Silence filled the Holland living room, then within a few seconds of each other, Adam's parents took in deep breathes and began looking around the room in confused amazement. Nothing made sense to them. One second ago they had been having lunch at their dining room table with their son, both Paul and Sarah Holland could swear to that fact. The next thing they remember, they were both sitting on the couch in the living room with no idea of how they got there. Time had passed though, and a lot of it. The sun had long since set and the soft glow of a street lamp was all that filtered through the windows. But what shocked Sarah the most was that she had on completely different clothes. She was wearing a provocative dress that she only ever wore for very special occasions. And what's more, she felt like she had been...intimate was the word she preferred to use, even in her head.

When husband and wife realized that they couldn't get any answers from each other about the day's events or what might have inspired their many hours of collective amnesia, they began to climb the stairs to question their son. Adam had been with them at the dinner table for lunch. Maybe he knew something. Maybe he had been affected too and they should all see a doctor.

They were too confused to notice the commotion happening right outside their peaceful home. Before they were halfway up the stairs, a battering ram crashed through their front door and men in black armored gear poured into their entryway. Guns were pointed directly at Paul and Sarah, but no shots were fired. Instead, they were yanked and dragged back down the stairs then thrust onto their couch where they awoke in the first place. The armed men only knew the language of scowl, but their distracted movements and furtive glances made it clear that they were not here for them.

Paul managed a frightened, "What is going on?" He stood up as two men went up the stairs, and now his fright mixed with anger as he cried, "No! My son is up there!"

Moments later they heard the gunfire and Sarah Holland was screaming and sobbing. Paul tried to go up the stairs but was pushed down on the couch again. They stayed there for several minutes, trying to console each other and desperately hoping for some answers.

They watched helplessly as men collected every piece of electronics in their house. After what seemed an eternity of people coming and going, they were approached by a large muscular man. He did not give his name, and spoke with a curt detachment. "Sorry for this folks. We had our orders. Your son violated several government laws and was processed accordingly. A POM agent might stop by with follow up questions in the next 24 hours. We advise you be as honest and forthcoming as you are able to insure any additional investigation go smoothly so none of my guys have to come back here."

The last sentence barely registered as a gurney with a black body bag was carried down the stairs. The mother and father this time were allowed to rush to it, but were barred from following it out the door. They stood in the threshold as their son's corpse was put into the back of an unmarked black van. Sarah's cries of anguish began anew.

No lights were on from the surrounding houses, but several curtains were drawn. Neighbors peered out in wonder at the disturbance that had rocked their usually peaceful suburb. Every house knew the protocol. If the threat was contained and neutralized, every residence would have their recent video footage, captured by implants in their own eyes, viewed over the few days. If the threat was still present, it would happen in hours. Either way, everyone's not privacy was moot for the time being, but this was nothing new.

Directly across the street from the Holland's, one of those neighbors had seen enough. The elderly woman who lived there had seen the body being carried from the home. She had also seen the parents still alive and well. That's what she had been waiting and hoping for. She went to the computer she had left turned on in her kitchen and pressed a few keys. A countdown began on the computer. She pressed a few more buttons. A few seconds later, the signal square on the back of her neck became a solid light, and she awoke as if from a dream.

A sector away in another city, Kate Henderson, who had been sleeping soundly after a awaking suddenly from a bout of sleepwalking, shifted uncomfortably as if having a nightmare. Her eyes then snapped open and she flung the covers off of her small frame. She was in a hurry but she could not help take a moment to look down at the shapely figure she possessed. It was very apparent that she worked out. Her body was tight and trim. She was on the dating scene right now and wanted to make every attempt to catch the eyes of a potential suitor, someone like herself who was driven and climbing the corporate ladder.

Kate rolled her eyes as all that information came into her mind unbidden. She focused on the mission at hand and dressed quickly in what she had laid out for herself for her early morning presentation, then left her apartment and walked the flight up to the two bedroom apartment directly above her. She knocked as quietly as she could on the door. She tapped her feet impatiently, a habit she had picked up from her father when she was a little girl.

Footsteps approached, then a man's voice came through the door. "Who is it?"

Kate opened her mouth and spoke, but it was not with her high, feminine voice, but the low gravelly voice of the newly deceased Daniel Stein. "It's me, let me in." The door opened quickly and Kate walked in.

The man looked her up and down, taking in her professional outfit, a dark blue silk shirt with black skirt. "What's with the dress for success outfit?"

"It's what she had ready to go and I thought it best to deliver the news as quickly as possible," Dan answered, his voice seeming very odd from Kate's lips. "Where's Adam?"

The man drew in a deep breath then let it out slowly. "He's in the bedroom. He's been crying since we got here."

"That's no surprise, he was crying when we left too. I'll go talk to him. Go switch my voice will you. I didn't do it initially because of the rush we were in and it would be bad if I sounded like this if we got company."

"Will do big brother," the man smiled, issuing a salute at the order. "I'm glad you made it back okay."

Kate nodded and then moved to the bedroom. She knew where it was because it was a mirror of her own apartment, or at least this body's apartment. Body hopping terminology was so hard to keep straight. She entered the dark room and could just make out a lump hidden under a blanket on the bed. She heard sobbing. Kate turned the light on and approached the lump carefully as if it contained a frightened animal.

"Kid, it's me," Dan's voice said gently. "I just got back and I've got good news."

The sobbing stopped and after a few seconds a tousled blonde head appeared from under the blanket. A shaky feminine voice squeaked, "Good news? How can there be good news?"

"I don't understand it myself Adam, but for whatever reason, your parents are still alive."

"What?" The rest of the blonde came into view as she threw the blanket off. On most occasions she would have been called very pretty, but at the moment she was a scary sight with red, puffy eyes and a nose that needed a box of tissues. "How can that be? I mean, we all thought for sure..." The woman stopped as fresh tears welled up in her eyes.

"Dude, get it together. This is a good thing. You can turn off the waterworks."

"I know. I'm sorry!" the woman said between sobs. "This woman is really in touch with her emotions and I haven't mastered them yet!" She blew her nose on a corner of the blanket. "Why do you sound like yourself by the way?"

"Oh, is this weird," Dan let a low chuckle escape Kate's lips. "If you'll recall, we were in a hurry when we left. When we jumped here, I made sure you and Steph were settled, then I immediately hopped back to one of your neighbor's to assess the fallout."

The blonde made a petulant face, "Well that was stupid. You could have been caught."

Kate stuck her small pink tongue out at her. "I needed to see it for myself. If they knew the whole story, if they knew what Mind Hack could do, we'd have to keep moving. As it is, it doesn't look like they know everything yet. I would venture to say they think they've eliminated the threat when they killed our bodies. That will hopefully buy us some time."

Adam knew he should be grateful for that news. He was still reveling in the good fortune of his parents not having to pay the ultimate price for his mistakes. He reflected on the last two hours. They had been jubilant at Dan and Stephanie's narrow escape from the authorities. It was tragic that their bodies were gone, but they, or their consciousness, was intact. It seemed like a sort of win. The victory was very fleeting as they looked for an ideal host for Adam to take over. As Adam was about to be transferred into the body he was now in, his chronic self absorption waned as it finally dawned on him what would happen after he was gone. POM goons would descend upon his house and kill everyone inside. He was scared but hopeful that Dan, Steph, and himself would make it through, but his parents were another story.

"Can we... save my parents?" Adam asked desperately as his mother's fingers, controlled by Dan, hovered over the key that would transport him into another person's consciousness.

Dan frowned but mulled over possible outcomes for longer than he felt prudent. Every second counted right then, but he needed Adam's head in the game. "I don't see how we can Adam. Doing this," he motioned at Sarah's physique, " taking over someone, takes practice and we'd just be flinging your parents into it. Even if they could adapt quickly, we're not sure if they'd go along with what we know we have to do. It'd be like telling someone to climb to the top of a mountain with no experience whatsoever and saying you have to do it while people are chasing you that will kill you if they catch you. I say we leave them here and hope for the best. There's a chance they'll be seen as victims of all this."

Tears were suddenly in Adam's eyes and he began to blubber. "Like, what kind of chance?"

"I don't know, but we're out of time." Before Adam could stop the man controlling his mother, her finger had pressed the button. Moments later, Adam was many, many miles away in the body of a newly married buxom blonde. She had burst into tears immediately, causing her husband sitting on the couch next to her to startle and put his arms around her. She shrugged him off and went into their bedroom, locking the door. The husband was now alarmed and trying to figure out what to say to fix the situation.

"Baby?" Peter Smith said, very unsure as to what had caused his wife's emotional distress. "What's wrong? Is this about your cooking? I told you it wasn't that bad." For the next two hours, nothing he could say would coax her out, but he never left that door.

When Dan engaged the backup that would allow Adam to be free of his original body in order to save himself, there were now two versions of his soul crying in two different places. When the approximate two hour window had been met and Adam's backup was complete, Dan instructed Adam to lay in his bed, then finalized the transfer.

Dan had set up Adam's computer to self destruct in ten minutes, then set a very short timer in Mind Hack that would transfer him and his sister into their current bodies. They went downstairs and sat on the couch in the Holland's living room, and moments later, the Holland's came to, very confused and with many questions, right before the authorities arrived.

Dan was grateful that the message from their mysterious ally had been correct. The training wheels had come off. Since they no longer were tied to a body, they could freely transfer from one body to another using any computer. Since Dan had stored a version of Mind Hack in the cloud, he simply had to log in and run it from any computer. He then could see the dots of their hosts. Nothing appeared amiss, but again, new features were unlocked to them now as they had never utilized the backup feature like this before. He found that by clicking the dots they possessed, a gray dot appeared over it with another name, their names. Dan merely had to click those gray dots and link them to another body in order to transfer their consciousness to a new host. The best part was, as far as he could tell, only his version of Mind Hack showed their backup consciousness. He tried a version he had left on a message board for the world to experiment with, but it didn't have the same connection as the one that he was specifically running on POM's servers. He tried to ask Adam why this was but if there was an answer it was incomprehensible.

The trio had cheated death and were now reunited in the apartment of Peter and Denise Smith. Having had a full day of lying, manipulating, hacking and being shot, emotions were high. The late hour also meant the bodies they resided in were exhausted so they decided any further plans could wait til the next day. Adam was no longer crying and Dan thought about suggesting another threesome with their bodies, but then thought better of it and Kate spent the night on the Smith's couch.

As they slept, the investigation continued for the surrounding residents of the Holland household. Everyone was roused as special investigators swarmed the neighborhood. This was unusual because normally questions were not asked. All footage needed was looked at remotely from the closest POM facility and then judgment was passed. This protocol was still in effect, but this time there were people asking questions in person. It started to become clear to all involved that POM was not entirely sure what was happening. The radius of those questioned increased but nothing came to light until they came across the home of Mark and Candace Porter. It was discovered that Candace had been Adam's babysitter long ago. Once that connection had been established, they were asked if anything unusual happened in the last month, especially anything that had to do with Adam or losing time. Candace had been reluctant at first, but finally told them everything she could remember, which wasn't much. She had been watching her small child, when she just seemed to black out. When she came to, she was in Adam's bedroom with no idea as to how she got there.

When asked for her husband Mark to fill in the blanks, he sheepishly recounted an intense session of lovemaking that Candace simply had no knowledge of. When pressed, he admitted that it had been very different from their usual routine. Under the disapproving scrutiny of his wife, but more intense pressure of the agents, he confessed that his wife had behaved in a very sexually charged manner. Mark had been very happy with her randy behavior, and found it very kinky that she refused to talk. Upon hearing this, Candace informed the agents that there was not enough alcohol in the world to make her behave this way and said she just swallowed the story that Adam had given her as it seemed like she had broken the law while unawares. She concluded that Adam lied to her, but was still confused as to how she had been made to do what her husband remembered. Mark had chimed in that when his wife came back to the house, it was like she was back to her old self.

This information was relayed to headquarters, and within minutes multiple agents had pulled up the couple's footage from that day. They expected to find what they had found before from everyone involved during these episodes of signal interruption, nothing. That is indeed what they found from Candace's perspective. But for the first time, they found Mark's footage in its entirety. They watched through his eyes and he entered their master bedroom to see his wife feeling herself up with one hand and masturbating furiously with the other. When he spoke, she appeared to startle as if caught, then became skittish as Mark approached. Candace never said a word but seemed to relent to his advances, and they had fucked with reckless abandon. It wasn't until the third review that a person noted the wife behaved as if she had never had sex before. She seemed super into it, but it was not the sex that a married couple would typically have which was usually routine and methodical. It was that statement that lead to a new and frightening hypothesis as to what was happening with these signal interruptions.

Before the bodies that contained Dan, Stephanie and Adam had awoke, an early morning meeting was taking place via video conference between high ranking government officials and POM's board members. Leading the charge was a man in his late fifties named Victor Finch. He was unofficially the number two man on Peace of Mind's executive board, and by proxy, the number two most powerful man in the world. He was a driven man, always wanting to be in charge, but he always seemed to be one step behind his rival, Chance Kirkwood, POM's CEO. More than once he had tried to make a move to replace Kirkwood, but every time he had had an opportunity, he had let it slip through his grasp. What was troubling was that it had been as if he'd changed his mind, but then couldn't remember why. But this time would be different. This time Kirkwood had allowed their way of life to be compromised and he was just one of many who wanted the man's head.

Chance Kirkwood appeared on the large monitor inside the POM headquarters that was currently the hub of the mess that had been created. He was as always impeccably dressed in a navy blue suit that fit him perfectly. Even though he was still a young man in his thirties, he always carried himself with the dignity of a much older person. When he spoke it commanded the room and everyone fell silent. "I hear there's been an incident."

Victor pounced. "You say that as if you didn't already know. You were the one who has allowed this to happen. Your lack of prompt and appropriate actions have allowed this situation to spiral out of control and we still don't know all the facts. With our technology, we should practically be omniscient, and yet we have had to piece this shit show together using old fashioned detective work."

Chance's face remained placid and his tone cool. "And what did you deduce?"

Victor's face was reddening at this man's composed demeanor. "What we deduced is that someone has done the impossible. They are in our system, the one that your father created, and they are using it for something that we can only speculate at right now."

Chance smiled at the man's flustered expression. He had never liked this man. "I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more specific. I'm a busy man after all and have to put out hundreds of fires every day."

Now it was Victor's turn to grin. They had him. "This one might ring your bell. A supposed glitch was detected, right here in Sector 11. I flew here very early this morning and have gone over all the relevant data so far, and it seems a young man hacked into POM and used it to, somehow, take over another person's cyber brain."

Kirkwood laughed. "Excuse me? What do you mean took over?"

"I mean he hacked someone's mind and used their body like it was his own private plaything!" Victor continued, picking up steam. "The young man in question, Adam Holland, then shared his program with a suspected hacker friend, Dan Stein, and they experimented further. They took over the minds of a family next door to Mr. Stein, and last night it would seem, Adam's own parents. It also appears that Stephanie, Dan's sister, was recruited in their illegal activity. But again, this is all speculation based on information we have gathered because you, without the board's consent, sent a team to eliminate these three people."

Kirkwood spoke and his voice remained calm and steady. "I did order the hit on these people. I knew that they had compromised our security and needed to be dealt with. I hardly think they could have done what you're suggesting however."

"Well that's the thing. We can't know for sure, but it's the only solution that makes sense. Our suspects' videos during the times they hijacked a victim's mind are blank during every instance, as are the victims'. Without knowing for certain the capabilities of the program being used to circumvent our security, we have to assume someone helped them from the inside. As you have said though, we can't be certain because the suspects completely destroyed their computers that might have given us some clues. But even if we didn't have that, we would have been able to interrogate them, but you made sure that wasn't a possibility when you ordered their execution!"

Chance's eyes were narrowed and there was now an edge to his voice. "I authorized the threat to be handled same as we've been doing for years towards any illegal activity. And your allegations towards some mole in our organization, while troubling, are nothing but conspiratorial lunacy."

Victor's eyes narrowed in return. "I guess we'll have to see on the second point. But as far as the first, this is a different kind of threat. We're not talking about stopping theft or murder. We're talking about a program that makes something potentially monstrous of your father's work. It also makes me wonder if your father had laid the building blocks for this possibility when he invented it in the first place."

Kirkwood's response was ice cold. "If that'll be all, I think we're done here."

"Oh we're not done Mr. Kirkwood, but you are. Prior to this chat the board called for a temporary suspension of your role as CEO until this matter is laid to rest. I will be stepping in during the interim. If your negligence and your father's technology are found to be in any way culpable in what is happening here, well I'm afraid my role might become more permanent."

The smile and serenity returned to Chance's face. "That's quite alright Victor. I've accomplished what I needed to at Peace of Mind, and am perfectly willing to go on to other things. I do ask that you leave up the board's standard privacy protocols for my residence for the time being."

Victor was taken aback. He had been ready for a fight. He certainly did not expect for this man to go quietly and willingly. "...that's, fine, I suppose. We'll let you know if we have any questions to..." but the monitor had gone black before Victor could say anything else.

Dan awoke late morning to loud noises, and stretched Kate's fit body. She got up to investigate the source of what sounded like moaning or...light screaming. When she came up to the closed bedroom door, she had a pretty good guess what she'd find on the other side. She peered into the room and found she was right. Adam and Steph, in the bodies of the young married couple, were going at it like rabbits. Kate smiled at them, then said loud enough to temporarily throw off their groove, "It's amazing what a good night's sleep does." Then she took off the business clothes she had slept in and joined them in the threesome that Dan had dreamed about last night.

The coitus was brief and they all knew it served as merely a distraction from the horrors of the night before. When they had helped get each other off, they showered, dressed, and convened in the small dining room. Adam, in Denise's body, laid out a breakfast casserole that she served on fancy dishes that had been part of an expensive wedding present.

"Whoa!" Kate said with her mouth full. "This girl can cook dude!" She winked at Peter. "You better hold on to this one." Peter laughed and proceeded to give Kate a high five.

Denise blushed. "Can you guys not act like I'm really this dutiful housewife?"

"Dear," Peter interjected, "You're superior cooking skills are just a bonus. You know I married you for 24 hour access to that butt."

The laughter that followed was brief. Their plight weighed heavily on them. Finally, Adam gave voice to what they were all thinking. "Where the hell do we go from here?"

Dan felt the body he was in respond with habitual professionalism at such a question. Here was a call to leadership and Kate's body wanted to rise to meet the challenge. "I've been thinking about that. Our goal is still the same, to infiltrate and permanently cripple POM's ability to track and monitor its citizens. We need to do that in as few moves as possible, because I'd imagine it's just a matter of time until they figure out we're alive, and find a way to track us, even if we are in different bodies."

Adam wanted to take action and pounded Denise's fist on the kitchen table. "Alright then, we go straight to the nearest POM facility, hop into some people inside and take it down."

Kate responded dryly. "That wouldn't work. You think the guys they got in there right now know beans about the program that runs this whole thing. They don't. POM likes to keep as many people in the dark as possible these days and only a few people have the keys to the kingdom. If we're going to take down POM, the most efficient way to do that is to take over a mind that has the knowledge of how to do so."

"You mean like one of the original programmers?" Peter asked.

"There was only one, and he's dead?" Denise answered doubtfully.

"What?" Peter said incredulously. "The only person that made this is dead? Don't computer programs need like, fixes or whatever from time to time? It seems like every time I turn around something is updating in our house." Peter's face went white as Steph again reminded herself of the truth. "Our old house I mean, Dan. The one we can probably never go back to."

Choosing to ignore this sad fact, Kate pressed forward, all business. "That's correct Steph...I mean, Peter. Let's try to make sure we call each other by our host names so we don't give ourselves away later. Becoming the people we're in is key to our survival. Anyway, after the uprisings, the government was looking for a way to establish order and also try to ensure something like that never happened again. The answer fell into their lap, Peace of Mind."

"I know all that," Peter shot back. "Everyone knows that."

Kate smiled patiently. "Yes, but what you might not know was that it was all created by one guy. The government's indoctrination campaign told us that it was created by a team of scientists and computer engineers, but I researched this heavily and found that the 'team' was comprised of a lot of names that didn't know their ass from their elbows. None of them had the intelligence or skills needed to pull it off, except for one guy, Michael Kirkwood.

"The first CEO of POM?" Peter was shaking his head vigorously. "No, that's too much for one guy, right? He'd have to be a freaking super genius to know all the science and computer stuff by himself. I mean, that had to take time."

"It did. It seems like it was his life's work. He spent his last years making sure everyone knew that it was safe and would bring about lasting peace. Once he had the corporations and politicians on board, he focused on paving the way for his successor."

"But," Denise piped in, "we've talked about some of this before and I still don't understand. Why isn't this Kirkwood guy as famous as Edison or the Wright brothers? If he did it all, why didn't he take sole credit?"

"That I don't know," Kate mused. "And we won't be able to take his mind over and find out. But as I said, he has a successor, and someone he said was very familiar with the biology and computer science that makes POM work. He even inferred this person had a hand in the final development of it all."

"Okay, I'm in suspense, who the hell is it?" Peter asked, then the obvious donned on Steph. "It's his son isn't, Chance Kirkwood?"

Kate nodded. "One and the same."

Peter frowned. "But...I get the father/son connection and all but, he's a young guy, what, in his thirties? I remember it being a big deal when he was announced because everyone said he was too young and inexperienced and was only getting the position because of his father. If he helped his dad in the end with POM, is he also some super genius?"

"Only one way to find out," Kate grinned. "We ask him. And if that doesn't work..." Kate pointed to her head with her index finger. "We'll just go inside and take a look."

Denise sounded hopeful regarding this news. "So, all we have to do is find Chance's dot in Mind Hack. We get the info we need and then POM comes crashing down and then...what happens to us?"

Peter looked at Denise, then at Kate, both who seemed more worried than ever before. "What do you mean what happens to us? We, well I guess we live these lives, don't we?"

Kate spoke somberly. "When we switch POM off, it's very possible our consciousness will...disappear."

Peter's mouth dropped open. "So...we'll be dead for real this time?"

"Most likely unless we can figure something out using the information we hope is locked up in Kirkwood's brain. But here's the other thing you don't know. It's not as easy as pulling up his dot in Mind Hack, Denise. If you've researched POM like I have, you know that their board of directors aren't directly connected to POM. They were at one point, because they were given the cyber brains and upgrades like everyone else, it's still the law. But as long as they're on POM's board, they're not in the system, probably due to security and their public safety. It's really just another way for them to be above the law and do whatever they want to do. I checked already when I was...still me. I couldn't find any of the major players anywhere."

Peter's emotions were torn between angry and crippling depression. "Okay, so, you're telling us that we can't do what we need to in order to win against these guys, but even if we could figure out a way, we're probably dead no matter what unless Kirkwood has some magical way out? This sucks! Everything sucks!"

"I'm sorry sis, we're probably dead either way. Might as well put the nail into POM's coffin before we go."

Denise was nodding fervently. "I agree. If we're going to go out let's go out swinging. So how do we find these guys and get them back into the system where Mind Hack can access them?"

Kate steeled her expression. "Well, you said it earlier, we go into a POM facility. From there we will hopefully be able to gain access to all the board members' signals and then go from there."

Peter's mouth dropped again. "You're serious. Just, go in to the lion's den and poke around? They're looking for us?"

"Not us," Kate corrected. "At least not yet. That's why we have to move fast."

Denise bit her lip, thinking hard. "Okay, if that's what we have to do. Let's go to the farthest one we can away from here where they won't suspect and..."

"No," Kate said firmly. "Where they won't suspect is right under their nose. If we go to where the investigation is at its zenith, we'll be able to pick up some additional information that could save our lives. We can see how much they know and use it to stay one step ahead. If we go in and it's too hot, we hop out right away."

Peter looked doubtful. "This is fucking crazy. What did you have in mind?"

Kate spent the next several minutes laying out a plan that was equal parts crazy and brilliant. In the end, it seemed their best option though. An hour later, they were all in Kate's car, driving back to Sector 11.

After ten minutes on the road, Denise whined in the backseat of the car like the teenager she really was. "I get you want to be cautious Dan, I mean, Kate, but why can't we just jump into someone who works there right now? We can see their dots from here."

Kate smiled patiently. "We're playing this as safe as we can. We can only hope they don't know about us yet, but that might not be the case. They might have us all figured out, they might be able to track us already, and now they're just waiting for us to hop into another cyber brain to find us. I want line of sight to this facility. I want Steph in this car able to pull us out at a moment's notice in case we're made and then we haul ass and start hopping body to body. In the meantime, we hope me leaking Mind Hack onto the web provides us with some sort of smokescreen." Kate spent the rest of their car ride going over the finer points of their very risky plan, making sure they each knew their role, as their lives would probably depend on it.

Like most new media released without pomp or circumstance, Mind Hack was slow to catch on. There were hundreds, sometimes thousands that flocked to anti establishment websites every day, but usually just to read or submit critiques to the regime that had them in a stranglehold. They were mostly in code so as not to arouse suspicion if any of their eyes were being looked through by government agents. But something new had appeared on many of these sites. Something called Mind Hack. It looked like a joke program, something that would supposedly grant access to Peace of Mind, something that was already known to be impossible. But for those first few that did, it always came with a document that entailed so many more possibilities.

When opened, it took them farther than they had ever been into POM's program. A vast array of red dots we're before them. Each dot represented a person and if what the document said was true...but it couldn't be. This was a joke, a prank left by some bored programmer. Still, by the time everyone had reached this conclusion, most had quickly closed the program, scared at the prospect of having something so potentially illegal in their possession. Everyone but Ben Sturgis.

Ben had been one of the first to download the program. He had read the document contained within, then reread it, then reread it again. It defied all logic, but, he was going to try it out. He considered himself a person who liked to be the first to review things and post them online, so he decided to thoroughly document the process so he could post it on the web. He knew there were risks involved, but he was 21 and still at that age where the idea of invincibility has not yet worn off, but he sincerely believed it was a gag. He would review it like it was real, maybe get some laughs, and move on. He knew he would need help, so he arranged for his girlfriend Samantha to come over around noon the next day. She often held the camera for his video reviews, but he had her more in mind as a test subject. He then asked her a weird question over the phone. "Is there anyone in your life that is a girl that might have a crush on you?"

Sam rolled her eyes even though her boyfriend couldn't see it. "Why do you want to know? I told you I'm never having a threesome. If that's something you're in to you should find another girlfriend."

Ben took a deep breath and then proceeded cautiously. "You have made yourself perfectly clear in that regards. I need someone purely for science and for this review I'm doing tomorrow."

The response was sharp but expected. "I don't fucking believe you. What the hell kind of review would you be doing that you need that?"

"You'll see. It's this, well, it's hard to explain but if it is what it says it is, it's a game changer. I promise, no one will do anything they don't want to do. If I'm lying you can dump me."

This elicited a laugh. Ben loved her laugh, which sounded high but sweet. "You'd never find another girl as good as me. Just remember, if this goes south you have only yourself to blame."

The day after Ben had downloaded Mind Hack, and while Adam, Dan and Stephanie were on the road but still hours from POM's facility in Sector 11, Ben set the stage for his guests. His camera was on a tripod, pointed directly at him and his computer tablet that he had carefully positioned to give his audience a good view of what was on the screen.

"Hey everyone, thanks for joining me today. You all have watched me give countless reviews for anything and everything. Movies, games, computer programs, and it's the last one that I'd like to talk about today, but it's different than all the rest. If it does what it says it will, I will have my cyber brain linked to another person and be in complete control of their every movement while they remember nothing. Now I know what you're thinking, this is probably bullshit. Yeah, it probably is. But that's why you have me to tell you if it definitively is or not. Here's the set up. My girlfriend Sam, who has helped me many times in these reviews, either behind the camera or by adding her valuable insights while being some much needed eye candy, will be joining us today. As many of you may or may not know, I have joked about wanting a threesome with her for, let's see, we've been together for three years so...yeah, three years. She's shot me down every time. If this works, I will maybe get my threesome. If it doesn't, which is much more likely, then this will still have been thoroughly entertaining for everyone. Either way, to ensure as much credibility as I can, this is all streaming live, and anyone who looks can see all my filters are off, so everything you're seeing is actually what is happening."

A doorbell chimed off screen. "That should be her now and hopefully a guest."

Ben disappeared and a few seconds later returned with a thin woman with long blonde hair. Samantha had a face made for television and loved the comments that she received on her boyfriend's web show that spoke loudly, and often lewdly, of her beauty. Her looks usually got her whatever she wanted and she put them to good use as a local model in commercials and sales events. Her fame seemed to have reached a plateau but it was enough for her. She was happy with her life and with her boyfriend, as long as he wasn't being too much of a perv.

Ben's jaw dropped as he saw who his girlfriend had brought with her. Britney Callow, another girl who had had a brief stint as a local model, had been friends with Samantha for some time. She had shoulder length brown hair, the cutest nose imaginable, and a mouth that seemed to draw you in the more you looked at it. All of those features were a delight to take in, if you could tear your eyes away from her large breasts. Ben was suddenly hoping beyond hope that this crazy program actually worked.

"Okay ladies, thanks for joining us today. Have a seat right next to me Sam, and Britney, right over here. We are live and going to test this new computer program. First I have to..."

"We're live?" Sam asked curiously. They never did reviews live. They were always carefully edited to ensure a brisk pace and maximum entertainment.

"Uh, yes, it was necessary for this program," Ben said quickly. He did not want to give too much away just yet. "Okay, first, and I'm sorry to put you ladies on the spot, but it is for science, I have to ask you a couple of personal questions."

Sam narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend, having some idea about the questions he'd be asking given who she'd been asked to bring along. "As long as it's not anything too perverted," she said with a shark's grin.

Ben opened his mouth to speak, then cocked his head in a playful gesture, "Well, it's nothing I haven't talked about before in these reviews. First off, Sam, are you straight?"

Sam was already rolling her eyes, "Yes, Ben. You know this."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, asking so the audience has all the facts. You are completely straight, never have experimented with women? Is that correct?"

Sam shook her head, "No, not once."

"You have been pretty vocal when I have jokingly asked you about the possibility of a threesome with another girl before."

"I have, yes."

"What did you say when I 'joked' about a threesome?"

Sam laughed. "I believe I said no way in hell the first few times, then I started threatening you with bodily harm if you kept bringing it up."

"Okay, so it's pretty safe to assume that sexy times with a lady is never going to happen, correct?"

Sam looked at the camera and smiled sweetly, "That is correct."

"Not to press," Ben said gently, "but remember, science. Would you ever even consider kissing a girl, like just for fun, or to experiment, or..."

Sam set her jaw which was enough to silence her boyfriend. "Ben, I never have, never will, make out or in engage in anything sexual with a member of my gender. Do you need it in writing?"

Ben just smiled and rubbed his hands together, "So now, Britney, again, thanks for coming. I'm going to ask you a couple questions. They might be a little embarrassing, but I'm sure the people online would appreciate your honesty."

Britney didn't really understand what was happening, but knew that Ben had a pretty big fan base, and she loved the limelight. "I'm an open book Ben, ask away."

Ben was trying to keep from being too eager but it was a challenge. "For the audience at home, how do you know my beautiful girlfriend, Sam, here?"

Britney gave a demure smile and touched Sam's arm affectionately. "We've done some local modeling together some time ago. Nothing big, we both never made it as you know, but that's how we became friends. Now I work retail in a lingerie department and help fit your girlfriend with the bras that I'm sure you enjoy taking off of her."

Ben lost his train of thought, then looked at the camera,. smiled, and gave two big thumbs up. "Wonderful, thank you for that. Okay, so, I'm sure Sam filled you in on what I'm going to ask next, at least I hope she did or this will be more awkward than it already is. Do you currently have a crush on my girlfriend?"

Without any hesitation, Britney looked at Sam and said firmly, "Yes."

"Okay," Ben said as he watched as Sam's face went red. "When you say crush, what do you mean exactly?"

"I mean," Britney said with a look that showed she was taking this line of questioning very seriously, "If she ever wanted me to, I would take off her clothes and lick all over her body."

Ben paused for comic effect then gave another two thumbs up at the camera. "Sam, is there any chance that you'd ever let Britney here..."

"No!" Sam interrupted. "Britney respects me and doesn't push. I know how she feels, she knows how I feel. Hopefully we can get her a new girlfriend soon so she can forget all about me."

Both women laughed at this, but then Britney shook her head and said playfully, "Not likely."

"Okay Ben," Sam said, and her tone was tinged with anger, "get to your point here. What scientific thing are we doing that you need to know this stuff?"

"Yes," Ben said, now all business. "Glad you asked. If you'll look at my tablet here, you will see what appears to be a map of our area and hundreds of red dots. This is from a program that has just popped up all over the internet known as Mind Hack. I have been reading up on instructions attached to it and I have to say, i really don't believe it is going to work. But if it does, I am going to sync my cyber brain to my girlfriend here, and then give Britney exactly what she wants."

Sam's eye roll was so loud it was practically audible. "You brought us over here to, what? Pretend this program hijacks my brain so I make out with my friend? You've reviewed some dumb stuff before, but this one might take the cake."

"You are absolutely right Sam, but still, I hope it works. Britney, you hope it works too, right?"

Britney looked at Sam with unveiled passion, then looked at Ben and shrugged. "Sure, I mean, it'll never happen in a million years, but sure."

"Alright, if I'm doing this right," Ben began to press dots on the screen. "This should be my dot right here and, ouch, what the heck was that?" Ben had felt an electrical tingle in his head. Both girls looked at him quizzically. He soldiered on. "Okay, that was weird, maybe this thing does work. Swore I felt something when I connected to my dot there. Now we just press Sam's dot here and, yes, it's asking to connect. I select Yes and...nothing happened."

Sam gave her boyfriend a look of fake compassion, "I told you this was dumb." He was about to retort, when she saw the lights go out in his eyes, then his body slumped forwards unconscious.

"Oh ha ha Ben. Very fun..." Sam was cut off as her body gave a jerk and her head snapped up. Her mouth dropped open and she looked at her body in wonder. Slowly, her eyes found the camera. When Sam's mouth opened, it was Ben's voice the camera picked up. "Ladies and gentleman, I do believe it worked!"

"What the...how are you doing that?" Britney asked. "Is Ben throwing his voice or something?"

Sam bit her lip, then Ben's voice laughed. "Oh man, Britney, it's me. It's really Ben in Sam's body. I can make her do anything, like this for example." Sam leaned in close to her friend, touching her face tenderly, then their soft lips met each others, tongues were exposed and jostled for position inside mouths. This went on for a couple minutes, both forgetting temporarily that there was a camera trained on them. Sam reluctantly pulled away, causing Britney to pull her close again, but Ben was determined to give his audience a helpful review.

"Okay, that was, wow, Britney, you are a good kisser. My girlfriend is missing out."

"How come you don't talk like her if you're in her?" Britney asked, still trying to pull Sam's face back towards her.

Ben swatted down her advances gently and continued looking straight into the camera. "I don't know. The bit of info given just offers a few tips, like for instance, if you want me to sound like her, I go to the settings here and...voila!" Sam's much higher voice came out at the end.

Britney's jaw dropped. "That is so hot. Make her say something she'd never say to me."

"Britney," Sam's voice purred. "You've been such a good friend all these years. I wish there was some way I could show you how much you mean to me, maybe by letting you lick all over this body? Is that something you'd be interested in?"

Britney's response was to stare for a moment with wide eyes at her friend. Then with quick movements, she took off her shirt and started unhooking her bra.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Sam shouted panicking. "We're live and the censors, that being the government, won't like this. Come to think of it, they probably won't like this anyway, but I figure now I'm just doing a public service because I doubt they knew about this either."

Ben could not believe he was telling Britney to keep her clothes on. He desperately wanted to see what was under her red bra. He bet they were glorious. Two perfect round pillows that he could bury his face in and...but he still had a show to do and he would not disappoint. "Okay, let's see, what else here." Ben found options to adjust mannerisms and sat up straighter after selecting it. Ben realized his posture mirrored that of his girlfriend. He wondered if he could imitate her physically now. He made Sam look at the camera, then looked down, then she flipped her beautiful blonde hair, a feat she was very proud of. She followed it up by blowing a kiss at the camera and giggling.

Britney looked on in astonishment. "That was exactly how she would do it? How'd you do that?"

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Part of the program. I'm synced with her brain and can act and move how she moves. Problem is I don't have her memories...yet." More options were selected.

"Okay, it says this could be pretty intense, I...ah!" Sam shrieked. She took a few deep breaths and composed herself. "Wow, what a rush! Okay, Britney, ask me something. Something only Sam would know."

Britney thought for a few seconds before asking, "Why'd I break up with my last girlfriend?"

Sam's response was immediate, "I don't know, why did you break up with..." And then Ben realized he did know. The memory was right there, available to him. "She cheated on you with...a guy. I told you she wasn't right for you." Sam's jaw dropped and then she smiled. "Wow, I, that response was what she felt. The program warns that the emotions that come with the memories take a little time to master. I can tell you right now, this whole thing feels weird, not in a bad way, just in a, well, I'm in control but, it's like I have thoughts and feelings that aren't my own competing for my attention. Probably just takes practice. Before we go, there's one more feature I have to try and I have to say I really didn't think we'd be getting this far. Hopefully you have found this both informative and entertaining. If this next feature works though, we'll be ending shortly thereafter.

Sam's fingers flew across the tablet, looking for something specific. Britney eyed her with excitement. She was swept up in the moment and hoped she would get to kiss her friend again. "What are you going to do now?"

Sam looked at Britney, and then again directed her attention to the camera. "I'm a little confused about this one. It's a backup feature that I think makes me share my consciousness between bodies. I guess it would be sort of like a clone with an echo. That sounds dangerous and complicated so let's try it!"

Sam selected the option and then looked expectantly at Ben. After a few seconds delay, Ben's head flew up and looked around wild eyed. "I'm back and, am I still in there too?" he asked pointing at his girlfriend.

Sam was staring at Ben with incredulity. "I'm...I'm still here, and, I'm there too?"

Ben grinned, "Yeah, because it's..." then both he and Sam finished saying together, "backing up my consciousness." They both laughed at their synchronicity.

Britney let her eyes flit back and forth between the two of them. "You're in both bodies now? Why is that a thing? What kind of program is this and how on earth did something make it?"

"All good questions," both Ben and Sam answered. They stopped again and laughed. Ben made a goodwill gesture to Sam, "I'll let the lady have the floor."

"Thank you kind sir," Sam giggled. "The truth is, the information provided doesn't answer those questions. But at the moment I don't really care. What I care about is acting out a fantasy I have had for years. Something I never thought my girlfriend, I mean, 'I', would ever agree to."

Britney again reached to unfasten her bra causing both Ben and Sam's heads to whip around towards Britney's large chest. She did not reveal the contents underneath, but just held the bra in place with her hands, waiting.

"Mind if I close us out," Ben asked Sam who nodded without looking away from Britney's chest. "Okay, we're going to end this live stream now. Thanks for watching, I hope you subscribe, and if you want to download Mind Hack for yourself and try it out, here's a few links you can click. We'll resume soon when...we're finished here to see if Sam remembered anything that happened. Mind Hack's very helpful instructions say she won't, but we'll see. See you soon."

Ben moved to switch the camera off. Right before the picture blinked out, Sam pulled her friend's bra down, giving the briefest of glimpses at Britney's pink, rigid nipples.

Not very many people caught the live stream but almost all who did shared it. Almost all who did downloaded Mind Hack. The people it was shared with or tuned in later scoffed at the obvious bad acting that happened on the screen. The majority still clicked the link to download the program to try this obvious joke program. On and on it went until Mind Hack had been shared and downloaded hundreds and thousands of times.

Dan had hoped something like this would happen. He had hoped it would buy them time while they infiltrated POM. It did, and it didn't.

To be continued...