Staggering against the wall of the small enclosed room I slowly try to make my way back to the door, some desperate part of me hoping to escape whatever was about to befall me. However, I barely manage to make it one step before my legs give out from underneath me and I painfully tumble forwards.
"Hey! I said relax" yells the gruff and grumpy man through the speaker system.
"I...How am..." I mutter, struggling to speak through my numbed mouth.
As the room continues to fill with a fine mist the pain from my fall rapidly diminishes, fading away almost pleasantly before the lack of sensation begins to grow disconcerting. With no more sense of touch I struggle to drag myself upright, hanging forwards limply as I try in vain to press my back against the cold metal wall.
"Just try...Good, sit there" the older man grumbles, still upset at my lateness "Stop flailing about and damaging your partner's new body".
As he explains why I need to stay still my heart skips a beat. I try my best to stand back up, but merely manage to slide my legs out further in front of me as I slam my back into the wall.
"You were a hard one to match" the man mumbles through the speaker, his tone appearing lost in thought. "How many years was it...nearly a decade" he exclaims with a whistle, impressed by the number.
The whir and hum of the room grows louder and louder. It's almost deafening as I find my hearing growing sharper in the dimly lit room.
"Luckily...Newly...Just the other..." the older man says, his voice struggling to me I over the sound of the room as it prepares for whatever process I was about to undergo.
People didn't really tend to talk about their experience at the Department of Assignment. I had always thought it was due to people not wanting to remember their old lives and simply wanting to move on, though there were quite a few people who were vocal advocates for the procedure. On the other hand there was the theory that people weren't permitted to talk about the swap, potentially with some sort of hidden consequence.
As the noise in the room reaches an eye watering pitch and volume it suddenly dies down. The sound shifts into a low rumble which makes the room almost vibrate in my shaky and struggling vision.
"Well there we go... all linked up..." the man mumbles, distracted by his work and speaking to himself. "Let's just...get that...here we are" he continues, the quiet sound of keys clicking on his keyboard barely managing to make it through the speakers.
"Alright Mr. Hughes..." the man exclaims with a chuckle "Last time you'll be called that name"
My stomach sinks as he verbally jabs at me, a grim reminder of what the result of all this was going to be.
"I suppose it's alright to use your new name now, I mean in a few minutes you're going to be..."
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