"Maybe I could show this program to Leo when he gets home," said Jake out loud to himself, referring to his roommate. He still wasn't sure who this Chronivac was meant for, and maybe it was Leo's all along. Their lives could be a lot more fun now that it had arrived. For now, though, it was time to go to dinner.
"I'll play with that more when I get back," he said looking at the Chronivac before turning around one more time to look at his twitching curly tail. "And I get to take *this* with me, hehehe." It would be amusing to be a human with a dog tail in a big cafeteria full of college students, with everyone else thinking it was normal. Jake grabbed his jacket, locked the door, and was gone.
Less than 20 minutes later, the door opened again and Leo switched on the lights.
"Hey, Jake? Jake! Oh snap, he must have gone to dinner already, and it's almost the end of serving time. Looks like another ramen night for me. Hey, what's this?"
Leo sat down at the computer and looked at the strange device which was attached to it. He saw his roommate's image on the screen, and looking around closer, he realized this was a system for changing people arbitrarily, and even changing reality. This was insane! What could Jake have been trying to do in here?
Seeing his own icon in a different part of the screen, Leo wondered if he could make some changes to himself. For one thing, he was very fond of Jake, who had been his roommate for a year and a half now, and he secretly envied Jake a little bit. Leo liked his quiet but adventurous attitude, his tall and lanky frame, his punctuality, and his popularity. Leo also liked the way Jake always seemed happy to see him: Jake would smile and wag his tail whenever Leo came into the dorm. In fact, although Leo wouldn't admit it, he was actually kind of curious about Jake's tail. It looked more like something you would see on a dog rather than a person, specifically a shiba inu. It was strange in the sense that Leo couldn't think of anyone else who had a tail, but it was normal in that Jake had always been that way, as far as Leo knew. It didn't even occur to Leo that Jake's tail might have come from the Chronivac, but he did wonder if the machine could give him a tail like Jake's.
"Hmmmm... if I were going to have a tail that looked like a dog's, I'd want it to look like a beagle's. Their tails are so small and cute with those adorable white tips."
Leo was amazed when he felt the change started and pulled down the back of his shorts to see a skinny knot of flesh and bone already poking out over his butt. After it had grown way bigger than a little beagle's tail, Leo started to get anxious that it wasn't stopping. Of course, a beagle's tail isn't nearly so small in relation to its body, so Leo's tail wasn't going to be small in relation to his own body either. It didn't stop until it was a good two feet long and nearly as thick as his arm. The fur that had started with a few hairs now completely covered all of the skin. The first half was black on top and brown on the bottom, and the latter half was a brilliant perfect white. Curious, Leo soon discovered that he could raise it, lower it, and point it in different directions just as easily as he could flail his arms.
"I can't believe I have my very own tail now! And this device can make it as normal for me as it is for Jake."
Leo felt his new tail start to wag on its own as he realized the power that he and Jake now held. They could change pretty much anyone in just about any way they wanted. He was just about to click the "Alter reality" button when the screen blanked out and a plaintext message overtook it.
ERROR #51843 - NOT RECOVERABLE
CHRONIVAC VERSION 4.0, ALPHA 2
TRANSDEM LABORATORIES, INCORPORATED
Leo felt his huge tail try to hide between his legs for the first time as the reality set in. Powering off the computer didn't work. Restarting the mobile emitter had no effect. Not only had he bricked his best friend's computer, but he was also stuck with a dog tail that no one else was going to be expecting. He started pacing the floor, tail tucked tight, frantically searching up tech support info on his smartphone.