The papers were filed and Kim was escorted to another room where a keen young man with gelled hair typed rapidly on a computer. Kim, seated in the deeply cushioned guest chair, swiveled back and forth watching him intently as he ignored her. Occasionally this new man would ask her a short question regarding her personal information. Work history, banking information, credit history personal friends and family; the list was extensive and it all went into the computer. Kim did not ask the man what the information was for, nor did she really care.
She did wonder about him though. He was a smart looking young man. His suit was smart and his desk was clean. Did he even know why he was asking all these questions? Kim assumed that he must. Here he was frantically taking down her life, making sure that everything was there, only for it all to become meaningless in a few minutes. If he saw her again in week she would not be anything like she was now. She felt a twinge of sadness for him. He had a real job. He would never get to experience anything but typing.
Kim thought again about her future. First the change. Then she would have eight months to spend as a two wheeled vehicle for someone to scoot about on. Then a change back to a new body. She would get four months off. Then either she could go off and live her life or maybe return to this same office. One year from now would this young man once again be looking up her profile on the computer and remember her? He would have to connect the new Kim to the current Kim. She wondered what she should make her new body be like. He would never know. She could hide in plan site. She could make love to this man right now and in a year he would never know it. He would forget about her like she was a passing lamp post on the highway. Just one of many things that made zero impression.
Kim almost wanted to say something that he would remember for years. She wanted it to be clever and smart or sexy. The sort of thing he would tell to unbelieving friends. But nothing came to mind. And before she could think of anything he was shaking her hand and motioning her out the side door. There were many more women just like her right behind. Wizzing past.
Kim found herself in a short, but achingly white hall. The diffuse lighting hurt her eyes it was so bright. She turned a corner and was in another large room also bright. Several people in clean white clothing busy at individual stations. At each work-space one other person was being treated to a medical-like exam. Kim figured they were like her, soon to be other things. She was held in a short line of people at the front of which was a small, red light on a stand. Kim watched as the light turned green and the person in front entered the room making their way among the traffic to a free station.
Kim's turn came up and she strode quickly to the station of a young brunette. The girl motioned Kim onto a low circle platform. The platform rose slowly until Kim could see over the heads of everyone else. She felt silly being up so high, even if it was only a long step down. She feared that the young candy-stripper was going to look up her skirt. It was a silly fear since Kim was not wearing a skirt and the girl seemed to show no interest in Kim. The girl called up Kim's file her computer.
"Alright, Kim, I'm going to do a full-body shape scan. I will do a DNA swab and a retinal scan. These all will be used to identify you if any unlikely events occur. Everything is cross indexed and triple backed up. So you will not be lost. And also a tiny capsule containing all this information will be implanted in your body and will remain untouched by your change." The girl hardly waited for a response. Kim gave none. The girl spoke as if she were talking aloud to no one else.
The girl drew a drop of blood and swabbed Kim's inner cheek. Kim stood stock still as a mechanical arm with a bright light moved all about her body. It could see through her clothing and soon a computer image of Kim's naked body appeared in her file. The light returned and scanned each of Kim's eyes. When this was done the girl rubbed Kim's upper arm down then used a large needle to place a rice-sized metal cylinder in her arm. That was completed and the girl lowered the platform. Kim scurried off to the exit.
Kim was directed to an elevator. She exited on a new floor that she suspected was deep underground. No windows. She was given a numbered tag to wear on her wrist and told to park herself on a seat until called. Kim sat silently on a plastic seat looking at the other hapless people look at everyone else. What were they going to be, she wondered. There were no magazines to read. No art to admire. Just the sore seat and the long wait. She was nervous. She wanted to blab. She wanted to make friends. She wanted to know everything about he person sitting next to her. Kim wanted others to know what she was going to be. She wanted others to know how cool she was with the whole thing. But instead, Kim waited silently. Idling, quietly while other people did important things.
Kim's number was called after a time. A short man in a red vest came to her and escorted her to a wheel-chair. Kim let herself be seated and the valet pushed her briskly down a close network of narrow alley-ways. Kim felt the cool air blow past her face. She stared straight ahead not even blinking and her eyes watered the man moved so quickly. At one point another valet came around a corner with another woman in chair. The other valet stopped short and Kim veered sharply to avoid a collision.
"Beep! Beep!" Kim shouted over her shoulder as she was hustled past the near accident. And she laughed a nervous little laugh.
The valet stopped at a curtained room and let Kim off. She slipped behind the fabric to find a large tub and a small table. The table had a plastic box with a fluffy white robe in it. The tub was filled with what looked like reddish oil. It smelled foul. Before she could turn and run the curtain was pulled back and a lab technician stepped in.
"Miss, Kim?" he read from a digital tablet. "Please remove all clothing and jewelry and change into the robe provided." He then stepped out and drew the curtain shut.
Kim wondered where the man had popped from. The hall way had been empty when she arrived. But she quickly complied. Her old clothing she piled into the plastic box. Once done, the man returned so instantly that Kim wondered if he had been peaking. The small can he held suggested that he had actually gone to fetch it while she had been changing.
"Well done," the man said. "This is the first part of your change, the surface texture bath. This liquid," he indicated the tub, "is filled with nanites that will work on your skin and surface texture. You will remain completely submerged for twelve hours."
Kim opened her mouth to ask a question, but was cut off. "The air mask hangs down from the ceiling and you will be sedated. Drink this."
The man handed Kim the opened can he had gone to get. She could see nothing on the outside that gave her any idea of the contents. She took a sip. The liquid inside tasted sharp and caught at her throat. Not too much unlike tequila, she thought. While she drank, the man placed a top on the plastic box. He sealed it shut and affixed a label that was printed out from his tablet. Her personal affects, to be kept in storage for her, she mused. In eight months would she even want to wear those clothes, she wondered.
Kim finished the drink and handed the can back to the man. He took a clear, plastic breathing mask from a bag and attached the air hose from the ceiling. Kim let him place it over her face. He twisted a valve and Kim let him know she was breathing fine. When she made to remove the robe to get in the bath, he stopped her.
"The nanites will use the robe for material. Just climb in."
Kim climbed in. The liquid was warmed to slightly above body temperature. The inside of the bath seemed to be lined with foam cushions under the goo. She sat down letting her robe sink with her body. She stretched out her legs and started to lean back. Suddenly she was feeling sleepy.
Before her head slipped under the surface the man spoke once more, "I will be here to get you out. Don't worry." He smiled and Kim lay back into the goo.
What would she be like when she got out, she wondered as she drifted off.