BWEEDLE! BWEEDLE! BWEEDLE!

BWEEDLE! BWEEDLE! BWEEDLE!

Furball jumped off Nancy's lap at the strange noise coming from the coffee table and ran off to hide under some chair. Nancy leaned forward, grabbed her cell phone, and flipped it open. Seeing the call was from her friend Katie, she pressed the TALK button. "Hello!" she said.

"Hi Nancy!"

"Hey Katie! What's happening, girl?"

"You'll never believe what Dan bought after he got that promotion at Lotsatech."

"Some outrageously expensive guy-toy! Am I right?"

"Bingo! But it's so cool! It's a home matter replicator."

"Really? I heard everyone's into scanning THEMSELVES with those things and uploading themselves to the Internet. And creepy guys are downloading copies of girls and forcing them to be, like, sex slaves. Ewww! Those things ought to be illegal, Katie!"

"Well, well, well! Weren't you the one who downloaded a kitten from CNET last week and took the CD to Staples to make it?"

"But that's different. Furball is a kitty, and she's sooooo cute! Who wants to make a copy of another person? There's too many of us on the planet already! And don't they cost, like, millions of dollars for one of those things?"

"Nah! The price has been coming down. Technology is like that, Nancy--the price drops while the technology improves. At least until it becomes regulated. Bob found two on Ebay for just under ten grand for the pair: a scanner and an assembler."

"Well, I guess that's nice."

"And we're having a replicator party. Wanna come?"

"What's a replicator party?"

"You'll see," said Katie.

"I guess so. Sure! What should I bring?"

"Just yourself."

"Food? Snacks? Beer?"

"Nah. Food's covered. Just show up next Saturday."

"Okay," said Nancy. "Sure. Why not?"

Nancy knocked on Katie's front door at the appointed time. "Come in! Come in!" said Katie, ushering Nancy into the living room. "You know everyone, right?"

"Yeah!" said Nancy as she waved at Bob, Carol, Ted, and Alice who were sitting on the sofa chatting together. Cathy and Ronnie were talking in a corner. Fuschia and Jack were making eyes at each other next to the sliding glass patio door. Mindy was by herself as usual as she caught Nancy's eye.

"Care for a snack?" asked Katie.

"Sure!" said Nancy as Katie held up a large wooden tray with a large plastic bowl and several cups of dip on it.

"Aaaack!" screamed Nancy. "What the..."

In the bowl were miniature naked people. Nancy recognized miniature versions of everyone at the party: Ted, Alice, Mindy, Bob, Ronnie, and Carol.

"Yes," Katie laughed. "Everyone's there."

"I'm not sure..." Nancy stammered.

"Go on. Try one of us!" said Katie. "Dan and I are even in there."

Mindy had walked over to say "Hi! May I?"

"Help yourself!" said Katie as Mindy reached in and picked a miniature Dan out of the bowl, dipped him face down in the onion dip, shoved him in her mouth, and swallowed.

Nancy reached toward the bowl and hesitated. "Go ahead," said Mindy. "Try me. I think there's two of me left."

Nancy reached in the bowl and picked out one of two miniature "twins" of Mindy. Nancy held up the miniature Mindy--identical in appearance except that the miniature was about 6 inches tall. She looked up at the full-sized Mindy and said, "Is this really you?"

"It's a copy of me. All the details are right."

Nancy shrugged and said, "Okay, here goes..."

The tiny Mindy screamed, "No! Don't eat me! Please!"

Nancy slid Mindy into her mouth, head first and began to gag, and spit Mindy back out onto her hand.

"What's wrong?" said Katie.

"I can't swallow Mindy--even a 6-inch tall Mindy--whole. Can I chew her?"

"Noooo!" the little Mindy screamed.

"However you want," said Katie. "But if you close your eyes and start swallowing as soon as you put her in your mouth, she'll go right down. And try a little dip with her, that'll help."

Again, Katie dipped the little Mindy in the dip and put her in her mouth. Just her butt and legs were sticking out of Nancy's mouth, kicking and flailing. Nancy felt herself start to gag, and she bit down. Only Nancy could hear the gurgled scream come from within her mouth as she felt her mouth fill with blood. In a moment, she swallowed Mindy's upper body and head.

Katie then sucked Mindy's butt and legs in and chewed and swallowed.

Mindy laughed and quickly handed Nancy a tissue. "What?"

"You're dripping blood from your mouth."

Nancy quickly dabbed her mouth and chin, sopping up a tiny amount--or was it a large amount--of Mindy's blood that was trickling out the corners of her mouth.

"Well?" asked Katie, Mindy, and Dan who had formed a cluster around Nancy.

"Interesting," said Nancy. "What was it like, Mindy?"

"I'm dead," laughed Mindy. "No way to tell you."

"No," laughed Nancy. "I mean, were you copied? What did it feel like? And how was everybody miniaturized?"

"Well," said Mindy. "I just stepped into the copier, a light flashed, then I stepped out and joined the party like nothing had happened. A little later, Katie and Dan were serving miniature copies of me, along with the others here."

Dan added, "The replicator I bought has a reduction/enlarge feature. Uber fredashay, eh?"

"Care for another?" asked Katie.

"Sure!" said Nancy as she reached into the bowl and picked out a miniature Ronnie.

Again, Nancy dipped Ronnie in the dip and slid him into her mouth as he screamed, "God, No! Don't eat me!"

This time, Nancy slid him in and held him in her mouth. She momentarily fondled his tiny penis with the tip of her tongue, then closed her eyes and swallowed in one gulp. He went right down.

"See?" said Katie. "It gets easier."

"Now it's your turn!" said Dan.

"My turn?" asked Nancy suspiciously.

"Yup! Follow me."

"I..." Nancy stammered.

"Don't be a fraidy cat!" said Katie. "It takes just a second. You'll be back to the party in no time!"

"Okay," Nancy shrugged.

Dan called out, "Hey Cathy! You haven't been scanned yet either! C'mon you chicken!"

Nancy and Cathy followed Dan downstairs to the game room in the finished basement. In one corner stood a tall glass cylinder that looked like a prop out of some science fiction B-movie.

Nancy trembled and said, "You got first Cathy."

"Sure," Cathy shrugged and stepped unto the cylinder. "Will it hurt?"

"Nah," said Dan as he pressed a button on the machine. The glass door slid closed, a light flashed, and then the door slid open.