"There's none of that enhancer anymore. They... pulled it off the market," he replied, the accurate response flowing into his mind as he spoke. The subtle lie was covered up by the head of one of the mares nudging against his neck. After the 'dilemma' changed him into part-horse, the health repercussions led to his parents suing the pharmaceutical company that sold the treatment for failing to label the genetic enhancer product properly. Lawsuits abound; his parents won, and millions of dollars later, they were comfortably living on the farmland that Jeff now called home. His parents were always concerned for him, but he secretly knew that they were content with the winnings from the court system enough that the health stuff was secondary. In fact, Jeff had nearly perfect health.
“But!” Jeff said, turning to Joe, “I’ve got a–“
He was cut off by the sound of Liam slamming the door of the truck shut. “Alright, town-ho. See ya in a little while, guys. Stay clean,” he said with a wink.
The guttural sound of the diesel truck’s motor, and the speckled dust in the air from the dirt picked up by the tires, faded as Liam drove off and down the county road.
"Yeah," Joe sighed, watching the truck drive away. It was nothing he hadn't heard before – the enhancer was long-gone. "Anyway, I'm here. What did ya wanna do again?”
Jeff trotted along, leading Joe into the house. As he went up the few steps to the upper level of the ranch, his feet made a soft tapping sound on the rugs covering the wooden floors of the foyer, and the sound echoed off the walls and ceiling. It wasn’t the hard clomp of a horse, but regardless – the sounds registered as a new feeling. He smiled – he was enjoying all of these new feelings and experiences. There was still some getting used to this, for sure – since he hadn’t even really thought everything through. He wasn’t stuck like this, was he? The program had an Undo option, but what would be undone, and how?
Now, he was leading Joe into his bedroom, down the hallway, where everything still had that shag carpeting – and his computer sat by the window, overlooking the stables, with the program still open. The natural sunlight of the morning sun warmed the room.
Just like it had before when his sister ran by, the device started whizzing, and the word “Scanning…” appeared on his monitor.
“What’s that? What’s the humming?” Joe asked.
“It just picked up your data…” he replied, walking up to the computer and picking up the device. The LED lights were blinking, and displayed now were Joe’s “values” and all of his vitals. Amazing how that works, Jeff thought. On the computer screen, the menus from before, including the options he had chosen, were highlighted. He had to adjust the way he looked at the computer, though, due to his… well, different head shape.
“I don’t know what you mean… I thought this was gonna be that new Motocross game,” Joe said.
“No, Joe…” he said, taking a deep breath. “Joe, what would you say if I told you that you could become like me. Like… part horse.”
His blue eyes lit up. “What?? … You still got some of that enhancer stuff?” Joe blurted out, but was quickly quieted by his embarrassment. “Holy shit, man!”
He pointed to the device in his hand. “No. This program and device… this… is the enhancer.”
Joe looked at the computer, immediately playing off the situation. “C’mon man, I just wanna –”
“I mean it,” he reiterated, Jeff now looking directly at Joe, who started feeling the strong tenseness in his voice.
There was always a powerful connection between Joe and Jeff. Joe always thought that, underneath the equine visage of Jeff was a miraculous mind, an intelligent being – one that he simply adored. He wasn’t going to be the first to admit that he dreamt of being Jeff. But he was always too skittish to bring up the topic, even in the privacy of Jeff’s bedroom. Furthermore, when times like this came up, and the challenge of their friendship was on the line, Joe always backed down. It was like swimming in a pool, almost ready to dive into the deep end, but not quite there.
Joe turned away, smiling nervously. “You mean to tell me…” now sitting back down on Jeff’s bed, “…that a computer program made you… you?”
“Well, I mean… I guess it did. I just used it an hour ago,” Jeff said candidly, looking up and down his arms. “…and it made me become 20% horse… somehow…”
“But you became part horse two years ago when you drank –“
“No, Joe, I didn’t drink a magical enhancer … or whatever, two years ago! You only think that because the machine makes you think that!”
“Listen to what you’re saying, dude…”
“I’m not kidding around!”
“Fine…” Joe said, standing up. “Make me part horse then.”
Jeff’s ears flickered ever so slightly as he looked back, half in astonishment and half excitement, at Joe.
“For real?”
“Yeah. C’mon. You say it does, so prove it.” Joe’s confidence covered up the layer of untainted interest.
Jeff didn’t want to do this whole thing just to prove he was right, but Joe was his best friend. Plus, he wanted to see how the Chronivac worked on other people.
“You… trust me?”
Joe walked up and placed his hand on his shoulder. “Whatever makes you, umm… satisfied.”
“Okay. Just a couple things to set, here and there…”
Jeff fills in Joe’s form with…