“Remember that dragon dimension? That was so cool.” Ryan said, then leaned back in one of the comfy chairs scattered around the game room.

“I agree. This dimension seems like a step down compared to the last few.” I commented, and lined up my next shot.

David was looking out a small brass porthole at a smoke-filled sky. “Personally I love this dimension. It’s all steampunky. Even our ship became a giant blimp.”

“I like the clothes!” Ryan piped up, “They make me feel all fancy.”

I hit my initial target, the six ball, into a hole, but in doing so, accidentally knocked one of David's balls right to the edge of another hole.

I sat down in one of the soft chairs as David took his turn.

“What do you think the next dimension will be?” I asked.

“A sci-fi dimension would be awesome. Imagine a giant space cruiser like in Wall-E.” Ryan said, gesturing as if to indicate something large.

The intercom crackled to life, “Good evening passengers, this is your captain speaking. We will reach our next jump location in five minutes. You should probably sit down because this is going to be a wild one! As usual proper jump safety conduct can be found on those little informational posters around the ship. Have a good one!”

David hit his ball into a hole, saying, “What kind of captain ends his broadcasts with have a good one?”

“The best kind of captain, that’s what,” Ryan replied.

I rolled my eyes and took aim. Four minutes later the game ended.

I sat down in one of the extremely soft chairs and asked, “you guys ready?”
David offered a yup and Ryan chimed in with a “This is so cool. I can't wait for the next dimension.”

The speaker crackled to life once more. This time an automated voice saying, “The Traveler will jump in thirty seconds. All passengers are advised to remain seated during the transition.”

I leaned back into my soft chair, and observed Ryan’s excited bouncing with mild amusement. David was gripping the handles of his rocking chair. He had found the last few jumps slightly nauseous.

“All hands, prepare to jump,” the speaker said one final time.

The airship rumbled as if it had been struck by some massive object. Grass popped up from the floor, soft and green. My feet sank into the floor as wooden planks were replaced with dirt.

I looked over at David, who had scales sporadically springing up all over his body. Ryan had long feathers all down his arms, like wings, but the wrong bone structure.

I looked down at myself to see if I had changed as well. I discovered that my hands were gone, replaced by grey paws. They were not very flexible but had sharp claws and black-spotted fur. I looked up just in time for my chair to disappear. It didn't sink or dissipate, it just vanished as if it had been deleted from a powerpoint slide.

Grass rushed towards my face, and I got a mouth full of dirt. I spat the dirt out, right before my mouth became a muzzle. It didn’t grow or stretch, or any of the other words one might use to describe when someone gained a new body part. It was just there, teeth, tongue, and everything.

The next thing that I noticed was the wall. It was dark grey, but looked natural, almost like a shell. I pulled myself up, discovering that I had not just two, but four paws. I was still on all fours, but my it felt like standing would be way less comfortable now.

I turned around to see what was happening to the others. A dark grey something flew past my eyes. Distracted, I twisted to see what it was. A tail. I had a tail again. Sweet.

Two other creatures shared the compartment with me. A large snake, and a small parrot. They both looked just as frazzled as I felt. The room smelled different now too, almost like we were inside a cave. The door leading to the rest of the ship was a simple red curtain. The porthole had become a large glass window. Which covered the entire exterior wall.

Distant white-tipped mountains fell into dark green hills then lighter plains. As I stared a massive knee rose into view. The ship rocked slightly as it set back down. We were still moving. To the right, I could see a massive head attached to the front of the ship. It slowly turned, taking a deep breath. The room pushed slowly outwards.

“I’m a parrot!”

I turned away from the window to find Ryan hopping up and down excitedly. He was mostly blue, with a yellow belly and a black beak.

“Animal world?” I guessed.

“Looks like it.” David hissed. He was a large snake, covered in black and brown splotches.

Half of a second later a koala popped into my mind. It looked directly at me, surprise breifly painted its face, before it recovered and said, “I told you this one was going to be wild! We’ll be here for five days before we reach the next jump location, so have some fun with your new bodies! Captain koala out!”

Just as it had come the vision vanished.

“Shall we check out the rest of the ship?” I suggested.

“Fine by me,” David responded, slithering over to the curtain separating the small room from the hall.

“I can't wait to see what the pool looks like now!” Ryan exclaimed.