Mace still wore the telepathic helmet. He went inside the shuttle cruiser and manipulated the control console. Only Sapphire was aware that he was up to something; she entered the shuttle and asked him what he was doing.

“I’m putting the mainframe computer under my control! I’m the only one who can control it now! It can only be accessed when I wear this helmet. The others won’t figure out that anything is wrong until the artificial wormhole generator is finished, then I’ll reveal my master plan!”

Penn popped his head in through the doorway of the shuttle cruiser. “Mace, are you taking a break? We need you to control the robots, we’re almost done!”

Mace emerged with a smile on his face, and got back to work controlling the robots. Felicity noticed that he was smiling, and got suspicious. She whispered to Penn: “I think Mace is up to something!”

Sapphire emerged from the shuttle cruiser, with a look on her face that was reminiscent of the cat that swallowed the canary.

“Just keep your eyes on them,” said Penn. “We don’t have any evidence, and I don’t want to start an argument that could slow down our progress.”

Within a couple of more hours, Vertragus announced that the artificial wormhole generator was completed. The six cadets gathered in the area in front of the wormhole generator. Felicity gathered Vertragus and held him at waist level so he could be easily seen and heard.

“Now we need to send Gretchen back to 1944 Netherlands,” said Penn.

There were cables extending from the wormhole generator to the interior of the shuttle cruiser. Vertragus explained that he could program the onboard computer to send Gretchen home. Gretchen was ushered in and asked what date she came from, so she could be returned to her time and place.

Once she gave them the date, Pen programmed it into the computer and Mace used the telepathic helmet to activate the wormhole generator. The cadets outside the shuttle cruiser could see the Netherlands on the other side of the dimensional portal.

Gretchen hugged the cadets and stepped through the portal, and into the world on the other side.

“Okay,  now we have to get the younger version of Gretchen and bring her here,” said Penn, “then we have to send her back to the recent past here on Lillitopia, as she described to us.”

“I’m not doing anything,” said Mace as he took the telepathic helmet off, “until you all agree that me and Sapphire can stay to rule as gods when the rest of you return to the academy!”

“That’s not going to happen, Mace!” said Penn.

“The mainframe computer that controls the shuttle cruiser and now also the wormhole generator is under my control!” said Mace. “Without me, you’re stranded here!”

“If you stay here, you’ll regret it eventually,” Penn reasoned. “Being a god might be fun, but it would get old after a while.”

“Isn’t there something you’d like to study back at the academy that isn’t available on Lillitopia?” Sapphire asked.

“I’ve always wanted to be a xenopsychologist,” said Mace. “I always thought it would be interesting to see how 21st century Earth would react if the Lillitopians journeyed there and shared their technology!”

“That’s unlikely to happen,” said Sapphire.

“Only some kind of a cosmic cataclysm could force them to evacuate Lillitopia,” said Penn.

“That’s it!” said Mace. “I can build a weapon that will cause the star that Lillitopia orbits to go supernova within ten years! If you don’t help me do that, I’ll never let you get back home!”

The others looked at each other and realized they might not have any other choice.

To Be Continued!