It was late Friday afternoon and Ben was working in his home office when he heard a commotion downstairs. His wife Lauren was still at work and wasn’t due to finish for another hour. Cautiously he got up off his chair and went to the staircase. He relaxed when he saw Lauren at the bottom of the stairs talking to someone.



“I didn’t hear you come in,” Ben said as he walked down stairs to see what was going on. “I also didn’t think you’d be home so soon. Lauren gave him a polite smile as he came down the stairs.



“Work sent me home early,” Lauren explained. “I need to set up my office.” Ben looked over to the front door where he saw a few large boxes with her company’s logo on them. “Mind giving the guys a hand and taking a box or two up?”



“Just one, since I’m down here. I need to get back to work.” He said as he grabbed the smallest box.



“Thank you so much,” Lauren stopped him to kiss him on the cheek. He smiled and took the box up to Lauren’s office and placed it on her desk.



As he was coming out of the office he saw two men maneuvering a large box marked fragile up the stairs. It was quite tall and a little wide. It was certainly big enough to fit a person inside. “Wait… is that a Doll?” Ben asked with curiosity.



“Don’t you need to be getting back to work,” Lauren yelled playfully from the bottom of the stairs.



Ben didn’t say a word as he walked back into his office and shut the door. He found it hard to focus on work as he was curious with what Lauren was testing exactly. Given the size of the box and the company his wife worked for, he was certain that it was a Doll in the box, but those were for industrial use only.



He found it hard to focus on his work as he was curious about what was going on in the other office, especially with the noise of power tools and other noises. He put his headphones on to drown out the noise but he couldn’t remove the mental distraction. Still he tried his best to focus on the task at hand.



An hour later Ben was finally finished with work for the week. He opened the door and saw two technicians and Lauren working hard. Her office was a mess, with open boxes, cables, plastic, foam and tools all over the place. Though the large box remained unopened. One technician was working on what looked to be a neuro chair while the other was setting up a docking station in the corner of the room. Lauren was focused on her computer. Not wanting to disturb them, Ben went downstairs to start on dinner while the others continued to work.



By the time dinner was ready and Ben was dishing it up, the Technicians had finished their work and Lauren came to join Ben on the couch.



“Thanks for dinner,” Lauren said as she grabbed her plate and began to eat. Ben looked up and gave her a smile before they continued with their dinner.



“So… about your work…” Ben began. “It is, what I think it is right?”



Lauren finished her mouthful of food. “I’m pretty sure I mentioned this a month or two ago, that I was going to test a new product.”



“You did…” Ben only vaguely recalled but he didn’t want her to know he had forgotten. “And that explains the chair but not the larger box or the docking station. So there’s a Doll upstairs, correct?”



Lauren continued eating while Ben talked and then put down the plate. “Yes there’s a Doll upstairs, I knew I would be testing one but I didn’t know it’d be at home.”



“I knew it…” Ben exclaimed as if he just caught some big secret, though he was going to find out anyway. “Wait, but they’re not designed for home use, so what are you going to use it for?”



“That’s why it’s called a new product and why it needs testing.” Lauren tried not to be too sarcastic but she couldn’t help herself. “I’m going back upstairs to configure it further, why don’t you clean up and come help me.” Lauren got up and put her plate on the sink and returned to her office.



Ben eagerly got up and did the dishes before following Lauren up to her workspace. When he entered the room, she was laying on the neuro chair. Ben looked onto the floor where the large box remained, it was laying flat and had only been opened recently.



“This neuro chair is so comfortable… It's like being in a massage chair.” Lauren said as she laid back in it. She then grabbed the neurolink and placed it on her head. “Activate.”



As soon as Lauren said the words she twitched for a second before falling asleep. Then the box with the Doll began to move as an arm reached up to the ceiling and its fingers began to move. The Doll then sat up moving the plastic sheet covering it.



Ben couldn’t believe his eyes as a duplicate of his wife was sitting in the box. Though she had some noticeable differences. The first thing was she looked a lot younger, like she was still in her early twenties, her hair was also a lot longer and was a vibrant red, much like it was a few months ago. Though the most notable feature was why they called them Dolls in the first place, her breasts lacked nipples.



“This is so surreal…” Lauren began to look around and reached up to touch her throat. “Is this what I sound like?” she asked. “It’s like listening to myself when I’m in a video…”



“You sound like you…” Ben confirmed as he watched the Doll with curiosity.



“Okay got it, I hear myself as others hear me and not as I hear myself, I’m going to need to make a note of that.” Lauren remarked. “Yeah I’m not going to get used to this…”



“Wait your voice is an issue? Wouldn’t the other Dolls have this issue too?” Ben inquired.



“I suppose they would but those ones are designed for work. These new ones are meant for personal use so even small issues like hearing yourself talk is important.” Lauren then looked around the room again. “Twenty-Twenty vision without wearing glasses is something I could get used to but it doesn’t feel right.” She then raised her hand to her nose and sniffed it. “Smell receptors seem good, we were worried about that but I smell like a new appliance.”



“Isn’t that what you are?” Ben retorted.



“I suppose the Doll is and it was wrapped in protective plastic and foam,” Lauren conceded as she remained sitting. She then began to touch her skin. “It feels real enough, though it’s as if I’ve had a full body wax. Body hair is still an issue we’re trying to work out.”



“Okay… okay…” Ben didn’t want to hear about details like that. He then noticed Lauren touching a particular spot on her arm. “Everything alright?” Ben asked, noticing Lauren’s discomfort.



“Yeah… it’s just the scar where I had that mole is gone, so are some of my freckles…” Lauren then looked down at the rest of her body. “There’s not a single blemish, my skin is perfect…” That should’ve been a compliment but the way Lauren said it it was more of an issue.



“I guess that’s why they call them Dolls, besides the obvious…” Ben couldn’t help but glance at her chest and assumed her crotch was the same.



“Yeah…” Lauren said, looking down at her body and then looked at Ben as she covered her chest. “Pervert” she teased.



“Can’t be a pervert if there’s nothing to see…” Ben joked.



Lauren looked over at herself sleeping on the chair. “Speaking of which, I need to test something else, can you go touch me?” Ben gave her a confused look and walked over to the Doll. “Not the Doll, me. I want to check out the security features.”



Ben walked over and touched Lauren gently on the arm as requested. Lauren winced and clutched the spot where Ben touched on her body. “It’s like getting zapped…” Lauren commented. “Okay now something more extreme. Grope me…”



“I’m sorry what?” Ben asked, shocked, though he was a little excited too.



“When you’re in a Doll your body is vulnerable, that's why a gentle touch feels like a static shock to me, it’s programmed to warn you if something touches your body. So I need to see what it does with something more extreme.”



“Okay…” Ben didn’t need an excuse; he just wanted to make sure he had permission, so he gently slipped his hand into Lauren’s top, careful not to touch her skin and caressed her breast. He wasn’t expecting the reaction she gave though.



Instantly her body jumped up and an ear piercing alarm rang from the chair as her phone began to auto dial emergency services. “Lauren…” Lauren gagged as her consciousness was thrown violently back into her body. “Lauren Smith… ID299935, false Alarm.” The alarm stopped and the call was disconnected. “At least we… at least we…” Lauren took off the neurolink and quickly ran to the upstairs bathroom, which was fortunately in the next room.



Ben looked over at the lifeless Doll which had remained exactly where it was, it didn’t even slump over like he would’ve expected and almost thought it’d come alive again. He then followed Lauren out of the room to check on her.



Lauren had just finished wiping her mouth and flushed the toilet before looking at herself in the mirror. Touching her skin and finding all the familiar scars and wrinkles. She even looked down her top to ensure everything was alright.



“Are you alright?” Ben asked, concerned.



“Yeah they aren’t designed to cut the link so suddenly, you’re meant to drift off and then back in so the change in perception doesn’t hit as hard…” Lauren explained, still looking at the mirror, breathing a sigh of relief as she sounded like she should.



“That’s good…” Ben put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “At least you know the emergency system works.” Ben then looked at Lauren’s brunette bob cut. “I will say it was weird looking at you when it wasn’t you…”



Lauren saw where Ben was looking in the mirror. “You should’ve experienced it. The best I can describe it is using the uncanny valley, except it’s like experiencing a body that’s like your own but not quite so every small detail is noticeable. The industrial models avoid that because they use huds and you're more disconnected from the body.”



“Hmm…” Ben let out as he thought about what Lauren said.



“What?” She asked, turning away from the mirror to look at him.



“It’s just what you said, about experiencing a body like your own. It got me thinking, what if you experienced one different from your own do you think you’d feel the same way, besides the obvious…” Ben looked at Lauren with a curiosity that he had never felt before as he looked her up and down before giving her a smile.



“That’s… that’s a good question. Though it’s not the issue we’re looking to solve, we want the Dolls to be life-like, so it’s a seamless transition from the host to the Doll. Tonight has given me a lot to think about. I'm going to get a glass of water and take notes while it's fresh in my mind.”



“Okay,” Ben said as she left the bathroom. “I’ll see you when you’re finished.”



As Lauren went downstairs to the kitchen, Ben looked over at the Doll as his mind began to wonder…