We travel to a near future where augmented reality goggles work well and are the norm for society. Our lead is in a lab being given paperwork by one of the scientists as she runs him through legal write-ups and warnings and NDAs to get the company’s latest and greatest test pair of new AR goggles. He happily agrees to it all and the lead scientist places the goggles on him and syncs them. The goggles latch onto his standard interface connectors that everybody wears on their temples. This new pair locks on due to security concerns about people trying to dismantle the test pair or sell them to competitors.
The scientist runs the man through all the latest changes but the big thing that this year’s upgrade offers is the ability to send signals to the brain to make your body think it feels what you’re seeing in AR. She runs him through a test where the AR goggles show him as taller and more muscular and it feels completely real. He can’t believe it at first so the scientists show him a video of him appearing as he always does that they recorded while he felt the new body. Seeing just the normal him on video, he’s amazed at how well the goggles work. Pleased to hear that, the scientist wants to show him one last change. She taps away at her station and our lead suddenly finds himself in a female body. He’s shocked, and then moreso when the scientist taps away some more and his body suddenly expands out to an extreme hourglass figure. He swears he can feel the heft of this new body as he struggles to stand up straight as his new body bounces and wobbles. The scientist directs him to the monitor showing his normal body struggling to find its balance for no good reason. Our lead gets himself under control and just reminds himself that it’s not real, no matter what it feels like. He keeps fidgeting, brushing away nonexistent hair from his face and the scientist smiles, pleased everything works so well. She hands our lead off to her team and leaves.
After the day’s initial tests, the man is ready to return the goggles and end the program, but the tech says no. The test is a three day event to make sure the illusion holds up and the body doesn’t start ignoring the manufactured sensations. The man is upset but it is what it is. It’s just today and the weekend he has to get through and then he can collect the testing fee and gloat that he was a founding member of the new tech. Walking home, he feels like everybody is staring at him and his extreme figure, even though he appears normal to everybody else. His new chest keeps bounding into his view but he’s the only one that can actually see it. Turning the corner to his block, he bumps into one of his neighbors and can feel himself squish up against and then bounce off her when they collide, but he shakes his head when she just says hello and walks around him. Only he felt the collision because it didn’t happen.