“No no no, I’d like to pick my change if you don’t mind!” Nate looked down at the phone-like rectangle in his hand in disbelief, “Just on the chance this actually works.”
“I assure you sir, with a Chronivac 5 Pro subscription, the only limit is your imagination,” the device said reassuringly.
“We should… We should probably start with something smaller?” Nate offered.
A spinning indicator appeared on the Chronivac for a moment as Owen thought of a recommendation, “Changing one’s hair color is a popular first change.”
“Okay, uh, more drastic than that. How about a satyr? It’ll mostly be me, just with goat legs,” he patted his thighs.
“No need to be coy sir, you can just say you’d like to be a satyr,” the Chronivac’s started to shift on its own, “Please verify the changes on my display.”
The screen looked like something out of a video game character profile. A spinning 3D model of Nate was standing idle on the screen, but all of his clothes had been removed. Instead of showing a naked human however, the figure on the screen was goat-ish from the wait down. He had curly brown fur on his legs, black cloven hooves, and a lot of chest hair.
“Oh wow…” Nate stared, “You’ve certainly got good image manipulation skills.”
“Sir, I can shift reality. This is a simple preview. I’m not sure I have enough decimal points to describe how small a fraction of my processing power this took,” Owen waited for a beat, “Do you like it?”
“I do!” Nate nodded, “The horns are a little big… can you make them smaller?”
“I defaulted go ram horns,” Owen explained. A small window with several different horn options popped up, “Please select your desired style.”
“Oh wow…” Nate scrolled through the options until he found a nice small pair of horns that just curled straight up out of his hair. Now that he was using the device, he started to find sliders to adjust his hair color (fur color?), and other smaller tweaks.
“It feels a little silly to poke your screen when I can have a full conversation with you,” Nate commented. “Would you mind putting a loin cloth on me? It’s kind of weird staring at myself naked.”
“On you or your preview sir?” Owen responded after a moment. His voice was a bit more complex than other voice assistants Nate had used, but he apparently still need clarification on some things.
“You know what Owen, knock yourself out,” Nate looked down at himself, “Turn my clothes into a loin cloth.”
“Affirmative sir,” the device let out a soft artificial beep, “Applying wardrobe change.”
“Alright? Let’s see what silly little…” Nate’s voice drifted off as he watched the Chronivac’s screen. He was expecting some silly gimmick, or at least something more than a simple prompt telling him that a change was being applied. Just below the Chronivac’s screen however, Nate could see the sleeve of his shirt start to vanish into nothingness.
Nate nearly dropped the gadget. Something told him that would be a very bad idea however. He instead hastily set it down on his kitchen counter.
“…what the hell!?” Nate blurted out as he watched his shirt and pants continue to disappear. It was like someone was slowly pulling down an opacity filter in a graphic design program.
He started to see his belly button through his fading shirt. When Nate reached down to confirm this was really happening, his fingers managed to pass right through what was left of the material.
Nate’s boxers curiously were unaffected. Or rather, they started to deal with their own set of changes. They were still solid, but Nate could see the material around his legs and sides began to retract. His boxers looked almost like a jockstrap or thong for a second. Then the patch of fabric in the front detached from the rest of his underwear and started flapping freely.
The elastic band around his waist started to shrink. It lost its stretchiness and became a simple long strap. An expertly tied knot appeared behind Nate to hold everything up. As one final touch, the simple plaid pattern on Nate’s boxers faded into a flat neutral green.
Nate tugged at the loin cloth, “What the actual-“
“Sir! I performed the requested changes. Are they to your liking?” The device on the counter spoke up. Nate couldn’t help but notice the smartphone that had been in his pants pocket was now resting safely on the counter next to the Chronivac.
“You… you actually work!” Nate stammered.
“Eventually I’m going to get a customer who believes me without a demonstration,” Owen gave a short synthetic laugh. “Yes sir.”
“M-make me a satyr!” Nate immediately blurred out the order.
“Affirmative sir,” the Chronivac beeped again, “Applying changes.”
“Oh man, I can’t believe this is happening…!” Nate stared down at himself.
He watched his near-naked figure eagerly for any sign of change. His chest was starting to look a little harrier, but nothing else had really changed yet. Maybe people took longer to shift?
Two white horns started to push out of his hair. His nearly trimmed appearance started to look a bit more scruffy and unkempt. His sideburns grew bushy, his ears became pointed, and a patch of scruff started to grow out on his chin.
“Have you started yet Owen…?” Nate ran his fingers through his new chew hair.
“Affirmative. I needed to start with your head so that you’ll know how to walk on hooves,” Owen explained.
“My head…? Baah!” Nate quickly scurried into the kitchen. He didn’t have a mirrored backsplash or anything, but his fridge was stainless steel at least.
“Oh my god…!” Nate reached up and rubbed his two horns.
“Hmm.” The device beeped again, “Updating cultural references.”
Nate stared at his blurry reflection in the brushed metal. None of the details were there, but he got the broad strokes. He could see his ears start to darken and grow out in real time.
“By Pan’s Grace- Owen this is incredible…!” Nate gasped, lowering his hands to rub his ears. He could feel fur growing on them and- Were turn turning into goat ears?
“This is a pretty straightforward change sir,” the Chronivac replied, “You don’t even need a Pro subscription for this.”
“Straightforward!? Bah! You’re changing my species Owen…!” Nate heard his toes start to clatter on the tile floor. This might be a change better suited for carpet…!
He quickly took a step toward the living room. His toes had started to darken and harden. With the next step, several of his toes had started to merge together. The next step simply had two large masses of black keratin. Finally his stride shifted. Nate bounded onto the carpet as his feet finished shifting completely into hooves.
“What the…?” He tapped one of his hooves curiously. His balance faltered for a moment, but he felt something flicker and suddenly his stability was back again.
These hooves were all new, but he knew exactly how to stand on them. It was a little disorienting not being able to feel his toes… or the carpet for that matter. The scruffy brown for around his ankles started to expand up his legs as he settled down.
“This is astounding Owen!” Nate looked down at the device. The progress bar was more than halfway done.
“I don’t want to startle you sir, but most people want to know when their tail grows in,” Owen replied.
“My tail…? Baah!” Nate let out a startled bleat. He quickly started spinning in place, trying to catch the stubby appendage. He missed the fur creeping up his knees, or the hair on his chest taking on a fur-like texture. The fur continued to creep up his thighs, the overall structure of his legs shifting into something distinctly not human.
He did finally stop spinning when the fur crawled up underneath the loin cloth.
“Baah, wow, that’s new-“ he started to stammer again. He tentatively reached down to explore the change.
He was cut off by a small beep, “Change complete sir.”
“Baah! Holy Pan, that actually worked! I’m a satyr!” Nate experimentally took a step forward on one of his hooves. When he didn’t immediately fall over, he quickly started bounding around the room.
“I take it you like your changes sir?” The Chronivac asked.
“You’re kidding right? This feels incredible!” Nate laughed. He couldn’t stop rubbing his hands over his body. His fur felt so nice! He liked teasing the curly strands- and he had a tail! Despite his best efforts to try and control it, the goat tail just kept flickering happily behind him. He explored his horns and ears some more, and it was all just… perfect.
This sort of change is exactly why he got the Chornivac. He still couldn’t believe this was all happening…! And that it wasn’t some big ordeal! He couldn’t stop exploring his house on his new legs. Owen seemed to have given him a perfect set of satyric muscle memory!
Nate finally clopped over by his front door and stopped. His shoes were still sitting where he’d left them. His gym bag was resting by the door as well. Nate could see a dirty pair of gym shorts with no accommodations for a tail poking out of the top.
Then it dawned on him. He was a satyr in a world full of humans.
“Umm… Owen…?” Nate slowly clipped back over to the device, “What if someone sees me like this?”
The device showed a thinking indicator, “I’m not designed to answer complex hypotheticals sir. They would perhaps scream? I recommend telling others you’re wearing some sort of elaborate costume.”
“Baah!” Nate bushy eyebrows jumped, “Oh man, this was a really bad idea. We should turn me back? Right?”
“I can do that sir,” the Chronivac’s voice remained calm despite Nate’s increasingly anxious state, “I also have many features that would assist in this situation. Perception filters, reality alteration, etc. Would you like a quick tour through my feature set?”
Baah! The Chronivac had turned Nate into some half-human creature of legend, and it was trying to pitch him on a getting started tutorial!? Nate needed to figure out what he was going to do, and fast!