This was an entry for the TF-TG Machine Malfunction contest in the prose fiction category.  The short story version is 2971 words.

I wasn't satisfied with the compromises required by the word count limit of the contest version, so I expanded it into a novella, which you can find on Scribblehub.

I also have several ebooks for sale, most of whose contents aren't available elsewhere for free. Smashwords pays its authors higher royalties than Amazon.  itch.io's pay structure is hard to compare with the other two, but seems roughly in the same ballpark.