Jenna had to stop her car short of the garage. A giant crate was blocking the driveway. What could it be this time?

She grabbed her backpack and coffee cup off the passenger seat. Her car was getting messier and messier. And now she had maybe an hour to spend at home, grab something to eat, walk the dog, and then head back out to play tennis at 6. After that she was meeting a friend for a drink, but then both of them had grad school applications to work on. Life was a neverending blur of activities, and that was why she'd worked so hard to get here. Wasn't it?

In any event, her roommate Tori had a very different outlook on life. Hence the crate, inexplicably left in the driveway. Tori was very much a day-by-day sort of person. She didn't have a schedule, or a plan, but managed to tear through life at an amazing clip seemingly based on the force of her will alone. Jobs, friends, opportunities, lovers came and left on a constant basis. But through everything, Tori never seemed to change from the cheerful and energetic person she was. But still, she could be a handful to have as a friend, much less a roommate. Doubly so for someone who stayed as busy as Jenna.

"So what is that thing?" asked Jenna when she came in the front door. She dropped her coat over the chair and kicked off her shoes.

"I'm finding out now." Tori was on the computer, presumably finding out whatever the thing was.

"Where'd you get it?"

"Cyne-Drextel Laboratories."

"What?"

"Well, they were going out of business. There was an auction. That's where I got it."

"And who are they?"

"I told you, I'm looking that up right now."

"You bought it and you don't know what it is?"

"It was only two hundred dollars."

"Two hundred? Last weekend you didn't have a job. You get hired at a copy shop three days ago, and now you're dropping two hundred bucks on a 'something' from a 'somewhere'?"

"It was an auction. Everything is way on sale. At the very least, we can sell it on eBay."

"So what is it?"

"Okay. I think — Not sure about this, but I think it's this thing."

Tori passed her the computer. There was a website called "Mad Marty's Mad Science Supply" selling something called a "Nelson Matter Organizer Model #101"

The description read:

The Nelson Matter Organizer is the perfect solution for the budding mad scientist on a limited budget. The NMO-101 can handle a majority of NMO scripts, and requires only periodic refueling of Redifizer. All other materials are cartridged to minimize user maintenance and can be ordered from Mad Marty's or other suppliers. The NMO software can run on Mac or PC operating systems, and will soon be available for iPhone and Android platforms.

Many open-source NMO scripts are available at the following website:

Etc

Jenna handed the laptop back.

"Sounds scientific," she said. "Do you have any idea what it's for?"

"I think… it's for head changing."

"It's for what?"

"Well, I mean look at the pictures."

Jenna looked over Tori's shoulder as she pulled up various photos on one of the "NMO Script" sites. Alongside each downloadable

script was a photo of a person… well, a person with a different head.

One was a photo with a woman's body with the head of a cat. Scrolling down was a man with a robotic head, followed by a a woman with ridiculously large eyes. The pattern continued down the page. A man with his face upside down. A lady with feathers instead of hair. A girl with a grapefruit in place of her head.

"What the hell," said Jenna.

"Yea, really. You want to try it out?"

"Really? Are you serious?"

"Yea!"

"Tori, this can't even be a real thing. We don't know how it is, or what it even looks like."

"It looks like one of those hair-dryer things they have at the salon!"

"So you saw it?"

"Of course. Why would I just buy something without seeing what it was?"

"I … uh … nevermind. So it's like a hairdryer. Except it apparently changes heads."

"Yea. Help me take it inside, it'll only take a moment."

One 'moment' later they'd destroyed the crate with a crowbar. After this the two of them struggled to carry the contraption into the garage. The whole thing had taken almost twenty minutes. Jenna was starting to worry she'd be late to tennis. Guess the dog wasn't getting a full walk today.

It did resemble a hair-dryer in a certain way. Except that the bulb which encased one's head was covered in white plastic that you couldn't see in or out of, along with a shoulder rest that looked like it would lock in place.

Tori brought her computer into the garage and plugged it in, along with the mysterious machine. She started up the NMO software alongside the user-manual PDF.

"The participant should sit down and allow the NMO-101 to fit snugly over their shoulders. Okay, that's you Jenna."

"Why am I the participant? It's your machine, you should be the one to try it out."

"I am the one trying it out," said Tori, pointing to the computer. "Besides, I've just spent the past two hours reading about this."

"Two hours of training? It says it's a mad science machine! It's might turn my head into something."

"It's supposed to do that!"

Jenna just looked at Tori in open mouthed amazement.

Tori just grinned. "C'mon," she said. "It'll be fun."

"I…"

"I just want to see if it works."

"But what if…"

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"I don't even want to think about that now," said Jenna. She sat down in the chair and pulled the thing down over her head. "But if this thing works, I get to use it on you."

"Of course. That's why I got it," said Tori. "You ready?"

"I think so," said Jenna.

She heard an electric winding noise, the sound of something high-tech warming up.

"Hold on it's calibrating," said Tori. "Mmmhmmm. Okay. Now it says 'Contents Saved'. So we save that as … 'Jenna' and okay. We're ready."

"Wait a sec," said Jenna.

But then she felt it happen. A very hard to describe feeling overcame her. Everything had been dark inside the white case, but it somehow felt all the much darker. Sounds still came to her, but in the most distant way, as if she were underwater. Also of interest, she felt as though she wasn't breathing.

The white case rose away from her shoulders, apparently on its own. She became somewhat aware of the garage, in a general way she knew where objects were, but without 'seeing' them as one does through eyes. She simply knew where they were, indirectly, magically, who knew.

"Oh my god it worked!" said Tori, but her voice sounded so very far away.

'What worked?' she wanted to say, but felt no words form in her throat. No breath came from her lungs. Her tongue and her lips did not respond.

She had, after all, entered something that 'changes heads'. Her head had obviously been changed. But how?
Instinctively both hands attempted to find out.

She missed her head entirely.

Her hands instead came to rest on the smooth surface of her shoulders. Feeling around she found no trace of a neck, much less a head.

Tori meanwhile simply started to laugh. Doubled-over laughing.

"Oh my god, your head's gone!" Tori rolled on the ground.

Jenna didn't have a comeback. So instead she got out of the chair and kicked Tori in the ribs.

"Okay, I'm sorry," said Tori rolling over. She pushed herself off the ground, dusting off cobwebs and dirt. "That is just…"

Tori started giggling all over again. Jenna put her hands on her hips and then threw up her hands. She then pointed to her head and then to her wrist.

"Right, right. Got to be going, going, going. Okay, well I'll put it back, all right?"

Jenna gave an 'okay' sign. She got back into the chair and pulled the white bulb down to where her head … well where her head used to be.

"This better work," she thought to herself.

But then again, wasn't this kind of exciting? Sure, it was unexpected. But she didn't even have a head. A piece of her body that would almost anywhere be considered 'mandatory'. Poof. Gone.

And yet somehow she not only survived, but discovered an entirely new kind of perception. In the back of her mind — wherever her literal 'mind' may be — Jenna decided that this should not be the last time to try this out. She was always willing to try new things, so long as she could plan them out ahead of time.

Her head warped back into existence with a jolt. Bones and muscles rejoined in a feeling that was neither pleasurable nor painful, but was certainly 'intense'.

But as the whatever-it-was lifted off her, something immediately wasn't quite right.

For starters, she was looking at the back of the chair.

Jenna slowly climbed off, confirming that yes, her head really was on backwards. Looking down she had a view of the back of her t-shirt, followed by her ass. It made walking and balancing somewhat tricky. She made a shaky step backwards towards Tori, then turned around and with only a couple steps in the wrong direction started towards Tori.

Naturally, Tori was doubled over in laughter yet again.

"Put me back! I have a tennis game!"

"What if you play like that?"

"I would much rather play without a head."

"I can do that!"

"Or you can just put it back on right, right? You can do that, right?"

"I can, I can. I just messed it up that's all. I clicked a check-box that said "Reverse" figuring it would restore your head that way. But I guess it reversed it, and also restored it when I clicked the "Restore" button."

"Fine. Whatever you said. Do it."

"Okay. Hop in!"

Jenna got back into the chair. This had better work this time. And Tori better agree to walk the dog for her.

The machine hummed and died down. Again the orb of something lifted up. With a sigh of relief, Jenna felt her head apparently in the correct place.

"Okay…" said Jenna, finally allowing herself to smile. "That was actually really interesting, but I have to go change and then get to tennis, and then you need to do me a favor and walk Dexter."

"Wait," said Tori, "Before you go you have to do one for me."

"You … what?"

"I told you I just wanted to make sure it worked! And so now I want to try it out."

"So you didn't know and you just tested it on me?"

Tori shrugged. Jenna made a sound that meant both 'okay' and 'fuck you'.

"It's already loaded up," said Tori. "You just need to click the button that says 'Run'."

"Fine, fine. But I'm not figuring this out if it doesn't work."

"I mean we just tried it and it did, what could go wrong?"

Tori was already climbing into the chair. She pulled the … the NMO thing down onto her head.

"All right then," said Jenna. "Ready or not, I'm clicking it."

She clicked.

The machine made a "Ert" noise. That was pretty much it. The bubble of plastic slowly started to rise.

As one might predict, Tori didn't have a head. She did have a basketball. As the bubble slowly rose, it rolled off her shoulders and into her waiting hands.

"I do not even know what to say to you right now," said Jenna.

Tori just got out of the chair and started to dribble.

"Just sure to walk the dog, okay?"

Tori gave a thumbs up. Without warning she passed the ball to Jenna who just managed to catch it.

"Tori I love you, but you are the most insane girl I've ever met," said Jenna. She bounced back the ball. "I've got to go, okay?"

Tori stopped dribbling just long enough to wave goodbye. Then she hit the garage door opener and went out to the basketball hoop in the driveway.

Jenna saw her dribble and layup as she went out to her car again. That actually looked really fun, she thought. She was starting to re-think her whole schedule tomorrow.