Each and every new hire would receive their work description, a town map and visitors guide, the relevant timetable for their job, a set of house keys and a brain transplant into the body of a resident that had the right look.
It was, oddly enough, the simplest option for Dream Developments. With everything else they had brainstormed there had been significant hurdles to overcome.
With the surgeries they would not only need to pay for the lab-grown parts, leaving a paper trail a mile long, but they would also need to wrangle all new identification and lives for these spontaneously created Frankensteins they had crafted.
With the suits not only did they take time to work but the person would be left with all their own DNA, it would be all too easy to be caught out if people were to run to the authorities and get tested. Not only that, but the 'equipment' of citizens below the belt would be procreatively non-functional and near 100% fertility rates was something a new town could not afford.
Speaking of affording things, the nanites would be a no go either. The cost for the tiny robots, both programming them correctly to reshape and remold to precise full-body specifications and to purchase them for the whole town, was just far too high after all the other benefits Dream Developments were handing out.
No, the cheapest and simplest solution was that of the tricky yet affordable brain transplant.
The procedure itself was rather quick, severing the lump of nerves and fat from the spinal cord after connecting a bypass to keep the body functioning. The mounds of gray matter were then to be soaked in a bath of long-term anti-rejection drugs, a chemical cocktail designed to alter certain genetic markers to match those of an organ recipient.
After the soft tissue had been properly prepare it was only a simple matter of forcing it into its new home, removing slight amounts of unnecessary parts if necessary just to make it fit. Temporary connectors would be placed to hold it all together, the degradable bindings leaching restorative and regenerative balms to force the nerves to heal and reconnect on their own.
As one last trick, the desire for a perfect citizen being more intense than their better judgment, hormone and endocrine system altering capsules and patches would be stuck to the inside of the skull or forced into the tissue itself. The potent mixture of chemicals meant to aid in the transition and acceptance of the residents new form with older brains for example potentially getting a youthful boost to match their new body or the minds of somewhat docile and meek women being flooded with testosterone, though often simply resulting in sudden or enhanced urges and cravings along with heightened emotional states.
The end result was that of a person that appeared completely normal from the outside, perhaps just the faintest of scars hidden by their hairline revealing what had been done to them.
Dream Developments, knowing that if word were to get out they would be not only ruined but likely sent to prison until their dying days, set up several methods of keeping the news from getting out.
First was the practical distance of travel to and from the town. Being so isolated, several hours from even the next town over, as it has previously only been accessible by boats from the harbor, simply going to warn the authorities was difficult.
Phone lines and internet usage were to be heavily monitored, any messages or posts attempting to tell the world what had happened would be archived and deleted to prevent the outside world from seeing them.
Lastly, if a person were to try and leave to get help or tell too many visitors to the dreamy seaside town it would be all too easy to have the resident simply committed to the local hospital for treatment of their 'delusions'. Even if outside authorities were to investigate all they would find would be a mentally unwell individual having what sounds like a psychotic episode as they scream and beg to have their brain put back where it belongs.
No, it was all too perfect and to the surprise of some of the doubters it all started off without a hitch. Residents were shown the town, a delaying process as the previous appointment was taken to warehouses to be hollowed out, before eventually being taken to the warehouses themselves
Everyone had been paired up ahead of time, though with conflicting schedules not everyone could arrive on the same day or even week. Bodies and brains had to be kept alive in vats until their new respective owner or vessel showed up for the rest of the procedure to commence.
Vats lined the walls of the warehouse, being wheeled about and sorted as new arrivals were deposited and then withdrawn after minutes to weeks of unconscious waiting.
The drive seems to take forever, the long dirt road in winding around freshly hewn trees as the path forced its way through the surrounding woodland. It's a rough ride, especially considering it had been hours since my last rest, the bumpy road barely big enough to squeeze two cars down it between the encroaching tree line.
The air smells fresh however, the pine needles littering the ground and acting as a canopy above blending nicely with the faint scent of seawater.
After an ungodly amount of driving, my eyes struggling to stay open as I sip at a now quite cold cup of gas station coffee, I finally see light at the end of the tunnel. The blue sky is but a speck ahead of me, but as I get closer and closer the expanse grows and grows before the sight of the coastline rushes to meet me.
Signs warn me to slow down and I thankfully head their warning, the road sharply turning left and the only thing keeping me from tumbling down the steep hilltop being my own wits and a small metal divider.
It soon dawns on me just why the road had been so windy, so hastily made through the dense tree line. From within everything had seemed flat, relatively bumpy but flat. However as I look from the other side I see the large hills and cliffs lining the coastline for what they were, barriers and walls to keep cars out of the pristine coast below.
The road thankfully widens some as I begin to travel along the edge of the dense woodland, still remaining untreated dirt but giving me enough space to maneuver.
I soon begin to pass houses sitting on the rolling hills, a variety of constructions both old and very new taking advantage of the scenery. Ultra-modern designs of steel and glass watch out towards the waves and crisp sandy shoreline, while cosy stone cottages and old farmhouses rest nestled up against the pines and the few flat open fields.
In the distance I begin to make it out, the town of Graceport revitalized by the downright immense investment of Dream Developments. The town appears to be in several parts, the developers desperately trying to balance between modernizing and keeping the quaint character of the docile former fishing village.
The fringes of town look sparsely populated, the larger buildings appearing to dot the landscape as pastoral dream homes both new and refurbished. Moving closer in towards the town center new developments line the area in rows, the very edges of the old town being littered with cookie-cutter suburban homes. The old edges of town remain intact, oddly curved roads and strange side streets carving paths through the historic houses and apartments that makeup Graceport.
Lastly, the town center itself appears at odds, half new neat constructions nestled in with poorly planned but certainly more characterful former town center. Large new apartments rest next to quaint little shops with their own second story being housing for the owner, a new and robust looking school building extending its grounds to meet the lovely little park and original town hall beside it.
As the town grows closer to the old docks a similar pattern emerges, with folksy old rendered buildings being nestled oddly around more modern ones that attempt to better utilize the view of the ocean beyond.
The town itself displays a range of colors as I approach, the various older building being painted and rendered in all manner of designs while the newer properties simply shine a plain white with the only color stemming from the earthy-toned roofs.
As I make my way to the town center, my eyes spying the town hall from my vantage point on the way in, I soon begin to spot cars nestled in the streets and driveways around town. It's still rather sparsely populated, with the paid residents still moving in before the remaining plots begin to go up for sale and rent.
It made sense in some strange way, make sure the town actually has services and residents already to attract prospective buyers. The idea of moving to a town this far away without knowing how the school or hospital would be staffed sounded like a terrible prospect.
With each passing minute I begin to soy more and more people, the diverse range of expressions plastered on their face not really registering as I struggle to navigate the winding roads of the older districts.
An older doughy woman attempts to usher what looks like her son towards one of the new apartment buildings. While her caramel-toned face seems downright pale as she stumbles and plods up the steps her tall and athletic son grins ear to ear as he bounds up and down the short steps over and over.
A pretty young waitress shakes as she carries out a tray of drinks to a waiting table outside, her long dark hair pulled back in a rough ponytail. Her eyes dart to her voluminous chest every few seconds, her face twitching at the sight as I think she looks for strains on her pristine white blouse. The middle-aged men and women sitting by the table chuckle as she minces over and struggles with the tray, more than one of the customers leering with lust in their eyes while some look horrified or merely despondent.
A short and somewhat pudgy young woman sits behind the counter of a small corner store, tears running down her face as she shovels chips and chocolate into her sobbing face. A look of disgust coming over her briefly as she eats before returning readily to the fatty sugary snacks
I eventually pull up in front of the town hall, a variety of other cars being parked outside the large nearly century-old structure. As I sit there for a minute, draining the rest of my old and frigid coffee while trying to wake myself up, I hear someone tap on the window.
Looking out with a start I'm met with the sight of a woman in her early thirties, her tanned and heavily made-up face looking down at me with a broad smile. Pale blonde hair hangs about her head in a neat chin-length bob, her pearly white teeth on full display.
"Mr. Hughes?" She chirps, checking a clipboard in her hand.
Her hair is slightly damp as is her navy blue blazer. Looking around I notice a faint smattering of water lining the street and some of the other cars, a short shower likely having passed through some time earlier.
I nod up at her, opening the door and heaving my tired and aching body' out of the driver's seat. I feel gross, sweaty and stiff after hours upon hours sitting in that cramped seat.
Looking back to the woman I find myself looking down at her, the blonde only being around 5'8" in her tall set of shiny black heels. Beneath her blazer sits a modest white blouse, the pair doing well to hide her chest though it may simply be there wasn't much to hide in the first place. A long pair of slacks cover her legs, the black pants likely being the better option in the biting brisk sea air.
"Yeah, I'm Jordan Hu..." I begin to croak, the blonde quickly cutting me off.
"Fantastic! I'm Kimberly, on behalf of Dream Developments I'm here to welcome you and give you the little tour around town!" She chirps, her response clean and scripted after dozens of these interactions.
"Uh... Hi Kimberly" I mutter, watching as the woman sashays over to a messenger bag by a street lamp before digging around inside. "I was hoping to hear home first, settle in and have a quick shower before..."
"Oh no, no no no no" she quips back quickly producing two folded up pieces of paper and a set of keys. She quickly makes her way back over to me, passing the bundle over without another word. As I take the bundle I quickly drop the keys into my pocket before separating out the two folded sections of paper.
"If we're quick you can maybe try the coffee at Rose's, it's amazing, but otherwise we have a tight schedule for you" she states, walking up to the steps outside of town hall. "This is historic Graceport town hall, while the facade has been left unchanged since it was first built it..."
"Um... What are these?" I ask, slouching and shambling as I approach Kimberly with both sheets of paper held up for her.
The blonde pouts at the interruption momentarily before shifting back to her bright smile. "Those are the map of the town and your provisional timetable" she coos in explanation. "The older maps aren't exactly accurate anymore considering the extensive..."
"Provisional timetable?" I ask, fiddling with the folded sheets as I find them folding out to be far larger than I had anticipated. One merely contains a large map of the town, with streets and even places of business being highlighted and designated based on what they sold. The other was more of a large calendar, the whole year written out in tiny text.
My sleepy eyes scan over the page, the words being lost to me and my sluggish tired brain. Kimberly huffs, walking over to me and looking at the timetable as well.
"I guess we'll skip the town hall pieces then" she mutters, a slight amount of frustration slipping through her cheery demeanor. Her eyes too dart over the sheet, the more alert and well-practiced gaze of the Dream Developments employee finding the key information in a snap.
"So...it looks like yours is quite provisional" she explains, pointing at the plethora of empty spaces. "You'll get a new one once the tour has ended and we start to get you settled in. See this one just has your name and designation, kind of like a general descriptor of your new job."
My eyes roam up to the top of the sheet, locking to the information Kimberly was referring to;
Applicant: Jordan Hughes*
Designation:...
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