A shower of sparks flew out of the remote. Caught off-guard, Lauren automatically tossed the thing away from her.
In mid-air, the remote blew up with a miniature explosion.
I stared at the shattered remains on the floor, in shock and horror.
“The-the remote,” Lauren said dully, sounding as shocked as I was. “The … It had an anti-theft device in it. I … must have accidentally triggered it, with the
jerry-rigged repair job and all the whacking.” With horror in her voice, she whispered, “That means that … I’m stuck like this.”
Immediately, I felt a surge of anger. I mean, at least she was old enough to drink beer; I was too young to drink milk out of a cup. “Oh, how terrible for you,” I
commented sarcastically.
She glared at me. “This isn’t exactly great, kid. I don’t have any I.D. for this new body, so there’s no way I can legally gain access to my bank account, or any of my
possessions. I’m supposed to be a serious research scientist, and I barely look old enough to be in high school. It’s like I’ve been thrown out of my old life!”
I glared right back at her. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m just fixated on the little fact that you’re at least in a body that’s old enough to not have to worry about potty-training!”
She closed her eyes, sighed. “All right, you’re right. I suppose I am better off than you.”
Taken aback by this admission, I couldn’t help but feel that I should make some sort of concession, too. “Well … I’m sorry if you’ve lost everything from your old life.
I guess we’re neither of us too well off, now.”
“I suppose the question is,” I asked her, “What do we do now?”