Six months earlier, the Parkside Mall law office of Dan Bertinelli
Dan Bertinelli heard a knock at the door. He hoped it was another case, since the proceeds of his last courtroom victory, a personal injury case, were running low. Bad enough that he couldn't afford a secretary or a receptionist. "Come in." he said.
The man who came in couldn't have been more of a contrast with Bertinelli. He was wearing a two thousand dollar suit with a gold Piaget, and the briefcase looked like it had been made from the skin of an endangered species. But it wasn't just the accoutrements. Bertinelli was fat, balding, ugly, and hadn't been laid since the dot-com boom. The stranger was movie-star handsome. Probably a homo, Bertinelli thought.
"Mr. Bertinelli?"
"Yes."
"I'm Leo Manfred, and I represent the Transdem company, and we would like to make you an offer. We're bringing out a new product that is, quite simply, the most revolutionary innovation since agriculture. We can literally change the human form--sex, age, even species. We need people with legal training to do repos, people like you."
"Go on."
"We'll pay twenty thousand dollars a month, plus a fifteen thousand dollar payment for every repo you do. And we can offer you something else you won't get anywhere else."
"What?"
"Mr. Bertinelli, our marketing plan is predicated on the idea that most people would like to be someone else. You, for example, pass slow afternoons by fantasizing about being a hot, slutty woman who fucks a lot of people."
"Now wait a minute! That's private!" Bertinelli shouted. The stranger raised his hand. "Please, Mr. Bertinelli, no one at our company thinks any less of you for having a rich fantasy life. You think I always looked like this? We can offer you the body of your fantasies. We will increase your physical strength and speed beyond the limit of a normal Chronivac to enable you to carry out your work, and give your intellect a boost as well."
"That's impossible."
"Is it, Mr. Bertinelli?"
Bertinelli felt something crawling down the back of his neck. His bald spot was growing hair, and he felt that it was long and luxurious. His butt was widening against his seat. He felt himself growing taller. "An Amazonian body is best for the modifications we'll make." said the stranger.
Bertinelli saw his skin clearing and soft roundness growing from his chest. His clothes were also reshaping, his cheap suit becoming a micro-miniskirt and a pink belly shirt with rhinestones spelling out "American Nympho."
"Ms. Bertinelli, go out and have fun for the next three days. Don't worry, you can't get pregnant or catch a disease. We'll talk about a permanent arrangement after that."
Diana Bertinelli barely paid the stranger any attention. She was on the internet, looking for the quickest way to Fraternity Row.