Nathan waited until everyone had vacated the house before he burrowed into his overflowing closet in search of the Chronivac that he had left way in the back. For weeks after he had put away the device, it had haunted his thoughts, but gradually he almost forgot about it being in the back of his closet. It had been a big year. He was a senior, and he had turned 18 only last month.
But, about a week ago, his brother had reminded him during one of his quick visits from college. Andrew had punched him in the shoulder and asked if he ever messed with that strange machine. "What was it called?" Andrew asked.
"You mean the Chronivac?"
"Yeah, that's right," Andrew had said.
"I think it's in my closet," he said. His head felt woozy and he was afraid his cheeks might burn from the effort of trying to remain nonchalant.
"Well, after what happened last time, probably just as well," Andrew said and smacked him on the back.
Nathan had laughed weakly, but that conversation had revived the old temptation. So, with his parents both out of town for their annual pre-holidays trip, he had the house to himself like last year. His siblings would be at college for a couple more weeks before school let out for the holidays.
Even when he recovered the box containing the Chronivac, he resisted opening it. Yet, every time he walked past the box on his desk, he felt tempted. He finally gave in and unpacked it.
He let his fingers glide over the sleek ceramic and metal components of the state-of-the-art device. "I know what to expect this time," he said aloud, nervously. He had been impulsive and reckless last year. He would be more careful this time.
He spent the next hour studying the device, which had so many built-in fail-safes he was still at a loss to explain last year's near disaster. Well, not really. It had been entirely user error.
"No errors this year," he told himself.
First thing he did, however, was pick up the family cat. "Sorry, Patches," Nathan said when he deposited the cat outside the back door. "For next few days, you're an outside cat."
He hurried back to his room and began programming the Chronivac.
He wanted to become a mouse again, but he would be more careful. The first thing he made sure to program was a restoration time. He looked at his watch and saw it was just past three in the afternoon. He set the duration for two hours. "That should be plenty of time to get a real feel for being a mouse."
The window flashed a message. "Reminder: Subject must be within 10 meters of device for successful restoration."
Nathan chuckled. "Way ahead of you," he said. "That won't be a problem this time. I will just hang out in the house until I change back."
He was about ready to go ahead with the change when he noticed a few other options. For instance, he could change his gender and experience the change as a female mouse.
Nathan liked being male, but he decided that might make the experience even more different. "What the hell? It's only for a couple of hours." He ticked off the "female" option for gender.
He had stripped off most of his clothes, and now stood in his underwear with the machine in his hands. He was tenting the front of his underwear from the intense anticipation. He could say goodbye to that experience for the next couple of hours.
He placed the device on his bedside table and carefully activated it. With amazing efficiency, the Chronivac rewrote his DNA and within seconds Nathan found himself a tiny mouse scurrying across the floor of his bedroom.
He tried to examine himself. He felt very different, but he couldn't really tell any visible signs of having also switched genders. He was still trying to crane his neck into a position for a peek when the unexpected happened...