“Good! Come Sam! I have something wonderful to show you!” he said as he turned to lead the way.

They walked only a short way down a path leading away from the small building Sam had been practicing break-ins on, but they suddenly seemed to have moved miles away, as the unnatural sky seemed to race by, into a dark, wooded area. In the middle of the wooded area was a cave. The cave opening was ten feet high and eight feet wide, with smooth sides, giving it an odd artificial feel. “Come in with me Sam. I think you will find what I have in here very interesting.” the Englishman enthused as he strode briskly towards the cave. Sam followed closely behind anxiously trying to guess what his enigmatic benefactor might be up to.

Entering the cave, Sam found the interior to be dry and clean. The illumination from the entrance was soon replaced by an antiseptic fluorescent glow. The cave began to curve sharply to the right as the light got brighter. An antiseptic smell wafted on the mild breeze that flowed through the cave. Finally, the passageway ended in a brightly lit twenty-foot square room. On a steel table, in the middle of the room, was a man’s body. The body was Sam’s. It was not as he remembered himself. The body was adult, lean, and well-muscled. “Well, do you like it?”

“Like what? All I see is an older version of myself on a table.”

“The work to save your old body did not succeed. So, something new had to be made to put your mind into.”

“Put my mind into! Do you mean I’m dead and a copy of me will be in THAT thing?”

“No, your body died. Your brain was removed and kept alive. When all is ready, we will put your brain into your permanent body. Right now, your brain is going to control the artificial body you will use with a quantum entanglement-based uplink. There will be no lag in communication, no matter where you are. Can you deal with that?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really. I do want to know if you like the look of this one though. If not, we can always make modifications for the permanent one.”

“Permanent one? This one? What do you mean?”

“Let me explain. We will need to grow you a new one. In the meantime, we have come up with a temporary substitute. It has many enhancements to help in our business together.”

“Can’t we wait for the permanent body to be ready?”

“Only if you want to wait twenty years for your revenge.” sighed the brit.