Mike was irritated with everything. His profile being locked, his belly rivaling Mt. Rushmore in size, even the fact that he was so easily replaced by a clone was irritating. Not to mention the aches and pains, the indignity of having to sleep on the couch in his own house, and that Jeff would just go off and leave him here half-blind, half-deaf, and barely able to sit still for 5 minutes without napping was the worst!
Mike recounted what they set up yesterday and identified several flaws. The clone was programmed as Jeff said, "[to] be more like a drone, [it] goes to work, comes home, turns off."
Who's going to make meals? Go shopping? Heck, if something happened to Mike, the clone grabbed his cell phone and wallet as part of his "morning routine" Mike is literally trapped in the house without any resources!
Riled up, Mike's attentions began going in circles, angered by the clone stealing his identity, but then the clone wouldn't be needed if Jeff joined him in this experiment and became a capable adult, "I'm abandoned, replaced!", the clone stole my identity!
After nodding off for 45 minutes Mike decided that the clone wouldn't be needed if Jeff were able to drive himself and hold down a decent job. That would require Jeff having enough experience to do the job well and altering reality... which would remove the clone, get Mike his bed and cell phone back, and so it'd be a good thing. And the reality change would make it so Jeff won't be angry at Mike over the next week and they could have a laugh at Jeff's hesitation in 6.5 days. But really, it is Mike's job to push his son out of his comfort zone, right? It's what a good parent does!
After Mike justified ignoring Jeff's lack of [explicit removal of] consent regarding Mike changing Jeff's body and life in this way, things started to come together nicely. Mike first set Jeff up to never go bald, blind, deaf, arthritic, get fat, or atrophy due to old age, as both his father and grandfather did, it seems to be genetic, and he could fix that for Jeff, and after this week, himself. Next, he removed the clone, his newfound nemesis, with a dark smirk... Finally, picking an adulthood for Jeff is the hard part...
He could just age Jeff 5 years a day starting yesterday, instant or gradually, he'd end up being 51 with a 73 year old father? Alternatively he could just set an age and a job, force Jeff to succeed at some role...
This does raise questions, Mike pondered, what didn't Jeff like about the idea of trying out life as an adult anyway? "I'm assuming its fear of responsibility, or fear that he can't do it, but I don't know for sure... He's a smart kid, I know he can do it..." Mike scoffed at himself for not asking... a perfect opportunity to talk to his son and figure out his perception of the world... opportunity lost...
Well, there's always after we revert back... He might be upset with me but its only for a week, well a bit less than.
Mike set things up, the way he set them up however entwined both Jeff and the clone, so the process couldn't proceed when Jeff came home after school and waited for the clone to arrive. Mike was napping in his soon to be reclaimed bed, Jeff checked in on him but let him rest, he's dealing with a lot mentally, and unlike his father, he takes Mike at his word that he is experiencing constant pain which he heard is exhausting...
Mike was awoken by shrieks of panic and terror, The clone came home, getting within range of the Chronivac emitter and Jeff had already been within range working at his homework at the kitchen table. After greeting Jeff, the clone dropped his briefcase and melted into a pile of goo, evaporating as Jeff looked on and screamed in terror. As Mike hurried down the stairs after struggling to right himself, the new reality had already settled in Jeff's mind and he was calm, Mike pieced together what happened and groped for the wallet in his back pocket and cell phone in his front confirming his suspicions.