After that short initial briefing, you were brought into a room and asked to wait. The person you were about to become was also getting a short brief. Further questions would be answered later. After meeting the other person, you'd get one last chance to back out. But you needed the money and from what you'd been told prior, you would more or less just be them for the year. No working, all expenses paid. Kind of like a weird vacation.
You wondered how they'd deal with the fact this was all secret. Where you going to be living the other person's life? People would find out something was up, wouldn't they? But at the same time, who would think you had swapped bodies with someone? That the reason you acted strange was because you weren't actually you, but rather someone else was in your body? No sane person, at least. You figured all of this would be explained thought.
The door opened and you felt your heart skip a beat. But the person that came through the door was simply one of the doctors. "You can come in now, Michael" they called out. Michael? That had to be the person you were swapping with. You felt nervous. But also a bit excited? Who were you going to be for the next year to come? Who was Michael?
In through the door came a black man. You could tell he was quite a bit older than you. Probably a good 20 years older than you, actually. You stood up and you approached each other, intensely staring at each other. Prodding the person on the other side. Looking at what kind of body you'd be in for the year to come. The man was a bit shorter than you were. You were 6'3", so that wasn't exactly uncommon. Michael was probably around 6 feet. While you had an athletic, slimmer build, Michael was burly. A wide, large chest. Big arms and thick legs. He was frankly, really fit for his age, although you could tell he seemed a bit soft in the middle section.
Michael was looking at you up and down. By the look in his eyes, he seemed excited about being you. Something he soon confirmed himself. "I'll be this young man for a year? Not bad, not bad at all. It's going to be interesting looking at the world from the eyes of a white man." Michael said. "Well, you both have to agree to the swap first. But that's part of the idea. See how you'll react to being another ethnicity. What kind of reaction you might have on being treated with a different set of biases towards you. To see just how different a body can be for long term donor swaps in the future. Don't want people to get a new body and then go mad." One of the doctors said.
"So, are you two ready to move on to the next stage? We'll go through the finer details about how the swap will work if you are. Afterwards you'll get your last chance to back down from all of this" the doctor added. Both Michael and you nodded in agreement. You were as ready you were ever going to be for something like this.
The doctor told the both of you some things you already knew. They'd be paying all your expenses for the next year - as long as it was on the approved list. So things like clothes, food etc. Meanwhile they'd also pay all your running expenses from your actual life. Rent, loans, you name it. The both of you would move in to your old homes, but in the new body. A cover story would be made for each of you. You'd pretend to be someone renting your current place from the actual you. In the future, a transplanted person would obviously live in their actual home, so they wanted the both of you to be as close as possible to those conditions. The only real difference would be the fact no one knew. You'd tell your friends and relatives you were going away for a while, for a medical study. You could still contact them through text, they told you. To keep people from worrying and to make sure you had some social life resembling your old one. All you had to keep in mind was keeping the nature of the experiment a secret.
"So, are you going to go through with this? Last chance to back down." The doctor said. You looked over at Michael. Michael looked over at you. "Yes, I'm ready" Michael said with no hint of hesitation. "I'm ready, as well" you said.
With that, they started the procedure for the both of you to swap bodies. Just right of the bat. A bit faster than you might have been ready for, but at the same time, you guessed there was no reason to delay things.
The led the both of you into a room to clean yourself up in. You were then handed hospital gowns and placed in a bed, each. A doctor and two nurses came into the room. They were about to sedate you. "We'll put you two to sleep now. When you wake up, you'll have swapped bodies. Brace yourself" The doctor said, with a very serious tone. As the nurse put a mask over your mouth, she told you to count backwards from 10. As you did, you felt yourself drifting off. You'd soon wake up to your new reality for the year to come.