Click and Transform: A Science Fiction Story

Jack Hooper woke up on a Saturday in the year 2130, and nuzzled against his wife, who was lying in bed with him.

Walking into his kitchen, Jack went his up to his 3D Printer, and printed out a big stack of perfectly cooked pancakes. It only took a minute, and was so much easier than shaking out pancake mix, breaking eggs, adding milk, pouring the batter, and then running a risk of burning one of the pancakes.

Jack decided to go shopping for some new clothes. Jack knew that most of his friends shopped for clothes at home. It was easy. You used your 3D wall screen to select the clothes you wanted. You then pressed a Dress button, and your wall screen showed you exactly how the clothes would look on you if you bought them. If you decided to buy the clothes, you then pressed a Print button, and the clothes would quickly print out on your 3D printer.

But Jack liked to shop for clothes the old fashioned way. He wasn't quite sure why – maybe it was because he liked to touch all the different textures of clothing. There were still a few old-fashioned clothes stores left, and Jack enjoyed going to them.

He got dressed, and walked out towards his black car parked on the street. Jack paused for a second, and stared at the car.

“Nah,” Jack said aloud.

Jack took out a little remote control unit from his pocket, and fiddled with its interface for a while. Then he clicked a little button marked Change.

Suddenly his car transformed itself. The car changed from a box-shaped vehicle to a much more slick and sleek vehicle, and the color changed from black to red.

“Cool,” Jack said calmly.

He jumped in the car, and drove to the clothes store. After buying the clothes, he spread them out on the hood of his car, taking another look at them.

“Nah,” he said.

Jack took out the little remote control unit from his pocket, and fiddled with its interface for a while. Then he clicked a little button marked Change.

The clothes on the hood of the car changed their colors to a new look Jack had selected. Jack then put them into his car, and drove off.

Jack drove back to his house. He parked the car a few houses away. When he approached the house, he took a good look at it, and began to stroke his chin.

“Nah,” he said.

Jack took out the little remote control unit from his pocket, and fiddled with its interface again. Then he clicked a little button marked Change.

Jack's house then transformed its appearance. The shiny steel exterior suddenly became an exterior that looked like elegant redwood. The windows became much larger, and a chimney grew out of the roof. It took only five minutes for this transformation.

“Cool,” said Jack. Gonna enjoy that new fireplace, he thought to himself.

He walked into his house, and saw his wife.

Jack's wife was actually a robot wife. But she had soft flesh that no one could tell was not human flesh. She was also bright, pleasant, and a great cook and housekeeper.

Jack realized that he was tired of making love to the same old dark haired thin woman. He wanted to try a different type of mate. So he took out the remote control from his pocket, and fiddled with its interface. Then he clicked a little button marked Change.

Suddenly Jack's robot wife transformed so that it no longer looked like a thin woman with dark hair. Now it looked liked a younger blonde woman with a much fuller figure.

“Cool,” said Jack. He printed out himself some lunch, and began watching 3D television.

On the television, the news announcer reported the death of a famous person.

“The world mourned the death today of Cyril Rodgers, the inventor of programmable matter,” said the announcer. “Rodger's amazing invention led to the creation of countless thousands of products that can instantly change their appearance, through the wonder of molecular re-materialization. Rodgers' invention transformed our world in countless ways.”

“Duh, tell me about it,” chuckled Jack.