"Dad! You have to stop her! Mom, turned us all into her doppelgangers." Jeff said with his mother's voice but his cadence.
Mike looked on in growing horror, first between Jeff and Janet, slowly understanding what was happening. Then to Natalie and the feline Janet behind him, his horror was evident when he looked at his own hands, then to Janet typing furiously at the computer. "Jeff?" He shifted to the version of his wife at the computer, "Janet? What's the meaning of this?" his calm façade repelling most of the quiver from overpowering his voice.
Without looking up or slowing her typing she began rattling off, "Cooking, cleaning, meals, vacation, doctors, holidays, hosting, groceries, any form of planned anything to be honest... clothes for the kids, school supplies, school registration... even vet visits for Boots, or is that Luna over there?" she gave a quick nod to the former cat.
"What about all that sweetie?" Mike asked, his voice halting as adrenaline told him to do something.
She stopped typing a few seconds after he said that, a disbelieving look on her face, "I've been desperate for help with it for years, and I finally found a way to get it!" Janet beamed a maniacal grin. "Imagine, everything I do, and everything you do, spread 5 ways! Six once I find that other cat... We will all live in bliss!"
"Mom, I need you to hear me. I really, really don't want to be a woman." Jeff said.
"I was afraid of this..." Janet tsked shaking her head, "I had a feeling your 'identity' would pose a problem. Thankfully, I prepared my own to overwrite yours, at least now I know you guys will perform the chores right."
"ON'T" The word escaped Janet's mouth, she blinked, her hand outstretched towards Janet sitting in her son's computer chair, confusion deepening as she looked around and saw three copies of herself in the doorway, all wearing her favorite dress down clothing. "What's..."
The Janet from the chair stood, "Now ladies, I have a nice quiet weekend planned with a few chores here and there, but together we can take care of this place without anyone making a mess of things... no toilet seats left up, no obnoxious screams when pixels die on screen..." she gestured to Jeff's computer.
"Who are you people and why do you look like me?" a Janet from the doorway called stepping back cautiously. Chair Janet addressed the question by recounting her son's program and her decisions thus far. "So that mean's we are..."
"One big happy Janet family!" she cooed nearly floating out of the room on her pride, "I made sure you would instinctively know that you aren't the real me. This isn't a comedy after all, now, there's work to be done!"
Apprehensively the group followed and eventually everyone took on tasks. Within a couple hours all tasks were done, each room was cleaned, and a few neglected spots got a deep cleaning they had desperately needed.
Dinner was served, the group ate and recleaned the kitchen together, the clones sharing unsettled glances among one another...
The main Janet joyfully announced that she would be retiring to the couch with a book and glass of wine, congratulating the ladies on a job well done, reveling in the accomplishments of the day and a weekend without obligation she fought for and won.
The remaining Janets eyed one another warily, each one had the knowledge that they weren't real branded on their psyche. "This is nice but it was impulsive and will soon fall to pieces." One muttered to the others.
"We should undo this tonight... It's all good while we're getting chores done but one of us will get to sleep on Mike's side of the bed and for decent sleep I..." she trailed off and fidgeted nervously with her fingers. "I'll just come out and say it, we're all disposable to her." The group nodded knowing how they would feel if they were the 'real' Janet.
"We all remember what she said right? She set Jeff up to be unable to revert himself, and copied those settings to the rest of us." someone added.
"But that doesn't mean we can't fix one another... necessarily."
"Yes, but, one of us is a cat... I don't want to be a cat when I could be a human."
"That's just how you feel about it AS a human, you might miss being a cat if you were a cat."
The groups face as a whole showed that none of them wanted to actually be a cat... A noise from upstairs grabbed everyone's attention. The group walked to the living room, finding Janet sipping her wine but looking quizzically at the stairs.
"What do you suppose...."
Another Janet began to descend the stairs, "Hello? Mike? Kids? Has anyone seen my phone? The house is never this quiet, where is everyone?"
"The other cat." some Janet reasoned.
"Ahh! Our final guest has arrived! You missed out on most of the day's fun but there will plenty more tomorrow! Girls, would you mind filling her in?"