"Hey, do you have a department store within walking distance?" asked Kat. The plan had after all been to go for a walk, like the day before.

"It's about a 40-minute walk," said Alyssa. "We can walk if you really want to, but now that I can imprint like you, I'd actually like to try driving your way."

"Oh, good idea!" said Kat. "Believe me, you'll never want to drive the old way again. It's so much easier."

Alyssa walked to her car and placed her hand on the hood. "I don't need to go in through the dashboard like you did, right?"

"No, any part of the car works," replied Kat. "At least it does for the cars I'm used to."

Her hand still on the hood, Alyssa let herself merge with the car. As her body was sucked in, the dark blue car turned—you guessed it—light blue, and a cloud pattern even appeared over the car's exterior, like the sky. The front right door opened on its own—well, to say it more accurately, Alyssa opened her front right door—and started speaking over the car stereo, just like Kat had the other day. "Get in!" she said. Kat sat down in the car as instructed, and Alyssa closed the door for her.

"This is so cool," said Alyssa as she started to move out of the driveway. "It feels just like walking, but I'm not moving my feet, and I can go faster. Actually it's even easier than walking!"

"Yeah, that's cause normally you don't have a powerful engine helping you move," explained Kat. "But now you do."

"That's what I thought," said Alyssa. "It feels so cool moving so fast with what feels like only a gentle walk."

"You put it quite well," said Kat. "Just be sure not to go too fast."

"Hey, I just thought of something," said Alyssa. "Remember when I started my car the other day? Did you notice I used a key?"

"Yeah, I figured it's to stop people stealing it but I've never seen you need one to start the car."

"Yeah, just an extra security measure in case you leave the doors unlocked," said Alyssa. "But if I wanted to steal a car, even if the doors were locked, I could just walk up to one and imprint, then I don't need the key because I am the car and I can just start myself. Like I did a minute ago."

"Oh, you're right!" said Kat. "That's a really good point, the stuff in your universe wasn't designed with imprinting in mind, so there's no protection."

"How do people in your world stop cars from being stolen?"

"Pretty simple, there's this thing we have that generates a field of some kind that stops imprinting," she explained. "Try to imprint, and it just doesn't work. Feels like there's a wall in the way. They put one in cars, and it turns on when you lock the doors. It's also in things like ATM's and vending machines."

"But don't you lock the doors when you're driving?"

"Yeah, and the wall's there, it keeps you in," said Kat. "That's the other purpose it serves; it stops you from accidentally leaving the car at 60 miles per hour or whatever, kinda like a seatbelt," she explained.

That gave Alyssa a scary thought. "Could someone use that thing to trap somebody inside something?"

"No, don't worry," said Kat. "You can get through it with enough mental force. It's really hard to get into something, but easier to get out, because then it's like momentum's on your side."

"But then couldn't you steal a car anyway? Or rob an ATM or something?"

"Yeah, but it's really tough. It's true though that once you're in, you're in, but that's what the police are for," explained Kat. "Hey, maybe security is something your universe is better at."

"Eh, maybe, but I'd rather have imprinting," said Alyssa. "And people here can do it too; they just don't know it. So the threat already exists, technically."

"And you want to share it with everyone and unleash this threat upon the world?" Kat laughed.

"Well yeah, everyone has a right to reach their full potential," said Alyssa. "If that breaks security, it's the security that needs to adjust, not them."

"Oh yeah, definitely Lyss," said Kat. "I was just making a joke."

"Actually now that I think about it, I wonder why nobody here has discovered imprinting until now."

"Maybe nobody ever thought to try?" suggested Kat.

"I'm sure someone would have at some point," replied Alyssa. "Maybe I had an advantage because I've actually seen someone do it before?"

"Could be, I guess."

-----

Alyssa parked in the parking lot. "We're here," she said.

Kat got out of the car, and Alyssa got...out of the car. They walked into the store together.

As Alyssa walked in, she almost felt overwhelmed. She had been in this store countless times previously, and the store itself wasn't noticeably different from the last time she had been there, but Alyssa's new ability gave her an entirely new way of looking at things. After all, every single one of the countless items on display could become a new body for her, giving her an entirely new experience, and new things for her to try.

Kat noticed something right away that was different from her dimension, but it wasn't anything she didn't already know about. "What the...it's like half the store is clothing," she said. "Why so much?"

"Well it's something people need to buy a lot of," explained Alyssa. "And remember you were complaining about the limited selection? People like a lot of options."

"Do you really need to buy clothes that often?" Kat asked incredulously. "Why can't you just always wear the same thing?"

"Well it'll get dirty, and you need something else to wear while it's being washed," she explained. "And if you wear something a whole lot, it'll eventually get worn out."

"Worn out?"

"Yeah, like it gets holes in it and stuff from overuse."

"Wow, your world has it rough when it comes to clothing," said Kat. "You can't get just anything you can imagine, you have to pay for it, you have to clean it, and eventually you need to buy more?"

"Yeah," said Alyssa. "I can see why you'd find that really tough. Being able to just think about an outfit and make it appear on your body sounds so much easier. I bet the clothing companies wouldn't like it though!"

"Oh, I'm sure," said Kat. "They'll be in for a nasty surprise once we figure out how to teach people that!"

"I just wish the people who work for those companies wouldn't have to lose their jobs," said Alyssa. "But the world has more to gain than to lose."

As they idly walked through the store, Alyssa resisting the urge to imprint herself with people watching (that won't be a problem forever, she thought), they eventually found themselves in the electronics section. There was a demo of a racing video game on display. "Ooh, that looks like fun," said Kat. "I loooove going really fast--wait, you have video games here? How do you play them?"

Alyssa grabbed the controller and demonstrated.

"Wait, but how does that let you see stuff around you, or feel things?"

"Other than feeling this thing vibrate in your hands, it doesn't," said Alyssa, already knowing the type of "controller" Kat was familiar with. "Probably seems pretty boring to you, huh?" They both laughed.

"Is that even fun?" Kat laughed.

"Well I don't really play video games myself, not really my thing. But yeah, people find it fun," said Alyssa, putting down the controller. "Actually there is something now where you can see everything around you, but it's real expensive and doesn't work with most games." An idea hit her. "You know, I might as well give video games another try," she said with a smirk. "Something tells me I'll find it a lot more exciting than I did last time."

Alyssa looked around to make sure nobody was watching. "Wanna play together?" she said as she placed her hand on the screen and was pulled into it. The monitor turned blue like it had at her house, but then the color left it, traveling down the wire to the console, which took on the blue and white motif. Kat watched the screen as the game's menu appeared to operate itself. "New Race, 2 players, 3 laps, CPU players off." A 3D model of a sports car rotated on the screen next to the text "Player 1", and a second later, the word "READY" appeared on top of it. "Come on, Kat!" came Alyssa's voice from the TV speakers, the color fading from the console to make room for Kat's personality as Alyssa's moved into the system's memory, and became the digital representation of player 1's car.

Kat touched the screen and willed herself into it, traveling down the wire just as Alyssa had, and found her place in the console as player 2. "READY" appeared on the other side of the screen as well, which then faded out.

"Oh my god this is SO amazing," said Alyssa in wonder. The race track, which she had seen a minute ago on the screen, was now all around her. She was there. Not to mention she was imprinted on a car again, which she already knew was fun. But even before she moved, this one felt faster.

Alyssa heard a car horn next to her. She looked to her right, and saw a very fancy black car, with neon pink lights and racing stripes. Obviously Kat. Then again, it's not like it would have been anyone else. "3...2...1...GO!" Text appeared in the center of both of their vision, and as the last word appeared, they both took off. Alyssa's car went faster, which somewhat annoyed Kat—had she picked the wrong one?—but she ended up taking the lead eventually.

"Whoooooooooooo!!!" yelled Kat's voice. "Aren't you loving this?"

"This is GREAT!!!!" yelled Alyssa. "I'm going SO fast, but for me it's just like walking! And the wind feels amazing! I can't believe this is something in a video game!"

"Your world is missing out on something awesome," yelled Kat, as she zoomed around a corner.

"I know!" replied Alyssa as she came around the same corner, trying to catch up. "Hey, if I crash, it won't hurt, will it?" She remembered Kat had been in an actual car crash recently

"No, don't worry!" she responded, as Alyssa came up right next to her and began to overtake her. "But when it happened to me I still jumped out at the last second without thinking," she laughed. Just as Alyssa passed her, Kat activated her boost and got back in first place, though they still weren't far from each other.

"Hey, I didn't know you could do that!" yelled Alyssa.

"Really? You should have a natural understanding of everything you can do," she said as her boost ran out. "You sure you don't?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," said Alyssa.

"Guess your car doesn't have it then," said Kat. "That's probably why yours is a bit faster. You know, balancing."

"Hmm, I wonder," said Alyssa to herself. She concentrated, touching another part of the game with her personality, as she instantly teleported right in front of Kat.

"Hey, no fair, you cheated!" laughed Kat. She wasn't mad; it was all in good fun. But Kat did the same thing, putting herself just as much ahead as she was before, to negate Alyssa's unfair advantage. "Let's play for real though, okay? I want to see who will win."

And they did for the remainder of the race. It was close, but Kat was the clear winner. "Don't be upset," she said to Alyssa, not that she was at all upset. "I've been driving this way much longer than you have, after all."

Finished playing, they both came out of the screen and back into the store.

And there, standing right in front of the demo kiosk, was the girl who Kat had scared away the day before, staring at them in shock.