Hopscotch by Kevin J. Anderson Page B

camouflaged pods. Her body's shoulders ached, her back hurt. After picking a basket of beans and selecting two perfect zucchinis, she went over to study the ornamental zinnias and asters, grown without genetic modification.
    She took a deep breath, sniffing their mingled perfumes. She had been working constantly since dawn, and it was now late afternoon. Her borrowed body was bone weary, her skin was raw from dried salty sweat and sunburn.
    After smelling the flowers, Teresa turned around to see Rhys standing there, regarding her. In a low, husky voice he said, “You've been very productive today, Teresa. It's time for your reward. Let's find you another body so that we can make love.” His eyes sparkled with an animal intensity.
    But Teresa was so tired that she didn't want to do anything but shower and sleep. “Oh, can't you find someone else, Rhys? It's been a long time since I had even an hour to myself.”
    “I thought you'd be pleased that I've gone out of my way to choose you for sex.” He frowned at her, and she could feel his disappointment like a crushing weight. “It's all about
sharing,
Teresa. I don't ask too much, do I? Just get a fresh body. You'll feel better.” He turned away, expecting her to follow.
    She bit her lip, thinking it wasn't really fair for her to trade out of this exhausted form into someone else. Weighed down by the scorn in his voice, Teresa did as she was told.
    Back inside the building, Rhys selected the body that most interested him and commanded Teresa to hopscotch with her. The other woman willingly did as she was told, no questions asked. It seemed important to him that he knew it was
Teresa,
regardless of what body she brought to him.
    Teresa swapped without thinking, a completely natural process now, though she remembered how difficult it had been the first time. Following Rhys, knowing something was wrong, Teresa focused on more pleasant memories.
             
    After Soft Stone had uploaded herself into COM, the Splinter monks who took over Teresa's mental instruction were clumsy and unimaginative, repeating rote lessons without engaging her intellect. Garth and Eduard did no better.
    Alone, Teresa found the most peace and concentration out in the monastery's garden. She worked there even when she wasn't assigned the duties; dour old Hickory seemed perfectly glad to leave her to it. She stared at the plants, but her mind drifted far away, as if she could let it detach itself and travel elsewhere.
    Once she, Garth, and Eduard proved themselves capable of swapping bodies, the Splinter monks would consider them adults, and the three of them would be sent out into the world. Daragon was already gone, as was Garth's friend Pashnak, who had loved to read stories aloud. Of the three remaining companions, Teresa was best at introspection. She knew she could figure out the technique of hopscotching, then she could show Garth and Eduard, since they already had a rapport so close it seemed to border on telepathy.
    Working in the monastery garden, Teresa felt the warm sun on her back and tried to imagine what it would be like if she could work in another, stronger body. External appearances wouldn't matter—male or female, old or young, large or small, weak or strong—because it would still be
her
inside, her essence, her spirit.
    She parted the velvety leaves and plucked a ripe tomato, feeling the stem snap free along an invisible but natural line. She focused on the tomato as it came loose—and felt a similar snap in her mind, as if something inside her were also ready to separate. Her vision reeled, and she blinked several times. She picked up the tomato. The stem was broken on top, severed cleanly. Teresa let her mind open, let her thoughts flow and wander . . . and
separate.
    No one else was with her in the garden, so she couldn't test her attempt to hopscotch, but she felt the change, the realization. She
knew
she could swap her mind. Leaving the rest of the tomatoes behind,