Karyn stared at her, utterly flabbergasted. "Jon...Jon, you were dead. Dead! They found your body...what happened? Where've you been? Oh God, you don't know what it's been like, this past month...oh God..." She started to break down. Jon put a hand on her shoulder. "It's a long story," she said. "Maybe we'd better wait until you're ready to hear it?"
Karyn took a deep breath and managed to pull herself together, mostly. "N-no," she said. "No, it's all right. I want to hear it now...I just need you to talk to me. Do you know, even with the different voice, you still sound like you?"
Jon smiled. "That's good to hear," she said. "It's very good to hear." She paused for a moment, marshalling her thoughts. "Karyn, the body they found was mine, but they weren't the first people to get to it. The lady who called the ambulance, her name is Anne LaRue, and she's pretty much the walking definition of 'reclusive genius.'"
"You mean she saved you?" Karyn asked. Jon nodded. "But...then how did they find your body?"
Jon took a deep breath. "They found my body," she said. "But I wasn't in it. Dr. LaRue is basically a mad scientist; she used this invention of hers to save a brain scan from me while my body was still alive, just in case. Then the ambulance got there too late, and she still had the brain but the body was dead."
"She...she put you in another body?" Karyn gaped. "Oh God. She didn't...where did she get it? Whose is it?"
Jon smiled slightly. "No, it's nobody's. Karyn, she's a roboticist."
"No. You're telling me...?"
Jon nodded. "Apparently, she was working for years on inventing artificial life, and I happened along needing the body she'd finished building. I kinda feel sorry for her; she wanted to do it all herself. But she doesn't seem to be holding a grudge; I think she's glad that at least someone is using it."
"My God," Karyn said. "Don't get me wrong, I can't tell you how glad I am to have you back, just...damn."
Jon nodded. "My thoughts exactly. I don't even know what to think about this, other than just being grateful I'm alive. Karyn, do you know if they found the stone in with my possessions?"
Karyn shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "I looked, but I couldn't find it. Maybe Zoe or Mikey found it, but if they did I'd think they'd have made it so I didn't remember its existence. Not to mention you'd probably be alive in your original body."
Jon nodded. "That makes sense. I don't think I took it with me, but I really don't remember. If I did, it's probably at the bottom of the river somewhere. Shit, that complicates things."
"No kidding," Karyn said. "How are you going to change back, then? Can't the doctor make a male body for you?"
Jon shook her head. "I don't think she has the money," she said. "It sounded like she's pretty much been living off ramen and Coke to fund her project. And anyway, it took her years to get this far. Even assuming a lot of that was research, I don't think I could take being dead for another year or two."
"So you're just going to live like this, then?"
Jon shrugged. "Well, what the doctor said is that this body is capable of rearranging itself with some kind of nanotechnology. But apparently I'm just a human brain being mimicked by the body's actual brain, so I can't control that, it's just functioning like the normal growth and processes of a human body. But she said that the body's brain might rewire itself to the point where I can control it, she's just not sure how long that would take."
"So you get to return to normal, just not right away?" Karyn asked.
"Maybe. That's what it sounds like, anyway."
Karyn let out a low whistle. "So you're going to have to convince your family, too?"
Jon nodded. "I still haven't figured out how to do it. With you I had the advantage of being the only other person to remember the real past, but I can't think of anything I can tell my family that another person might not conceivably have found out. If I still had the stone, it would be much easier."
Karyn smiled. "Well, you've got me, at least." She squeezed Jon's hand. "We'll think of something."
