The Redifizer 'only' took a week to arrive. From what Jenna had read on the internet, this was not all that bad. US Customs has yet to become familiar with the stuff, and quite a bit was spend holding on the phone. Easy enough when you can just leave a detachable ear and your lips next to your cell phone.
This whole thing started with some mad science gone bankrupt. Jenna's roommate Tori had bought this 'thing' called an NMO-101 at a fire sale, and madness ensued. The thing could change someone's head into seemingly anything at all, so long as an ample amount of 'Redifizer' was on hand. Just prior to running dry, Tori's head had been reduced to only a face, while Jenna had been transformed according to a script called 'Potato Head'. It worked exactly as advertised.
To be honest, Jenna was enjoying herself. It was funny. If you mouth, nose, eyes, and ears were going to come loose at least twice a day, you just had to have a sense of humor about these things. Every time she sheezed she had to go look for her nose. If something surprised her, her eyes popped out of her head. If she laughed too hard, her mouth would come loose.
It only added to the whole situation when Tori stared leaving her face in 'surprising places', such as the bathroom mirror or the knife drawer, with the intention of surprising Jenna at odd moments.
But now, with the long-awaited arrival of the FedEx guy, those hijinks were over. And it was on to new hijinks.
#
Weeks went by. The NMO-101, now with a more constant inventory of Redifizer (thanks to Jenna's logistical dedication to such), became a 'normal' part of things. Well, no it actually didn't. It just started to seem more normal after a while to come home and find that Tori's head was now, in fact, a swarm of bees. Or a helium balloon. Or perhaps a video camera.
Jenna herself came to appreciate the machine. She found it incredibly relaxing to disappear her head altogether. When she seldom did have the time, she would spend hours without a head entirely. Even though she could still somehow see and hear without one, it was just very comfortable in a sensory-deprivation kind of way. And it certainly proved a reliable solution to headaches as well.
There were other 'cool' heads she liked to try out as well. One of Jenna's favorites was a 'dragon-head' that could actually breathe fire. Another of her favorites was to replace her eyes with head-lights. She'd recently tried turning her head into a bowl of fruit, then making a smoothie. That was certainly one of the more dizzying experiences.
The machine started to become a part of her crazy-busy schedule. She made time to try out new heads, usually for a half-hour or so each day. And when she liked the results, she'd sometimes leave her head changed for the rest of the day.
She would occasionally use Tori's head as well. Something about it was a bit eerie and thrilling. Even more interesting was to change to another 'regular' thread. Several people had posted copies of their own heads online free for others to download along with all the 'crazy' ones. Wearing a different head, only only titled "Alice" was like being able to take up a whole different identity.
Then in the evenings, well, there was nothing in the world like a headless bath. That was the most relaxing sort of bliss Jenna had ever found. Sometimes she wouldn't restore her head until she was headed to work the next morning.
#
Jenna had an hour to kill before she was meeting a friend to go see a movie. She'd just stepped out of the garage. Her new head, titled "Leela-esque" had one gigantic eye in the center of her head, much like the Futurama character of the same name.
Tori was in the kitchen, making perhaps her second pot of coffee for the day.
"Has your head been normal all day?" asked Jenna.
"Yep."
"That's weird."
"Why is that weird?" asked Tori, sounding defensive.
"Well, I was starting to forget what you looked like."
"Yea, so was I. I think I'm going to take a break from it actually."
"What, really?"
"Yea. You know, I'm all-in whatever I do — but after whatever it's been, like three weeks or something, I'm starting to feel like I don't have any fixed identity without my head. And then I had a dream that I couldn't remember what I looked like, and I was searching and searching but I couldn't find my original head anywhere."
"You know, we should probably make some backups of those."
"One step ahead of you. I uploaded our heads online."
"Oh good you — wait. On the public site?"
"Well, this way if they ever get lost, a lot of people will have them."
"So you mean somewhere, someone I don't know could be wearing my head?"
"Wouldn't that be weird if you met them?"
"I…"
"You are so attached to your head, you know that? It's not like they took yours away. Although you seem to like that, I've noticed."
"I'm kind of surprised you don't."
"I don't mind it. That much. Anyway, I've got an idea for something new now. I'm going to build a homebrew matter re-organizer."
"Tori, I'm going to be honest, that seems like a fairly complicated machine to just go ahead and build."
"There are kits and instructions online. I think we can do it for about $75."
"I'm really skeptical. Anyway, what's this one going to do?"
"I'll show you once I'm done proving you wrong."
#
Another week passed in a blur. Tori, true to her word, didn't change her head at all. Not once. She spent a lot of time building something in the garage, out of copper tubing, a rubbermaid trashcan, and numerous wires. To Jenna's knowledge, Tori had never built anything more tricky than a birdhouse. Whatever she was building, there was no way it would work.
However Jenna's skepticism gradually waned. Tori was definitely an 'all-in' type. And when she decided to do something, she could devote every waking hour to doing it and ignore everything else. Jenna was in and out all day, but Tori was always in the garage, always working on her 'invention.'
Friday night after Jenna got home, Tori got up to say hello.
"It's going to be done really soon," she said. "I think we'll test it out tomorrow."
"We?"
"Oh come on. Let me prove it to you, that I know what I'm doing."
"I don't know which I'm more afraid of, that it won't work or that it will."
"I think that's the right attitude. Tomorrow afternoon, I'll try to have it done, okay?"
"Okay, I guess you're on."
#
The next afternoon, Tori was beaming expectantly once Jenna got back from work.
"Okay, I have a couple hours," said Jenna, "but I'm going on a hike later with this guy I actually like a bit. So whatever you're about to do, do you have all the — stuff — you need to undo it?"
"Of course! I have enough Redifizer to last for like 20 transformations."
"Wonderful. Okay, so what does this thing do."
"Get in and I'll show you."
Tori's machine had been assembled from a rubbermaid trashcan, a cannibalized blender, some copper tubing, and various wires and circuit boards that Jenna confessed not having any idea what they were for. Anyhow, the trashcan was turned upside down, with a hole in the top of it. Jenna crouched down, and found she could just fit inside with her head sticking out the top.
Tori fastened a collar around Jenna's neck, with two wire cables that fastened in place on either side. She took a blanket and padded it around the area under Jenna's chin, securing her head in place.
"What's that for? So I don't get away?"
"Something like that. Are you ready?"
"Probably not."
"Sounds good. Here we go!"
Tori clicked something on her computer, and then pressed a button on one of the circuit boards. Jenna heard the wires start to hum, and the inside of the bucket was suddenly feeling very hot. Then… it stopped.
"I think something's wrong," said Jenna. "I can't move anymore."
Tori just started to giggle. The giggling gradually grew into a full out laugh.
"Will you help me out of this thing? I want to see what's become of my body."
"Oh, why absolutely!"
Tori reached down and with a hand under Jenna's chin, unclasped the collar. Jenna felt herself being lifted up, then held at eye level.
"I'm just a head now aren't I," said Jenna.
"Well, you've got like a third of your neck left," said Tori. She tiled Jenna to take a look at the surface where her body had recently been attached. "It's just smooth skin now," she said, running a finger along the inside of Jenna's neck.
"Stop! That tickles!"
"Fine," Tori tucked Jenna under her arm and walked towards the door.
"Wait, aren't you going to put me back?"
"Well, yes. Soon. The machine needs about fifteen minutes between uses, and besides, you said you had a couple hours, right?"
"But I thought we were just going to test it out!"
"That's what this is! I worked on that thing all week, I don't get to enjoy the results?"
"Wait, I thought you built it because you wanted to try it on yourself?"
"I do! But half the reason I bought the NMO thingy was to make your head disappear."
"And you spend a week building this just to do the opposite?"
"Well, actually there was one other thing I also wanted to try. Hold on a sec."
Tori set Jenna's head down and loaded up a program on the NMO — the original contraption that had started this whole fiasco. Tori got into the machine, then pulled it down over her head.
Fzzt! went the machine
"What have you done now?" asked Jenna. The machine retracted, but Tori stayed still, carefully setting a hand on top of her head before getting out of the chair.
"You wanna see?" asked Tori.
"See what?"
"This!" Tori took a handful of her hair and pulled off her own head, setting it down next to Jenna. Her body turned Jenna so the two could see one another.
"You cut off your own head to make me feel better! Thanks, I guess?"
"It get's better. This program is called 'The Lazy Head.' It separates your head and body consciously, leaving your head to do whatever while your body can handle other work! So now our heads can chill out and my body can do things for us!"
"Is that really true, Tori's body?"
Tori's body gave a thumbs up.
"What if I just tell your body to restore me right now?"
"I have a better idea! Hey! You with the arms and legs! Take us into the kitchen and make us some popcorn!"
Tori's body scooped up the two heads and brought them into the kitchen. It then set about doing just that.
"So how much of 'you' is in your body anyway?" asked Jenna.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, is your body like another Tori completely? Or a mindless drone?"
"I don't know. Hey, there, headless body. Are you a mindless drone?"
Tori's body put its hand on its hips. Then she went over to the whiteboard on the fridge and wrote "You heads think you've got all the brains, don't you?"
"Well, to be technical about it, we do," said Tori, sticking out her tongue.
Her body replied, "Ha-ha, let's see if I ever put you back on my shoulders!"
"Like I would ever want to be on your dumb shoulders anyway!"
"Okay, that's it, I want to be restored!" said Jenna. "Right now please!"
"Are you sure? It's only been a few minutes, and we're supposed to wait 15."
"Tori's body, what do you think?"
Tori's body shrugged.
"Well, I'm going to do it," said Jenna. "Please give me my body back, before you and your head get into a fight. Somehow I find that to be pretty inevitable."
Tori's body gave Jenna a pat on top of her head, then picked up both heads and returned to the garage. She set the two of them down and then left.
"Where do you think she went?" said Tori.
"What? It's your body. Aren't you supposed to know somehow?"
"Oh here we go. Popcorn."
Tori's body returned with some popcorn, and set down a few pieces on a napkin in front of Tori. Tori started using her chin to wiggle around on the table eating them.
"And you thought you'd be the one in charge, didn't you?" asked Jenna.
"I think I might be more my body's pet than commander."
Tori's body visible laughed, and then gave a thumbs up, and started stroking Tori's head.
"Okay, so what about me?"
"Okay, we'll do it, but we warned you!"
Tori's body hooked Jenna's head back into the machine, and booted everything up. Jenna had a nervous feeling somewhere. Not her stomach, because she didn't have one. She felt a little bit better when she heard the machine start to hum.
Cssshzzttt!
Something had happened. A bit of smoke emerged from inside the machine.
"What was that?" said Jenna.
"Um… I think it broke? Maybe a little bit? It sounds like some pressure is leaking somewhere."
"Well, start it up again! I can feel my legs, but that's about it."
"I don't think you understand. We ran it too early. It takes time for the tubing to decompress after it gets used, and now we've got to fix it or else it will just get worse!"
"Okay, well just get me out of here please!"
Tori's body gave an 'Okay' sign, and unfastened the collar, then picked up the trashcan, helping Jenna out. Tori's head started to laugh hysterically, sending bits of popcorn flying off the workbench.
Jenna was partly restored — but only from the waist down. Her hips now flowed smoothly to join her neck. She looked down at herself gawking for a minute, before she actually smiled.
"You know what?" said Jenna. "This is actually pretty fun! I feel so cute!"
"Well, you know what? That's actually really good. Because you might be stuck like this for a while."
"What? You can't just fix it?"
"Um… No. Not right away. We're going to need a whole new coil. This one is broken in like three places."
"How long will that take?"
"Well the first time it only took three days, but I already had the copper."
"So, home depot has copper."
"Not this copper. This stuff comes from Austria. Specially coated, extra special magic copper."
"I… Why did you let me use the machine!!!"
"Because you wanted to?"
"But you knew this would happen!"
"No, the manual said this might happen! And I warned you anyways!"
"I…" Jenna was about to cry.
Tori's body picked her up and gave her a hug, then picked up her head to give her a kiss on the cheek. Jenna started to actually smile.
"I guess this is not that bad."
"We'll fix it eventually," said Tori. "And at least you can still go for your hike!"