body swap · sci-fi · worker drone · trapped consciousness · gothic factory · panic · exoskeleton · identity crisis · mechanical horror
The quiet of the manor shattered under Louisa’s voice, sharp as broken glass. 'Tessa James Elliot! Up this instant!' The consciousness that had once inhabited a worker drone now stared from Tessa’s eyes, her heart drumming a frantic, alien rhythm against human ribs. The star had listened. The impossible was now a cage. Ahead, the grim rituals of the Padgett household loomed, a day to be survived in borrowed skin.