With a mug of coffee in my hand I potter about my cozy little apartment, the early morning sun creeping in through the kitchen window and bathing my living space with a rich red hue. Yawning and sipping at the steamy coffee I slowly pick at the few odds and ends I had left scattered around my home, tidying up well before I would normally be awake.
My shoulders slump and sag, my feet dragging across the well-worn oval rug beneath my coffee table as I shuffle towards the kitchen with a few snack wrappers for the bin and an old cereal bowl destined for the sink.
"Why'd it have to be this early..." I groan, draining the entire remaining mug of coffee before starting a second batch in the hopes of waking up even one iota more. As what I hoped would be the bane of my tired state slowly pours into the waiting mug I quickly finish up with the few scant dishes in the sink, eager to make my home look tidy and nice before my delivery showed up.
I didn't know why I cared so much, it wasn't like anyone would care about my apartment being a little messy. However, I simply couldn't stand the thought of having anyone over for an extended period of time as they potentially judged me for the mess.
As the mug finally fills and I place the last plate in the drying rack I wander back towards my couch, collapsing onto and panicking slightly as the coffee threatens to spill everywhere. With a deep breath of relief I clutch the mug with both hands, not a single drop of the dark liquid making its way out and being wasted. Before I can bring the mug to my lips I watch as my phone begins to buzz and vibrate across the coffee table.
Wincing slightly, annoyed at being disrupted before I could have my second coffee, I shift to pick up the phone. The second I answer and bring it to my ear I'm met with the sound of rushing wind and nearby cars idling.
"Mr. Jordan Hughes?" Asks a gruff and gravelly voice, the man sounding about as annoyed as me to be up at this ungodly hour.
"Uh...yeah, is this..." I begin to respond, getting cut off as I'm thankfully given an opportunity to sip at my coffee.
"Yeah, we're outside the lobby" explain the voice, trying to get to the point. "Is there an elevator or..."
"No, sorry" I wince, hissing out my answer worriedly. "I can come down to give you a hand or..."
The man on the other end simply sighs. "Fuck, I hate apartments..." the mystery man mutters, his voice only faintly coming through the phone as he holds it away from his face. "It's fine, we've done this before. Is there a path to where you want this installed?" he asks, his voice calling out to someone immediately after though it is too muffled to make out the words.
"I...yeah I just cleared one this morning" I explain, hopping up to my feet in preparation for their arrival. "I'll...meet you at the landing I guess?"
"Thank you sir" the man responds, the sound of some mechanical device kicking into gear suddenly ripping through the speaker. "See you in a bit."
Looking around I rush to the kitchen, placing my mug of hot coffee down as I turn the machine back on so it can get ready. Moving back to the living room I grab the coffee table, sliding it into the kitchen to actually clear the path I had said I made.
With an unreasonable amount of haste for this time of morning I bound for the front door, opening it excitedly as I pull up the message on my phone that had led me to wake up so early.
Your Alternate Life has been prepared.
Please be prepared for delivery between 0600 and 2100 on 30 January
Please ensure the engineers have room to work and a path in available
The advent of rapid lab-grown bodies had revolutionized the medical industry, but never really took off in terms of any other market. The usages for mindless bodies that couldn't live outside of the tank in which they were grown due to difficulties in forming a working brain during the process were slim to none. Even with the creation and rapid adoption of auto-surgeons, robotic doctors that could complete certain medical procedures in a fraction of the time of a trained professional, these lab-grown bodies still simply served as spare parts.
It wasn't until the first full brain transplant occurred that interest in these bodies began to grow, companies clambering to become the dominant force in the emerging 'New Body' market. The winner of this short-lived commercial war was the Alternate Lives company, merging this excited frenzy with relatively cheap in-home auto-surgeons and assistance from local governments.
Alternate Lives sold their bodies in a bundle, each coming with a small auto-surgeon mounted to the body' tank to keep the size reasonable and to perform the necessary procedure, a spare tank for the discarded body afterward, and most importantly an official identity. The process was simple, albeit prohibitively expensive, allowing Alternate Lives to quickly edge out their competition who offered more tailor-made experiences.
In an effort to increase speedy delivery and decrease costs, Alternate Lives didn't offer custom-made or individually designed bodies. Growing their stock in a scattershot approach, unsure of the results, instead they would ask their customers to select from a number of 'Keywords' to describe their preferred body. Sadly, these 'Keywords' were not always consistently available, shifting constantly to roughly match what they expected to have in stock in the coming few months rather than offer a complete range of selections.
Despite this lack of creative freedom, the 'Keyword' system seemed to capture the imagination of their customers. Between the limited choices, making people focus on exactly what they wanted, and the oddly appealing theme of ending all the 'Keywords' with a 'Y' customers tended to report enjoying their selection experience.
Beyond the selection of their body's 'Keywords' all customers had a second concern, what type of identity to pick for this alternate life. Alternate Lives only offered two choices, but each had definite advantages and drawbacks.
Shared Identity
By far the preferred, or at least most popular, offer was that of a shared identity. For all intents and purposes the new body would be legally the same as the old, sharing the same name and all other necessary identifiers. Despite having a second set of ID made up containing their new face, from an outside perspective they were simply the same person just with an extensive makeover.
These quickly became popular, allowing for people to test out new perspectives without leaving anything really behind. Some used it as a chance to get ahead, ordering bodies to improve their performance in the workplace or to help appeal more to customers, others merely wanted a body to relax in and kick up their feet after wearing themselves out or to have a body to properly enjoy the summer weather before hunkering down in another for winter.
Soon most people at least knew that at some point a coworker or neighbor may suddenly look entirely different on a day-to-day basis.
Separate Identity
The lesser-known or picked option available was that of the Separate Identity. Costing far more than the former option due to the intensive work behind it, this option resulted in a new identity begin crafted from whole cloth for the new body.
Some used this to restart, to begin again as they grew bored of their life or entered their twilight years, others merely enjoyed the prospect of leading a secretive double life with vastly differing perspectives.
The main limiting factor, aside from the costs, was the splitting of assets. When the new identity is created the buyer must allocate a certain amount of their belongings to the new identity, to give it the ability to fend for itself so to speak. While masquerading as an entirely new person they would be unable to use their bank cards or really use any of their assets without it potentially causing issues, as such they had to provide for their new identity ahead of time. Multiple roadblocks were put in place to prevent this system from being abused, such as moving money to avoid debt, and as such the process overall was unimaginably slow compared to the Shared Identity.
Despite all this, people still applied and divided their assets accordingly as they waited out the dreary processing clock. This often gave customers time to secure where their body will be stored, the fact they would now have two separate identities making a new and terrifying form of identity theft all too concerning.
I had placed my order around a month ago, a mixture of the passing of my grandmother leading to a sudden inheritance and losing my job leading to a sudden severance package giving me more than enough money to make the purchase.
While I had been undecided on the 'Keywords' at the time, unsure what exactly would be available for me to pick from, I had a clear idea of what sort of new identity I wanted.
As I wait in the hallway of my apartment complex, listening as I hear the sound of steps and heavy thuds climbing the stairs in a careful rhythmic fashion, I pull up my invoice as I stare at my choice of...
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