Rain intentionally kept the details of the various transformations she'd been responsible for vague. 'After
all,' she figured, 'no reason to give away any more info than is necessary. Someone might read it and decide
to change things back. I'm not sure I want to go back yet...really, all I want to know is if that's an
option. If so, great, options are always a good thing. If not...no biggie." Rain looked down at herself -
examining her breasts, her hips, her pale, perfect skin. She was curiously unaffected - as if the male
portion of her mind was holding less and less influence over her behavior.
'Huh. I guess it makes sense - men and women have different brain chemistry - I guess it was only a matter of
time before I started to get used to this being ME, and the synapses and hormones in my system adapted
accordingly.' Rain tried to conjure a mental image of Danielle and Misty acting sexy, dressed in skimpy
clothing, and to her credit, she began to get slightly aroused - but only slightly. And that was suppressed
by a much more urgent feeling of wrongness. 'These are basically my sisters...they're attractive enough, I
guess. But this body must be attracted to men...' Rain wasn't bothered by this fact - after all, she was an
attractive woman, and women are normally attracted to men - but the (rapidly shrinking) remainder of Sean
tried to knock that idea out of her head.
It was at that moment her inbox 'dinged!' Rain opened the message with more trepidation than she was
attempting to feel.
'Hello Rain Blackfeather,
My name is Joseph (or rather, it was) and I was an employee for TransDem Labs - developers of the Chronivac
Software and Emitter Hardware. Specifically, I was involved in the programming and design aspect of the
software. I understand you've had a bit of an accident with the product, and I want to offer some advice
before you make any drastic decisions.
First, I need to point out the following - you need to understand how immensely powerful the product you
received was. Without advanced degrees in software engineering, biology, and theoretical physics with an
emphasis on string theory, it would be nigh impossible to explain to you exactly HOW the Chronivac works.
That said, despite some built-in safeguards, you can virtually change anything about an individual person,
from a small nuance to their entire life, and everyone they know and everything in between. From a purely
ethical standpoint, this could be viewed as anything from playing God to committing murder. TransDem Labs
avoids this ethical quandary by monitoring the usage of all their products through a permanent connection made
between the host IP and the main servers - should a user violate the terms of service, an agent is usually
dispatched to correct all changes and collect the software and hardware.
However, based on what you told me, I can deduce the following:
1) You've damaged the Emitter, but no agent has arrived to collect the unit. You've gone online and messaged
me, so your internet connection is working. This means that Chronivac 4.0 must not connect correctly on every
system - yours included. Meaning that, while the program and the emitter was working, TransDem wasn't
monitoring your use - as far as they're concerned, you haven't even gotten the package yet.
2) The Chronivac Failsafe Code, however, IS working. In the event of catastrophic software or hardware
failure, this failsafe creates a field around you (and anyone changed by you), filtering your perception with
that of an alternate universe wherein TransDem labs doesn't exist, and the idea of a Chronivac is merely
fiction. The reason you were able to find my post and we're able to converse about it is because I too am
having my perception filtered through that same alternate universe. For good measure, the failsafe code also
erases any trace of the program from your system and clears your browser cache. Dumping a glass of water and
killing your system would qualify as a catastrophic failure.
So, what's this mean for you? Well, first, the bad news - you're stuck this way. I hope you picked a form
you're fond of, because it's going to likely be you for the rest of your life. Since TransDem wasn't
monitoring, there's no way they have a backup of your original profile, and the failsafe code would have
erased it.
The good news? This may sound of small comfort, but being stuck as you are really isn't so bad. The failsafe
code alters the perception of everyone you come into contact with so they only remember you as you. Moreover,
it sounds like your profile was closed when the crash happened - a Failsafe worthy failure with an open
profile leads to unfortunate complications.
I'm not going to lie to you - when we tested crashing the program with an open profile, a lot of our test
subjects were subjected to some horrible outcomes. Some people wound up turning inside out, some turned into
adult-sized fetuses, some had their memories completely erased and wound up vegetables. Others still wound up
becoming monstrous abberations of human beings - chimeras of different people, animals, extra-dimensional
beings, etc. Some blinked themselves out of existence, and some, under the weight of such massive reality
altering energy, collapsed into themselves, being piles of semi-sentient jelly. We did what we could to set
all of these people right, but a few were past saving.
Then, there were those who didn't have immediately noticeable changes...these, in my opinion, were the
scariest of our test subjects, because neither they nor we realized the power they wound up inheriting until
after they found a way to manifest itself. Some of it was real super-hero stuff - flight, x-ray vision,
advanced healing, telekinesis, things like that.
Some of it was far scarier. Some of our subjects wound up having their profile cross-link with the Chronivac
Master code. We had a few subjects who wound up involuntarily taking on the characteristics of whoever or
whatever they spent time around. People melded with chairs, with pets, loved ones. Others wound up trading
aspects of their physicality and personality with people they touched. Some could alter the minds and
perceptions of people, changing memories (and reality) how they saw fit, simply by having a conversation.
Some people became Cloners - they would wind up completely and instantly overwriting another person with an
exact copy of their profile, down to the memories and mannerisms just by touching them. When we found out
about it, we could fix the Cloner, but the Victim was gone forever. In my opinion, the Cloners were the
scariest, because their victims were completely overwritten - there was no profile to go back and fix or
change,
Finally, we had one person become a living Chronivac - by enacting sheer force of will, he was able to do any
and all of the above to himself and others. Thankfully, his mind remained intact, and he's used his power
responsibly...for the most part.
I tell you this so you'll exercise more caution in the future. Especially with something of this power and
magnitude.
Good luck to you, Rain. I hope you enjoy the life you've made for yourself.
Joseph(ine).'
Rain began breathing heavily, reading and rereading the last several paragraphs. 'Did I close all the
profiles before getting up? Did I close ANY of them?'