Chapter 1

“I don’t care if she is out for lunch. Find her and get that stupid bimbo in my office now!” Jack Thorne slammed down his handset in a fury. ‘This is why I should be making all of the hiring decisions around here,’ Jack thought, running his hand through his full head of graying black hair, still reeling from his decision to allow his partner, David Miller, to recruit Melanie Watkins to the firm. Melanie was making big splashes in the law world and even appeared on the cover of a national law magazine as the face of a new crop of young, ambitious lawyers. The problem, Jack thought, was that she was a woman, driven by emotions and lacking that level of adaptable intuition needed to survive long-term in this industry. Jack’s beliefs were reinforced after the telephone call he had just received from one of his oldest clients.

Hiroki Yamamoto of Yamamoto Industries was a traditionalist. He had a world-view similar to Jack’s, so the business relationship lasted ten years without a hitch. Jack had sent the attractive Melanie to deliver a revised contract to Yamamoto’s offices, a task far below her pay grade of Junior Partner but would teach her a lesson in humility and paying her dues. Although Melanie tried to minimize her appearance, she was a bombshell. Her naturally flowing golden blond hair is usually pinned up into a bun, although she wears it down at the office due to Jack’s insistence. Her blue eyes would have been mesmerizing if not for the naturally large lips forming a constant pout on her face. She was ‘blessed’ with naturally large D-cup breasts, unusual for such a small athletic frame and long legs that seemed to make up most of her 5’9” height. The suits and flat-styled shoes she chose to wear attempted to reduce the effect of her appearance as much as possible, and she has so far held her ground despite Jack’s suggestions.

Jack figured that the delivery would be the perfect task for Melanie. The negotiations and revisions had already been made, and all she needed to do was deliver the contract and smile that pretty smile of hers. Hiroki would love that, Jack thought. But it turned out that even this simple task was too complex for her. During her visit, Mr Yamamoto harmlessly brushed his hand against her knee, and she had the gall to smack his hand away. Not only that, but she dared to reprimand him and tell him that she wasn’t there to be fondled and ogled. What exactly did she think she was there for, Jack thought, her intellect? Jack outwardly chuckled at his most recent thought just as he heard a timid knock at his door. Despite his seething rage at potentially losing a valuable client, a veiled grin appeared on his face. Putting his employees in their place was perhaps one of Jack’s favorite tasks, and he wouldn’t hold back on this one.

❖

"… If you ever endanger my firm like that again, you'll be dancing on a pole for cash. Do I make myself clear? Now, leave!" Twenty minutes after Melanie hesitantly entered Jack’s office, she ran out of the room with bloodshot eyes, her minimal makeup running. Jack believed that tears had no place in an office environment, and he sure as hell wouldn’t show sympathy for someone who couldn’t take a little bit of dressing down. He again picked up his handset and dialed through to his personal assistant. "Pam, set up a meeting with David for first thing tomorrow morning. I need to discuss hiring practices. After that, have my Porsche brought to the front. I have an appointment at the New U Clinic."

Hanging up the phone, he opens the top left drawer of his large African blackwood desk and pulls out a pamphlet. He grins, reading the main header of the paper in his hand, ‘New U Clinic - Protecting You From Life & Death.’ The New U Clinic was a state-of-the-art medical facility that offered the most innovative treatments to its extremely wealthy customer base. Only Billionaires and their families could usually afford to deal with the clinic, but Jack was gifted a lifetime insurance subscription after he saved his wealthiest client billions during a messy divorce. The biggest perk of the subscription was access to their secretive beta cloning program. This program allowed the clinic to create a perfectly healthy clone of your body using your DNA. Should anything happen to your original body, such as a debilitating illness, your mind could be transferred into the cloned body with no adverse side effects. Jack had donated his DNA and provided a body scan to the clinic last week, and he needed to give a second body scan tonight before they started to work on his cloned body.

Jack checked his emails one last time before shutting his PC down and locking away the contents inside his desk. Picking up his suit jacket and flinging it over his shoulder, he slipped his cell phone out of his navy blue trouser pocket, selected a name from his address book, and put the phone to his ear. After a brief pause, he smiled as he heard the voice of his wife, Regina, on the other end of the line. “Hey, sweet cheeks. I’ll be home a little later this evening; I have some business to take care of first. I’ve invited some of the guys over for a poker game later; make sure you prepare some of those teacakes that Jerry raves about. I can’t wait to try out those new lips of yours later. Love you, bye.”

❖

Jack hung his suit jacket on the passenger side of his Porsche and strode to the other side, sliding into his comfortable leather seat and igniting the engine. As he shot off, heading to the infamously exclusive clinic, Jack started reflecting on how his life had turned out at the ripe age of 52. He was a named senior partner in one of the city’s most successful law firms; he was in great shape for his age, had a full head of hair and a charming smile that could melt a jury before he even started his argument.

Then there was his family. He married his latest wife, Regina, ten years ago and has been slowly molding her into the Stepford wife he envisioned. When he first met Regina, she was a hot mess. She had divorced her first husband two years prior, and with two young children, she was struggling to keep everything together, working full-time at the local Hooters just a few blocks from Jack’s office. Regina once had aspirations of becoming a novelist, but after marrying Jack, he made it clear that he expected his woman to look after their home and her husband.

Regina quickly became addicted to the lavish lifestyle she was introduced to and promptly decided to do whatever it took to keep it. Over the years, she listened to each of Jack’s suggestions and spent more and more time improving her looks and altering her behaviors to suit his needs. Now, at the age of 42, her age was starting to show, and she had to work harder to keep her appearance up to Jack’s standards. After two boobjobs, her breasts defied gravity even without support and were more than a handful at their current DD size. She had beautiful blue eyes with minimal signs of lines around them, thanks to her regular checkups. It wasn’t just her appearance that Regina worked on to keep her man happy. She was forever learning new recipes, better ways to keep their house clean, and, most importantly, fresh methods on how to please her husband in bed. In Jack’s mind, he had helped Regina become the perfect wife.

Her children, on the other hand, were not so perfect. When Jack first met their mother, they were both rebellious little brats and hadn’t improved since becoming adults. Regina’s son, Billy, had recently turned 18 and moved across the country to start college at the University of Miami. Billy had all the traits that Jack despised in a man; he was lazy, introverted, and slightly overweight. The boy took no pride in his hygiene and spent too much time playing video games in his room. Jack knew that Billy would get eaten alive when he moved to college.

Regina’s daughter, Emma, was the polar opposite of her brother. She was too ambitious for her own good and thought she knew all the answers. She had recently graduated from law school and expected her stepfather to hire her as an intern at his firm. Jack steadfastly told her that she had to make it alone and that he would not give her any free rides. Emma was hired as an intern at Jack’s fiercest rival firm, Holloway & Rivers, a choice for which Jack would always resent her.

Jack pushed aside his wandering thoughts and returned his focus to the road. For the last five minutes, he had been crawling behind an elderly lady in an old, battered Chevy truck. He hooted his horn in frustration, but his aggressive act never phased her. Enraged at the woman holding him up, Jack swerved his Porsche onto the opposite lane and started to overtake. As he drove side-by-side with the rundown truck, Jack turned his head towards the elderly lady and flipped her the bird. He heard a loud horn blast, and blinding white lights shone before him. Before he had any time to react, Jack felt the devastating impact as his body capitulated through the windscreen of his car, furiously launching him towards the other side of the highway. As Jack lay there, he tried to move, but not a single inch of his body responded to his command. A constant shrilling tone pierced his ears, and his vision started getting more and more obscure; he slowly drifted off to unconsciousness.

❖

“His mind has been uploaded successfully. He should be waking up soon…” As Jack’s eyes suddenly opened, several alarming thoughts came to him immediately. First, it was clear that he was no longer at the collision site. The sterile walls in front of him told him he must be in a hospital or clinic. The next thing Jack noticed was that he strangely felt no pain. Even if he had been left unconscious for months, he would have expected some form of soreness to linger with him. However, he felt no agony or dull aches, nor did he sense any drowsiness or mental fatigue. His mind was alert.

His next unsettling thought was that he was standing up without any support or assistance. Who the hell wakes up from a slumber in an upright position? None of it made any sense to Jack. But the most bewildering cognition to Jack was that something just felt off. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly where this disorientation came from but knew that something was off.

“Are you ready?” Jack heard a voice to his side speak, but before he could process the question, a curtain fell from the wall ahead of him, revealing a large TV screen. What Jack saw on the TV in front of him gave him more questions than answers. On the wall-mounted screen in front of him, there stood a perplexed, naked young woman staring back at him. She appeared to be in a small recovery room with a doctor standing beside her. The young woman was undoubtedly gorgeous despite her quizzical expression. She was young, barely looking old enough to drink. Long, flowing, fiery red hair framed her face, reaching her midback. Her wide eyes were colored an almost unnatural shade of blue, and her plump lips were perfectly formed; the way they created an O shape in her confused state stirred something inside him.

Looking further down, he notices her exposed breasts. They were modest, probably at a C-cup, but they sat perfectly on her chest and were remarkably symmetrical with prominent nipples. The waist turned inward perfectly like the woman had spent a lifetime in corsets, with her hips rounding out the fantastic hourglass appearance. The young woman made no attempt to cover herself up, revealing her perfectly shaped and incredibly hairless pussy mound for everyone to see, including the doctor standing beside her.

Something else about this young woman unnerved him. She looked perfectly formed, and he meant that literally. It was as if the woman had been designed by someone inside a lab or some pervert's basement bedroom. There were no blemishes on her face, no birthmarks, no marks of any kind on her body. Her skin looked incredibly smooth and hairless, and her structure looked impossibly symmetrical. He didn’t know whether he was looking at a real woman or some AI created animation.

“I don’t understa-…” Jack paused when he heard his voice and brought his hand up to his mouth in shock. The sound was high-pitched, soft, feminine, and melodic. Definitely not his voice. His eyes widened in terror even further when he saw the woman on the screen bring her perfectly manicured hand to her face, and it all suddenly clicked. He was not looking at a TV screen; he was looking in a mirror. He was the sexy young woman looking back in horror.

As he struggled to process everything, he heard the Doctor’s voice again. “There were some complications, Mr Thorne. We need to have a chat.”

End of Chapter One.