The sleeper awakes

"Wake up," said an unfamiliar female voice with an English accent that sounded like Gwendolyn Post's but was not quite the same.

Faith-in-Joyce -- wait, was she still in Joyce? -- okay, Faith-in-somebody opened her eyes and saw a tall, black-haired woman who seemed to be well-dressed. Right then she was staring at Faith-in-somebody as if Faith-in-somebody was some kind of insect -- and that look made Faith-in-somebody seem kind of uncomfortable.

Then Faith-in-somebody saw Joyce's body standing behind the tall brunette and waving at her and then Faith-in-somebody suddenly realized that she was fucked. She was no longer in Joyce's body but there was no way she could be in her old body so where exactly was she?

"Don't worry about it," said the woman in a calm, maternal voice. "All will be clear. Just tell us the truth about who you really are and we'll place you back in your old body as soon as we're done."

Is she kidding? thought Faith-in-somebody. There's no way I could tell them the truth. They'd never believe me. And how much could she possibly trust the word of someone who had obviously had her brought here against her will? It seemed obvious from the straps on the chair she was in -- the ones that held down her legs and arms -- that they certainly did not trust her. So how was she supposed to get out of this?

Perhaps a variation on the truth. That sometimes works.

"My name is Joyce Summers," said Faith-in-somebody. "I'm a simple housewife whose daughter goes to school at UC Sunnydale. There must be some mistake. You see --"

And then the brunette nodded and a technician -- the same technician who Faith-in-somebody had seen earlier -- the one who was called "Topher" -- pushed a button and suddenly a sharp bolt of electricity went through Faith-in-somebody's body.

"Please don't lie to us," said the tall brunette. "You're hooked up to a machine that can tell us whether or not you're lying to us. So please tell us the truth. The truth is going to come out sooner or later so you might as well make it easy on yourself."

"You can't handle the truth," replied Faith-in-somebody.

Wait, she thought. Where did that corny line come from?

It didn't matter because wherever it came from, it merely caused the woman to nod and Topher to once again push a button. Again a bolt of electricity went through Faith-in-somebody's body.

"We can keep this up all night if we have to," said the tall brunette. "If you were not inside the body of a valuable piece of company property, we'd light you up like a bloody Christmas tree. So once again -- who are you?"

"I can't tell you," said Faith-in-somebody. "You'd never believe me."

"Try me," said the tall brunette.

"Just let me go," said Faith-in-somebody, hating herself for begging but seeing no other realistic way out of this situation. "I won't say anything. I'm a fugitive on the run. I have no incentive to go to the police or the feds or whoever you're afraid of."

"Now we're getting somewhere," said the tall brunette. "So from whom are you a fugitive? One of our rival companies?"

"Huh?" asked Faith-in-somebody. "I don't even know who you guys are. How would I know who your rival companies are?"

Again the tall brunette nodded and again Faith-in-somebody was shocked.

"Hey!" she cried. "What the fuck! I told you the truth that time!"

"But you didn't tell us who you are," said the tall brunette.

"I'm fucking Faith Lahane, the vampire slayer, you stupid moron!" exclaimed Faith-in-somebody. "I'm only here because I was the victim of a body swap spell. Let me go and I'll never say another word about you guys again."

The tall brunette began to nod and Topher started to respond, only to pause after glancing at a computer screen that Faith-in-somebody could not quite see from her angle.

"Wait a minute!" cried Topher. "She's actually telling the truth. Or at least part of it."

"But which part was truth and which part was lies?" asked the tall brunette. "That's the question."

Then the tall brunette nodded.

And Topher went ahead and pushed the same button as before.

And as the electricity ran through her body, Faith-in-somebody found herself believing in Hell for the first time since she was a little girl.