Career Services
My buddy Eric and I had been friends our whole lives. We grew up together, and after graduating high school we even got into the same college as business majors. Eric's dad was the owner of his own company, so we pretty much had careers guaranteed after graduation. Our first year so far had been a blast. Eric and I got to dorm in the same building, so when we weren't out partying, we were hosting kick-backs at either his room or mine. Don't get me wrong, we still went to classes and actually did the work, we just weren't as stressed out about it as other students were.
It was just before winter break when we heard that the school was piloting a "career preparedness" program in the spring. Apparently, they'd match you with someone who was already working in your field and they'd have you intern with them, or shadow them, or something for a semester. They said it was all expenses paid, they'd get you a hotel to stay at during the program, and the best part: you would be excused from classes the whole time. Eric and I jumped at the chance to go fuck around some random city on the university's dime. We applied, got accepted, and even got to intern at the same business together. Our dads said they were impressed we were "taking initiative" with our careers.
Holiday break came and went. And when we got back on campus, Eric and I headed to one of the neurology buildings, I assumed to fill out the paperwork for our internships. I thought it was strange our appointment was here and not at the student center, where these sort of things usually got taken care of, but I didn't think too much about it. Once there they made us sign a ton of release forms and waivers, and I was starting to get worried that maybe this wasn't just an internship. After what felt like three hours, the mountain of paperwork was finally over, a nurse came out and led Eric and I into separate rooms. The room was small, no bigger than a typical observation room at a hospital, but most of it was taken up by what looked like an MRI machine and a tanning bed had a baby. A neatly folded hospital gown sat on top of the machine. The room was quiet, except for a low, electrical humming.
"Alright Jackson, if you could please change into the robe here, I will be back in a couple of minutes to get you prepped."
Prepped? Did we go to the wrong building and got confused for subjects for a medical experiment? Still, we'd signed all that paperwork, it felt too late to back out now. I stripped down to my socks and boxer briefs, and put on the robe. I felt awkward just standing there, so I sat on the edge of the sci-fi casket that dominated the room. The nurse came back and hooked me up to a bunch of monitors and IV bags. The previously silent room was now filled with the beeping of various machines, and the electrical humming had gotten louder. She double checked everything and asked me to lay down in the machine, I watched her take a syringe and inject something into the IV bag. She lowered the bed's lid, and thanked me for my participation. The humming was much louder in here, and whatever she'd given me was starting to hit, making it harder and harder to keep my eyes open. Not that I could even tell if they were open or not, with how dark it was. Soon enough I knocked out, all I remember was the humming just kind of fading away.
I woke up to someone lifting the lid, white fluorescent lights assaulting my eyes. A different nurse was here.
"How are we feeling, Jackson?" he asked.
I groaned. I felt groggy, and whole body felt stiff and heavy.
"Yeah, I think I'm good..." my voice sounded hoarse, and my mouth felt weird, "could I get some water?"
The nurse was detaching all of the monitoring equipment, "You got it, big guy." He finished up and stepped out of the room.
I sat up, and swung my legs over the edge of the machine's bed. my blood ran cold. My legs were thick, and covered all over by thick, wiry hair. Most shockingly, however, was the sizeable gut obstructing my view. I must still be dreaming, I must still be under. I tentatively reach down to my stomach and stop, these aren't my hands. My heart starts to race when the nurse walks in holding a plastic cup with water.
"What happened to me?" I ask, my tongue awkward in my mouth.
"What do you mean? The procedure went great."
"Procedure? What procedure? What are you talking about?" I raise my voice, I sound like a dad yelling at their kid.
"The mind transfer. You know, the thing you signed up for?"
"Mind transfer? No, no I signed up for- for an internship. An internship! I didn't sign up for- for whatever this is!" I shake my belly with emphasis.
"Jackson, I need you to calm down. Yes, you did sign up for this. You signed up for the immersive career program right? Didn't you read all the paperwork you had to sign? It's immersive because you're going to be living the life of someone in your chosen field."
"But- but they said they were getting us a hotel?" My anger started to melt away into despair as the reality of things started setting in.
"And you are, most hosts didn't want strangers in their bodies and their house. Look, I know it's a lot to take in at once, and clearly you weren't briefed appropriately. I'll talk about it with the university, but for now, you're kinda stuck like this until the end of the program.
"But that's three months away!"
"Three months that will go by in a flash, trust me. Now, why don't you get dressed. The shuttle to your hotel will be here soon."
With that the nurse walked out, closing the door behind him. I sighed, slumping forward. He was right, I needed to get dressed. I slipped out of the papery hospital gown and looked at myself. A pale, doughy body covered in hair greeted me. Plaid boxers saved my dignity and kept me from standing there completely naked. spotted a pile of clothes on a nearby counter , my whole body seemed to jiggle as I walked over to pick them up. Once I'd gotten dressed I walked out into the hallway, where a receptionist pointed me to the lobby. Sitting in one of the chairs was an older man wearing light colored chinos and a blue button-down shirt. He looked impossibly sad. And then I realized...
"Eric?"
The man looked up at me, he arched his brows, heavy lines creasing his face, "Jackson? Oh god, you too?"
Weeks passed and Eric and I came to accept our situation. It sucked that we couldn't party like we planned to.Our host bodies couldn't really handle a night out after a full day of work., we learned that the hard way. Plus, we looked kinda weird, two middle- aged dudes in dress shirts and chinos at the club tended to get weird looks from people our age, our actual age.
"I don't know, man. My back's been killing me today. I'll take an ibuprofen and let you know later."
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