Just as Dean left the parking lot, his phone made a sound to notify him, only it was one he hadn´t heard before. He drove a bit longer before his curiosity won the fight, making him look for a parking spot. He only had gotten his license and his car. No need to get in trouble for checking his phone while driving.
Just after turning off the car, Jeff again turns his radio on, repeating his earlier comment: “D-Dean... I f-feel strange, s-something's wrong w-with me.”
Dean looked slightly annoyed at the radio as he grabbed his phone. “I really need to fix that. New car and such malfunctions.” He thought, ignoring Jeff´s pleas to look what his phone wanted from him.
It was a message from the chronivac he had downloaded from Jeff´s computer, only somehow Dean didn´t think of Jeff anymore, but his car. “Strange, why would a car have a computer, beside his built-in one?” As he read about the subject being altered and changes be made, he looked them up on the app.
“ERROR! Subject altered,” a message reads, “adjusting subject to new situation. Owner of subject “Dean Johnson”, countdown stopped, subject can only transform if owner commands it. Error fixed.”
“Huh? What does that mean?” Dean thought, as he opened the app. He got a profile page without a name in it, featuring his car, naming him owner, listed off his address and so on. What was even stranger for Dean was the info further down, stating things like the age 16, a birthday on 15th January 2000, and a collapsed part reading “Memories” as a name. Beneath all that, there was a more human file labeled as back-up.
“For what a back-up? And how is a new car, only manufactured for a year or two in general able to be sixteen years old?” Dean said confused. He remembered someone had his birthday on 15th January, but couldn´t place a name right now.
Again, the radio spoke up. “I´m s-sixteen, it´s mm-y b-back-up. D-Dean help m-me. I-I can´t t-turn b-back somehow.” Jeff was really worried, something was really wrong with him, but he had no idea what. He didn´t even realize he couldn´t remember his own name.
Dean switched the radio off, annoyed by it. He hadn´t even listened to what it had said. Looking back at the phone, he saw a second profile in there, named after himself. Curios he opened it, finding data about himself, much and way to accurate for his liking. “How has this app all that info about me?” He saw a control for awareness, with was unchecked right now. So, he hit it, and the effect was instant.
Suddenly, Dean remembered the car was his friend, and what the chronivac was about. But, just as before when he was in Jeff´s room, he had no sudden desire to turn Jeff back. He had himself to blame, and would be stuck as Dean´s car. A broad grin spread onto Dean´s lips. He had wanted to make sure Jeff couldn´t turn back, and the chronivac had already done that to fix the error. He would have to allow Jeff to turn human again, which he would never do.
But that also answered the malfunction radio. Jeff tried to talk to him. Switching back to the car´s profile Dean found what he was looking for. With a cruel grin, he disabled Jeff´s voice, alongside his control over the radio. Even if he couldn´t speak, it wouldn´t do if the radio turned on or off on its own.
Just before he hit save, Jeff again had the radio turned on. “Dean, help meee…..” was the last he spoke before his voice was disabled.
“There, no more malfunction radio. And no more speaking up, car. Maybe when I install a digital assistant, but not that annoying voice.” Dean said satisfied. As he had seen that Jeff´s name had been erased from his profile, he speculated that Jeff wouldn´t remember his own name anyway.
Jeff was shocked by Dean´s statement. Had he forgotten who he was? But as Dean further checked Jeff´s profile, he edited some smaller thing on his way. “Owner, stop. I´m your car, not your friend. I´m a car, not a human. Drive me.” (Dean, stop. I´m your friend, not your car. I´m a human, not a car. Help me)
That wish Dean fulfilled, as he started the car to drive home after he was satisfied with the few changes he made. He hadn´t touched the memories yet, and they were only edited along the changes he had made so far.
While the car remembered being human right now, it would think of itself as a car, better yet, his car. He would check through the memories at home, after he had given it a nice, long test-drive. It was as if Dean had already unchecked his awareness again, as he no longer saw Jeff as a human being, but his car.