If there was something you expected to be in the package, this surely wasn’t it.
Sitting at the bottom of the box, resting comfortably in some packing peanuts, was what looked like some sort of gun. That is to say, calling a it gun might not be totally correct, it looked like a prop from some steampunk film or cosplay.
It was heavy looking thing, about the size of the airsoft sub machine gun you had in your closet,, primarily made out of a tarnished, coppery metal and bolted together with gold bolts and banding. The main body of the “gun” was occupied by several long glass tubes and the “barrel” was a long, thin needle-like protrusion. Various dials and gauges were scattered here and there across the device’s surface.
All in all, a very strange looking thing.
“Almost looks like a syringe and a rifle had sex at a steampunk conversation...” You mused as you picked up the gun.
It was lighter than it looked, but still had a good amount of heft to it.
Turning it over in your hands.m, you spotted an ornate looking plaque riveted to the side of the gun’s body.
“Swapper V1.0” you read aloud.
Well that didn’t exactly help you in figuring out just what this thing was and why someone would send it to you. Steampunk stuff was cool and all but you didn’t like it enough to warrant someone gifting such a well made prop to you.
Setting the “Swapper” down on its side, you returned your attention to the box.
“Maybe there’s something else in here... Aha!” You crowed in triumph, retrieving a small pamphlet printed on old, yellowed paper from under the packing peanuts.
Unfolding it revealed a cheerfully drawn old school cartoon like the ones you would see in one of your post apocalyptic video games.
“Introducing the amazing Swapper!” You read quietly, “the only device that lets you take a walk in someone else’s shoes!”
The “instructions” were a comic strip, oddly enough. Ten panels seemed to illustrate how to use the Swapper.
The first panel of the comic strip had a widely smiling caricature of a dapper looking blond haired man in a suit holding the Swapper.
Standing next to him was an oblivious looking caricature of a young brunette woman dressed in a bright red 1950’s style swing dress and matching heels.
The second panel showed the little man aiming the needle like barrel of the Swapper at the young woman.
The third had a thin beam of green energy shooting from the Swapper and hitting the woman.
The fourth panel showed the woman seemingly disintegrating into motes of pink light, which entered the Swapper. A close up panel had the tubes filling with a soupy pink liquid.
“Uh... huh,” was your eloquent response.
After the fourth panel, things got weird.
The fifth panel had the man positioning the Swapper over the junction of his inner elbow and pulling the trigger.
The sixth panel had the Swapper extend three stabilization legs, before plunging the needle like barrel into the mans arm.
The seventh looked like the man’s arm was bubbling up.
“Okay this is just getting weirder...” you mumbled.
The eighth panel showed the man entire body bubbling and seemingly shrinking. But oddly enough, the little mans hair looked like it was getting longer and turning brown while his clothing was turning red.
The ninth had the grinning man’s suit visibly unfurling into a perfect clone of the woman’s red swing dress while his body shrank and became curvier looking, becoming more feminine looking.
And finally on the tenth, a perfect clone of the woman who had been shot and absorbed by the Swapper stood alone with a wide grin on her face.
You slowly put the pamphlet down, unsure what to make of it. A part of you wondered if this was all just a joke and someone was having a good laugh at your expense, but another part was more curious.
“Someone went to great trouble to make this,” you reasoned, “this seems too elaborate to be a prank...”
So that left you with the decision of whether or not to humor this “Swapper” malarkey and try it out, or put it back in the box and ignore it.
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