Gender Swapped By Aliens! Read Free

flag, the new overlords no one seemed to realize had never existed until about sixteen hours ago.
    Another security guard greeted me as I stumbled through the front door.  “Morning, Ms. Fong.”
    “Morning.”  I flashed him a smile.  Lynn Fong seemed pretty popular around here.  I gave an exaggerated sigh and then motioned to my purse.  “I can’t find anything this morning.”
    “I can get you a temporary badge if you need one.”
    “That shouldn’t be necessary.  I’m sure it’s in here somewhere.”
    I set my purse on a table in the lobby.  I took everything out one item at a time.  By process of elimination, I finally turned up a badge with my new name and face on it.  That face had a few less lines and gray hairs to resemble how I had first looked as Lynn Fong.  I clipped the badge to the front pocket of my suit jacket and then returned everything to my purse.
    “Looks like you found it,” the security guard said.
    “I knew it was there somewhere.”  I gave him a wry smile and then hurried away.  I had no idea what floor accounts payable would be on, but there was a helpful directory by the elevators.  While I waited with dozens of other businesspeople, I consulted the directory.  The text near the top was fuzzy enough that I had to squint to make it out.  Finally I squinted enough to make out that Accounts Payable was on the twenty-sixth floor.
    When an elevator door opened, there was a stampede to get inside.  A younger woman motioned frantically to me.  “Come on, Ms. Fong.”
    I scuttled through the elevator doors, making it through just before they could crush me.  “Thank you…Jo Ann,” I said, reading her badge.  Someone had already punched the button for the twenty-sixth floor.  “I wasn’t sure I could make it.”
    “I have those reports ready for you,” she said.  She must be one of my new coworkers.
    “That’s good.”
    “I’ll email them to you first thing.”
    “Thank you.”
    I wasn’t sure how familiar I was supposed to be with this woman, so I tried to keep things neutral.  The elevator came to a stop; we both had to slide back to allow other people to squeeze out of the cramped elevator.  This continued until we reached the twenty-sixth floor, where we were the ones who had to force our way out.
    We emerged into a sea of gray cubicles.  In my gray suit and graying hair I could blend in pretty well with the cubicles.  Not knowing which one belonged to me, I followed Jo Ann, hoping to end up in the general area.  Along the way we passed a variety of men and women, most of whom were already at work crunching numbers in Excel.
    Jo Ann’s cubicle looked like all the others with papers and ledgers scattered around, memos taped to the walls for later reference, and a single family portrait on the counter.  I couldn’t help gasping at that portrait.  The husband smiling next to her was me!  And the children in front of them were Michael and Tammy!  I squinted at Jo Ann and then I saw it:  Denise’s face, albeit ten years younger with frizzy blond hair instead of short dark brown hair.  The nose, the jaw, and especially the eyes were all hers.
    “Ms. Fong?  Is something wrong?”
    “Huh?  What?”
    “Is there a problem?”
    “Oh, no.  Sorry.  I was just admiring your family.”
    “We just took that a couple of weeks ago.  It was so hard to get the children to stay still.”
    I nodded slightly.  From the look of it, Michael and Tammy weren’t even ten yet, which made sense; if Denise were younger then the children would have to be as well.  “They’re very beautiful.  How’s your husband?”
    “Bill’s doing fine.  Always plenty of crazy people to analyze.”  I shared her chuckle, though inside my stomach churned at the thought of someone else impersonating me.  Maybe they had simply switched me with the real Lynn Fong.
    “I might have to see him before long,” I said with another chuckle.  Then I forced myself to