Exmuritious Forrester was in his late 50s. Married, two grown kids, from Johannesburg South Africa but now lived in Sydney, Australia. He was a former scientist turned entrepreneur and founding partner of Lord Mallory Inc dba Transmigration Studios. He had three partners from various parts of the world and Lord Mallory had a slew of patents pending in the areas of 'The Neuroplasticity Enhancement Engine.'

I sighed, reading the general info pages of the company, Forrester's LinkedIn and other social media profiles. The profiles of his partners...none of it inspired me to any ideas.

Exmuritious had been involved in a nasty divorce and his children apparently didn't like him. I was able to find his wife and two daughters on social media. They were far less introspective than Exmuritious, though I had trouble with some of the language translations from Google translate.

I went to a convenience store and bought chips, soda, and a pack of 3x5 index cards, some pens, sticky notes, tape, and other supplies I'd need to build this plan. I researched until around 3 am, then went to sleep for a few hours.

Karyn met me at a little cafe in the morning. She smoked, drank coffee, and ordered eggs sunny side up with fried rice and tocino -a special type of bacon.

"So, Kano, how you hotel?" she asked me after giving her order.

I shrugged. "It's fine, and why do you call me Kano? I'm Robbie."

"Yes, yes, Kano mean American in Tagalog. My brain think in tagalog more each day, Robbie."

"But you're still 'you' right? Still Karyn?"

She shrugged her shoulders and touched her hair. "Me in 'Melda, wear 'Melda clothes, do 'Melda's work, live 'Melda's home. Hard to think Karyn, when everyt'ing 'Melda. Easier to be 'Melda."

I sighed. "You can't forget who you are though, Karyn! Remember who you really are."

"I do, Robbie, but get hard." She said, tapping ashes into the ashtray. "Like a book I read once, Karyn."

"I'm putting a plan together to get to Exmuritious..."

She waited as the waitress put down our food.

"And?" she said, after taking a forkful and beginning to eat.

"And...I need to go back home and interrogate Karyn."

She pointed her fork at me. "Good! You fuck her, too, Robbie."

"Don't be crass."

"Why not? She your wife now, not 'Melda."

"I refuse to let you go on like this," I said. "I'm going to get you out of there and back home where you belong."

She shrugged. "What if I don't want to?"

"What are you saying?"

She ate some more, looking down at the table. "Easy to be 'Melda. Just give in. Ron wanted fuckie last night, and I said I had headache, but not easy."

A sick, greasy feeling slid into my gut at that.

"Even if I go back to Karyn, what happen? I think in tagalog, wear Filipino dress, speak in Filipino language, eat Filipino food. How I do that as Karyn?"

"We'll get it figured out, just give me a chance to get this fixed."

She nodded. "They keep me here long time, they said. 6 month maybe. I not going nowhere."

I wondered at that and wondered what she'd be like when I returned. Would she even recognize me?

She ate, scooping food into her mouth, then darting a glance at her watch. "Time to go, Robbie. You go back today?"

I shrugged. "No, I'll scope out the players again. They check on you in the evenings still?"

She shook her head. "I have to report to handler on Thursday. They tell 'Melda where."

I nodded. "And if you don't report?"

She shrugged. "Stuck as 'Melda. Not so bad, this body. Many other bad bad."

"You report. I'll be watching."

She nodded. "Alright, Robbie."

She stood up and I helped her into her coat. She turned in my arms, and looked up at me with her new eyes. "You won't forget about me, will you, Robbie?" And it was perfect Karyn, almost the same voice, same inflection, and I knew she was still in there.

"No, I won't forget."

She wrapped me in her arms, hugging her head to my chest. "It gets so hard sometimes. You have no idea."

"I know baby."

She cried a little, her head against my chest, holding me tight. Then she pulled away.

"You absolutely can not get caught, Robbie. I shouldn't have brought you here, but I missed you terribly!"

"I know, honey. I'll be careful."

"God, I just want to go home. I hate this!"

"I'll get you home, I promise."

She nodded, taking out a cigarette, and then she brushed a tear away.

"Talk later, Kano. 'Melda go work now."

I nodded as I watched the Imelda veneer slide over her features. "Have a good day, Karyn."

She frowned a moment, then nodded. "See you tomorrow?"

"Of course. I'll meet you here."

"Okay! Kano." She cackled, putting a scarf over her head and stepping out into the rain.

***

I walked in the rain for awhile, letting the cold water sluice down over me, sliding the darkness off my soul and down into the gutters of the city. Horns honked, people yelled, bicycles sped by, the gears of everyday life were in motion and Karyn was stuck in the wrong body.

I needed to know more. I needed to know about the process, how they were able to do this, and what exactly they were doing. It couldn't just be memories, there was so much more that made a person a person.

I found my way to the city center, where I sat in a wet bench and let the rain make me wetter as I watched wet people move in the wetness. Karyn hated it when I sulked and felt sorry for myself and she always knew just what to say to cheer me up. Except Karyn wasn't Karyn anymore, she was Imelda and I had to do something about it.

She was counting on me.

The person in Karyn knew. She had participated in the process, knew how to get a new body, knew the people to talk to. I needed to speak to her, shake the information out of her if necessary, get her to tell me who had done this, and how it had worked.

I thought about Brandon too, and wondered if Dalton was having the same feelings. Dalton was dark, but smart, so it might be good to talk to him. I also needed Brit, my assistant at work. She was a wiz at organizing things and doing legwork, and Jeff with his mad IT skills. I wanted to bring Transmigration Studios down.

There had to be more people like me, people who had loved ones who suddenly were different people, and they wanted them back. I just had to find those people, bring them together, and bring down Lord Mallory INC.

Or die trying. I wiped the rain off my brow.

Life just wasn't worth living without Karyn in it.

I sighed, standing up. My pants threatened to sag to the ground, but I pulled them up and slogged away toward the hotel, and toward what I hoped would be a plan to bring down this awful company filled with awful people, doing awful things.

As I rounded the corner to the hotel, the clouds broke up and sunlight filtered down in rays through the thick jungle canopy surrounding the city. I could smell rotting things floating in the river nearby, felt the water drying on my skin, and shivered a bit in the late autumn air.

Somehow, Some way, I would bring it down. The madness had to stop.

With a renewed vim in my vigor, I entered the hotel and bounded up the stairs. Time to get busy.
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