Fender

Imagine if God had given all of us free will, in which every possibility was predestined and preexisting. All possible outcomes exist, but we see only one: the life we have selected and been fated for. What if we could access the other paths, the ones we had not chosen, the ones we had not been fated for? What then?

Advances in technology made it possible to implant computers as small as a living cell into our bodies. These implants communicated with government and private institutions, personal contacts, and even within our own bodies. Electronic information was stored within us for easy transactions. Medical data was transmitted to hospitals whenever our bodies spiked a code orange alert. This data was then automatically routed to emergency services, where our GPS locator would instruct the ambulance exactly where to find us. If we committed a crime, it would be nearly impossible to evade law enforcement. If we were reported missing, our loved ones needn’t worry for long—we would be found within the hour.

This technology prevented terrorism. Even ordinary crime was cut by almost eighty percent. Unfortunately, mentally unstable individuals were not deterred by the fact that they would quickly be caught if they committed a crime, but the few who did break the law were often stopped before their intended victims were harmed. Also, new breakthroughs in the study of mental illness showed great promise. Soon, law enforcement would be mostly automated.

People were living longer lives now, as their bodies reported illness or disease before any symptoms had developed. Even brain function had been improved. Alzheimer’s had been eradicated. IQs had increased tenfold. People who had once been institutionalized could now live independently.

Oh yes, scientists had thought of everything! They had researched how the mind and the body worked together as one. They had engineered our systems to work together more efficiently. They had connected our bodies and minds to our social selves, to our communities, to our nations, and to Planet Earth. But they had forgotten one thing.

We are not just mind and body. We are mind, body and spirit. What damage has this grave omission done to us? What has happened to our spirits now that our minds and bodies are paired—now that our minds and bodies are plugged into the world’s population? That’s what we are just beginning to discover.

Fender is one of the 2% of the world’s population whose spirit has twinned with another soul. His spirit has been uploaded and transferred to the body of another person who is living as Fender (call him Fender #2) in an alternate reality. But they have not traded places. Yet another Fender (Fender #3) has taken Fender’s body. You see, there are nearly infinite Fenders, as there are nearly infinite potential outcomes for nearly infinite choices that Fender, Fender’s family, Fender’s friends, random strangers that ever crossed Fender’s path either directly or indirectly, politicians, criminals, researchers, teachers, and countless others could have made.

Scientists are calling this phenomenon “spirit confusion” or “spirit transference”, but don’t let those lofty terms fool you. They have only named the problem. They have no idea how to solve it. How can prevent spirit transference from happening? How can they return the 2% back to their original bodies? And, how can they stop this runaway train before it knocks destiny off its tracks? While scientists wring their hands, politicians are hiding this disastrous truth from the public. As the afflicted 2% are revealed, they are whisked away to a secret government facility where they are studied and monitored—and hidden from the world. But among the scientific community are heroes in the making, whistleblowers who work tirelessly to identify the 2% and find them before the government does.

Can Fender stay one step ahead of the government’s attempts to lock him away for months, for years, for perhaps the rest of his life?