Jeff Kaylon stopped at the mailbox his mom had insisted on having put on the very end of the front walk, instead of up next to the house, and pulling it open, extracts the mail, which mostly consisted of letters and one package. Ignoring the parcel for the moment, figuring it was just another nick-knack his mom had order, he leafed through the letters, looking to see if any of the Universities he'd applied to, at his mother's insistence, had contacted him. The mid-July heat starting to work at him, he sighed in exasperation when it became clear all the letters where for his mom and glancing at the package, he gave a start when he saw it was addressed to him.
A quick glance at the return address label and he grin. Thinking, "At least," he turned away and hurried up the front walk. Letting himself in, the cool air welcoming after being out in the hundred degree heat, he could immediately hear the sound of the tv and knowing where his mother was, as she had been since she'd been laid-off from the nearby factory, Jeff headed for the living room. Handing the mail to his mom, he started to head for his room, but stopped when his mom snapped, "When are you going to do something with you life? You cannot sit around here forever, suckling at my pension, if that's what you plan, not that you've graduated high school," as she began ripping open one letter after another, tossing some to the floor and others onto a nearby tv tray.
"I still want to try and get into college, mom," Jeff answered in a tone the stated clearly that they'd already gone over this.
His mother grunting as she switched the channel on the tv and without really looking at him, she said, "Waste of time. You don't even have the money for it. And you certainly can't expect me to cover any expenses."
"We've been over this," Jeff immediately retorted. "I have the option of grants. Plus, I have enough saved up from the couple odd jobs I took over the last two or three years. So, no. You shan't need to cover anything. I'll either pay out of pocket, or have the federal government help me pay."
Another grunt and before she could say anything, Jeff turned and left her watching some talk-show programme. Heading toward the back of the house, he kicked his door shut and sat down at his computer, which he'd built from the motherboard up. Booting it up, listening to the internal workings click and make a subtle grinding noise, he waited until he saw the familiar logo appear before turning his attention to the package.
He'd first heard about the Chronivac three years ago when he accidentally stumbled onto the information while surfing a blog website. At first, he thought was surely someone's idea of a joke or simple musing or a story that had never gotten fleshed out. Further research revealed it was true and curiosity to learn more on had set him on the path of tracking it down. Two years later, he finally managed to find what looked to be an obsolete address for a PO Box in Topeka Kansas. Writing to it, he was surprised when he received, nearly nine months later, a reply saying that if he was still interested in the Chronivac, he could acquire one. Further reading revealed a price and that they were still in the testing phase. Thinking about, unsure what he'd do with such an item, Jeff waited nearly a year, mostly to make sure he had the money saved up, before sending back the enclosed order form and a money order three months before he was scheduled to graduated from high school at the end May.
And then the waiting began. At first, he was excited and considered all the things he might be able to do. But, as the months slowly crept by, he became convinced he'd been hoodwinked. The ideas leaving him, he shifted instead to wondering how he might get his money back before deciding that he had been ripped off and that the money, nearly five hundred dollars, was gone.
Now, sitting in front of his chair, trying to remember everything he'd planned to do, and drawing a blank on nearly everything but two notions, he reached across his desk and taking the knife he left in the pencil cup, proceeded to sliced open the box. Inside, mixed in with the bubble wrap, he found a disk, a USB connector, something that looked like an old-style Nokia cellphone with a slightly bigger screen and a couple added buttons, and an official looking letter. Opening the letter, he began to read it, noting that a lot of it was technical stuff, that the company would not be held liable for any accidents, that what he had been sent was the Chronivac 4.0.1013.Lima-1319.Alpha.Zeta version, the latest in-development. Further reading revealed new features that had been added, including an option to lock it to a current user via thumb-print, security tech that would prevent it, once activated, from being used against the owner without their consent, and a further in-depth reality function and interactive menu that could be accessed via the computer or through the transmitter, what Jeff quickly realised was the cellphone-looking doohickey.
No longer thinking it was a hoax, he grinned and after a couple more minutes of reading the letter, he popped in the disk. Instantly, a new window popped up and he found himself looking at a screen that welcomed him to the Chronivac, instructed him to connect the USB cable to remote, then connect it to the computer, and asked him if he wanted to use the Chronivac for single use or multiple use. Clicking on the option of "What's this" he learned that single use would affect him, and only him, while multiple use meant the programme could be used on any number of people. Wanting to keep it, for the moment, just to himself, he click on single use. Activating the security function, he was given a series of prompts and following them, he extended the antenna on the transmitter, pointed it at himself and, as it began scanning him, he placed his thumb against the screen. After he'd finished with this, he followed the rest of the onscreen instructions to set it up so that it could either be used with his computer or with the remote, then sat back and stared at the screen.
The display now showing an in-depth image of him, Jeff remembered two of the things he had wanted to try out if the Chronivac was real and he could actually get a hold of one. One plan involved a very elaborate and realistic costume, which he realised that such a notion would have to wait a couple months before it could be enacted. Quickly searching everything, noting there was no way to skip time ahead, but time could be skipped backwards, and that once done so such change would be immediately permanent, Jeff also discovered that there was an option for a time length, which ranged in various increments, that also included a function of letting him decided when to change back or making the change permanent.
Not sure what to do with any of this, disappointed that there was no way to skip time forward, but thinking it made sense, he decided, "Probably never use the permanent option and just change back when I want to or set a timer." Paging back to the main menu, he stared at the image of himself as he deliberated on his second idea.
Cheerleaders and cheer-leading had always been a sort of combination fantasy and curiosity of his. He knew that it could never happen for him to be allowed to join, but if the Chronivac was real, he toyed with the notion of finding a way to join. And from that, an idea of what he considered to be a hilarious prank had begun to form. Reclining back and smiling, he went back over the idea in about as much detail as he could remember, which was for him the use the Chronivac to become a girl, try-out for cheer-leading, then watch what would happen when he never showed up. He was certain there were flaws in his plan, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what they might be. Sitting up, he stared at the programme and after a moment, clicked on a couple icons, asking himself, "Wait for Hallowe'en or pull a prank you thought up almost two years ago?" he began to absently swivel his desk chair back and forth.