It was as if he awoke from a strange and long dream. Blinking in the early morning light, Cooper looked at his bedroom as he tried to separate the dream, of which he'd been a pure-blood male beagle, from the waking world. His mind insisting it hadn't been a dream, how he awoken hours earlier outside next the family dog, Nikki, had trotted inside, and as he'd morphed into who he now was, he’d stumbled through the house until he'd reached his bedroom, at which point he entered, crawled into the bed, and fallen back asleep, he was troubled by how real it all was. Sitting up, pushing away the top sheet covering him and climbing out of bed, he peered at his room a moment longer before he walked across it, out into the hall and toward the bathroom.
The call of nature strong, he kicked off the sleeper shorts, and without a second thought as to what he was doing, sat down on the toilet to relieve his bladder. Still thinking of the dream, trying to convince himself it had been a dream and nothing else, Cooper finished, wiped, made sure he was done, stood and flushed. Stepping over to the sink, he ran the water to wash his hands, and as he finished, he glanced into the mirror. Studying his reflection, he shut off the tap, reached for the nearest hand towel to dry his hands, and as he did, he muttered, "It's all a weird, long dream. I know who I am, what I am," as he continued to examine the person in the reflective surface.
Skinny and rather feminine looking, the boy he saw could have easily been confused for a girl with short, cinnamon blond hair. Glancing down at his torso, taking in the pale pink, almost invisible nipples, Cooper glanced at his privates as he took in the rest of his appearance. Seeing a human boy whose penis was lower than normal, so low it was almost between his legs, and a scrotum, empty, as he'd been born without testicles, thinking about how, at the age of ten he stood about four foot ten, he again told himself, "It was a dream. I know what I am, a boy," before turning away from the mirror and sink. Scooping up his shorts, he pulled them back on and exited the bathroom. Heading back to his bedroom, deliberating whether he ought to go back to bed or go find breakfast, he entered his room, and was about to shuck off his sleeper shorts again, then go get dressed for the day, when he saw his laptop and the flashing message, "Timer: 0:00:00".
Not certain what it meant, he sat down in front of it. Dragging the mouse to various points and clicking, nothing happened to explain what it meant. Closing the dialogue box, he found himself looking at his profile. Memories surfacing of how he'd opened the programme last night for the first time since he'd gotten Chronivac and pulled up his profile. Not knowing what it could do, he was surprised when it not only gave him a detailed bio-layout of who he was now, but also, after a bit of digging, displayed information of the type of person he'd grow into. Clicking to bring up the information, he followed what he remembered as he re-read his sexual orientation, when it manifested, would be asexual, his max height and weight would be five foot three and a hundred and twenty-three pounds, and if he had an issue with how people often confused with a girl now, it'd be nothing compared to when he got older. According to the programme, his body would develop further the feminine traits of a soft, feminine voice, pinched waist, pronounced hips butt and thighs, round female face, full hair which grew quick and would stop a little way past the midway point of his back, among other attributes, with the one exception being he would not grow breasts, all giving him the appearance of a flat-chested woman. Going over this and other things, like how his penis and scrotum would never get any bigger than it was, and he'd always have a genitals comparable to what a newborn to infant had, he drummed a thin finger on the desk as he mulled over all of what he saw and tried to sort out what the timer had been for.
For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why the timer had been pulled up. Wondering if it was glitch in the software, he stood and searched about for the disk, thinking if he could find it, maybe there would be an instruction booklet with it. Not finding it, he muttered, "Screw it," in a voice which many, himself included, thought made him sound like a girl. Sitting back down at the laptop, he considered altering his profile, changing himself so he looked and sounded more like a boy. Unbeknownst to him, the person who'd he used to be, Lisa, had foreseen this, and as part of her self-imposed punishment, she'd taken steps to make sure the new profile could not be altered. Quite a few of those coming into play now, and Cooper closed his profile, missing as he did how, at the age of thirteen, he'd start having involuntary transformations into a pure-breed beagle once a month, would remain so for four or five days before becoming human again, and would be hounded by these changes for the rest of his life.
With a series of clicks, he opened next the profile for the family dog and a secondary profile for a girl of nine years. Tomboyish, a year and four months younger than him, he re-read all what was printed depicting who she was and would be. Memories surfacing of how he'd always wanted a sibling, preferably younger than him, Cooper thought, if the programme could do as it said, making Nikki his sister would be the best choice he'd get. Unknown to him, it had been Lisa who had also set this up, and manipulated it via the Chronivac so it'd come to be. Clicking on things, following what he assumed was his own decisions, and not knowing they were choices already decided for him, Cooper sat back after some time, satisfied by Nikki's new profile. Getting up, he stretched, listened to the silent house, and not hearing anything, he stole across his room. Pausing at the door, he cocked his head a moment before creeping into the hallway and down it. Keeping an ear out for his mother, Cooper made his way slowly through the house, not sure what he'd say to explain what he was about to do as he opened the back door.
The early morning June area cool, but promising to grow hotter, the boy stepped out onto the stoop. About to call for Nikki, he didn't have to as the bitch came bounding across the yard, barking and yipping. Telling her, "Quiet girl," he hugged her and did everything he could to get her to settle down before leading her inside.
Back the way he'd come, Cooper led the canine through the house and into the storage room across his bedroom. Instructing her, "Sit," then, "Stay," he made sure she would before he went to fetch his computer.
As fast as he could, he disconnected the power cable, made sure the camera atop it was still plugged in and working in-sync with the one built in, then headed back to the other room. Setting it on the floor, saying, "Stay," to Nikki when she whimpered and tried to come closer, Cooper aimed the laptop at her. Taking a deep breath, believing he was doing the right thing, he glanced at the profile, noted how, at the last minute, he'd added in the option of how Nikki would have to ability, starting around the age of twelve to, at will, turn herself into a beagle and back to a human, with the ability at first being an involuntary change.
"Until she learns to control it," he thought as he tapped a few commands, made sure everything was ready, gave the family dog a final look, and hit execute.
The effect instantaneous, it was hard to stay who was more shocked. With a surprised yip, Nikki stood and began to pace back and forth. As she did this, her body began to transform. Having forgotten to adjust the discomfort levels, Cooper could tell she was uncomfortable, and wished he could do something to alleviate what she was going through as he watched as her muzzle melted back into her face and her wet black nose became a pale, peach-coloured small protuberance of a young girl’s nose. Head morphing as her jawline change, Nikki barked out in discomfort, a noise which quickly turned into a gasp, and reaching up with a front paw transforming into a hand, she rubbed at her now lower jaw in attempt to relieve some of what she was feeling as her bone structure went from that of a four-legged beast to a two-legged creature. Seeing this, watching as she pushed herself upward to stand on two tottering legs, her back paws becoming feet as her tail regressed, Cooper collected his laptop. Believing it would best to give her some privacy, not wanting to see her without fur, he told her, "I'll be waiting in my room, if you want to talk, or have questions," before hastily exiting the room, which had also started to change from a place of storage to a bedroom of a nine-year-old girl.
And as Cooper returned his laptop to where he normally kept it, then went to get dressed, Nikki's transformation started to speed up. Forelegs cracking, becoming arms, as her back legs finished their change into the legs of a human female child, it was a but a matter of minutes before what was standing in the middle of the bedroom was a fur-covered girl of nine, and even this didn't last. The fur regressing back into her body, Nikki whimpered as her mind sped through several millions of years of evolution and she gained first sentience then intelligence as she aged from four in dog years to nine in human. Memories of growing up human, of it being just her, her mother, and her older brother, forming as the years of being a dog faded, Nikki glanced about her room. Seeing her bed, dresser, vanity slash desk, toy box, open closet full of clothes, and remembering everything there was to recall about the room, including hours of playing, sleeping, being sick, among other things, the final thing to come into being was her memory of having woken moments ago. Glancing at the bed, wondering why she was standing naked in her room, the girl of nine headed for her dresser. Recalling how mommy had told her it wasn't appropriate for a girl to sleep naked, she began to go through her dresser and look for underwear, a shirt, and a pair of boy's black cargo shorts.
Across the hall, inside his room, Cooper, now dressed, waited to see if Nikki would come talk to him. Re-reading his profile, again wondering if he ought to alter anything, and still unable to bring himself to do so, he noted how the only hair he'd ever have on his body was what was on top of his head and two thin, barely-there eyebrows, like what he’d seen in Nikki’s profile. Curious also to know where the disk had gone, as he'd made another bid to search for it, Cooper figured it couldn't be helped.
"If it's lost, maybe it's for the best," he thought as he went through his profile again, catching this time the uncontrollable change he'd be forced to confront in three years.
With a sigh, figuring it was who he was, and it shan't do any good to change himself, feeling he'd done enough already, again, a by-product Lisa had installed, Cooper closed the Chronivac software. Hungry, hearing his sister's bedroom door open, he stood. Stretching, he glided across his room, oblivious to how his movements where like those of a graceful ballerina. Stepping into the hall, seeing Nikki for the first time as a human, though his mind insisted he’d always seen her as such, watching as she ran a hand through her short, cinnamon blonde hair, he wondered if he should say something. The two instead sharing a look between them, the brother and sister smiled at each other, and knowing momma wasn't up yet, they headed for the kitchen to get breakfast, then to the living room, where they'd spend the morning watching Saturday Morning Cartoons.