By the time everyone had dressed and wandered out to the car, Margaret/Scott had the beginnings of a plan. She outlined it to them, as she drove out to the condo belonging to Sara.

"So we sell off the Ellery's place and investigate who of the others have property and decide which we will keep. Then we divide the assets between us. The only catch is, one of us will have to be an owner of the property. We need to find out if there are assets elsewhere that we can liquidate." Margaret finished, looking at the others for any objections.

"What about Jennifer? From memory when I was in her form, I seem to recall that she had a place in Australia. How do we get there?" Janet asked quietly.

"Simple, one of us takes her role and flies there as a stewardess on one of her Quantas flights." Margaret explained. "The memory thing should make it a breeze," she added quickly.

"But that will mean whoever goes will be stuck as Jennifer till she gets back," Steven/Kevin pointed out.

"Think of it as a holiday away from yourself. You get to see Australia for free. All those beaches and the surf." Giggled Margaret.

"All those studly lifesavers, leering at your body." Steven reminded them.

"Hmmm, studly huh?" grinned Julie, thinking about it from a girls point of view.

Before long, Margaret had driven up to the gates of Sara's condo. Not thinking about it, she turned the knob back to the Trans Am mode so the auto gate opener in the Trans Am could operate the gates. Suddenly, as the rear seats containing Janet and Julie morphed away leaving just the tiny bench seat they too were changed, becoming two poodles, that starting barking immediately.

Steven/Kevin, who had been the front passenger next to Margaret, also changed. Margaret became Sara, but Kevin's borrowed form became a guy that Sara remembered as being in a picture along with herself in the bedroom. Feeling bad that her two friends had turned into matching poodles complete with ribbons, Sara drove quickly into the underground garage and reached for the knob again. The guy Steven/Kevin had turned into, closed his hand over hers, preventing her from reversing the effects on her friends.

"Wait, this is one more opportunity to find out how this car works." He offered. So saying, he pulled the reluctant dogs out from the car, where he examined them. "This ones a bitch," he indicated to the one with pink ribbons tied around its head. "The other one is a male, a perfect set." He laughed, picking the male up in his arms.

"You think they are William and Daniel inside those bodies? Which is which I wonder?" Sara asked worriedly. "I hope they are okay in there, how long are we going to keep them in those bodies? It doesn't seem fair."

"Not long, just want to see if they have retained the same intelligence as in their human body."

A few simple tests with commands to do certain things showed that the dogs, while unable to verbalise their thoughts, did retain their human intelligence. A command to the poodles to sniff around the property for any hidden surprises using their heightened sense of smell had them scamper off like any normal dogs. Sara went inside, after unlocking the door with the key from her purse. Kevin followed, pulling out his wallet to find out who he was at the moment.

"Ken Roland," he spoke, looking at the name on the driver's license. "I'm 28 years old," he added.

"That's odd," Sara paused, looking at Ken in puzzlement. "There was a message left on the phone from a Ken. I thought it was Sara's boyfriend, but if you are the same Ken generated by the car, how could he leave a message if he doesn't exist?"

"Maybe the car made me into a duplicate of the real Ken, seeing that if he was your boyfriend it would look okay to see him with Sara in her car." He offered.

"If so, things could get complicated, what if Janet was an actual person and had come around to the Ellery's and seen a duplicate of her self." Sara mused.

"Didn't you say that Sara has a computer?" Ken/Kevin asked. "We need to do some research on who is real and who isn't."

"Okay, but William will need to do his thing. I couldn't open it. It was password protected."

"Hmmm, okay, speaking of which, where are they?" Ken said, moving to the balcony to look out for the dogs. "Oh crap, they are copulating. Quick let's get them turned back before we end up with a litter of puppies." He yelled, running back outside to try and separate the two poodles.

Sara was in a fit of giggles, as the dogs seem to resent being forced apart. Luckily, the penis of the male hadn't yet enlarged into the knot that prevents separation during sexual coupling. Ken finally scooped the pair up and walked back to the car. Handing one to Sara he placed the other dog into the passenger seat and started the engine. Turning the knob back to the truck mode, made them both return to their original bodies. William climbed out looking very red faced. Kevin then turned the truck back to Sara's Trans Am before getting her twin (having changed into Sara) outside to place the other dog in the seat. Repeating the process, had Kevin and Daniel back in their male forms.

"Hey that was something else," Daniel enthused, as he checked his body over.

"Maybe for you," William replied sourly. "You weren't the one being humped," he blushed again.

"Ah sorry, I let the instincts take over for a moment. But you must admit, bring a dog was fun for a while," Daniel apologised, throwing an arm over the shoulder of his friend.

"The sense of smell thing almost makes me feel like I can't smell anymore. Its so acute, but the colour blindness sucks." Daniel admitted.

"You had full cognitive ability?" Sara asked curiously.

"Yeah, although we couldn't speak to each other even in doggerel," laughed William, cracking into laughter.

"I suppose being a dog could have certain advantages during a party. People wouldn't hesitate to talk about sensitive military or other secrets in front of a dog." Kevin speculated.

"Count me out; if I'm going to be a bitch, I'd prefer to be a sexy human one," pouted Sara, trying to look imperious.

"Would madam like one lump or two?" Kevin grinned, bowing to Sara in a depreciating manner.

"I think she already has two lumps," sniggered Daniel, looking pointedly at Sara's cleavage.

With a chuckle from the others, they all trooped inside. Sara showed William the computer and told him what they wanted to find out. William grinned, cracking his knuckles as he sat down to do his thing. Leaving him alone, the others explored the place, even going down to the ocean to check out the beach. Sara decided to go for a swim and went back to change into a swimsuit. The others moaned that there weren't any suits for them in the house, having decided to join her. Sara laughed, and told them the one way they could find something to wear.

Sara left them and went down to the beach, leaving Kevin and Daniel to decide what they wanted to do. Ten minutes later, Sara watched two female figures walk down from the condo. One was her twin, and the other was Julie Ellery. Both were of a similar build and so Sara's swimsuits fit Julie like a glove.

"Nice bikini's, love the bodies," crowed the already wet Sara.

"Well Daniel wanted Julie's body, and with William having his nose deep into the computer, it was too hard to manage getting Janet's body. I decided to be your twin," Sara/Kevin explained.

"No problem sis, just don't fight over our boyfriend," giggled Sara/Scott, seeing the disgusted expression on her twin.

"Why didn't you just wear a bikini bottom? At a distance they look like a pair of Speedo's." asked Sara/Scott.

"Yeah, pink Speedo's-sure." Sara/Kevin replied sarcastically. Well you know I'm not a great swimmer, so I figured I'd try the model with the built in life preservers," she added, hefting her globes experimentally.

"Oh sure, any excuse to get into my body." Laughed Sara/Scott, as she flicked some ocean at her twin's still mostly dry body.

"Hey! Cut that out, or I'll come over there and test out your floatability." An indignant Sara/Kevin spluttered.

Everyone dissolved into laughter. It seemed that the old camaraderie that existed before all this was still there, strong as ever. The fact that they were all now females, didn't seem to matter at all, there was no sexual interplay, given that inside those nubile bodies lurked horny guys. They played; they swam, marvelling at the added buoyancy their bodies gave them. They were having fun being together, laughing, and gasping as they ducked in and out of the surf. The fact that they were of another sex didn't seem to alter the way they enjoyed themselves.

Tiring quicker than they would in their more muscular male bodies, they soon retreated to the beach and flopped exhaustedly onto the towels they had brought with them. The beach was almost deserted, with just a few people further down. The girls lay on their stomachs, trying to warm themselves in the sun. Having their breasts pressing into the sand, made them feel a bit uncomfortable, until Sara/Scott found that scooping some sand out from under the towel in the appropriate position, made things much more comfortable. The others followed suit, and soon they were dozing lazily in the sun.

"Well, hello ladies," came a male voice from behind them.

The girls were shocked, as they hadn't heard anyone walking up. They turned over to see a guy with sun-bleached hair and wearing a skimpy pair of Speedo's that were struggling to contain his virile endowment.

"Wow! Twins, this must be my lucky day," he exclaimed, grinning charmingly at the two Sara's.

He crouched down to allow them to see him without craning their necks, and reassuring them, by adopting a non-threatening posture.

"Hi," Julie spoke, not sure of the correct protocol. "You from around here?" she asked, trying to be casual and not stare at his groin.

"John- John Maxwell," he introduced himself. "Yeah, I live down there a ways," he added, pointing down the beach. "You live around here? I've seen you before, but I didn't know you were twins," he asked of the two Sara's.

"I'm Sara, and this is my sister Susan," Sara/Scott replied, thinking fast. "We live up there," she pointed towards the condo. "This is our friend Julie. She's staying with us at the moment." Sara/Scott couldn't believe the way she had just blabbed out their life history to a total stranger.

"Nice to meet you all, I hope we can get together sometime, maybe come over for a barbecue one of these days." John said, rising to his feet.

"Sure, that might be nice," blurted the now Susan/Kevin automatically. She blushed, when she realised that her response might not be all due to the programming of this body.

John grinned, before sauntering back down the beach. He didn't see the confusion that his casual offer of friendship had caused between the newly minted females.

"Cute butt, oops!" Julie caught herself checking out John's retreating ass, before clapping a hand over her mouth.

"Umm, I'm going up to change," Sara/Scott, suggested, not exactly sure whether she was going to change her clothes or her body. It was fun being someone else, especially a female where the poses of every male wish fulfilment could be enacted in front of a mirror. The problem as Sara/Scott saw it was getting lost within the fantasy and taking on the role completely. The others had showed that with the right stimulus, they acted just like real women. Being attracted to strange men was a far different thing to exploring sex from the other side of the coin with your friends.

Sara decided to remain in this body for the moment. Not only did someone need to 'BE' Sara for appearances sake in case someone called, she figured that as long as she could rationalise her feelings and worry about being 'assimilated,' she was safe. Making a promise to herself, to keep an eye on the others, she then went into the bathroom to wash the salt from her hair.

Changed into a summery outfit, with her hair still turbaned in a towel, she checked on William, where he seemed engrossed in the computer. Sara heard the clatter of the other two girl's returning from the beach, as she asked William how things were going.

"Well I got in okay, they may be aliens, but they used earth technology and more importantly, Windows." He grinned at her as he explained how he bypassed the passworded system. Sara listened distractedly to his involved geek speak, as she heard the girls fussing in the shower.

"So what have you found out?" and can you tell us anything about the aliens?" she prompted, cutting off his technological explanation.

"Well, there were folders that had been emptied and lots of files that had been hurriedly deleted, but I managed to recover about 50% of the info using my undelete disks." He waved his floppy at her proudly. William always carried his software with him wherever he went.

"Shall we wait till the others get here? So I don't need to repeat myself," he asked, tidying up his disks and packing them away.

"Yeah, okay, I'll just go see what they are up to," suggested Sara, moving quickly to the bedroom, where she could hear the girls talking.

She found Julie and her twin pawing through the closet while discussing what they should wear.

"Girl's, how about we try to get rid of the extra Sara and select another form. I don't think William needs to be confused more than he is," Sara/Scott laughed.

Soon, with the help of the car and a bit of rearranging in seating, Janet appeared once again. Sara and Julie were a bit jealous of the fact that Janet now looked immaculate. Her once wet hair, now dry and smartly arranged, topped a face expertly made up.

Trooping in to where William was writing notes, they pulled up some extra chairs, as they prepared to discover what had been found out.

William looked them over appreciably, obviously liking being surrounded by such a bevy of beauties.

"Okay, let’s start. I think I know what they were after and why they had left so suddenly. I found some deleted emails, sending a recall message to the scattered members. It's not explicit, but it seems there was a crisis on their home world, which necessitated their quick withdrawal. No names were mentioned unfortunately, so we don't know how far away that might be. From what I can gather, they were after information on our nuclear situation." At the girl's worried looks, he quickly reassured them it wasn't to do with the Earth’s defence capability.

"I think they were trying to see how advanced we were and whether we were close to achieving a valid fusion system. There's all kind of articles on fusion research, with comments beside them, showing if they were worth investigating." William paused, excusing himself, before going to get a drink of orange juice to quench his dry throat, while the others talked between themselves.

"Do you think they are a threat to us?" Sara asked anxiously, when William got back from raiding the fridge.

"Funnily enough, I don't think so. They kept below our radar with all of this," William waved his hand at them, indicating their alien supplied forms. "Which means they didn't intend to cause us any alarm."

"Yeah, keep the sheep calm, while you ready the knives," offered Janet/Kevin sarcastically.

"No, I don't agree. Given that they had discussed giving us hints as to how clean fusion power could be achieved. I think they were more concerned about us destroying the world with dangerous radioactive waste, and the possibilities of using nuclear weapons on each other. The Ellery's have been here on earth for about ten years, building up public identities that will stand close scrutiny. Sara has been here for about 2 years, which is odd, as her age is supposed to be 24years old, according to her file."

"A computer glitch?" Sara asked, remembering the photo of her and 'Ken.' "What about these bodies? Are they legit, or are they just for show?" Sara asked curiously.

"There seems to be records for the Ellery's and Sara Connors. Jennifer Adams also has a valid ID. I'm not sure why your license says you're 2 years younger, unless changing back and forth resets the age to some default setting, that could be a problem in the future," William warned.

"Also, according to the records, Jennifer has a place in Australia, so it looks like one of us will have to take on the duties of an air hostess, till she gets a flight home. There's a few other that we hadn't tried out yet, but Janet looks like she is a real earth person. I did a Google search on her name and she does live near the Ellery's home.

"So that means what?" asked the fake Janet.

"Best I can figure out is that the car can somehow imprint on a real person, and can reproduce them as window dressing." William shrugged.

"Okay, what you're saying is, because the car has had the real Janet inside, while driving around, presumably with her friend Julie in the Ellery mode. It can now change anyone to look like a Janet, because it's something nobody would suspect as being out of place." Sara voiced, putting her thoughts into words.

"Pretty much, I guess, unless anyone else has a better theory," confirmed William, as he agreed with her.

The others sat and digested this latest revelation. The power of the alien car to transform others had grown in their eyes, and so too, the danger of it falling into the wrong hands.

Breaking the momentary silence, Julie quipped that if they managed to get a film star inside the car, then they could become them just like that. William thought that it might need repeated use before the car saw them as potential templates.

"Um guy's. I just had a thought. Do you think with our using the car, that it might be possible to change someone else into our old bodies?" Janet asked.

"Possible? Yeah I guess, but how will we test that, without bringing in another person. This is too important to let anyone know about, unless we totally trust them," Sara answered.

"What about Leanne? Kevin proposed. "I mean she's my cousin and did offer to let us stay at her place till we found a place of our own."

"Isn't she in the real estate business?" asked Sara, thinking this had possibilities.

"Well she works as a secretary for a real estate company, but I see what you're getting at." William elaborated. "She knows more than we do about the in's and out's of selling property."

I think it would be better if she took on the role of Jennifer and went to Australia," Sara insisted.

"Awwh, why?" moaned Julie. "I thought we were going to get a chance to visit another country."

"Look, who better to be able to cope being in a female body, than another female? Remember it could be some time before she gets back. There's no instant change back if things start getting a bit much. What if Jennifer has a boyfriend, do you think you can cope with that? Being female with all the hormones flooding your brain may cloud your judgement. We as males aren't used to it yet. Look at what happened on the beach this morning." Sara explained, patiently. "Even I wasn't immune to sexual thoughts about Mr. Maxwell, and I've been a female for a bit longer than you two." She confessed with a giggle.

"Did I miss something?" asked William, looking at the girls in turn. "Who is Mr Maxwell, and why am I feeling jealous?"

Sara explained the visit by John on the beach, and his offer of a barbeque at his place. She tried to explain about the way they each reacted to the attraction of the nicely built guy.

"Hey! Next time, warn me if there's free food on offer, I'll jump into a female form in an instant," William protested, with a laugh.

"Well we could make you into the poodle bitch so we could throw some sausages to you from under the table," grinned Janet.

"Dogs for the dog?" howled Julie, nearly falling off her seat with mirth.

"If I become Jennifer, he'll think you're the dog, as he will only have eyes for me," William bitched nastily.

"Hey! Ladies and non-ladies, listen to yourselves. Stop acting like bitches, or I might have to put collars on you both." Sara interrupted loudly, trying to defuse the situation. "We are in this together, I want no petty squabbles coming between us, now or ever."

William and Julie hung their heads, knowing they had got way out of line.

"You should kiss and make up," suggested Janet with a smile.

William looked hopefully at Julie at that suggestion, seeing her shrug agreement, he tilted his head towards the bedrooms, before standing up and moving in that direction. Julie following behind him looked at the others, as if seeking approval. Getting only a raised eyebrow and a shrug of nonchalance, from the girls. Julie disappeared in the direction William had gone.

Sara nodded to Janet, before heading into the kitchen to make lunch. She wasn't worried about her friends cementing their differences in a way uniquely given to members of the opposite sex. She was more aroused by the thought, and needed the distraction of preparing lunch to take her thoughts away from her own moistening crotch.

Janet helped her, before asking a question that had been weighing on Sara/Scott's mind.

"Why is it we are so comfortable being female? I wasn't gay or anything like that, yet it doesn't seem to feel weird living in a woman's body." She bit her lip nervously as she waited for Sara to answer.

"I've been thinking about that, from the very first moment." Sara began. "If you were going to an alien world and had to take on the form of a native there, possible one that is quite a bit different from your own. You would need more than just taking on the appearance of that form. You would need to act and behave as they would to fit in and not be noticed. That would suggest some sort of programming."

"Uh huh," agreed Janet, nibbling on a cracker.

"The more the physical differences, the better the programming. The aliens needed to act human, so the programming forced them to act, react, and behave exactly as the form they became, whether it was male or female. I think the programming works better on us, as we are at least human to start off with. Being female, while different from what we are used to, isn't totally strange to us. We have interacted with females and know to a certain extent how they think and react already."

"True," interrupted Janet.

"I also think that's how we found out some much about them, they had spent too much time as humans, and reacted to the crisis that led to them leaving, just like a human." Sara speculated, finding her thoughts crystallising.

"Oh?"

"They panicked, and left evidence behind. They were way more advanced than us, yet they forgot to destroy the files properly. They left the truck behind intact, relying only on a timed self-destruct. You would think they would have destroyed it first, ensuring its destruction, before leaving earth."

That's why you don't want one of us to go to Australia? In case we get to comfortable being Jennifer," Janet speculated.

"Yeah, that's part of it. It could take a month, that's a long time in a female body, without recourse to a quick change back." Sara answered. "Moreover, there's no one to check on how you're coping with the change. At least here, we can see if there's any adverse effect, from staying too long in another body," Sara concluded, finishing with the lunch preparations.

"LUNCH!" Sara called out, alerting the two in the bedroom. She took a plate and filled it with a few sandwiches, and took it out to the patio balcony. She set it down on the table there, and Julie joined her carrying a couple of cans of beer.

The others dragged themselves into view, after having been in the shower. Tucking into sandwiches and beer, they sat quietly eating, absorbing the suns heat.

"All friends again?" Asked Sara, grinning at the blush that showed on their faces. They nodded, mouths filled with food preventing further conversation. "What about bringing in Leanne, are we all agreed?" Sara asked, reminding the others.

"Shall I give her a ring and get her to come over here?" William asked, looking for confirmation.

"I think that will be best, seeing you're the only one in his original body," laughed Sara. "I don't think she'd accept hearing our voices when if we told her who we really are."

"Okay," agreed William, going inside to ring Kevin’s cousin.

Kevin and Daniel returned to their old bodies, while Scott remained in Sara's body. He hadn't meet Leanne, so it didn't really matter what body she/he met her in. Sara argued that staying in the body of the 'owner,' of the property, gave them the safety of some legitimate ownership.

Leanne had agreed to come over, after being reassured that her cousin had come up with a deal she couldn't refuse. She drove up in a late model Chevy Nova, which she parked next to the garage. Sara watched her look over the place with uncertainty, as if she couldn't see how her cousin had managed to finagle his way into a prestigious place like this.

Leanne was dressed neatly in her usual office attire, having left work early to answer her cousin's plea. Kevin met her at the front door and ushered her inside. Leanne looked around, taking in the décor, her mind automatically accessing the value.

She saw Kevin’s other friends, William and Daniel sitting with an attractive blonde woman, whom she correctly assumed owned this place.

"Hi Leanne," William and Daniel greeted her, as she was shown a seat. She nodded a greeting at them, waiting to be introduced to the woman before she sat at her table.

"Oh sorry, Leanne, meet Sara Connor." Apologised Kevin, hastily making introductions.

"Nice to meet you Miss Connor, what scheme has my cousin roped you into now?" Leanne smiled, extending a hand towards Sara.

"Something that will knock your socks off," Sara winked, looking pointedly at the absence of socks on Leanne's hose covered ankles.

Leanne saw something in the woman's face that bespoke of something unusual in the air. She looked at the others, seeing them grinning at some secret they all held.

"What are you hiding?" She asked, as William passed her a photograph.

She looked closely at the people shown in the picture, three of who were sitting right in this room. The forth person was another young man, who seemed to be part of their group in the picture.

"Is that Scott?" She asked, having heard he was to join with the others. "Am I going to meet him? Is that what this is all about?" Leanne guessed, seeing them nod.

"You have met 'him' already, 'he,' is right here at this table," William grinned, emphasising the personal pronouns.

Leanne looked at the only person in the room it could be, impossible as that was. She looked at Sara intently, trying to see if the woman was part of this joke. When Sara nodded, Leanne gasped, uttering the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh my god!"

To be continued.