His assistant ensured the paperwork was rapidly taken care of, and I wrote a check. It was for a considerable amount, money that would otherwise have gone to my children. I hoped scarcity would make them inventive and vital. My wife was already provided for. What was bothering me? I couldn’t stop suspecting that this was a confidence trick, that I’d been made a fool of in my most vulnerable areas: my vanity and fear of decline and death. But if it was a hoax, it was a labored one, and I would have parted with money to hear about it.

The surgeon said, “We are delighted to have an artist of your caliber join us.”

“Thank you.”

“Have you done anything I might have heard of?”

“I doubt it.”

“I think my wife saw one of your plays. She loves comedy and now has the leisure to enjoy herself. Ralph has told me that it’s a short-term body rental you require, initially? The six-months minimum—is that correct?”

“That is correct,” I said. “After six months I’ll be happy to return to myself again.”

“I have to warn you, not everyone wants to go back.”

“I will. I am fascinated by this experiment and want to be involved, but I’m not particularly unhappy with my life.”

“You might be unhappy with your death.”

“Not necessarily.”

He countered, “I wouldn’t leave it until you’re on your deathbed to find out. Some people, you know, lose the power of speech then. Or it is too late for all kinds of other reasons.”

“You’re suggesting I won’t want to return to myself?”

“It’s impossible for either of us to predict how you will feel in six months’ time.”

I nodded.

He noticed me looking at him. “You are wondering if—”

“Of course.”

“I am,” he replied, glancing at Ralph. “We both are. Newbodies.”

“And ordinary people going about their business out there”—I pointed somewhere into the distance—“are called Oldbodies?”

“Perhaps. Yes. Why not?”

“These are words that will eventually be part of most people’s everyday vocabulary, you think?”

“Words are your living,” he said. “Bodies are mine. But I would imagine so.”

“The existence of Newbodies, as you call them, will create considerable confusion, won’t it? How will we know who is new and who old?”

“The thinking in this area has yet to be done,” he said. “Just as there has been argument over abortion, genetic engineering, cloning, and organ transplants, or any other medical advances, so there will be over this.”

“Surely this is of a different order,” I said. “Parents the same age as their children, or even younger, for instance. What will that mean?”

“That is for the philosophers, priests, poets, and television pundits to say. My work is only to extend life.”

“As an educated man, you must have thought this over.”