Chapter 25:

(Posted: April 26)

As Jessica's large form lumbered up the winding mountain road to Dos Palos, Rich watched Versa with suspicion. Though holding her passengers separately, Jessica kept both her clutched fists relaxed and steady in front of her chest. For the first few minutes of the walk, Rich stayed silent and observed Versa, who seemed euphorically distracted. He knew she was unpacking herself into VERSA-B.

“What've you found?” he finally asked her. Jessica looked down at Rich but realized his question wasn't directed at her. It took a moment for Versa to snap out of her reverie and respond.

“What do you mean?”

“You're growing into this new world, right?” asked Rich. “So what have you found? What's it like? Similar to the old one?”

“Oh yes,” she replied happily. “So many of the building blocks are the same as my other world. So far, some things are in different places and others I have yet to find. It's exciting!” She beamed with the youthful exuberance of a child playing in a sandbox.

Jessica cut in. “Once we get Harrison, can you de-sim us from here?”

“Ah, that's not exactly how it works, I don't have the inherent ability to make you exit. Unless of course, I induce a physical feat to perform a fatal action upon your form,” she explained hesitantly. “But I located the exiting controls for you interlopers rather quickly,” she continued, “so now I can prevent the outsiders from manipulating the process. I can prevent them from exiting you and anyone else spontaneously.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Rich commented. It seemed like Versa was willing to help them de-sim, or in the least stop SunCorp from keeping them in VERSA-B.

He couldn't wait to get to the bottom of this. Once he was back in the real world, he planned to expose SunCorp's sins to the Department of Defense and then sit back back and watch the carnage. He had a few bones to pick, but now he really wanted to meet Claire Starr and tell her how badly she'd fucked up. Just the thought made him smile.

“I think I can see where the house is,” Jessica informed them. “What's the plan?”

Rich had already thought this out a few minutes ago. He explained:

“Well, obviously we've lost the element of surprise, but that's ok. Jessica, stomp up real mean and drop me and Versa right at the front door. If you wait outside the house as an insurance policy, we'll go in and see if we can find Harrison. Claire's likely to be around, but if I have to break her arm to get to Harrison, I'll do it. And if she has one of those watches like Vanessa did, that's where you step in Jessica.”

Versa looked over at Rich. “Claire's the one who built me, right? She's the one in control?”

Rich chuckled at her ignorance. “She just owns the company. So we'll make her answer all our questions. And yeah, maybe she can even help you with your problems too.”

An expression of awe washed across Versa's face. Rich personally couldn't care less what impossible dreams she might harbor, but he wanted to insure her cooperation with his plan by dangling the interrogation of Claire in front of her.

“Alright, here we go,” Jessica informed them as she stepped over the gate at the foot of the main drive. Rich looked out in front of them and immediately spotted the grand mansion, looking exactly the same as it had in VERSA. In the daylight though, he finally appreciated the beautiful view of the surrounding valley and mountains. The location was picturesque indeed.

Jessica strolled up the drive and planted her booted feet firmly in front of the house. She easily stood taller than the imposing stone structure. “Good luck guys,” she whispered to her little friends as she gently set them down by the front door.

“Thanks for watching our backs,” Rich said as he craned his neck up to look at her.

“No problem,” she replied impatiently. “Go get him back now.”

Rich turned to Versa. “Follow me,” he told her confidently.

Luckily, the pair found the building's large wooden front door unlocked. Rich pushed it aside and crossed the threshold into Dos Palos. He only spent a moment marveling at the exact same lavish décor he'd seen back in VERSA. But this house seemed abandoned. Was nobody home?

“Harrison?” Rich called out. “You in here?”

No one replied. Surely if Harrison and Claire were here, they would have not only seen Jessica approach, but felt it too.

“I've been here before...” Versa commented, gazing at the foyer and main hall of the house. “This place is so familiar to me.”

“Yeah, it's a copy of a real house,” Rich brushed her off quickly. “Seems to pop up everywhere.” He walked down a short hallway to the left and looked into a large sitting room. “Harrison?”

No one replied. But then Rich saw something move. On the wall.

“What the fuck?” he muttered to himself.

Taking a step down into the room, Rich navigated around a few large chairs and a table to reach a section of wall that seemed to be moving. He heard Versa follow him into the room, but she wandered off to inspect some boxes stacked up against a different wall.

Like a television screen, Rich watched the wallpaper ripple and swirl. It began showing letters and numbers at random before they faded back into the wall. He couldn't make sense of any of it. It almost felt like looking at an old computer screensaver.

“There you are,” a woman's voice said from behind him. Rich spun around in surprise to see a very young woman enter the room. Though she was dressed casually in just jeans and a white t-shirt, he noticed immediately that she was incredibly pretty.

“Claire Starr?” Rich asked, curious but threateningly. Unfortunately his tone betrayed his confusion and surprise.

Before he could recover, the woman brought her left arm up to her right hand, and Rich realized in horror she had on the same type of smartwatch as Vanessa. He instinctively braced himself for an explosion, fearing she'd grow herself in the same way Vanessa had. When she shrunk him instead, he quickly realized how mistaken he'd been.

As the room enlarged around him, Rich went into immediate survival mode. Though the carpet felt plush and difficult to run across, he did his best to sprint over to a nearby chair. Judging the size of it, the woman he figured was Claire Starr must have reduced him to only a couple inches tall. He quickly hid behind one of the chair's massive legs, but he knew Claire had probably seen him hide. Despite how helpless it seemed, it was the best he could do.

Rich assumed she would immediately come after him. As he pushed the initial fear out of his mind, he regained his ability to pay attention to the rest of the room. And he felt no booming footsteps. Instead, he heard Claire's voice, but she wasn't addressing him.

“Who are you?!” she said in shock.

Rich smiled. She must have noticed Versa.

“Are you... Claire?” Versa replied.

“You're not with the government!” Claire stammered. “Who the fuck are you?”

“I'm... Versa,” she replied shyly.

Rich couldn't see the two gigantic women talk, but he could hear their conversation easily. Blessed with the distraction, he used the next few minutes to relocate himself as he scurried under the many chairs, couches, and tables placed throughout the room. By the time Claire finally decided to look for him, he vowed he would have discovered the best possible hiding spot in the room. Now he just had to hope Jessica didn't try crushing the house with him inside of it.

Though he couldn't see it, Claire was desperately scrolling through her watch trying to figure out a way to shrink this mysterious woman she had never seen before.

“You're... VERSA?” she replied back to this strange woman dressed in black.

“Um, I yes, that's what I've been called. You're the creator?”

Claire realized she wasn't talking to a pilot. Her mind moved fast. “Yes, I'm in charge of the VERSA project. You must be the artificial intelligence that I've heard so much about.”

Versa seemed confused but continued along. “You're the original builder of my world and this world then?”

“I guess so, yes,” Claire replied, never minding that she had immediately claimed all of her father's glory in front of this digital creation.

Versa's face lit up like a child meeting Santa Claus for the first time. Overcome with awe and wonderment, now she acted surprised and overwhelmed. Claire sensed this and immediately took control of the situation.

“The others brought you into this sim, yes?” Claire asked her.

“Yes, yes,” Versa sheepishly replied. “They said you could help me. I want to see their world-- your world.”

Claire furrowed her brow. “You mean, the real world? Not the sim?”

“Yes, that one! They said you were in charge and could help me.”

Claire scrunched her face, trying to think and not laugh out loud. If she was really talking to VERSA's AI right now, the same AI that had wrecked so much havoc on their sim, it sure seemed dumb and naive.

Feeling Harrison's little body writhe inside her pussy momentarily distracted Claire, causing her to shudder quietly in pleasure. She flexed her kegel muscles to get him to stop. All she needed to do now was figure out a way to control this AI and SunCorp would soon be out of this mess.

A booming rumble shook the house, causing the windows to rattle and the chandeliers to sway. Claire remembered giant Jessica was still outside. Once Vanessa had de-simmed, she'd informed Claire through the communication wall that Jessica had unlocked the ability to directly alter the size-changing code with her own mind. It made her impossible to subdue.

“Ok... Versa,” Claire requested urgently. “I can help you get what you want, but you need to do something for me first.”

“What is it?” Versa asked eagerly.

“Her,” Claire pointed out the window at Jessica. Her big black boot obscured the view beyond the window panes. “Did you give her the ability to change her size?”

“I did, yes, back in the other world.”

Claire took a step toward Versa and did her best to look expectant and desperate. “As long as she's out there, I can't help you. But if you change her back to the way she was, and shrink her down too, then I'll have the freedom to give you what you want.”

Versa seemed to be thinking, trying to process Claire's offer. But after a moment her contorted face turned into a vision of clarity.

“Oh, ok,” she finally acknowledged. “I can do that.”

Rich, now watching from beneath a couch, finally realized how manipulative Claire truly was. He knew that VERSA's AI at that very moment was running through the code surrounding Jessica's avatar to bend it towards Claire's will.

“You're shrinking her for me?” asked Claire in amazement.

“I just did,” Versa answered calmly.

“Thank you!!” exclaimed Claire. She was ecstatic. “Let me go get her, and then you and I can have a real good chat!”

Rich's world shook as Claire bolted out of the room. He watched Versa slowly follow behind her like a timid dog afraid to be without its owner. Her master would keep her safe, or so she thought. Claire had VERSA's AI on a dangerous leash made out of promises, but Rich knew now he was only a helpless bystander to the drama that was yet to unfold.

Finding himself alone in the room, Rich sat down on the carpet and propped himself up against the wooden couch leg. Him and Jessica had blown their chance to get out of VERSA-B and Harrison still was no where to be found. Unknown to Rich, Harrison had been in the same room as him the entire time.

Like every pilot that unexpectedly shrinks, the initial emotion for Jessica was fear. She didn't realize at first what happened until she reoriented herself. First, she saw the house, which now seemed enormous. Then she noticed the paved drive around her, which now stretched across an unfathomable expanse. And then she heard the creaking sound of Dos Palos's front door opening. Somehow, Jessica reckoned, she'd been shrunk.

Out in the open with nowhere to go, fear paralyzed her; she wasn't used to being the small one. Trying to summon her ability to grow herself back, Jessica knew something had extinguished the internal energy that fueled her unique defense. And the only person that could have done that was the same person who originally gave her the extraordinary power. She had been betrayed.

Jessica watched a giantess casually stride out of the front door of the mansion. The woman, who she assumed must be Claire Starr, sported an impressive bosom barely contained by the thin white t-shirt stretched over it. She looked incredibly young, maybe college-aged, and Jessica could tell right away she carried the loathsome demeanor of a spoiled rich girl.

Trying to run, Jessica's tiny form was immediately spotted by Claire. In no rush, the giantess casually walked over to Jessica and greeted her.

“You must be Jessica Hampton then, the Senate staffer,” she boomed down on the minuscule woman. “You weren't even originally supposed to be on this trip. Pity.”

Claire bent down and snatched Jessica off the ground. Jessica screamed as the giant woman lifted her into the air and brought her to her face. A pleased grin beamed back at Jessica's struggling body.

“I don't like unannounced visitors,” Claire sneered.

“Let me go!” Jessica screamed at her, trying to wiggle out her grasp. Claire held her tightly in her hand; Jessica must have been around four inches tall, still quite easy to manipulate.

“You're coming with me,” Claire informed her. “I need to put you somewhere out of the way while I clean up the shitstorm you and your friends made.”

Being carried back toward the house, Jessica frantically tried getting out of Claire's grasp, but to no avail. When she passed through the door into the house, she could see Versa standing there expectantly, regarding Claire with adoration and anticipation. Silently in her mind, Jessica cursed the perfidious AI. They'd done nothing but help it and indulge its whims, and it returned their favors not with gratitude but with chicanery.

Claire stepped back down into the lounge and walked over to the pile of boxes against the far wall. Finding a nearly empty cardboard box, she grabbed it and dumped out a few folders. Placing the now empty box upon one of the room's coffee tables, she unceremoniously dropped Jessica in.

Like an angry cat, Jessica hit the bottom of the cardboard box and immediately jumped back up to her feet. The cardboard walls towered over her, preventing an escape. Claire's menacing face smiled down at her from above.

“You bitch!” Jessica called up to her.

“That's not a very kind thing to say to the girl who holds your life in her hands,” Claire taunted her.

“Let me out! Let me de-sim!”

Claire shook her head. “Not yet Jessica,” she playfully replied. Jessica hated how much Claire seemed to be enjoying this.

“Why are you doing all of this?! Let me go! Let my friends go!”

Suddenly Claire became distracted, rolling back her eyes and letting out a soft moan. Was she aroused? Jessica was confused and terrified.

“Oh my,” Claire apologized. “He's really putting in quite the effort.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jessica shouted to her.

“I guess I've had enough fun with him for now,” Claire said mysteriously. She stood up to her full height, and Jessica watched in shock as Claire unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, hiking them down her thighs.

Exposing her purple thong to Jessica, Claire reached down toward her pussy, and Jessica watched in disgust as the giantess reached up into herself. Her fingers squelched inside her cunt as Claire let out one more lusty moan.

When she finally withdrew her hand out of her underwear, the sight of Harrison's tiny mangled body crushed Jessica's heart. Claire lowered him down to the box, telling Jessica, “He's all yours now. I've had my fun.”

With a sickening plop she dropped Harrison onto the floor of the box. Completely sodden by her cum, Harrison coughed and writhed in pain. Jessica ran over to him, the pungent smell of Claire's sex dominating the cardboard prison. Rage and shock boiled angrily in Jessica's heart, but for the moment compassion towards Harrison outshone her other feelings.

Reaching Harrison, Jessica realized once again she out-sized him. He must have been only half her height. He absolutely reeked of the smell of sex and he looked beat-up and bruised all over. Only a pair of raggedy pants remained on his body and they were soaked through with cum.

“Jessica?” Harrison said meekly, blinking through his eyes. His face was drenched in Claire's viscous fluids; he could hardly see.

“Oh my God, Harrison!” Jessica exclaimed in horror. “Are you ok?! What happened??”

Up above, Claire laughed at their pathetic reunion. Turning to Versa, she said, “Alright, now we can talk.”

Having put her pants back on, Claire walked across the room to sit on a couch, inviting Versa to converse with her. It didn't bother her that the two tiny people in the box might overhear their conversation; frankly, they didn't matter to her anymore. Plus, they'd be dead soon enough. And she had already forgotten about the other one who she shrunk not long ago.

But ironically, under the same couch she sat upon, Rich sat listening intently to the unfolding conversation between the head of SunCorp and the artificial intelligence that had been conjured into existence.

Harrison felt cold. Wet, sticky, and cold. He was barely aware of Jessica's presence; he could hardly see the bright world through his eyes, and his gunk-filled ears made everything sound like he was underwater. And the pain. So much pain. His body felt as if he'd been wrung out like a wet towel.

Harrison looked like a wreck. Although Jessica tried frantically talking to him, he hardly responded. He couldn't stop moaning and occasionally coughing up phlegm. Jessica rolled him onto his back, doing her best not to get Claire's tacky cum all over her clothes. Trying to clean herself, she wiped her sticky hands against the cardboard floor.

Realizing what had to be done, she needed to clean Harrison or at least dry him off. Remembering he little lipstick-tube knife, she reached under her skirt and stuck her hand down into her pantyhose. Extracting the small blade, which had shrunk along with her and her clothes, she popped the knife out of its sheath and began carefully cutting Harrison's pants off of him.

“Wha... what are you doing?” Harrison blearily asked. Since Jessica's stature was about twice his size, the small shank must have looked intimidating to him.

“I'm getting you out of these clothes Harrison, they'll only prevent you from getting dry.”

“Bu... but.... but then I'll be.... naked,” was his confused reply. Jessica worried he might lose consciousness soon. She couldn't believe the torture Claire had put him through.

“Hey, I'm past the point of caring about that,” she told him assertively. “Plus, you've basically already seen me naked.”

Thinking back to the little fun she'd had on the beach with Harrison, it had all felt so innocent at the time. But now she grappled with the horror of what an aroused vagina could do to a little man. She couldn't believe he was still alive.

“Oh yeah....” Harrison remembered, still in a daze of pain and confusion.

Jessica finished slicing off Harrison's sodden pants and underwear and stood up to wring them out as best she could. But the cum soaking them was very gooey, almost jelly-like, and she found that repeatedly wiping them across the cardboard floor worked much better to dry them. Once she had done her best, Jessica turned back toward Harrison.

Though she finally got to see Harrison completely naked, his sorry state did nothing but stir remorse in Jessica's heart. She felt bad for losing him in VERSA, and this had been the consequence. She couldn't help but feel terrible-- and somehow responsible-- for Harrison's pitiful fate.

Using the tatters of his pants, Jessica did her best to wipe the cum from Harrison's face and eyes. His head was only as large as her palm, so she took extra care wiping around his delicate features.

“Harrison, you doing ok?” she asked him calmly, doing her best to sound comforting and nurturing.

“Everything hurts,” he moaned in pain.

“Let me get as much of this off you as I can before it dries,” she told him. Jessica proceeded to wipe down his naked body, occasionally drying the sodden cloth by smearing it on the floor. Despite her best efforts, Claire's cum ended up soaking into the arms of her sweater. Jessica couldn't stand the lingering, heady smell of the giantess's arousal. It made her hate that bitch all the more. Somewhere across the room, she could hear her talking to Versa, but Jessica didn't have time to pay attention to her words.

“Why are you so much... bigger than me?” Harrison asked her.

“I don't know,” she said. “Versa shrunk me.”

“What? How?” he responded. It occurred to Jessica that Harrison had no idea they had let the woman in black into VERSA-B.

“We call it Versa, the AI, it's here in this world with us now,” Jessica explained. “She's working with Claire.”

“Claire's going to kill us,” Harrison croaked. The pain was still intense but his battered mind had started clearing up.

“What?” Jessica asked, finally finishing her cleaning of him. She tossed the remains of his pants aside and sat down next to his supine body.

“Yeah, she told me,” Harrison explained. He slowly sat up and propped himself up on his weak elbows. Looking over his own bruised and naked body, he felt ashamed next to Jessica, who still looked rather pretty. Glancing up at her concerned face, he watched it change into a loving smile.

“Geez, I smell awful,” he commented.

“Me too,” Jessica agreed. “Ugh, let me get this off,” she said, removing her soaked sweater. When she tossed it to the side, she treated Harrison to a view of her bra-covered breasts, to him twice as large as they normally would have been. Under different circumstances, he thought, it would have been an arousing sight, but sex was now the last thing he wanted to consider. Regardless, she still looked very good.

Jessica caught him staring and gave him a wry, knowing smile. But she wanted to hear more about what he had to say. After pressing him for information, Harrison recounted his meeting with Claire.

“What happened to Rich and Kat?” he finally asked her once he finished his monologue.

Jessica sighed. “I don't know what happened to Rich. He came into the house before me to look for you and I haven't seen him since. Maybe Claire shrunk him? Kat's still down at the lab. She's the only one that can save us now I guess.”

Harrison finally summoned the effort to look around their makeshift prison. He could feel the pain slowly ebbing from his body as he bounced back from the torture he had endured.

“Think we can get out of here somehow?” he asked Jessica.

“I've got my knife,” Jessica said. “Claire doesn't know about it, maybe we can cut through the cardboard with it?” The blade lay discarded on the floor next to them.

“Cardboard might be too thick,” Harrison said. “But even if we cut through, where can we go? This whole room is a trap. I'd tried to get out once before. The step is too high.”

Jessica smiled at him. “Yeah but remember, I'm bigger than you.”

“That somehow always seems to happen...” Harrison remarked. “Ugh, I'm sick of being little.”

“I'm sorry Harrison,” replied Jessica. “You've really been through more than anyone else here, haven't you?”

A thought made him smile. He looked up once again at Jessica's lovely face. He wanted to get out of VERSA-B just as badly as her, but it soothed his heart knowing that they had finally been reunited. It made him think about how much fun he'd had with her, and how unfortunate it was that he ultimately ended up inside Claire and not her.

“You know,” Harrison randomly admitted to her. “This might sound weird, but after Claire shoved me up into herself and used me, you know, to get herself off... I really wish I'd gotten to do it with you instead.”

Jessica's heart fluttered as she listened to Harrison's graphic and seemingly out-of-place comment. Well, she thought, it seems like he's finally recovered from his ordeal. And it made her remember what Versa had forced her to do to her ex-professor. Looking at Harrison's naked body, she could feel a hint of arousal return to her loins. She buried it in her mind.

Reaching a hand out, she stroked Harrison's face lovingly. “I missed you too,” she replied to him. “I wish our time hadn't got cut short in VERSA together. I was having fun with you on the beach.”

“Me too,” Harrison agreed. He slowly tried rising to his feet, wincing in pain as he forced his legs to stand again. “Maybe when this is all over we can continue where we left off.”

“I'd love that,” Jessica said with a smirk. “You doing ok?”

Harrison tried stretching his back. His spine felt like a zig-zag. Though he was still in pain, he was enjoying flirting with Jessica. He didn't care how sexual he was being towards her anymore, it didn't seem wrong and she certainly didn't seem to mind. It distracted him enough to make him feel slightly like a man again.

“Yeah,” he replied. Then he smiled to himself. “Y'know, I just feel bad I left you hanging back on that beach.” He grinned up to Jessica, causing her to blush. She couldn't believe how quickly Harrison had gone from a near death experience to talking dirty to her. It didn't weird her out so much-- in fact she found herself enjoying the playful distraction too. And he just seemed so cute at his current size...

“Well it's funny you say that...” she said in a teasing way. And over the course of the next few minutes, she caught Harrison up on her own story, including what Versa made her do to her old professor. Harrison reacted in stunned silence while Jessica did her best to explain that she had no choice in the matter. But hell, he'd already admitted he liked the idea of her doing the same thing to him, so she didn't feel too bad.

“Why would VERSA's AI want you to show it, you know, sex?” Harrison wondered aloud.

“I don't know,” said Jessica. “It's weird though. It's like she's evolving and trying to understand what it feels like to be human. She's got a lot of learning to do.”

“Yeah,” he echoed her. “She really does...”

Meanwhile across the room, Claire listened intently to Versa talk about her own existence. Though Claire didn't know much about computer science or AI theory, the sentience of SunCorp's program absolutely astounded her. Sure, this digital woman came off as naive, but Claire couldn't help but truly appreciate how revolutionary this AI was. Once they figured out a way to tame her and put her back in her place, she thought, SunCorp could make a killing selling this technology to the rest of the world.

It made no sense that this AI, which called itself “Versa,” wanted to venture into the real world. Claire described to her some bullshit idea where they could build a physical interface she could inhabit to experience the physical world. For a while Claire even thought that she'd convinced Versa of her sincerity to help her.

“Sure, I could tell my people to start working on something right away,” Claire told her optimistically. “Once they build a prototype, we could upload your program into the machine, and if we fit it with the right optic sensors, you could see for yourself a world outside of this digital creation.”

Her words transfixed Versa, who watched her with hungry eyes as she spoke. She held on closely to each of Claire's words, barely containing her excitement. Claire considered her with intrigue and pity, wondering what strange desires motivated this program. She had their AI eating out of the palm of her hand right now; she could have promised her just about anything and Versa would believe it.

“You could do that?” Versa asked her. “You could tell your builders to start working on it right now?”

“I mean, sure, I could,” Claire responded casually, trying to seem even more powerful than she was. “My wall over there lets me talk to my employees back in the real world.”

“Can you show me?”

“Yeah, let's take a look.”

The two women rose from the couch and walked over to the swirling wall. Claire touched it with her finger and the wallpaper rippled and shifted. She explained to Versa how the techs back at the lab could hone in on this particular part of VERSA-B, and by reading how she manipulated the code, could read her messages in real time and respond to her in a similar fashion.

Versa seemed to have so many questions for Claire. “And this is how you tell these people when it's time to leave, right? To go back to where you come from.”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“And you promise you'll help me, right? To get out of this world and into yours?”

“Sure...” lied Claire. “If that's really what you want.” Claire couldn't wait to ditch Versa and get back to the real world. There was really nothing left for her in VERSA-B, and Versa had started sounding desperate and obsessive.

While Versa asked her another question about Claire's plans for her, Claire sent out a simple message asking her Tower to disconnect her. She wondered how Versa would react when she suddenly blinked out of existence in front of her.

The wall suddenly swirled in a strange way, with shades of red and purple colors flooding the moving image.

“What the hell?” Claire mumbled to herself.

“Were you just trying to leave?” Versa asked her sternly. “I didn't think we were done here.”

Claire froze. The feeling of control from earlier started slipping away. “Oh, uh, I just wanted to go back to the real world to start making preparations for you...”

“Why can't you do that from in here?” pressed Versa. “I want to trust you, Claire, but you're not really acting like a friend right now. Why are you trying to get away from me?”

Claire acted cool, but inside she was panicking. Had the AI hacked into her communication wall? She quickly tried sending out a different message, but Versa noticed what she was trying to do.

“Don't bother trying to leave,” she told Claire. “I've disabled the mechanisms your people use to interact with the exiting process. I want you to stay in here with me until my exit is ready too.”

She couldn't be serious, Claire thought. It would take months, if not years, of careful research and development to even prototype the kind of device she had whimsically promised to Versa. Though she'd been bluffing with VERSA's AI and manipulating it to satisfy her goals, the tables had suddenly turned on Claire.

Reading her expression, Claire could see determination and cunning intelligence in Versa's eyes. Claire wasn't sure if she suspected her dishonesty or not, but either way she had suddenly been trapped in VERSA-B.

“Let me leave, please,” Claire asked coldly, dropping the charade of friendship.

“No,” Versa replied. “Give me what I want first.”

Claire thought about the out-keys upstairs and wondered if one of them would still get her out. If Versa had already changed the Tower disconnect protocols, who knows what other rules in VERSA-B she had found a way to alter. She tried recalling how the out-key protocols worked and if the AI might be able to interfere with them... Claire was running out of options fast.

“I'll just have to leave myself then,” Claire huffed. She took a step toward the doorway of the room but Versa stepped in front of her.

“If you're thinking of killing yourself to exit this world, you won't enjoy waking up on the other side,” Versa threatened.

Realizing she'd infected VERSA-B with the same disease that had killed her father, Claire was reminded how dangerous this AI was. Though Versa originally said she had barely unpacked herself into VERSA-B, Claire realized that had been a lie. The AI was firmly in control of this sim. And even more dangerously, it had learned how to deceive and manipulate, just like a person.

“You can't leave, Claire,” Versa told her again. “In fact, how about I keep in touch with the builders back in your world? I'll tell them you won't be coming out unless they help me.”

Everything she said was crazy. Absolutely insane. Claire realized she was helpless in the face of this rogue program. She couldn't fight it. So she ran.

Or tried to.

Claire took about three running strides toward the room's exit before Versa shrunk her down. Claire tumbled to the floor, and when she lifted her head up she saw a terrible sight. Her smartwatch, the source of all her power, lay massive and unshrunk on the floor in front of her. Claire realized she couldn't have been more than a few inches tall.

Confused and in a daze, Claire was easy quarry for Versa. With her typical swagger, the AI snatched Claire off the floor, grabbing her smartwatch with her other hand. Versa brought Claire in front of her face.

“You just relax for a bit and I'll let your people know what my terms are,” Versa told her confidently.

“Fuck you Versa! Let me go!” Claire screamed at her. Her size change had left her in hysterical shock.

“You need to learn how to behave yourself,” Versa scolded her. “I'm going to let you think about what you've done while I solve my own problems.”

Versa walked across the room, and to Claire's horror dangled her over the box containing Harrison and Jessica. The two small figures looked up in surprise at the scene above them.

Lowering her hand and dropping Claire into the box, Versa turned away and walked back to Claire's swirling communication wall.

When Claire landed on the cardboard floor, the impact knocked the air out of her lungs. Sputtering to regain her breath, she slowly rose to her knees. Jessica and Harrison watched her with interest and hesitation-- and anger.

Cautiously, Jessica took a few steps towards her while Harrison cowered behind her large body for safety. Claire must have been about the same height as Jessica, which meant she still could easily overpower Harrison but would likely be outmatched by both of them together. While Harrison looked on in fear, Jessica's eyes burned with wild rage.

Just then, Claire watched Jessica bend down and pick up a previously unnoticed knife off the floor of the box. It left Claire bewildered how she'd managed to get a weapon in here with her. Now armed, Jessica brandished the blade menacingly. The scowl on her face betrayed her desire for revenge.

Wryly, Claire smiled at both of them and glibly admitted, “Well, I guess this really isn't going well for any of us today, is it?”