The brown cardboard package arrived on a quiet Tuesday morning, slipped through the mail slot of Binder Bros, a small, independent store nestled between a tattoo parlor and a vegan café. The owner, Noah Reyes, wiped his hands on a flannel rag and blinked at the unfamiliar label:
Sender: TransDem Labs
Contents: Chronivac 4.0 – Handle With Care
Noah frowned. He hadn’t ordered anything. No invoices, no previews. Just a plain box that buzzed faintly, as if holding a small secret.
Noah ran Binder Bros with pride—a store by and for trans men, stocked with quality binders, STPs, mustache wax, affirming books, and patches that read “He/Him, Don’t Assume.” Customers often dropped in not just for gear but for the conversation, the warmth. Noah was a listener. A mentor, sometimes. And quietly, he’d been feeling… stuck. Not unhappy, just static. He’d transitioned years ago, got top surgery, changed his name, and made peace with his past. But something about the future felt paused.
He opened the package carefully. Inside: a matte-black CD-ROM, an oddly retro touch; a sleek silver emitter, like a minimalist remote; and a USB stick that gleamed like chrome under the store’s hanging Edison bulbs.
There was no manual. Just a post-it note:
"Noah – Good luck. The world’s about to get more fluid." – TDL
Curiosity trumped caution. He booted up the old Dell in the office behind the store counter, inserted the CD-ROM, and waited as a glowing blue interface appeared.
Chronivac 4.0
[Scan Target]
[Edit Self]
[Edit Others]
[Program Emitter]
[Advanced Mental Alteration Tools]
A chill ran through him—not fear, but potential. The interface felt intuitive, almost like it could read his thoughts. He hovered over [Edit Self], then pulled his hand back. Too fast, he thought. This is big.
Instead, he selected [Scan Target], turned the emitter toward the mirror on the wall, and let it scan his reflection.
Subject: Noah Reyes
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 155 lbs
Eye Color: Brown
Hair: Black, Wavy
Species: Human
Orientation: Pansexual
Known History: Transitioned at 24. Top surgery at 26.
Mental Identity: Considers self fully male. Confident but contemplative. Secretly nostalgic about missed boyhood.
Editable Parameters: [Expand]
He stared at the screen. Secretly nostalgic about missed boyhood. How could it know that?
He clicked [Editable Parameters], and the screen exploded into sliders, checkboxes, and options:
[Age Slider – Physical: 32 → ____ ]
[Age Slider – Mental: 32 → ____ ]
[Perception of Past: Aware → Believes always this way]
[Gender Identity – Fine-tune experience (puberty type, social exposure, etc)]
[Height, Muscle Mass, Hair Distribution, Voice Depth…]
[Emotional Core Traits: e.g. Sensitivity, Humor, Courage]
[Add “Alternate Realities” Timeline Option?] ✅
The possibilities were endless.
And just as his mind began racing—thinking of friends who had expressed dysphoria, customers who had whispered about what they would’ve been if born elsewhere, other times, other lives—the bell above the door jingled.
A teen came in, hoodie up, binder peeking out from beneath a too-loose t-shirt. Nervous eyes met Noah’s.
“Hey,” the teen mumbled. “You got anything for someone still figuring it out?”
Noah looked from the screen to the kid. Then back to the Chronivac.
He smiled. “Yeah. We’ve got a lot of options.”
But this time, he had something else too. And just maybe, the world was about to become more affirming, one click at a time.