Try a physical transference, and see if copying works too

With the green light from Yu, you let your imagination run wild. “Let’s try something crazier."

Yu giggles. "Within reason, Chase."

"We can transfer minds, let's see if we can transfer physical claims, too!"

"The mind is a physical feature," she informs you. "The mind is a physical pattern in the brain. When you swapped Ai and Gho, it looked like their brains physically reconfigured themselves to match each other's. You already proved physical transference works."

The answer feels... unsatisfying. "I need to see it to believe it," you say, shaking your head. "Also, even if patterns are complex, what about macro changes?"

Yu gives you a curious look.

"Not changing a switchboard around, but like, changing a switchboard into a fridge," you elaborate. You point to Yu's confused cousins. "Like, what if I tried turning Aiden into Georgia? We already know swapping works, so what about a straight copy? We could make the twins identical for a minute. That'd be something to see."

Speculatively, Yu evaluates her cousins, weighing Aiden's superior height to Georgia's thin-as-a-whip figure. "The difference in mass will be a problem. But, in principle, I'm on board. Let's try it."

You again address Georgia and Aiden. "All right guys. I claim every quantifiable physical quality your bodies possess," you say, your wording precise. "On the count of three, I command all the qualities of Georgia's body to overwrite all the physical qualities of Aiden's body, while leaving his mind intact."

"Wait," says Aiden, in Georgia, pointing to you and his sister. Aiden's panic looks almost comically exaggerated on his sister's face. "Are you turning me into me, or are you turning that me into this me?"

"Not sure. Let's find out," you say, clapping your hands and relishing the heady rush of power. "One. Two. Three."

Georgia, in Aiden, doubles over with arms tight over her stomach. "Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna throw up..." she says, her brother's voice tight and high with her discomfort.

Before your eyes, the body Georgia occupies begins to shift and flows. The hair extends. The stubble recedes. Overall, her body shrinks, shoulders narrowing, limbs slimming. Aiden's face becomes more angular, more feminine, and suddenly, it's Georgia's face.

Aiden cries out, in vain reaching for himself "No! My body!"

Blink and you would have missed it, but suddenly, there are two identical Georgias. One inconsolable and dressed like Georgia, and the other, awash with relief, wearing Aiden's ill-fitting clothes.

After that change, a part of you notes that you're the only man here now. Yu, Aiden, Georgia, and Lina, they're all girls (although it's easy to forget Lina's still here, she's just sitting on the grass of to the side, doing her own thing).

Before you can dwell on the thought, Georgia rights herself, whipping her hair back over her shoulders.

"It passed, false alarm," she tells everybody. Then Georgia stops and grabs her throat. "My voice?" Her eyes go big. "Ha! I snapped out of it!" Georgia also sees she's still in Aiden's oversized jacket vest and ragged jeans, which are baggy on her slender frame. "I'll admit, swapping my and Ai's clothes was a nice touch," she says reluctantly. "How did you and Chase work that one, Yutong? Wait, don't tell me, I'll figure it out."

Body swapping is nothing. Apparently, the real test of your powers is whether you can convince Georgia you have powers in the first place.

Yu doesn't believe her eyes. "She got smaller. The extra mass... where did it..."

Georgia waves experimentally at her original body, as if trying to determine where the hidden mirror is. "Now that's a trick," she says, impressed. "Yutong, did you find an honest to god body double for me? Or is this some kind of augmented reality VR recording?"

Aiden breaks under the pressure of Georgia making weird faces seeing whether he'll match. "Gho, this isn't the Prestige!" He turns hopefully to Yu. "Hey, ask your friend to change me back! I bet he'll listen to you!"

Yu is shell-shocked. "I, I promise we're almost done, Ai." She turns to you, shaken. "Chase, let's stick to smaller tests for now, okay? That shouldn't have worked, mass can't just disappear like that, but... but I don't know. Maybe we've pushed it far enough for tonight?"

Maybe she's right. Aiden looks to be on the verge of a panic attack, and even Georgia's having a tough time rationalizing there being two of her.

(Commissioned chapter)