Firstly, to test the veracity of the letter on the first page of the book, he decided to start small. He took a pencil out of his backpack, thinking that if the book actually worked, he would want to use a writing implement that permitted editing. He turned to a fresh page and wrote on the first line, "I can only speak backwards. This change will go into effect upon closing the book." He put down the pencil and shut the book, wondering if he'd be able to feel the change. Josh waited fifteen seconds, but didn't feel any different. He sighed in disappointment. "Dog timmad," he said. "Namd eton saw lluf fo tihs." He clapped his hands over his mouth in surprise, realizing that the change had occurred after all. "Yloh tihs," he said to himself, taking his hands down from his mouth. "Eht gniht yllaer skrow." Josh reopened the book and erased the sentence he had written. "Am I good?" Josh asked aloud. He nodded and said, "good". He put down the pencil and sat back in his chair, contemplating the ramifications of having a book that could change reality with only a few strokes of a pen. "Damn," Josh thought, "I have the entire world at my fingertips..." He sat there for a little bit, wondering what he wanted to change about the world first. Josh finally reached an idea, picked up his pencil, and started writing. When finished, it read:
"Everyone on earth is a windup clockwork doll. Everyone will have a large key coming out of their backs. Each full rotation of the key equates to a full 24 hours of activity. The most any key can be wound at one instance is 7 times, which is a full week. When the key fully winds down, the person goes limp and become dead to the world; they can't see, hear, or even think. While wound, sleep is unnecessary. The material of the key will depend on the person's rank in the new society. On the bottom there are the workers, who do all the dirty and menial jobs. They have no autonomy whatsoever and are constantly being wound to make sure that they keep going. They only have a mind for their jobs. An apt comparison would be assembly line robots. Their keys are made of tin. The next tier is the office workers who have a little more autonomy than the workers. They make sure everything in the world is running smoothly. They are also wound constantly so they keep at their jobs. Their keys are made of silver. The next tier is the police, who make sure the menial workers and office workers keep at their jobs, which is all they can do because there is no more crime. They have a decent amount of autonomy. Their keys are made of gold. The next and final tier is the ruling class, who have 100% autonomy. All they do is loaf around being served by lower-tier dolls. Schooling is easy and everyone is incredibly smart as they automatically have all the knowledge they want, which is a lot. Their keys are made of platinum. I am part of the ruling class. The general appearance of everyone is as follows: The face is porcelain with glass eyes with workable eyelids. There are bright red spots on everyone's cheeks and their mouths look like that of a ventriloquist dummy. Everyone's hair is solid brass and is made and painted to look like their respective hairstyles and colors. No one is wearing any clothes, for everyone is painted to look like they are wearing their favorite outfit or the outfit necessary for their job. The elbows, wrists, shoulders, knees and ankles are on ball joints and the neck is on a swivel joint. Everyone's voices will have a metallic note to them. Everyone will move methodically and mechanically, but freedom of motion increases the higher in the hierarchy you get. Reality-correct memories will take hold so that I'm not completely lost upon entering it. This change will begin the moment I close the book, but will occur over a span of five minutes."
Josh set down his pencil and shut the book, steeling himself for what was about to happen next. Firstly, Josh started feeling a bit of a breeze. He looked down at himself and saw that his clothes - a black long sleeve t-shirt and jeans - were melting into his skin. Next, he started feeling really heavy. Upon further inspection, Josh saw that he was becoming metal, probably bronze. He knocked on his chest twice, hearing an echo come from his chest. Josh then felt a strange feeling in his elbows, knees, ankles, and wrists as they turned into ball joints. His neck elongated slightly as it turned into a swivel joint. Josh then felt a discomfort in his jaw as his lips sealed shut and his mouth reforms into a doll's, lacking both teeth and a tongue. Next, his eyes became very dry as they changed from flesh and blood to smooth glass. Next, Josh's hair changed, taking on the same appearance as his natural hair. As his hair finished changing, Josh's movements slowed down until he stopped altogether. He slumped over onto the table with a loud, heavy thud. Although he couldn't see it, a large platinum key grew out of a hole in his back. It made three full rotations of its own accord and Josh felt a huge surge of energy course through him with each turn of the key. When the key started winding back towards stopping, Josh lifted his head and looked around. The few other people who had been in the library apart from him were now walking around with platinum keys sticking out of their backs, with the lone exception of the librarian, who had a silver key coming out of hers. He wondered why pretty much everyone was top tier before he remembered that this was one of the best colleges in the state of Illinois, and it only admitted top-tier automata like him. Josh just sat there, dumbfounded that the incredibly complex change he had written had come to fruition. About a minute had gone by before he heard a noise from right behind him. Its source was a tall automata with a silver key coming out of its back. Its "hair" was gray and was painted to look like it was wearing a 3 piece suit. This was his valet, DoSU J0N45. Josh wondered how he knew what this "person" was and that he knew that it had served him for the past 20 years, ever since he was first built. "Are you all finished here, Sir?" It asked him. Josh nodded and replied, "Yes, J0N45, I am. Let's go." J0-NA5 nodded and said, "Very good, Master Josh. Where are we off to?" Josh thought for a second before saying...