Dan found the device rotting at the back of a charity shop; Britain’s equivalent of a thrift shop. He only went in for a few pieces of glassware, but when he saw it sitting alone with years of collected dust he couldn’t help but be drawn to it.
The Chronivac’s early-2000s crystal plastics drew Dan in like a fly to waste. ‘It might be tacky shit,’ he thought, ‘but it's my kind of shit.’ The Chronivac, with that book-like cover, looked like it was once expensive, and while he couldn’t place how he knew it, he did know it was worth something. That said, he wasn’t about to let the charity shop know that.
He handed it over to the assistant with a grimace, turning the tiny emitter in his fingers, before shooting the older shop keeper a telling look. “It's seen better days,” he sighed, “it's mendicant has taken secondment. It’ll need percussive maintenance and defenestration.”
The assistant looked at him through her thick frames, gormless. “I’ll give you a discount.” She said, making a sign of the cross over the device.
He used an old laptop to get the thing running, one that he could afford to lose, but one that lacked a CD drive. He had to plug one in, plugging the emitter into his last USB slot via an extender, and plugging the whole thing into a power outlet. He ran it in safety mode, but the second he opened the software it took control, and he was left looking at an outdated geocity-based options menu, startled at what he saw. Scoffing, he brought the ensemble into the living room.
Liam and Adam were watching TV when Dan entered the room, Liam more distracted by his phone. Without saying a word he took control of the TV, plugging his new toy in.
“So you didn’t get any glassware.” Adam whined.
“No, but I found something better.” Dan explained.
“Can I drink out of it?”
“What? No. I mean, maybe? Just look at this!”
Room occupants:
>Atkinson, Daniel; ♂25, stocky, white, brunette
>Blessed, Liam; ♂26, lean, black, black
>Smith, Adam; ♂25, lean, white, mousey
1st Floor
>Ferguson, Siya, ♀23, chubby, mixed (white/s-asian), black (h:pink)
>Ferguson, Michelle, ♀26, athletic, white, mousey
Attic
>”Pokey”, ?20, plushie
“Hey now Dan not cool.” Liam exclaimed. The TV in the living room ran through it's own PC, functioning as a general media centre, meaning there was a wireless keyboard at hand. Liam turned it on, hovered over to Siya, trying to edit out the word ‘chubby’, not realising what just happened. The Keyboard connected, without prompt, the device somehow knowing it's what Liam wanted to do.
“That’s not on, she doesn’t like comments about her weight.”
“I didn’t put that there.” Dan said with a shrug. “It appeared there when I turned it on. I wasn’t even aware Chell’s sister is over, it’s probably just…”
In an effort to erase the offending data Liam clicked on the name above it, bringing Adam’s data to the fore. It looked like an old social media page crafted out of a spreadsheet, abridging his life into simple facts and numbers. Even if Dan was lying, there was no way anyone, even Adam would know he was into femboys.
Adam, glowing, blurted out a mumbled protest.
“I think I stumbled onto some old fashioned VPN or something,” Dan said, looking over to a blushing Adam, “which must be tapping into our online profiles. Connects to the wi-fi, finds every device on the network, roots out associated accounts, and then extrapolates the rest. That’s why it says you like femboys, and why that Pokey is there; it must just be an error. ”
“It's not an error.” Liam interjected. “Pokey is that plush my sister gave to me when I was five.”
They all went quiet again, navigating over to Pokey’s data. It was a little deer plushie, and while there wasn’t much data on it the log at the bottom did explain that it was moved upstairs when they moved in on ‘1567509811’, and was ‘forgotten about over pizza. Last discussed between owner and Siya F. on 1563652919’
“Fuck’s sake, I shouldn’t be feeling sorry about a damn plushie.” Adam said. “And how does it know that anyway if it's just data?”
“Beats me!” Dan said, as the two descended into debate, all while Liam began experimenting with the device.
He shifted a few facts and stats about Pokey, watched as the changes cascaded into more changes, fundamentally altering what Pokey was. Liam never ventured far enough to hit the ‘commit’ button in the corner, at least not right now, but as the changes cascaded he began to notice a whole world of suboptions, advance features, and expansive routines and protocols, curiosity building.
After playing around Liam settled on enabling something that didn't cause any cascading changes, something called ‘remote voice activated holographic controls’. He was hoping that the device would bring up a hologram of some kind, but when nothing happened he just shrugged, diving in deeper. He managed to flip on a few safety features, getting to grasp with the strange nature of the device, delving deeper and deeper, until clicking one one buried option that swung right back around, landing on Liam's sexuality.
Liam shot the other two the side eye, but Dan and Adam’s debate was getting quite heated, talking about AI and algorithms. They hadn’t noticed, and if this was pulling stuff off his online presence Liam wanted to know what they had, and what would happen if he started editing things. Liam changed his own sexuality from ‘bi-INcurious’ to ‘pan’, micro-adjusting some elements, before pressing on to the expansive list of kinks. He scrolled up and down, debating just what to experiment with, not noticing his house mates attention was starting to drift.
Scrolling through the list of kinks Liam soon came across ‘plushies’, and to his surprise Pokey was listed as a potential mate. Curiosity (and horniness) got the better of him, and so, without thinking, he turned that fetish into a favoured kink above the rest. Only then did the others drop their debate.
“The fuck are you doing?” Adam said.
Liam’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest.
“Testing things.” Liam said, heart racing, but cooling as he was brought out of his exploration. “I think this stuff might be editing out adsense data. So, if I commit this. There. Maybe I will start getting ads about plushies? It's an easy way to test it.”
Liam used the moment to return the device onto his general info, hoping they didn’t notice all of his kinks, burying his face in his phone. He opened a new tab, waiting for the ads to load, and was disappointed. Gaming accessories, manga translations, and a perennial annoyance from an ancestry website. Not satisfied, he began seeking plushies out, needing to at least see one, hoping it would spark something, his mind craving it, missing the obvious implication.
Meanwhile, Dan took back control, beginning his own round of edits. He was still on Liam’s page, stumbling through a collection of subroutines about his mentality, laughing at the fact his mood was apparently “anxious.” Attached to the moodlet was the source of the mood in the form of a logic chain, highlighting that Liam hoped they didn’t notice one kink in particular. Next to that was the option to ‘delete memory, and - assuming it meant the DEVICE’s memory - they hit delete.
The device screen greyed out, as a warning flashed onto the screen.
POWER RESERVE DOWN TO A MINIMUM.
>Memory alteration no longer works on those aware of the device and it's transformative capacities.
>ALL transformees will regain awareness under interrogation.
>Transformation incurs cooldown between 6 hours (body part transformation, for that body part) 48 hours (full body transformation, for that body) and 256 hours (reality alteration, for that reality).
>As a safety precaution, transformations will reset after 256 hours unless reaffirmed by user input, reverting back to the timestamp of the initial commitment.
>Changing prominent figures, or creating prominent figures, especially through fiscal and social capital, without reality alteration, blocked for safety concerns.
>Maximum active participants 7/20.
>Sentient life cannot be deleted.
TO REGAIN CONTROL UNDER THE CHANGES OR RETURN TO THE TIMESTAMP OF 1478649603.
Shrugging, Dan took the opportunity to dive into Adam’s stuff again. As soon as he did, however, Adam protested again, not wanting more of his shame revealed. Leaping over, Adam began wrestling with the keyboard. As the debate began again, they didn’t notice the curse hit random options, before finally covering over ‘commit’.
Adam, victorious, held the keyboard aloft, smiling down at the defeated Dan. As one last insult Liam struck his housemate with the board, bopping him on the head, hitting enter in the process.
“ACTIVATE: ENGAGE. COOLDOWN SET TO. Forty. Five. HOURS.” The Chronivac blasted. “CONTROL REINSTATED ON. Twelve. Thirty. Eight. Sun-day. STANDBY.”
Adam wheezed, his body rigid. Assuming that something had gone wrong in the fight, his housemates asked how he was, patting his back. He turned to Dan, mouthing the word ‘help’, as his body fell back onto the sofa.
The room erupted, all three shouting, pulling the shirt off Adam’s chest as he grasped at it for breath, writhing on the sofa, legs flailing. Michelle, the nurse, came stomping down the stairs, sister in tow, adding to the confusion of the room, Adam grasping out for her, as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. She kicked the coffee table to one side, pulled Adam to his feet, hitting his back with force, then squeezing him in the middle over and over. Moments later Adam tumbled forward, as his breathing gave way to a loud squeak.
The room recoiled. Adam began patting his chest, no longer breathing, but no longer panicking either, more confused than anything as a softness began expanding from within him. He looked on at his housemate, heart sinking as he began to shrink.
The housemates could do nothing, could say nothing, while Adam himself was hit by wave after wave of draining pleasure. That softness, deep in his belly, fent like an expanding cloud, the sensation easing him into a relaxed state, while his sense flickered into life. The sensation engulfed him in a smooth plushness, his limbs losing articulation as his hands expanded into nubs. He looked at the paw-print emerging on his nub, his vision wobbling as glassy eyes popped into place.
Adam was much smaller than them now, looking up at his housemates with his hands outstretched. Dan came forward, hoping to support his shrinking friend, but instead he lifted him off the ground, holding him in his hands as the changes accelerated.
They were starting to talk again, starting to yell, starting to toy with the Chronivac, but all of it was lost. While Adam was scared, feeling a unique horror beyond his imagination, he also felt - for lack of a better word - good.
Adam’s genitals were briefly revealed, before they were reduced to a soft mound, his limbs still expanding, as his skin blossomed with a short white flock. He squirm a little, the gap forming between his legs a little sensitive, and the source for a new sensation. Stitching raced over his body, the little tracts a soothing tickling sensation, helping him settle as his plushified form began to settle, as his face and body took on animal-like qualities, starting at his rear. It pushed out into an almost cone-like tail, his face balancing out into a large rounded muzzle, two floppy ears flapping off either side of his face, two horns above the ears. At long last, with a twitch, the new plush dropped to the ground.
The room looked on again, in a shared horr. There was a plush now where Adam was, it's pale features a mix of dragon and goat. They held their breath, as it stared at it's paws in disbelief.
At last, Dan moved in again, kneeling before it.
“Are you okay mate? Are you in there.”
The plush looked up, blinking at them. It squeaked, starting itself and everyone in the room, as panic set in.