They were footsteps upstairs. Simon tucked the remote device under his shirt reflexively, then quietly made his way up the stairs to investigate. He cracked open the basement door and saw his father rooting through the refrigerator, as he often did when he couldn't sleep. Luckily, his father didn't seem to see him, so Simon made his way back downstairs. As he set foot back in the basement, he was startled by another noise.
The noise had come from beneath his feet. Simon looked down to see a small, empty chip bag crumpled underfoot. In fact, a multitude of food wrappers and empty drink cans were scattered about the floor, mostly around Bryan.
A new memory occurred to Simon. Bryan tended to by quite snacker, unsurprising given his new, hefty proportions. It was pretty much guaranteed that if Bryan was around, so would be food. Of course, the reverse was also true, should you promise food, Bryan was likely to show up. He also remembered Bryan was always a fairly hairy kid. As long as Simon had ever known him he'd had some form of body hair. Something to do with a testosterone imbalance or something. He was often mistaken as someone in their mid-twenties. Bryan was never embarrassed by it. Heck, now his classmates were in or nearing their teens, many admired him for it.
Simon picked up Bryan's shoes and turned them over in his hands. They were huge! He'd watched them grow, himself. He remembered how Jay's clothes had failed to change with him earlier, tearing apart instead of changing with him. Perhaps that was how the ARF worked, keeping reality in line with his friends' changes. Even Jay had suitable clothes, now.
Simon looked at his two sizable friends. He was now by far the smallest of the three. He felt a little left out, and considered turning the Chronivac on himself.
A small clatter upstairs distracted Simon. Probably his father. He paused to wonder, what if he altered his father instead. Would that alter his genetics? That was how that worked, right? It was worth a go, at least. Even if it didn't work, Simon would still get another thrill out of altering another person.
Simon quietly returned to the basement door and laid eyes on his father, eyeing various containers he'd removed from the fridge. He aimed the remote device and ran a scan. Instead of stats, a message popped up.
"This device is currently in an ARF. The target is facsimile created by the ARF to complete the altered reality. Would you like to bring the real-world subject into the ARF?"
Unsure what the device was talking about, Simon merely selected yes. The remote device started humming and vibrating again. His father immediately ceased all movement, as though somebody had pressed the pause button on him. Light around him seemed to bend, not unlike what Simon had experienced when he'd first set up the ARF. The strange lensing of space stopped, as did the device. After a moment, his father resumed again, as though nothing at all had happened.
"ARF transfer successful. 4 subjects currently in field."
His father's stats appeared on the screen. "John Sanderson. 43/male/5'8"/186 lbs."
Simon's dad was, all in all, a fairly average guy. Kind of short with a bit of a jelly belly. He had a full head of brown hair and kept himself clean shaven. He didn't have much in the way of body hair, and was fairly smooth all over.
Simon dug around in the complex and unceasing list of properties and sliders, looking for interesting changes to make. After find a few and making the proper adjustments.
Finally, the Chronivac was ready. Simon launched the beam just as his father started biting into his freshly made sandwich.
"STAGE 1 Commencing..."
The first thing Simon noticed was his father's legs lengthening. As he sat at the kitchen table, his legs, which could comfortably sit, flat footed before, began to stretch away. His father unconsciously angled them away, allowing them to grow away from his chair. At the same time, his upper body grew taller, his head and shoulders looming higher over the table top. A gap appeared between his sleep shirt and boxers, as they struggled to keep up with his father's increasing height. Simon could make out his father's feet and toes increasing in size.
As his height shot up, so did his weight. His father's shoulders noticeably widened as his pecs began pushing out with solid muscle. His biceps began filling in, straining at his sleep shirt. At the same time, his jelly belly also began to fill in, quickly rounding out the front of his shirt. What little definition he had gained from his new muscles was quickly coated in flab. His form softened as he began filling out with flab. His growing stomach spilled over his boxers and onto his lap. His shirt rode up a bit, still struggling to keep up with his form. Much like Bryan before, it's size was quickly ticking upwards with his growing girth. His love handles grew pronounced as noticeable creases appeared at his sides. His thighs became incredibly wide, spilling off the sides of the chair, which seemed to push itself out to accommodate his growing belly. His face filled out with large, round cheeks and a second chin which wobbled as he chewed his sandwich, seemingly completely unaware of his changing body. Even his hands grew soft, his fingers becoming thick and blunt with pudge. His muscular pecs seemed to hold their form, just barely managing to avoid becoming moobs.
His father's changes slowed and stopped, allowing his clothing to catch up. While his boxers fit fine, his sleep shirt still seemed a size to small, hugging his soft form a little too tightly, and exposing the bottom few inches of his massive gut.
"STAGE 2 Commencing..."
As Simon watched his father's rounded form, he noticed a dark shadow cover his jaw. The shadow quickly erupted into a thick beard. The hairs spread up from his jawline, encircling his lips and spreading up past his ears, joining with his hair. The spread crawled up his cheeks, growing high on his face. His exposed forearms quickly gained a coating of their own, spreading down from his sleeves and up to the backs of his hands, even on his knuckles. Down his thighs the spread went, covering his legs and down to his feet. Simon could see a thick covering appear on his father's stomach as well, with more hair poking out all around his shirt collar.
Then, Simon noticed his father's forehead hiking up higher and higher. His hairline was quickly making its way back across his head as a bald spot expanded from the back. Simon watched his father bald in time lapse until the top of his head was devoid of all hair, leaving just the thick brown hair at the sides and back. Simon hadn't been expecting that. His father also seemed to expend slightly in all directions, his shoulders getting a tad wider, his muscles getting a tad bigger, and his face becoming just a bit more defined.
"STAGE 3 Commencing..."
Like a wave passing over his father, all the hair on his body, both new and old, turned a bright red. His skin even paled slightly, with a dash of freckling appearing on his cheeks.
And just like that, the changes were done.
"John O'Sullivan. 43/male/6'5"/350 lbs."
Simon had gone in with a similar mindset to when he changed Bryan, which was to make him as big as seemed reasonable. He'd bumped up his father's height and weight, and even increased his testosterone level to 20, more than double what Bryan's was currently. He also wanted to mess with his father's genetics a bit, giving him an Irish background to see if that would transfer over or not.
Other things around the house began to change, Simon noticed. The sandwich his father was eating had grown, much like the man eating it. It was huge, spread with meats and cheeses, enough to be a meal all to itself. A large bottle of some sort of imported beer appeared next to his father as well. The chairs noticeably thickened, becoming sturdy enough to hold a man of his father's girth. Bits and pieces of furniture and decoration around the house changed to a style reflecting his father's proud Irish heritage.
Simon smiled to himself, amazed at just how thorough the Chronivac was with its work. He looked down at his own body, wondering just how much of his father would trickle down to him.