?”

Michelle giggled. “Not in the least! Oh, God, I can’t wait to finally be light and small, and not pregnant, again!”

Mindy felt a shiver knowing that very shortly, she would be the one carrying the baby. What would that feel like, to have another being inside?

“Can someone help me up?” Mindy said. “Even with the stairs I’m a bit too short.”

Justin linked his fingers above the highest step, and Mindy used it as another step to get into the pod. Being reduced sure wasn’t convenient. It would be nice to be relatively “people sized” again and not the 4’6” sex goddess she currently appeared.

She lay back as the swapper attendant leaned over her pod.

“So you’ve been through this before I see, Miss McTavish, and Mrs. Klein?”

“Yes,” Mindy said, smiling.

“Just going for a week this time, I see.”

“A little swapcation if you will,” Michelle said.

“Excellent!” The attendant made some adjustments to her tablet device. “You are seven months pregnant, Mrs. Klein?”

“I am.”

“And Ms. McTavish, should for any reason the baby enters fetal distress, your waters break, or you begin effacement, you’ll agree to proceed with the delivery of this child without requiring a swap back?”

“Wait, what?”

Michelle waved her arm from her pod. “It just means if for some reason you go into labor, or if the baby starts having problems you agree to deliver it. There’s no trouble with that, right Mindy?”

Mindy could hear in his ex-wife’s voice she wouldn’t broker any reasons for backing out now. Deliver a baby? What had she gotten herself into?

“I suppose, yes.”

The attendant smiled. “I’m sure you understand that in such an emergent state to try to have a swap back could have catastrophic consequences. We don’t allow swaps after 36 weeks because the swapping AI could confuse the brain pattern of baby and an unintentional swap into he or she could occur. “

I swallowed. I had no idea the risks were so high. “This is just supposed to be a casual, you know…vacation!”

The attendant smiled. “Michelle is at 28 weeks so you literally have two months before that situation might occur. Your tip point is assessed at 10.5 days, though so keep all this in mind. You are agreeing to a 7-day swap so that should be plenty of time to swap back before the tip point occurs, and far before any issues relating to the 36-week deadline might happen.”

“I ain’t gon' make you deliver my baby, Mindy. Don’t worry your head none.”

Mindy took a deep breath. “Okay, yes. I understand.”

“Michelle, you understand that should the 36-week window expire, you will be unable to swap back into your body until after the baby delivers, correct?”

“I heard what you told ‘er. You don’ have to repeat yourself.”

“Okay, but this next statement is very important. Do not, under any circumstances, swap after 36 weeks. You could potentially swap someone into your unborn baby and the damage that could cause to someone’s psyche would be quite extreme. An unborn baby’s brain simply is not developed enough to contain all the memories and thrum of an adult person so even the shortest of swaps causes untold damage. Every swapatorium across the United States has this as a condition, but some third world countries do not have such restrictions. Please be sure to heed this warning or disaster could result.”

“I unnerstand. I already had one baby. We ain’t gonna swap no more after this one, at least for a year or more.”

The attendant smiled a thousand-watt smile. “Perfect! Then let’s begin!”

The countdown timer started. A huge digital clock projected in red above the swapping control stations sprang to life, counting down from 60.

Mindy felt her body for the last time. It had only been a year since she had been Justin Klein and swapped into it, yet it was her’s. Body, mind, soul and spirit. She was a 4’6” porn star dynamo with a voice that sounded like a chipmunk ate a squirrel. She ran her fingers through her long curls, then stroked the side of her smooth face. She didn’t want to do this. Something was telling her not to. Something felt like it was going to go wrong, especially with all the talk of the pregnancy. This wasn’t right!

Just as she was about to open her mouth, the countdown clock hit zero, and the swap wand lit up above them, scrolling down the length of her body.

She watched it move, feeling the familiar pins and needles sensations coming from all over her body. The pretty lights danced in front of her, and then went out as oblivion intruded.

***

P1 (I'm still debating what might happen after this part so this is the first of different variations I'm toying with. Any input would be encouraged -- Raine)

She awoke. Her eyes didn’t want to open, they felt like sandpaper, or someone had glued them shut. She wondered what time it was and why hadn’t Jessica woken her, she was sure there was business to attend to the Le Mons, and they needed to get to work right now. She sat up—or tried to sit up. Her arms were tied to the bed.

“He’s awake!” Someone said near her. Why wouldn’t her eyes work?

“Don’t try to force open your eyes.” Came a soft feminine voice. “Just go easy.”

She felt drops being placed on each eyelid. She stopped trying to force her eyes open and let the liquid do it’s work. After a short amount of time, both eyelids released and she was able to open her eyes.

Everything blurred in front of her. Light blobs moved near, then away from her. Someone shone a light blob in her eyes. They hurt.

“What’s going—” she started, but her voice was all wrong! It was deep, like her male voice had been, but even deeper than she remembered somehow.

“There’s been an incident. Relax. Everything will be okay.”

She tried to wipe her eyes, but her arms wouldn’t move they were still tied down. “Why are my arms—”

“We didn’t want you to injure yourself in the awakening process. Just relax and let yourself awaken naturally. You’ve been through a traumatic experience and it’s going to take some time to get your bearings.”

Her ears felt full so she yawned and they popped. Things sounded very dull, as if she were listening to a monophonic speaker inside a wall.

“Why does everything sound wrong? Where am I? What’s happened?” She glanced down and finally was able to see a few things.

She definitely wasn’t in Michelle’s pregnant body. She…he was male and wearing some kind of a tank top, white, and his skin was a sallow color. He held out a hand in front of him. It was so large! This body felt so wrong, so unnatural, what could possibly have happened?

“Why am I male? Can someone please tell me what’s happened?”

A blob came into view, and as he got closer he could see it was a man wearing a white lab coat.

“I’m Dr. Effinger, and as you might have guessed, you aren’t where you are supposed to be.”

“Nor who I’m supposed to be.”

“Yes. Let’s clear that up right now. Who are you, where was your swap taking place, and who were you supposed to swap into?”

I’m Mindy McTavish, at the Los Angeles Swapatorium, and I was supposed to swap into Michelle Klein.”

He entered the data on his tablet. “Ahh, I see it. Swap 9586-MK-LA. You are going to want to memorize that swap number, you will be asked for it multiple times.”

“Alright.”

“Now, as to what happened.” He set the tablet down, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We take your safety and security seriously in the Swappers club, but as mentioned in all of your release forms it is a “free” service and therefore unregulated and operated by it’s members.”

He nodded.

“We have an incredible array of safeguards, but yes, incidents do occasionally happen. When they happen, we take steps as quickly as possible to ensure the continued safety and enjoyment of everyone who participates. You understand this, yes?”

“Yes, but what happened?”

He sighed. “We had a breach.”

“A breach of what?”

“Of our systems.” He stood up, and handed me a pair of glasses that had been sitting by my bedside. I put them on and could immediately see much better.

“You are currently in the body of Ji-huan Myung.” Dr. Effinger glanced down at his tablet. “Ji-huan has been in storage for the last 9 months after an incident where his swap partner perished during a swap and Ji-huan decided to take on the life of his partner instead of returning to his old life.”

Mindy felt his midsection. He was quite pudgy and overweight, and apparently had vision problems. “I guess I can see why.”

“Do you have the Body-ID of Mindy McTavish?”

“Yes. Justin recited the string of numbers and letters.

“Were you born Mindy, or were you someone different?”

“I was born Justin Klein. Last year I had a perm swap into Mindy’s body.”

“Justin Klein. Do you remember his B-ID number?”

He recited it and the Doctor made some notations on his tab, apparently unphased by the gender change.

He shook his head. “It’s very strange. I do see the B-ID matched with M-ID that makes you Mindy McTavish, but it doesn’t have any historical evidence of being attached to the B-ID matching what you gave me for Justin Klein. There are three-thousand, two hundred and eighty seven Justin Kleins listed in the New Republic of United States, yet none of them have a B-ID even close to matching your old one. I *do* find that B-ID matching Mindy’s M-ID, but again, no historical evidence there was ever a swap.”

He paused a moment. “Well, no matter. You were perm swapped into Mindy McTavish, and there was essentially a zero sum time limit, correct?”

“If that means permanent, then yes.”

He shrugged. “Okay, we’ll leave that for now. After all this mess is sorted we can cull through the details of your history, but now that’s the important part, right?”

Mindy nodded.

“So, you were in the LA Swapatorium, and you went down for the count and were to be transferred into…it says Tabatha Radikal, B-ID 93847-L. Does that sound correct?”

“Yes, she goes by Michelle now.”

He nodded. “Hmm, it says that swap was successful. You’re sure you’re Mindy McTavish?”

“Yes!” He was starting to get upset. “What do you mean it shows as successful?”

He sighed. “Well, that’s the latest ploy. They get in, rearrange things and complete the swap, but insert someone else’s thrum and memoryset into the receiving body. It identifies that person as Mindy McTavish B-ID 94845-T.”

“So…someone else is in my body?”

“Well, more correct…someone else ended up in Tabatha Radikal’s body.”

“Oh my God. We were set to go on a cruise too! What time is it?”

He glanced down at his tablet. “Nearly 830 PM…why?”

He struggled to get up. “We had a flight scheduled from LA to Orlando Florida tonight at 8PM! If someone else is in Michelle’s body, I have to get to them right away!”

The doctor shook his head. “Actually, you aren’t authorized to leave this facility. Like I said, you are in a temporary vessel until we can get you sorted into something a bit more appropriate until your body becomes available.”

-“What if she takes it?”

The doctor smiled. “Well, body theft is an international crime. I’ve put yours and Tabatha Radikal’s body-ID on all the international databases so as soon as her ID-matrix is read, it’ll be flagged. Also, if she enters ANY swapping machine, anywhere, her consciousness and thrum will automatically be shunted here, just as you were.”

“So, I have to just wait?”

“Unfortunately, yes. We need the authorities to do their jobs.”

Mindy sighed. “Can I go home?”

He shrugged. “Let me ask you this…do you identify as male or female now?”

Mindy pondered that. She knew she had been Justin Klein for a long time, but since crossing the tip point in Mindy she’d felt whole and complete as Mindy McTavish, nee Montana. She was a female, busty, reduced porn star, not a male overweight Korean. What was identity anyway? Would he begin to feel more and more Ji-Juan the longer he was in here? He didn’t want that to happen, in fact hadn’t even really want to swap into Michelle.

“Female,” he said. “Body, notwithstanding.”

The doctor nodded and glanced at his tablet. “We do have a couple of female bodies we could house you in while you are at the Facility. Would you prefer that, or would you prefer to stay as you are.”

“What are the age options?”

He ticked some boxes on his tablet. “A 14 year old, a 38 year old, a 59 year old, and a 72 year old.”

Justin had been 24 and Mindy was 22. So he could either lose 10 years or gain decades.

“Is there any benefit between them?”

The doctor shrugged. “Well, the older you go, the longer the tip point. We aren’t sure why that is. So if you went into the 14 year old, your tip point would probably be in a few days, where the 72 year old would give you more than a month.”

“Ahh, I see.”

“Which really doesn’t matter, it’s a thrum thing though. Your thrum adjusts to the vessel and synchronizes in harmony at that moment is all. Even if you’d reached a tip point, you’d still be able to go back to being Mindy, it would just be a forward swap and not a backward one. Technicalities though.

He knew full well the extent of the “Technicality,” however. Once he’d crossed the tip point on Mindy he had zero desire to go back to being Justin at all. He was lucky that Justin had felt the same way.

“Fuck, I guess I’ll take the oldest then. I remember what a tip point felt like and if I’m an old granny, at least I won’t want to stay that way even if the tip point is reached.”

He nodded and smiled. “Wise reasoning, actually. Most would have chosen the young girl.”

“I imagine passing the tip point in such a young body would essentially seal me in there. I definitely need to get back, and as soon as possible!”

“Very well, I’ll have her brought out of storage and ready for you in an hour or so. Just lie back and make yourself comfortable for now.”

(Very much a work in progress, but thought I'd share! ~Raine)