Jeff ran downstairs and into the kitchen. Normal teen hunger is something to behold but Jeff was ridiculous. A jar of peanut butter, a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, three bowls of cereal, half a cold pizza, several cooked chicken breasts, and a half hour later Jeff was still hungry but no longer ravenous.
"What was that Great?"
Jeff's mind went fuzzy for a second, "I cannot identify that as any type of recipe in particular, I believe you would simply call that a snack."
"No Great, I mean the volume of food, I have never been that hungry in my life."
"I noticed your body releasing a particular hormone when I ate your fat cells earlier. I anticipated that would be a signal from your body to encourage you to replenish them. While you were sleeping, and based on your goal of not being..." Great was searching Jeff's mind "... puny, I created more of that hormone to help us both grow stronger."
"Why don't I feel full yet and how can my stomach hold all that food?"
"I am assisting with the digestion process. Most of the food has already been removed from your stomach, the nutritional value is skipping your bloodstream and I am holding it in preparation for your muscular system."
"You can digest food for me?"
"I can. I can also synthesize nutrients your body cant naturally produce and I can direct nutrients to specific areas of your body."
"That's all wonderful Great but could you turn down the hunger a few notches? I want to buff up but it doesn't all have to happen tonight. I can still be a little hungry though, dinner is in an hour and a half or so."
"Of course." With that Jeff's appetite immediately dropped as though someone turned down the knob on a stereo.
"So, you might as well use some of that nutrition you gathered. We should focus on you first because you are probably going to need to act as my clothing soon here and I may need you to modify my appearance every now and then. The stronger you are, the better you can make me."
"If you are sure."
"I am"
Great sounded hesitant, almost sad about being given priority. It made sense, Great isn't fulfilling his purpose when being ordered to take care of his needs. Great's desire to serve and please Jeff is programmed to be stronger than any butler's or even Great's instinct of self preservation.
Jeff went upstairs feeling the extra weight for the first time. It wasn't anywhere in particular but he felt it when he put his arm on the banister or lifted his legs to take a step. He went into his room and worked on his homework during this time he didn't have any communication with Great and Jeff actually forgot all about him.
At 5:20 Mom came home and began making dinner, Jeff was beginning to feel hungry for more food and had just finished with his homework. He decided to go online to pass the time until dinner was ready. Turning on the laptop and waiting several moments for the OS to load everything into memory, the Chronivac program popped right up as that was the last program used before the PC was put to sleep. The emitter chirped, begging to be put back on the charger, to which, Jeff obliged.
Jeff remembered Great was there and that he had some questions. "Great, do you remember being Ryan?"
"Not really. No. I remember being lost and without purpose. I remember finding you, and yearning for you to embrace me. I remember you reaching out and accepting me, but I don't remember being Ryan."
After a moment of mental silence, Jeff inquired, "Are you happy Great?"
"I'm only happy insofar as I can serve you, earlier you put your desires on hold to cater to my needs. I understand that it was the most efficient thing for you to do but feel shame in that I have delayed you, I can feel that you are eager to move forward with working upon yourself."
"About that Great, when do you think you will be able to maintain a full outfit for an entire day?"
"Now. I utilized most of the nutrition myself per your instructions. I have excess mass to maintain a relatively significant appearance alteration for you, including body and clothing, for an extended period of time. Some of the nutrition I absorbed was specifically for you, like the calcium for your bones. May I direct the remaining nutrition towards you as I originally planned?"
"That's excellent news Great, and yes so long as you are at full strength. Do you mind if I test what you can do?"
"Not at all, it is my purpose to serve."
Jeff stood up and walked to the mirror in his room. He barely noticed his dad coming into the house."Okay Great, I'm going to challenge you quite a bit right off the bat and see how you maintain it, then I'll work my way down to find your limitations. Sound good?"
"Ingenious."
"Alright." Jeff stripped out of his clothes. "I'd like to be wearing a black business power suit with a white shirt and a blue tie."
Jeff's skin began to become coated by a clear excretion which slowly took on form and then began to take on color. When the process was finished Jeff looked very well dressed in a suit that appeared to be tailored perfectly to him, upon feeling the cloth Jeff was unable to tell that there was anything special about it and the shirt and the jacket felt like two different materials.
"How long can you maintain this appearance?"
"Indefinitely, assuming you eat or drink every few days to provide me sustenance."
"Okay, then lets make it harder. The suit looks great but I don't seem to fit it very well, could you make me look and sound 25ish and maintain the suit."
"Of course!" Great seemed excited by the challenge and Jeff felt and watched as his jaw muscles expanded and reformed to give the appearance of adulthood. When he smiled there were a few small wrinkles under his eyes and when he raised his eyebrows in surprise there were wrinkles on his forehead.
"I like it but still look like a kid who maybe spent too many summer days in the sun which gave him wrinkles. Add stubble then tell me how long can you maintain it?" Jeff asked aloud, not yet used to the telepathy, his rich, adult, baritone voice resonated out like it was always there. Small hairs started to poke out from nowhere and soon looked like a natural growth of a few days.
"I can still maintain this indefinitely with you consuming nutrition every day and a half. It may be prudent to tell you that since my first attempt, I have learned how to access the nutritional stores in your body and bloodstream. Everything will depend on how often and how much you replenish yourself."
"Oh, two last requests then. First, make me look buff and tell me how often I'd need to eat."
The suit changed only slightly by pushing out at the chest. "Eat till you are full daily"
Jeff rubbed his face admiring his growth, well, not his, but still. "Great, could you make this real?"
"I can mimic natural facial hair growth if that is what you are asking."
"No, I must be close to growing facial hair. Could you please stimulate my hair follicles to grow a beard like this by themselves?"
"Ah, certainly."
Jeff looked at the whole picture he had created, he looked like a short, young, business man. He could be a lawyer, or a car salesman but the point was he no longer could pass for a 13 year old.
"Could you remember this as my 'business look'?"
"Yes, I believe I can."
After playing with a number of looks Jeff was called down to dinner.
Before heading down he asked Great to drop all the age and muscle effects and dress him in blue jeans and a plain white tee shirt. Jeff realized that he wanted to discuss things with his parents openly (and maybe even get their opinion on a few appearances) but he didn't want them to freak out, so he went to the Chronivac and pulled up their profiles. As he had read the manuals to program Ryan's changes he knew all the tabs to go to get just the right effect. In less than a minute he had reprogrammed his parents to be open and accepting of anything that he says, does, or looks like, as though it happens all the time and is completely normal. The only flaw Jeff could see with this is if they didn't realize it was him to begin with then they may not be able to accept it as normal, but he didn't have time to account for everything, it's dinner time, he could tweak them afterwards.