The drive back to Samantha’s house was quiet and uneventful, and was mostly spent holding hands. Ethan was caught up on deciding whether or not to share with Samantha what had transpired in the theater, since she obviously seemed to not be aware of it. Was it maybe better to just leave well enough alone?

All in all, what he decided was that what he’d seen didn’t change his view of Samantha in any sort of negative way. If he were to tell her, she may become upset, or feel like he’d intentionally violated her privacy. It might not be the right decision, but it was one he could live with. And, he thought, one that can keep tonight going as fun as it had been.

Samantha, on the other hand, spent the ride preparing ideas for what to do once they got home. There were a few things she’d had running in the background on her computer that she wanted to check the progress of as well; things that could make this week all the more interesting.

As they pulled onto Samantha’s street, Ethan asked, “Does it hurt at all? When you change?”

“No.” Samantha had been expecting a question along these lines. “There’s not much that you really feel. If there’s an instant change, like when I shrunk seven inches in the parking lot and my giant fucking ass ballooned out behind me, yeah, I felt those changes.” She paused as Ethan parked the car and snickered. “But the height change is more a sense of vertigo. When you made my butt bigger, though…”

“What?” Ethan stepped out of the car and went around to open the door up for her.

“Well, I have a great way to describe it, but it’s kind of gross.”

“Hit me.” He took her hand and helped her out of the car, letting her walk in front of him to the doors. It was a lovely home, and far larger than his. He suspected the tour he’d gotten earlier had been truncated by their lack of time, and he looked forward to seeing what the second floor of her home was like. Primarily the bedrooms.

“You asked for it,” laughing, she fiddled with her keys to open the door, “well, it’s kind of like when you have a really big poop.”

“What, because it’s your butt?”

“No, smartass. Let me finish.” The door opened, and Ethan thought he saw something blur across the floor, and he remembered her skittish cat. “It’s like when there’s a lot of pressure inside you, and then it releases. You instantly feel different, better, but you didn’t really feel ‘wrong’ to begin with, you know? There’s just a big ol’ shift and then things settle, and you can feel it all, but it doesn’t hurt. It’s just… I don’t know.” She shrugged as she set down her purse and closed the door behind them. “It’s a shift.”

“That’s… a really interesting way of putting it.” Ethan shrugged off his coat and hung it by the door. There was a quiet moment as he looked at the room again.

They stood in a large, spacious living room. The floors were carpeted, and were left mostly open save for a large leather sofa and a media cabinet with a TV mounted above it. A yoga mat sat rolled up in the corner of the room, and a ceiling fan spun lazily above them.

“Make yourself at home.” Samantha smiled as she took off her shoes, now even shorter than she was before.

“You’re so damn cute.” He held her in a tight hug, letting his hands slip down her back and rest just above her ass. She didn’t remove them.

“And you…” she tapped his chest, “have to give me back my tablet now.”

With the tablet in her hands she ran off into the house. “Bring your luggage in and meet me in my office!”

A lustful sigh escaped his lips as he watched his girlfriend’s rear as she left the room. Taking a deep breath, Ethan went out to his car and grabbed the suitcase he’d packed. He didn’t have much, just a couple changes of clothes, toiletries, and his camera and laptop. Hopefully he’d still be able to get some work done from home this week, even if he wasn’t supposed to be on call for actual shoots.

After lugging his suitcase inside, Ethan took Samantha’s advice and made himself at home, leaving his shoes at the shoe rack near the door. He didn’t know where he was going to be staying, so he just opened the suitcase in the living room and grabbed his favorite shirt, a dark v-neck, and changed into it. Trusting that Samantha wasn’t going to walk in on him, or at least wouldn’t care if she did, he changed into a pair of joggers. He ran his toes through the carpet, admiring the feel of the soft material. Samantha certainly had a nice place, and he was excited to see the rest of it.

He zipped up his suitcase and walked down the hallway, trying to remember where her office was. The hallways were pretty clean, evidence that she’d only recently moved in, though a few photos and pictures lined the walls. Ethan took a second to whistle in admiration at a large, autographed portrait of Dan Marino in the hallway.

“I didn’t know you were a Fins fan.” He called out.

“Only since forever.” Came the reply from the office. Using her voice to help triangulate the room’s location, he was able to arrive quickly. He found her sitting at her desk, hunched over her computer and tearing away at the keyboard. Spreadsheets covered one monitor, while the other was filled with a loading screen that was sitting at 99%. Whatever she was rendering seemed to be nearly done.

She’d changed out of her dress and had apparently undone the different transformations he’d placed on her. A tight pair of blue yoga pants hugged at her now thinner hips, and she wore a comfortable zip up over a white spaghetti-strapped top.

“Took you long enough, Girlfriend.” She didn’t turn to look at him, but rather pointed at the small pill bottle she’d shown him before. “Take one.”

“Uh, yeah. About that.”

Samantha spun around in her seat, a look of worry on her face.

Ethan held his hands up. “Whoa! I’m still going to do this, I just need to know how these work, first.”

The relief was instantaneous on Samantha’s face. “Oh, yeah.” She grabbed the bottle and tossed it to him before turning back to her computer. “The nanites only last for two weeks, as a security precaution, hence the larger bottle of pills. I have a few more permanent ones, but those are locked up. You can program saving points for them to revert you back to before they shut down, if you don’t want to go back to your original body, and the saving points can only be saved by the individual. Is that enough for you?”

It answered the majority of his questions, but he was still a little nervous. “Will I feel anything? And how long does it take to start working?”

“Like, when can changes be implemented?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, first, they don’t hurt to take. You may feel a little lightheaded for a minute or two, but they get in the bloodstream pretty quick and spread all over. You’ll have to take one of these, too.” She haphazardly tossed another pill bottle over her shoulder, which he struggled to catch. “Those pills are basically ‘food’. The nanites will multiply by themselves over time if they need to, using body fat or food you digest to do so, but charging them up with one of those pills helps to give them a really great head start.”

“What happens if I don’t take this one?”

“You’ll get the worst case of the munchies you’ve ever had.”

“Note to self…” he smiled and pulled up a chair. “What are you working on?” He didn’t know if he liked the smile that spread across her lips when he asked that.

“Oh, just a few quick updates.” Samantha replied slyly. “This over here, though…” she pointed at the loading screen on her other monitor, “this is what I’m really excited about. I’d hoped it would be ready before you got here, which it wasn’t, but I think it’ll be wrapped up in the next few minutes.”

“And what’s that?” he said as he unscrewed the cap on each bottle. The nanites sparkled in the dimly lit room, almost of their own accord. Considering the sparkle he’d seen run over Samantha’s eyes during changes in the past few hours, he figured that’s exactly what it was.

“Not ‘what’.” Samantha smiled as Ethan downed the first pill and then the second. He coughed a bit and nodded in thanks when Samantha handed him a glass of water. They were a little rough to get down, but he could feel the effects within seconds. There was a little wave of vertigo that lasted for about two minutes, during which he leaned forward with his head in his hands. Samantha patted him on the back a bit until he offered her a thumbs up.

“You ready to start playing?” Samantha asked.

“Playing what?”

Before Samantha had a chance to answer, there was a loud ‘ding’ from her computer speakers. The loading screen on the righthand monitor had reached 100%.

Squealing in excitement, Samantha ran over to the computer and entered in a quick command.

“What was that, again?”

The second monitor faded to black before becoming populated with a new menu screen that Ethan hadn’t seen before. He watched as Samantha dropped open a SUBJECT menu and selected both of their names, closed the menu, and selected UPLOAD in the bottom righthand corner.

“Wait! What is this, Samantha?”

“I told you, Ethan. Not ‘what’,” she smiled and spun her chair towards him, “the better word would be ‘who’.” Looking off into the distance, Samantha called out, “Holly! Introduce yourself, please.”

Ethan gasped as he heard a voice as if it was right next to him. It was soft, feminine, and young sounding. He saw a picture in his head of a pretty young woman sitting in a chair, looking at him with a smile.

“Hello, Ethan. I’m HOLLY, your friend and A.I. CHANGE Integration System. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

The picture in his head changed, and Ethan had the impression the girl was holding out her hand.

“Go ahead,” Samantha said as she stifled a laugh. “Say ‘hello’.”

“Hello?” Ethan said and held out his hand. The girl reached out and took his hand, and he felt her hand on his. It took everything within him not to immediately snap his hand back.

“Holly is an AI system I adapted in order to work the CHANGE app wirelessly. She listens to your thoughts and can help implement changes you need.” She stood up and walked toward him. “She can also access the part of your brain that registers sight, so you should be able to see her pretty soon.”

Ethan watched as the girl in his head counted down on her fingers.

Three.

Two.

One.

She appeared in front of him, as real as Samantha was. Except she was a hallucination.

“Not a hallucination. Not technically.” She said. “More of an ‘augmented reality’ system.”

Ethan looked between his girlfriend and this new A.I. before smiling. “This is really, really fucking cool.”

Samantha jumped up and down a little bit in excitement. “Come on!” she took his hand and led him toward the living room. “It’s time to play!”