"Hey, Jake, have you seen my iPod?" Dan asked his brother.
Dan and Jake were identical twins. So identical, in fact, that they had to wear different necklaces for people to tell them apart. Even
their parents got confused quite often. They looked the same, sounded the same, acted the same, and even thought the same. They
could even "read" each others' minds because they knew each other so well. They had the exact same friends, the same hobbies, and
they were both in the same sports. They were best friends and did everything together. The only difference between them was the
different necklaces they wore. Jake wore a wolf tooth necklace while Dan wore a Chinese coin necklace. It was the only way for most
people to tell them apart short of wearing name tags.
And, of course, as twins they shared a birthday. That's what was going on right now. Their parents were taking Dan and Jake to do
their favorite thing for their birthday. They were driving from their home in Virginia Beach to the scenic mountains of West Virginia. They
had a camp up there where the boys could hike, explore, and do pretty much anything. But before they could leave, they had to pack.
Jake thought for a moment before he replied, "I think you left it—"
"On the desk," the two twins said in unison.
Sure enough, the music device was sitting on the work desk the boys used for homework. Dan grabbed the iPod along with their
videogames and laptop. This week was going to be nonstop fun! Exploring the woods all day and staying up to play video games at
night! What more could a 15-year-old boy want?
After packing their clothes, toys, games, food, and a week's worth of whatever they thought they would need, the Bronson family was
ready to go. They loaded up into the family's SUV and headed west.
After five hours of driving, the SUV pulled up to the Bronsons' cabin. The cabin had a full first story with a kitchen, living room,
bathroom, and bedroom. It also had a loft room where the twins slept. To the young boys, the loft was like a super-secret cave where
they could do whatever they wanted. The cabin was well-insulated, so anything short of screaming couldn't be heard downstairs. Up
there, they could talk like all teenage boys talk when their moms can't hear them.
The cabin was part of a larger campground, but the sites were a good 100 yards apart on either side. Furthermore, their camp was the
last in the line, so they only had one neighbor.
As the Bronsons drove down the dirt road to the cabin, they saw that said neighbors were also at camp. The Kaisers were a family of
five. Mr. and Mrs. Kaiser lived up by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and each of them had busy lives. Their oldest child, Kate, was 18 and
extremely hot. She was captain of her school's volleyball team and her class's valedictorian. This was her last summer vacation before
she went to college. Jason, the middle son, was 16. He was a handsome kid on the highschool football team and his grades were pretty
much the same as Kate's. He was fun to hang around with, but sometimes he tried to act too much like an adult. Marcus was the
youngest at 15, the same age as the twins. He was their best friend apart from each other. Marcus was athletic like his siblings, and
smart too; but not to the extent they were. He got honor roll all the time, but he definitely wasn't the top of the class.
Jake and Dan were excited to see that the Kaisers were there. While their neighbors came up almost every weekend in the summer, the
Bronsons only came up once or twice, usually for whole weeks. Even when their vacations coincided, they only got to spend a few days
together. So as soon as they got unpacked, Dan and Jake ran to the Kaiser camp to see Marcus.
"Hey! If it isn't the twin terrors!" Mr. Kaiser answered the door. "Marcus's mom just started supper, though, so you'll have to wait to see
him. But I'll tell him you guys are here and he can come over once he's finished. Okay?"
"Okay, sir!" Jake replied.
"Thanks, Mr. Kaiser!" Dan added.
The two went back to their own cabin to find that their parents had finished unpacking.
"Back so soon?" their dad asked.
"The Kaisers were about to eat supper," Dan answered.
"Well, so are we," their father replied, "Your mom went down to the office to check in, so she'll be back in a while. I'm going into town to
pick up Chinese food for supper, since you two like it so much. Unless you wanted warm hotdogs as your birthday dinner. Will you guys
be alright by yourselves until your mom gets back?"
"You bet, dad!" they answered together.
Their dad took the SUV and drove out of the campground while the twins went inside. They began to unpack their clothes and games
when there was a knock on the door.
Expecting it to be Marcus, they ran downstairs to answer the door; but no one was there. Instead, a large package lay on the cabin's
porch. It was addressed to Dan and Jake Bronson.
"How did anyone send us something up here?" Jake asked.
"I don't know," Dan replied, "Nobody knows who owns these cabins."
"It's addressed to us, though," Jake reasoned.
"Yeah, let's take it up to the loft."
The twin boys brought the box up to their loft and opened it. Inside was a CD, some cables, and a remote-like thing. There were also
instructions. Reading them told the twins that the CD contained the program Chronivac 5.0 which could scan anything you chose and
transform it into anything else.
"Looks like a game someone wants us to test," Dan suggested.
"Yeah," Jake agreed, "Looks like a high-tech avatar maker or something. Wanna try it out?"
"Sure, why not?"
They plugged in the laptop and put the CD in. The program took a surprisingly short time to load. Then a screen popped up requiring
them to plug in the remote (the instructions called it an emitter) and scan themselves. They did so and saw two new screens pop up.
One had an image of Dan and the other was Jake. However, both pictures were naked.
"Whoah," Dan exclaimed, "How did it do that?"
"Maybe this isn't a game," Jake said, "Maybe it's something porn makers use."
"Cool," they said together.
The instructions said that they could change themselves in any way imaginable.
"Let's change your character first, Jake!"
"Okay!"
They maximized the screen with Jake's picture on it. It was exactly like someone had taken a picture of Jake without any clothes on.
underneath the picture was a box with all of his stats on it and below that was a list of change options.
Name: Jake Bronson
Age: 15
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 165lbs
EyeColor: Blonde
HairColor: Blue
BodyType: Swimmer
BodyHair: None
Genitals: Penis—5"x1.25", Testicles—1"diameter
Sexuality: Straight
"Okay," Dan started, "What do you want to change about your character?"