You wipe your forehead of sweat after another long night shift at the lab, satisfied at the outcomes of your programmed simulations. Being an engineering student researching in the neuroscience department, your contributions to the team were limited to just programming things whenever the rest of the team, or Dr. K, needed them. It was nice to be part of the team though, you really felt like you were helping them make progress, even though you really didn't know what you were helping to research.
As you finish recording results shutting down the computer to leave for the day, Dr. K walks up behind you holding a stack of various papers and boxes, presumably to check up on your progress.
"Alex, I assume you're heading home for the night?" She asks, prompting you to turn around and greet her.
"Yup, I ran those simulations like you asked, and stored the results on the main drive."
"Well done, ever since you arrived here you have helped out my team in more ways than one," she pauses to shuffle around a box to the top of the stack of things she is holding, "However, there is more work to be done, please take this and follow the instructions." She rather curtly says as she hands you a plain-looking cardboard box.
You manage to force out a "Thanks" while internally dreading the concept of working after-hours, and take the box from her. While the box is small, it seems strangely dense. You wonder what might be inside. That's for another time, I'm beat. you think to yourself, and unceremoniously shove the box into a side pocket of your jacket, after which you slip on and exit the lab towards your dorm room.
As you enter the building, you make a beeline towards your room. Being an upperclassmen, you've lucked out when it comes to on-campus housing, and secured a single dorm. While living in a dorm as a 21 year old might not be the best option, you like the company of other people and enjoy not cooking for yourself. As you walk down the hall, you pass by Tommy's room. As is typical for the RA of the floor, Tommy has his door open and is chatting with some other guys and girls from the building.
"Hey Alex! How was work today?" Tommy asks you, full of energy.
"Long," you pause, "and tiring."
"Going to bed I take it?"
"Yeah, I'm dead tired dude, I'll catch you in the morning."
"Alright man, see you around!"
You reply back with a wave and continue towards your room, wondering how a guy like Tommy manages to have all this energy at this time of the night. At least he's lax when enforcing the rules. You shudder when you imagine what it could be like if Tommy actually cared about his job. As you're doing this, you're interrupted by a voice you know all too well.
"Alex!"
"Oh, hey 'Liv" You answer to Olivia. From the looks of it, she just got out of some hockey event. "I'm just about ready to head for bed."
"But you can't! Some of us are gonna go downstairs and watch a movie."
"At this hour? You can't be serious I'm tired."
"That's fine. You can be tired and watch a movie."
"I'm going to bed though."
"Fine. Be a loser."
"You're the loser. Don't you know that you're supposed to get 3-4 REM cycles every night?" You cheekily reply. The banter goes on for a few more minutes, until you eventually earn a victory and finally get to enter your room.
As you take off your jacket, you remember the box inside your pocket. You decide that there's no harm in pushing off the bedtime a little longer and check to see it's contents. Dumping them out across your desk, you hear a muted thud as a dense rectangle comes out, along with the flutter of a piece of paper. Inspecting the remote further, you find that it has an antenna and two buttons. The paper must be the instructions. Reading the paper, you find:
"Alex,
As someone not well versed in neuroscience, one can safely assume that you haven't the faintest idea of what it is we are actually researching in the lab. Which also makes you the ideal candidate to test out one of our prototypes. Inside this box is a Brain-Modulating-Transceiver Remote, which has some... peculiar properties. Please test it to your liking.
Dr. K
Instructions for the Remote:
1. The Remote has two buttons: Swap and Reset.
2. Upon selecting two living subjects, the Remote will swap the bodies and minds of each of them when the Swap button is pressed.
3. The swapped subjects will carry on with their normal lives as though nothing has happened, unless they were in contact with the Remote at the time of the swap.
4. Pressing the Reset button will undo the last swap made. Note that Rule 3 still applies here.
5. The Remote will remain with the user who pressed a button, regardless of what body they may be occupying."
As you read the instructions, you suddenly gain all of the energy you wondered how Tommy could have at this time and more as your heart beats faster. A device that is essentially a body-swapping remote? How could those even exist? Lots of ideas, good and bad, start flowing into your head, but you manage to push them back and think semi-rationally for a second. First, how do you even know this would work? Olivia would be a good person to show this to, she's always been interested in this stuff. Or, you could take it over to Tommy or even call Jason and have him come over. Or, if Dr. K gave you this remote, what other stuff might be going on at the lab?
After mulling it over for a minute or two, you decide to..
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