It’s a pilot program for prisoners who we’ve deemed to be unredeemable. With the massive overcrowding of our prison system, it simply is becoming too cost-prohibitive to keep the long term prisoners behind bars, and so, we’ve begun offering this as an alternative punishment–volunteer only. Of course, they don’t know precisely what they’re volunteering for, but if they did, well, we wouldn’t have any volunteers now would we?

We suppose they figure out that something strange is going on when we strap them into the chair. We keep them immobile, because the process requires several oral and subcutaneous injections over a series of days, and the early test subjects always had to be restrained once they discovered what was happening to them. I suppose if we could find some way to work the mental changes in first it would all work better, but alas, the order is too difficult to flip.

The first injection is perhaps the most insidious. The patient generally doesn’t think anything is happening at all, but they all notice that slight tingle in their groin as their cock and balls begin to shrivel up. They don’t disappear entirely–the lack of testosterone is necessary for the remaining steps–but it does come with some side effects, usually a loss of musculature and body hair over the course of the treatment, as well as an increase in appetite. The second stage comes in a series of three doses, administered over a series of days. It relies on the lower testosterone levels to remove any inclination toward violent or unruly behavior from the subject–but again, these shots have their own side effects.

The most obvious is the rapid aging–usually around an additional fifty years or so. The second is severe memory loss–it’s become necessary to fabricate lives for all of our volunteers so that they can live some kind of normal life in the nursing homes they end up in, but none of them come out of it very smart. Still, they remain rather healthy, living ten or fifteen more years before their hearts give out or severe dementia sets in. Still, it’s a far more peaceful life than prison–and far cheaper for the state–even if it’s not the life they would have wanted.

***

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I suppose I should feel sorry for him, he is my son after all, but he’s the one who couldn’t bother to be an honest man when he grew up–no, he went the way of all those thugs at his school, dropping out, smoking cigars, getting tattoos, theft, drugs–such a disappointment. But I gave him a chance–I let him stay the night, but was sure to point out the new gold statue I’d picked up on my last business trip to China.

Sure enough, the next morning, he was gone, and so was the statue. Of course, the statue wasn’t just any statue–I’d saved a wealthy client of mine from a business scam, and as thanks, he’d given me one of his family’s treasures–a way to swap ages with someone. I mean, my Chinese is a bit poor, I’ll admit, and I had him repeat it several times to make sure, but that’s what he said. Well, I’m getting on in years, and I can make better use of his years than he will.

***

Fuck–what the fuck happened? I was this fuckin’ rich ass businessman and now I’m some fat fucking truck driver? That’s not the way that fucking statue was supposed to work! It was supposed to switch our ages, not our fucking lives. Fuck, I need a cigar–oh fuck, that’s better, mellowin’ me out. I gotta find my son, I gotta set this right. I’m gonna get that fucking statue back if I have to steal it myself.

One Change #2 – Unpredictable

Making changes in the past and seeing how they shifted the future was a bit hard to anticipate. Sometimes, the smallest, apparently insignificant change would escalate into massive, unforeseen consequences, and other times, the biggest changes could have the smallest of impacts in the long run. Take Mr. Bradford Jenkins, for example.

A man of distinction and class, a paragon of his community, and quite the upstanding gentleman. In particular, he was known as quite the orator, and had used his influence as a local and state politician when he was younger to try and improve the world. Now that he was retired, he was actively involved in community theater, and loved volunteering at the library, reading stories to children. Out of curiosity, perhaps–I don’t think the Changer intended him harm–he decided to give Mr. Jenkins a debilitating stutter in his youth. A small change, but it was a very different man who walked the earth a moment later.

The new Mr. Jenkin’s had been terribly handicapped by his new impediment, doing poorly in school, and never going to college–instead getting a job in a machine shop, where he only had to take orders, not give them. His social life was equally impeded, and he never moved out of his parent’s home, spending his time masturbating, and growing very fond of games and fantasy worlds which he could involve himself in without speaking. He was now known around town as Jinx–it was said that if he spoke to you, only bad luck would follow.

On the other hand, sometimes the greatest of changes would produce the smallest of effects, or spring off into other territory entirely. Such was the case with Wade.

Wade was not a man who had ever done much good in the world. A lazy, slothful character, he preferred to lounge about and watch TV than be involved in the world around him. Perhaps in trying to do him a favor, the Changer decided to try and give Wade a hand up. Stretching the limits of his power, he removed Wade’s uncaring and frivolous nature, and replaced it with determination and resolve, expecting to see a very different man emerge. In fact, quite the opposite happened–Wade grew even fatter, his hair filthier and longer–it was as though he had grown worse, not better.

In fact, Wade had liked being a fat slob–the determination and resolve given to him was directed towards these desires, and Wade had now spent his life as a true gainer–doing everything in his power to become the fattest man in the world–and at 600 pounds, he was well on his way there. He’d made many contacts in the gaining and encouraging world, and he had a bevy of men and women sponsoring his diet and helping him achieve his dream. I’m sure the Changer was glad Wade had found a purpose for his life, but had probably hoped it would have been more beneficial to the rest of the world.