Entanglements 3
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“Come on, Phil.  Don’t you want to sleep over at my house for once?” persuaded Aggie.

“Your Mom doesn’t like me very much.  Especially after she caught us...” he blushed, and didn’t finish the thought out loud.

“Yeah, I know.  She’ll come around.  I hope.”  Aggie sighed, then grinned impishly.  “But she doesn’t have to know.”

“Doesn’t have to... you know I’m not really that good at sneaking.”

“Not talking about sneaking.”  Aggie dug something out of her backpack, then shook it out for Phil to see.  It was a black satin nightie.  A very specific one - one that Aggie had tangled with when they’d first used the entanglement machine.

Phil stared at it, until Aggie deposited it in one of the entanglement pods.  “You know you want to,” was all she said.

“Wait, if we use your ring, I’ll probably end up reverting at your house.  You know what happened last time...”

Aggie held up the silver pendant that she was wearing around her neck.  “Otto finished this yesterday.  Your Mom told you, but she wasn’t sure you were paying attention, so she told me too.”

“Oh, cool!  I need to set up a proper mounting adaptor for it.  I got it mostly built yesterday... or was it the day before.  Is this Tuesday?”

“No.”

“Oh.  Well, let’s get it set up anyway.”

Which is how Aggie lost Phil to another bout of tinkering with the entanglement device.  Aggie watched patiently, she loved seeing Phil work.  Though she did figure he could use a good shower... and it looked like he hadn’t used a comb in a few days.

Fortunately, this was a short session.  Just over an hour later Phil had the entanglement conduits in solid contact with the diamond in the heart of Aggie’s new locket.

“Time for a test shot, so we can see if the insulation’s good,” said Phil, breaking the hour-long silence.

“Ooo, can I volunteer?”  Aggie was already getting into a pod before Phil could answer.

“Sure, the worst that could happen is it doesn’t entangle.”

The pods hissed closed, and there was a softer than usual click from the capacitors.  Phil frowned, and pulled up a diagnostic readout from the firing.  Something about that pulse had been different from the others, but what?

He didn’t even notice two naked Aggies stepping out of the pods, not until they were both standing on either side of him.  When they pressed their chests up against him, Phil startled, and looked back and forth between them, blinking confusedly.

“Come on,” the Aggie on Phil’s right said.  “You knew this could happen,” the Aggie on Phil’s left continued.  “Play with us?”

Phil looked around the lab.  “Don’t you have any clothes?”  He checked her backpack, but there were only a couple of granola bars and a bottle of water in there.

The Aggies giggled.  “We wore them into the pod,” one said.  “We could have ended up as our panties, or our nightie.  Or even our ring.  I guess we got lucky...”

The other added, “Or unlucky.  I wonder what being a ring is like.”

“If the entanglement had picked your ring, it could have fallen to the floor of the pod.  You can still chip diamond, you know.  And now neither of you can wear it.”

The Aggies looked at each other, then down at their left hands.  “I...”  “We...”  “Bother.”  One of them hit the big red ‘Abort’ button on the control panel, and a moment later there was just one Aggie, this one fully dressed.  “Foo.  One charge wasted.  Wait, why are there still four green lights?”

“That’s what I was trying to figure out.  The discriminator stabilized much faster than usual, so the power draw was lower.”

“How much lower?” Aggie asked eagerly.  “Does this mean we can do more entangles in a row?”

“Roughly a factor of four.  I’d want to do more testing, and rebuild the discriminator again to see if I can’t take advantage of this.  Want to take another spin?”

Aggie took off her ring and handed it to Phil.  “Keep this safe.”

This time, Aggie just disappeared.  Phil frowned at the readouts.  The cycle had taken a full charge.  The only difference was the ring that was lying on the control console beside the abort button.

Without Aggie to divert him, Phil spent some time mulling the reasons why the cycle might be different and what to do about it.  It was only when he went to start a few test firings that he noticed Aggie’s nightie lying near the pods, and remembered why it had gotten so quiet.

Aggie emerged languidly from the pod, then stretched.  “How long was I gone?”

“Um...”  Phil looked away, blushing.  “I’m not exactly sure.  I’d have to check the logs.”

Aggie looked up at the clock on the wall.  “It’s still Wednesday night, right?”

Phil shrugged.

“Don’t worry, I like being erased.  It’s... peaceful.  I think I fell asleep in there.”  Aggie snuggled up against Phil and gave him a kiss.  “Now go get showered.  Whatever you were thinking about can wait until tomorrow.  I want my nightie, and it has to be clean for what I’ll want to do when I restore you.  Your Mom said she’d be out all day tomorrow.”

“Oh?”  Phil thought for a moment.  “Oh!”  He was off like a shot, and was back scant minutes later with his hair still damp, clad only in what Aggie hoped was a clean pair of underwear.

Aggie pointed to the right hand pod.  “Get in.”

Phil tossed his shorts out of the pod just before the door closed.

The first cycle of the machine produced a pair of Phils.  As did the second.  When their heads popped out of the doors for third time, Aggie growled in frustration.  “Oh, come on!  All I want is to wear you to bed.  Is that really too much to ask?”

Phil chuckled softly, and shrugged.  “Maybe the machine likes me.”

Aggie snorted, but grinned back at him.  “One light left.  Come on, baby.”  She darted over to the pod doors as they opened, peering inside hopefully.  “Finally!  Come to Aggie, you sweet sexy nightie you.”  

Aggie picked the Phil-nightie up, and then looked over at the other pod.  The four green lamps on the capacitor bank were all dark, and she knew all too well how long it took to recharge.  “Huh.  I guess I can’t erase the other one right now.  No matter, you sweet thing, I can use you as a pillowcase.  You won’t be lonely.”

Aggie carefully released the pendant from the entanglement machine, just as Phil had shown her.  She closed it, and peeked back at the nighties.  “Oooh, still entangled.  Best boyfriend ever.” She draped the pendant around her neck, scooped both nighties into her backpack, and headed home.

Aggie waved cheerfully to her mother on the way to her bedroom.  She grinned hugely once the door closed behind her.  Phil was in her bedroom!  Sure, he was a nightie or two, but that made it even better.

She shucked out of her clothes as quickly as she could, and wriggled into one of the nighties.  “Oooh... I’m wearing you again.”  She ran her fingers lightly over the fabric, imagining how that must make Phil feel.  “I bet you’re already lost in it... God, I remember how good this felt.”

Her hands roamed over her nightie, teasing herself into a lather.  She didn’t quite make it over the edge, and collapsed into her bed with a happy sigh.  “We’re going to have such fun tomorrow.”

Before she fell asleep, she remembered her promise to the other nightie.  She was just able to snag it without leaving the bed, and it made a lovely, slippy cover to her body-pillow.  She curled up against it, Phil rubbing against Phil, and smiled off to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Aggie changed into the other nightie after her shower, and wore a dark green sundress over it.  Her mother tut-tutted about the fact she wasn’t wearing a bra, and that only made Aggie grin even wider.

“What are you so happy about?”

Aggie couldn’t stop grinning.  “You know, Mom.”

Lucy turned back to her cereal, and shook her head.  “I have no idea what you see in that boy.”

“He’s a genius, Mom.  He loves me, and I love him.”  She continued softly to herself, “and wearing him, too.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing, Mom.  I’ll see you at dinnertime.  I love you.”

Lucy sighed, then smiled at her daughter.  “I love you too.  Don’t do anything stupid.”

Aggie laughed.  “Do you really think... no, don’t answer that.”

As she jogged to Phil’s house, Aggie wondered if wearing her sweetie counted as doing something stupid.  She thought it was wonderful, and if it felt so right to have him against her skin, how could it be wrong?

Aggie let herself into Phil’s house, and crept stealthily through it by force of habit.  Phil’s mother wasn’t there, so there was nobody to hear her.  And even if Judy had been home, she’d already offered to let Aggie do pretty much exactly what she was planning to anyway, though she might have been surprised at Phil’s current state.

In Phil’s room Aggie shucked out of her dress, and lay down on his bed clad only in the nightie.  She pulled the other one out of her pack, and rubbed it against her cheek.  Then with a cheeky grin, she rubbed it against her breasts, too.

With a reluctant sigh, she stripped out of her Phil-nightie, and set both on the bed.  “Hopefully you bounce back better this time,” she commented as she opened the locket, then touched the diamond within.

Immediately, the nightie on the left was replaced with the naked body of her sweetie.  He blinked, then smiled up at her.

“Hey there.  Ready to be human again?”

“Yes, goddess.”

“Oh good... wait, what did you call me?”  Aggie stared down at Phil as he moved to a kneeling position on the bed.

“My goddess.  You are my world.”

“Oh...  I... I like the sound of that.”

Phil proceeded to worship his goddess’ body, and it was glorious.

Afterward as they cuddled, Aggies’ hand trailed idly across Phil’s sweaty chest.  She asked, “Are you back to normal?”

Phil snorted, “Normal?  Me?”  They both laughed.

“I mean, am I still your goddess.”

“Yes.  But I know I’m a human, not a nightie.”

“You’re doing much better than when you were my running pants.”

Phil nodded, staring up at the ceiling.  “I didn’t fight it.  I accepted that I was a living nightie.  Sort of like the oak breaking before the wind, while the reed bends and survives.  Trying too hard to cling to humanity broke me.  Accepting that I was yours to do with as you wished saved me.  Plus, I might just be getting used to it.”

Aggie grinned.  “Want to sleep over again?”

“If it’s going to end like this, sure.”

“Cool.”  Aggie watched him in silence for about a minute.  “OK, if you’re not still thinking you’re mine to wear, what’s up?  You’re a million miles away.”

“Hm?  Oh, sorry.  I got an email from Dr. Claymore.”

“Doctor Who?”

“No, not him.  That’d be cool, though.  Dr. Claymore is the one who has my mouse-scale entangler.  I asked him how the experiments had gone, and if I could visit to see if I could figure out what was wrong.”

“And?”

“He said it would be best for everyone if I didn’t visit the campus.  Something about delicate experiments.”

“Oh.  That’s terrible.”  Aggie leaned in and kissed Phil on the cheek.

“Well, he did say he was willing to meet me halfway.  He’s going to be in Portland this weekend, and suggested we meet there.  I’ll drive up to meet him - he’s going to return my equipment, so I’ll need some trunk space to get it home.”

“Aww, you’ll be gone for days then.  Can I come along?”

“Think your Mom would go for it?”

“Probably not.  I’d really rather not blow up my bridges there just yet, I’m sure she’ll come around.  Maybe once we announce a date...  I wish you could figure out how to let my clones get far apart, that way I could send one of me with you.”

“I’d like that too.  I could be your shorts, and still tinker in my lab.”

“And I could be your ... hm, what piece of your clothing should I be.  Lab coat?”

“Pocket protector?” laughed Phil.

Aggie giggled.  “Ew.  I’d rather be your socks.”

“That can be arranged,” Phil said in his best menacing mad-scientist voice.

“A nice tight undershirt would be better.”

Phil got up, and dug through his drawers.  “Like this?”  He held up a plain white t-shirt that looked a size too small.

Aggie climbed out of bed, still naked.  “Perfect.  Now if only we had enough charges to get both of us entangled with each other’s clothing...”

Phil led the way to the lab. “Hopefully.  If I can figure out why that spike happened this morning.”

Getting Aggie cloned and entangled with the shirt took four tries, and some impatient waiting while the spare shirt was erased.

Aggie watched as Phil put the Aggie-shirt on, wriggling a little.  “Oooh, I bet that feels nice.”  She carefully took the pendant out of its mounting platform, and put it on.

“Now what?” asked Phil.

“Now anything, as long as you stay close.”

The spent the afternoon lazily wandering through the neighbourhood park, then returned to Phil’s house for another round of slow, tender lovemaking, with Phil still wearing the Aggie-shirt.  Afterward, when Phil broke the entanglement, Aggie purred with pleasure.  “Oooh, I want to do that again and again and again.”

Phil sighed dramatically.  “You’ll be the death of me yet.”

Aggie laughed, and kissed his cheek.  “Keep working on that stamina.  I expect you to come home in tip-top shape.”

Aggie soon had to dress and head for home.  Phil promised to call each night while he was away.

* * *

“Ah, Phil.  Good to meet you, finally.”

Phil sat down across from the greying professor, and looked around the cafe they were sitting in. Nobody seemed to be paying them any attention.

“Thanks, Dr. Claymore.”

“Please, just call me John.”

“Uh, sure.  Um, so... why here?”

“That is a longer story than you might think.  Suffice it to say, the world does not work the way most people think it does.  You have some of the clues, due to your privilege, but I suspect not all.”

“My... privilege?  Does this have anything to do with my experiment?”

“My boy, it has everything to do with your experiment.  Your design violates several fundamental laws of physics as they are generally understood.”

“Well, not if you look at them from the right perspective...”  Phil trailed off at the look he was getting.  “What?”

“And that is why they work.  For you.  You didn’t study quantum physics at school, did you?”

Phil shook his head. “No, I started with reading Einstein and Dirac, then sort of... branched out on my own.”

John laughed warmly.  “Ah, that would do it.  You skipped over Feynman’s unifying theory, with all the pretty diagrams?  It’s in pretty much every high-school physics book in the world.”

“Um... yes.  I did look at it later, but it didn’t make any sense.”

John laughed even louder.  “Ah!  So few people actually get that.  That was his greatest joke, you see.  It doesn’t make sense.  It seems to, and is easily latched upon by most minds.  But almost everyone comes away with one fundamental understanding.  ‘I have no idea how this works, but it looks right’.”

“Wait... everyone gets taught this?  No wonder my physics teachers hated me.  But... why?”

“Ah.  Well.  That goes back to a darker era, I’m afraid.  What do you know of Velikovsky?”

“He... had some crackpot theory about how the planets played billiards in the past.  The Moon emerging from Jupiter, stuff like that.  Totally shredded by the scientists of the day...  Rather viciously, too.”

“Do you know why he was attacked so bitterly?”

Phil shook his head, brow furrowing.  “It... does seem a bit over the top.  Why?”

“What do you know of Lake Paris, and the Berlin Crater?”

Phil shrugged.  “What every schoolchild knows.  A large meteor calved, and wiped out both cities in 1917, ending the Great War.  Europe was devastated, and is still recovering to this day.”

“And what are the chances of something like that happening at just such a moment?”

“It did happen.  Do the odds matter... wait, how does this relate to Velikovsky.  Unless... was he right?”

“What mattered was that someone truly believed he was.  The right sort of someone, who was angry enough at the insanity of that war to make something terrible happen.  We had to destroy the possibility that anyone else would ever believe the same way.”

“I don’t... what are you talking about?”

“Reality, Mr. Gordon.  Reality is dependent upon observation.”

“Like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle?”

“Not exactly.  There are privileged observers.  Only what they believe counts.”

Phil digested that in silence as the waitress refilled their drinks.  “So if my experiment works because I believe it should... then I’m one of those observers?”

“Ah, the dawn finally breaks.  Yes.  Which is why your arrival on campus would cause disaster for dozens of delicate experiments.”

“But don’t you have observers there, too?”

Dr. Claymore shook his head. “No.  They’re rare, very rare.  There are at best a dozen on the continent, and perhaps that many again elsewhere.  That we know of, anyway.”

“Wait a minute.  ‘We’?  Is there some sort of organization?”

Dr. Claymore looked each way as if to confirm nobody was listening in.  “There is.  We don’t talk about it, but there’s a... consensus, of sorts.  It’s better for everyone if the rules don’t change.  So much of our modern technology depends on the subtleties now, you see.”

Phil blinked.  “Oh.  So that’s why I can never carry a cellphone for more than a couple days before it goes crazy?”

“No, some people are just like that.  Nobody really understands it.”

“So how far can I bend the rules?” asked Phil, eagerly.

The professor sighed. “I was afraid of this.  Look, we’d really prefer it if you followed the consensus.  Don’t make waves, don’t flip other observers and their domains.  We’d rather not use the Velikovsky option, but...”

“And if I’d rather explore the implications of my version of the rules?”

“We can’t stop you, exactly.  If you keep it quiet, and stay in your domain, everybody’s happy, and nobody needs to be dragged through the mud.  Figuratively, of course.”

Phil sighed. “Fine.  What does my so-called ‘domain’ encompass?”

“Oregon, more or less.  Bits of southern Washington.  I’m not really sure of the extent to the east, nobody’s bothered to check.  Somewhere in Idaho.  Oh, and stay out of the ocean.”

“The ocean?”

“Dolphins.”

“Dolphins have observers?”

A long, rueful sigh followed.  “Yeah.  More than we do, a lot more.  They’re up to something, but nobody knows what.  Just that there are certain parts of the ocean you don’t want to send subs if you ever want to see them again.”

“Wow.  That’s a lot to take in.  I guess that means we share the planet with another intelligent species.”

“Two, actually.  We’re pretty sure there’s another species of terrestrial observers.”

“Pretty sure?”  Phil’s voice rose.

Dr. Claymore shushed him.  “They’ve been very good at not being observed, themselves.  They seem content with human rules, up to a point.”

Phil shook his head.  “I don’t think I can take this.”

“Welcome to the real world, kid.  C’mon, lets get your experiment loaded up - it’ll work in your domain, so you may as well have it back.”

* * *

When Phil finally pulled up into his driveway, he was still exhausted and intellectually stunned.  As he got out of the car, Aggie marched up to him.

“‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ is not enough of a call when you’re that far away.  I was worried!”

Phil sighed, and ducked his head.  “Sorry.  I just... couldn’t talk about it on the phone.”

Aggie sighed as well, and wrapped him in a muscular hug.  “Come on, it can’t be that bad.”

“Reality is far stranger than I ever thought possible.”

“Care to explain?”

So they sat on Phil’s front porch and talked for over an hour.  At the end of it all, Aggie shook her head.  “That’s crazy.”

“That’s what I thought.  But... well, he’s right.  I’m well beyond the edges of the consensus.  I could try driving the experiment here and there, seeing where it works and where it doesn’t but...  I can feel that he’s right.  I was close to the border up there.  Here, I can determine reality.  There... the consensus is stronger.”

“Huh.  But the entangler will still work here?”

“And pretty much anywhere else in Oregon.”

“Well.  What are you waiting for?”

Phil shrugged, and went to open his car’s trunk.  He pulled out his overnight bag, and a large metal case.  “Look, I’d love to play mad scientist with you.  But not tonight.  I want to get this gear put away, eat some dinner, and call it a night.  It’s been a very long and confusing day, and I’m exhausted.”

“Aww.  Fine.  Can I stay for dinner, at least?  I haven’t seen you in days, and we just got started...”

Phil smiled at her.  “Wow, you’d lose out on your Mom’s cooking to spend time with me?  I’m touched.”

Aggie bumped his hip with hers, playfully, then offered to carry his overnight case when he stumbled.  They walked together into the house, talking about how she’d passed the time while he was gone.

The next morning, Aggie found Phil buried in his lab, of course.  He had the small-scale experiment set up on a platform next to the mount for the entangling diamond, and was tweaking something to do with the conduits.

“Earth to Phil, come in Phil.”

“Oh, hi Aggie.”  Phil said distractedly, then turned back to his work.

“What’cha doin?” Aggie asked in a cutesy voice.

Phil didn’t even look up, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.  “Trying to integrate the little pods with the main crystal.  I’d rather not rebuild the conduit clamping arrangement yet again, so I’m trying to piggyback the little ones on the existing setup.”

“So, diving back into the work?”

“Yup.”

Aggie sat and watched Phil tinker for some time.  Eventually, she asked, “How much longer will this take?”

“Hm?  Oh, this part’s always fiddly.  Could be another hour, could take the rest of the day.”

Aggie watched as he closed the little pods, and went to the control panel.  “Is it working now?”

“No.  But I need to do a calibration shot to see how close I am.”

“Foo.  Can I be the test subject for the calibration?”

“If you like.  The main pods still work, I can do a full power shot.”

Aggie was stripped down and into the pod in no time at all.  “Hit it, madboy.”

Phil sighed long-sufferingly.  “I’m not a mad...  OK, maybe I am.”  He pressed the button, and the doors cycled shut on whatever Aggie would have replied.

When they opened, the pods were empty.  Phil turned to his logs, and then went back to work on the little pods.  “Getting closer.”

Before the next test shot an hour later, Phil unentangled his sweetie.  She reappeared in the pod, and he asked, “Do you still want to be the test subject?  You’ll probably get erased again.”

Aggie shook her head, and climbed out of the pod.  She could see how his attention was already turning back to his work, even as she stretched and showed off her naked body.  “Call me when it’s back to normal.”

Phil nodded distractedly.  Aggie sighed, and got dressed.  “Men,” she murmured.  “Can’t get turned into clothing without ‘em.”  She giggled, not that Phil noticed.

He worked through the afternoon and into the evening, barely noticing as Aggie came and went.  A sandwich appeared on his workbench, and got eaten without conscious awareness of the fact.

The dragging noises behind him didn’t register, either.  Nor did the series of tiny ripping noises.  Or the long, slow zip.

Aggie walked into his field of view, naked.  “Can it copy me, now?”

“I’ve got the mini-pod cutouts installed, so the main pods can work normally.”

“Do it.”  Aggie stepped into the pod.  Two Aggies emerged, though one only peeked out briefly.

Aggie tossed a handful of objects in with her twin, and a single object into the pod she’d occupied.  “Again.”

Once the cycle was complete, Aggie reached into a pod, and picked up the tiny object within.  She handed it to Phil.  “Put it on.”  Her voice was soft, but it was clear he wasn’t going to get to say no.

“But... this is a condom.”  Phil’s mind turned over for a few seconds.  “You’re a condom?  Oh, wow.”

Aggie’s smile was huge.  “Thought that’d get your attention.”  She tugged at his belt, and grinned down at the growing erection she had revealed.  “Oooh.  I can’t wait to feel how this felt.”

Phil did as she asked, slowly unrolling the condom onto his hardening member.  “You’re quite mad, you know.  Ohhh, just the thought that this is... you.”  He shuddered.

Aggie helped him undress, and pulled Phil over to the camp bed she’d brought into the lab.

“Use me like an object.  Don’t be so tentative, I’m a big girl, and as strong as you.”

“But...”

Aggie put her finger on Phil’s lips.  Her other hand guided him into place.  “I want that copy of me worn to ribbons.  Do it as hard and as long as you can.”

He did, and it was everything Aggie could have hoped for and more.

“Erase me,” was the first coherent thing Aggie said, as they were lying together in the afterglow.

“Wait, what?”

“I want to be... just that.  To lose myself in it.  Think you can get hard again, love?”

“I...”  They looked down.

“Heh.  You’re as kinky as I am.  Excellent.”  Aggie hopped up and into the pod.  Phil shrugged, and ran an erase cycle.  As expected, the pods opened on emptiness.

He reached down, and stroked himself through the filmy latex that was all that was left of the love of his life.  He wondered how she was feeling, and the thought turned him on further, until he was pumping away with his hand.

He tried until he was quite sore, but the earlier exertions had drained him.  His hand fell to his side and he drifted off to sleep, with Aggie still in place.

Around midnight, Phil woke.  He needed to pee quite badly, and it took him a moment to figure out just where he was, and why there was something stuck to him down there.  “Oh my god.  Aggie!”

Of course, she was quite stuck by now, and it took several minutes at the bathroom sink to get her off and cleaned up.  Then Phil returned to the controls, and hit the big red Abort button.  Aggie appeared beside the entanglement crystal, and Phil rushed to her, supporting her as she wobbled.

He carefully led her back to the camp bed, apologizing all the way.  She silenced him with a passionate kiss, that would have led to more if Phil had had any endurance left at all.

“Stop,” Aggie husked.  “That was...  I don’t have words.”

Phil hugged her tight.  “You’re OK?”

“I’m fine.  No, better than that.  I’m... I feel... wonderful.  Amazing.  Just... one question.  Why were there four of me?”