The idea of this being possible seeming ridiculous, Theodor almost shut down the programme. But, wanting to at least try, he pulled up his information. Seeing first his sex and gender, he left it alone. Changing his name to Kris Blythe. he dropped his age down to five. Watching as his height and weight automatically adjusted to forty-one inches, thirty-eight pounds, he continued. Making subtle adjustments to the profile, Theodor made it so the boy being potty trained, nor a bedwetter, as well as adding interests and disinterests, friends, and being close with and protective of his younger sister, Felicity Blythe. Seeing an option for awareness, he set it, after some thought, so only he was aware of the change, made the shift to becoming Kris slow, taking place all whilst he slept, lowered the discomfort ratio, and when he saw a new option to determine if the change would be permanent, he selected 'No'. Scrolling through, checking over everything, the last thing he did was set the timer for 24 hours.
Finished, he hit the save button, then the clicked to initiate the changes. Not sure what to expect, he minimised the programme, yawned, stretched. Seeing it was almost midnight, he was glad tomorrow was Saturday and he didn't have to work, and turning off the computer monitor, he exited the home office. Heading for bed, he undressed, pulled on a pair of pyjama bottoms, climbed in next to Marissa, and immediately sank into a set of weird dreams.
As he dreamed, the Chronivac programming went to work. Discovering things had been altered, the software checked everything, made adjustments where it could, then set to work doing as it had been instructed. Reality warping, next to Marissa Blythe her husband began to shrink. As this happened, parts of his body began to morph and adjust to match the changes happening. Moaning slightly in his sleep, which caused Marissa to respond, Theodor started to turn transparent, then, after some time, he disappeared. Reappearing elsewhere in the house, his changes completed as reality altered further to accommodate Felicities new sibling. In the office, the software blinked, almost as if it was having difficulty with something, but then it corrected, made an adjustment, and continued on.
Unaware of this, Theodor sank further and deeper into sleep. Weird dreams of his childhood muddled with people he was certain he knew, yet felt he didn't know, giving way, he didn't wake until Felicity leapt on his bed, squealing, "Come on, Kris. Get up."
Confused about this, he wanted to tell the girl to get out of his room, but couldn't bring himself to do so, as there was something which insisted he shared a room with his sister. Feeling conflicted, listening as Felicity continued trying to get him to get up, Theodor rolled over. This causing Felicity to exclaim, "Come on. Cartoons are on," before running from the room, he stared blankly at her before extricating himself from the top sheet and comforter wrapped around him. Getting out of the child-sized bed, he stared with the same blank expression at the Hello Kitty sheets and comforter as he waited to fully wake up.
It suddenly dawning on him what he was staring at, Theodor looked around the room, then down at himself. Whispering, "No, no, no, no," he tore across. the room, down the hall and toward the home office.
Relieved the office still existed, he plunked himself down in front of the computer and booted it up. Kicking his feet back and forth, causing the white nightgown he was wearing to swish about, Theodor tried not to think about how cute and comfortable the garment was, nor how pretty the pastel butterflies printed on it were, as he pulled up his profile. Seeing it, he groaned when it confirmed what he already knew, which was he'd become a five-year-old girl instead of a boy of five. Not wanting this, he scrolled down with the intent on cancelling the timer and reverting the changes, but stopped when he saw the timer had also shifted, and instead of twenty-four hours, it now counted down from twenty-four weeks.
Barely able to work out he'd be stuck for five months as Kristina ‘Kris’ Blythe, Theodor pushed a lock of long hair back and tried to work out what had gone wrong and what he ought to do.