***

The Governor of Lancaster jail, Bill Preston, ran the prison with an iron fist, independent of any rules which affected prisoners in other jails. He brooked no nonsense from any of the prisoners and if any of the Warders were discovered passing drugs to them, they would be dealt with severely. He treated them harshly for the slightest misdemeanour, although as a result of his strict control, such incidents were exceedingly few. On one occasion, a serial killer spent two months in solitary isolation, cramped in a small space indicative of the Black Hole of Calcutta in past history. His sin was to shape a piece of metal he had found into a sharp knife which was found under his mattress. He refused to tell anyone the reason why he needed the weapon although it was known that he intended to use it on one of his enemies in the prison. When the weapon was discovered, he was hauled away to face severe punishment in a small cramped face with his food rations reduced by half. When he was released eventually, he had lost two stone in weight and looked extremely withdrawn. It was an example shown to the other prisoners as to what they would suffer if they misbehaved. It was a signal to the rest of the inmates what would happen if they disregarded the rules. Consequently, with the exception of a few minor misdemeanours, the penitentiary ran like a Swiss watch with exceptionally few incidents that required correction.

In many prisons, there was a general distribution of drugs purchased by the inmates. However, in this particular jail there was no possible means by which they could be brought in. This was by virtue of the fact that only food deliveries were make by local distributors who knew that their contract with the prison would be terminated if they were discovered dealing in drugs. In any case, all deliveries were examined carefully and checked by the warders to ascertain that no additional items were included with the food. Furthermore, if any warders were caught dealing with drugs, their days of freedom would come to a swift end for they were bound to exchange places with the good for the bad. They would certainly end up in jail for a period of time, although it would not be in Cumberland at the Lancaster jail..

Despite all the precautions taken, there were always ways by which the prisoners could communicate with the outside world. One of the men had built a small two-way radio which was able to receive messages by way of a satellite network connected to his wife’s mobile telephone. By this method, he could inform the others about the incidents happening in the outside world and also communicate information regarding their families and friends. His contact was the only one with the real world outside the prison and he was able to keep those incarcerated informed at all times. The Governor knew of this situation but he decided to let it go. There was no harm in prisoners knowing what was going on in the outside world. It would only increase the punishment knowing that they could not take any part in it.

Bill Preston was quite satisfied with the way things were run at Lancaster jail. He was forty-eight years of age, his dark hair beginning to recede from his temples. He had a round face with a strong chin and he was always firm in his resolve. His career had been quite chequered over the past twenty years. He had started out as a teacher and, although he was very good at his work, he had fallen foul of the authorities for his forthrightness in teaching adverse religious concepts to his students. After a severe reprimand at one of the parent/teachers association meeting, and a severe warning afterwards by his Headmaster, he resigned his position at the school to join the police force. This proved to be equally contentious because he was often reproached for his strict attitude and violent nature towards criminals which, in the long run, had worked in his favour. After ten years in uniform on the beat, and then driving around in a Panda vehicle, he was promoted to become the Governor of Lancaster jail. This time they had found the right spot for him. His private life itself was extremely unexciting. He was distinctively a loner, having never married as his contact with the female sex always had disastrous consequences. He recalled the time when he fell in love with a beautiful blonde, almost unable to take his eyes off her figure, which continued for many months. He proposed to her and she accepted and all was well until her husband turned up one day at the apartment where they were living. He shouted at his wife and then at Preston before pulling her off the bed, where they had been making love, and taking her away. The Governor never saw her again and he was devastated, There were other incidents but not one of them worked out satisfactorily. So he gave up hunting the female sex leaving the field for more successful lovers. Subsequently, he enjoyed the solace of the Lancaster jail where he lived, ate and slept. For Bill Preston, the prison was a place made in Heaven and he glorified in it. Nonetheless, he recognised that there was no true distinction between the prisoners and himself. They were incarcerated there for life and so was he!

One morning, he left his sparse bedroom in the prison to go to his office where he received a letter from his deputy. It had been addressed to him with the message ‘For Your Eyes Only’ which caused him some element of concern. He opened the envelope to find an invitation which demanded his attendance at a conference of Governors at a large London hotel, adding that twenty other Governors of prisons would be there at the same time. It was the first time they were to meet and the topic, clearly, was of extreme importance. On the day in question, he took an early train to the capital and found his way to the appropriate hotel. Thereafter, he sat in the conference room with the rest of the Governors around a very large oval table.

A tall young clean-shaven man dressed in a smart grey suit stood at a large screen with an overhead projector to face the invited audience.

‘My name’s Alan Jordan or the ASA... the Advanced Scientific Agency of the Government,’ he began, staring grimly at the faces of those in attendance. ‘I’d like to thank you all for coming here today. The ASA’s a quango which is well staffed and suitably funded that constantly seeks ways and means of scientific advancement and technical improvement for the future. I’m here today to talk about the latest scientific development which will have a major impact on some of the prisoners you details in your prisons.’ He paused to reflect for a moment before continuing. ‘What I’m about to tell you is in total secrecy and it must be kept that way for reasons which will become obvious to you. On no account is any mention of it to be made to the Press or the media and it must not be communicated to anyone else including members of your family, friends, or the staff in any of you penitentiaries ‘ He paused once again to look at the faces in front of him before going on. ‘It has to remain the secret of the century. Is that understood?’

There were a few murmurs of assent around the table causing Jordan to be less than satisfied with the response. ‘I’m sorry,’ he went on with an element of reproach in his voice. ‘Before we can progress, I must have the confirmation from all of you to keep it an absolute secret. Therefore I ask you again. Is that understood?’

This time there was a concerted response from everyone in the room. Silence reigned afterwards as Jordan hesitated to make a full impact on his captive audience. ‘Science has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past twenty-five years,’ he went on calmly, ‘and we’ve been offered something quite unusual by the men in white coats which is designed to enhance the role of many creditable people in out community. It presents an opportunity for those considered valued to society in a variety of ways., ‘

His audience remained completely silent, listening attentively to every word, each man wondering what was going to be revealed.

‘The operation goes under the code name of ‘Material Transference’,’ explained Jordan vociferously. ‘It relates to an exchange of one body with another,’

‘Are we talking about human bodies?’ cut in one Governor as the ASA agent paused in his flow. ‘The kind we’ve seen in films like Star Trek where they break down the atoms of the human body to leave the spaceship and reform them on some distant planet.’

Everyone burst out laughing at the comment but they soon became serious when Jordan outlined the scientific method that had been developed.

‘Indeed,’ he retorted. ‘That’s pretty close to the mark. The Americans actually tried to do it in 1943 naming it The Philadelphia Experiment. They disassociated a large ship at a dock on the east coast of America which was suddenly seen hundreds of miles inland before it reverted back to the place where it was docked. Eleven sailors died in the incident and the U.S. Government stopped the experiment in its track because they had no idea how to control it. ’They’ve now advanced the issue by narrowing it down to individuals enabling us to exchange the body of one person with another.’

’Surely this matter belongs in the world of scientific experimentation,’ interrupted another Governor savagely. ’What’s it got to do with us?’

’Yes,’ commented the man next to him. ’Why involve us with this guff? We control prisoners in the jails. We’re not men of science!’

Jordan waited patiently until everyone’s eyes were focused on him before going on. ’All of you have major criminals in your jails, most of them incarcerated for extremely long periods... some of them for life. Many of them are comparatively young and their bodies will deteriorate as time passes by. The Government considers this to be wasteful especially when certain renowned members of the public grow old and die. Now that we’ve discovered a method of exchange whereby bodies of younger offenders in prison can be swapped with those of older important people, we have a plan to utilise the bodies of long-term prisoners to enable people who can contribute may useful things to our society to live longer.’

The room erupted as the Governors recognised the import of Jordan’s suggestion.

‘Are you serious?’ countered one of them indignantly. ‘I’m sure you realise that together with the body goes the brain! If an exchange of this kind takes place, all the evil and intent in the mind of the criminal will be transferred to the innocent person who receives the body!’

‘That’s just it,’ retorted the government agent solemnly. ‘We’ve streamlined the situation. Only the body will be exchanged, not the brain. The criminal will still retain his evil mind. It will not be transferred.’

‘You indicate that this is an experiment,’ exclaimed another Governor seriously. ‘What if it goes wrong? What happens then? We’ll have Frankenstein’s monster chasing innocent people through the streets.’

‘Yes,’ cut in another Governor. ‘Tell us which subjects the Government has experiments on so far and what was the recorded result.’

Jordan switched on the overhead projector and stood to one side as the title ‘Material Exchange’ appeared on the screen.

‘These slides will take you through the experiment so far,’ he told them flatly, raising a baton from the base of the screen and pointing it at the first slide being show. ‘Here you see two men One is a vagrant... a tramp... about the age of thirty-five; the other is a man aged eighty-eight. The doctor examined both of them. Other than the problem of being an alcoholic, the tramp has a reasonably sound liver, a good heart, and his organs appear to be relatively in good shape despite his run-down way of life. The older man has stage two diabetes, a heart murmur and a variety of other minor physical problems, as well as constant breathlessness.’

He moved on to the next slide. ‘Here you see two separate cabinets into which the men are introduced The apparatus which contains hundreds of electronic parts, has a number of electrodes which war placed on the bodies of both men from their shoulders to their feet. As you can see, their heads are left entirely free.’ He moved to the next slide. ‘An electric current is passed through the apparatus which operates the transference of bodily matter from one to the other. All I can tell you is that fierce magnets are sent into action to exchange the atoms of one body to the other and vice versa.’ He changed the slides to the next one. ‘The experiment takes about fifteen minutes to complete and this slide relates to the two men afterwards. The doctor has examined the tramp to discover that he has stage two diabetes, a heart murmur and he is extremely breathless. In other words, all the symptoms that previously related to the eighty-eight year old man. The older man is now much younger physically. Admittedly he is an alcoholic but this can be cured in due course. The result is that he has the body of a thirty-five year old man but his brain has all the knowledge and experience of a senior citizen.’ He paused at that point to examine the faces of the men sitting around the table.

There was a general murmur of suspicion and disbelief amongst his audience as they digested the information.

‘You do realise that we’ll be taken to the European Court of Human Rights,’ commented one of the Governments bitterly.

‘I don’t think so,’ stated Jordan firmly. ‘You see, no one will know what we are doing. It’ll be done under the Official Secrets Act... totally secret! On the good side is that many influential people in society will be able to contribute for many more years than they had left... perhaps indefinitely according to this process.’

‘Are we really talking about people who are useful to society or about those who can afford to pay for the exchange... rich people who simply want to sell their souls like Faust?’ criticised another Governor with a tinge of anger in his voice as he recognised the evil aspect of the experiment.

The voice of another man cut across the room. ‘Is this experiment being carried out in America?’

Jordan shook his head vigorously. ‘No,’ he responded swiftly ‘It’s a totally British project and secrecy bars it from being operated across the Atlantic. Naturally, as soon as we’ve achieved some elements of success, we’ll contact certain people in the United States who will also carry out the operation under strict secrecy. The public must never know what is going on.’

The room erupted once again as the Governors began to argue the point with each other.

‘Gentlemen... gentlemen!’ interrupted the government agent, raising his hands to silence them and to gain their attention. ‘There’s a great deal of good to come from this,’ he explained curtly. ‘You hold long-term prisoners in your jails whose bodies will simply waste away in the effluxion of time. By this process, we can put them to good use.’

‘I’m willing to accept the situation with regard to prisoners who have been handed down life sentences, but I cannot agree to those who will eventually be released,’ intervened one man seriously. ‘Is twenty year of prison servitude sufficient to take away a man’s body from him... or perhaps fifteen... or maybe as little as ten?’

‘There will be a White Paper setting out all the details,’ stated Jordan bluntly. ‘At first, we intend to exchange only those who are serving a life sentence with no option of remission or parole, preferably in the younger age bracket, say, twenty-five to thirty-five. The younger the better for obvious reasons. You’ll receive this information within the next few days in an envelope marked ‘For Your Eyes Only’ However, I must impress upon you the need for utter secrecy at all times. The men selected for exchange from your penitentiaries will be transferred to another destination as yet unidentified. Only a small number of inmates will be transferred from each of your prisons. In that way, no one will notice anything unusual occurring within their environment.’

‘Why weren’t the two women Governors invited to this meeting?’ asked another man inquisitively.

‘Because it was considered far wiser to experiment on men in the first instance,’; came the answer. ‘As such, it was felt that the less people who knew about the project, the better.’

Nor surprisingly, Jordan was forced to field a host of questions from most of those in attendance and reason out the answers during the afternoon. Bill Preston remained completely silent during the whole meeting. He recognised the value of the project and considered that it was a useful scientific advance. In the first place, many chosen eminent people in the country would be granted a new lease of life. In the second place, he resented the fact that the taxpayer had to fork out money to pay for the keep of prisoners who never contributed in any way to the economy or for the benefit of the community, many of whom would he executive if capital punishment was put into place If exchange took place, as Jordan predicted, it was likely that the health of the long-term criminals would deteriorate rapidly as their new ageing bodies and they would die much sooner than expected. This would east the pressure on the Governors and the warders, saving a great deal of money for the Treasury, In Bill Preston’s opinion, the criminals were the scum of the Earth and deserved any hardship they would come by. To his mind, the new process was absolutely perfect in every way.

‘How does the process affect the two people involved,? ’demanded one of the Governors anxiously. ‘Do they feel pain, or discomfort, or anything at all?’

‘Both participants are given a sedative before the exchange is carried out,’ explained Jordan authoritatively. ‘Neither man will feel pain or discomfort of any kind. By the time they wake up, and the sedative has outrun its life, the exchange will have taken place.’

‘But after the exchange has taken place successfully,’ subjected another man earnestly, ‘the affect of the brain on the new body will be horrific. You can’t have nerves feeding a body which has been removed and then replaced.’

‘That’s the advantage,’ continued the government agent calmly. ‘It appears that on transference, there is no change in brain activity. It still believes that it’s in the same body.’

‘Can we witness the process of transference for ourselves?’ enquired another Governor sombrely.

‘Yes!’ cut in another one firmly. ‘We’d like to see it happening for ourselves!’

‘I’ve already arranged for a time and place for that to happen, ‘ uttered Jordan, clearly ahead of the game. ‘However you must realise that this is a government directive. Despite your fears or doubts or feelings that it might be an act against humanity, it will be done.’ He paused for a moment as the hubbub continued before raising his hands to re-establish silence. ‘I’d like one of you to recommend a candidate for exchange,’ he went on thoughtfully. ‘Then you can all see the process in operation.’

‘I have one!’ shouted Preston vociferously over the noise being made by the others. He’s a murderer... for life with no chance of remission or parole. A man by the name of Robert Muswell who’s thirty-seven years of age. He’s been in prison for eight years. I think he’d make a fine candidate.’

‘Who will you match him with?’ asked another Governor with a sense of urgency

‘I’ll get back to you on that one,’ replied Jordan turning his attention to Preston. ‘Bring him to the ASA Headquarters at Lytham St. Annes in to day’s time at two o’clock in the afternoon. All of you are invited to come and watch the event.’ He paused for a moment to recollect his thoughts and then concluded his delivery. ‘By the way, I’ve arranged fro refreshments to be set out for you in the dining room of this hotel if you wish to enjoy them. That’s all I wish to say at this time. Good day, gentlemen!’

Without delay, he switched off the overhead projector and left the room leaving the Governors to debate the issue at their leisure. Preston considered that Muswell was an ideal candidate for the experiment,. He had been caught when breaking into a house to steal goods and, armed with a revolver, he shot and killed five people in order to make his escape. He was captured as a result of the father of the family emerging from his bedroom armed with a rifle and shooting Muswell in the thigh which prevented him from getting away. This did not stop the burglar from shooting the father in the head, killing him instantly, In a rage, with blood pouring from his thigh, he ran upstairs to shoot the mother in her bed. He then proceeded wilfully into the other two bedrooms killing the two sons and a daughter for no reason whatsoever. Although he had pleaded guilty to the charge in Court, the Judge had no compunction than to sentence him to life imprisonment with no hope of remission. Fate had forced him to spend the rest of his life in Lanchester jail... until this stroke of fortune came along. Losing most of the years of his life would save him from the continued suffering. If he had known what was in store for him, that his life would be considerably shortened, he would probably have welcomed it gracefully. It was far better to die much more quickly than to be caged up day and night, in chains, for the rest of one’s life. However it was also essential for him to be transferred to another penitentiary, mainly due to the fact that his appearance would certainly show him to be much older.

The day of the experiment arrived and Muswell, heavily chained but guarded by Preston alone to ensure that secrecy was maintained, was taken to the ASA Headquarters at Lytham St. Annes. It was a complex building with a myriad of corridors, each section dealing with some new form of modern invention. Preston walked along the wide stone-flagged corridor, guided by one of the staff, with Muswell limping alongside him. When they arrived at the appropriate room, the Senior Warden faced the other Governors who had come to watch.

‘This man is limping!’ complained Jordan as they entered.

‘You didn’t say you wanted a perfect specimen,’ retorted the Governor sharply. ‘He was wounded in the thigh whilst carrying out a burglary by the man he killed. That was the reason why he wreaked his vengeance on the rest of the family. But I thought you simply wanted to transfer his youth.’

The government agent pulled in his horns and turned to introduce a politician of great public renown.

‘This is Sir Isaac Weller,’ he announced. ‘His reputation goes before him... not least the fact that he is a Member of Parliament for Glasgow East. He has been an assistant in the Treasury for over fifteen years. He is eighty-three years of age with failing health and he is looking forward to being thirty-seven again. I believe that’s all you need to know for the present. Now... if you will all follow me!’

He led them down another corridor which brought them to a laboratory where two glass cubicles had been set out on a small stage. He then pointed to three rows of chair inviting them to sit down before nodding to a scientist wearing a white overall who came forward holding a hypodermic syringe which he plunged without warning into Muswell’s arm. The prisoner who until then had remained silent, hoping for the opportunity of finding a means of escape, growled at him angrily at the onslaught.

‘I’ll have you as soon as I get the chance!’ he threatened gruffly, moving his arm at the pain and soreness he had experienced.

He was placed on a chair as the serum made its way through his body and everyone waited a short while before Jordan spoke again.

‘Unchain the prisoner,’ he ordered.

There was a buzz of resentment as Preston unlocked the fetters at Muswell’s feet and then removed the handcuffs. However, the prisoner was, by then, in an almost comatose state, leaning forwards and backwards on the seat in order to control his balance with a glazed expression in his eyes. Two men in white overalls removed the clothes from his body and he was placed standing up in one of the cubicles .and strapped in tightly. A long grey metal coat containing hundreds of electrodes was placed tightly around his body from the neck downwards as the Governors watched with baited breath.

In due course, when the scientists had finished sealing the metal coat, the door of the cubicle was closed shut. The same procedure was then carried out on Sir Isaac Weller who had previously been injected tenderly with the same serum to cause him to fall into unconsciousness. He was quickly disrobed similarly to Muswell and, shortly, the door of the second cubicle was closed. Thereafter, darkened glasses were handed to all those in attendance before the current was turned on. After a short while, a hum could be heard echoing throughout the room, gaining in decibel value with every passing minute. Everyone stared at the two cubicle which suddenly burst into dazzling light, far too strong for the naked eye, as the current surged through the electrodes attached to the bodies of the two men. After fifteen minutes, the lights flickered and faded and became extinguished as the current was turned off. One of the scientists opened the door of the cubicle of the politician and eased him out gently. The man staggered forward in a state of shock, his eyes staring at the observers vacantly without recognising them, and he was placed on a stretcher laying out full length before being covered by a blanket.. Muswell was then pulled roughly out of his cubicle and placed on a wooden seat where he was dressed. When this had been done, Preston attached the manacles to the prisoner’s hands and then attended to the chain around his ankles. However it was quite clear, before he had been dressed, that Muswell’s body was that of an old man. His face was exactly the same but the rest of him had been changed considerably. He was no longer thirty-seven years of age. Far from it because the experiment had been an entire success.

Jordan raised his hands to silence the Governors who were ready to swamp him with questions and he removed the blanket covering the politician on the stretcher.

‘You’ll observe that the body of Muswell has been transferred to Sir Isaac,’ he began jubilantly. ‘Notice the smooth skin, the solid frame, the relative youthfulness of the body. On the other hand, the prisoner has the body of an eighty-three year old man. Sir Isaac will now be able to resume an excellent career for another forty or fifty years. The prisoner may have only a few months or a few years at the most to survive. The nation benefits with a double whammy!’

‘How many of these experiments do you intend to carry out?’ asked one of the Governors clearly impressed with the procedure.

‘As many as there are long-term prisoners in jail,’ came the answer. ‘I reckon at the end of the day we’re talking about two or three thousand perhaps.’

Preston led Muswell away slowly. The prisoner, still in a state of shock, tottered forwards into the corridor like an elderly man to be returned to another jail with which he was unfamiliar. Sir Isaac was allowed a little more time to come round. When he stood up, he limped across to one of the chairs and sat down heavily.

‘Why do I have a limp?’ he asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

‘Because your partner in crime, the one with whom you were exchanged, was shot in the thigh by one of the people he murdered.’

‘Couldn’t you have found someone with a more perfect body?’ complained the politician unreasonably for someone who had been granted another forty years of life.

‘Beggars can’t be choosers,’ retorted Jordan bluntly. ‘Be satisfied with the additional length of life you now have.’

Sir Isaac looked somewhat disgruntled at the reproach. ‘It’s just as well the exchange is only from the neck downwards,’ he retaliated irately. ‘Lord knows what would happen if it were complete.’

However the government agent’s comment was sufficient to silent him. Indeed, accompanied by the limp, he had another forty years ahead of him That, in itself, would be enough to satisfy any candidate in relation to the exchange!