Chapter 12: Thanksgiving

The six class presidents cleaned the dance hall after everyone went back to their dorms. There wasn't a lot to do, because the cleaning androids did most of the heavy work, but there were some things such as taking down posters and designs that made the work go by more quickly. When they were done, Alexa took her shrunken captive and placed him in the flask that she wore around her neck, and screwed the lid on, then walked back to her dorm.

For the next three weeks, Alexa did good with her studies, even getting top marks in her recovery of lost technology club, which gave her extra credit that added to her grade point average. During the last club session, which was on the Monday before Thanksgiving break, the teacher gave the class an ultimatum.

"You must try to develop a plausible theory for establishing an alternate timeline using what you have learned so far about Futurian technology. This assignment is due the Monday after Thanksgiving break!"

When the club let out, Alexa had no clue how to complete the assignment. None of the other kids knew, either. When Wednesday came and the last class was over, Alexa packed her baggage and headed to the garage where Ozymandias was waiting to take the students back to their homes for Thanksgiving. When it was her turn, she got in and greeted the driver, and arrived at her home soon afterwards.

She was greeted sat the front door by her mother. "Did you bring your shrunken captive?" she asked.

"No, Umbra said I wouldn't be gone long enough, so I should leave him behind. But I'll bring him on Christmas break! We get two whole weeks off from school." 

After putting her baggage away in her bedroom, Alexa went into the kitchen and looked around. A huge turkey was thawing out in the sink, and she could see other food items in the refrigerator that meant Thanksgiving was near. There were six boxes of stuffing, and plenty of potatoes.

As she shut the refrigerator door, she got a sense of vertigo, just as she had in the bathroom in her dorm when she had journeyed to that alternate reality to meet with Morgan Lefevre. When she turned around, the kitchen was a mirror image of itself; everything was arranged as if someone had took a photograph and reversed the negative, then developed it. She could see the calendar, with the writing and numerals reversed.

Just then, Morgan Lefevre emerged from another room. "Greetings, Alexa!"

"Professor Lefevre?" Alexa asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been monitoring you, and I wanted to inform you of some breakthroughs I've developed. It has been longer from my perspective since I last saw you than it has since you've seen me. I know how to establish a parallel reality!"

"What do you need from me?" Alexa asked.

"On Christmas break, when you have more time here, I will take you to a halfway point between my reality and the reality of the academy. I know of a way so that Futurians won't be duplicated when I establish the new timeline. But until then, I wanted to give you this flash drive," Morgan Lefevre handed it to Alexa, "This has the schematics for a simplified version of the timeline generator, so you can turn it in to your recovery of lost technology club. I can't have you returning empty handed!"

"Thank you, Professor Lefevre! You're not risking the faculty at the academy finding out your secrets, are you?"

"The schematics I've given you are an earlier design that I was using a few years ago, but they won't be able to duplicate my latest breakthrough. I just want you to get ahead in school so you can become my apprentice!"

Morgan Lefevre turned and walked into the hallway connected to the kitchen, then the room switched back to the way it was supposed to be. Alexa held onto the refrigerator as this happened, to avoid getting dizzy. 

Her mother entered the kitchen and asked, "What are you doing in here, Lexie?"

"I just couldn't make my mind up whether I wanted a bottle of water, or a soda," Alexa replied. Alexa opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. "See? I made my decision." Alexa opened the cap of the bottle, and took a swig. "I'm going to the park to hang out with my friends."

Twenty minutes later, Alexa was at the park, walking around. Santiago showed up to play basketball with his friends, but took a break to talk to Alexa.

"How is that academy you're attending?" Santiago asked.

"It's great," Alexa replied, "you wouldn't believe how grreat it is there. The whole school is divided into two factions, Verso and Recto. The verso students want to take over the world, and are outnumbered by the Recto students, who want to maintain the status quo."

"Let me guess, you're in Verso house?" Santiago asked.

"How did you know?" Alexa replied.

"I've known you for a long time," Santiago replied. "One of the reasons I developed a crush on you is because you're kind of evil. You're not like other girls who just live to please me."

"How long have you had a crush on me?" Alexa asked.

"About two years," Santiago replied.

"I've had a crush on you since fifth grade," said Alexa. "But the bad news for you is that I've got a boyfriend now, at my school. His name is Carl. My parents don't want me dating ephemerals."

"Ephemerals?" Santiago asked.

"That's the term for people like you, whose ancestors didn't come from the distant future."

"So we don't have a future together?" Santiago asked.

"I'm leaving all of my options open," Alexa replied. "At the academy, there is a way of checking the school database to find out about events that haven't happened yet. Anything that will occur over the next one hundred years is ancient history to the academy, so I can find out who you eventually will get married to, how long you will live, and any other things I might want to know.”

"So what did you find out about me?" Santiago asked.

"That's the whole point," Alexa replied, "I didn't bother to look. I refuse to believe my destiny is bound by choices I'll be forced to make when I'm older. I want to be in command of my own destiny!"

"You sound wise," said Santiago.

"I'm not in love with the boy I'm dating at the academy, I just think he's cute. I'm still keeping you on the back burner as a possibility. My parents can try to control me now, but once I turn eighteen, I'm free to make my own choices."

"What else is different about your new school?" Santiago asked.

"There is a woman called the Dark Mistress who wants to take over the world, so people like us will rule as a race of gods!" Alexa grabbed the pendant on her neck, and held it aloft for Santiago to see. "See this? It's a transponder, if the dark Mistress takes me to a parallel reality, the school should be able to track her down, but so far, it doesn't work. Her technology is too far advanced compared to the science of the academy."

"How could their technology be further behind than hers?" Santiago asked.

"She's a scientist, and she's been working on recovering technology that was lost when our ancestors traveled back in time during that time warp. She was just better at it than they are." Alexa pulled out the flash drive given to her earlier by Morgan Lefevre. "See this? The Dark Mistress gave this to me. It's supposed to help me get a better grade on a school assignment."

"You've been contacted by the Dark Mistress?" Santiago asked.

"Yes, she wants me to be her apprentice. I was wondering what your thoughts were on all of that."

Santiago took the flash drive and held it in his hand. "If she took over the world, what would happen to me?"

"I'm not sure," said Alexa. "Either a parallel reality would be created we would rule over your duplicates, and you would be unaffected. Or, a duplicate reality would be created and there would be a reality splice, and you would trade futures with your counterparts in the other reality."

"So we would become enslaved in the second option?" Santiago asked.

Alexa nodded her head in agreement.

"I'm going to tell you this, and you can make your own decisions, Lexie. It's different when your talking about role playing games or childhood fantasies, but you're in a situation where real people could get hurt. I know what's going on, but there are no people I can turn to who can help me, anyone I talked to about this whole situation would think I was mentally ill, like my Cousin Hector. You're going to find yourself in a situation where you are the one who decides whether real people get hurt or not. I believe in you enough to know that You'll make the right decision."

Santiago handed her back the flash drive.

"I'm surprised you gave it back," said Alexa. "I thought you would try to throw it, or stomp on it."

"I trust your judgement," Santiago replied.

At Thanksgiving dinner the next afternoon, as Alexa's dad carved the turkey, Mrs. Lockport asked Alexa a question as she passed the potatoes.

"So, when do we get to meet your shrunken captive?"

"I left him at my dorm, I'll bring him when I come home for Christmas break."

"I had a shrunken man once," said Mrs. Lockport.

"What happened to him?" Alexa asked.

"I lost him gambling," said Mrs. Lockport.

"Gambling?" Alexa asked. "I thought you and dad were in Recto house, and you could do no wrong."

"I had my wild days," Mrs. Lockport replied, as her husband smiled at her.

It was a four day weekend, so Alexa downloaded the timeline schematics given to her by Professor Lefevre onto her electronic tablet. She stayed in her bedroom most of the day studying the theory. When she felt she had absorbed all she could, she wrote up a thesis based on the theory and had it ready for the recovery of lost technology club on Monday.

When she returned to the academy Sunday night, she uploaded her thesis onto the club computer system and waited. After her last class on Monday, she went to the club to see the results of posting the theory. The instructor approached Alexa.

"The thesis you uploaded was incredible! I've shown it to the other science experts who are faculty members here at the academy, and we're just astounded! Alexa, how did you arrive at such a sophisticated level of scientific expertise?"

"My dad is an engineer," Alexa replied, "and some of his skills must've rubbed off on me."

"I want to get you in as a science adviser on the project the Futurian scientists are working on! We could really use your skills!"

"Thank you, professor!" said Alexa. "Does this mean I get an A?"

"An A?" the instructor asked. "If I could give you a higher grade, I would! You deserve much more than an A!"

Later that afternoon, at the Verso girl's common room, Alexa was surrounded by older girls who heard about what happened in the club. Ion and Flux, the two girls who had challenged Alexa to a contest at the Halloween dance were there.

"So you're an expert on alternate timelines?" Ion asked.

"They say I'm the best," Alexa replied.

"Can you help me with my temporal mechanics homework?" Flux asked.

"What's in it for me?" Alexa asked.

"Don't even bother asking her," said Hellion. "She cheated on that exam in neutrino dissimilator class, and I think she cheated with this, as well!"

"How did I cheat?" Alexa asked.

"Everyone knows you're working with the Dark Mistress," said Hellion. "Nobody wears a transponder pendant unless they have ties to the dark side!"

"Prove it!" said Alexa.

"I don't have to, everyone here knows it," said Hellion. "Unless they're too gullible to see the truth!"

"I never cheated on that test in neutrino dissimilator class!" said Alexa.

"Even if you didn't cheat that time, it doesn't really matter!" said Hellion. "Because all the signs are there that you're working for the Dark Mistress!" Hellion stormed out of the room.

"Lexie," said Stratus, "if you are working for Morgan Lefevre, remember me when the new order is established! I want to be your second in command!”