The small, attractive young blonde woman who had been Jim now finds herself with three other women physically identical to her but clearly very different people psychologically. "We really should disable that conversion unit," says the woman of the three who seems to be in charge, "but that's moot, really, from your point of view, uh -- what was this girl's name as a man?" One of the other women consults a clipboard says, "Jim," and the leader repeats it. "You're one of us now. You can join us officially and cooperate, or else we'll let you out in an unfamiliar form, without resources, and you'll have to fend for yourself. If you join us, we'll give you a choice of wearing your old skin and living your old life, pretty much -- unless we need your help some time in the future -- or of wearing a new skin and living a new life as one of a few other people you can choose among, with the same promise of being available to us as we need you." The girl who was Jim demands more of an explanation, and the identically-shaped, identically-voiced women explain, but she doesn't learn much more, except that this organization claims to control the world in a benevolent way, preventing discord on a scale from unhappy marriages up to wars, and everything in between, and by joining it she has a choice either of being Jim again or of being a more attractive person in "real" life. The former Jim:
Sun Jan 16 18:01:49 2000