After a very long period of not writing, I finally got back into it with this. Tyler and Mark try out a brand new machine and a brand new transformation, but Tyler forgot some important details...and a complete fustercluck ensues. Enjoy.

A Lesson in Physics
“Tyler, I appreciate the whole surprise of a new feature on the machine, but why in the name of all things warm are we in an unheated barn during the worst winter of the damn century!?” Mark asked, stamping his feet in a futile attempt to fend off the 15o air from his feet. Ill-prepared, his only defense against the cold was track shoes and ankle socks, both of which had been soaked walking the unshoveled path to the barn.
“Because, as I’ve already explained several times Mark, this barn is the only place I could find that was large enough for this particular experiment. Luckily, I refined the machine enough over the last year so that I won’t have to take off this sweatshirt,” Tyler answered, rubbing his jacket slightly. It looked unassuming and stained from the outside, but the fleece lining on the inside made it warmer than most winter jackets he’d owned.
They stood in a decrepit barn, almost a mile from the nearest paved road. The driveway alone was an hour’s hike, as they had abandoned the prospect of plowing it after breaking multiple plows and entrapping one of their friend’s Jeeps. The barn itself was a faded brown-ish red, with paint flecking from the walls where any remained. The shingles on the roof were coated with grime, that is where there were shingles, as the bulk of them had fallen to earth due to a lack of maintenance. The bolt keeping the doors together was rusted shut, and it had taken Tyler many swings with a sledgehammer to finally snap it off.
“So how much did you pay for this place again?” Mark asked, looking around at the interior of the barn, noting broken windows, rotted beams, and a small pile of debris from a minor structural collapse.
“About $500 dollars. I was really good friends with the guy who owned it, and when he died he left the offer for it in his will. I jumped at the chance, even if it is a bit of a fixer-upper.”
“A bit!? I’m worried it’s gonna come collapsing down on our heads!”
“Oh relax, I’ve been taking the debris and putting it through the Liqui-Mold, then reforming it into other things. Those “rotting” beams have solid iron cores, this place won’t come down any time soon,” Tyler explained. He looked over at Mark’s face, and then sighed. “Fine, when summer comes, I’ll get some contractors to fix the place up. Will that make you happy?”
“Very much so.”
Tyler walked across the barn, skittering around rusted farm tools and piles of garbage with dexterity few would expect from one who spent the bulk of his waking hours on the computer. He finally reached his goal, a massive object concealed under a tarp. He carefully removed the tarp, revealing his new creation to Mark.
The new machine differed greatly from the one Tyler had constructed in his basement. For one, there was only one chamber, which looked like a lopsided can. Inside the can, supported by a collaboration of beams, was a ring. Nothing appeared special about it, no appendages jutted from it; in fact it appeared perfectly smooth. At the base of the can were supports so that it wouldn’t roll from where it was, each dug into the ground to add stability. They were clear, revealing they doubled as the storage for the various chemical compounds used during transformations. The entire rig was just tall enough so that a jump from the top would break a leg, and it ran the length of a quarter the barn.
Mark whistled at the new machine, marveling at its streamline look compared to its predecessor. “Damn man, no wonder it took a year for you to finish this! It looks like something straight out of a big-budget Hollywood film.”
Tyler’s cheeks began to glow red, and he turned away to hide that from Mark. “Yeah, this is where the bulk of my money’s been going, and due to the complexity of the construction, I haven’t had the time or money to do any transformations in the old machine. This one works like a dream though, and I can explain it to you if you like.”
“Nah, I’ll see it first hand in a few minutes anyway…right?”
“Yes, you will. I need you to observe the process while I undergo the transformation. In essence, you’re making sure bunches of numbers don’t vary outside certain ranges.”
Mark sighed. “Sounds exciting. Now, can I ask what you’re going to turn into?”
Tyler chuckled. “I rigged up a dragon transformation. A mobile one. That’s large enough to require this barn and this new machine over the old one.”
“Well then, let’s get this over with. I’m starting to lose feeling in my feet.”
Tyler and Mark began the process of preparing the machine for use. Mark pulled out a small set of propane heaters from under another tarp and got them running, warming the chamber for use; Tyler started getting the computer hardware online.
“Dammit Mark, I know you’re cold, but stop slacking off. The sooner we’re ready, the sooner we’re done, and the sooner you can get back to your warm house!” Tyler shouted at Mark, who was sitting next to a propane heater, feet held up in front of the hot air stream. When he heard Tyler yell, he jumped in surprise before scrambling to his feet.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry man. What’s next?” Mark said sheepishly, almost like a child caught stealing a cookie.
“Activate the generator and get the stirring rigs going, those chemicals need to be moved after sitting in the cold, else they’ll gum up the piping and I’m in no mood to pull that gunk out of the machine in this weather.”
“Got it,” Mark replied, carefully maneuvering to the generator, which was concealed under yet another tarp. He pulled the grey piece of material from the generator, sending bits of dirt, dust, and mouse poop flying. Some of it landed on his jacket, and he flailed his limbs to try and shake it off. “Dammit, I hate mice!”
Tyler shook his head and raised a palm to his face, watching Mark flail about. “Mark, it’s just mouse shit, get over it! It can’t hurt you unless you eat it or forget to wash your hands.”
“I still hate mice!” Mark cried out, this time at seeing a mouse skitter out from under the generator. He quickly turned it on, listening to the gasoline engine roar to life. The exhaust ran through a pipe and out one of the broken windows, ensuring the barn wouldn’t fill with fumes.
Tyler finally got the computer system running, and took out a small flash drive, running his hand over the dragon etching he had custom ordered on it. The flash drive was promptly inserted into a USB port, and after a brief sync, the parameters for the dragon transformation were uploaded to the main computer. A wireframe of the transformation appeared on the monitor, which was then overlaid with the scale pattern Tyler had created.
The dragon he had designed was relatively small by mythological standards, a mere twelve feet tall and twenty feet long. In the interest of simplicity, Tyler had forgone the inclusion of wings and detailed features, leaving the dragon without wings or spines. He picked a grey color, so that he wouldn’t have to worry about coloration, mainly because he lacked the chemicals for much color.
“Mark, all set down there?” Tyler called out as he looked over the parameters one final time.
Mark walked over to Tyler, leaning against the side of the machine and shivering slightly. “Yeah, but can we hurry up? I think I’m starting to get hypothermic.”
“Then let us make haste! Just hit the red button when I give the signal, and if anything goes out of the ordinary, just hit it again. Got it?”
“Sure.”
Tyler walked over the back of the machine, expertly climbing into it. He stood on a small platform that was behind the ring, supported by a solid steel beam. The ring seemed an imposing gateway as Tyler shouted, “Hit it!”
Outside the machine, Mark pressed the red button. The overlay of the dragon instantly swapped to a series of gauges, each monitoring specific components of the machine to ensure none were acting out of the ordinary. Inside, the platform slid forward, going past the ring before stopping.
The ring itself began to shift, opening a set of apertures on the inside circle. They began to spray chemicals as the ring shuddered to life and began moving forward. As it passed over Tyler, he shuddered slightly at the mist, feeling it begin to permeate his being. However, this machine was different than his previous model, which would melt the subject and reform them. Instead, this one used a much vaster array of chemicals to induce direct transformations.
The first changes Tyler noticed were his legs reforming, mainly as the changes coerced him to fall forward, putting out his arms to stand on all fours. His bones began shifting sizes and positions, quietly forming a draconic skeleton within his body. Next came the claws, which formed out of his toes. Tyler began writhing as they changed, due to a nearly overwhelming itch which encompassed both of his feet. He tried desperately to scratch the itch away, but nothing could abate his suffering. The itching grew even worse and his five toes fused into four, which then grew out long ivory colored claws. Once the claws finished growing, the itching suddenly ceased, allowing Tyler to sigh in relief.
His respite proved to be temporary, however, as the process began again on his hands, which formed into another set of clawed feet, and his face, which elongated into a dragon’s snout. He groaned loudly as the horns grew from just above his ears, the all consuming itch finally destroying his perception of reality and leaving him obsessed with fighting it in any way possible.
While he struggled against the itch, the machine went to work providing the means of increasing his size. Bits of matter, melted with the old melting compounds, were selectively combined with Tyler’s body. The chemical spray from the ring worked them in seamlessly, just as he began forming scales. By the time he had reached full size, his body had finished forming into a generic grey dragon. The platform he was standing on groaned under his weight as it extended out of the machine and let him to the floor.
Mark stood shivering in front a propane heater, ignoring the gauges in his interest to stay warm. When he heard the platform exit the chamber, he quickly raced over to the monitors so Tyler wouldn’t know he was slacking off.
“Dammit, that was horrible! I’ll have to find a way to prevent that itching,” Tyler mumbled to himself, articulating strangely due to his draconic snout. He tried to stand up, but found himself barely able to move, almost as if gravity was acting too strongly on him. “Mark!” he shouted.
Mark raced over to the front of the machine and was amazed to see Tyler. He looked like a generic grey dragon, if such a thing existed, except for the fact that he was plastered to the ground and couldn’t seem to get up. “Tyler, what’s wrong?” he asked.
“I can’t get up! I think I’m too heavy!”
“But you’ve got muscles like this big,” Mark said, stretching him arms out in an exaggerated fashion.
“Dammit, Dammit, Dammit! I should have paid attention in that physics lesson. If you increase the strength of something by a factor of 2, you increase its weight by a factor of 4, making it half the relative strength of the smaller object!” Tyler spat out.
“Wait, what?” Mark asked, completely at a loss.
“I made the dragon too big to support its own weight, let alone walk!”
“So how are we getting you restored then, considering you can’t walk back into the chamber?”
“Go over to the side of the machine, there should be one of those ‘In case of emergency’ things. Break it open and pull out that hose. It ties directly to the restoration tank,” Tyler explained.
Mark raced over to the left side of the machine, opposite the side with the monitors, and broke the glass case covering the hose. He reeled it out and opened the valve, spraying Tyler down with the clear chemical, watching him start to turn human again.
The first thing that happened was that the scales simply shed off. The extra matter added during the transformation then began to mist off, surrounding Tyler in an all-encompassing mist. Mark continued the spray of chemicals, unsure of whether or not it was needed, but deciding to play it safe.
“Mark! Enough! Stop!” Tyler called through the mist, sound dulled under the combined cacophony of steam, the generator, and the chemical spray. Mark heard it though, and closed the valve, dropping the hose and racing into the mist to find Tyler.
Tyler coughed, trying to expel some chemicals from his mouth. “Luckily that stuff’s non-toxic,” he muttered to himself as Mark tripped over him, falling onto the barn floor.
“Oh, there you are Tyler. You okay?” Mark asked.
“Yeah. This stuff’ll evaporate off my clothes quick, so I’ll be dry in no time,” Tyler sighed, “Well, there’s three thousand dollars down the drain.”
“Look at the bright side. You didn’t die, didn’t get stuck as a dragon that couldn’t even stand, and you know better for next time. Now can we go home? I’m freezing!”
Tyler laughed gently, “You were always good at cheering me up. Yeah, help me close this place down and we can go home.”