Jeff stared at where the screen had been for a long time after it vanished. Had he read that right? A horse?
Suddenly, he wasn't floating in midair anymore, but rather standing in a small wooden room, the floor covered
in straw and horse manure. There was a half door that let in some light from the stable, but otherwise it was
dim.
Jeff first thought that the room was getting smaller, but then he realized he was getting larger. Much
larger. His body twisted and turned, almost light it was inflating with each breath. He found his hands
vanish as the same time as his feet, replaced with hooves that seemed to get bigger and bigger. As an iron
horseshoe appeared nailed to what had been his hands, he felt his balance shift and he fell forward to his
hooves. Over a couple of minutes, he turned his head to watch his brilliant black mane and hair grow in.
Then things felt like they paused for a split second, and then started. It was only that moment when Jeff
realized that the world had been utterly silent up to this moment. Now, his new ears flicked this way and
that and he could hear the sounds of a stable in the pre-dawn hours: other horses breathing in their own
stalls, rats scurrying under the floorboards, a few night birds cooing quietly in the night air outside.
Jeff took a moment to look himself over in the very dim light. It was hard to tell, but he knew he was huge,
basically a draft horse, and male. He had memories that were easy to call up of carrying a large man on his
back in heavy armor. The man, he recalled, was heavy but easy to carry even for hours. They had gone on
several quests together.
Jeff stomped a hoof in frustration. He had set the Chronovac for a full year of this! What was he going to
do?