Entanglements 6

As she’d expected when Phil was deep in a technical puzzle, Aggie didn’t see much of him unless she visited the lab.  The main exception was when she arrived home from her university classes, he would always be there at the door, waiting for her and looking worried.

On Friday, the Phil that met her looked excited instead.  The first thing he said after hugging her was, “I did it!”

Aggie danced a victory jig with him, laughing as she did.  When they stopped, she asked,  “You managed to get diamond-boosted entangles to go further?”

“Oh, yeah, that too,” said Phil dismissively.  “Unfortunately, diminishing returns limits it to a little over half a mile.”

Aggie kicked the door closed behind them, then started toward the stairs to the lab, one arm still around Phil.  “Then what did you do?”

Phil pulled two lockets out of his pocket.  “I made these.”

“You got Othar to make another locket?”

Phil shook his head.  “No.  They’re duplicates of each other.”

“But won’t they disentangle at... whatever distance is the limit?”

Phil gestured her up to the lab.  “Nope.  Go, hit the unentangle button.”  He followed behind, and held up both lockets as Aggie reached for the big red button.  Both remained.

“They’re entangled with themselves enough times that the other diamond could be removed from the entangle without erasing either.”

Aggie stared at him.  “They’re entangled with each other, through each other’s diamond?  How did you manage that?”

Phil started explaining the multiple entangling steps and the changes to the discriminator needed to support it.  Eventually a stunned Aggie asked for the summary, so they could have dinner.

“Well, they’re entangled to each other.  I got Mom to drive one of me a hundred miles while another of me stayed here, each wearing a locket.  Still held.  I’m not sure what the range limit is, it might prove hard to find out.”

“Cool.  So if I wear one to the university, and the other here...”

“You can be in both places.  So if you get hurt, we can fix it.”  Phil grinned.  “I don’t have to worry any more.”

Aggie hugged him tight, then headed toward the stairs.  “Come on.  Dinner, then make a few copies so I can get my studying done.”

“And a spare that doesn’t need to study?”

Aggie flashed him a huge grin.  “Exactly.”

After dinner, Aggie looked over the control panel for the entangler.  “OK, I see two fancy new switches, and there’s no ‘erase’ on the selector any more.  I’m guessing the ‘cross-entangle’ is for the lockets?”

Phil nodded.  “Yeah.  It takes the full bank, and you need to do it at least six times to be sure it takes.  Eight is safer.”

“Two hours?” asked Aggie incredulously.

“Yeah, and then you have to test, and even then sometimes it fails.  It took most of yesterday to get them set up right.  So I’d prefer to keep the lockets closed - touching their diamonds will still unentangle them, and the process would need to be started again.  That’s also why the erase mode is behind a two-switch system.”  Phil pointed to the two covered buttons at the top left and top right corners of the board.  “You have to press both of those at the same time to trigger an erase, because erasing the last copy of something would mean we need to unentangle the lockets.  So don’t do that with a locket in the loop.”

“Seems a little extreme,” mused Aggie.

“Says the person who got stuck three inches tall for two weeks due to an ill-conceived erase.”

Aggie laughed ruefully.  “Point taken.  Erase can be potentially problematic, gotcha.  So now that we have this ability to be far apart, what are we going to do?”

“Spend the whole weekend close together,” said Phil with a grin.  “I was thinking I could be a few sets of running shorts for your clones to wear while studying.”

“Mmm... or some cozy robes.  How does that sound?  Want to keep this body snuggly and warm?”

Phil grinned.  “Throw in some comfy leggings, and I’m sold.”

* * *

Three Aggies were sitting at the dining room table, books open in front of them.  The closed doors between them and the bedroom had mostly damped out the noises coming from that direction.  Mostly.  Still, it had been quiet for some time now, and they’d finished their reading.

“We should do something to prank Aggie-prime,” mused the one that had been working through the Sociology text.

The other two readily agreed.  “But what?” they both asked, in sync.

“That power-disentangle mode has potential.  If we put one of our robes in...  Phil would vanish from the bed.  That’d give her a start.”

The others giggled, until one pointed out that they’d also get unentangled.  “Bother.  So... if we ditch the robes here and unentangle everything... Phil would be in bed, and we’d be Aggie, upstairs.  Hm.”

“We could entangle ourselves with something fun, then use the power-entangle to vanish Aggie-prime.  Phil would probably still be in bed, so Aggie would disappear on him.”

The others grinned and nodded.  “Yeah.  How about a pillow?  We could draw our face on the pillowcase.”

“Oooh!  We should get one of those full-body pillows, printed with a sexy picture of us.”

All of them giggled at the idea.  “Yeah!  But for now, let’s get the fabric markers and a pillowcase.”

With three of them working on it, the drawing was soon done.  They trooped carefully up to the lab so as not to disturb the two in bed.  The first step was to put one of themselves into the entangler, with the pillow on the other side.  To make sure they wouldn’t have to unentangle and try again – as that would rather spoil the surprise – the pillow went into a laundry bag with a diamond.

With much giggling, one of the entangled pillows was passed around. The two remaining Aggies both put lipstick kisses on it, and on a little note to Phil to stick to the console.  Then it went back into the pod.

It was only as Aggie was pressing the engage button for the power-disentangle that she realized that she’d made a terrible mistake.  When they’d entangled one of themselves with the pillow, she’d still been wearing comfy Phil-clothes.  He was in the pillow too.

Aggie’s hand darted toward the big red abort button, but the capacitors fired before she finished the motion.  The pods hissed open on a pair of Aggie-decorated pillows.  The rest of the house was silent and empty.

* * *

Saturday afternoon Judy dropped by Phil and Aggie’s house.  She tapped on the door, but there was no answer.  Later she tried calling them, and after dinner decided to make use of the spare key.  No Phil, no Aggie.  Just a rumpled bed, and an odd note taped to the console in the lab.

Judy cast her mind back to Phil’s instructions regarding the console.  Namely, if ever he and Aggie seemed to have gone missing, pressing the big red button should bring them back.  “I hope you’re not off adventuring in the back yard and forgot to tell me...  Maybe I should wait.”

Judy left a worried note on the console beside the one from Aggie, and went home.

Sunday morning after breakfast, Judy checked one more time.  This time, she decided it had been far too long since she’d heard from either of the kids, and pressed the button.  Phil and Aggie appeared sheepishly from the pods, clutching one item of clothing each but otherwise naked.

Phil quickly slipped into the robe he was holding, and tied it closed.  “Thanks, Ma.”

Aggie blushed as she hid behind a pod to slip the leggings on, then held the pillow in front of her chest.  “Hi Judy.”

Judy shook her head.  “What were you two up to?”

Phil turned to Aggie curiously.  “I was wondering that too.”

Aggie sighed and explained how she’d been trying to prank herself by turning Aggie-prime into a pillow.

“And I was entangled as well, so... pillows.  That’s what we were?”

Aggie held the pillow out to Phil.  “It would have been fun.”

Phil tossed the pillow into one of the pods.  “Still could be.”

Aggie squeaked, and covered her chest with her hands.  “Judy’s still here!”

Judy laughed.  “If you’re not over for our usual Sunday dinner tonight, I’ll come over and unentangle you.  Again.  Have fun you two.”  She headed down the stairs, shaking her head but smiling.

Once the front door had closed behind her, Phil turned back to Aggie.  “We really need to put a safety on that...”  He looked around, wondering where she’d gotten to, then rolled his eyes at the pods.  “Seriously?  You haven’t spent enough time as a pillow by now?”

“I didn’t get cuddled,” echoed from one of the the pods.

Phil shrugged, and hit the entangle button.  Then sighed as the pods opened on two pairs of leggings.  They were stretchy enough that he could wear them, so he put both pairs on one over the other and went to make breakfast.

Once the scrambled eggs and sausages were done, Phil covered the plates and went back up to the lab to disentangle Aggie.  She staggered her way down the stairs after him, and gratefully ate the breakfast he’d made.

“How are you doing?” asked Phil after they’d finished eating.  “You were a little out of it earlier.”

Aggie giggled.  “Yeah.  Being worn really hammers home that you’re not human, especially when you don’t have a human copy.  I’d forgotten how much fun that was.”

“I thought you wanted to spend time together, to make up for how busy we were last week.”

Aggie prowled around the table and rubbed one of her toned legs against Phil’s chest.  “C’mon.  Let’s turn you into pantyhose.  I haven’t had my run yet today.”

Phil laughed.  “You don’t go running in hose.”  But the way his hand involuntarily moved to caress the leg Aggie was presenting made his interest clear.

“I’ll make an exception, for you.  You’d feel everything, even more so than with the running shorts.”  She teased her toes between Phil’s legs.  “You know you want it.”

Phil groaned his agreement, and before he knew it he was sitting in a pod in the lab.  “Are you sure you don’t want to clone me first?”

“Nope!  I like how you worship my legs after you’ve spent some time on ‘em.  But I do want to know... you mentioned boosting the range on entangles.  Since I can’t use the locket to do this without unentangling them later, how do I get the extra range?”

Phil shrugged.  “Just toss in a few extra diamonds.  The system will handle the rest.  Four gets you to just shy of half a mile, so stay within a few blocks.”

“Gotcha.”

Phil could hear Aggie moving about, but couldn’t see.  He closed his eyes and waited for the surprise of activation.  The warming coils he’d added under the pods made the wait much more pleasant than his first time in his own experiment, but he was still wriggling with nervous energy.

The pods hissed closed, and a moment later Phil was nothing but a puddle of nylon.  If he could have moved he would have trembled in anticipation.  When Aggie picked him up he could feel his body twist and drift on the air currents of her passage.  That even air currents could move him was mind-blowing, but that was nothing compared to feeling his body being rolled up her legs.  Then she flexed them, and he let his sense of self spiral away, accepting that he was nothing to her, barely even perceptible.  Her legs became his world, and that world carried him away.

When Aggie finished her run, she went back up to the lab and restored Phil, pulling him close against her until he remembered how to be human again.  They didn’t make it back down to the bedroom, and once again she was thankful of her foresight in installing a cot in the lab.

Afterward as Aggie lay in Phil’s arms, basking in the afterglow she murmured, “If it’s always going to be like that, I’ll be running in pantyhose much more often.”

Phil nuzzled against her ear.  “I’d love that.”

Despite that, they decided to spend the rest of the afternoon together as humans, with no entanglements other than their newfound commitment to each other.  They worked side by side in the kitchen to prepare a picnic lunch, then went walking hand in hand through a nearby park, always within reach, always touching.

As they ate by the bank of a burbling stream, Aggie started giggling.

“What?”

“I want to install a bed in the picnic basket.”

Phil chuckled.  “So we can pack two tiny versions of us along, and they can make out in our lunch?”

“Close.  I want to do it out here, in the park.  But I’d be afraid someone would see.”

Phil turned toward her with a mock shocked expression.  “Why Aggie, I never knew you were so kinky.”

“Hah!  After everything we’ve done?  Why I oughtta... we should go hit up a sex toy shop, so I can turn you into a vibrator,” Aggie retorted, grinning hugely.

Phil blushed slightly, but nodded.  “Seems fair.  But to be fair, we have to get a... whatever the opposite is.  So I can turn you into one.”

“You’re on, buster.”

They packed up the remains of their lunch and were off like a shot.  Aggie had only the vaguest sense of just where the nearest adult toy store was to be found, and they drove past it twice before realizing that the dingy storefront in question was, indeed, it.  Phil had assumed that Red Hot was some sort of BBQ restaurant.

It was exactly as sleazy as the storefront and name suggested, but the selection of toys was impressive.  Aggie found a vibrator that looked like a bulbous magic wand instead of anything overtly phallic.  Phil spent a long time staring at an inflatable arrangement that needed to be filled with water, but in the end decided the uncanny valley effect was too disturbing.  Aggie pointed out something that looked more like a modernist bud vase, and more importantly, not at all like the organ it was meant to emulate.  Phil chuckled, and admitted he hadn’t even realized what it was for, despite the display it was in.

On the way home, Aggie threatened to merge Phil with his new toy, instead of hers.  He replied by claiming he’d do the same to her, then they could let both toys go at it.

In the lab, Aggie changed her tune.  “You know... instead of messing about with using the toys backward...  Let’s go all the way.”

Phil raised an eyebrow.  “Do tell.”

“We have enough control with the diamonds to entangle me with you, and you with me, right?  Like the time I went shopping with you watching from behind my eyes, but both of us.”

“Oh, yeah.  That’d be easy.  Clone each of us, cross-entangle twice, done.  Well, erase the extras unless you wanted a foursome.”

Aggie shook her head.  “Not this time.”

The entanglement went off without a hitch, for once.  Before they erased the extra copies, the two Aggies decided to give Phil some extra fun memories and started making out with each other.  The Phils watched in rapt attention, and didn’t say a word as one thing led to another and the Aggies ended up on the cot, and naked.

Aggie sighed happily and rolled away from herself.  Then she noticed her audience.  “Uh...”

“Not judging.  That was incredibly hot.”

Aggie smirked.  “Is that so?  Then turnabout is fair play.”

One Phil looked at her in shock while the other bit his lip.  “I... don’t really swing that way.”

“C’mon.  Just a kiss.  And maybe a little petting.  Think of it as masturbation with an audience.  Remember, I’m inside there... and it would be wicked hot.”

Both of Phil stared at her, blinking owlishly.  “Two guys making out is hot?”

Aggies shrugged.  “You thought us making out was hot.  Is it so surprising we’d feel the same about you?”

“I... guess.”

“Now kiss!  And make it a good one, I’m in there and want sexy memories.”

The Phils saluted their wives in sync, and turned to each other.  The kiss started out perfunctory, but soon was anything but.  Aggies got off the cot, and coaxed the Phils down onto it, touching and nudging here and there, cooing then grinning as clothes came off...

When the Phils abruptly rolled apart, stunned at how far they’d gone, the Aggies were there to enfold them in hugs and purr soothing words.  The cot proved entirely too small for the orgy that resulted, so the four of them stumbled their way down to the master bedroom.  With what little wit remained to him, Phil joked that now he knew why Aggie had insisted on a king size bed.  Aggie laughed, and kissed him fiercely before returning to the fray.

* * *

Two rather flushed young people showed up at Judy’s house in time for dinner.  She laughed delightedly at their rumpled look. “I can give you two plates to go, if you’d like.”

Phil blushed, and Aggie kissed it away.  “No, we’re fine,” she answered.  “We’ve more than made up for yesterday’s lost time.”

“Ah, good.  I didn’t leave you two stuck too long?”

Aggie shook her head.  “Nah.  It’s as relaxing to be a pillow as it is to not exist at all.  More, in a way, because you exist, but you’re all soft and fluffy inside.”  She hugged herself, eyes half-closed at the memory.  “I’m tempted to do that tonight.”

Lucy just sighed and shook her head.  “Kids.”

Dinner was quiet, as any attempt to ask Phil and Aggie about their week drew only blushes and giggles.

Afterward, they hugged both their mothers, promised to see them soon, and darted back home.  Aggie was up the stairs to the lab before Phil had even taken off his shoes.  He peered into the pods.  Aggie as expected in one, and a closed bag in the other.

“All set?” Phil asked as he returned to the control panel.

“Fire at will.”

Phil took both the Aggie-faced pillows downstairs with him.  He made sure to set Aggie’s alarm clock before putting one pillow on the bed, and carrying the other to the living room.  He watched a bit of TV with the pillow cuddled on his lap, but couldn’t focus on the program.  He returned to the bedroom, slipped under the sheets, and was out like a light.  One Aggie-pillow supported his head, the other was snuggled up tight against his chest.

* * *

In the morning, a yawning Phil dragged both pillows upstairs to disentangle them.  Aggie hugged him happily, then pointed at the lockets.  She was still having a little trouble with words at breakfast, but after the Aggie going to University had showered and dressed she felt much more human.  Phil looped one of the lockets around her neck, and kissed her soundly.

“Just because you have a backup now doesn’t mean you should take extra risks.  I’ll be careful here, too.  No experiments until you’re home, just in case it could trip a disentangle.”

Aggie gave her husband a quick squeeze, blew a kiss to the version of herself still in a bathrobe, and grinned.  “Make me some good memories for when I get back.”

They did.

Phil also spent part of the day working on the console.  He didn’t want to rely on his mother coming over to save them if they messed up again, and after discussing it with Aggie decided that a watchdog timer that would trigger an entangle if not reset would do the job.  Aggie wanted the timeout to be a week, but Phil vetoed that.  Eventually they settled on a design that allowed the watchdog timeout to be dialed in for anything from one hour to ninety-nine.

Phil spent the afternoon adding a numeric display and rotary pushbutton encoder to the panel, and a good chunk of Tuesday modifying and testing the firmware.  That night they experimented with a one-hour timeout, entangling Phil with Aggie’s vibrator.  Both of her made use of it in the hour they had, and giggled at Phil’s stunned look when they were done.

“So.  Entangling and unentangling with the alternate diamond doesn’t affect the locket’s entangles.  You can experiment all you like while one of us is away.”

Phil nodded, but once he could speak again he promised to call her before they did any tests.

Aggie suggested that if they needed to call, to do it during her lunch break so as to avoid disturbing her classes.

Phil and the other Aggie exchanged a look and a grin.  “Sounds like a plan.”

The next day, Aggie discovered a linen napkin in her lunch, with ‘Phil’ written on the corner in laundry marker.  She giggled, and hugged it close before placing it in her lap.  She called home, and thanked the others for their consideration.  While she was on the line they did a few more test entangles of the other copy of the napkin, without apparent effect at her end.

“Glad someone’s having fun,” she said with a grin, then ended the call so she could finish her lunch.

They did a few other tests that day, ending with a power-disentangle of Phil from the napkin while Aggie was stopped a mile or so from home.  The napkin stayed with her, but Phil reported that he could remember being on her lap, and being petted.  Aggie grinned.  “Glad you enjoyed it.  Can I come home now?  It’s my turn to be something else for a while.”

“Want to be the tablecloth at dinner tonight?”

“That sounds different.  Sure.”

Phil and Aggie made sure to stroke and touch the tablecloth constantly as they ate, and as soon as the table was cleared they dragged it off to bed with them.

“Okay, smart guy,” panted Aggie after they were done.  “How do we get her back without unentangling the lockets?”

Phil shrugged.  “Erase the tablecloth, of course.  Should make for just one Aggie, who we can clone through the locket once more.  Easy peasy.”

“Excellent.”  Aggie petted the tablecloth, and then spread it across the bed.  “G’night.”

* * *

Friday was a particularly busy day for Aggie, so they left her alone.  Feeling slightly guilty about having her alternate do all the work, Aggie spent part of the day studying, and part helping Phil clean up the one part of the house that still needed it - the crawl space.

The doorbell rang mid-afternoon, sending both of them scurrying back upstairs.  Aggie carried on up to the lab to hide, while Phil opened the door.  Standing on the doorstep with a bandaged and wobbly Aggie between them were two women Phil recognized from Aggie’s descriptions.  One was very tall and thin, with an almost bird-like mein.  The other was short but muscular and stacked.

“Lana?  Umber?  What are... what happened to Aggie?”

Lana and Umber helped Aggie in through the door.  “We were running to class when this squirrel darted out in front of us.  Aggie, being the softie she is, tried not to step on it... and went down a flight of stairs for her trouble.  Can you believe it?  All this mess over a squirrel,” said the shorter one.

Lana spoke up next.  “We took her to the clinic to get patched up.  They figured she should go to the hospital, she cracked her head pretty good.  But she insisted we come here, instead.”

Phil nodded, and took Aggie’s arm.  “I’ve got her.  You made the right call.  Come on, Aggie, up we go.”

Aggie staggered after him, mumbling incoherently.

“Wow, she really did a number on herself.”

Umber shook her head.  “They’ve got her on the good painkillers. She’s going to be dazed for a few more hours, then in serious pain.  What are you doing?”

Phil hugged Aggie carefully, then guided her up the stairs.  “Locket, locket...  Ah, good, you’re still wearing it.”  Phil took the locket off of Aggie’s unresisting form, then guided her into a pod.  

Behind him, there was a bonk and a soft curse from Lana, then both women emerged from the stairs just as the pods were cycling.  They opened on emptiness, and the other Aggie in the room moaned in pain.

“You OK?” asked Phil worriedly.

Aggie waved him off.  “Yeah.  Just some painful memories now.  I’ll be fine.”

Umber and Lana stared at her openmouthed.  Umber was the first to recover.  “But... but... How?”

“I guess you’d have figured something was up when she showed up tomorrow right as rain,” Phil said with a sigh.  “So much for keeping it secret.”

“What secret?” demanded Umber.  “What is this thing?”

“Can you at least keep it to the two of you?”

Umber and Lana looked at each other, nodded, and turned back to Phil eagerly.  “Tell us!”

“Mad science.  For whatever reason, I get to decide how quantum physics works in this part of the world, and...  Quantum entanglement.  It can duplicate objects, or people.”

“And when you get rid of the duplicate, the original gets all its memories?” asked Umber excitedly.  “Wicked.  Think of all the...”  She peered at Aggie.  “You’ve been really on top of your readings this term.  Like, over a week ahead in Sociology 404.  And presumably your other classes.”

Aggie nodded.  “Yup.  Split into four on the weekend.  Three study, one gets to play.”

“Aww, that’s sweet.  You get to spend the days with your new hubby while you also go to school,” said Lana.

“That’s new,” said Phil.  “The lockets are a quantum-entangled pair, and boost the range.  Otherwise she couldn’t be in both places.  And it was mostly about dealing with exactly the sort of thing that happened today.  If she got hurt, she’d have a backup.”

Umber’s eyes went very wide, and she studied Aggie closely.  “You’re not feeling anything from the drugs, are you?”

Aggie shook her head.  “They made the world go all rainbow-fuzzy, though.  Those memories are much nicer than the fall and the aftermath...”

“We could all get smashed, and be perfectly fine afterward?  No hangover or other ill effects?” asked Umber eagerly.

“Yes, but...  You’re not seeing the big picture, here,” said Aggie.  “This doesn’t just duplicate.  Well, it sort of does.  But if you’re in the pod that gets overwritten, you’re not gone.  You’re part of whatever was in the other side.  You can feel and hear everything.”  Aggie ran a hand over her dress, and swished its skirts against her legs.  “Phil’s in here, for example.”

Umber stared at Aggie’s dress, then at Phil, then at Lana.  “And he can feel... that?”

Phil nodded, and Umber moved closer to the pods, running a hand over the smooth metal.

"I can't believe you're actually considering getting into that crazy thing!” exclaimed Lana.

"It's not dangerous,” placated Umber.  “We just saw it be the opposite for Aggie, she’s fine now.  Besides, wouldn't you like to..."

"No.  Absolutely not.  I have no desire whatsoever to know what it feels like to be your bra."

"I didn't say anything about a bra,” Umber replied with a grin and a wiggle of her hips.

Lana tried to look away, and failed.  "No,” she protested weakly.  “Not your panties either."

“Somebody has very specific fantasies they don't want admit to.  Chicken-legs."

"I AM NOT!  And I'll thank you to stop calling me that."

Umber laughed.  "This'd get rid of those chicken-legs you're always fussing about."

"Stop it!"

"Oh, just get in already.  See?  I'm already taking off my bra..."  Umber wriggled and contorted in seemingly impossible ways, then slipped her bra out from her sweater sleeve.  It got deposited in one of the pods, with Lana's eyes tracking its glittery blue form every inch of the way.

Aggie piped up then, "It's only a fifty-fifty chance of turning into Umber's bra."  She neglected to point out that the other half of the bet was as likely to turn up Lana's own bra as it was to duplicate her body.

Lana glared at Umber, but got in the pod even so.  A hiss and clunk later, and Umber eagerly to the door of the opening pod.  "A shoe?  All that, and she's a pair of shoes?"  She pulled one shoe out of each pod, and started laughing.  "Two left shoes.  I always did say she had two left feet."

Aggie laughed, and Phil chuckled along gamely.  "We can make certain outcomes more likely.  Perhaps we should have mentioned that first."

Lana wiggled a foot into one of the shoes, but it hung off her like a canoe.  "Fooey.  I'd have liked to wear her."

"Why?" asked Aggie, curious.

"Ah, I'm always the one underfoot and getting tripped over.  It'd be nice to have her underfoot for once."

Aggie and Phil exchanged grins.  "We haven't explained the little pods yet, have we..."

Umber turned to stare at the other pods beside the ones she’d just seen in use.  “I just thought they were prototypes or something.”

“Yes, but they’re also connected.  We could make copies of you that are just over a foot tall.”

Umber pouted.  “No way to make me bigger?”

Aggie shook her head.  “You wouldn’t fit in the little pods.”

But Phil got that look of his.  “Actually...”

“Yes?” asked Aggie and Umber eagerly.

“It’d take a few steps, but if we shrunk you via the tiniest pods here, then went back up by the mid size twice... you’d end up fifty percent taller.”

“So from four foot two and a half inches to... almost six foot four?  I’d be an inch taller than Lana!  Let’s do it before we change her back.”

Phil shook his head.  “To get Lana back we need to unentangle her.  That would undo the entangles that created various sizes of you, too.”

Umber swung the Lana-shoe dangling from her toes and sighed.  “Sure, change her back.”

Phil pressed the big red unentangle button.  Lana blinked several times and stared at Umber.  “What... what was I?”

“Two left shoes, to go with your two left feet,” replied Umber with a grin.

“Hmf.  It was... different.”

“Disappointed?” asked Umber sweetly.

Lana looked aside, but didn’t answer.  She watched out of the corner of her eye as Umber hopped into the pods, this time equipped with a laundry bag and diamond, which Phil explained as their way to ensure that the whole person, plus clothing, would get copied.

“Wait.  I could have ended up as naked twins?” asked Lana, shocked.

The pods closed, then opened again, and two Umbers hopped out, shedding her bag.  The middle-sized pods opened as well.  Lana stared at the two tiny forms emerging.  “Umber?  Oh.  My.  God!  You’re so cute!”  She scooped one up in her arms.  The other got put back into the mid-sized pods, and a few lever shifts plus another cycle created a pair of teeny-tiny Umbers as well.

“Holy crap,” whispered the full-size Umber.  “They’re...  I’m...”  She held a hand out to one of herself, and the little one climbed on.  Umber slowly lifted the tiny one up to her face so she could get a good look.  The little one giggled, and danced on her palm.  “”This is so cool.  How can they even breathe like this?”

Phil shrugged.  “Beats me.  But they can eat and drink stuff that’s our size, too.”

Umber grinned.  “Man, they’d be cheap drunks.”

“And you can erase them afterward,” said Aggie.  “No hangover.”

Umber’s eyes went even wider. “We have to do that this weekend!”

While Lana and Umber were focussed on the smaller copies, Phil had continued his work.  And when, two cycles later, two giant Umbers stepped from the pod, all chatter ceased.   Umber’s muscular build had looked more cute than anything on her pixie-like frame.  But now that she was Lana’s height, it made her look like an Amazon.  Lana’s jaw dropped open as both Umbers approached her and opened their arms for hugs.

Umbers enfolded Lana in a double hug, and the look of bliss on all their faces was something to behold.

“Wow.  You two look perfect together like that,” gushed Aggie.  “You should stay that size.”

Every Umber in the room stared at Aggie with undisguised longing.  “That’s possible?” “How?” “Tell us!”

Phil sighed.  “Same as how Aggie got stuck three inches tall.  We erase the rest of you, then unentangle.  Whichever height is left, that one stays.”

All the remaining Umbers swarmed for the pods.  Soon, only one was left with Lana, standing fully as tall as her, arms around each other’s shoulders.  “Hit it, madboy.”

“Hey!  Only I get to call him that.”

Umber laughed.  “Aww, but it fits so well.”

“Fine.  Hit it, madboy.”

Phil sighed overdramatically, and pressed both erase buttons home.  Umber staggered, barely supported by the Lana’s slender limbs.  “Woah.”

Lana looked at her worriedly.  “What’s wrong?”

“Headrush.  Got a dozen different sets of memories all crowding my head at once.  Some really fun ones, like getting tucked into your bra.”

Lana blushed.  “But you were so cute!  I couldn’t help myself.”

Umber hugged her tight and planted a scorching kiss on her lips.  When they finally broke for air she was panting.  “God, that’s so much better when we’re the same size.  C’mon, let’s go home.”

Aggie and Phil walked them out to Lana’s car.  Umber’s first attempt to get in was a complete failure, drawing giggles from the other women.

“Still sure you want to stay big?” asked Phil.  “We could reduce Lana to your old size instead.”

Lana smiled at Umber.  “I’d like to try that.  Go out at your size for a while, see what the world is like from that perspective.”

“Be my guest,” said Umber as she finally managed to fold herself into the passenger seat.  “But I’m staying this size when we do it.  You’ll really get the full experience that way.”

Lana gracefully folded herself into the driver’s seat.  “Sounds like fun.  So...”  She looked up at Aggie.  “See you tomorrow?  We need to drive you back for your car.”

“Right!  That’d be great, thanks.”

“Then when we get back here, we can have that mini party,” added Umber.

Aggie laughed, and she and Phil waved them off.

“I fear we’ve created a monster,” mused Phil.

“Yeah.  I don’t think Umber’s going to go back to being tiny.  Ever.  Except maybe as a foot-tall toy for Lana.”

“So much for secrecy.  I wonder how many people they’ll invite over for the mini booze-up.”