Jeff smiled a bit when he saw Chicken on the list, then almost as a joke he opened it and started fiddling around. He wasn't serious, who wanted to be a chicken when you could be so many other interesting animals, even partially. He started hitting settings just to see what would happen.
So, what parts did he want changed? How about letting the machine decide. Setting the reality level? He looked though the options, and found one that explained that, even if he was only partly a chicken, the world would see him as one and treat him as one. Location? How about a small farm? He didn't want to be trapped in a chicken cage laying eggs, after all.
If he was serious, that was.
He noted the slider was set for 30 days, and then looked over how he'd set it up. Not bad, though if he transferred these settings over to a more impressive animal, like a horse or a bull, he could have more fun with it. He moved over to hit the "back" button to do just that. Unfortunately, the back button was also right next to "Execute"...
Jeff didn't have time to realize his mistake. One second he'd been in his room and the next he was out in a blazing afternoon sun, standing naked in a small fenced in area next to a chicken coop. He then felt the changes begin.
They were surprisingly slight, despite his fears. Though the first, as his penis shrank and inverted into a single hole that also merge with his anus, was pretty disturbing. It didn't feel like anything, there was no pain or pleasure as it happened, it just did. As this was happening, he lost about two feet in height, making him only three feet tall, still far larger than the average chicken but much smaller than he'd been.
He looked at his hands and saw the fingers coalese into tip of wings that never really formed. His feet grew scaly and grayish orange to match the other birds. He grew a few feathers, though most were in his tail, which seemed to fully form into a fan that h could control surprisingly well. In the end, they were the most bird-like change he had. In fact, he hadn't even grown a beak!
He... well she, was pretty sure that she was safe for now. The area near the coop was well fenced, about the same as her current height and lined with chicken wire. There was little danger of a predator getting in. There was a coop nearby that she was sure was secure. She looked ridiculous, but no one could see that if the Chronovac was right. She watched the other chickens pecking at food on the ground and tried to do the same. There must have been more to the changes that she'd gone though than it appeared, because she was able to lean over and pick up a kernel of corn off the ground with ease. Even if she felt frustrated with this change, there was no getting around it, she was stuck like this for a month and starving wasn't going to help her.