“Everything you know about Alterego is a lie.”
“You’re saying old rich people aren’t really renting our bodies?”
Tomas waved a dismissive hand. “That’s just a carefully crafted cover. The so-called technology that allows Dr. Maerwynn to transfer your consciousness between bodies is just an elaborate smoke-and-mirrors. It doesn’t exist.”
“Something exists. I got turned into a doll, remember?”
Tomas regarded her for a second. “You may find the truth hard to believe.”
“I’m a doll. How much weirder can it get?”
Tomas managed a little smile. “Dr. Maerwynn is not a doctor at all. She’s a Facetaker, one of a very small number of people who have the power to remove a person’s soul and place it into a different body.”
If she hadn’t just woken up as a china doll, Sarah would have laughed in his face.
“You’re saying it’s magic?”
“That’s as good a term for it as any right now.”
“Are we on candid camera?”
Tomas barked a laugh. “If only.”
“Let’s assume I believe you. How is it possible?”
Tomas shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. I’m not a Facetaker. But I know that they’ve been around since the dawn of time. Their ancient power has been a carefully guarded secret for millennia.”
“That doesn’t make sense. They can’t keep a secret by publicizing it. The truth will get out eventually.”
“Probably. That doesn’t seem to bother them any more.”
“They’ll be arrested, or worse.”
“Maybe not. There are other things going on here, masked by the rental company.”
“Like what?”
“Like the vault.”
“What about it? They keep the convicts transferred from the prison there, right?”
“Yes, but the vault is huge, and it’s not a prison in the traditional sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“The convict donor program includes about a hundred convicts, but the vault can store thousands of souls.”
Sarah tried to frown, but she wasn’t entirely sure it worked. “Why?”
“It’s a gathering place. Under cover of the rental agency program, they’re gathering souls here.”
“Why?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but it’s nothing good, guaranteed.”
Sarah held up one little doll hand. “This is too much Tomas. Why are you telling me all this?”
Tomas gave her a very serious look. “How badly do you want your body back?”
“More than anything.”
“What are you willing to do to get it?”
“Whatever it takes.”
Tomas nodded. “You’re ready, that’s why.”
“There’s more to it than that.”
“Yes, but I’ve told you what you need to know for now.”
“What do we do next?”
Tomas lifted her from the shelf. “Now I prove to you that I’m telling the truth.”
YOU ARE READING
Saving Face
FantasyThere's no place like home. For Sarah, home is the body she grew up in, and she's gone far too often. In a near future where the renting of human bodies is possible, Sarah is a top model. She spends most of her time shuffling between temporary bod...
