The closest dairy farm was a few miles away. It was there that the Chronivac began working. After all, it had a big job to do.
About twenty five heifers were locked in a pen together, with only two cows with them, who were not currently producing milk. None of the bovines actually had names. They did have unique numbers on the tags that had been attached to their ears, for tracking. They never would have names. This wasn't the sort of farm where the owners gave them such.
It was there they stood on all fours as the Chronivac started making adjustments...ones that would be reproduced around the world. The heifers were not even a year old..within a few months, they'd have been old enough to breed. But...that wasn't to be their fate anymore.
Even at this age, they were still around 800 pounds, eating the feed that had been brought to them. But, suddenly...they stopped, not interested in the feed anymore. It began in their stomachs as they merged to form a single one...and spread to their teeth, some of which grew pointier...better able to rip their food.
At a fundamental level, the heifers turned into omnivores...and as their instincts shifted to that reality, their skulls started to grow...the brains inside shifting. As this happened, and their IQ got a major boost, several of the heifers began to look around critically...as if thinking about what they were seeing. The somewhat blank expressions on their faces became a lot more animated.
The pounds started to melt away...some of them became downright skinny as they did. There was a variation of body types as well. The changes accelerated as their skeletons began to reform...growing longer hind legs, as the hooves on their forelegs split, morphing into four fingered hands.
The heifers rose to their new feet as the skeleton changes completed, making them bipeds. Subtle changes continued to their biology as the bovine lifespan increased, turning 11 month old heifers into 12-13 year olds.
But they were still nearly identical...despite the evolution...there was no one home upstairs...until there was. The ear tags vanished, and one by one, clothes appeared on each of the heifers...t-shirts and shorts.
Eleanor blinked, and looked around. Something had just happened, she was sure of it. She adjusted her glasses and looked around at her gym class. Her mind told her that everything was normal...just a bunch of heifers playing dodgeball. However...there was...
A ball suddenly hit her in the side of the head and she lost her train of thought to a bunch of feminine giggles.
"Pay attention, Eleanor," her teacher scolded.