Chapter 22: The Game isn't Over

After her last class the next day, Alexa went to her dorm room and got her terrarium down and got her shrunken man out. 

"Terry? What was it like being free for a short time?"

"I was able to have pizza again, so that was a plus," said Terry. "I should've known you wouldn't re-enlarge me permanently."

Alexa laughed. "You were just meant to be a toy! The reason I got you out was to ask you something." Alexa showed Terry the signal ring Morgan had given her. "Morgan gave me this to signal her if she got defeated. If I take it off, it will signal her."

"I think you should notify someone," said Terry. "A member of the faculty."

"I'll get a second opinion," said Alexa, and she put Terry back in his terrarium and placed it back on the shelf. 

Alexa went to the library after her next class the next day, and met up with Carl. Alexa took him to a secluded area, and showed him the signal ring Morgan Lefevre had given her.

"Morgan gave me this ring to contact her in case she was defeated. If I try to take it off, it will send her a signal. I didn't want to show my Verso friends, because they would want me to help Morgan. What should I do, Carl?”

Carl thought about it and said, "You should go straight to Victoria, and let her know."

Carl escorted Alexa to the headmistress's office. After being let in by the receptionist, Victoria ushered Alexa and Carl into her office.

"I have this ring," said Alexa, showing the ring for Victoria to see. "Morgan gave it to me before she was rendered unconscious. She said I could choose to signal her, but if I tried to take the ring off, it would automatically signal her."

"Why didn't you bring this to my attention before?" Victoria asked.

"I don't know," Alexa replied. "I kind of forgot about it."

Victoria got on her communicator and contacted the medical office. "Get a medical professional down here immediately,"

While Victoria was waiting for a medic, she looked over the surveillance footage of what had transpired just before Alexa and Morgan were rendered unconscious the day before. Victoria watched as Morgan gave the ring to Alexa.

"Why didn't you activate the mind control device before putting the ring on?" Victoria asked.

"She would've known something was up," Alexa replied.

In less than a minute, a doctor rushed in and Victoria explaiend the situation. They used electronic equipment to scan the ring.

"It is definitely technology supplied by Morgan," said the doctor. "If we try to cut into it, take it apart, or take it off, it will send out a signal."

"To where?" Victoria asked. "Morgan is asleep in a rehabilitation center, so if the signal got sent to her, I don't think it would do any good."

"I think Morgan Lefevre has a contingency plan in place," said the doctor. "Maybe she has an A.I. this ring will contact, to try to break her out. My suggestion to leave the ring on Alexa Lockport until we can find out where the signal would be transmitted to."

"Are you sure there's no way to get it off of her finger without triggering it?" Victoria asked.

"There's like a two out of three chance that I could, but I'm still not happy woth those odds," said the doctor. "I think we should wait until we can go over the schematics, I have a copy of it on my scanning device. It will take some time to look it over."

"Are you okay with that, Alexa?" Victoria asked.

"I think he should try to get it off without triggering it," said Alexa. "Two out of three sounds like good odds to me!"

"I think you should try to take it off, then!" Victoria told the doctor.

"You're going to listen to the opinion of a twelve year old?" the doctor asked.

"Hey!" said Alexa, "I turn thirteen next month!"

"Just try it," said Victoria. "With Morgan Lefevre unconscious, I don't think we have much to worry about."

The medic tried to pry the ring off with a special tool, but the ring lit up when he tried to do that.

"The signal!" the medic shouted, "It's been activated!"

A control console lit up on the side of Victoria's desk. 

"Morgan has escaped!" Victoria shouted. "The satellites we put up in orbit around the planet Morgan created have been destroyed! You were right, she had a contingency plan!"

Outside, in the sky above the academy, hundreds of scoutships similar to the ones Morgan had used to take over the school previously descended upon the campus. A larger vessel, the flagship, landed and Morgan stepped out with two people Alexa would recognize. Alexa emerged from Victoria's office and saw them.

"Santiago?" Alexa asked. "And Roxie?"

Her two friends were dressed in military uniforms, black and gray. Roxie's had a short miniskirt with a long sleeved tunic. Santiago and Roxie appraoched Alexa, while some students watched in awe.

"Morgan recruited us and made us generals," said Santiago. "We're from the new reality she created."

"Our technology exceeds that of the Futurians!" said Roxie. "There is no hope for them to defeat us."

"Will you join us?" Santiago asked. "You outrank us! We will obey your every command, as long as it correlates with the desires of Morgan Lefevre."

"I'll leave these two with you for a while," said Morgan. "You've got some catching up to do. Meanwhile, I'll be at a hidden location waiting for you. Santiago and Roxie have transponders that can contact me." Morgan departed and walked up the gangplank of her flagship. Once inside, the gullwing doors closed, and the vessel moved vertically skyward until it was out of sight. The other scoutships left, too.

Alexa walked with Santiago and Roxie to her dorm room. Once they were alone inside, they got down to business.

"So, tell me exactly what's going on," said Alexa.

Santiago and Roxie looked at each other, unsure of who should go first. Santiago decided to lead the conversation.

"Morgan took about two hundred people, and got them from ten different times over a 48 hour period of time. When it was done to me, the first time I was debriefed and given specific mission parameters. When I got back, I only had time to eat and take a short break before she picked me up again. So far, I've been picked up ten times and this is the most recent time."

"We get a lot more done that way," said Roxie. "Each of us are about a week older than our calandar age, but the time we are officially from sees that 48 hours has passed."

"Morgan is building an army," said Santiago. "Certain military leaders from different countries on our version of Earth have been recruited to serve Morgan Lefevre."

"How is the technology of your world now?" Alexa asked.

"It's a lot more advanced," said Santiago. "Morgan probably lived ten years of her life within the last 48 hours of our time, she knocked out all of the technology the Futurians isntalled, and replaced it with her own. She has defensive satellites in orbit, and weapons to protect us from the Futurians."

"We have things that only existed in science fiction shows and films just a week ago," said Roxie. "Nuclear fusion reactors power everything now, we have alloys a hundred times stronger than titanium, and force field generators that can protect us from just about anything."

"You forgot to mention space propulsion systems that can get us to Mars in a matter of hours," said Santiago. "The space vessels aren't as fast as Morgan's vessels, but they're a quantum leap more advnced than anything you have on your Earth."

"The world is an amazing place now!" said Roxie.

"How did Morgan accomlish all of this?" Alexa asked. "She was unconscious in some kind of a rehabilitation center, from what I heard Victoria Valerius say."

"She had a crew of androids in a scout ship in another space-time continuum," said Santiago. "They broke her out, and she spent a great deal of time planning this secondary attack. When she had everything she needed to succeed, she traveled back in time and conquered our version of Earth, the way we described it to you."

"How did she deal with her mind being tampered with?" Alexa asked. 

"She had a mind scan done each time before she came to this world, so her androids just uploaded her most recent memories." said Santiago.

"She had a contingency plan for anything Victoria could think of," said Roxie. "Your birthday is coming up soon, Alexa, don't you want to celebrate it with us, on our world?"

"I don't see why not," said Alexa with a sinister smile.

"That's the Alexa we used to know!" said Santiago, as he pulled out his transponder. "Should I contact Morgan, and tell her you're coming with us?"

Alexa left her backpack behind, and carried her terrarium with her shrunken captive inside, and went with her two friends outside to the courtyard to wait for Morgan's flagship. The flagship landed almost immediately after Santiago contacted Morgan, and the gullwing door opened vertically and the gangplank lowered. The trio stepped onboard, while Victoria watched helplessly from the courtyard.

Once inside, the three of them strapped themselves in and Morgan greeted Alexa.

"Will I have a palace on the new world?" Alexa asked.

"Of course!" said Morgan as she punched in the sequence of buttons that closed the door and piloted the flagship vertically upwards into the sky. "I've set up a command center in Griffith park, where you have a mansion and an armed sentry of androids. It should only take a few seconds to land there."

When they landed and disembarked, Alexa could see the mansion Morgan had spoken of. It was huge, and surrounded on all sides by Griffith park.

"You just built a mansion out on the middle of Griffith park?" Alexa asked as he carried her terrarium. "How long did that take?"

"It was almost instantaneous," said Morgan. "I used a pattern stored in the computer system, and through the manipulation of matter and energy, it was duplicated. This is what homes look like on other planets we have colonized in the future, we have more room to build there."

"It looks spectacular!" said Alexa. "But if it was so easy for Victoria to defeat you before, what is to stop her now?"

"We're in what's known as a time war," said Morgan. "Both sides are using time travel to their advantage. They won't kill me, and I won't kill them. It's a battle for domination."

"How long until you win?" Alexa asked.

"I have to put the faculty of each academy into stasis," Morgan replied. "When they are frozen, they won't be able to stop me any longer. It's just a matter of time until then."

"Tell her about some of the changes you've made to this world, Morgan!" said Santiago.

"I've ended world hunger across the globe," said Morgan. "Most illnesses have been cured, but I'm trying to establish space stations across the solar system for the vast swath of humanity that will be born over the course of the coming decades."

"That sounds great," said Alexa. "It sounds like you've done more good than bad."

"I also plan on shrinking the criminal population of the world," said Morgan. "They will be sold as pets, to stimulate the world economy. I'll put you in charge of that, I know girls your age love to deal with miniaturized people."

"Thank you, Morgan!" said Alexa with a sinister smile. "I'd love to be in charge of that!"

"Get your self acquainted with this mansion, I need you to fly with some androids in a scout ship and observe the locations where some minaiturization chambers will be built. You can't go to every location, but I want you to get acquainted to how they are constructed and to become familiar with some of the technology you will be dealing with."

"Where is my bedroom?" Alexa asked.

"Roxie will show you where," said Morgan. "It's up stairs, an elevator will take you there."

Alexa followed Roxie, and headed into the elevator carrying her terrarium. The doors opened, they entered, then the doors closed behind them. A moment later they were on the second floor, and the doors opened.

"That was quick!" said Alexa.

Roxie opened the door to a huge bedroom. Inside, there was a massive bed fit for royalty, and a large bathroom off to one side. There was a balcony, with a sliding glass door leading to it.

"This is the biggest bedroom I've ever seen!" said Alexa. "I think I'm going to like it here!