Kort historia där människor kan byta sinne med andra

Det låter väldigt likt Mindswap, av Robert Sheckley.

Den plot du beskriver är nästan identisk, och den humoristiska tonen är mycket Sheckley-esque.

Det enda problemet är Mindswap var en 200 sidbok.

Synopsis:

In the future, interstellar travel to alien worlds will be too expensive for most ordinary people. It certainly is for Marvin, a college student who wants to take a really good vacation. And so he signs up for what he can afford, a mindswap, in which your consciousness is swapped into the body of an alien lifeform. But Marvin is unlucky, and finds himself in the body of an interstellar criminal, a body that he has to vacate fast. But that criminal consciousness has stolen Marvin's earthly body, and Marvin has to find a body on the black market. Travel from world to world with Marvin, each one crazier than the last, as he keeps finding far from ideal bodies in awful situations, just to stay alive

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Mindswap (som jag skulle påpeka men James från NZ slog mig till det) är titeln på en roman på Robert Sheckley som matchar din beskrivning mycket bra. En kortare version med samma titel , en novella, publicerades ursprungligen i Galaxy Magazine , juni 1965 , som finns gratis på Internetarkiv . ISFDB indikerar att novellen har översatts till franska ( "Transfert stellaire" ) och italienska ( "L'uovo di Ganzer" ); det kan också mycket väl ha varit en rysk översättning, även om ISFDB inte vet om det. Utdragen nedan kommer från Galaxy novella.

I historien använder folk någon form av överföringsteknik för att resa till avlägsna solsystem.

In the final analysis, it was a matter of economics. Interstellar travel in the flesh was expensive, out of the question for an average sort of fellow. Unless, of course, he wished to avail himself of the advantages of Mindswap.

Så huvudpersonen bestämmer sig för att resa och byta kroppar med en främling.

Ja, Marvin Flynn byter organ med en martian:

In New York, Marvin went directly to the Body-Brokerage House of Otis, Blanders and Klent. He was sent to the office of Mr. Blanders, a tall, athletic man in the prime of life and already, at sixty-three, a full partner in the firm. He explained to this man his purpose in coming.

"Of course," Mr. Blanders said. "You have reference to our advertisement of Friday last. The Martian gentleman's name is Ze Kraggash, and he is very highly recommended by the rectors of East Skern University."

Men han / hon kan inte återvända till sin egen kropp

Tyvärr för Marvin är Ze Kraggash en skurk, som har gått undan med Marvins kropp och lämnar Marvin i en stulen Martian kropp som måste returneras till sin rättmätiga ägare:

The telepath handed Marvin a Dispossess Notice. Flynn accepted it sadly, yet with resignation. "I suppose," he said, "that I had better go back to my own body on Earth."

"That," the telepath said, "would be your wisest choice. Unfortunately, it is not possible at the moment."

"Not possible? Why not?"

"Because," the telepath said, "according to the Earth authorities, whose telepathic reply I have just received, your body, animated by the mind of Ze Kraggash, is nowhere to be found. A preliminary investigation leads us to fear that Ze Kraggash has fled the planet, taking with him your body and Mr. Aigeler's money."

Marvin anställer en detektiv:

"Aren’t you Madame Ripper de Lowe, the transvestite who was robbed last night in the Red Sands Hotel?"

"Certainly not. I'm Marvin Flynn. I lost my body."

"Of course, of course," Detective Urdorf said, nodded vigorously. "Let's take it point by point. Do you remember by any chance where you were when you first noticed that your body was missing? Could any of your friends have taken it as a joke? Or could you have merely misplaced it, or perhaps sent it on a vacation?"

och i stället överförs till en annan främmande kropp och så vidare.

The next thing he knew, he was in a Melden body, on Melde.

När historien fortskrider springer huvudpersonen från kropp till kropp tills han / hon saknar sin egen identitet.

With a long rolling stride and a creaking of leather boots, Marvin Flynn strode down the wooden sidewalk. Faintly there came to him the mingled odors of sagebrush and chapparal. On either side of him the adobe walls of the town glittered under the moon like dull Mexican silver. From a nearby saloon there came the strident tones of a banjo —

Frowning deeply, Marvin stopped in midstride. Sagebrush? Saloons? What was going on around here?