Ellie stepped over to the giant wall-sized machine and held both her right hands to the touch screen. It beeped and the magical walls materialized in a rectangle around her and the machine, spanning from the floor to the ceiling.
Two Jesses stood outside the rectangle and watched. "Atta girl!" one cheered on Ellie.
The screen on the machine showed a flashing message: Releasing duplicate. Ensure accuracy then confirm to disable safety barriers.
A thud caused Ellie to look to glance to her left with her left head in time to see a panel slide up on the machine. Still looking at the screen with her right head, she stepped over to get a better look, and gasped when she saw inside.
Inside the alcove was a second Ellie. She was identical to Ellie earlier when she had been scanned, meaning she had 1 head and 2 arms. She leaned stiffly against the back of the alcove.
Hydra Ellie gasped. The body in the alcove was exactly what she expected, and yet it was startling to see a second her. She reached towards the sleeping body with her right arms.
"Remember, natural wake up." Jess softly reminded Ellie past the force field.
"Oh-" "-Right-" "-Oops." Ellie stepped back and leaned against the machine. With each head she looked at a different Jess waiting outside the field. "This so tense." "This morning I didn't even know something like this was possible." "Now I can't wait to find out what's like."
"Oh it's fantastic." "Plus, with your copy only lasting 3 days, you'll have plenty of time to decide if you like it." Jess alternated speaking between her bodies. She kept her voice low.
Ellie nodded in response and closed her eyes. She waited anxiously. Minutes passed.
"How are you feeling Ellie?" Jess queried at a louder volume.
Before she had a chance to respond, Ellie heard her voice speak, "Wow that was fas- hey what's with the force field?"
Ellie's eyes swung open and she turned to see that her copy was awake and had just stepped out of the machine. One Jess and the copied Ellie were positioned so that the copy couldn't see the original, hydra-blessed, two-headed and three-armed Ellie.
"Oh that's just a safety precaution while the copy is checked. Don't touch it." Jess explained cheerily to the copy. Hydra Ellie took a step closer to her copy. She looked her copy's back up and down, pausing for a moment to note that her ass was actually really cute.
"What copy? You said it would take an hour to make the copy. I'm late for study group, don't tell me I'm gonna be trapped in here for an hour..."
Jess grinned and pointed past the copied Ellie towards the hydra Ellie. "Do me a favor, and turn around, would you?" Anticipating her copy's movement and the trick Jess had clearly setup, Hydra Ellie stopped moving and cleared the expressions from her faces. She did her best to look like a robot - emotionless and static.
"Uh, okay sure I gue- WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!?" The copy pointed at hydra Ellie and jumped back. Her jump nearly caused her to touch the field. "That's... that's IDENTICAL!? What the hell kind of copy has an extra head?!"
Hydra Ellie couldn't keep up her facade and broke into duplicate laughter. Outside the force field, both Jesses giggled too. The copy Ellie froze and watch the 3 laughing girls around her. "What... what is even going on?!?"
Briefly remembering that the girl freaking out just a few feet from her was about to be part of her, Hydra Ellie took a moment to calm down and explain, "Sorry about that, me. So uh, awkward, but you're the copy. I already went to study group. It was boring."
"Uhh... Riiight... Yeah doesn't make any sense."
"Remember those Hydra Pretzels?"
"Yeah. I was holding the bag only like 30 sec- Hey where's my snacks?" The copy stared down at her blank hands then looked around the cordoned area. Realization started to set in.
"Exactly. Guess who had a couple pretzels." Ellie winked with her leftmost eye and raised both right arms to point at her right head.
"Oh... So I guess I'm the copy then? But... how am I... not... you?" The copy looked between Hydra Ellie and both Jesses. Tears started to well up in her eyes.
"Uh, Ellie. I think we've proved she's accurate. You should probably sync up before she starts crying." Jess interjected.
"Good call." Hydra Ellie stepped back to the touch screen and placed both her right hands on it, as she had seen Jess do. Two quick beeps fired off, and the magic walls shimmered then lost their intensity, dimming to only a pale glow. She turned back to her copy, "Okay, go ahead and step through the wall. It'll make sense when you leave. It's safe now."
The copy glanced between the 3 girls around her and hesitated. "Come on, it's safe!" "Would I lead you wrong?" Jess cheered. The copy took a deep breath then turned and stepped through the wall.
In an instant, Ellie's world changed. She remembered waking up in the machine and talking with her hydra self. Not trusting her hydra self, and being suspicious of Jess - when she had stepped into the machine at first, there had only been 1 Jess, not 2. The panic she had felt on seeing her hydra self and thoroughly believing she had been tricked. The sheer fear of being killed, or worse, when she stepped through the clearly magical barrier.
Her emotions flared and simultaneously ran down to a calm simmer. She wasn't going to die. She was fine - she was complete now. Both of her hearts beat on different timers, her feet stood on different tiles on the floor, and her minds thought different things, but that only made her complete.
Normal Ellie turned around and watched her hydra body walk out through the barrier. When both Ellies had left, the barrier vanished. Amazed by her new doubled existence, she grabbed herself in a hug.
"First time is always amazing."
Ellie released her hug and grinned at Jess with all 3 of her heads. "No kidding." "So I can be in 2 places and do things like 2 people now?"
"You betcha! Come on, let's take you for a trial drive." Each Jess motioned to one Ellie to follow her, and walked a different direction.
Ellie followed Jess, and found herself walking down 2 different aisles at the same time. One Jess and Ellie stopped in the middle of a medicine aisle at the back of the store while the other pair headed down the main aisle. The Jess at the back of the store spoke, "You don't really need to practice anything. It should all feel natural."
Ellie nodded. She was clearly standing there with Jess at the back of the store. And at the same time, she was walking up the main aisle to the front of the store. But right now she was standing next to Jess. "It does feel natural. Kind of like I'm a full person here, but also a full person over there."
"Exactly. Each copy has a full mind and synced copy of your consciousness. Effectively each copy is a full person." Jess motioned and they left the medicine aisle.
Ellie reunited her selves at the front of the store, along with all 3 Jesses. "Thanks a ton Jess!" "I can't help but feel like this is going to be great!"
"Happy to help! See you in class." Jess responded in triplicate. Ellie grinned with all 3 faces and left the store.