"Yeah," several voices stated the moment Lucy asked if they ought to reach out and get in touch with Jennifer, and looking at them, she waited for one of them to offer a phone number. When none said anything, Lucy commented, "Umm, anyone know what her number is?"
The girls looking at one another with a questioning look on their face, Diana finally supplied, "I know what she lives, as I was supposed to meet her either there or on the way here."
This not helping, as none of them thought Lucy's aunt would allow them to leave, Lucy sat down on her bed to think of what to do as the others milled about. Wanting to know why Jennifer had been sent home, they each considered the reasons why, but nothing of what they came up with seemed plausible. Minutes slipping by, Tanya enquired after some time, "Do you think the Chronivac might be able to tell us anything," and when the others glanced over at her, she said, "I mean, isn't all of our information somehow stored in the software?"
"I don't think it'd be a good idea to go snooping around, and learning personal details it'd be up to Jennifer to tell us," Natalie replied, to which several voices agreed.
With a shake of her head, Tanya explained, "No. What I mean is, maybe the Chronivac might be able to tell us, since we already know where she lives, what her phone number is," and several speculating how they might get such information without going through the whole profile, Lucy offered after a bit, "Why don't we try the keyboard shortcut keys which allow a used to search for stuff in a document. I mean, wouldn't they be universal?"
None of them, except Lucy, even knew such shortcuts existed, and with a huff of, "Don't any of you type things using Word," she stood, headed out of her room, and toward the home office. Sitting down before the computer, pulling up Jennifer's profile, she ignored all of it as she tapped “ctrl+f”. Not expecting anything to happen, as she was using a keyboard shortcut key intended for different software, Lucy was surprised when a dialogue box popped up. Hearing her friends enter the room, she typed in "phone", and when this didn't work, she tried "mobile" "number" and after giving it some thought "telephone".
Crowded around her, the others, upon seeing she wasn't having any luck, offered "cellular" "cell" "horn" and even "landline" among others. When it was clear none of this working, Lucy closed the box and commented, "I guess, either they don't have any phone service set up, or the Chronivac cannot tell us this information," and getting up, she looked to her friends for suggestions.
"We'll probably have to wait until Monday and get a hold of her at school," Natalie volunteered after a bit, and most agreeing, they decided to headed back to the living room to finish the movie.
Everyone except Diana leaving, she waited a moment until she was certain they had gone back to the living room. Not wanting to wait the weekend, she stole back across the room and sat down at the computer. Pulling up her profile, thinking, she began to type. Switching her species to bat, she watched as a greyed-out box became available, and scrolling through the options of “Indiana”, “Townsend Big-Eared”, “Yuma”, “Little Brown”, “Cave”, “Egyptian”, even “Vampire”. Selecting "Flying Fox" then "Golden-Crowned" as it seemed the largest, she went over the information now available. Altering the mindset to eight-five percent human, fifteen percent bat, Diana figured this would be the safest way to keep her human self in charge, but still allow herself to understand how to behave like a bat. Checking the size, seeing it was 30 centimetres, she did the conversion, and increased it to sixty-five to be on the safe side. Adjusting the weight to accommodate her new size, she then worked with the programme so she could still communicate with other bats, but also had the ability of human speech. Setting the awareness so she and her friends knew of the change, she saved the new pre-set.
A quick search of the desk drawers, and wondering how much time she had before the other noticed she was gone, Diana hastily scribbled a note explaining what she was doing. Folding it, she printed the names of the other girls on it, left it by the computer, and got up to open a window. Making sure the screen wouldn't be in the way, she stole across the room and listened at the doorway. Not hearing anyone coming, she shut the door and hurried back to the computer. There, she thought about it a minute, then proceeded to undress. Folding her bib-overalls and bodysuit, she set the stuff on her shoes, which she rolled up and stuffed her socks in. Standing naked in front of the computer, she reached out and initiated the transformation.
Pressure washing over her as it seemed as if she was being squeezed downward, Diana gasped as it as seemed as if someone was pulling on her face. Eyes bugging out as her ears moved to the top of her head, an itching sensation washed over her, and as fur began growing over her body, her face began pushing outward. As this happened, her arms thinned and a membrane began to grow in, connecting them to her body. Shrinking, weight dropping, Diana blinked and before she too small to do so, she scurried as fast as she could up onto the desk. Her change taking no more than a minute or two, it wasn't long before where the naked girl had been was now a very large megabat. Looking out at the world, seeing everything from the perspective of a flying fox, Diana took a minute to adjust herself to what she'd become. The mind the biggest hurdle, as the bat wanted to leave, to go find fruit to eat, others of her kind, she struggled against her new instincts as she also worked out how to use her new body. Understanding slow to come to her, she chirped out, "Was not expecting this," and glad with the confirmation she could still speak English, she turned to the open window.
Able to smell the night and the myriad of smells coming with it, she was almost overwhelmed by them, and, in the process, lost herself to the part of herself which was a fruit bat. Making a sort of hopping, fluttering, scrabbling motion toward the opening, she took a moment to regain control and establishing dominance, before taking a deep breath, and sure she was doing the right thing, pushed herself out the window. Flapping her wings, it took her a bit to work out how to make her them work, but once she'd done this, though she’d almost crashed into the ground, as well as a nearby tree, Diana the bat headed in the direction of Jennifer's place.