Sarah still could not really believe what she was seeing.  Here stood the body of her friend an co-worker, but instead of Melissa's head it was the head of her client Ned.

For a few minutes, neither of them quite knew how to even react, beyond the initial few words.  Finally, Sarah walked over to Ned, seeing that he was about to fall over.  Melissa's body was dressed in a blue skirt suit, tan hose, and white heels.  It was very obvious that Ned had no experience it literally any of those clothes, and was Sarah had no idea what what happen if Ned were to fall.

She helped him to the steps and he sat down.  There she got a better look at what had happened.  She could see the medical stitches at the base of his neck, along with what seemed to be another binder.  She also had seen enough injuries and physical trauma as a former police officer to know when it looked like a wound was healing and she could see signs of it already.  Which, she knew, should not be happening this quickly.  Of course, none of this should be happening, but one thing at a time, she decided.

He looked up at her, and faintly smiled.

"Thank you."  He said softly.

"No problem."  She said.  "Think you can tell me what happened?"

"I saw this machine come from where we put that hole through the paper, then I, I don't know, I fainted, got sedated and the next thing I remember you're standing there with the shotgun looking at me.  This, I know this is Melissa's body.  Do you know where she is?"

"I was hoping you could answer that."  Sarah said.  "Shit."

"I'm sorry.  I really don't know."

"It's fine.  I believe you.  But, now we need to find her."

"What, go back in there?"

"Do you have a better idea?"  She asked.

"What's going to stop that machine?  More to the point, if we try and stop that machine, what happened to Melissa?"

"Damn it, Ned."  She said, looking at him annoyed.  She then leaned against the wall, making sure to keep an idea on the door.  "You're right.  But, what good options do we have?"

"Call the police."  Ned said.

"And what are the odds that will help?"

"Do you have a better idea?"  Ned asked.  His voice was a bit monotone.  He was still in shock.

"Hell, I don't."  She admitted.  "But, I don't think we it's a good option.  Granted, I don't think we have any good options.  Only bad ones.  Which one is the least bad then?"

"What's this, the trolley problem?"  Ned asked.

"Interesting."  Sarah said.  "Well, I always was one for putting the least people at risk."

With that, she got up and walked into the room again.  Ned, reluctantly, followed, taking his heels off, carrying them in his feminine hands.

"You know, I could see if Melissa has another pair of shoes in her car."

"No, let's just do this."

"Brave."

"What else can it do to me?"

"Never say that."  Sarah said, making sure the safety was off on her shotgun.  Ned turned on the light as Sarah looked around.

They noticed now the lights in the hidden room were now off.  That was a wonderful sign, Sarah thought as she looked to see if there was another switch nearby.

It was Ned who found it, and turned it on.  Both of them, once he did that, really wished they hadn't.

They saw Ned's headless body, tubes attached where his head should be on the right side of the room.  Just above his headless body they saw Melissa's head floating in a jar.

Sarah looked in shock.  Her friend, it initially seemed, was dead.  She was just about to start to tear up when she saw Melissa's eyes open wide, their eyes locking as Melissa's head tried to scream.  Ned had a look of pure horror on his face, and it wasn't just from those sights.  He also saw that one of the other machines activate but before he could react, it had already grabbed Sarah, causing her to drop the shotgun.  Her attempts to struggle were in vain.

She looked to Ned, hoping he would grab the shotgun, but even with the mixture of fear and survival instinct, she realized that him trying to use it here could very likely result in serious injury or death to any of them.  He wasn't exactly in the best state to use a shotgun at the moment.

He did grab the shotgun, but she saw the look on his face.  He realized what she realized.  He didn't fire and she saw the look of defeat and anger in his eyes.

Ned watched in horror as he saw the machine sedate her, bloodlessly sever her head from her body, and drop her head into a jar of liquid.  However instead of machines starting to be attached to her headless body, he saw a third jar come into view.

In the jar was the head of a balding old man.  Ned watched as the head was taken out of the liquid and expertly stitched onto Sarah's body.  Sarah came to just as this mystery man did, looking with a shocked expression at what had happened to her body.

The man stood up, ignoring everyone for a moment.  He walked a couple of steps, smiled, then slowly examined his new body with feminine hands.  It seemed almost clinical the way he was doing it.  Or, at least it was at first.  He then smiled, giving his new breasts another feel in a way that was definitely not clinical.

"So, I guess it worked."  He said.

"What?  You planned this?"  Ned almost stammered.

"Not exactly."  He said, then he looked over and saw Melissa's and Sarah's head, both in jars, and both trying to scream noiselessly.  One needed lungs in order to scream.

"What the hell do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

"It is a long story, and I have to imagine you don't actually want to know the finer details.  I imagine your concern is a bit less about how this all came to be and about what the fate of all of you is."

"Well!"  The old man said, sitting down on the operating table again, crossing his now feminine legs.  He smiled at that.

"You know, it feels so good to have a body again.  So nice.  And, I could definitely get used to having such a body!  One that doesn't ache or hurt.  So, I'll cut to it.  I had plans that I want to put into motion.  There was a reason all this was done, and it literally took the last that my old body had.  An aggressive cancer."

"For someone who wants to cut to it, you're taking a long time getting to the point."  Ned said, angry.  Normally he was more polite and reserved.  But, considering the situation...

"I'm ninety-seven.  This is me cutting to it.  Or, I think I'm ninety-eight.  What year is it, anyway?"

"2024."

"Never mind.  A hundred at the least."  He said.  "But, that is fine.  Anyway, the point.  I obviously wasn't planning on being a head in a jar.  My plan was to get back at the people who , due to their actions, took as much from me as they conceivably could have.  Took my patents.  Destroyed my reputation.  Even, indirectly gave me the cancer that should have killed me."

"So, all this was for revenge?"

"It wasn't just revenge.  I needed a new body to keep living.  It would have been killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.  But now, I have that chance again, one that I thought was taken from me forever."

Ned had questions.  A whole bunch of questions.  How he was able to do this, the fake wall, why the machines acted the way they did.  He had a feeling that a lot more of this went wrong than just the man running out of time.  But, that wasn't exactly a high priority, as the man had pointed out before.

"So, you still want a new body and revenge."  It wasn't a question.

"Seems strange to put that aside now that I actually have the chance to do it, wouldn't it be?"  He asked.  "And, if this was about just a body, I think any of the three of you would do for me.  I want what this was intended for.  And, I admit, I could probably use a bit of help."

"And, if I were, hypothetically not help you, what then?"  There was anger in Ned's voice, but it was controlled.

"Well, if I was a mad scientist type, this is where I'd do my gloating.  'You don't have a choice' and all that.  A few points.  First, this is reversable, so helping me is in your interest.  Second, I don't actually want this body, and, yes, I do know what I said earlier, and I never actually wanted anyone else involved in this.  So, the deal is this.  You help me, all of you return to normal.  You don't, I do it myself, and leave them as just heads in jars.  You shoot me, well, they stay as heads in jars.  I hope you take the first option.  Oh, and drop the shotgun while you are at it.  Probably should have mentioned that much, much earlier, but, you know, there is a lot going on."

Ned looked at the man.  He wanted to pull the trigger, but knew that he had little chance of helping them if he killed the old man.  Not only that, he had no idea if the machines would react to such as action.  He looked at Sarah's head, and he could see what she wanted him to do.

He decided to do the opposite.  He put the shotgun on the ground and pushed it to the old man.

The old man smiled.

"Now you have no leverage.  You know that, right?"

"Did I ever, really?"

"Well, yes."  The old man laughed.  "It wasn't ideal, but it was still leverage.  Now, though..."

The old man hit a button and smiled.  Ned closed his eyes, expecting the worst.

"What the hell are you doing?"  The old man asked.  "Open your damn eyes."

Ned opened them and was actually surprised to see the machines seem to power down, except for the ones that the jars were put into.

"No reason to waste electricity."  He said.  "Besides, we don't exactly want someone else snooping around here.  So, I need a little time to see what parts of my plan might still work and what won't.  If we're lucky, I can put this plan into place as early as tonight.  Get ready.  Things are going to get a lot more interesting."

Oh great, Ned thought.  That's exactly what they all needed.