Everyone was panic-stricken. So there was a shadowy group of people aware of this, and trying to prevent it. And not only that, but the woman who everyone thought was Tara was apparently an impostor, and the real Tara was in danger somewhere all the way in California! Were the rest of them in danger too? What should they do about this spy? No one wanted to do anything too drastic in case it was all a mix-up, but it would be a terrible mistake to keep her around if she really did mean harm, which seemed pretty likely.

Thankfully Alyssa, after taking some deep breaths, was able to keep her cool, while everyone else kept a close eye on the "Tara" in the room. "I don't think any of us know for sure what's going on here," presumed Alyssa. "Do you see any logos anywhere, any signs...any hint at what could be going on or who's responsible?"

Tara paused to look around, and gave her answer. "No...not that I can see..." she cried.

"You said there were machines?" recalled the possibly-fake Tara. "What do they look like? What are they doing?"

"Why do you want to know?" yelled Tara.

"Listen to me," pleaded the other Tara. "I promise you, I'm really Tara, and I mean no harm. I remember emailing myself to Alyssa too; it just worked for me. That's all."

"They copied me..." said Tara. "You may think you're real, but they probably changed you somehow...did something to your mind that you don't know yet."

That got her thinking. Could she really be a mind-altered clone and have no way to tell? It was a scary thought, and one she couldn't get out of her head.

"I'd like to know too," said Alyssa. "I want you to be safe more than anything else, but I still think it's important we figure out what's going on while we can. For your sake mainly."

"Well I came in from one of them..." sobbed Tara. "I think they're computers of some kind. This one was downloading everyone's email, saving it somewhere. It found me and tried to delete me!"

"I think if you were deleted you'd just appear outside the machine," remarked Kat. "That's what always happens with things like that."

"Now why can't that happen when people die?" commented Sophia. "Just pop back into existence perfectly fine."

"Wait, hold on," interjected Sandra. "Didn't you say your phone told you where you are? Do you have an address?"

"It told me I'm near San Francisco somewhere, but the signal's not very good," replied Tara.

"What about the computers?" suggested Alyssa. "Can't you email yourself back?"

"I'm still afraid to imprint on this thing," sighed Tara. "I don't want to get...deleted..." She shuddered at the prospect. "I know Kat says it's safe but why would they try if they knew it wouldn't work?"

"Hey, I wouldn't take any chances either," agreed Kat.

"Umm, you said it copied me...or, you..." said the other Tara, the one present in Alyssa's house, stammering due to fear. "D-Do you know it did something to my mind or are you just guessing?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you so bad," replied Tara on the phone. "I guess they might not have...it was just a guess since they copied me, but I wish I could say I doubt it..."

The other Tara gulped.

The Tara on the phone continued. "I'm looking at this screen and I don't think it says anything about the copy...but I don't understand any of it so I don't know..."

"There's a screen?" Sophia perked up. "Is there anything that looks like the name of an organization or something?"

"I don't know, all I see is a bunch of numbers...stuff about mailboxes, quotas, whatever that means...I-M-A-P? I-map? Maybe that's their name...wait, no, that's just a program they're using or something..."

Sandra raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute.....You said the machine was full of people's email, didn't you?"

"Yeah...it put me in some kind of digital box or something with all of Alyssa's email—don't worry Alyssa, I didn't look at it—but they have boxes for everyone! It's like they were waiting for someone to fall into their trap... And I did."

"...How do you know it's not just a regular mail server?" asked Sandra.

"What's that?" asked both Taras in unison.

Sandra explained to Tara—both of them—what an email server was, and why it was okay that everyone's mail was on it. "It's like the post office, I guess," she summarized.

"That explains the copy," said Sophia.

"So that means I'm perfectly fine? My brain hasn't been altered or anything?" asked Tara (the one in the room with them) hopefully.

"Well, if that is in fact where she is, then yeah, you should be."

"Wait...if that's true, then why did they try to delete me?" asked the other Tara.

"Hmm...yeah, that's right. Can't think of a reason that would happen," said Sandra, not quite as sure anymore. "They wouldn't just randomly delete someone's mail."

Maybe there was in fact something sinister going on.

The Tara in the room looked dejected for a second, then slowly regained her hopeful expression. "Hey, wait...I think that might have been me...sorry!"

"What did you do?" asked Kat, confused.

"I deleted the email I came in on because I didn't want Alyssa to see the blank email on her phone or something and get confused..." She looked at Alyssa. "I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," said Alyssa.

Tara continued. "So then it would get deleted there too, right? And I guess that Tara was still in it."

"What if I had seen the email on my phone?" asked Alyssa. "Would there be another copy of you?"

"I don't know, I guess so," answered Tara. "Yeah, I guess it wouldn't have been blank."

Suddenly Sandra looked concerned. "Maybe there are other copies of her somewhere...Kat, you're the expert here, do you know if there's any way to tell?"

"I don't know, maybe call her again?" suggested Kat. "That's how we found the first one."

Everyone agreed that was the best solution, at least for the time being.

"So don't answer when I call you again," said Alyssa.

"Wait, before I hang up...I'm safe, right?" asked Tara.

"Sounds like it," said Sophia.

A sigh of relief came over the phone. "So I was scared for nothing," said Tara. "How do I leave though? If I walk out I might set off an alarm, and if I email myself back I'll just make more copies."

"Huh, I'm not sure," said Sandra. "Usually those places are pretty secure; I'd be surprised if there wasn't an alarm."

Everyone else tried to think of a solution to this new predicament.

"Can you imprint on the wall?" asked Alyssa.

"Oh! Duh!" said Kat. "That's right, they don't have the barrier thing here!"

"Kat showed me, you can come out on the other side and go through it," Alyssa continued.

"Wait...really?" asked both Taras in unison.

"Yep," said Kat.

"Walls. Yet another thing that isn't as secure as people think," Sophia commented.

"Oh wow, that's so cool," exclaimed Tara over the phone about ten seconds later. "I can go through walls!!! And I'm outside now! I'm free!!!! Thank you so much!" There was a pause. "Hey, the building has the name of my email company on it! Looks like you were right!"

"Yay!" cheered the other Tara.

"Okay, I guess I'll meet you at my own house when I find my way back home, Tara." She laughed.

"Wait, but what will you do then?" asked Alyssa. "There's two of you now, maybe even more."

"That's not a problem," said Kat. "Remember Stacy? She split into a bunch of her, and she could go back easily."

"Yeah, Stacy could do it. But she's like..."

"Oh, she's said before splitting is the only part that was tough. Merging is as easy as imprinting on the other copy."

"You know I'm not sure I want to just yet. Having two of me sounds pretty useful, might want to try that for a while...wait, who's Stacy?" asked Tara on the phone.

"Someone famous from my world," answered Kat. "Remind me to tell you about her later; she's really cool."

"Sounds like it! But yeah, I'd better go now, so you can check if there's any other copies of me."

"Have a safe trip back home," said Alyssa.

"I guess I'll see you then," said the other Tara, to her copy on the phone.

Everyone said bye, and Alyssa hung up, noticing shortly after that she had a voice mail.

From Tara.

"Hey Alyssa, it's Tara. Sorry I couldn't answer your call, I was inside my computer...yep, your trick worked! Seriously, thank you so much, this is literally the most amazing thing ever!!! I even tried to email myself to you, but it just dropped me in my sent mail folder, haha. Anyway, I don't remember giving you my number, but if you need anything, feel free to call me back. Bye!"

"Look at that," laughed Kat. "You didn't even have to call."

"Well I do if I want her to know what happened," said Alyssa as she dialed her phone. "I just hope I get the same one who left the message."

Just then, Sophia got out her own phone to read a text. "Hey Sandra?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"Work just texted me, they're wondering why we're taking a long time."

"Oh crap, you're right!" said Sandra. "We should probably head back now...I don't know how I can explain why we weren't doing our jobs..."

"Yeah..." agreed Sophia. "Hey, all of you, this was just amazing, but we really need to head back. Oh and thank you for finally putting my mind at ease over what happened with Grandpa!"

"You're welcome!" said Alyssa. "Oh hi Tara, hold on one second," she said into her phone.

"How about we come back tomorrow night so you can show us how to do that thing?" offered Sandra.

"Sure!" replied Alyssa before exchanging phone numbers with Sandra.

"Bye everyone. I won't tell anyone at the hospital what I saw just yet, but we'll talk later. I can't in good conscience keep this a secret forever if it can help so many people."

"Even if it can hurt people too?" asked Sophia as they gathered their things. "She could have read anyone's private email for starters."

"We have to figure something out," replied Sandra. They started walking towards the door. "Like there's disabled people who can use this to live normal lives. It can't be right not to..." She shut the door.

"Hey Tara, sorry, I just had to say goodbye to someone," said Alyssa into her phone.

Alyssa continued talking. "...Yes I did. You said you tried to email yourself to me and landed in your sent mail?"

Alyssa took the phone away from her ear for a minute. "Yep, it's the same one," she said quietly.

"Well actually, it's a funny story..."