[ WP ] Reincarnation is a proven fact , and a device has been invented to determine who someone 's pasts lives were . To your horror , you 've just discovered one of your past lives was ...

So here I am, awaiting this machine to display my past identity. 
 
 It has been proven now for some time that reincarnation exists, which has come with great benefits, some truly awful consequences, and, in some cases some strange scenarios. 
 
 The Earth's population was still increasing all the time, so there was an interesting, although predictable scenario where there were people who were currently having their first go at being a human. 
 
 My friend Jack had just been tested and it turns out, he was a pig before. 
 
 There was currently no recorded case of a human becoming anything other than a human for their next life, however, to see who your old self had been before they were that was exceptionally expensive and it got exponentially more expensive each time you wanted to test a generation further back. 
 
 It was not through malice that it cost this much, but rather the resources required grew exponentially. The technology to extend back four lives was just in it's infancy and already the world's elite were lining up. 
 
 A faint bell and a buzz, the machine's screen read `` Life Confirmed'' 
 
 I grew nervous as I was about to press the button, and for a second considered not proceeding, but the chance anything negative could be displayed was nearly impossible. Most likely I'd end up being the reincarnation of a worm or some unknown human no more remarkable than myself. 
 
 I pressed the `` OK'' button. 
 
 `` Albert Beyerbach'' the screen read. My heart sank and a chill filled my bones. The screen turned red and it informed me that the authorities have been informed and will arrive shortly. 
 
 This man - myself - had been a regular man who had spent the remainder of his life in prison. When Albert found out who his predecessor was they had imprisoned him. He was 68 at the time of his imprisonment and he had to carry out one of the four life sentences our former had committed. That man's name was George Glass, a thoroughly disgusting serial killer according to the bio left at the bottom of Albert Beyerbach's entry. 
 
 I am twenty-two and I will serve the third of my life sentences for a crime my past self had committed. 

