The Life Exchange - Part One

Slumping back on my small green couch I feel my aching body finally find some semblance of rest. It had been a long few days, mostly spent racing around my apartment and tidying it up beyond the small cursory cleaning I did on occasion. With a sigh I reach up, wiping the day's worth of accumulated sweat from my brow as I try to air out my loose ill-fitting shirt.

My eyes glance around the cramped interior of my apartment, dancing over the living room filled with books and video games before reaching the small open-plan kitchen and dining area. A faint grin slowly creeps across my lips, the sight of the crisp and clean apartment making me feel quite a bit better despite the exhaustion wracking me.

Normally I wouldn't have done something like this. While never living in abject squalor I was normally rather messy, however, since signing up to a certain service I knew I needed to shape up my living situation. Fishing around in my pocket I search for my phone, unlocking it after a few attempts thanks to my filthy thumbprint. After a momentary pause I quickly begin to hop onto my latest app, The Life Exchange.

The Life Exchange had started up operations not even a year ago, but had already reached the point that it was a bit of a household name. The business itself had cracked an interesting set of technology, one that allowed for the transference of the mind from one person to another. There were several heavy limitations on the procedure, the most important one being that no storage was available for the mind once out of the body.

At first this process was used for what was termed a form of 'extreme organ donation' whereby the terminally ill, and extremely wealthy, would pay their way into being transferred into those who were otherwise brain dead. The process, when used like this, worked to apparently resurrect one party while leaving an empty husk behind. This form of swapping, known as 'One-Way Swaps' quickly began to become open to more and more people so long as they were both fast enough to find one of these bodies and had whatever the asking price was with the money being split between the company and the family of the donated body. Many of these One-Way Swaps also required an additional element, namely that of a short interview with the family or friends of the donated body to see if the person would make a good fit or could be trusted.

The husks left behind by these swaps were an obvious difficulty at first. However, The Life Exchange quickly adapted and started to offer them up as though they had been 'donated' for new purchasers. While they could only last a short amount of time without a mind and hooked up to machines that was rarely a problem, with people snatching up any healthy bodies rather quickly early on, though the scale of the operation nowadays and the pickiness of customers has forced the company to hold the occasional clearance sale to move old stock.

After a little more development another form of swapping, known as 'Mutual Swapping', was brought in as well. Via using one of the empty husks two people could be fully swapped rather than making it a solely unilateral exercise. This wasn't the most common option, requiring two people to actually agree on exchanging bodies and whatever fee should be paid to either side for the privilege.

However, a real issue quickly arose with all these exchanges;

What happens to a person's life post swap? Does a swapee return to their old life donning a new body?

The answer to these questions was a stout and emphatic no from both The Life Exchange and the legislature. To avoid these difficult questions it was determined early on that if a swap were to take place then the swapee would keep the identity of their new body, largely leaving their old life behind. There was nothing to stop them from interacting with their old friends and family, however, as far as the wider world was concerned they were whoever they now appeared to be with practically everyone around them knowing of the change.

With all this in mind I had installed the app several days ago, prompting me to get my own life in order to the best of my ability. While I had been unemployed for quite a while I could still make what I had enticing, or at least I had hoped to when I set about cleaning up the cramped dark apartment. I wasn't sure if I would ever use the service itself, however, it was an interesting way to burn time and to provide a solid amount of motivation to better oneself.

As the app finally loads, the logo fading onto the screen before revealing the main page, I'm prompted with a message in my inbox. With the grin on my face growing ever so slightly I quickly go to check it out, ignoring the front page and the large number of pictures and search filters as I go to read the message.

 

"Hi Hughes_1305
Based on your profile we have a few recommendations for you. 
Be quick though,these profiles won't be around forever ;)"

I smirk at the short automated message, realizing that this was likely what I'd be seeing every few days so long as I had the app installed or an account with their service. Looking further down the message I find links and pictures leading to...