There were so many animals to chose from, people as well, either guests or keepers who could be changed to add to any of the existing exhibits or be used to add whole new sections to the zoo. In fact, he knew a number of the keepers probably wouldn't have minded the chance to spend more time with their favorite animals.
At the same time, there were plenty of animals who had strong bonds with favorite keepers who might have enjoyed the chance to see things from a different perspective. With so many options it was hard to pick where to start.
Hard, but not impossible.
There was one particular animal especially well loved, even if Bryan didn't see their particular appeal. Yes, they were smart, enthusiastic, and fascinating, but despite his best effort Bryan didn't see why so many of the keepers liked Sukari, the zoo's male spotted hyena so much.
Sukari lived in a comfortably large enclosure with the zoo's two other spotted hyenas, Nosipho who was his sister, and Amahle, their mother. The two females were large and aggressive, always responding to the keepers approaching their enclosure and running through their collection of tricks to try and please them. They'd also run back and forth along the fence, watching guests and making noises back at the visitors as though putting on a show. Sukari on the other hand tended to hang back and watch from a distance, getting bullied by the two larger females. Sukari always looked so nervous and dejected that Bryan felt sorry for him more than anything else.
It was the nature of spotted hyenas for the males to be the lowest ranking members of a clan, something that Bryan understood, but it was still hard for him to manage any affection towards poor Sukari, especially when the hyenas were all so smart. Fairness didn't have a place in the lives of hyenas, but Bryan still thought that Sukari's lot in life was an unfair one, which was why his first experiment with the Chronivac was an obvious choice as far as he was concerned.
The trick was, making the right decision.
Making Sukari larger and more domineering wouldn't work, only placing him in conflict with his mother and sister, and conflict between spotted hyenas was often violent and bloody. I would also ruin what so many of the other keepers found so charming about him, turning him from the meek little creature he was into a bully. At the same time, making the females more submissive wouldn't help either, poor Sukari wouldn't know what to do with himself if his mother and sister were suddenly submissive towards him, letting him eat first and interact with the keepers through the fence of the enclosure.
Just making Sukari smarter would have the same results as changing his or the females' personalities, which didn't strike Bryan as fair for the male hyena, it would only give him the knowledge to feel bad about his situation, so increasing his intelligence wouldn't work, at least not on its own.
Thankfully, the Chronivac had plenty of options to customize any changes made and what better way to test the device than to go for something complicated.
Increasing Sukari's intelligence was a start, though Bryan was shocked to discover just how smart the hyena was according to the file the Chronivac created for him. It wasn't too much of a push to make him as smart as an average person, but why stop at average? When the changes were complete Sukari would be slightly smarter than the average person, fully capable of speaking and understanding English, but so many of the other positive traits he possessed would be improved as well. Naturally curious and outgoing for a male hyena, when his changes were done Sukari would be every bit as pleasant and fun to be around as all the other keepers thought he was. In fact, they'd think nothing of seeing him walking around outside of the hyena exhibit, seeing what there was to see and interacting with the guests. Not as a mascot or some spectacle, but as a genuinely friendly and respected member of the zoo team.
He wouldn't just be a hyper intelligent hyena wandering around free though, because what was the fun in that? Maybe eventually Bryan would make it so that there were talking animals walking around the zoo grounds, but for his first test of the Chronivac he wanted to change more than that.
After playing with the anthropomorphization sliders, adjusting a few of the custom options in ways he felt would be appealing, he set the changes to start. A little loading icon spun briefly before a status bar appeared, ticking away the time until Sukari's changes were complete.
In half an hour Sukari would be a very different creature than he was now.
Logging out of his desktop and locking it Bryan hurried to see the start of the hyena's changes.
Fortunately, the hyena enclosure was right next to the zoo offices, so Bryan was there in a matter of minutes.
Seeing him Amahle strode boldly forward, Nosipho following a short distance behind. They looked right at him, clearly recognizing him as a keeper rather than a guest, but since he wasn't one of their usually keepers and rarely worked with them they weren't especially interested. Sukari hung back, head held high, not wanting to get too close to the females, but clearly interested.
He'd gotten there quickly enough that it was hard to tell if there was anything different about Sukari, if only because he rarely paid that much attention to the hyenas other than to be sure that they were all doing alright and that there was nothing out of the ordinary in their enclosure.
Nosipho snorted softly and walked back and forth along the fence, waiting to see if Bryan would do anything interesting while Bryan waited to see if Sukari would do anything interesting. It was, he realized, a pretty funny situation, watching the hyens watch him, but he knew better than to laugh around the hyenas. Amahle and Sukari weren't bothered by the sounds of people laughing, Nosipho on the other hand didn't like it when keepers laughed and the sound got her anxious. And of course when she got anxious she'd take it out on poor Sukari.
The male hyena paced a few steps and Bryan watched closely. By Bryan's guess about ten minutes had gone by so the changes should have started.
"Hey Sukari," Bryan said quietly, not sure if they hyenas all knew their names or not. A few of the keepers that worked with them regularly said they did, but as far as he knew none of them had been trained to come when called.
In response Sukari's ears perked up and he made a strange two note sound, a rising and falling howl unlike anything Bryan had ever heard one of the hyenas make before, then Sukari lifted his right front paw in an awkward, but unmistakable wave.
Nosipho turned to look at Sukari, snorted, but otherwise didn't respond, not at all bothered by the noises her brother had made. Eventually she and Amahle lost interest and walked off to their favorite spots to lay in the sun and watch the guests go by.
Sukari watched them leave and then trotted awkwardly over to the fence. It wasn't with the normal awkward gait of a hyena either, there was something new to it. His limbs seemed out of proportion, hind legs closer in length to his forelegs and the upper part of his forelegs were longer making him less suited for a quadrupedal stance.
Shifting his weight uncertainly, Sukari sat down near the fence, blunt muzzle falling open in a toothy, but unmistakable smile, "Hiii-eeey riiinnn!"
Sukari's mouth worked up and down, lips becoming more mobile as he greeted Bryan.
Bryan was dumbfounded, he'd put programmed it so that Sukari would be smart enough to talk, but he'd not expected it to happen so early in the process, before it was even halfway through.
"How are you Sukari?" Bryan asked, excited, but also nervous. He'd programmed the Chronivac so that no one would notice anything, but despite that he still had the fear that he might get caught or in trouble, though there was technically nothing wrong with what he was doing at the moment, he was just interacting with one of the animals, technically a form of enrichment.
"Oooh!" Sukari yowled happily, opened and closed his mouth several times and then tried again, "Good!"
Pleased with himself, Sukari huffed in a deep, throat laugh, nothing like a hyena's shrill giggles of alarm. The other keepers seemed right about one thing at least, Sukari was a very happy creature and very, very smart to be talking so quickly.
Wiggling he sat up a little straighter, his hind legs now longer than his front legs and having become more muscular. He even had distinct knees, though his feet remained paws.
"Yooo-Ooo?" He yowled at Bryan, shaking his head from side to side as his short, bristly mane grew long enough to brush against his large, high-set ears. Sukari's mane was one of the few changes to his head because Bryan hadn't been able to find any combination of human and hyena features that wasn't unnerving, but he still hadn't wanted to leave Sukari with a purely hyena head and neck. A longer mane had felt like a good compromise between doing too much and doing nothing at all.
"I'm good," Bryan said quickly, he'd wanted to wait until Sukari's changes were done, but with how quickly the hyena's mind was developing, Bryan was eager to move along with his plan, "Do you want to come out and walk around for a bit?"
Sukari sat up even straighter, front paws actually leaving the ground, though they could hardly be called paws anymore. His toes had doubled in length and his dew claw was well on the way to being a proper thumb. He let out a purely hyena whoop of excitement, momentarily catching the attention of the others. He glanced apologetically back at his mother and sister until they lay back down.
"Ieee-yed looof too-ooow!" Sukari said in an excited howl before heading towards the back of the hyena enclosure.
Bryan hesitated a moment, watching the way Sukari walked. He had a hyena's hunched posture, but it had gone from a loping gait to an awkward shuffle, his front paws frequently leaving the ground as he hobbled a few steps on his hind legs before dropping back to let his front paws brush the ground.
By the time Bryan got to the back of the enclosure where the gait was Sukari was waiting, leaning against the chain link fence for balance as he stood upright.
The hyena wasn't built to go on all fours any more, his arms and legs both more muscular and more human in proportion. As Bryan unlocked the first gate Sukari watched him, dark eyes bright and alert.
"Thank yoo-ooo!" Sukari huffed, his words already more distinct and understandable.
"For what?" Bryan hesitated, thinking about what he was doing, letting something that was technically a wild animal, a powerful, aggressive carnivore, out to mingle with the guests who'd be arriving soon.
"Letting me goooh foor a walk with yoo-Ooh!" He rolled his shoulders as he shuffled back to let Bryan open the last gate, lifing a paw that was almost a hand to brush his mane back from his eyes. it was still the narrow mane of a hyena, though it was much longer and possessed distinct bangs, making Sukari almost kind of cute, if such a thing could be used to describe something as ferocious as a hyena.Sukari was still very much a hyena, that much was clear as the pointed tip of his penis emerged from its sheath, not in arousal, but in true hyena fashion, a sign of submission. Smart as Sukari was, the other keepers were right about him being understanding as well, and he seemed to have picked up on Bryan's nervousness and was trying to reassure him by acting submissive.
"You don't need to do that," Bryan laughed awkwardly.
"Soorry," Sukari yowled, ducking his head down and stepping out of his enclosure towards Bryan, "I just..."
The changing hyena looked away, because in animals eye contact was a sing of aggression and Sukari was anything but aggressive.
"Don't worry," Bryan said, reaching out and taking Sukari's hand in his to help him balance as his legs and torso continued to change. Under his coarse fur Sukari's proportions and musculature had become increasingly human, though there was still something off about them to accommodate his powerful neck, wide shoulders and deep chest.
"I'm not worried," Sukari cocked his head in puzzlement, brow furrowing in a very human expression, "I'm confused."
It was amazing, Bryan realized, he was having a conversation with an animal, something that he knew he and many of his coworkers frequently fantasized. There was so much he could learn, "Why are you confused?"
Sukari's lips pulled back in his best attempt at a human smile, which was still intimidating, especially since, as his changes progressed, his digitigrad feet meant that he was as tall as Bryan, "You're not normally this nice to me."
The yowling note was almost gone from his voice, replaced by a breathy, rising and falling cadence, a strange accent rather than an animal trying to mimic human vocalizations.
"I just figured that I should get to know you," Bryan answered honestly.
"Thank you," Sukari said with such sincerity that Bryan was taken aback. He'd known, from the hyena's Chronivac profile, that he was very friendly and outgoing and he'd increased those qualities slightly, but he hadn't imagined that Sukari would have an personality more fitting for a dog than a spotted hyena, "The people here are all so nice to me and my family. You take such good care of us and the people that come to visit are so interesting and friendly. I love watching them and their families. Especially the children. They're so adorable."
"You like kids?" Bryan asked, curious. There was talk about, in the future, when the zoo got the funding, that they'd expand some of the exhibits, including the hyena enclosure, and that the expansion might involve getting another female hyena and introduce her to Sukari as a potential mate. Baby animals were always a big attraction at zoos and if Sukari wanted to have pups there'd be a strong argument for the effort. Besides, the hyena enclosure was badly in need of updating.
Sukari nodded excitedly, his mane bouncing up and down, "Yes! Little humans are so silly and the make the funniest sounds. Do you think I'll be able to meet some while I'm out with you today?"
That wasn't what he'd meant, but Sukari's enthusiasm made him smile, "We can see. I might be busy, but I'm sure one of the other keepers would be more than happy to walk around the zoo with you, giving you the grand tour."
"I'd love that," Sukari smiled. Despite his fearsome appearance, standing taller than Bryan and lean, but powerfully muscled, now that his transformation was almost complete, Sukari was genuinely friendly and enthusiastic, making Bryan glad that he'd chosen as he had.
Giving Sukari a tour of the zoo and letting him meet the rest of the keepers was going to be fun. And what would the guests think? Thanks to the Chronivac's settings they wouldn't be alarmed by Sukari or think there was anything out of the ordinary about him, but it would be interesting to see how they'd react.