Test the other pens first

Sandra, it turns out, is the traveling companion from hell. When you first heard the conversation you thought Kat was a little bitchy, but Sandra's incessant talking to Jack about herself, her interests and her life slowly drives you crazy. You get the impression that Kat would have regularly interjected with a well-placed barb, but without her memories you don't feel confident enough to take on that role. Instead you do your best to look like a surly, sullen indie girl doing her utmost to ignore everything going on around her. You find an iPod in Kat's pocket, and pop in the ear buds to drown out the chatter.

Kat's body feels strange. You've lost around a foot in height, and that's a little disorienting; although fortunately the brown pen seems to have given you muscle memory, and it hasn't fazed you too much. Eventually the VW hits a chain motel - cheap but at least of a set quality - and Sandra begs Jack to pull in. Ten minutes later, you're in a room that seems to meet Sandra's standards: a twin with a cot bed in the corner. Evidently Kat is expected to take the cot bunk, but you figured she'd at least protest after the earlier hotel debacle.

"Come on, Kat. That was the deal. You take any cot bunk, we get the gas and take you along." Jack stresses. You still have absolutely no idea where you are going, or what you're going to do with Jessica. Ultimately, either you're going to have to ditch your traveling companions and let them carry on with their road trip, or you'll have to restore Jessica, explain to her the nightmare ordeal she finds herself in (no mean feat - she won't have any memories of being worn as a skin by no less than two sinister spies, being left in a bag and car boot, and literally being sliced off by the white pen). Then you'll have to convince her to take a new disguise. Sandra seems the perfect choice: beautiful enough, and it might give you a break from her real, highly annoying personality.

"Ugh. Fine. I'm going to take a shower." You grab Kat's pack and head to the bathroom. You need space to think.

"You mean you're going to smoke marijuana," Sandra remarks. You figure Kat won't let that go unpunished. You pause and roll her eyes like an idiot.

"Who calls it that? Nobody, that's who. Nobody since outraged parents in the 70s. Peace, love, dope, you're such a square, daddio." You give the peace sign and your best mocking snark.

"Screw you, Kat. Have fun getting high and wasting your life away."

You shake your blonde-blue cut, storm into the bathroom, and lock the door.

First, Jessica. You pull the skin out of Kat's pack, and lay it on the floor. Given the way your 'friends' were acting, you were tempted to test the pens on them, but given you don't know what they'll do, you figure Jessica is the safest test. You lay her in the bath, and reach for the two pens you're yet to identify. The white pen has a second setting, but given the first seems to be a skin remover, you're not quite willing to test that out.

First, the red pen. You concentrate on Jessica and fire. Your head itches, but nothing happens to the skin. You scratch your head...and feel Kat's hair longer than you imagine. You turn and stare at her face in the mirror, and her eyes, stained with deliberately-crude mascara, widen in shock. You now have Jessica's flowing blonde locks, rather than her grungy cut. You hold the red pen and fire again, concentrating on Jessica even more. Kat's body begins to grow, her breasts popping out to push hard against her army jacket, as she takes Jessica's shape. It's still recognizably Kat's body, her height hasn't increased at all, but evidently the pen allows you to morph parts, like an automatic plastic surgery kit. A little experimentation later, and you've returned Kat to normal, having assumed every shape imaginable, from a Japanese Kat with spiky green hair to an Indian Kat with long, black hair that fell to the floor. The pen is definitely going to be useful.

There's a knock at the door. "I don't hear the shower, Katrina!" Sandra. But of course.

"Fuck off," you retort, reaching for the blue pen. You'd better find out how this one works, too. You point it at Jessica's skin and fire.

Memories flood into your mind, an almost irresistible torrent of images, thoughts, feelings, sensations. You remember her mom and dad, how she ran away from home for a whole two hours when she was 12, convinced she was heading to Hollywood before she'd squandered her savings on chips and cola. You recall her studies, how she ended up going to the same university, on different courses, as her twin brother Jack - ah, so that's the connection - across the country from home. How she's spent most of her time on campus experimenting in every sense of the word, living a carefree life of booze and recreational **** use. When Jack said he was driving back home to their parents with his girlfriend, the insufferable Sandra, Kat asked to tag along for a free ride. Not that she wants to visit home particularly; she just needs more money. You remember everything. And Sandra's ridiculous **** claim is perfectly founded; right now, Kat would happily be smoking a joint in the bathroom from her pack stash, wafting the smoke out of the small air vent. She's did it a few hours ago at a truck stop.

There's another knock at the door. Now, with Kat's memories and mannerisms, you're confident you could impersonate her utterly. She's not exactly the nicest person in the world, but you still feel more than a little guilty you're currently usurping her life. And there's the matter of your deflated girlfriend in the tub, too. You ponder what to do.