Jeff paused and took a breath. Okay, a month as an ape man or would that be sasquatch? Maybe he couldn't stop it, but maybe he could make it more acceptable. He couldn't alter himself, but the pool was just outside his window. He could aim the emitter at the people gathered around the pool, and set it so it seems normal. People get hairier in the summer, right? Fur protects them from sunburns? Oh, what the hell. The Chronivac beeped. Subject Two: Brent Matthews, age 29, engineer, 5'7" black hair, relatively smooth, 136 lbs.
"Not for long," laughed Jeff. He began typing, and he adjusted awareness settings, so everyone including Brent would not notice the change, or not consider it unusual. For a moment Jeff thought of those time lapse Chia Pet ads, as he watched black fur blanket Brent's chest, abs, legs, arms, and face. Brent would also gain 50% biomass over the next month.
"One down, a dozen to go or so," snickered Jeff as his hair hung down over his eyes while he typed.
Subject 3: Angelique DuBois, age 23, personal assistant, 5'6" blonde, not hairy, 99lbs.
"Sorry, cutie, but I don't discriminate on the basis of gender," Jeff said as he typed.
It took over an hour, but by the time he finished, 14 bear-like people were lounging by and in the pool.
Jeff was very pleased with himself. He decided to buy himself a pool float online. He had selected a black, white and golden inflatable swan chair, and was trying to add it to his shopping cart, when the Chronivac pinged. He hadn't closed the program. SUBJECT 15, James Newton, age 24, graphic designer, 5'10" red hair, smooth, 155 lbs.
PING. PING. PING.
Inanimate Plug In Option activated. The image of James appeared next to the image of the pool float, except it wasn't exactly like what Jeff had selected. Jeff dashed down to the pool.
Brent didn't stare at hairier beefy Jeff the way he had earlier. Instead he commented, "Looks like someone finally hit puberty."
Jeff grit his teeth. When everyone went back to normal, maybe he'd leave Brent a hairy butterball, only aware of how he used to look.
"Oh, oh, J-j-j-ef-f-f?" moaned Jimmy. He had been wearing silver grey jammers, but they had turned shiny black, and the black rubber was migrating down his legs and up his torso. But what really caught Jeff's eye was the huge bulge between Jimmy's legs. It was rapidly growing. It soon looked like a beach ball, then it started to flatten out. Jimmy's shoulders widened and became a shell shaped pillow back for the big black rubber seat where his crotch had been. His legs were bending imposibly and twisting to become the swan headed pool float that Jeff had meant to order.