As the timer hit zero, the Chronivac found itself in a predicament. Jeff’s body, having been transformed into candy, was no longer present. If it tried to restore him, he’d just be skin with nothing inside, and would be quite dead as well. This was not acceptable. Fortunately, the device did have material to recreate Jeff with-the creatures currently inside of him.
Of course, being a human with animals for organs wasn’t ideal. All the competing DNA and immune systems would make Jeff’s body tear itself apart. So, the Chronivac decided to merge the DNA and bodies of everything in the bucket. It started at the base. The worms, digging into the tomato, were pulled together with it in the center, creating a gummy pink mass of worm flesh, tomato, and blue mold. Next came the spider and roly-polies, who were absorbed with a wet “slorping” sound. The wood from the log folded like a piece of paper, wrapping the growing mass before it too became like jelly. One by one, the snails, slug, earwigs, crawdads, and algae joined the ball. The frog was the last remaining, and it sank in slowly while it idly chewed on the hornet. Finally, the bucket itself folded into the ball, and took on a yellow-green color.
The ball expanded and began to take shape as it became Jeff’s new body. His head emerged, covered in long strings of algae that served as his new hair. Six eyes appeared, two in their original place and two on his forehead. Those in the original area pushed out into stalks, topped with frog like eyes. Two pairs of antennae also grew on his head. His mouth was filled with sharp teeth, each able to move independently like the mandibles of an insect. His tongue flopped out involuntarily, now shaped like the abdomen of a hornet and tipped with a stinger.
Jeff grew a skeleton, now composed of wood. However, since the frog was the only creature with bones, the program used it for the template. Jeff’s legs became long and muscular, but they rested in a squatting position. He’d find standing up straight to be quite draining for now on-it would feel like stretching a muscle in a weird position. His feet were long and thin like the frog’s had been, with sticky pads underneath.
His arms reformed, now covered in chitin. Each was tipped with a three fingered claw, resembling the crawdads’ pinchers but split on the top. One was noticeably larger than the other, used to impress mates. A line of smaller appendages grew down his sides, steadily decreasing in size but resembling those of the roly-polies. Gills also formed at the base of them, letting Jeff breath underwater.
On his back, multiple armored segments formed, rising in a small hump between his shoulders like a snail shell. This shell contained a second stomach for Jeff. His internal organs were simplified heavily, with several hearts along his torso like a worm and a long gut. He could now eat just about anything, from wood to dirt. His skin was yellow-green and slimy, with black spots. Jeff would now leave a slime trail wherever he walked, and on whatever he touched.
The creatures that Jeff had been filled with had all manner of sexes and reproductive strategies, so the Chronivac decided to simplify things. It gave Jeff a cloaca for dispelling waste, and it also functioned as a vagina. Above it was a retractable penis, hidden in a little slit. Jeff extended it involuntary, and saw that it was white colored and prehensile, like a beetle larvae. Above his cloaca were a pair of pincers from the earwigs, with a pair of spinnerets beneath them.
Jeff’s body twitched involuntarily. His mind was still racing, and as he looked himself over, it was just too much. Jeff fainted.