"What is this?" asked Nicole, looking at the Chronivac program window.
"I think it's a simulator program," said Patricia, "It can show us how things might be different if we change a few things."
"Like what?" asked Nicole.
"Let's see..." said Patricia. She entered both hers and her sister's name into the information boxes. A little to her surprise, they filled up with information about the both of them.
Name: Patricia Kendrick
Age: 9
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian/African-American
IQ: 110
Language: English
Sex Drive: Low
Build: Preadolescent
Hair: Long/Black
Eyes: Dark Brown
Occupation: Elementary School Student
Family: Father/Mother/Older Brother/Older Sister/Older Brother/Younger Sister
Name: Nicole Kendrick
Age: 7
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian/African-American
IQ: 100
Language: English
Sex Drive: Low
Build: Preadolescent
Hair: Long/Black
Eyes: Light Blue
Occupation: Elementary School Student
Family: Father/Mother/Older Brother/Older Sister/Older Brother/Older Sister
"What does IQ mean?" asked Nicole.
"I think it means how smart we are," said Patricia. It made sense that it would say that she was the smarter one since she was older.
"So now what?" asked Nicole.
"Well, I think if we change any of this, it will show us what we'd be like," said Patricia.
"Like what?" asked Nicole.
Patricia thought about it. "We could what we'd be like if were fully black," she suggested.
"But we are black," said Nicole.
"But those kids at school say we aren't black enough to wear dreads," said Patricia in a hurt tone.
Nicole was upset by that memory too. "I guess we could try that," she said.
Patricia tried removing 'Caucasian' from their information, but a notice popped up:
The standard version of Chronivac 4.0 has a limit range of change of 20 feet. In order to make a lasting change to ethnicity, the parents of the target must be within range. Temporary changes to ethnicity can be used and lasts no longer than one day. Upgrade to premium version of Chronivac 4.0 to expand range.
"What does that mean?" asked Nicole.
"I think it's saying that Mom and Dad have to be close if we want our race change to last," said Patricia, "But we can do something temporary."
"Is there anything else we could do?" asked Nicole.
"Well, maybe we change our ages," said Patricia, "We could see what we were like if were older like the others."
Even the two of them could see there was a pretty big age gap between them and their older siblings. There were 9 years between Patricia and Mike, who was now in college and studying to be a game designer. There were 8 years between Mike and the oldest sister, Katie, who used the beauty she inherited from her mother to become a supermodel. The gap between Katie and professional basketball star David was much smaller, only 2 years. Patricia and Nicole often wondered why their siblings had to be so much older than them.
"That would be cool," said Nicole, "Anything else?"
"We could see what we look like as boys," said Patricia.
"Ew, gross," said Nicole, "I'd rather be a dog than a boy."
"Well, I guess we could make ourselves animals too," said Patricia.
Nicole looked at the information boxes thoughtfully before asking, "Could we make ourselves smarter?"
"I guess so," said Patricia, "I don't know how the simulator would show that." Of course, once they tried one of the changes, they'll see that the Chronivac is no simulator.