Well, that was it. The week was over. I'd spent it doing the same things I always did: playing video games and reading comic books. You'd think I'd be doing something less... normal, the kind of thing I'd always wanted to do but never could. But I didn't want to spend my last week as myself like that; I wanted to spend it just being me, pretending it wasn't going to end. I spent a fair amount of time with my friends too: after all, I had to tell them about the swap. It took some convincing, as they both initially thought it was a very late April Fools joke, but at least now they knew I'd soon be my mother.
I wonder how that'll affect our friendship. When this is done, I won't be their best friend David; I'll be Mrs. Mason David's mother who they see once in a while when they come over. Would they just cast me aside, ignoring me as they did my mother? Or would we remain close friends, despite my being almost three times their age? Laura and Stephen assured me it would be the second option, but only time will tell.
I looked at my surroundings. I was in a waiting area, in the lobby of the Ambrosia Corporation offices. It was a big place, but also completely sterile, in every sense of the word. It felt worse than a hospital. And to think this was the last place I'd see as David Mason. Sitting beside me was my mother, while my dad was in the playground area, with Melody: she was going to get the procedure explainend by a childhood specialist.
"How do you feel, son?" mom asked me"
"How am I expected to feel, mom? I'm going to be a little girl for the rest of my life..."
"Well that's not properly correct"
I glanced at her surprised and she continued "I mean, you'll eventually grown to a girl and a woman..."
"Oh sure" I said "that makes it easier" laughing"
She caressed my head and said "is the girl part or the little part that scares you more"
"Kinda of both" I said.
"Well... for the little part, consider it as an occasion to live childhood funny moments with a more mature perspective... and it'll end in just ten years by the way..."
I nodded, not that convinced though.
"For the being female part... honey... I think it won't be that bad... Sure, you'll have to get used to something... like, well, we already have a full warderobe, you can't expect not to wear skirts for until you get to choose your clothes" she laughed.
"Mom, I don't see why does it help" but I laughed too.
At that moment, an attractive woman entered the room. She was young, and had long blonde hair tied up in a bun. She had a big, very visible baby bump under her lab coat. I recognized her as Gloria Adams, Larry's lab assistant. I'd seen her a few times before. She walked over to us.
"Elizabeth, David," she said. "Dr. Thomas is ready to see you. Follow me."
Mom and I got up and followed her to an elevator, which brought us up to the fifth floor, we then followed her through a hallway, and into a large laboratory. The room had been cleared to make space for the experiment we were about to take part in. In the middle of the lab were two operating tables. Between them, a table with two syringes and a bunch of surgical equipment, along with two vials containing a blue gel-like substance. And standing nearby was a tall middle aged man with grey hair. Larry.
"Hi, David. Elizabeth," he said. "I haven't seen you two in a while. How are you?"
"I feel like my life is about to end. Literally," I replied.
"And I'm truly sorry about that. To be honest, if I didn't know your family needed that money, I would never have suggested this. I only want to help you, but I'm afraid this is the only way I can help."
"It's okay, Larry," Mom said. "We're not angry at you. We just want to get this over with."
"Oh. Then I suppose we shouldn't waste time. First, I'll explain what we're going to do." He took one of the blue vials and showed it to us. "This is NeuroGen. It's the substance that made all this possible. We found that, when directly applied on an open wound, this substance could regenerate nerves and brain tissue. Needless to say, the applications are obvious."
"That's... actually really cool," I said. "So, with that, you can heal pretty much any injury?"
"Correct, but this isn't what we're doing here. While I am the one who discovered NeuroGen, the research of medical applications for it has been left to other teams. Miss Adams and I have decided to pursue a different use for it. We figured that, if it can heal brain tissue, then maybe it can be used to connect a brain to a body that isn't its own. In other words, body swapping."
"So you're just gonna take my brain out of my head, put in Melody's body, and put NeuroGen on it."
"Basically, yes. We don't transfer the whole brain, however. That would be unnecessary. Only the parts that contain, your personality, knowledge and memories. However, some of your skills will probably stay with the body. These include motor skills, language, reading... Essentially, things you do without thinking about it."
"Wait, I won't be able to read?"
"Well, since your sister is 4 and she hasn't yet learnt too... actually, we're going to keep for her your school knownedges too, since it's her better to know".
"Shit" I said and then "Sorry"
The doctor smiled in a "no worries... I don't think your parents will let you swear for some years so, no problem". That made sense.
"What I'm wondering," Mom said," is why you can't switch them back? Can't you just do the same procedure again?"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear over the phone," explained Larry. "NeuroGen has one major flaw: the immune system perceives it as a threat. After the first use, their body will build an immunity to it, and on the second use, the NeuroGen will be destroyed before it can have any effect. Any attempt to swap you back would likely leave you completely paralyzed, or dead."
"So, we'll have to stay as each other until you can find a way to bypass the immune system," I concluded.
"It could take years," Larry replied. "And even then, there's no guarantee it would work on you, since your bodies will have already built an immunity. This is a one way trip. No way around that."
"It's okay. I'm ready to do this," I said, even though it wasn't true.
"Alright, then. Let's proceed. There is a gown on this table over here," Gloria said, pointing at a table in the corner of the room. "We'll leave the room while you put it on. Then we'll start."
Minutes later, both me and Melody were on operating tables, in our gowns. It was the last time I saw her body from the outside.
"Gloria, administer the anesthetic."
Gloria walked over to the space between the operating tables. She took one of the syringes, and gently grabbed my arm.
"Are you sure you're ready for this, David?" she asked.
I nodded. She stuck the needle in my arm, and I could feel a liquid flowing into my veins. I quickly became drowsy, my vision becoming increasingly blurry. Sounds became quieter, until I could hear nothing. I could barely see. Then everything went black.