The two entered the secret laboratory room, where other scientists worked on the experiment. Each of them darted around the area and talked to one another about their progress. Almost all of them surrounded themselves with control pads, data readers, computers, and more.

The first thing that caught Richard’s eyes was a large chamber that had a strange creature inside, surrounded by liquid. The beast was one blobby body, with blue skin, no nose, no ears, and no legs, just two eyes, a mouth, and stretchy arms. He walked over and placed his hand on the glass, the smooth, metallic surface brushing against his fingers.

Carlos gathered everyone over to meet their newest recruit and gave him a rundown. The group of scientists called it a ‘blue blob’ for its structure and appearance. They also explained that they had found this unusual creature at a crash site and wanted to investigate what the species is, what they do for a living, what are their powers, and why they came here to Earth specifically.

“Remember what I told you about sending stuff like this to the organizations around?” Carlos reminded them. “We finally got some group to accept, sending one of their members to help us out.” He turned to Richard with a big smile. “So, which team are you from?”

Richard traded glances from everyone in the room, as they all stood there with bated breath, waiting for a response.

“Um, you got it all wrong, I’m not from any group of sorts.” He responded honestly.

Almost everyone else in the room laughed at the remark. Carlos went over to nudge him on the shoulder.

“Good one. Who knew you had a great sense of humor?”

“Was that a joke I just told?”

“You crack me up. It’s fine by me if you don’t want to say, you can tell us it’s a secret.” He cleared his throat and went straight to the point. “You know why you’re here, correct? We want you to be a test guinea pig.”

Richard put his hands on his hips and tapped on his foot. “Yeah, but of what, though?”

Carlos adjusted his glasses. “Simple. We have a prognostic, or thesis, if you will, that the body of the creature did not survive the impact, since its eyes can’t seem to open and life is breathing much.”

“Is that so?” Richard took out the pamphlet and read the information on the place again.

“So, we’re going to transfer your soul to this creature. That way, you wake it up, and we can get tons of information on them, about the stuff we mentioned to you before.”

Richard scratched his chin and pondered. “That does sound interesting...”

“Well, what do you say? Are you ready to go?”

“Hold on. Just a reminder, I am going to get paid for this, right?”

“Yes, yes.” Carlos waved off. “If you do this, you’ll get paid a lot. What you’ll be doing is a tremendous help for your research, and your reward will also be incredible.”

Tremendous, huh? I can’t wait to tell Emily about this. Richard rubbed his hands in anticipation. Maybe there’s nothing to worry about after all.

He nodded in agreement as the scientists opened the second chamber and brought over some tubes. Richard brushed the smoke away before walking in. The scientists came over to attach tubes to his body.

They also gave him a device to use for breathing through his mouth. Before he put it in, Richard asked one more question.

“Hey, what will happen to my original body? Will I get it back after this?”

“Of course,” Carlos replied. “Don’t worry about it, just relax.”