Ellie swung the door of Carrie's pick-up shut. Her left head looked towards the entrance of Margo's convenience store, and her right into the driver window. "I'm just gonna do some browsing."
"Okay El. Call me if you don't feel safe walking home. I don't like you being out alone when it's dark." Carrie leaned out the window and pulled Ellie's right head into a kiss. Ellie brought both of her right arms up behind her girlfriend's head and held her close for the kiss.
Ellie spoke with her left head while they kissed. "You worry too much. But I will." Ellie broke off the kiss and stepped back so Carrie could drive away. The couple, and their mutual friend Tina, live in a shared townhouse a short ways away. The strip mall being so close was a great convenience, but they rarely walked to/from it after dark. Even though it was only a 5 minute trip, there were occasionally unsavory characters spotted in the area.
"Welcome to Margo's, let me kno-- Oh hey! That's... different" Jess greeted Ellie from behind the counter as she walked in. "Tried the Hydra pretzels then?"
"Haha, yeah. Accidentally, actually." Ellie cheerily replied with her right head and waved with both right arms. Jess raised her eyebrow as she saw the double limbs.
"Wait, how did you?" Jess motioned at Ellie's arms with 2 of her own arms. Ellie pointed both her right arms up at her double heads. "Really? Intentionally?"
Ellie shook both her heads. "Naw, paper cut. Also an accident. Kinda cool though. I can see why you like having an extra pair of arms."
"Yeah! I'll spare you the obvious hand-based jokes. Study group go okay?"
"Aside from the obvious changes, pretty boring." Ellie shrugged. With her left head she surveyed the store, noting a second Jess stocking an aisle near the back. Her right head continued to look at the Jess she was talking to.
Jess's eyes widened, "Hold up. You changed DURING the study group? Wow. I'm surprised no-one noticed."
"You said that the magic makes it so people won't notice. Is that different when an actual change happens?"
"I don't know. Never tried changing outside of the store with people who don't see magic. I guess that's a good thing to know. I'll have to ask Margo." Jess shrugged and leaned back against the cash register. "So I'm guessing you have a specific reason for coming back tonight?"
Ellie nodded and turned her left head back to look at Jess, letting her see the clerk from 2 slightly different perspectives. She nervously locked one right hand and her left hand together and started to wring them. "Yeah, I want to get that 2nd body. Uh... being a hydra won't be a problem, I hope."
Jess shook her head. "No, that's fine. But you do need to keep in mind, if you do get your copy now, one of you will be hydra-blessed, and the other won't. Not really recommended for first timers to have 2 different body types."
"Oh... Well how long do I have to change back?"
The clerk pulled a small scanner out from under the counter and aimed it at Ellie. A beep later she read the info from the display. "The good news is: Your copy can be kept in stasis for up to 48 hours. The bad news is: After that it's dematerialized and the payment is lost. The really bad news is: You're going to be hydra-blessed for a full week. How many pretzels did you eat anyway?"
Both sets of Ellie's eyes opened wide in a mixture of panic and surprise. "I... I thought-" "-I didn't realize-" "-I only ate a-" "-that I had eaten-" "-a couple!" "-so many!" She spoke 2 separate sentences simultaneously through 2 mouths, completely mangling the message she was trying to share.
Jess raised an eyebrow and motioned for Ellie to calm down. "Whoa whoa. Calm down. Try that again, one at a time."
Ellie swallowed twice and spoke from her right head only, "Sorry. I didn't realize I had eaten so many pretzels. It was an accident, I thought they were just regular pretzels and then suddenly I had 2 heads."
Jess nodded and put away the scanner. "I've been there. Boyfriend did that to me once with shrinking gummy worms."
Despite her best efforts, a smile crept onto Ellie's lips. "What a soundrel!"
"Hah! You know it, girl."
"So uh, does this mean I lost my money?"
"Well... Not really. You can still get your copy if you want. It's just not recommended is all."
Ellie paused to think about it. "I guess becoming a hydra... what did you call it, hydra-blessed?" Jess nodded. "Well, I'm pretty sure becoming a hydra-blessed in the middle of study group isn't recommended either."
Jess shook her head. "Oh, definitely not."
"Still... I kinda want to do it. I spent the money. Money isn't exactly loose for me right now, and I want to at least experience it."
"Yeah, I feel you there. It's completely up to you." Jess paused while Ellie mulled it over more. "Tell you what, I haven't gotten my copy yet. Maybe it'll help you make up your mind to see what it's like when the copy comes out?" Ellie nodded. "Okay! I'll meet you in the back by the copier in just a minute."
"Okay, cool!" Ellie smiled and waited. The silence quickly became uncomfortable as they stared at each other.
"I'm not allowed to leave the cash register unattended while we're open. I meant I'd meet you back there with a different body."
"Oh!" Ellie blushed and turned to walk to the back of the store.
Waiting at the back of the store, next to the copy machine, was Jess. Another Jess - the same girl, but a different identical body. "So getting the body is pretty simple." She stepped over to the machine and pressed her hand against the touch screen.
A yellow rectangle lit up on the floor in front of the machine. Moments later, a shimmer appeared over the rectangle, running vertically up to the ceiling.
"The machine sets up a safe test area. Only the person and the copy can be in the test area until it's confirmed that the copy is correct."
"Are there usually problems with copies?"
"No. It's a safety measure." Jess pressed her hand to the screen again and a whirring sound escaped from the machine. A second later, one of the opaque tubes on the front slid open to reveal another Jess. The Jess was asleep and standing straight up, all 4 arms rigidly at her side.
"When the copy first comes out, it's still unconscious. It takes anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes for the body to wake up." Jess walked over to where her copy was unconsciously standing rigidly at attention. "Most people's instinct is to wake the copy by talking to it, poking, or even slapping. All bad ideas - you want the initial wake up to be as relaxed as possible."
"Why?"
"Well, think about how you feel when you're woken up early. Aren't you usually cranky? Especially if you were woken up by a slap? That hurts."
"Oh. That makes sense." Ellie stepped closer to the shimmering barrier.
"Careful there. Don't touch the barrier. Feels like getting tasered all over." Ellie took a step back then walked around the barrier to get a better look at the unconscious copy.
"She looks just like you." Ellie observed, a little louder than she intended.
"Duh. She'll be me soon."
They stood there, silent for a few seconds while they watched the copy in the tube breathe. The copy's eyelids fluttered for a moment, then they opened. Ellie's jaws dropped in amazement as she watched the copy look around. The copy spotted her and smiled, then looked over at the already awake Jess. "We have company?"
"Yeah, I'm showing Ellie what it's like to get a copy."
"Oh nice, so she came back!" The copy stepped out of the tube and waved to Ellie with 2 right hands. "Nice to re-meet you, Ellie!"
Ellie stared perplexed for a moment, then smiled and waved back, "Heh. Funny!"
The 2 Jesses looked at each other. The newer Jess shrugged then took a few steps around the rectangle to stretch out her limbs. The older Jess stepped over to the barrier where Ellie was and watched the newer Jess. "When the copy comes out, it has its own consciousness. It's actually a copy of your consciousness when the scan happened, including all of your memories."
"It's kinda like a weird version of time traveling. I'm the past version of her!" the new Jess grinned and pointed at the older Jess from across the rectangle.
"Wait, how does that work? You said all of your bodies were one person." Ellie crossed her arms. Right arm over left arm over right arm. Frowns adorned her faces. She was cross at the possibility of having been cheated out of her money. Making a doppelganger had not been what she signed up for.
The Jesses again made eye contact, and the old Jess motioned for the new Jess to explain. "You've only heard half of it. So when a new copy, like ME is created, the copy has to move around and demonstrate it's intact and completely functional."
New Jess did a quick twirl followed by a bow. Old Jess nodded in approval and walked over to the side of the machine. She pushed her hand against the touch-screen again. It beeped twice as she held her hand to the touch-screen, then the shimmer of the rectangular barrier changed. It became less intense, less chaotic.
Old Jess turned to Ellie and spoke, "Once the original person is convinced the copy is valid and what was ordered, then they tell the machine that it's all good, like I just did. Then both the original person and the copy can walk out of the testing area."
New Jess walked over to the wall next to Ellie and grinned, "And as soon as they pass through the wall, their consciousness is merged." She stepped through the wall then stopped moving. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, then looked around. After a moment her vision focused on Ellie again. "It's kinda like waking up."
The old Jess walked out through the barrier and stood next to her new copy. The older Jess seemed unaffected by the passage through the barrier. "Make sense?"
Ellie nodded. All fear had dissipated and now she was very curious. Her heart beat faster at the prospect of getting her copy, her second self.
The barrier around the machine wavered for a few seconds then faded out. Ellie hesitantly stepped towards the machine then paused and looked back at Jess. "Hey wait a second... Why did you decide to make a temporary body tonight?"
Both Jesses blushed and the new one timidly spoke, "It's cause copies are virgins."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah! So uh... It's my boyfriend's birthday this weekend and well... he really likes it when I'm a virgin." The new Jess blushed an even deeper red as she spoke. The older Jess pulled a pink wristband out of her pocket and slid it onto her new body's wrist. She then held up her wrist, proudly. "Just so I don't forget which is which."
Ellie suppressed a giggle and turned back to the imposing wall-mounted machine.