Eight strangers (Part 1)

The four men had arrived at the lobby of the building that day as strangers. They made quick greetings, and each one of them seemed ignorant of the tests that would go on throughout the day, but each one of them knew that participation would pay off handsomely. After about a half hour of waiting, they were lead up an escalator to another room. They met with another group, this one being all women. As the two groups started to mingle, a man in a lab coat arrived and told them all to take a seat. He started attaching all sorts of wires to the eight individuals from the top of their heads to the tips of their fingers. Next, he pulled out a small box with plenty of buttons, triggering impulses in each of the subjects’ brains. Norman, one of the men, noticed his finger twitching uncontrollably. He couldn’t stop it. He tried pushing his other hand over it, but his hand didn’t move. Instead, the hand of one of the women did the action he intended. He soon realized he had control of her body and not his own! The final part to go was his vision; it slowly shifted from him to her. For all intents and purposes he was her now! Shortly after this realization, the man in the lab coat went around and took all the wires and explained they had all been body swapped. Each man was now in the body of a woman, and each woman was now in the body of a man. A few seemed happy and a few were horified. One demanded a return to their own body, but the man in the lab coat just explained that all of them had signed contracts agreeing to this. They were all soon escorted down the escalator to pick up their checks in the lobby. The men went down first, followed by the women. Norman was nervous, but as he went down the escalator, he caught a whiff of a strange smell and was suddenly filed with confidence. He put his hand on his hip and straightened his back; he loved his new body! He had no idea that the smell was a neuro-pheromone pumped into the area to help the group accept their new bodies. Considering the group’s new found excitement with their new bodies, it had worked!