A message came up saying "Searching for source of memories... Found." Then Jon felt dizzy for a second. There was a sudden salty taste in his throat and he was immersed in water. His lungs felt full of it but his breathing came strangely easy. What was this, some kind of strange oxygen-carrying fluid?
He heard a low hum, conducted through the fluid, and felt it drain away, leaving himself exposed and cold, from the head down. As the water drained, he should have been able to stand, and he did, but something wasn't quite right. His balance was off by just a bit. When he coughed out some more fluid and opened his eyes, he saw that he was upright inside a glass cylinder, the same one he had been watching. Standing outside looking back at him was a good-looking boy his own age who reminded him of himself.
"Jonnie?" said the boy?
Sputtering out water, he said "that's me... though with all of this I'm not sure if I'm me." His voice was higher than what he, or rather she, had remembered, but it was pretty obvious what the situation was.
"I guess it's a matter of definition," he said. "Hey, you answered when I call you Jonnie."
She replied, "That's right, I... Okay, that is strange. When I think of it, that's my name, even though I remember that Jon was my name until a minute ago. You know, I never did prepare to wake up as the clone. I should have. But I suppose it wasn't me who needed to prepare, anyway, it was you."
"No problem, Jonnie," said Jon. "Didn't we decide already that anything that happened before this, happened to 'us'? So 'we' needed to prepare to be the clone. Er--did this work? Do you want to do it?"
"Do I... Oh. Suddenly finding yourself naked and underwater can take your mind off of things. I'd never have sex with a guy before. But with you... well, if you're me, it's just masturbating, right?"
"I knew you were going to say that," said Jon.
Jonnie grinned. "Because that's what we were thinking before I became me. Thinking of sex with your clone as masturbating is about the most obvious thought you can have about the whole thing. It isn't some great insight. But maybe that's what it is. Or maybe I'm rationalizing, because it's so weird."
"Rationalizing?"
"Explaining why it's different. Jon, I like girls. I've always been attracted to girls. I've never been turned on by any guy before I laid eyes on you just now. You know that. Here I am, we used a machine and made a wish, and now you're like Hayden Panettiere to me. It's like I'm straight except for you."
"Hmm," said Jon. "Wouldn't that make you lesbian except for me?"
"I'm still Jon inside. I have breasts, my name's different, and we're going to have sex, but I'm still me. You know that... that's what we wished for... gorgeous." She took a step forward and slipped on her wet feet. Jon caught her.
"Wait a minute," said Jon, "was that deliberate? You slipping."
"Nope," she said, reaching down to unbutton Jon's pants. "But it's convenient."
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," said Jon. "I can't take your clothes off. But you can take off mine."
"I already know what you look like, Jon. You're me!" She zipped Jon's pants open and pulled down his pants and shorts. "Ooh, it's so big," she said, rubbing his penis and watching it get bigger.
"You big faker," said Jon. "Before the cloning, we were thinking about having you say that. Remember?"
"Of course I remember," said Jonnie. "How does it sound?"
"Weird. Like I'm in a porn movie and people are saying things that don't make sense. But we're not supposed to analyze this."
"You mean like I'm not supposed to say how it's strange to rub your penis from the front instead of the back, like we did when we masturbated?"
"Exactly like that." Jon waved a hand and Jonnie stopped; then he took off his shirt, and turned around, so his back faced Jonnie. "Put your hands around me and do it from the back."
"It's still not the same, I won't feel anything. It isn't attached to me!"
"I think we're doing it all wrong," said Jon, and turned back around. He kissed Jonnie. "Let's cuddle first." His hands found their way around Jonnie, and when she felt them start to knead her breasts she fell over onto the bed, taking him with her. They both giggled. Soon they passed the kissing and foreplay stage and went on to penetration. It will, however, forever remain a secret who orgasmed first.
Neither one was very experienced, but the sex was certainly a lot of fun. Afterwards, they just lay on the bed, against each other's warm bodies, not that they had much choice considering how wide it was.
"You know," said the boy next to Jonnie, "I think we forgot something."
"Condoms?" she asked. "We're identical, so we can't give each other a new disease, and magic stones can stop pregnancy."
"No, the door. We locked the bathroom door before, but never our room door. What if Zoe had come in and seen us?"
