Imposter System

Alexandria stayed the night, and the two girls fell asleep on the bed with little Alex between them. They had been up all night researching everyone the Alexandria had come into contact with. Originally unknown to her, she now realized that her sudden improvement in memory was due to the parasite. Since hijacking the sub-body of Patient Zero, Matt gave her the task of waking it back up from dormancy.

After the girls had fallen asleep, Matt finally received the unsealed document of Colonel Sanders. Apparently, he was, in fact, the sole heir to a legacy spanning over several generations. He used his control of the largest chicken conglomerate in the world and pumped billions into the Odyssey project. The reason his file was sealed was because of the special status this granted him.

This was also the reason that the action taken toward him for various offenses became a slap on the wrist. If not for his specific request to stay anonymous, he would have been a council member. Something that caused his eyes to narrow is that he specifically recommended Charles Musk to have the seat.

'I already cleared you of suspicions, but here you are again. Looks like I'll need to dig deeper into your actions.'

Matt saw this as a major red flag. He made a mental note to investigate how Charles got his council seat back after the suspension. He switched his attention to the file of Colonel Sanders. He was anything but a prodigy. He was born as the only child in the family, making him the obvious heir to the empire. However, it was made apparent quite early that he was not clever in any way.

This would be fine if not for the destruction of family-owned corporate empires. The global government, in its continued attempt to make an equitable society, passed laws abolishing the ability for families to pass down their accumulated wealth. Each person would have the ability to succeed through their own achievements. This was a hundred years ago.

The policy made Matt raise an eyebrow. He knew that his time had a lot of issues with the wealthy and hoarding of resources, but he never expected such a thing to happen. He wasn't too interested in the political aspects of what happened so long ago, but this put Colonel Sanders in a tight position. In order to maintain his wealth, he joined the army. However, it took him seventy years to reach the rank of colonel and he was unable to get promoted any further.

However, the requirements for him to reclaim his family's wealth was only that high. At the ripe age of seventy-eight, he became the nineteenth richest citizen in the world. However, due to his age, he wouldn't be able to appreciate it much. Ten years later, the Odyssey project was made public, and he invested every penny he had into it.

Since he did not go through the Federation for his career, he didn't have the qualifications to join as a commanding officer. But due to his financial support, he was allowed on as a basic engineer. For several years he had many problems, but he mostly stayed to himself. He would frequent the viewing decks and watch the stars in a daze. This was all noted down in his psych evaluation.

However, sometime earlier this year, he changed completely. Sanders was increasingly aggressive, more confident, better at his job, and stopped going to the viewing deck. Everything Matt read was triggering his suspicions. He quickly put in a request to track down Sanders's location with his credentials. However, his personal device was deactivated. He sent all that he discovered to Scorch and put it to the back of his mind.

Matt lied down beside Alexis and went to sleep. She unconsciously snuggled up to him and he drifted off to sleep. As usual, he entered Alexis's dreams and continued their previous adventure. As an avid player of video games and tabletop games in his previous life, he created a perfect simulated fantasy world for them to experience. They played as inter-dimensional police that traveled from universe to universe fixing problems. She really enjoyed the various settings and plots.

Of course, they had plenty of intimate time regardless of the adventure. Matt contemplated writing out some of his adventures as stories. Since coming to this world he never felt like he left a mark that was purely his.

The next morning, Alexandria wasn't anywhere to be found. She left a message on Matt's device that she would go get some things and come back. Just as he was reading the message, she arrived. Alexandria stepped through the threshold without even knocking. She was far more assertive than before. However, since she was now part of them, it was only natural.

"Well, this is basically all of my personal stuff. Alexis said I can stay over, that's okay, right?" She didn't even wait for a reply and set the single box down on the kitchen table and began unpacking. Alexandria knew if Matt didn't want her here, he would have kicked her out already, so she was unafraid of the consequences of being willful.

Alexandria had changed back to her original appearance since it would be too suspicious otherwise. However, she decided to begin practicing using it. This led to her quickly finding a new way to entertain herself and win the heart of little Alex. She would play peekaboo, but also change her face in between. This caused Alex to lose it and laugh for long periods of time.

While Alexandria played with Alex, Matt and Alexis took a long soak together. It had been a long time since they were able to relax together like this in the bathroom. Matt rested his chin on Alexis's head and hugged her shoulders. In a few months, Matt would be able to finally evolve to the next tier. The closer he got, the more he anticipated it. All his abilities and skills were essentially at the highest point possible.

"What are you thinking about?" Alexis said, while caressing Matt's cheek, and looking slightly upward.

"Everything has gone smoothly since Willard was put in solitary confinement. However, I'm still worried about the future. The closer we get to that faithful day, the more anxious I get. I keep having a premonition that something will occur." Matt said while clenching his fist full of water, causing it to drip down rapidly.

"This premonition of yours… could it be accurate?"

Alexis wondered if this was also one of his abilities. Matt was still quite an enigma to Alexis. There were some things he still couldn't tell her life was completely his. She realized the power dynamic was heavily in his favor. Matt gave her complete freedom despite their bond, and the thought that she could be turned into a puppet at any moment didn't bother her at all.

She had full trust in Matt and complete faith and devotion. He had become somewhat of an idol for her worship. Although this was also likely a result of the parasite, it felt genuine to her. She also had a suspicion that part of her consciousness would always be retained with the parasite. When she evolved, the feeling became stronger.

"I have been able to sense things beyond human perception. However, I don't think I can see the future or anything. Perhaps my instincts are just keeping me alert. It is a very dangerous time period after all. The recovery period is much longer." Matt spoke vaguely, but Alexis understood everything he was saying.

The next few days were uneventful. Alexandria took care of food delivery, babysitting, cleaning, and essentially anything Alexis wanted. Sandra and Sarah's kids also started coming over again. Although the adults were taking care of all four kids, Fran and the twins were very good with Alex. They lightened the load on Alexandria which gave her more time to pester Matt.

The time for Alexis's Wyrmlings to mature was fast approaching. On that day she sat quietly in the bathroom with the lights down and eventually called Matt inside. When he came in, he saw a pair of danger noodles in dim light. They swam in the shallow water of the tub and would occasionally play with each other in various ways.

"What do we do with them?" Alexis asked, unsure of how to proceed.

Matt smiled. The first units of their swarm were so weak, but they would be an important first step. "Nurture them first. Once they are maxed out, have them disguise as some household object. As for what to do with them, let them stay in hiding until we specifically need them."

Matt watched as Alexis fed the two Wyrmlings her blood. Their features were very intriguing. They seemed like wingless and limbless dragons. They had small protrusions on their heads that resembled horns. As Alexis nurtured them, their scales became shinier, and their horns became more pronounced.

Matt checked Alexis's skill and saw that she was about to increase her proficiency.

'Everything is going well…' He had another foreboding feeling wash over him before dissipating immediately.