A Chronivac Christmas

“To the guy who deserves a break. From: Your Secret Santa”


Mason scratched his head in confusion. Bumping into a package outside his dorm wasn’t something he normally expected. Neither was having a secret Santa for a gift exchange he definitely didn’t remember joining. After all, with his busy academic life he didn’t have much time for social gatherings like that. “I guess tis the season,” he muttered to himself as he opened the package. Finding the small parcel surprisingly heavy.

Inside was a small flash drive and a note. It read:

"Dear Mason,
You are such a talented and hardworking individual! I’ve seen your papers on particle physics, your dissertation on the local effects of climate change, and even your social psychology experiments around campus. If there ever was a king of the nerds, it’d be you! But you spread youself way too thin. That’s why, I have a very fun present for you. Plug in that flash drive and a program will launch on your computer. It’s called the Chronivac. Normally it has the ability to alter reality for the user! Yours will be able to do that too, but I also pre-programmed a special action for yours. You’ll seen. I hope you enjoy!”

After he read the note, Mason arched an eyebrow. He’d heard rumors about this so called “Chronivac”. His natural skeptical mind, wrote it off as myth, since no story he’s heard about it explained how the machine was able to perform all of these feats. Then again, he had not a lot going on for today, so he decided to insert the heavy flash drive into his computer.

At first nothing happened, but then his screen flashed suddenly and a bright blue screen read, “Chronivac Installation Complete. Initializing programs. Starter function found. Initiating transformation in 3...2…1…”

Before Mason could even say, “What?” a flash filled his room. Mason found himself blinking, as his eyes adjusted to the normal lighting of the room. That experience would have been alright, but it was shortly followed by an intense warmth that overtook his body. Each individual skin cell surrounding his body seemed to pulse with heat at differing degrees.

The heat was so intense it almost felt as if his own form was becoming more fluid… more malleable. His normally average sized feet grew inch by inch, stretching out his socks to the point of near tearing. This was followed by a painful stretching of his legs. An agonizing tearing sound could be heard as Mason closed his eyes with discomfort. He couldn’t tell if the sounds were from his growing and stretching tendons or his now too tight pants. Next he found that his torso was widening, a powerful athletic chest taking the place of his once shallow unassuming pectorals. His shoulders broadened and became reinforced with muscles that seemed to spread to his now solidly built arms that had to be at least 20 inches. His head even felt like it was changing as his normal buzz cut seemed to grow out into a short jock cut.

“Beep. Physical transformation complete. Beginning reality change.” came his computer.

Soon the room around Mason began to change. His once small on campus apartment seemed to extend into a spacious loft filled with sport memorabilia of all kinds. A signed baseball replaced his 1st edition comics. Football equipment replaced his lab equipment. Even his picture accepting several academic rewards, now showed him raising some sort of large trophy above his head as a team of muscular men cheered behind him.

Much to his relief, his clothes also seemed to be changing… and disappearing. Soon he found himself in nothing but a pair of loose fitting athletic shorts. As a mirror materialized in front of him he stood there wide eyed and shocked.




He ran a hand along his angular jaw in complete disbelief, unintentionally flexing his newly formed bicep. Ridges of muscles he didn’t even know the human body could portray, now stood proudly on his very handsome form.

“Reality change complete. Transformation duration: Till the new year. Please enjoy the rest of the chronivac at your leisure.” Came the computerized voice.

Suddenly memories of playing on the school’s baseball, football, and swimming team surged through his brain. In this new reality he was still pretty smart and busy, but now it all seemed to be applied towards athletics, strategies, and ways of being the life of the party.

Mason could only smile. Since this wasn’t going to be a permanent experience, he saw no reason why he shouldn’t enjoy it. He knew he had a Christmas party to go to and a Secret Santa to thank in this reality. That’s exactly why he copied the Chronivac on to his phone and headed out. There was a great big world filled with overly stressed out people like him. And now, they had a very handsome jock on his way to help them!