Brad completed the preliminary programming.
Name: Brad Rivera
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 175lbs
Build: Lean
Status: Married
Sexual Preference: Gay
Penis size: 6.5"
Occupation: Physicist
Brad could have added more items to the menu or set up entire sub-menus, but he decided to keep it streamlined.
Hard as a rock in anticipation of the promised capabilities of the device, he set about reprogramming a menu for his first spin with the device.
After he clicked in his desired transformation, the device auto-filled much of the menu, a helpful touch Brad thought.
But he kept staring at the first line of the menu, the promised new identity of Musca Domestica, or the common housefly.
He eventually whittled down the sequence to the following:
Name: Musca Domestica
Age: 11 days
Gender: Male
Height: .25 inches
Weight: 10 micrograms
Aware/unaware: Aware
Duration: 10 minutes
He figured that, at the very least, he had minimized the chances of something going awry with his 10-minute duration.
He was almost set for his first test when he had to set aside the device to open the backdoor.
Russ didn’t bat an eye when a shirtless Brad opened the door. Brad, on the other hand, blinked rapidly when Russ shoved a basket of produce into his hands.
“Do you like zucchini?” The big man asked. “I’ve got bushels of it. It’s producing like gangbusters.”
“We eat squash,” Brad managed. He always got tongue-tied around the big Black bear of a man.
What neither of the men noticed was Tommie, the sleek Siamese feline that belonged to neighbours Paul and Ivan. The cat liked to wander from yard to yard, having a trusting and inquisitive nature. The cat ducked under the kitchen table as Russ made his exit.
“Well, I didn’t want to take much of your time,” Russ said. “But I’ll bring more squash in a few days.”
“That will be nice,” Brad said, relieved when he was able to close the door.
Still rather bothered and breathless, he retrieved the device. After one last scan, he placed the device on a flat surface, selecting the uncluttered surface of the kitchen table.
According to the instructions, he would be automatically restored in 10 minutes or, if some sort of emergency arose, he could make contact with the emitter bulb to immediately resume his human form.
“Here goes,” Brad said, eschewing any grandiose speech, before he pressed the designated button.
After the change, he felt unbelievably light. As buoyant as the surrounding air that gave lift to a pair of buzzing wings. All told, the feeling gave him an awesomely euphoric high.
The buzzing of his new wings remained a constant background noise as he flew around the room, marvelling at the sheer scale of everything now that he had adopted the body of a housefly.
A quick detour to the kitchen counter revealed to him his reflection in the polished stainless steel of the toaster’s exterior. He looked hideous— absolutely alien. He buzzed, equally transfixed and repulsed by the reflection of a fuzzy, dark, spiky, six-legged housefly.
“That’s me!” Brad thought, incredulously, with an extra buzzing of his wings.
Putting a sudden halt to his excitement at his new form was a loud screech that chilled him to the core.
“Merowww!”
Brad’s strange faceted eyes locked onto the monstrous feline, tensed on four legs, its own nearly incandescent eyes fastened onto him.
“Where the hell did you come…Ahhhh!”
The cat leaped onto the counter and batted a paw toward Brad’s buzzing form.
Brad had the advantage of flight, but the cat went berserk, literally bouncing off the walls and furniture as it went wild in its pursuit of the buzzing sound. A stack of envelopes and a ramekin that had been washed and dried but hadn’t been stored on its shelf in the cabinet went flying.
After a wild space of no more than 30 seconds, the cat moved onto the kitchen table, twisting and turning constantly to monitor the flight of the buzzing thing.
Brad remembered the failsafe and made his way toward the device. When he was almost within reach, a heavy paw connected with his tiny form and batted him away from the device.
The assault hurt. He felt bruised and dazed.
“Meroww!” The cat shrieked.
“Go away,” Brad buzzed, taking flight and trying again to reach the device, only for the cat to swipe him away with another bat of its paw. The feline’s reflexes were incredible and even with the fly’s dexterity, Brad couldn’t get past the feline.
As he hovered and watched the cat, he watched the creature lift a paw and give it a quick lick, repeating the process with the other paw.
“This is my chance!” Brad buzzed, zipping toward the device.
In an instant, the cat sprang back to full alert and leaped through the air like a furry missile in the direction of the buzzing sound, colliding in the process with the device and sending it off the edge of the table to crash onto the unforgiving floor.
The device sparked a few times, putting the scent of ozone into the air before it gave up the ghost.
A tiny winged insect hovered over the wreckage as an unpleasant reality began to sink in.