Then there came a knocking on Jon's door. There was no car outside, which ruled out parents, and Zoe was already in her room, the door locked and obviously wanting no more part of this.
"It's him!" yelled Joey at the sound.
"Who?" replied Jon. "You mean Joseph?"
"It's me!" shouted Joseph from outside the door. "Jon, Jons... are you guys there?"
Jonnie was already walking to the door. "Coming!" she shouted back.
"Don't let him in!" said Joey. "If you do he'll tell me to go back with him...."
Jonnie paused and explained, "There's no going back with someone you don't want to go back to. But he's my friend too, just like you. Letting him in won't hurt anyone." She turned the knob and pulled the door open.
Joseph was right outside and walked in. Joey froze as Joseph spoke. "Hi, guys. Guy and babes," he said to the three of them. Then he looked at Joey. "I thought I could guess where my clone went to. You," he said, and pointed at Joey, "can come home with me. We're going now."
The girl clone of Joseph shuddered and said "I'm going. I have to do what he says." She got up and took a step towards Joseph.
"Wait!" exclaimed Jonnie. "She can't go with you." Joey stopped.
"Why not, Jonnie?" replied Joseph. "This isn't some kind of thing where you agree with her because there's one big sisterhood of clones, is it? She was created to be my girl, just like you were created as Jon's girl. We belong together."
"You have it all wrong," said Jonnie. "Maybe I am Jon's girlfriend, though I wouldn't phrase it the way you did. But I'm not his slave! He can't tell me what to do. And I'm not that different from him. He just wanted a girl who likes him and is like him. He didn't sit down and say 'okay, now maybe I can put her in a collar' or 'I'd love to have a maid' or 'cat ears look cute, never mind that if you ride on a bus with them people will just call it a deformity'."
"Think of it this way, then," said Joseph. "I said all that stuff's okay. She's me, so that means she also agreed that it's okay. You can't be a slave if you agree to it."
"I guess some of that's right," said Jonnie. "If I'm Jon, I must have agreed to me being me. But look at it this way. She did agree it was a good idea. Then when she found out what it was like she changed her mind. If you keep ordering her to do things that upset her, you're forcing her."
"What does your brother Jon think about it?"
"I'm not her brother," said Jon. "She's my clone. A clone isn't quite a sibling, or a child, or anything else, a clone is a clone. We might decide to live as brother and sister... but we haven't. We're not you, or Sarah."
"I think you're making excuses, Jon. Don't be an ass. You made Joey in the first place for me. Tell Jonnie that I just want to keep Joey."
"Maybe," said Jon, "there's some kind of compromise we can work out. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Jonnie?"
Jonnie had no idea. They got a lot of the same ideas, but they weren't so identical that they were thinking about the exact same things at the exact same moments. On the other hand, that wasn't the answer this called for. "Yes," she replied.
"Here's the idea," explained Jon. "We make another clone of you, a girl, one who treats Joey better, but who also likes you. You and her can be together, and she'll be responsible for Joey. What do you two think of it?"
"Sounds like, well, it might work," said Joseph. "But if my new clone doesn't obey me, we could get into arguments...."
"It sounds g-- good but I... I... don't know..." said Joey.
"Hmm," said Jonnie. She wasn't quite thinking of Jon's idea, but maybe something similar would work. "If Joey isn't sure about it, how about this, instead? We make a clone of Joey. A guy clone. He'll remember what you do, Joey, and he'll treat you like you want to be treated. No ordering around."
"S-- sure," she replied.
"I don't like that," said Joseph.
"Still can't agree, huh?" said Jonnie. "Hmm..." She wondered what she could do, but then she remembered the stone. It wasn't around, but she could still 'use' it by making plans for when it comes back. "How about this? We wait a week or so until the submissiveness wears off."
Joseph was stunned. Apparently he hadn't considered that. "What do you mean wears off?"
"Wears... off?" said Joey. "You mean I can do what I want?"
"We don't know everything about the machine," said Jonnie, "but just because it makes someone be that way doesn't mean they're stuck like that. It's like a regular person who's like that. Maybe the submission thing is just a phase and as you're exposed to more of the world your personality can change." It wasn't complete nonsense, but Jonnie didn't think submissiveness would go away that easily. However, if she waited a week, it would be child's play to magically make it go away. "Joey can stay somewhere else, maybe with Sarah L., maybe here if I can get my family to agree. In a week we meet and decide what to do."
"And I don't have a maid for that week, right?" asked Joseph.
"Look, we're sorry," said Jon. "When you look at it one way this is such a petty thing to argue about, but I'm not going to help you become a rapist, and this is getting a little too close for comfort for either me or Jonnie. I didn't plan it this way when I asked for the machine..."
"You inherited it," said Jonnie. Revealing the wishes now wouldn't be good.
Jon grinned and continued. "Yeah, okay, Jonnie, we inherited it. But Joseph, if there's anything else we could do for you other than sending Joey back...."
"I think you and your clone have done enough. You have this miraculous thing and I get a taste of it and it's gone..."
"Don't be silly," said Jonnie. "I'll clone you anything else you want that isn't a problem. Just like I would for myself. I'm not trying to withhold cloning from anyone. In fact... oh, maybe I'm the one being silly. I'll tell you what. We can forget all of this and we will let you take Joey home with you."
"But you said that..."
"I said no, but I just got finished telling you that a clone can change her mind. I changed my mind."
"What's the catch?"
"The catch is you have to promise not to force her to do things she really doesn't want. You've been warned that the submissiveness might wear off. Well, if you don't keep your promise, and it ''does'' wear off, you'll be in a lot of trouble as soon as she tells me how you're mistreating her. Even just the possibility should keep you from going too far. How does that sound, Joey? Will you go with him?"
"W.. will you really promise?" asked Joey hesitantly.
"Sure." Joseph smiled. "I don't want you to tell Jon and get him to make a couple of clones of you with Xena powers to come beat me up."
Hopeful that the whole thing was coming to a close, Jonnie turned to Jon and asked "What do you think?"
"I think it might work," replied Jon.
"I heard most of that," explained Zoe after Joseph and Joey had left. "And what kind of a name is 'Joey' anyway?"
"Do you think he'll keep his promise?" wondered Jon.
"I don't know, but I bet he will. Because it really ''could'' wear off, and you really ''could'' make some clones to beat him up. You know, I have to congratulate you. Both of you. You inherited the most out-there thing possible from Grandpa. Maybe making Joey was a mistake, but aside from her you really did use it like I'm sure he would have wanted. I don't know if I would have done the same."
"Really?"
"Really, but I am still thinking about getting a clone made for myself... You were going to do clones for family for free, right?"
