After a few minutes, the one person that comes to mind the most prevalently is...
Bruce (your best friend)
You decide to call Bruce, your best friend, knowing he'll trust you enough to give the machine a shot. You pull out your phone and find him in your favorites contacts list, then give him a call
Riiiiiiiing, riiiiiiiiiing, riiiii-
"Hello?"
"Hey Bruce! How've you been?"
"Marcus! I've been doing just fine, how about you?"
"Doing great actually! Real quick, name someone random."
"I'm sorry, what? Name someone?"
"Yeah! Like your friend Dox, or my brother Luke, or whatever. Give me a random name."
After a moment's silence, he chuckles in amusement
"Marcus. How about that? What about your name?"
This makes you pause for a moment, not sure about how to reply. You did say any name, but what would that do when you use the machine? Would it pull you into the mix when you turn it on? Quickly dismissing it as fine, you return your thoughts to the conversation
"Alright, alright, whatever. Can you come over soon? I got something to show you."
"Sure I guess, give me some time to finish my chores and stuff. You know... have to appease my parents."
"Yeah sure, just come over when you can, I can wait."
"Cool, guess I'll see you in a little bit then."
"Sure thing, see ya man."
"See ya."
You hang up the phone and think about Bruce. You shrug after a moment, accepting that his choice was fair, even if you aren't entirely sure what it's going to mean for him after you start the machine. Now you just have to wait for him to come over and test it out
After an hour or so, you get a text from Bruce letting you know he's here. You run to the front door to greet him and he smiles excitedly
"You got something to show me?"
"Yeah it's in my room, come on in."
You take Bruce up to your room and have him sit on the bed
"So, I'll just say it right out. I found a secret behind my bookshelf."
Bruce just stares for a moment, then he looks like he can't decide whether to laugh or be intrigued
"You found a secret behind your bookshelf? You're joking with me." He chuckles at the strangeness of the idea
You pass off his words knowing you would have likely said something similar in his position. "It's true, I'll show you."
You pull out the book and press the button. You hear a small click and, just like before, the bookshelf swings open to reveal a staircase leading downward into the now lit room. Bruce immediately gets off the bed and stares at the gaping entrance
"When the frick did that get here?" He exclaims. "I swear this is some trick..." He cautiously moves towards the doorway and sticks out his arm to see if it was a real opening. Sure enough, his arm stuck straight out past the doorframe, dispelling the thought that it was just an illusion. "Bro are you serious right now? What's down there?" He gazes down the staircase towards the lit stone floor at the bottom
"There's a machine down there, and we're gonna go try it out."
Bruce turns to face you, taken aback. "We?"
You nod
"Who said anything about we?"
"I did invite you over to show you something cool right? Well here it is. What could be cooler than finding a machine hidden in your room behind a bookshelf?"
Bruce grumbles to himself for a moment, not sure how to respond, then he lifts his head to look at you again. "Do you even know what it does?"
You decide not to get into too much detail and just hope he trusts you enough to get in the pod without too many questions. "Of course I do! But I can't tell you, it's a secret." You grin at him excitedly. "Come on, follow me."
Bruce starts grumbling again, and you quickly descend the stairs, making sure to check if Bruce's footsteps fall behind you. Assured he is close behind, you reach the bottom and turn around to face him. Once he reaches the stone floor, he stares at the terminal and the pod in utter fascination
"What is that? A pod?"
"Yeah, that's literally what I call it. 'The Pod'. It's not that fancy but I don't feel like coming up with anything fancy."
Bruce's looks back at you with slight suspicion. "What does it do exactly?"
You roll your eyes in what you hope comes across as genuine exasperation. "You don't trust me very much, do you? Just get in the pod and see what happens, that's the only way you'll find out. Otherwise you can walk right upstairs and I'll see you tomorrow." You walk to the terminal and get ready for what you hope is a good idea. You hear him mumble something to himself like he was debating what to do
"Oh come on man you gotta tell me what it does!" he complains to you aloud. He looks again at the pod and can't help but be drawn by shear curiosity. "Fine, I'll get in the pod..." He slowly meanders over to the pod and steps inside. "Do I have to close it?"
"Yep." You reply with reassuring certainty, though in reality it's just an educated guess. You type your name into the terminal, still unsure how it makes you feel, and look up to see Bruce close the pod door and hear it clank shut. You hold up a thumbs up in a question, and he replies with the same gesture. You look back down at the terminal, and press the big red button. The timer starts, and you watch until the number reaches zero, and you look back up to see Bruce staring at you through the window
The machine began to whirr, and there was a click as the pod door locked itself shut, Bruce safely contained inside. He stares out the small glass window worriedly, and you watch with concern and intrigue until a bright light suddenly flashes through the room. It momentarily blinds you, and you wait for your sight to return to normal before looking back at the pod. After a few more moments, the whirring stops and the pod door clicks and swings open
You stare into the pod door in complete shock. The person you saw wasn't Bruce... it was you
Your jaw drops as you stare at yourself, or rather, Bruce, who was now an exact copy of yourself, all except for the clothes, which were still his own. He blearily blinks up at you in confusion
"What happ... why's my voice... wha'd it do?"
You continue to stare for a few moments, not sure you can respond
"Marcus? What happened? Why do I feel so... different... why do I sound so different..."
You shake yourself, reminding yourself that you can't just stare at him forever. You close your eyes and take a deep breath. Looking back up at Bruce-turned-Marcus, you try your best to keep your voice steady
"Bruce you... uhm... you're.. you're Marcus. You're me."
Brice stares back in almost drunken-like confusion. "I'm... you? What's that supposed to mean? Gosh, I can't think right now, everything feels fogged..." He shakes his head likes he's trying to clear it, then he sighs and licks his lips. "I'm... thirsty... I'm gonna get some water..." He slowly stands up and almost falls over. You rush over to help him, but he waves you off. "I got it, I got it. I'm just a little dizzy, that's all." He slowly walks over to the staircase and you watch silently as the Bruce-clothed version of yourself walks up the stairs into your bedroom
You can't believe what just happened. It turned Bruce into you! It turned Bruce into Marcus! It's the craziest thing you've ever seen, and you can't believe it just happened. You quickly think about all the crazy things you could do with this machine, and can't help but feel exuberant at all of them. But first, you have to deal with Bruce.
You run up to your bedroom to see Bruce out in the hallway walking towards the kitchen. You can't believe how uncanny the details are. He even walks likes you do without even realizing it! Suddenly you hear a car turning into the driveway, and realize it must be your mom coming home from work. Remembering there are now two Marcus's in the house, you start to panic. What're you gonna do! Frantically, you try to come up with a solution before your mom can come inside. You go with the first thing that comes to mind, and...
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