PLANAR SHIFT

by NFalc

It was almost finished.

For over a year now, I'd been tinkering with it, making every adjustment count. I knew that everything had to be perfect, as there were no second chances. When I went through, either it went well or it didn't. The smallest screw-up could leave me dead - or worse.

But I knew that I had to use it. It had become the focus of my dreams and obsessions for a good part of my life, and there was no way I would let it go to waste.

I took a deep breath, and promised myself that there was no chickening out on this, no cowardice could be involved. You wanted to escape this world. You're going to.

The gate was almost done.


I met Sarah three years previously, if you could say that we really "met". I had built a ridiculously sophisticated communications device, expecting it to reach other galaxies, perhaps farther than human comprehension. It was designed to home in on the strongest available data signature, be it radio, fiber optic or even Morse Code. I calibrated everything perfectly (I always make sure of it) and then fired it up.

I was expecting to find aliens, beings completely unimaginable to me. So, imagine my shock to hear a voice, no, an unmistakably HUMAN voice coming through the makeshift translator. It wasn't even being translated, I learned later. But the voice was coming in loud and clear. And it, too, seemed to be searching for some kind of contact.

I was absolutely stunned for a few moments, but eventually collected myself enough to be able to carry on a rational conversation. We quickly figured out a way of exchanging data, and the next few weeks we spent comparing anatomy, psychology, and sociology of our respective species. At first I thought it was a fluke. The results came back nearly identical. A society had evolved exactly parallel to that on Earth.

We made our communications equipment more and more complex, found ways of stabilizing our signals, transmitting images and binary code. Sarah transmitted me a photo of her. I lost my breath just looking at it. She was drop-dead gorgeous.

I think that's when I got the idea. It snuck up on me, then sprang fully-formed into my head, ready to become my obsession. I would go to Sarah. Somehow, I would find a way to be with her, and we would live together. Already, we had shared so much with each other. And somehow, it felt to me like there was a spiritual link as well. I hadn't found a soul mate in this galaxy. What was to stop me from searching in another?


Naturally, Sarah wasn't able to transmit data about every last detail of her world. There could be all sorts of dangers she hadn't warned me about. Luckily, I still had the tech I'd invented for the government, and that would help me survive anything that other world could throw at me.

I had a feeling one of my older inventions would come in very useful in the other world. And since it had been a while since I'd used it, I thought I'd do a refresher.


The obstacle course lay before me, tremendous and quite lethal. All of it was underground, of course, to prevent being found. The light before me shifted, red to yellow. I leaned forward, feeling the familiar rush of adrenaline, and triggered the change. Instantly Sess began spreading over me, the tingling feeling over my skin bringing back old memories. The layers of tough polycarbon were in a liquid state, and felt smoother than silk across my skin. Soon, I was coated in the fluid, durable, and shimmery stuff.

The instant the light turned green I was on my feet, hurling myself into the maze, no thought whatsoever involved. Sess responded to my every reflex, and calculated exactly how to move the suit around me into the optimal position. It also boosted my reaction time, speed, cognition and strength by at least 300%. Not to mention the flame-resistance, acid repellants, virtual impenetrability and oxygen support also built in. And it was wrinkle-resistant to boot!

That still didn't make the obstacle course easy. Mortars launched around me, spikes hammered into the ground, platforms fell apart at the slightest touch.

I finished the 2 mile course in 2.8 seconds flat, and wasn't the slightest out of breath.


I double checked to make sure everything was perfect. Once more I felt a twinge of anxiety at the one hole in my plan. I hadn't told Sarah that I was coming, preferring it to be a surprise. Stupid, I know. But I still had an element of unpredictability in all my perfectionism, and that was how I let it out. I figured my calculations would be precise enough that telling her wouldn't matter.

I flipped the first set of switches. The massive laser apparatus powered on, shooting a laser beam into the triangular portal. Next, the portal initiators turned on, bathing the lab in a wash of soft purple light. The triangle was coated with a strange, pulsing skin, almost like the liquid in a bubble blower. The next switch bolstered the laser with small outbursts of static. The portal light became yellow. Now for the final switch. I flipped it, turning on the portal stabilizers and the final laser intensifier. The gate shined with a blinding white light. I took a deep breath, shielded my eyes and stepped in.


There was a sensation of ridiculous speed, going so fast that the resistance nearly crushed my skull. It was as if gravity had multiplied by ten, and then worked simultaneously for and against me. I was both pushed and pulled in every direction. I struggled to open my eyes, and saw streaks of black, white, purple rushing past me at unbelievable speeds. Then everything seemed to slow, and I was in a huge, misty tunnel of light. It took a moment to realize that the reason I didn't seem to be moving was because the tunnel was so long and I was going so fast. It was the same effect as being in an airplane. I reached the end of the tunnel, and was struck by a concussive blow that made me see sparks, then black.


I came to groggily, with a sensation that the earth beneath me gyrated and trembled. Soon enough the spinning stopped, but curiously, the trembling continued.

Standing up, the world turned wildly beneath me, and my eyes were completely unfocused. I bent over, closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. The world stopped spinning, and when I opened my eyes everything was in focus. But the trembling didn't stop.

Something was wrong. The ground below me was hard, colored steel blue. It had a strange, reflective sheen. None of the data Sarah had sent me said anything about this. Looking to the left, a gigantic yellow geometrical structure was looming in the distance. It appeared to be about my height, and several times my length.

Had I miscalculated? Was I in an entirely different dimension? I suddenly realized every one of thousands of potential flaws in my plan and design. What on Earth had I gotten myself into?

Suddenly, the rumbling greatly intensified, to the point where it was a miniature earthquake. Sess automatically activated at my feet, securing my footing. I looked around wildly, and even with the enhanced reaction time it still took me a second to realize just what I was looking at.

I was looking, unquestionably, at something alive, but at skyscraper proportions. No, not just something alive, but a woman... Sarah! I hadn't aimed wrong. Either the teleporter had malfunctioned, or...

My thoughts were disrupted by the giant hand bearing down on what I now recognized to be the pencil next to me. In the second or so it took her to pick up the gigantic object, I noticed that her gleaming nails, colored a soft pink, contrasted lovely with the pale, smooth, obviously delicate and soft flesh of her hand.

I shook my head, I had to snap out of it. Think logically. I needed to somehow show her that I was there. But she was so incredibly tall... She had to be about 450 feet in height, which would make me practically microscopic. There was no way my voice could reach her tremendous, shell-pink ears.

Irrationally, I called out anyway as she sat down in front of me. For a second, I could swear she glanced at me, and I almost melted. Pictures did not do her justice, especially when I had a front row seat to every last detail. She had a gently curved face, with just enough definition of the jaw to make it visible. Her lips were a glowing pink, without lipstick, and seemed soft, plush, just waiting to be kissed. Her brown, gold-flecked eyes loomed large behind her glasses, but the effect just made her look more intelligent, and somehow even more lovely. She had multi-tonal brown hair, the kind of color that is simply too beautiful to fake. It was done up in a bun that was loose enough to keep her hair from being pulled taut, yet tight enough to keep all but a single strand from falling onto her gorgeous face.

I slapped a hand to my forehead. Staring again. You'll never get out of here. I quickly began to think up a plan. If I could just get close enough to her ear, I might be able to yell loud enough to get her attention. Who knew what she would do when I got it, though? If her reflex reaction was violent enough, I could be thrown off completely. But, I reminded myself, Sess could help me cling to any porous object. And at this size, near everything was porous.

So, how to get there... Looking over the edge, I realized that it was at least a two hundred foot fall to the floor, and not even Sess could help me survive that. I saw a number of stainless steel protrusions from the wall... wait, those were handles. How obvious. I had been standing on a desk.

So, I couldn't easily get to the floor. What else could work? I took a look at my surroundings. The floors were simple linoleum tile, the walls a bleak white. There was what was clearly a lab counter, complete with sink, bunsen burner and beakers, on the left wall opposite me, and a large bookshelf to my right. The desk wasn't connected to anything I could climb on.

Then it hit me. I could climb her.

I rejected the thought immediately. It was wrong, plain and simple. We'd never even met face to face, to invade her privacy like that was disgusting.

Yet the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like my only option. How else could I get her attention? I walked over to the paper Sarah was intently scribbling on. Out of sheer curiousity, I tried to get a feel for what she was working on. I saw immediately that it wasn't a lab report, or anything that required writing. No, the broad strokes and shaded areas showed it to be a sketch. What was she drawing? I looked it over carefully, trying to get a feel for it. It was the portrait of a man, with a slightly jutting jaw, tousled, messy hair and a pointed, yet somehow searching stare.

Me.

She was a magnificent artist, although the portrait was beyond flattering. I was nowhere near as handsome as her sketch. I wanted to applaud her. Instead, I rolled out of the way as her pencil came hurtling towards me, splintering what looked like inch-long shards of graphite all over the paper. It moved furiously back and forth, shading the bottom of my likeness's chin. Then Sarah got out the eraser.

The huge red rubber rectangle slammed onto the paper, and as Sarah rubbed, the paper slid a foot every time. Gigantic scraps of blackened rubber flew everywhere. Sarah bent over, and looked at it intently. Now was my chance! If I jumped directly in front of her, perhaps she'd see me. I rushed towards her, feeling a swift breeze that I realized was her soft, warm, slightly minty breath. It nearly blew me over.

I finally reached her line of sight, and began jumping up and down, waving frantically. It was only then that I realized what she was really doing. She was looking at the eraser dust on the page. And now she was going to blow that dust away.

I ran, but I knew no amount of speed would save me from this. A hurricane wall of wind blew against my back, and I tripped, falling, then flying, off the page. I fell out into oblivion. Head over heels, until all orientation had vanished.

I landed on a rough, yet soft and pliant surface. It hurt, but the softness and a little shock absorbance from Sess kept me from getting killed. Looking up, I saw a massive wall of white in front of me, marked with dish-sized circular protrusions. Buttons. I was staring at her shirt. Perfect place to begin climbing.

It was difficult work, despite my ability to easily cling to her shirt and propel myself up it. Every time she moved, the fabric wrinkled and billowed, causing dramatic shifts in position. Numerous times I felt like giving up, just holding on for sheer life, not climbing anymore.

Then, I encountered a major obstacle. It's one that most guys would like to get intimate with, but which right now I was dreading. You see, Sarah was wearing a tight shirt. And because of this, her generous breasts formed what was practically a ceiling above me. To get over them, I'd have to go horizontal.

I clung as best as I could, trying to avoid having all the blood rush to my head. The warmth was almost great enough to be unpleasant. Almost. Finally, I made it over the edge, and onto the relatively safe plateau of her breast. I lay down on the rising and falling surface, got a grip and held it. I needed a breather, and this was as good a chance as I would get for a while. I could feel her tremendous heartbeat, like the rhythym of a god. Or goddess.

Did I mention that I lay face down?

Soon, I felt refreshed, and reimbued with the desire to let her know of my existence. I climbed her shoulder quickly, got my balance. Below me everything seemed so far down that it looked almost normal. I then turned for the final part of my climb. I knew instinctively that this would be the most difficult part, as well. Sarah's enormous neck expanded and contracted with her every breath. How could I possibly get a handhold on that smooth, constantly moving wall of flesh? More importantly, how could I do it without her noticing?

The answer was, I couldn't. The minute I tried, Sarah's huge, beautiful hand came up and began scratching at it. I began to move at a desperate pace, trying to avoid the lovely monstrosity tearing up the wall behind me. I suddenly knew that if she did wind up mauling me to death with those gorgeous fingers, she wouldn't feel a thing. The nails were at least as long as I was. A tiny insect being destroyed under them wouldn't provoke any reaction. I'd be an insignificant red blotch under her polished nail if I didn't hustle.

I tore my way up her neck, around her chin, and up the side of her cheek. Her hand, thankfully, remained at the base of her neck. I moved carefully, snatching at the fine hairs which grew in thickness as I moved closer to her bun. Soon, I was nearing my goal. I was also nearing exhaustion. Every muscle burned, and I was beginning to get seriously worried about dehydration. I had been climbing for over an hour, and it had been quite strenuous.

Finally, I saw her earlobe, with a small, conservative silver earring hanging through it. I knew I was almost there. One last scramble, and I was standing on the verge of a gigantic shell-pink chasm, leading down to her eardrum. I clung to the side of her ear canal, knowing that when I shouted there would be a good chance that she could tip her head to the side, causing me to fall headfirst into her.

I wasn't prepared for the reaction she did have. Before I could even shout, a finger the size of a battering ram slammed into my exit to the outside world. It began to twist its way deeper into the canal, right towards me. The only way to run was in, and as I ran I shouted. I screamed. I yelled, hollered, shredded my vocal cords with cries for help. I was so desperate, I don't even remember what I was saying.

Suddenly, I heard a rumbling. And that rumbling sounded an awful lot like, "Eric?" The finger stopped moving.

"Sarah! You can hear me."

"Yes, quite loudly."

"Sarah, you won't believe what I'm going to tell you..."

Chapter 2

I was back on the desk, after a harrowing ride two hundred feet straight down on Sarah's finger. My legs were still shaking. After an hour or so of close brushes with death, the last thing I needed was a thrill ride.

Sarah was taking this pretty well. I had expected her to freak out, maybe to suspect herself of insanity. Instead she was acting calmly, rationally. Just like a good scientist should.

"How did this happen?" Sarah whispered, peering down at me even though her head was just inches off the desk. She had already grasped that talking normally might damage my hearing.

"No idea," I replied honestly. "It could have been any number of things."

"Do you think... could it have been the teleporter?" Sarah and I had been working on it cooperatively via the link for a year or so, although I didn't think she shared my personal reasons for inventing it. All the same, I understood her concern.

"I doubt it. However, I did have a strange feeling, almost like being compressed and pulled apart at the same time."

"We'll have to look into it." She said quietly, with a note of worry in her voice. "More importantly, are you okay?"

"Fine," I said. I was having some trouble finding where to look while I talked with her. I couldn't see her entire face as a whole, it was on simply too grand a scale. So my eyes moved back and forth between her mouth and her eyes. Both beautiful sights, but a bit wearying to concentrate on. "Sess kept me from getting hurt."

"Sess?"

"It stands for Synapse Enhancing Symbiotic Suit. Made it myself." Most girls would have fallen asleep halfway through the acronym. Sarah, on the other hand, seemed genuinely interested. "It's a combination of 'smart' nanotech and polycarbon, linked directly to my central nervous system. It enhances most bodily functions, and also provides substantial protection." Her eyebrows had raised on the words "bodily functions", although she quickly tried to hide what I realized was a look of interest. What was she thinking about?

"So that's what the silvery stuff covering you is." I nodded. She paused for a moment. "You know, it's kind of hard to hear you when you talk."

I had been yelling the entire time. My throat was already extremely hoarse. "I was afraid of that," I mumbled to myself.

"We'll think of some way to fix that," she said confidently. "We'll make this work." It seemed almost like she was trying to convince herself.

"Make what work?"

"This living arrangement." The words shocked me. Living in this gigantic world? I hadn't had time to think about it, although I doubt that the thought would have even crossed my mind. She must have noticed my look of shock, even at my microscopic size. "I can't teleport you back, mine isn't up and running yet," she sighed.

"I thought you said that you had a finished model."

"I lied," she said with an easy, pleasant smile. "I've had a whole bunch of other things to work on. The government is really cracking down on me." I sighed softly. Working for the government. I'd already made that mistake once, and was lucky that I lived to regret it. I reminded myself that this was a different world. The government here was more than likely to be completely different as well.

"I guess you're stuck then." She finished.

"Yeah." She was right, there was no way around it. I was stranded on this gargantuan, familiar yet alien world.

"You'll need a place to sleep, I'll go fix a bed..." She then remembered the size issue, and wrinkled her brow. "Well, I'll get you somewhere to sleep tonight. Stay put." As if I had a choice about that.

I watched her walk off, the floor shaking beneath me, her behind swinging slightly as she moved. She walked with a very deliberate gait, her foot coming down softly and slowly on the tile floor. Her heels clicked as they hit the ground, a sound that would be soft if heard by normal ears, but sounded to me like each footstep left a crater.

Then she was gone, and I had nothing to distract myself. I was faced, suddenly, with the complete knowledge of my predicament. How would I eat, sleep, survive in this strange place? Danger lurked everywhere, even in forms which seemed benign. I knew that even Sarah, who had so far shown me nothing but kindness, could accidentally hurt me with a careless movement.

I felt terribly sorry for myself, but managed to pull it together after a few minutes. I needed to look at the positives. I had someone to look after me, a protector against anything which would cause me harm. I knew Sarah could help me out if I ever got into serious trouble, but I simultaneously worried: what if I got into a major mess when she wasn't around? Also, wouldn't having to constantly look after and watch out for a person smaller than most insects be a bit of a trying job? I sincerely hoped I wouldn't be too much of a burden, or at least that she wouldn't mind.

The distant rumbling told me that Sarah was returning. I looked up to see the slightly worried look on her face replaced by a broad smile. I could detect no falseness, she seemed genuinely happy. It was a strange contrast to the desperation I felt. "Okay, I rigged up something that'll work temporarily. I've also got ideas for how we can work out food and water."

How long did she think I would be staying? "Sarah, do you have any idea when the machine will be finished?"

Her smile dimmed a little. "I don't know. I'd guess that by myself it would take me a month. But with you here, I think it could definitely go faster. Maybe even cut that in half."

Two weeks. I'd be staying here at least two harrowing weeks. I shuddered, and instantly hoped she didn't see. I was already imposing on her, the last thing I wanted to do was come off as ungrateful. "We should probably get started, then." I was anxious for any distraction from pondering my fate.

"Great. I'll get working on the actual machine. You should probably try and find out just what made you shrink. We'll need to get it fixed, and hopefully reversed, if you want to get back home."

The rest of the afternoon Sarah spent fiddling with the machine and poring over blueprints, while I worked out some complex mathematics on a (literal) scrap of paper and a tiny piece of lead broken out of a pencil. I was getting frustrated, and hadn't had any breakthroughs. There seemed to be no logical cause for my shrinking.

I started sneaking glances at Sarah. She was so lovely. I just wanted to hold her, be able to talk with her like a normal person, be able to get close to her. I tried to snap out of it. Hell, I didn't even know if she shared my feelings. For all I knew, she thought I was a freak, and this image of me, half an inch tall and utterly pathetic, was the only one she'd ever know, no matter what size I was.

I realized that I was depressed enough without thinking of my total lack of a chance with Sarah. It would be better just to concentrate on my work. But her image was practically burned in my brain. It could have been because she was beautiful, because she was smart, or because she was kind. But I think it had more to do with the fact that she was the only safe, friendly thing in that huge, hostile world. I was dependent on her, and somehow that dependency translated itself into a weird sexual energy.

I got back to concentrating on the math. It made no sense whatsoever. My calculations, which I had done repeatedly, were perfect, I no longer had any doubt. There was no reason for size change in the process, nothing that would indicate that it should happen. It seemed an impossibility. I stared at the paper so hard and long that my eyes began to ache and water. I worked furiously, trying every possible combination, even ones that I knew wouldn't allow the device to work, just hoping for a flash of inspiration.

Finally, once I thought my brains were about to literally sizzle, Sarah called down, "Dinner is served." I hadn't even realized that she was gone.

I started heading for the door, and was about to walk straight off the desk when I caught myself, remembering my new size. Sarah obviously remembered as well, because I could hear her stomping ever so gracefully down the steps.

My jaw dropped as she descended the stairs. Sarah had changed into a dress. But not just any dress. This dress was perfectly attuned to her figure, accentuating every curve of her body perfectly, fancy without being formal, revealing without being immodest. It was made of soft black silk, and ended just above the knee, allowing me to get a panoramic view of two gorgeous, creamy thighs that had just the right amount of tone without being overly muscular. She was beaming at me, saying words which I could not seem to comprehend. I felt like I had short-circuited.

If there had been any doubt, it was erased. I was head-over-heels, maddeningly, absolutely and completely in love.

She put her lovely hand down right next to the desk, allowing me to climb on with only minor difficulty. I sat down in her soft, warm palm and, feeling like I was on some sort of bizarre magic carpet, watched as we ascended the steps. It felt like gliding. Sarah had to be extremely graceful, extremely careful, or both.

We rounded the corner into a dining room that was decorated in a striking blend of classic and modern styles, all polished maple and chrome. She had exquisite taste. On the table there were two towering, softly flickering candles that lit the room. Sarah set me down on one side of the table, then sat down on the other. There was just enough space between the candles that we could see each other through them.

Sarah already had food on her plate. Looking in front of me, I saw that I had a small, flat piece of plastic in front of me, about the size of a poster. Obviously, this would be serving as my plate tonight. Sarah carefully cut a tiny piece of chicken, speared it on her fork, and then moved the fork and knife closer to me. Up close, the hunk of chicken appeared to be about the size of a computer monitor. I'd have to pull pieces off with my hands, there wasn't any alternative. Sarah brought the knife over on top of the hunk, and pressed down gently. The huge, sharp blade had a thin sheen of oil along its edge, and as it moved down the fork there was a loud scraping noise. I guessed that it was completely imperceptible to Sarah.

Sarah uncorked a bottle of wine taller than most skyscrapers at one end of the table. She poured out a cup for herself. I wondered how I would ever be able to drink. I was feeling incredibly thirsty, as it had been quite an exhausting day and I hadn't had any fluids. But the only foreseeable way I could drink would be to swim in a cup and gulp down as much as I could.

Sarah found a better alternative. She dipped her pinky in the wine, and delicately placed a massive drop right next to the meat. "I made sure to wash my hands," she offered. "This was kind of the only way I could think of doing it."

I tried not to make a mess of myself, but it's hard when you're not sitting at a table, have no utensils and have to lap your wine off your plate. The surface tension made it so I actually had to bite into the wine, as it had what seemed like a skin over it. It was certainly an odd sensation. Still, the food brought some strength back into me. It was only as I began to recover that I realized how exhausted I was, in every possible way.

Remembering my manners, I yelled out as loud as I could, "It's very good food!"

Sarah furrowed her brow for a second, then got the gist of what I said, smiled and nodded. "Thanks. I hope you're not having too much trouble eating it."

"Well, it took some getting used to, but I'm managing quite well." I replied.

As dinner went on, I lost the wonder I had at eating immense portions of food, and started watching Sarah. She was spearing chunks of meat larger than sofas on her fork, and only some serious study made me see that proportionally they were quite small sizes. When she chewed, I got glimpses of the massacre unfolding behind her shapely pink lips, as the pearly, slick, shiny white teeth mashed the chicken into oblivion. She didn't even seem to think about it. I reflected that when I was her size, neither did I.

I started picking at my food again, but seeing Sarah chew made me lose my appetite. I suddenly had a vision of what it would be like to be within those massive jaws, and it both titillated and horrified me at once. I looked up from my thoughts to notice that Sarah was staring straight at me. Was I doing something wrong? Had she noticed I wasn't eating and taken offense? No, she had another grin on her face, although it was as subtle as possible. I began to understand that she couldn't see any details of my body language unless she was quite close. Clearly, she was simply staring at what she thought she could see, just as someone can stare at an insect and fill in imaginary details.

Soon enough, Sarah finished up as well, unceremoniously lifting my tiny platter up into the air and flicking it into a garbage bin. She washed off her own plate as well, then sat back down at the table.

We then had one of the best talks I've ever had in my life. I don't even remember any specifics, just that the conversation moved fluidly, and I felt like I could talk about anything I wished. We let out some of our most personal stories, and I began to feel comfortable even around this immense, gorgeous giantess, who although she was gentle as could be was still intimidating. Even though I'm pretty sure she missed some of what I said, it seemed like she understood everything I wanted to say.

Soon enough, the hour was late. Sarah carried me over to the bathroom and placed me on the counter. She picked up a massive pillar with masses of large quills sticking out of one end. I blinked. A toothbrush. It was still hard to get used to the difference in perception at this new size. Sarah uncapped a tube of toothpaste longer than a whale, and pressed a glob of green gel over the bristles. I imagined being stuck within those bristles, watching in horror as the mint toothpaste welled down among them, then being slowly, inexorably carried toward a gaping, wet hole lined with straight, huge white teeth that were as tall as I... I shuddered.

Scraping a little of the excess toothpaste onto my finger and brushing my teeth with that was the best I could do. At least it left a minty taste in my mouth. With that, Sarah lifted me off to the bedroom.

Sarah's room was painted a cozy robin's egg blue, and was lit softly by a small lamp on her bedside table. She gently lowered me down to the base of the lamp. Then, with a flourish, she set a massive building down beside me.

"Here's your new bedroom," she said, grinning proudly. "It isn't much for now, but we'll have to make do."

It was a tremendous matchbox cut in half. One side was fashioned so that it slid open and shut. The pasteboard was light enough that I could move it, although it felt about the same as manually opening a garage. Inside was a heaped pile of some silky clothing. "I picked out the softest bedding I could find. It'll still be a bit rough at your size, but it'll do." Sarah head was just a few of her inches behind mine, and as she spoke a breeze smelling strongly of mint tugged at my hair.

I turned. "Are you sure it'll be safe?"

She nodded. "It's right next door to me. If you have any trouble, just wake me up. I'm a light sleeper. Now, if you'd care to please enter your new home?"

I disliked her calling it a "home". It was a place to stay, impermanent, nothing more. I entered, and she easily closed the lid behind me. There was enough light seeping through the cracks that I could see. A few minutes later, she opened it, and my eyes went wide. I thought her dress was amazing. Now she was wearing nothing more than a bikini-style outfit, made of red satin. I could see miles of smooth, soft flesh rippling and moving before me. I fell to my knees. I'm surprised I didn't faint.

"Sorry to shut the door on you. Even though I'm sure you're a gentleman I couldn't take any chances." She smiled crookedly, a glint in her eye. "Now, it's time to sleep. I'm sure you're dead tired, and I'm ready to get some shut-eye." She slowly closed the lid, affording me one last look at my heart's desire.

I settled down on the fabric. She was right, it did feel pretty coarse because of my small size. The light above me flicked off, and I was in complete darkness. My heart began pounding, and a strange animal panic gripped me. A strange place, different sleeping area. In a world that was alien to me. Then, sounding far away and yet quite near, I heard "Good night, Eric."

I fell asleep quiet and content.

Chapter 3


I sat straight up, sweating. Pitch black surrounding me, yet a sensation of claustrophobia. What was going on?

It rushed back to me quickly. Going through the portal, the realization that I was so small as to be insignificant, climbing Sarah, the impossible mathematics, dinner... falling in love. I sighed and fell back onto my makeshift bed. A truly strange place. It was no wonder I couldn't rest.

Several minutes soon passed, yet I couldn't fall back to sleep. It obviously wasn't morning yet, and the end of the day had left me exhausted. So why couldn't I fall back into dreamland? Then I dimly remembered hearing a strange noise upon waking...

There it was, distant and yet uncomfortably close: a rattling, high pitched noise that sounded almost electronic. It was also unmistakably threatening. I froze, not knowing what to do. Something was outside the matchstick box. I pressed myself deep into the material, praying that whatever it was, it couldn't open the door Sarah had made for me. I didn't dare to look outside.

The strange rattle got closer and closer, and I became progressively more frightened. The adrenaline caused Sess to spread rapidly over my skin, giving me comfort knowing that if I was forced to, I could stand and fight.

The chirping noise was right on top of me. I heard a loud series of thuds as four legs slammed onto my roof. It was on the ceiling. I stood up, crouched and got into a fighting stance, looking towards the door. There was no way to wake Sarah without getting out of the box, and I wasn't quite desperate enough to do that.

Then, with a tremendous, fearsome tearing sound, I watched as part of my roof was ripped clean away. A gigantic green pincer descended from the ceiling, and began snapping about, followed by a huge head with segmented eyes, covered with stiff bristles. It rattled once more, a sound now so high pitched that it hurt my ears. The two pincers began moving towards me, snapping powerfully.

I was about to be killed by a praying mantis.

I backed up quickly as one of the pincers lunged towards me. With each snap, I took a step backwards. Suddenly, I couldn't go any further. My back was against the cardboard. I closed my eyes as the pincer lunged for me, knowing that this was the end.

But the end didn't come. The pincer closed two inches from my face, and couldn't move any farther. The mantis hadn't made himself a large enough hole. He was stuck. The mantis began to attempt to dislodge himself, and I quickly scuttled out of his range. With Sess's help, I could probably jump up out of the hole the mantis had made. The trick was when to do it.

The mantis had extricated himself, and was busy making another hole at the other end of the box. I took the opportunity to leap for the hole, barely making a hand hold. I clambered out into a strange world eerily lit by blue alarm clock light, and got a sense of vertigo at just how high I was. There were more important things at hand however, so I quickly got control of myself and turned to face the mantis, which was now halfway through its new hole. Taking advantage of this, I took a polycarbon-covered foot and jammed down on the insect's rear, driving it further into the hole. My foot practically bounced off the exoskeleton, and I was suddenly quite glad I had decided against directly fighting the beast.

My blows drove the mantis completely into the matchbox, and the four inch long insect didn't fit too well in the three inch box. It made noises that sounded quite like an insectile howl of rage, and nearly blew out my ear drums. Suddenly, I felt a trembling beneath my feet, and the roof began to move beneath me.

I leapt blindly into nothingness, and managed to see out of the corner of my eye the roof of my temporary home being shredded into pieces as the mantis tore through it. I had enough training to roll out of my jump even after I landed on my knees. I turned in time to see the gigantic hand coming down on the mantis, crushing it dead, the noises of crunching and cracking utterly nauseating.

Sarah looked pleased with herself, but her face immediately shifted into a look of worry. "Eric!" She whispered urgently. "Where are you? Are you okay?" She bent down until she was just a few of her inches away.

I jumped and raised my arms, yelling joyously to my savior. She saw me, and her frown vanished. "Thank goodness. I was worried I hurt you," she explained. Her face filled my vision. Her eyes were half closed from sleep, and her hair was tousled. She was still the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

"You were amazing!" was my reply. I was completely astonished. Until now I couldn't see the raw power Sarah had in the most trivial of her movements. Her crushing of my deadly enemy brought it quickly into focus. "You saved my life." I finished more seriously.

All of a sudden I was yanked roughly off the ground and was sent whipping through the air. I got a dim sensation of gentle pressure on all sides. Sess activated, and my reaction time increased, allowing me to see where I was whisked off to.

My destination was a pair of huge pink lips. I collided, and they swelled outward as Sarah puckered. For a moment that lasted a pleasurable eternity, my world was full of soft and wet sensations, like nothing I had ever felt before. If a demonstration of Sarah's might was awesome, this was beyond belief. I simply threw my whole body into the kiss, and reveled in it. This was what I had been secretly longing for ever since I arrived.

Sarah drew me away from her lips, and immediately began to blush. "I'm so sorry," she said, her tone ashamed. "I kinda got... out of control." She closed her lips tightly.

I stared up at her from the palm of her hand, speechless. How could I explain how I felt? I drew a complete blank, still in shock from the incredible series of events that had just rapidly occurred before me. Considering that it was also two in the morning, I'm glad I didn't attempt a coherent sentence. Emotions were welling up in me, my stomach was doing flip-flops and my head felt like it was filled with helium.

Sarah finished the conversation for me. "We should probably try and get some rest," she said hesitantly. "We'll need our sleep for tomorrow." She began to get back into bed.

"Wait!" I yelled out, surprising even myself. The sad fact is, I was scared stiff of getting back in the now ruined matchbox. I had just gotten more than enough evidence of the dangers of sleeping inside of it. "I... I can't sleep in there."

She nodded sympathetically. "I understand completely. I wouldn't feel too secure in there either." She sighed. "Problem is, I don't know where else you can sleep."

I looked around. She had a point. There wasn't anywhere truly safe for me in the entire house. I shook a little, faced once more with the shocking danger and loneliness that filled this world. "You're right," I said lamely. "I don't know what to do."

Sarah looked around her. "You know... if it would help... you could sleep in the bed."

My eyes lit up. But I was wary, as well. "What if you rolled over?" I asked.

She bit her lip. "It's the biggest danger. But not even bugs are dumb enough to land near a sleeping person. So at least you'll be safe from other kinds of harm."

I weighed the choices. Sleep in the matchbox, sleep in Sarah's bed. Each one seemed to be equally deadly. However, Sarah's soft, warm bed was a sharp contrast to the cold, rough matchbox. And if I had the choice of being eaten by an insect or crushed by my heart's desire, it would be no choice at all. "I'd rather sleep next to you," I called up.

She smiled slightly, but her eyes gave her happiness away. She carefully cupped her hands about me, plunging me into darkness. I peered through the cracks in her enormous fingers, and saw indistinct movement below. The sensation of a tremendous drop. Then, slowly, the hands opened, and I was on soft, squishy ground. Fabric beneath my feet. Sarah's pillow. Walking across it was a strange sensation, not unlike walking in sand, but much more treacherous. I waded my way over to a spot well outside the indent her head had made. Sarah sat in front of me, a panorama of gorgeousness from behind. Slowly, she began to lower her head down onto the pillow, with utmost care and caution. It was like watching a skyscraper going horizontal, or an immense spacecraft being lowered into position.

Her head hit the pillow as softly as she could make it, resulting in only a minor earthquake as opposed to a life-threatening one. She was so close, I could see every minute muscle at work in her face as she once again said "Good night."

I couldn't fall asleep after the physical and emotional roller coaster I had just been on. So I sat awake and stared as Sarah's chest rose and fell with each enormous breath. I loved her, there was no doubt about it. But did she truly love me? It was a kiss, but it was situated in a moment where anything could happen, where strange, unpredictable and unwanted reactions could occur. She didn't necessarily share my feelings.

How could she? How could she fall in love with a man she barely knew who was practically invisible to her? A man who was fragile, constantly needing assistance and rescuing. I was the total opposite of the perfect boyfriend.

But then again, how could I fall in love with a woman I barely knew who was hundreds of times my size? There was certainly the tiniest of chances... Suddenly, it didn't matter whether she loved me or not. All that mattered was that I loved her.

I carefully crossed the short distance to her cheek. And just as she had given me a goodnight kiss, I did the same, pressing my entire face into the smooth wall of flesh before me. I felt movement and stepped back, not wanting to wake her. She let out a soft moan. Had she felt my small show of affection? I sat back down, bemused.

In short order, I lay down once more, and let exhaustion take me. To my knowledge, Sarah remained perfectly still the whole night through.


When she woke up, however, was a different story. The alarm clock blared, sounding strange, elongated and very, very loud. Then suddenly, the ground beneath me began to slant downwards. I found myself attempting to walk when I was clearly supposed to be falling. What was happening?

Sarah was rolling over. Her arm was outstretched, reaching for the alarm clock, and as she rolled, semi-conscious, to turn it off, she shifted her weight and made a huge depression in the pillow. This caused me to begin to roll. And I was rolling straight towards her chest.

I fell into warm, soft darkness, a hint of light allowing me to see giant walls of flesh on all sides. Beneath me, from what my bare feet could tell, was some kind of fabric pulled taut. The fact hit me like a brick. I didn't even need to turn around and prove it, but I decided to anyway.

In front, of me, reaching out for what seemed like miles, were two huge, round breasts. I had just fallen into the hollow between them. I was standing on Sarah's bra.

This situation was embarrassing and inconvenient, but didn't seem life-threatening. Then the world tilted again, and I was struggling to maintain a grip on the satin strip beneath me. The light above me was gone. All I could see was darkness, all I could was hear the tremendous beating of Sarah's heart, all I could feel was intense warmth around me. In a bid for more sleep, Sarah had rolled over. I pounded as hard as I could against the walls around me, but it was no use. I was trapped.

I began to hyperventilate. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm quite claustrophobic, and Sarah's boobs were pressed in fairly tightly due to the weight of her body on top of them. I took some deep breaths, tried to calm down. It could have been worse. If she had been flat-chested, I might have been crushed. Besides, she'd have to wake up eventually.

I had a more pressing issue, namely oxygen. It was running out fast in this small space. I'd need to get out soon. But how? There was no way out, and no hope. The best I could do was wait.

After an eternity, the world was in motion again, and I could see once more. Sarah got out of bed, then leaned over to straighten the sheets. This was my chance for escape. I shut my eyes tight and released my grip, plummeting down to the mattress below. I was free. Now all I had to do was get Sarah's attention.

Luckily, Sarah chose this moment to remember that I had been in her bed that night. She gasped, a look of despair upon her face, then began looking frantically about the bed. A few minutes later she calmed down, and began looking carefully. I ran towards her, shouting and waving my arms. She finally caught sight of me, and lifted me up to her level with a sigh of relief.

"There has to be an easier way..." I panted.

She giggled, then repressed it, knowing that her laughter was fairly loud. I, for my part, had gotten somewhat used to hearing deafening noises. "I'll work on it," she said with a wink. She then instructed me to go under the covers while she dressed. Not wanting to look like a perv, I complied. Dressed once more in office attire and a lab coat, she took me down to the laboratory.

Halfway through the day I could work on the mathematics no longer. I didn't have the slightest clue or trail as to where the problem was. Sarah was hard at work. At least she seemed to be making some progress.

I walked over to her, and she somehow noticed that I was there. She looked over at me and smiled. "Good timing. I was just about to go get you. I think I just solved one of our problems." She reached over to the other side of the desk, then placed something into her ear. Then she dropped a small bundle of cords and wires next to me. "Those will transmit radio signals that I'll be hearing through the earpiece I just put on. That way I'll always be able to hear you!"

We tested it a few times, and it seemed to work perfectly. Furthermore, Sarah had a small mic of her own wired up, and after a little work we came to realize that the best way she could transmit to me was to talk so softly that she would be inaudible by anyone else. Luckily, the mic automatically cut out whenever the volume was too loud.

I was delighted, but I soon realized something more troubling. "Sarah, have you been working on this all morning?" I queried.

She looked puzzled. "Well, yes. It took a little work to get it right."

I became angry. "What about the machine! It's more important that I get back home than make life my here easier." She looked hurt, and I immediately became apologetic. "Listen, I'm sorry. But I really need to get back to my home world. It's where I belong."

I could see enormous drops of water welling in her eyes. "I know that if you leave, you'll never come back. That's why I've been trying to stall."

"Sarah, I've really... enjoyed my time here." As I said it, I suddenly knew it to be true. "I swear that when I get back home I'll come back and visit periodically. But to get back home, I need the machine to work."

She nodded, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get all emotional. I'm just a little out of sorts right now."

"Don't worry about it. You've been really calm for most of this, I'm surprised you didn't freak out right from the start. I know I would have."

The phone at the other end of the room rang, breaking into the conversation. "Hold on," said Sarah. "I'll get it."

She picked up the phone, and since I didn't want to overhear anything that wasn't my business, I turned away and zoned out. Soon Sarah came back over to the desk. "My friend just invited me out to lunch."

"Ummm... I guess that's okay. I can manage here."

"Don't be silly," Sarah scoffed. "You couldn't make it on your own here. It'd be far too dangerous. You'll have to come with me." With that, she took her purse, picked me up, and dropped me ever-so-delicately into it. She zipped up everything but a small hole to let in some air and light. "Be careful in there," she said, before swinging the purse over her shoulder and beginning to walk.

The motion was sickening, somewhat like being on a ship in the middle of a tossing storm. I struggled to keep my footing. I also had to avoid the contents of the purse as they were shuffled around. I almost was caught under a forty-foot tall tube of lipstick, but dodged just in time.

Meanwhile, every part of me was tense, nervous and excited. For the first time I would be leaving the house. I'd soon be seeing the outside of this strange, enormous world.

Chapter 6



Before me were two metal discs, each about a foot in diameter, three inches deep. They were connected by a bright blue crackle of electricity. They were also floating about five inches off the ground.

I took a deep breath and held it. If this worked, it could make a world of difference in both our lives. If it didn't, I could be killed. But it was now or never, and there was no real choice at all.

So I carefully placed one foot on one of the large metal discs, pushing down until the blue circle lit up, and I knew I was locked in. Then I put the other foot down on the other disk, wobbling a bit, but managing to get myself locked in there too.

I slid my foot to the left, and felt myself begin to rise. Looking down, I saw the ground falling away beneath me. Yes. Yes, it was working...

I could see Sarah peering down at me with intense interest, her warm brown eyes glowing with joy. She had her hand on the table below me, making sure that if things went wrong, she could catch me. It reassured me somewhat. I concentrated on moving my feet correctly.

I leaned to one side, shifting my body weight, and felt myself slowly begin to turn. I breathed out a little. So far, levitation and turning worked. Now was the risky part.

Slowly, I leaned forward until most of my body weight was centered in front of me. And as I leaned, the hoverboard accelerated.

Soon, I was flying around the room at breathless speeds. There was nothing to hold on to, nothing to protect me. Nothing to prevent my sheer enjoyment of flying.

I zoomed around the lab, narrowly dodging beakers, equipment, spare parts. I skirted the wall, just barely avoiding crashing into it, then whirled back into the center of the room, where I proceeded to do an assortment of figure eights, flips and spins.

Soon enough, all the excitement was making my head hurt. I decelerated, coming to a stop back in front of Sarah. She was grinning widely, and looking quite amused.

"So, how's it working?"

"Seems to be fine. Everything's checking out. If we build a model of this your size, it should satisfy the military."

"There's one thing bothering me, though... If gravity and electromagnetism in this world are so different, how are you able to survive?"

I shook my head. "They're not THAT different. I have a tendency to exaggerate when I'm excited. They're different by a miniscule proportion, but just enough to make this work."

"Okay," Sarah nodded. "I was worried you were going to start floating around or something." Obviously joking. I chuckled.

Suddenly, my foot slipped, accidentally killing the engine. I tumbled head over heels, falling down several stories...

Directly into the soft warmth of Sarah's palm. "I think I might need a little time to get used to the controls," I said weakly. Sarah stifled a laugh.

She then brought me close to her face, and once again I was struck by just how large she was. A woman of landscape proportions. "You know, I'm really grateful for this." Her breath washed over me. "You did such a good job, Eric. I think you deserve a reward."

My world tilted on its axis as she got out of her chair. And suddenly we were moving up the stairs. I fumbled at the hoverboard, got it to detach, and snapped it into its traveling position. Then I rolled over onto my stomach. Now I could see better where we were going.

Sarah moved down the hall, to the last door, and went into her bedroom. She set me down on the bed. "I think we need to resume where we left off," she said with a look of pure lust in her eyes. Part of me was slightly scared of that look. Just how far did she want to go? But the rest of me was thinking, I hope we go all the way.

There was little foreplay this time, Sarah was getting right to business. She threw off her jacket and shirt, and quickly unzipped. Soon she was down to her bra and underwear. She then took her hand and pushed me to the foot of the bed. It was like being gently slammed into by a very soft wall.

She lay down on the bed, and I was looking directly at two massive bare feet, smooth soles rising up to five huge yet delicate pink toes. The feet were spread about five of her inches apart, ten feet for me. I heard Sarah's voice booming in the distance, although I couldn't see her face. "Come to me. But take your time along the way."

It seemed I was the one in charge of foreplay today.

I walked up to one of the office building sized feet and tentatively put out a hand. It was warm and soft to the touch. The smell of sweat hung in the air, but it somehow wasn't unpleasant. I ran my hand down the side of the sole.

There was a monstrous giggle from far away, and the foot began to slide rapidly downwards, heading straight towards me. I was too shocked to move, and could only watch in horror as the immense sole came closer.

It stopped about a foot from my face. I exhaled, and probably would have lost it completely were it not for the fact that this was Sarah, love of my life and the woman I was supposed to be pleasuring. I had a duty to do. From afar, I heard her say, "Quit it! That tickles." I think, however, that she enjoyed it.

I made my way towards her womanhood with considerably greater caution. Occasionally I would wander over to one of the massive, creamy white walls on either side of me, and admire the flex of muscle beneath it, the light tracery of veins and arteries, it, so unimaginably perfect in its own way. I am a habitual atheist, but at that moment I could believe in a higher power.

Soon I was getting close. The warmth around me was increasing greatly, and I could see fairly close now a field of curly brown hair, and a yawning pink mouth. This was it. It was time to perform.

Truthfully, I was anxious. Ever since that first night I spent with Sarah, I had fleeting thoughts of what it would be like to make love to her. And with those thoughts came doubt. I was less than an inch tall, what could I do for a woman of normal size?

And the answer came to me. I would do what I could.

I took a brief scan of my surroundings. The hair was close enough now to touch it, and there was a none-too-unpleasant smell saturating the area. And in front of me were two tremendous lips that were three times my size. What was to her a small amount of fluid dribbled out. I took a deep breath.

Then I put both my hands on one of her labia, and ran them all the way down.

Her legs trembled around me, causing minor seismic disturbances. I paid them no heed. I was utterly absorbed in my task. I stuck out my tongue and began to lick the smooth, slick flesh. It tasted somewhat salty and slightly sweet. While it was only mildly arousing for me, I could tell that Sarah got quite a kick out of it. She moved slightly, and her labia seemed to pulse a little. She was getting turned on.

I decided that this was quite enough foreplay, and it was time to get on with it. Now or never. I put one hand on each of her labia, and pushed. Sarah let out a small moan of excitement, but I, unfortunately, wasn't getting anywhere. The lips refused to move. Then, suddenly they parted, and I could see into the tremendous, cavernous depths beyond. I looked up and saw two tremendous fingers. Sarah had to help me. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks. No time for shame. The task, focus on the task at hand.

I ventured into her, and was faced with immediate sensory assault. There was tremendous heat, moisture everywhere. Behind me, Sarah removed her fingers, and I was in complete darkness, the sound of my own heartbeat mingling with the muffled sounds around me, and somewhere the sound of the ocean.

I panicked, rushing towards the exits, and slipped on the slick interior surface. Suddenly I felt myself being pushed upwards with tumultuous motion. Sarah was automatically contracting, responding to what was in her. Around me, muscles expanded and retreated in a strange hectic rhythm called love. I got used to the bounce and sway, and actually began to enjoy myself, throwing myself into the fray.

At some point I understood that there was a lot of liquid sloshing around me, and I realized that she was probably cumming. I was covered with wet, sticky moisture, and unable to tell whether I had released or not. All I felt was pure, unadulterated ecstasy, the kind you can't get from anything but real physical passion.

It could have taken minutes, hours or even days for it to finish, and I wouldn't have known. At some point, everything just became a pleasurable haze. I only know that at some point I found myself lying on soft, smooth fabric, utterly exhausted, sticky and probably smelling heavily of Sarah. I was breathing very heavily, and then I realized that Sarah was breathing heavily as well, in perfect rhythm with me. It felt as if we were in perfect synchronicity. It felt as if all the world was beating and breathing in time with us.

From somewhere far away and above, I heard a woman say, "Did you like it as much as I did?"

From there I drifted from semi-consciousness into no consciousness at all. I hadn't slept as well in years.


There was a far-off blaring sound. Alarm clock, time to get up. I sat up blearily, the blood pounding in my head. When I looked to my right and saw the massive bulging wall of silk next to me, I almost wasn't shocked. Sarah rolled away from me, turning off the alarm clock. She began to get out of bed, and I felt the ground sliding away beneath me. I remembered the hoverboard, snapped it out and stepped on, gliding gently upwards so Sarah could moved unhindered. I circled around the room a few times, experimenting with my new freedom of motion while Sarah went into the bathroom to wash up. It was really quite wonderful to finally get a normal perspective on Sarah's room. It was no longer an intimidating space of epic proportions, just an ordinary bedroom.

I swooped my way through the door into the bathroom. Sarah was in the shower, steam clouding the mirror. I was curious, but realized that going into a shower may not be the smartest thing to do when riding an electrically powered vehicle. So I hovered outside the glass door, contenting myself with the blurry view I had through the fogged-over glass.

Eventually, I heard the faucet squeak shut, the last of the water trickle into the bottom of the tub. The glass door in front of me slid open, and I was face to face with my lover. I zoomed upwards as she stepped out, so she could go over to the sink and brush her teeth. I hovered around near her head while she scrubbed.

Suddenly, I felt a sickening drop. Had I accidentally turned off the engine again? I slid my foot back and forth to no avail. I also came to the sudden realization that this was an exceedingly inconvenient time to discover a flaw in my invention.

I landed awkwardly in the midst of several hundred soft, wet fiber strands, which partially broke my fall. Unfortunately, I fell through them and down onto her scalp. I got to my feet and looked up at the canopy of hair above me. A tremendous drop of water struck me in the face, causing me to fall over and begin to slide. I grasped vainly at the strands of hair flowing past me.

Then, with utter horror, I saw the tremendous black spear moving through those strands. Sarah was in the midst of combing her hair. I fell further through the tangled mass, then saw the black plastic getting very close. Knowing that this might well be my last chance at survival, I lunged out for the comb, and just barely managed to hang onto it.

As Sarah moved it back and forth, I was whipped by the wet hair, thrown backwards and forwards, and put in genuinely unpleasant circumstances. Mercifully, she soon brought the comb around, and as it passed in front of her face, I made enough motion that she noticed me.

Sarah brought the comb down close to her palm, then shook it until I fell off. "Now what were you doing on that?" Sarah asked with mock suspicion.

"Oh... nothing." I replied ineptly.

"Seems like you might have been watching me in the shower, you little perv..." she said with devious glee as she brought her other hand close to the one I was held in.

"Now, Sarah," I said. " Be reasonable."

She took one of her fingers and poked at me gently. "That's your punishment." Then she moved her other hand away, and her voice became low and serious. "I had a really great time last night."

"Yeah, me too." I said sincerely.


We went downstairs and had a late breakfast at two in the afternoon, Sarah having cereal and I preferring to stick with plain toast. I found the simplest foods were the easiest to eat in this world. I could easily tear off chunks, so Sarah didn't have to assist. In some strange way, even though I knew she was just helping, it was embarrassing to have her cut my food up for me. It made me feel like a child.

I heard a noise that made my heart stop: the doorbell rang. "Quick," Sarah whispered. "Behind the cereal bowl!" I scuttled over to my designated hiding place as Sarah rushed to the door.

"Hey," I heard her greet the visitor. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Well, just thought I'd drop by, see how my best girlfriend was doing." I remembered the voice, it belonged to Tamyra, the black woman. Their footsteps were coming closer; she was coming to the table!

"Well, I was just in the middle of breakfast..."

"Kinda late, huh? And were you expecting me? I see that this toast isn't at your spot." I saw a tremendous brown hand reach over and grasp one of the pieces of my breakfast. For some reason, when she lifted it away my stomach dropped into my feet.

"Well," said Sarah, clearly trying to distract Tamyra from the toast. "Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?"

Tamyra paused for a moment, and I could see her torso turn towards Sarah. "Girl, you seem kinda antsy..." There was the flash of recognition. I didn't even have to see her face to know. "Is there somebody else here?"

"No, no, of course not." Sarah disavowed just a bit too violently. Methinks she doth protest too much...

Then all of a sudden there was a tremendous cream-and-coffee hand moving directly towards me, and the cereal bowl moved away. I looked up into Tamyra's gigantic dark eyes, which were opened very wide. She put a hand to her mouth in order to stifle a gasp.

"Oh my God..."

Chapter Eight


It was zero hour, do or die, now or never. I took a deep breath and held it.

In front of me, the main lights powered on, the initiators began to glow. So far so good. I nodded to Sarah, and she flipped the next set of switches.

Purple light, the flux field warming up. It was working exactly the same way as my gate at home. I simply hoped there would not be the same reaction.

Sarah triggered the laser, and the gate continued to go through its different phases, preparing for the teleport. I knew the next few moments would decide my destiny. I began to feel an irrational, animal panic welling deep inside me, compounding the anxiety that had already taken me during the past few hours. This was it.

Final stages. I bit my lip, and looked at Sarah. In her eyes, I saw everything I needed to. Warmth, compassion, empathy. I sighed. She was my perfect woman. And soon I could be leaving her behind. But it wouldn't be permanent, I reminded myself. Nothing is permanent.

Sarah asked in a voice that was dead center, not weak or strong, not sad or happy, but carefully and precisely neutral, "Shall we?"

I cleared my throat. "Yeah. Let's do it."

Sarah flipped the final switch. The laser went to full power, and the gate opened. There was a blinding flash, then darkness.


My vision recovered slowly. Not even UV 400 lab goggles do much when you're dealing with the equivalent of thousands of 40 watt bulbs. There was still the after-image of the transportation hovering in front of my vision.

I nervously ran a hand through my hair. The teleporter had worked. Now the real test came.

I jumped back on my hoverboard, and glided over to Sarah. "So, the mouse went through. When's he due to come back?"

"We never measured the time it took for teleport. It could be anywhere from minutes to days to months for him to transport and return." She sat down at a desk and motioned at the complicated display in front of it. "Luckily, we have a tracking device attached that will monitor his progress, as well as his current size. The teleport should drop him in that area you specified."

"Well, the idea was that if a giant mouse landed on Earth, he wouldn't be able to do much harm in the South Pole."

An uneasy moment passed. The data this teleport returned would, to a large extent, determine my future. If the rat shrunk from the teleport, it could mean a fundamental flaw in the invention. It could also mean that I would never be able to return home again. If the rat returned normal size, it would completely change several of the theories I had about the world I was in, and would open up some frightening possibilities.

"What's your world like?" Sarah asked suddenly.

I was taken aback. I began slowly, stammering slightly as I get the tendency to when I'm put on the spot. "Well, it's a lot like here, I guess... I mean, not much different..."

She leaned in closer, causing me to back up a second out of instinct. When a building begins to lean towards you, you back away no matter how attractive it is. "Then, tell me what it's like where you live."

I paused, considering how to tell her about my home life. It was complicated, at best. "I don't exactly live normally," I started, then began to flow more smoothly. "In fact, I don't really live in public. I can't afford to."

Sarah looked as if she was about to say something, but held herself back and let me continue.

"Have I told you that I used to work for the government in my world?" I asked. She nodded. "Well, it ended... badly. I wound up hurt pretty bad and running for my life. The government in my world isn't exactly trustworthy.

"They mobilized all their resources towards looking for me. I was the best they had, and I knew far too much to be allowed to live. I had worked on or around every major military innovation of the past ten years.

"They made my death their top priority. But I managed to lay low, using this invention I had which allowed me to completely change my facial structure. It wasn't permanent, but it got me through. I sold a few of my less revolutionary inventions on the black market, and made enough money to permanently retire.

"I made a home for myself in the middle of the country, where people don't ask questions and you have plenty of room. I still kept most of my facilities underground. I'm completely self-sufficient, so I pretty much just keep to myself, and invent.

"And that's pretty much the short version of my life for the past fifteen years."

My mouth was dry and my throat was hoarse, but I felt somehow better. I had never really been able to vent my feelings and frustrations about what had happened to me, never had anyone to talk about it with. I looked up into her warm, calm brown eyes, each easily the width of my armspan. I could see my reflection in them. But more importantly I could see a deep sadness and empathy. It almost made my heart break in some strange way. She didn't have to say a word.

Distantly, the doorbell rang. Sarah got up, and I glided after her.

Sarah opened the door to reveal Vanessa in the doorway. I was suddenly very conscious of the fact that I was hovering in plain sight. I had expected it to be Tamyra. Where could I go? I was caught, right in the open. Nearest cover was the door. There was no choice involved, only instinct. I bolted.

There was a tremendous pale hand moving towards me, slowly, ever so slowly. I was very far away then, watching from a distance. Was this it, then? I wondered idly. Was this the end? And did it matter so much if it was? I had experienced so many new things in the past few days, I felt like I'd lived more than enough for one life. If this was the end, I was prepared for it.

Two fingers, each the size of a Greyhound, slammed into the wall next to me. She hadn't killed me. Only sheer, lucky animal instinct gave me the sense to turn off my hoverboard. I plummeted hundreds of feet, the world around me a frightening blur, then triggered the hover just a few feet off the ground.

I realized that the noise the hoverboard made could be enough to make the giant woman notice me. Thus I glided over to Sarah's tremendous foot and killed the engine.

I was vulnerable, moreso than I had been in some time. I looked at the gigantic foot next to me, delicate and smooth. Sarah was walking around barefoot. That was a stroke of luck for me, considering the fact that she would feel it if she began to step on me. It also gave me a nice side view. I hadn't found feet especially erotic in my own world, but at this size things were different. She had some pretty large ones, although it may have just been my perspective. Her toes appeared to be each twice my length, and the big toe was as wide as I was long.

Her foot began to lean backwards, and I wound up staring at her lovely sole instead of running away like someone intelligent. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised when it came back down on the floor, once, twice, three times as she tapped her foot. The shockwaves were powerful to say the least, and I found myself bouncing on the floor. Sess' shock absorbance was the only thing that kept me from getting seriously bruised.

I quickly sat up and moved a good distance away from Sarah's foot, although I continued to admire it a bit longer from afar. Then I turned my attention to the conversation booming over my head.

"I did manage to put something together, it's still just a prototype but..."

Two large leather boots with fifteen feet of spiky heel came directly towards me. I scrambled for cover as Vanessa brushed past Sarah and down to the lab. Sarah quickly bent down, causing me to nearly fall back in surprise as her legs bent forward and her chest came forward in one fluid movement. It was somehow both arousing and threatening.

She scanned the ground for me, and put out her hands. "Eric, are you here?"

I toggled my mic. "Yeah, I'm right next to your left hand." She looked over and spotted me.

"Okay, quick, get into my hand." She turned it over so the palm was facing me.

I did as she said, leaping into the softness of her palm. Her fingers cupped around me, huge white walls rising up surrounding me. There was a rising sensation, then everything began to tilt. I moved desperately trying to find some purchase on her palm as it quickly went vertical. It was closing up against something, blocking out the light.

"Let go," I heard and felt her say softly. I couldn't, every instinct was screaming against it. Everything was growing dark.

"Trust me." she said slowly. "Trust me and let go." I gritted my teeth. Yes, I had to trust her, she wasn't going to hurt me, she was just doing what was best. I slowly loosened my grip, and fell.

I was in soft, warm darkness, and there was the dulled thunder of a heartbeat. There was motion, and quite a lot, but I was held in place by two walls. Beneath me was some sort of tensile surface. And then it occurred to me that I'd been in this situation before.

I hurriedly toggled my mic. "You put me in your bra?!"

"Hey, it was the only place I could think of," she muttered under her breath.

"No, I mean, I'm not complaining, I mean, it's just kind of..."

"Amazing?" she completed.

"Yeah."

She was moving down the stairs, I could tell from the padding sounds as her bare feet hit the steps, and the motion of descent. She moved so fluidly, I realized that if this was a normal woman I would probably be jarred about quite a bit more.

She came down the steps, and stopped dead. I climbed up the inside of her shirt to get a better view.

Vanessa was looking at something on a counter, looking very intently at it. I squinted to see what she was looking at. It was clearly the drafting paper we used for blueprints. It was clearly a complex diagram, in the shape of a circle...

The plans for the portal. Tamyra must have left them out when she was finished looking at them. My heart sank within me.

"This is interesting." Vanessa spoke slowly, as if tasting her words, as she turned towards Sarah. "I don't know much about mechanics, but that didn't look like the plans for a 'containment field'." Menace dripped from her words. I felt Sarah's heartbeat quicken.

"Get out of my house." She said, her voice a burning but tightly controlled fury.

"What about your job?" the military woman countered, coming so close that I had no alternative but to stare at her neck, in which a vein throbbed.

"I quit," Sarah sounded disgusted. "I don't ever want to see you again. Now get out!" she said forcefully.

"Oh, you'll see me again, bitch," Vanessa said coolly. "This is far from over."

She took her time striding up the stairs and out of the house.

Sarah scooped me out of her bra and sat me on the counter, then turned away, biting her lip. This had to be hard for her. Personally, however, I thought that she had done the best thing she could. This wasn't any permanent solution, but she had time. I had to warn her, tell her what to do next.

"You won't be able to stay here," I said. "You'll have to move out today."

"No," she said strongly. "We can't leave yet. We have to get you home first."

"Sarah, this could take ages, and there's a more immediate need..."

"I meant what I said. We aren't leaving until this is done. I've stalled this long and I can't stall any longer. I can't put myself before you, it isn't -"

I was staring past her, no longer listening, my heart skipping every other beat. Behind her, glowing green text ran down a screen. "Sarah," I said loudly. "There's activity on the monitor."

Chapter Nine


Sarah and I both rushed over to the console. Sarah began hurriedly typing in commands, and soon sheets full of cryptic symbols were pouring out of the printer.

"What's it look like so far?" I asked anxiously.

"We don't have much yet," Sarah replied, her voice a little testy. "This is just preliminary data. It shows the mouse landed on your world, not much more. It should be on its way back now, and if the trip here was as quit as it was there, it will be back in no time."

"And the data with it?"

"Uh-huh." Sarah got up out of her chair. "So I don't have to pack up and leave just yet."

I frowned. "Sarah, you have to understand. I know these kinds of people, and they're, well, dangerous."

Sarah came closer, bending over. Even with her chin inches away from the desk, she was still looking down on me. She didn't look happy.

"I'm not about to get up and go, just because you think you 'know' these people. This is my home. It's not like I can just run away, to some place where nobody will question where I am and I can do whatever I please. I don't have that kind of freedom." Her voice sounded more and more irritable.

"I'm just trying to help," I mumbled.

She turned away. "Well, you can help yourself. You can leave. Once this test is ready, I'm sure it'll work fine, and you'll be good to go." She was so bitter. I'd never heard her like this before.

"You make it sound like I'm abandoning you."

She turned back, her eyes screaming accusations. "Well maybe you are. Maybe you're trying to." For a moment, I thought she would try to hurt me. Her huge hands were slightly raised, and I could see the tension in her arm muscles. Instead, she turned away once more, and ran her hands through her hair. "Just leave me alone, okay? I just need some time to straighten things out."

I responded by getting on my hoverboard and gliding over to a far corner of the room.

I got off the hoverboard and slumped against the wall, burying my head in my hands. I'd never seen Sarah act like that before. It didn't even frighten me so much as depress me. It really hurt to see her feeling like this. I couldn't help but blame myself for it.

After all, who had regaled her with stories of his failed life? Yes, I could see now. I'd been doing it all along, subconsciously. I'd been trying to influence her, get her away from the military. But wasn't I really just looking out for her, and her best interests? It wouldn't have ended well any other way, I told myself.

It might not even end well now. It was true, to some extent, that I was abandoning her. I had set her on this path and was now leaving her, without guidance, to fend for herself against the power of her government. She might have to face more than I did, I thought. She might have to deal with worse.

I felt a great deal of pity for her, as well as a deep sadness. I also felt sick to my soul at the way things had turned out.

Sarah was walking back over now, no longer looking angry or domineering. Instead, she just looked kind of lost, and helpless. I shook my head at the absurdity of the situation. Here was a woman seventy times my size, and I was thinking of her as helpless! But in some strange way, she was. She needed me, as much as I needed her.

"Listen," she said softly. "I'm sorry for what I said. I've just been under so much pressure these past few days, and so much has happened. There's been so much change..."

"I know," I said, and I was surprised at just how strong my voice sounded. "And it's okay. We're going to get through this together. I'm not leaving yet. I won't until you're safe."

"Well, I can't leave either," said Sarah. "I won't. It's just not something I can do."

"I understand. But I think I have something of an alternative."


The next half hour was spent making the house as secure as possible. We hurriedly set up security cameras, a possible escape route and a backup countermeasure. It wasn't sealed tight, but the house wasn't as easily penetrable as before.

We were going over our plans when there was a loud noise, indescribable in its strangeness, on the other side of the room, accompanied by a flash of light.

I quickly jumped on my board and zoomed over to the source of the noise. Sarah almost overturned a chair in her hurry. The mouse had returned to this world.

It was still the same size as before. Nothing had perceptibly changed. Sarah ran a battery of tests designed to test its basic functions. I watched carefully, all the while going over the possibilities in my head. The mouse clearly hadn't shrunk in the teleportation process, the preliminary data reports showed that. That, I supposed, was good news. Well then, why did I shrink? It wouldn't make any sense for a human to shrink and not a mouse... It was all so puzzling.

Sarah looked up from her position crouched over the mouse's cage. Because I was perched on a nearby table, I was at eye level with her. The sheer immensity of her face struck me then, as it had before. Her plush lips the size of a small patio, her comparatively small, cutely rounded nose the height of a house. I guess there are just some things you never get used to.

"All the tests came back normal," she said. "The teleport worked perfectly."

"It makes absolutely no sense," I replied frustratedly. "None at all."

"I know," she said calmly. "But there has to be some scientific reason for this. It's not like there was magic involved here."

"But what could it be? I see no reason as to why I'm so small."

Sarah suddenly looked pensive. "What if it isn't that you're so small?"

"Huh?" I tried to see where she was going with this.

"What if the matter is that I'm so big?"

I gasped, and understood. "Ahh. What if your world is simply bigger than mine?"

"Exactly."

I grinned and shook my head. "Scientifically impossible. It would never work in our universe."

"You're right," she said glumly. "There's no way it would be so accurate. Not to mention the probabilities... Two worlds, almost exactly the same except for scale? Not in our universe."

Then came my epiphany. "What if it isn't OUR universe?"

This time it was Sarah's turn to look puzzled.

"What if we don't come from the same universe at all," I continued excitedly. "What if we're not even from the same dimension?"

"Wait, wait, hold up," Sarah said, putting two fingers to her temple. "Now you're bringing in the parallel universes theory, as well as contradicting rules in quantum physics, string theory, and virtually every other scientific doctrine on the way the world works. Plus, our machine wasn't even designed for interdimensional transport."

"I know it wasn't," I snapped. I can be a bit short-tempered when I'm on a roll and a fellow scientist doesn't see what I mean. "But what if the flux field collisions interfered with the quantum structure?"

Sarah completely stopped for one second, her massive face frozen in a look of concentration, her lips pouting. "Oh my God. You might be right."

"I'm almost sure I'm right," I said. "Now start inputting these calculations..."


Over the next hour, we made one feverish advance after the other. In just one hour, we rewrote most of the laws of science, disproved several accepted theories, confirmed others, and created several completely new ones. We deserved the Nobel prize. Hell, we deserved three.

By the end of it, my theory had underwent some modifications. But the bottom line remained the same: Sarah and I came from two parallel but distinct dimensions, hers happening to be on a far larger scale than mine.

"But there's one thing I don't get," said Sarah. "How exactly do you manage to survive in my dimension if there are so many differences between the two?"

"I don't know yet," I admitted. "I'm sure there's something at work here that we just don't know about. It's something we'll need to look into further at some point."

"Not now, please," Sarah said, her magnificent head coming to rest on the desk before me. A large stray brown hair landed on my shoulder and I brushed it off. "My brain's totally fried."

"Hey, we don't have to work if you don't want to. I'm getting a little tired myself."

The doorbell rang.

"Ugh, why did it have to be now," Sarah grumbled. "God, people have terrible timing."

"Hold up a sec," I said urgently. "Check the monitor first."

"Oh, right." Sarah went over to the monitor and brought up the security window. Her face froze into a very strange look, part shock, part disgust, part surprise and part gladness. It was exceedingly odd, enough to make me want to see just who was at the front door, so I glided over to the monitor.

On screen I could see a man outside Sarah's door. He looked rugged, his hair clipped in a kind of jagged, rough-cut style. With his five o' clock shadow and square jaw culminating in a chin with a large cleft, he looked like the stereotypical Hollywood action star. So stereotypical that I thought I'd seen him before.

Sarah suddenly got out of her chair and began to rush for the door, her ordinary graceful movements becoming almost clumsy. Something was making her seriously perturbed. I quickly zoomed after her.

She arrived at the door. I quickly made myself hidden this time, using Sess to attach myself to the ceiling while I killed the engine. Sarah opened the door, and the man didn't bother to wait but moved directly indoors, putting Sarah in an embrace.

I clenched my teeth as hard as I could.

"Sarah, baby." His voice was somehow thick as well as deep. Its falsely sugared nature made me think of corn syrup.

"Brian," Sarah replied. In her voice was a tangled mix of strong emotions.

I suddenly knew where I had seen his face before, in the sketch on Sarah's wall which she tore down in her rage the other day.

Brian. Her ex-boyfriend, now with the woman Sarah had recently thrown out of her house. What the hell was he doing here?

Chapter Eleven


The first thing I felt was wetness underneath my fingers, slippery wetness. I brushed my hands over it, feeling just what it was I was lying on top of. Grass. Grass wet with dew. So it must be dawn.

I didn't want to open my eyes yet. Had I just had some very, very strange dream, born of some bad synth-food? Maybe I had been stargazing, like I often do, and had fallen asleep outside.

I remembered all that had happened in the past two weeks. Was that all just some exceedingly odd fantasy? No matter what had happened in her world, I wished that it was real, that she was real.

My hearing was starting to come back to me now, it felt my like my ears were popping after descending from a high altitude. And I could hear a loud, thunderous sound that had grown familiar to me over time. Sarah's heartbeat was very near to me.

I sat up, grimacing at the pain moving my bruised body exposed me to, opened my eyes and saw a few stars sprinkling a sky that was slowly brightening to dawn. I looked around, moving my head slowly in a circle. Grass below me and stretching out for miles, turning into hills. To my left, a fairly large forest, the trees just beginning to bud as spring began. To my right, a small, plain off-white house, rather shabby-looking. My home.

To my left was a gigantic bare leg, the skin soft and smooth, I knew from experience. It stretched quite a long distance downwards to land in a beautiful, if huge bare foot, and upwards it was covered by a conservative skirt. Beyond that was a simple white blouse, then the lovely face of my girlfriend, barely visible in the dawn.

I got into position to whip out my hoverboard, but suddenly remembered; it wouldn't work on my world. I'd have to wake Sarah up the hard way. So I broke into a sprint, running along, admiring the scenery, particularly the views on the left hand side. Lovely morning for a jog, I thought to myself, and almost laughed aloud.

By the time I had made it to her shoulder I was panting a little. I focused instead on the graceful swanlike curves of her neck and shoulders. Soon enough I was at her cheek, which I lightly tapped with my hand. No response. I pressed harder on her. Still nothing. I was practically slapping her by the time I realized that considering her skin was more than likely inches thick, there wasn't much hope of waking her up this way.

Instead, I toggled my mic, and said in a voice just loud enough to wake her, "Come on, sleepyhead, get up."

Sarah groaned and began to roll over. This alarmed me, which is reasonable considering it was similar to watching a sixty-story office building rolling towards you. "Sarah!" I yelled. I was suddenly very, very glad the mics still worked in my world.

"Huh?" Sarah's eyes opened a crack, then when she spotted me quickly opened all the way. She quickly sat up, a large sudden movement that caused me to involuntarily take a step back. "Oh, Eric, did we make it?"

I made a sweeping gesture with my arm. "See for yourself."

Sarah slowly craned her head around. "Wow. You know, from this far away, I'll bet those hills look about the same size to both of us."

I smiled. "Yeah. As well as being secluded, and good for my purposes, this part of the country is fairly beautiful."

She sighed. "Kinda romantic. Anyway, where's your place?"

"Ummm," I replied, "You're standing right in front of it."

"Oh," said Sarah shortly, visibly taken aback. "It's so small..."

"Rather, you're so big."

"Hmph." Sarah looked pensive. "You're right. Now I'm the one who's different, you're the one that's normal."

"Well, normality is a majority concept. It's defined by whichever group is the largest. So when we're in your world, you're normal and I'm not, when in mine, vice versa."

"That's pretty good, did you come up with that?"

"Nope," I grinned. "I'm paraphrasing one of my favorite authors, Richard Matheson. You should read some of his stuff some time."

"Hey, only if you can blow up the font really big." Sarah giggled.

"Well, let me show you around," I said, stepping towards the house.

"Yeah, about that..." Sarah said, sounding ill at ease. "How exactly am I going to fit?"

"Trust me, you've got nothing to worry about." I replied, stepping swiftly up to my doorstep and pressing the doorbell three times in quick succession.

A massive chasm opened in the earth next to the house, leading down into a mile-long shaft in the middle of the plains. The shaft was about a thousand feet in diameter. I was rather proud of it. "You think you can fit?" I teased.

Sarah shoved me with one large, pretty finger. "Get moving, shorty."

We both stepped onto the large platform and began our descent to my lab, the platform moving slowly but surely downwards.

"What exactly do you use this for, anyway?" Sarah asked. "Seems a little much for just one person of your size."

"Occasionally I order shipments of food or supplies, sometimes raw materials. I give them explicit instructions to place their shipments onto this lift, and then I'm able to easily transport large amounts of things."

The lift came to a stop. "That was fast," Sarah remarked.

"It's quicker than it looks," I replied.

We disembarked and I gave her the quick tour of the lab, at least the parts she could fit into. Most of the ceilings in my lab are as high as those of aircraft hangers, but Sarah still had to crouch in order to move around. It was almost ludicrous, seeing just how large she was in comparison to my home.

After about ten minutes of showing her around, Sarah groaned softly. "Um, this is really interesting," she said. "But do you think we can find a place I can sit down? All this crouching is giving me a crick in my neck."

"Sure, no problem. I think the highest ceilings in the lab are in the aviation test center. There's padded walls there too, so it should be fairly comfortable."

After a little more careful maneuvering by Sarah, which I assisted by giving hand signals in the manner of an air-traffic controller, we made it into the aviation area, full of prototypes for fighter planes I had designed. I imagined that for Sarah they'd look like highly detailed models.

Sarah carefully settled herself in one corner of the room. I couldn't keep my eyes off her. Somehow, even the way she sat down, long legs stretching and bending, was seductive. She gazed around the room, entranced by what she saw.

"God, it's all so tiny..." she said in awe. "It looks so complex, and yet so fragile. It feels like if I were to make the slightest movement all of this would come crashing down." She made a small sweeping gesture with her hand, smashing a large lighting fixture in the process. With a muttered "Ouch" she clutched at her hand, then blushed a little.

"Point taken," I said lightly. Sarah chuckled nervously. "So, to the business at hand."

"Business?" Sarah cocked an eyebrow. "Didn't we just get here?"

"Yeah, but Sarah..."

"I can't talk business right now," she said. "My head's still scattered from all the crazy stuff we just did. I mean, right now I'm in a whole different dimension..."

"I guess I understand," I said. "A lot's happened in very little time."

She smiled down on me. "Thanks, sweetie." She slowly leaned over and gave me what would be called a peck. As it was, she really just pushed me with her lips. It felt quite nice just the same.

"You know, so much happened that I'm actually feeling kind of exhausted." I admitted. Between the dull, aching pain in my ribs and the general soreness, I really just needed a chance to lie down.

"Agreed."

I suddenly remembered a major concern. "We're going to have to find somewhere you can sleep."

Sarah nodded, biting her lip. "I was kind of worried about that. You're a lot easier to take care of than I am."

"Well, I'm sure I can think of something..."


An hour of quick thinking and hasty construction later, I had rigged up what was a cross between a spring mattress and a hammock, at Sarah's scale. "Ten tons of super-tensile steel. It could hold something five times your size."

"I'm impressed," Sarah said, sounding like she meant it.

"Wait until you get in, first," I said. "If it doesn't fall in, you can be impressed."

Sarah bit her lip and nodded, then carefully positioned herself above the hammock and laid down. "I'm not falling yet!" she joked.

"Great. How's it feel?"

"Surprisingly comfortable," Sarah replied. "There's so many of these metal strings, and they're so small, that they just kind of conform to my body shape."

"Awesome. I figured it would work."

"My little genius," Sarah said, beaming down at me.

"You're only being part facetious, right?"

She grinned, then leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "God, I am so tired," she yawned, stretching. One of her feet skidded up the side of a wall, leaving a huge scuff mark. I doubted that she even noticed. "I've got to crash out."

"No problem," I said. "I'll do the same. Good night."

"See you in the morning," Sarah mumbled sleepily.

I blew a kiss to her, more for my own amusement than any real purpose, then shuffled off to my own quarters. It felt like so long since I had been in my lab. It was practically unfamiliar to me. But once I was nestled in my bed, the lights out, it felt like home again. Was it the same for Sarah? Or did she feel as isolated as I did that first night in her world? I wanted to comfort her, but worried that my efforts would be even more inadequate than hers.

She was a stranger in a strange world, just as I had been in hers. She would have to adjust, there was nothing I could do for her about that. I did think it would be quite a lot easier for her, however, considering that she had no immediate dangers facing her at her size. All I had to worry about was providing for her, which would be difficult but not impossible. If anyone could do it, it would be me.

Somewhere my thoughts drifted off, my bed felt like it began to spin, and I was asleep.


I woke up in the darkness. I'm a very light sleeper, so the smallest sound can screw up my sleep. But this sound hadn't been small.

There it was again. A muted thump in the night. I slowly got out of bed, and quietly crept out into the corridor in time to see the lift coming back to its resting place at the bottom of the shaft. I got in and pressed the button.

I stepped off at the top to see Sarah in the moonlight, her back against the side of my house. It may have looked like a small house to Sarah, but it was almost a mansion, and it was utterly dwarfed by her enormous backside. I figured I was probably the only person in the world who would find that incredibly sexy.

I walked over to her, and toggled my mic. "What are you doing up so early?" She jolted up a little, then looked around for me. "Down here, by your hand."

"Oh," she smiled, looking down at me. "Well, I kind of couldn't sleep. First night in a strange place, you know the drill."

"Hey, at least you don't have to worry about any giant insects coming to kill you." That brought a laugh. "Seriously though, we should get back inside."

"Nah, I kind of like it out here. Crisp night air. Stars in the sky. All this open space."

"How lyrical you are," I joked with only a little sarcasm. "That said, we really have to go back in."

"Why?" Sarah looked down at me pointedly.

"Well, it's a little dangerous out here," I replied, aware that my nerves were showing in my voice. "You're kind of obvious out here in the open like this. If the government were watching -"

"You're such a worrier!" Sarah broke in playfully. "Always so paranoid, never enjoying anything. Come on, sit and watch the stars with me." I brushed at the grass beneath me and began to sit down Indian-style. "No, not down there. Up here." Sarah patted the top of her chest.

She put a hand on the ground, offering me to step on. "I'm not sure about this..." I muttered.

"Come on, the view's great." How could I say no to this? Below, I was already saying a very stiff "yes". I activated Sess just in case, then I climbed onto her palm, and held on as she slowly lifted me up to her level, stopping right at her breast. I stepped out and slipped a little, a foot accidentally brushing her nipple, eliciting a small moan from her.

"Sorry."

"Don't be," she said, her voice sounding aroused. I clambered up and lay back on the smooth slope of her bust, hearing her heartbeat beneath me, the light smell of perfume surrounding me. I looked up at a sky thoroughly dusted with glimmering beads of light, the dying frequencies of far away suns shining out into the night. There was something so right about this moment.

It was shattered by the shot that rang out into the night.

This was what Sess was built for. My reflexes quickened to the point where everything appeared to be in slow motion. I saw very clearly the sniper hiding in the brush to the left of the house, as well as the two others spread around the yard in camo. Finally, I noticed the three other commandos hiding behind the house. And I saw the sniper bullet moving slowly but powerfully towards me, the wind lancing off it as the air resistance pushed it aside. I prepared to dodge the bullet, then remembered what was behind me. Would it kill Sarah? The chances were slim. Would it kill me with Sess? The chances were slimmer.

I placed my head directly in the path of the bullet, and shut my eyes tight.

I was struck backwards with a concussive blow. My hands gripped the fabric beneath me, Sess lodging in every pore of the material. "Go!" I shouted over the mic.

I did my best to hold on as Sarah lunged upwards, coming to a standing position, then leaned into motion, running away. She was an easy target, but her sheer size made her movement fast, and thus she was difficult to hit. I heard the cracks of rifle shot behind me, a burst of machine gun fire.

Sarah was moving into the forest, probably without thinking. She was running on instinct now, which was the best possible way she could. Behind us, the sounds of the shots became smaller.

Then there was a thunderous sound behind us, and Sarah stumbled, the sounds of machine gun fire very loud and near again. She kept running, but her breathing was quickly turning ragged.

I then began to notice the pain in my head. It was small at first, just a twinge in my temple, but it began to spread like wildfire, consuming my skull, tracing fiery lines across my brain. I struggled to maintain consciousness. What was happening? I tried to find my way to the source of the pain. It seemed like my left temple was where it was all coming from. But Sess had blocked the bullet, had it not?

Then, even through the blinding agony it was obvious to me. Fragmentary sniper shot, one of my first inventions for the military. The only thing that had a remote chance of piercing Sess. Slowly, I felt the silvery polycarbon withdrawing from the material of Sarah's blouse. The world seemed to be shrouded in black mist. I felt myself slipping, but was paralyzed, powerless to help myself.

As I fell, everything faded into black.

Chapter Twelve


I was surrounded by softness, at the bottom of a small depression. Beams of light were moving hurriedly about, jumping from one part of the darkness to the others. I could hear muttering whispers, snatches of tense conversation. The blinding pain in my head had been replaced by a dull roar of pain, sounding like ocean tide in the distance.

I gradually came to understand what was going on around me.

The whispered conversations were those of soldiers all around us. In the trees, surrounding us on the ground, everywhere. We were surrounded. The beams of light were the flashlights attached to their weapons, moving as they waved them around nervously, searching for an immediate threat. I hoped that the atmosphere of tension in the air came from the idea of Sarah as a threat.

I myself was in Sarah's palm, and she was staring down at me. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I will be," I answered. The throbbing in my head made it so I almost wasn't sure. What with the several varieties of drugs Sess was pumping into me, I was also feeling woozy, and my vision was slightly distorted.

"I would have taken care of all of these creeps right now, but I was worried about what would happen to you."

"I'm not sure if I should feel good or bad about that."

In the crowd of soldiers below us there was some jostling, and a man with a megaphone shouted upwards. "Ma'm, please put Eric down. We just want to talk to him."

"Should I?" Sarah asked me.

"We don't have much of a choice," I replied. "Might as well break the stalemate now."

She lowered me carefully to the ground, first giving the soldiers below an admonition. "If you kill him, there's nothing to stop me from hurting you. And I'm guessing, considering the way some of you are clustered at my feet, that I can take out at least thirty of you before you get me." I noticed some of the soldiers below quietly spread out a little more.

I got carefully off Sarah's hand, and walked into the midst of the soldiers. Two of them grabbed my arms, not as harshly as they could have. "The colonel wants to speak with you," one said solemnly.

I could see a man moving through the crowd now, the commandos before him moving aside, Moses parting the Red Sea. He came very close to me, only a foot or so, and grinned, showing large, yellowing teeth. "Well, well, if it isn't Dr. Eric Lehmann. Last time I saw you, you had a bullet in your gut and ten soldiers surrounding you. Almost similar to now, except that bullet is in your head."

"Griffin. I am amazed at your progress. You made it to Colonel, yet you still haven't learned how to shave." A couple of the soldiers chuckled. The man rubbed the graying stubble on his face and scowled.

There was a potent hatred evident in Griffin's watery blue eyes. "You're not getting away so easy this time, Lehmann. You can't do your little disappearing act this time, or you'll leave your girlfriend alone and defenseless. You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

"I wouldn't say that she's defenseless, Colonel. Regardless, I'm not going to humiliate you in front of your men a second time. Not when you've reached such a high, mighty rank as you have, Colonel, sir."

"You bastard," he muttered furiously, driving an open hand into my gut.

I was winded, but didn't yell. I merely doubled over. There was a tremendous pounding on the ground, and I looked up to see Sarah's hand slam down right next to Griffin, scattering the soldiers nearby. "I wouldn't recommend doing that. I get a little testy when people start messing with my boyfriend."

I blushed involuntarily, but at the same time I felt a strange sort of pride. Here was this huge, powerful, beautiful woman, and she was fiercely loyal to me. "So, Col.," I said, still rubbing it in. "How defenseless is she?"

Griffin snarled and grabbed the megaphone from the man nearby. "You there, girl." I thought it was a bit rich for him to refer to her as such. "You are completely surrounded. It is impossible to fight your way out."

Sarah lifted her hand so it was positioned twenty feet or so above Griffin's head. All the other soldiers backed out of its radius. "Nothing is impossible, Col. Griffin."

The colonel's voice faltered slightly when he resumed speaking. "If you make a motion against us, we will kill Dr. Lehmann. We have the necessary means."

Sarah's hand dropped back down to her sides, and the soldiers moved back into position. "So, it appears we have a stalemate. You kill him, and I kill you. I try and kill you, you kill him. What do you propose we do?"

"You are the one outnumbered, woman. It is you who shall make a concession."

Sarah looked like she was quickly getting tired of the negotiations. "Name it."

Griffin hesitated before continuing. It was clear he hadn't expected this turn of the conversation. "You will come with us to our base of operations, not far from here. You will remain within twenty meters of our convoy at all times, or we will fire on you. Any other funny business, and we will fire on you. If you attempt escape -"

"You'll fire on me. I get it. What will you do with us at this base?"

"You will be held for further questioning. We will adhere to the standards of the Geneva Convention..."

"The standards of what?"

"The Geneva Convention," I said weakly, still recovering from the blow Griffin had dealt me. "A set of laws relating to, among other things, how to treat prisoners of war." I toggled my mic and whispered into it, softly enough that the men holding me couldn't hear. "Just play along for now," I said, "We'll figure out some way out of this later."

"Okay," Sarah said to the colonel. "We agree to your terms."

The military man seemed surprised at how easily he'd won. He made a hand motion and the guards suddenly dropped me, leaving me to fall to my knees in the mud. "Take your boyfriend with you," Griffin spat as he walked away.

Sarah put down a hand and I climbed up. She placed me on her shoulder, in the crevice next to her collarbone. I attached myself with Sess and prepared myself for the jarring motions involved whenever she took a step.

The convoy set off. We walked slowly across the plains, Sarah struggling to maintain just the right distance from the rest of the troops. She was practically walking heel to toe. I wondered how difficult this would be for the soldiers below, where every time Sarah's bare foot slammed down, minor shockwaves would be created. Indeed, as I looked down, several nearby soldiers stumbled as Sarah's heel came down next to them.

Within fifteen minutes we were at the military base. I hadn't known they had encroached this far onto my territory. I knew they were aware of my general location, but this precise...

Sarah came to a stop before the facility, which was essentially a bare-bones tent set up in front of a large dome, which I recognized as portable aircraft storage.

"I hope you like the accommodations," sneered Griffin from below. "It was the best we could do on such short notice."

He motioned for the guards, who poked at me with their rifles, motioning me in. Sarah and Griffin followed.

Standing in the middle of the dome was a woman with lank blond hair, circular steel-rimmed glasses and a somewhat oval face in sharp contrast to a pointed mouth. "I see the prodigal son has returned," she said lazily but with a hidden barb in her words. "Albeit by force."

"Chloe," I murmured, my mouth suddenly dry. I clenched my teeth, balled my fists, restrained myself as much as I could. I wanted to scream at her. A wordless scream, full of the buried anger and betrayal I still felt after all these years. But I couldn't do that. It just wouldn't be right, especially not with Sarah around.

"I will be presiding over their questioning," Chloe said to Griffin, not deigning to give me a response.

"What -" Griffin began angrily but Chloe interrupted him.

"I outrank you, Griffin. Plus I have a higher authority I'm reporting to on this one. It's too serious a matter of national security to leave in your hands."

I almost smirked at the way Griffin had been outmaneuvered, but had more serious things to think about. "National security?" I cried. "Since when are we a matter of national security?"

"Dr. Lehmann," Chloe spoke in a stern formal voice. "You are a well-known enemy of the state. You are a threat to this nation, and you are on our soil. Even if you were not in the company of a gigantic woman, you would still be detained."

Sarah lifted her lower lip a little, showing displeasure. She shot Chloe a look that clearly said, "Watch it, sister."

"Now Col. Griffin, if you please, I have subjects to question. You and your men should leave the area." Chloe said peremptorily.

"That is intolerable," Griffin argued. "I need men on security detail, to thwart any attempts at escape."

"Escape, Griffin, is out of the question." She brandished a wicked looking device that was clearly a weapon. Pulses of electricity ran through its three pointed ends. "This could easily knock out any opponent, even the fifty foot woman here."

"My name," Sarah intruded loudly. "Is Sarah. And I'm not fifty feet tall from your perspective. Try three hundred."

"Yes, yes, of course," Chloe replied distractedly. "Don't make me say this once more, Griffin. Get your men out of here."

"Very well," said Griffin, obviously struggling to contain himself as motioned his men to the exit.

Once they were all gone, Chloe walked over to me. "So, Dr. Lehmann, I see you've returned to me, not of your own free will, but returned nonetheless."

"If you think I'd ever go within fifty feet of you voluntarily you've got a lot to learn, bitch." I spoke venomously, but under my breath so that Sarah wouldn't hear.

"Still sore about ten years ago, eh, Eric? You should know that I'm a different person now."

"Oh?" I said. "Do they now have reconstructive surgery for peoples' personalities?"

"Listen," she said more forcefully, speaking up so Sarah could hear. "I don't want to have to take any drastic measures. Just tell me everything I need to know, and I won't hurt you."

"Make it easy on me," I replied. "And tell me what false pretense we were brought here under. That way I can play the part you want me to."

Without another word Chloe rammed one of the tips of her vicious-looking device into my sternum, jolting me with electricity. The pain spread like fire through my joints, threading its way up each of my veins. I fell limp on the floor. "You said you wouldn't hurt me," I said weakly.

"I said I wouldn't," Chloe said, patting the top of the torture device. "I didn't say anything about THIS hurting you."

Suddenly, Chloe let out a shriek as a huge female hand came down from above and plucked her up by the top of her coat. The smaller woman tried to jab at one of the fingers with her weapon, but Sarah simply used her other hand to flick it out of her grasp. Then she held Chloe up in front of her face. Sarah was sitting down, so Chloe was roughly a hundred feet in the air, suspended by two very large fingers.

As I looked on in half-horror and half-amusement, I saw that Chloe's face had turned deathly white. She was utterly helpless at the hands of my giantess. She uselessly kicked a little, then hung limp. "What are you going to do to me?" she asked in a quavering voice.

"I don't like people hurting my little man," Sarah said slowly. "And I also don't like liars."

"What are you going to do?!" Chloe screamed, terrified. Somehow, the sheer anguished horror in her voice got to me. I felt almost sorry for her.

Sarah's hand suddenly plummeted down to the floor. She stopped just before Chloe hit the dirt. Then she spread her fingers, letting the blonde drop. "I'm going to let you go." she said softly.

Chloe lay limp in the dirt, sobbing. I saw that she had wet herself while in the air. With a woman as big as Sarah mad at me, I thought I would probably have done the same. After a few moments passed, she managed to get up and start scrambling towards the door. Sarah put a massive foot down in her path.

"I said I'd let you go," she said, cruel pleasure evident in her voice. "I didn't say without punishment."

And with that she lifted her other foot and began to bring it slowly, inexorably down on Chloe. The comparatively tiny woman screamed bloody murder, running hopelessly in circles as Sarah's immense sole tracked her motion. Finally, when Sarah's foot was only a meter above her head, the blonde woman cried out and fainted.

Sarah abruptly moved her foot out of the way, and stared down at the unconscious woman before her. I rushed to Chloe's side and checked her pulse and breathing. "She's alive," I called upwards.

"Of course she is," Sarah boomed from above. "I never actually stepped on her."

I got up from Chloe's side and looked up at the giantess. I felt like I was about to vomit. "How could you do that?"

"Huh?" Sarah looked down at me in disbelief.

"How could you do that to her? She's a human being. You treated her as much less."

"She hurt you," Sarah began. "She was torturing you..."

"So you torture her back? You sink to her level? Sarah, what you just did was downright sadistic."

Sarah looked up at the ceiling, her face slowly falling into an expression of deep sadness and regret. "I only did it because I wanted to help you." Her lower lip trembled as she spoke.

"I know that," I said, my voice sliding into a tone more reassuring. "You had good intentions to begin with... You just got carried away."

She nodded. "I've got to control myself better," she said quietly. "It's tough to avoid going on power trips when you're this big."

"You can do it," I said with confidence. "You just have to concentrate on doing what is right."

She bit her lip and shut her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I've just got to focus." She breathed deeply in and out, the sound loud to my ears. Then she opened her eyes. "I'm sorry you had to see that," she started to explain. "It's just -"

"You don't have to give me reasons," I said. "Just please be more careful. Now we've got to think fast. It won't be long before Griffin sends his men back in."

"Right," she said. "Got a plan?"

"None whatsoever."

"Good, because I do. I think it's time for us to bring down the house."

Chapter Thirteen


The clomping sound of military boots was coming closer. I looked up at Sarah, crouched in the middle of the dome, her hands on the walls. "You ready?" I called up.

"As ready as I'll ever be," came the reply. I detected a note of doubt in her voice, one that I shared. I wasn't sure that this plan could ever really work. There was too much at stake.

Soldiers began pouring into the dome, along with a few medics who immediately moved Chloe out of the area on a stretcher. There were soon thirty men with rifles aimed at our heads spread about the room. Griffin moved to the front of the crowd.

"Technically, I should be upset at what you've done to my, ahem, superior," he said snidely. "But I feel you've done me a great service. As a result, I may only keep you here for, say, a year or two before shipping you off to the lab people for study."

Sarah shot him a look that was filled with more hot fury than a pair of fireballs. "I don't think you're in a position to retain us like this, Griffin."

"And why not? I have you surrounded, outnumbered, beaten. I can do whatever I like."

"I don't think so, Colonel," I replied. "You see, in this situation, you're the one that's been beaten."

Griffin stared at me for a second, then burst out laughing. "You're kidding, right? You think you have any power in this situation?" He then brandished another weapon identical to Chloe's. "We just got in a shipment full of these. They can disable both you and your giant friend with ease. But I think you're familiar with them already, no?"

I grimaced. I had a feeling that all our plan would do was force another stalemate. However, I supposed, stalemate was better than check.

"Griffin, you're outmatched. You may be able to stun us, but in doing so you'd wind up killing yourselves."

Griffin's face hardened back into its default snarl. "What do you mean?"

"What he means," Sarah broke in. "Is that we just destroyed the major structural foundations of this dome." I could see Griffin scanning the bottom of the dome, his face graying by the second. "I'm currently the only thing that's holding this building up."

For a second Griffin merely gaped. Then he forced his jaw shut, and spoke through clenched teeth. "What are your terms?"

"I'm glad you're being reasonable -" Sarah began.

"Cut to the chase!" Griffin barked, clearly seriously upset at losing the upper hand in the situation.

"Remember, Griffin, we're the ones in charge here. You may want to consider a more respectful tone." I cut in.

"Here's the deal," Sarah said coolly. "We give you and your men five minutes to clear the area. In return, you give us five minutes to run."

"What is this, hide and go seek? This isn't a children's game." Griffin said acidly.

"Those are our terms, Griffin. I can move right now, and let the whole building fall in, killing all of you. Or you can save your men, and give us a chance of escape. It would be the honorable thing to do."

This was a mistake. Sarah was trying to provoke Griffin's sense of honor and duty, but I knew full well that he had none whatsoever. In fact, Griffin was about as underhanded as they come. Tactically, he was like an animal, seizing any opportunity that came his way, regardless of how many lives it would take or how cheap the shot.

"Very well," Griffin said, head bowed. "We will give you a head start. You will allow us to evacuate. Starting now."

He signaled his men to exit the dome, and they filed out. "He's plotting something," I whispered to Sarah over the mic.

"Without a doubt," she murmured back. "But for now we've got the upper hand. Now climb up and strap yourself in, it's going to be a bumpy ride."

I quickly used Sess to scale Sarah's body, clambering swiftly up her leg, scaling her stomach, moving around her chest and up to her shoulder. "Okay, get going."

Without further ado Sarah leapt outwards, shattering the dome and causing scattered parts of it to fly outwards in all directions. Then she was running, huge strides which left foot-deep depressions in the plains, propelling herself forward a hundred feet at a time. The wind rushed by me at sickeningly fast rates, making it hard to breathe. Far worse was the motion. Sarah's center of gravity made it so I constantly felt like I was falling forwards, about to plummet into the ground. It was like being on a non-stop rollercoaster, or a ship in the middle of a legendary storm. I struggled to keep my grip and hold down my lunch.

Sarah kept her frantic pace, and I suddenly realized that she was running without thinking, and probably had no idea where she was going to. "Sarah, slow down a sec!" I yelled up.

"What is it?" She asked, panting. I could see her chest rising and falling rapidly just below me, a view I took pleasure in even in such extreme circumstances.

"Do you know where you're going?"

It dawned on her. "No idea."

I quickly typed in the coordinates to my house on my watch, which has a built-in GPS function. "Due west, quickly."

"That means?"

"To your left," I replied.

She broke once more into that long, pounding stride. I busied myself by looking over her shoulder. It had been more than five minutes, and I was waiting for the nasty surprise I just knew Griffin had lying in wait.

There was a high whistling noise in the air, and then I saw the shell moving toward us. "Duck!" I screamed.

Sarah bent, hands over head, as the mortar shell hit the ground just behind us. There was a large explosion, dirt flying everywhere, heat intense enough for me to feel one hundred and fifty feet above. Sarah stumbled slightly, nearly giving me a heart attack and almost detaching me from my perch, but regained her balance and pressed on.

"There's three mortars behind us," I shouted up as she ran. "They're firing one after the other. If you zigzag we've got a better chance of staying clear."

"Okay," Sarah said steadily and began to tack left and right as explosions went off all around us. She was keeping her cool very nicely. I realized right then that Sarah was much more together than I first assumed. She had clearly seen some sort of trouble before, or she wouldn't be quite so good at getting out of it.

The mortars continued their attack at a steady pace, but I began to notice that Sarah was flagging. Her strides weren't quite as long, her movements not as fluid. I began to see a small squad of trucks following closely in our stead. They managed to stay just out of the mortars' range, but close enough to qualify as in pursuit. They're waiting for us to fall, I realized. They're going to swoop in when we falter.

Then there was an explosion that was truly deafening. I felt the heat from the blast, almost scorching my face, and I heard Sarah cry out. I had been slightly blinded by the flash, but what I could see was confused anyway, a blur of confused motion. Sarah was stumbling. She fell forward, onto her hands, launching me out of my perch on her shoulder. I fell out into space, desperately grasping for any handhold I could find. If I hit the ground from that height, it would be the end of me.

I landed, hard, on Sarah's knee. The fall took the wind out of me instantly, and I was unable to breathe, let alone get a grip. Sess' shock absorbance had prevented any serious injury, but my vision was fading from loss of oxygen and I had to move fast. Sarah was leaning forward, losing her balance. There was another huge explosion behind us, and Sarah was falling. I saw the ground moving up towards me. The choice was simple: Either get out of the way, or be crushed.

I leapt off her leg and prepared myself for the shock of landing.

There was a loud crunching noise which I assumed to be bad. You don't feel the pain right away after a fall like that, but you hear it, in the sickening noises that follow. Then you see it, when you look down at your leg and it's in an angle which is the definition of wrong. That's when, intellectually, you know you've been hurt bad. But you feel the pain last.

It came like pins and needles, as if my leg was asleep. Then the prickling sensations turned into sharp, knife-stabbing pains shooting up my knee. I examined it carefully and decided it wasn't broken. Next to me, Sarah was lying on the ground, quietly sobbing. She'd been hurt too, as bad if not worse than I was.

As my vision began to fade once more, descending into a series of oddly colored sparks and bright flashes of pain, I rolled onto my back. They've gotten us, I thought distractedly. They got us and now what will they do to us?


"Rise and shine," said a foul voice close to my ear. I opened my eyes to see large yellowing teeth right before me.

Griffin stood back up from his crouching position. I propped myself up on my elbows. We were still in the middle of the plains, now surrounded by a number of trucks filled to the brim with soldiers. I noticed, with some relief, that the mortars were gone.

Behind me Sarah was sitting upright, tightly clutching her massive leg. It had a large laceration in it which seemed to be bleeding profusely. I was very glad right then that I wasn't squeamish about blood. I looked up to see her staring at me, fear and pain in her eyes. There were tears welling up in them. There was nothing I wanted more right then to erase that horrible look in her eyes, replace it with one of happiness or joy. But there was nothing I could do. They'd gotten us, and they'd gotten us good.

There was a pounding ache in my head as well as the splintering pain in my knee. I reflected that over the last few hours I'd been bruised, broken, shocked, tortured, and shot more than any other man still alive. Not even Sess could handle the various injuries I'd endured, and now it was struggling to compensate. My mouth was bone dry, my head felt like it was stuffed with gauze and my teeth felt like they were somehow vibrating. Something warm and wet dribbled down my forehead and into my eyes. I put my fingers to it, and they came away red.

The sniper shot. Sess could no longer fully staunch the flow of blood. I groaned. Things weren't looking good.

"Get up," Griffin said, prodding me with the tip of a mud-covered combat boot. I struggled to my feet, shivering. "Looks like your little gambit didn't work so well after all." He said, his voice cruel to my ears.

Sarah stared back at him, her gaze now defiant. Even through the haze of drugs and pain, I admired how composed she was.

"So, the question is, what should I do with you?" said Griffin, his tone malevolent. He had the upper hand once more, and now he was able to enjoy all the spoils victory could afford. I had a feeling that he was soon to realize just how few those spoils were. Victory can be hollow sometimes as well, no matter how hard won. "I obviously can't take you back to any containment facility, you'd simply find another way to break out.

"So, how can I contain you?" he said, beginning to pace back and forth, a truly cruel smirk developing on his visage. "What will allow me control?"

I already knew the decision he would come to. It was the decision that had to be made every time a weaker group needed to subdue the stronger.

"I have to dominate you," he concluded. "I need to crush your spirit. You know that this is what I must do."

"Why exactly are you telling us this aloud?" I said coldly, feeling a gorge rising in my throat.

"Because, Dr. Lehmann, I want your understanding when I force you into my next action. I want you to comprehend the motives behind my actions." A chill flew down my spine. He's planned this in advance, I thought. This is all script. He's been planning this ever since he got us, just been waiting for the right time to pounce.

"Do what you must, Griffin." Sarah said, her tone of voice oddly flat, almost uncaring. She was steeling herself, deadening the pain she knew was about to come.

Griffin took a megaphone from on of the men nearby. "Extend your hand, woman, put it down on the ground." Griffin spoke authoritatively, his voice bold and commanding. "Lehmann, get onto it." We had no choice but to do as he said.

"Now, raise him to your face," Griffin continued, an odd smile growing on him. "And open your mouth."

Sarah looked aghast, instantly seeing where this was headed. Griffin's smile was now a devilish grin, as perverted as anything I had seen in my life. The man was enjoying this.

"Refusal to comply will result in your termination," Griffin shouted harshly through the megaphone.

Sarah's mouth opened behind me, a huge, glistening pink maw descending into darkness somewhere below. I felt her hot, slightly minty breath on my back. "Now," commanded Griffin, "Put Lehmann inside."

"Do it," I said over the mic. "We've got no choice. Just be careful, and I'll manage."

Sarah's hand slowly tipped me in, and I carefully leapt down into the dark, warm space. I landed in her saliva, on the pink, rough whale that was her tongue. Involuntarily, her tongue began to arch backwards, knocking me over. I managed to roll to the side and off, onto a hard slick, surface, one of her teeth. I carefully wedged myself between the tooth and the moist flesh on the inside of her cheek. Then I focused on maintaining a grip and trying to breathe in the oppressive heat and humidity.

Distantly I heard Griffin's last instruction. "Close your mouth, and swallow."

Slowly the massive porcelain teeth the size of houses closed, lips sealing out all light. Then, a wave of saliva came rushing towards me, and I was squeezed tightly between Sarah's inner cheek and tooth as she began to swallow. Huge muscles were contracting behind me, and there were horrible sounds of saliva gurgling and air whistling down the tubes into her lungs.

I yelled over the mic, "Okay, spit me out onto your hand and let's take care of these creeps."

The lips opened, curving into a funnel as a massive burst of air behind me flung me out of her mouth. I fell out onto her palm, which swiftly moved back onto her shoulder. I focused on getting a grip, trying to block out the blinding pain threatening to consume me whole.

Sarah broke smoothly into a diving kick, driving her bare foot squarely into the masses of soldiers, overturning trucks and hurling soldiers into the distance. Sarah quickly recovered and picked up one of the trucks full of men, then throwing it back down onto the ground, where it collided with another truck taking out several more of the soldiers.

Most of the men seemed too surprised at this sudden retaliation to actually organize and do anything. They stood in awe as Sarah let out a furious cry and began to lift one of her tremendous bare feet, bringing it crashing down in the thick of the group. Now the soldiers reacted, scattering in all directions as Sarah began to rampage, letting loose all of her anger. I was stunned at the destruction she managed to cause as she brought her feet slamming down onto the ground, crushing whatever was beneath it, be it military man or machine.

By the time she was finished, the remaining soldiers had all fled to the distant hills. Then Sarah turned and began running, as fast as she could, due west towards the lab, never once looking back.

Chapter Fourteen


"They're mostly minor cuts and abrasions," I said, in a tone that I hoped was reassuring. "Although you're a bit of a mess, and I'm slightly worried about your leg."

"A mess, yeah," Sarah said disgustedly. "Just look at me. I'm practically covered in mud and blood."

"Hey, if you lie any more about your appearance you just might beat me at self-deprecation." That brought a welcome laugh. I was willing to do anything to ease the tension between us. Ever since we had gotten back to the lab there had been one awkward silence after another.

As if on cue, there was another strange pause. Then Sarah spoke up. "Listen, you're not, um, mad about what happened are you?"

"Sarah, there's a difference between sadism and self-defense. You did what you had to do, and I'm glad you did." I gave her a smile which belied my inner turmoil. The fact was that there had been something deeply unsettling in seeing just how destructive my giantess could be. The most unsettling thing being that, on some level, seeing it was somehow erotic. It really wasn't even her actions that disturbed me as much as my reaction to them.

"I'm glad it's all over with," Sarah said, stretching. "These last few days we've gone through hell and back."

"Pretty much," I said. "It's been a lot to deal with, but you've been great at managing it."

"So have you, short stuff." Sarah said, beaming down on me.

"So," I said, struggling to phrase it as delicately as possible. "Maybe we should get you cleaned up."

"Don't want blood and guts all over the shiny chrome?"

"Hey, it's not a laughing matter. You did kill people, remember?"

Sarah instantly became somber and silent. She started chewing her lip nervously, and I realized that if I continued to be accusing it could result in some serious psychological scars. For her sake, I had to pretend it was no big deal.

"Don't worry about it," I said quickly. "It was self-defense, and that's all. Let's not say anything more." Truthfully, I didn't want to be reminded of what had happened. I wanted it to simply vanish into thin air, to have never happened. I wanted us to patch ourselves up and continue like we had at Sarah's home. But things had changed, and I feared that they would never be quite the same again.

"So, how am I going to get clean?"

"I've got a power washer setup in the back, I might be able to rig it so it'll spray hot water."

She giggled. "You're joking, right?"


Twenty minutes later Sarah was trying her best to wash herself off while I programmed in the codes for our respective surgeries. They seemed to be relatively close to the ones I had in the database, very little customization needed. Just a few parameters adjusted here and there...

I heard a squeal from the makeshift bathroom behind me , and rushed into the room to find Sarah completely naked and lying on her back. She saw me enter out of the corner of her eye and turned her head. "I slipped," she said by way of explanation.

I blushed involuntarily. It's not every day you have a three hundred foot tall naked woman showering in the back of your house. Then again it's not every day that you have a three hundred foot tall woman for a girlfriend. "You ought to be more careful," I said, although the reprimand was tempered by the fact that I could barely keep myself from laughing.

"Oh, you mean I shouldn't do things like - this?" Sarah asked playfully, using a spare hand to "accidentally" sweep me into the spray. I was buffeted about by the collective force of the power washers, eventually being pushed back into a soft wall. I doubled around and fell over, finding myself looking directly into Sarah's bare thigh.

I managed to stand up, even though the force of the jets of water was powerful. I shook my head like a dog does when wet, and grinned. "Now why would you go and do something so clumsy?"

"You're kind of cute, shorty," she said, poking me gently with one well-manicured finger. "I just couldn't help myself."

"Kind of cute? Kind of?" I replied with mock indignance. "I am a striking image of handsomeness and beauty. I should have been a male model! I mean, with this countenance -"

Sarah interrupted my faux egotism by bringing her open hand down on top of me, fingers curving around to pin me easily. "You say anything more and I'll be forced to do some things with that so-called beautiful body of yours."

"You call that a threat?" I spluttered.

"No," she laughed. "I call it a promise."

With that she curled her fingers around me and hoisted me through the spray and up into the air so I was hanging right in front of her face. "You didn't provide me with any soap, my little host."

"I'm sorry, we don't carry XXXXL soap bars!" I chuckled.

"Then I guess I'm just going to have to use a substitute," Sarah said in a voice that was both seductive and very, very naughty.

Without warning I was sliding across wet female skin, firm yet soft and smooth. Sarah began rubbing her hand all over herself, with me inside of it. First she scrubbed her arms, then moved down to the breasts and stomach, moving her hand in a circular motion which dizzied me but did not decrease the pleasure.

Then I was moving away from her torso and down to her legs, up and down warm, slick thighs that were easily the width of grain silos. I began to feel myself slipping down to the inner thigh, but here Sarah stopped. "Maybe not just yet," she rumbled, and placed me back on the floor, where I ran, slipping and sliding, to the power switch for the water jets. I sighed as I toggled it off.

It felt as if all the tension that had stored up since we'd landed on Earth was dissipating. Sarah lay back against the wall of the washroom, and I leaned against the side of her leg. "You know, things didn't turn out so badly in the end," I reflected soberly over the mic. "We managed to escape both your military and mine."

"Not for lack of effort, though," Sarah said thoughtfully. "Things were looking pretty grim for a bit."

"You're telling me. When Griffin led us into that dome, I was thinking he'd just get the hell out of there and nuke us to death."

"He'd what?" Sarah looked down at me, a quizzical look in her eyes.

"Nuke us. You know, drop a hydrogen bomb on us. Atomic death from above."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sarah replied, sounding genuinely puzzled. I had already begun to realize that there were major differences between my world and Sarah's. But one this major I had never thought of.

"They never discovered atomic fission in your world?" I asked.

"Fission? Of course. Linked fission plants provide the energy for our world."

"But you never discovered how to weaponize it," I said hesitantly. "I wonder if the Cold War ever occurred in your world..."

"The what?"

"Forget I said it," I said absently. "We should certainly get into surgery now. Washing that cut off helped, but I'd feel better if we removed any shrapnel and closed it up."

"You're not looking too good either, Eric," Sarah said, concerned. "You're bleeding from that sniper shot."

"I took it for you, Sarah. And I'd gladly take a dozen more. Now let's get to the surgery ward, I'm sure the program's loaded."


Roughly two hours later, I woke. Still woozy from the anesthetics, I stumbled off the operating table then managed to regain my balance. I checked my forehead, no more wound. The surgery had been a success.

I was getting ready to check on Sarah when four delicate yet gigantic fingers filled my vision and lightly swept me up. The giantess flipped me gently onto the palm of her other hand, and smiled down at me. "So, are you better too?" she asked.

"I think so... But you really shouldn't have swept me off my feet like that. Not good to do that to a recovering patient."

"You know damn well nanosurgery has nearly no recovery time whatsoever." Sarah grinned. "All the sooner I can play with my little man again."

"Hey, I'm not a toy," I said indignantly. "I am a human being just like you, if on a slightly smaller scale."

"Sorry," she said gently. "It's just that whole power thing again."

"Remember how we talked about control?" I said irritably. The after effects of the anesthetics were hitting pretty hard, and as a result my mood was suffering.

"Come on," Sarah said playfully. "It's not like anything's getting hurt."

"Nothing but my pride," I sheepishly replied, bringing a laugh from Sarah.

"Well, my dignity's rather abused right now as well," Sarah shot back. "Seeing as how I'm stark naked in the middle of your lab."

"What, you don't like running around in the buff?" I asked innocently.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Sarah said, playful menace in her voice.

"Okay, okay. I think I've got a solution. Follow me." I lead Sarah through the twisting corridors of my lab, past testing areas, dozens of failed inventions, a few working inventions, and a whole lot of machinery. Sarah often had to crouch to get through areas, and several times she completely filled the hallways. I couldn't help but glance at these moments. She was just so incredibly huge. And some part of me was beginning to find that more and more attractive.

"Here's one of my better inventions," I said, proudly showing off a small display case. "Made during my early army days."

"What is it?" Sarah asked, cocking her head to the side. I couldn't blame her for being puzzled. What was inside the clear case was nothing more than a simple, inch-thick square of black material.

"Try it on," I said, pressing the button to open the case. Sarah hesitantly poked out a finger and touched the material, and it instantly began to spread over her whole body, molding to her curves.

"Wow," Sarah said as the black material spread over her. "It's so soft and light."

"I called it synthskin," I told her. "It's kind of a prototype version of Sess. Light, quiet, very durable. Provides protection equivalent to two-layer ceramic plate bulletproof."

"Not to mention skintight," Sarah said, slightly annoyed. "I'm guessing you made this for people of the female persuasion."

"Hey, it suits you," I replied.

Suddenly, alarms went off around the lab. "What's going on?" Sarah cried.

"I don't know, but we'd better get to the security console quick. It can't be good."

Sarah and I raced over to the nearest security monitor, and I quickly pulled up the window that read "Current Alert". A video window instantly popped up showing three soldiers surrounding a woman with blond hair and round steel-rimmed glasses.

I pressed the button that allowed me to use the intercom system. "Chloe, what the hell are you doing here?" I said, the menace evident in my voice. Sarah bent over, muttering something along the lines of, "I thought I taught her..."

"Please, Eric," Chloe said, her voice mingling with static over the shoddy intercom line. "I need to speak with you, urgently."

"This better not be one of your tricks," I warned.

"I only brought three soldiers to accompany me," Chloe said, looking visibly shaken and frightened. "They are unarmed. I only wish to talk."

"I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth," I said simply, pressing the button that triggered the lift.

"Are you really going to trust her?" Sarah whispered to me.

"That lift is full of scanners, cameras and turrets of every variety," I replied. "If she was lying, she's as good as dead."

Sarah didn't say any more, but stared at the lift exit, lips pressed tightly together. I myself wasn't terribly sure that this was the best move to make. Something in Chloe's manner was off, however, not her usually controlled, manipulative self. It could just be the remnants of the shock Sarah had given her, but it seemed like something worse.

The lift halted at the bottom, allowing its passengers to disembark. Chloe glanced fearfully at Sarah before quickly staring at the ground. She seemed reluctant to move from beyond the lift, so I came towards her.

"What do you want?" I asked, with less spite than before.

"This may sound hard to believe," said Chloe. "But I need your help."

"That is hard to believe," I said, backing up. "A few hours ago you were torturing me. Then your fellow military goons tried nearly every way they could to break my spirit, preferably by killing me. And now you want my help."

"Not only yours," Chloe continued, her voice small but growing in steadiness. "But hers as well." She nodded to Sarah, eyes still locked firmly on the floor.

"I think it'll be a little hard to win me over to your side," Sarah replied. "You've proven pretty definitively that you aren't the good guys."

"It's not me that I want you to help," Chloe said, more boldly. "It's the civilians."

"What are you talking about? Get to the point." I said, annoyed.

Chloe suddenly looked straight into my eyes. I now recognized what it was that had led me to allowing her entry. The expression on her face was one that was somehow haunted. She wasn't the same woman. "A lot has happened in the last few hours," she said, her voice quiet but urgent. "Have you turned on the news at all since you returned?"

"I can't say I have," I replied, still calm. She was probably trying to win me over with this terrified act. She wanted to use me for something, and was using a new trick to con me into it.

"Pull up the news feed," she said. "It can explain better than I can."

Still doubting, I twiddled a few knobs and redirected the signal so that the security console displayed the feed from a local network station.

Onscreen was a female reporter, her face streaked with ash and dirt, a cut on her cheek. She was crouching next to a man who appeared to be in much worse shape. He moaned and began to scream while the reporter, microphone in her left hand, tried to comfort him. The shaky, handheld camera panned down to show that the man's body was cut off clean at the legs.

It was only this initial shock which stunned me into seeing the rest of the image. Buildings were aflame or completely destroyed. Bodies were strewn about everywhere. In the distance, a mob of people were streaming through the streets, hoarse cries barely audible. I noticed a wrecked sign above one of the shops in frame, which read "Ducard Bakery".

"When I used to live in the city, I'd get my breakfast every day at Ducard's." I gasped, my mouth dry. I was hardly conscious of speaking.

The reporter on screen had begun screaming, and abruptly ran off frame. There was a rumbling sound, and the camera shook. A tremendous object, the width of a small office building and much, much taller was filling up the street being filmed on. It was black, and shiny, with odd curves. After a moment, I understood it for what it was.

It was a leather boot with a spiked heel.

The boot rose high above the scene, and the stunned cameraman followed its progress up into the air. Then the boot came rushing quickly down, its sole filling the frame.

The video feed turned to static. No one spoke.

It was Sarah who found words to break the silence. "Vanessa's here."

Chapter Fifteen


"What details can you give me?" I asked, trying to steady myself in the seat.

The transport rumbled over the terrain at such fast speeds that the cabin shook and rolled. Then again, the motion might have been due to the tremendous footsteps that slammed into the ground nearby. Sarah was managing to keep pace fairly well, not going too far ahead and not falling behind. I was keeping my mic switched on so she could hear the conversation in the vehicle.

"Not much," Chloe replied, a grim look on her face. "All the men we've sent in to the area are either confirmed dead or MIA. Our choices were to either nuke the city or use you."

"But you have the means to kill her," I persisted. "Those shock devices."

"They only work at close range," said Chloe sadly. "The closest we've managed to get to her is at her feet, and the boots insulate the shock."

"What about air support?"

"Every time we get a plane near enough, she swats it out of the air."

"So what you're saying," I said slowly, "Is that we're here to provide a distraction so you can neutralize her."

Chloe nodded.

There was a tremendous noise from above which I came to realize was Sarah bending over and talking to us. "How exactly am I supposed to distract her?"

"We left that up to you," Chloe said carefully.

There was a pause, and a huge shake in the car as Sarah took another massive step. "I guess I could think of something." was the rumbled response.

Minutes later we were at the outskirts of the city. Looking at the windows I caught a flash of fire through the blur. I thumbed my mic. "Sarah, stay low and keep out of sight until we've got everything planned out. If she sees you our cover is blown."

"Got it," she said so quietly that I only heard it over the link.

The transport began to slow, then came to a jarringly abrupt halt. I shook myself and followed Chloe and the soldiers as they piled out of the vehicle.

I wasn't prepared for the level of destruction I saw. The city looked like a warzone. Debris was everywhere, and none of the buildings in sight were whole. Fires were raging in several of the wrecked stores and apartments. Worst, however, was the eerie silence that seemed to fill the air,

I stood there transfixed for some time, trying to reconcile this burnt-out husk with the city that I knew. Chloe eventually took me by the hand and began to lead me through the devastated streets. "We've set up a makeshift command center this way," she explained as we walked. "Currently we have about thirty men staffing it, reinforcements are due within the hour."

"How much has been destroyed?" I asked, still dazed by this derelict that I once called home.

"The preliminary satellite scans seem to indicate that most of the business sector has been reduced to rubble, and she's gone on rampages in a few other areas as well."

We approached a small area walled off by sandbags, filled with thirty people talking quietly but urgently. Chloe approached a small laptop perched precariously on one of the small sandbag embankments and began to type rapidly. She then pulled up an overhead view of the city.

"Here's our satellite feed," she said, then quickly punched in a few more commands. The view was suddenly brightly colored in blues, greens, and splotches of red and yellow. There were two big splotches that dominated the map. Chloe gestured to them. "These are the giantesses," Chloe said. "Obviously, the one next to us is Sarah. But the one over on this end of the map..."

She pointed to a large red spot in motion.

"So, she's currently in the Financial District," I said. "But she's in motion..."

"Shit," said Chloe. "She's coming this way."

"You sure?"

"Positive," she muttered. "Everything between her and us is destroyed. She hasn't done the same area twice thus far." As she spoke I could see the tremendous red blotch moving towards us on screen."

"What do we do?" I cried.

Chloe responded by yelling to the assembled soldiers. "Battle stations!"

A hush grew over the crowd, which was quickly broken by the instant scramble to different sides of the enclosure. Soldiers ran to the sandbags, picking up all kinds of strange experimental weaponry as well as the more conventional bazookas and RPGs. There was a rumbling audible from far off, and I glimpsed tremendous movement from behind some of the buildings. Chloe pulled me down to the ground, and I hid behind one of the barriers, peeking out just enough to see what was happening.

The huge toe of a black leather boot rising sixty feet into the air slammed down onto the pavement just a few yards from the sandbags, creating massive cracks and fissures in the tarmac.

"Well, well, well," boomed a cruel female voice from high above. "What have we here?"

The top of the boot came forward and a massive hand touched the ground as Vanessa bent forward. "Looks like another army outpost." When she spoke, her voice blew against the mesh canopy of the command center, buffeting it about and making me worry. If it blew away, our cover was blown as well. "Don't you little insects know any better?" she said, her voice a mockery of innocence and playfulness.

She resumed standing, blocking out the sun once more. "I guess they've all run away. None of them want to play with me... But how did they run away so fast?"

"She's toying with us," I gritted through my teeth. "She's going to kill us all." Chloe didn't respond, but looked at me with fear-filled eyes.

"I bet some of them are still in there," Vanessa continued in the menacingly childish tone. "But they're hiding from me. Looks like it's time to find them..."

I closed my eyes, covered my ears and crouched, waiting for the beginning of the end.

Instead, there was a tremendous thump from somewhere behind me. "Leave him alone, you bitch." The voice was as powerful as it was feminine, its sound as seductive to me as it was threatening to the person it was directed to. It was my woman, here to save my life.

"Let's move," I said to Chloe. "Things are about to get ugly."

Chloe signaled the soldiers to fan out quietly, and all of us began to creep out of the command center in different directions. When I was about twenty feet away, I stopped and looked up. The sole of Vanessa's spike-heeled boot was suspended precariously above us, ready to squash all of us flat. But just opposite her was Sarah, eyes blazing with fury and hatred.

"If you step on them," Sarah warned, "I will see to it that you die in the most painful way imaginable."

There was a pause, and then a girlish giggle from above. "You actually care about these little ants?" Vanessa said scornfully.

"They're not ants, they're people."

The boot moved away from over our heads, to be ground-shakingly replaced on the pavement nearby. Vanessa's attitude had shifted from demonically playful to deadly serious, and it was evident on her face. "Do you actually believe that these - these worthless specimens qualify as people?" Vanessa half-shouted, her face twisted with rage. "They are nothing more than our playthings, toys designed to amuse us goddesses."

'They are people," Sarah repeated coolly. "They have emotions and intelligence. And I am here to avenge the ones you have slain."

In that moment, I was filled with more than just love for Sarah, but also with awe and admiration. In that moment, she was more than a woman, even more than an avenging angel. She was everything that Vanessa had attempted and failed to be. She was a goddess. Not like the impersonal deities I was taught as a child, but a true, just and fair goddess that was the protector of us all. The other soldiers were frozen in position, staring at Sarah, equally admiring their savior.

Vanessa was visibly shaken by this bold statement, but managed to recover her scornful, cold tone. "So, you think yourself their protector?" she snickered. "Foolish woman. You could have been above them. You could have found your own city to dominate, we could have divided this world between us, so I would never have had to see your pathetic face again. But instead you wish to confront me. What you don't realize, is that this city is not big enough for the both of us."

"Bitch," Sarah said calmly, "I knew that all along."

"Run," I yelled out as loud as I could as the two giantesses moved towards each other. The soldiers below scattered, and I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, Chloe by my side. Once I thought I had reached a safe distance, I turned and watched the clash begin.

It was an awe-inspiring sight. The two titanic women were locked together, Sarah trying to get her opponent in a headlock, Vanessa using one knee to keep her at distance. I saw Vanessa's foot hook around Sarah's heel. Judo. She was throwing her off balance.

The move worked flawlessly, but for one problem. Sarah clutched the other woman to her, and they both fell together, slamming into a ten-story office building and causing it to instantly disintegrate. The two giantesses plummeted to the earth in their fatal embrace, causing a minor earthquake which shook the ground even at my vantage point one hundred yards away. I realized that a few of the less lucky soldiers would have been killed from the impact.

Sarah then rolled to her right, smashing into another building but putting herself on top. She got to her knees, straddling the military woman, then began to drive pounding roundhouse blows into her face, deviating slightly from the standard self-defense courses. With each punch she threw she screamed a curse.

Even from afar I could tell that the raven-haired woman was beginning to succumb. But as the blows continued I realized, sickeningly, that it was just a show. There was a wicked smile forming on the thin lips even as the beatings continued. As Sarah came in for the finishing blow, Vanessa reached up and grabbed the incoming fist, twisting Sarah's wrist. There was a loud snapping sound that echoed through the air, and Sarah cried out.

Vanessa used this momentary pause to slide herself away from Sarah, her tremendous backside destroying numerous street signs, telephone poles and traffic lights in the process. She got to her feet, then quickly smashed one of her boots into Sarah's face. Sarah tumbled backwards, creating a small crater as she fell.

Vanessa then leapt on top of her, clawing and tearing at her. The two women fought savagely, snapping at one another, pulling each other's hair and destroying much of the surrounding city in the process. But as the fight continued it was clear that Sarah's strength was on the wane. This was no act - she was panting, and there was a bewildered look in her eyes that showed that she'd lost the rhythm of the battle.

"She's not going to hold out on her own much longer," Chloe said to me.

I nodded my agreement. "I think it's time we show Vanessa what two little insects can do."

Chapter Sixteen


I skidded down the slope of the ruined avenue, gravel sliding down the precipitous drop. I reached the end, bracing myself against a fallen slab of concrete, then turned to make sure Chloe fell safely. The streets were now peaks and valleys, evidence of the conflict continuing above us.

Chloe screamed a little as she tumbled down the small hill created by the giantess' movements. Each normal step for them was like a small earthquake, but in the midst of combat their movements were so violent that it looked like the city had been hit by a ten on the Richter scale.

Chloe almost fell headlong into me, but I managed to catch her just in time. She gasped for air, then managed to calm her nerves and rolled off of me, leaning against the concrete slab as well.

"Okay, that's the hill. Where to from here?" I panted.

"I think the headquarters should be up this next slope, then fifty yards to the left."

"No problem," I said, although I sounded less than confident even to my own ears.

Chloe picked up the radio from her belt. "Teams, report in," she yelled.

A staticky outburst shot from the small communicator, then voices began to speak, one after the other. "Alpha team is in position." "Beta is fifty feet from target."

"Roger that," Chloe shouted back into the machine. "Anyone heard from Charlie team?"

"Roger, Foxtrot," came the distorted reply. "We've run into some difficulties."

"What are we talking about, Charlie?"

"Got a fallen building in front of us, too tall to scale."

"You'll have to find some way around," said Chloe urgently. "We're moving to target now, stay in communication. Foxtrot out."

"So, now?" I asked.

"Now, we run." And we ran.


Above us, Sarah continued to weaken. Vanessa was hitting quick, hard blows, mostly to the torso and legs. Sarah had once or twice attempted to headlock Vanessa, or trip her, but these attempts were mostly failed. Even worse, Sarah began to look like she was having trouble keeping her balance, something which was especially worrying to us on the ground.

Finally, Sarah let out an anguished cry and simply leapt upon her opponent. This sudden outburst shocked Vanessa a little, and Sarah was able to bring her to the ground. The two began to roll, devastating whole city blocks. Vanessa wrapped her hands around Sarah's neck and began to squeeze. Sarah, unable to breathe, tried to shake out of her grip by continuing the roll, but Vanessa wouldn't budge.

After Vanessa felt she had sufficiently weakened Sarah she finished the roll, with her in the dominant position. She pinned Sarah's shoulders with her hands, and spat in her face. Sarah responded by headbutting the military woman. The move dazed Vanessa, giving Sarah time to spring to her feet. Vanessa recovered quickly, leaping up and grabbing Sarah's head, throwing her to the side and causing her to smash into a nearby apartment complex. Sarah tripped a little before getting her balance, almost stepping on Charlie team, which was still trying to find away around the toppled office building.

They were aided by Sarah, whose foot dragged, quickly decimating a large chunk of the fallen building and providing a way through.

Sarah turned to see Vanessa charging her. She managed to dodge the charge, maneuvering into a position that rolled Vanessa off her back, throwing the black-haired woman to the ground and creating a huge crater in the middle of the city park.

Vanessa managed to get to her feet in record time. The two giantesses then began to trade blows. Sarah had somehow managed to tap one remaining source of furious strength, and her crushing, wild blows made Vanessa lose ground, forcing her to move backwards.


We were almost home free. There was fifty feet, no more, between the former headquarters and Chloe and I. "Let's go!" Chloe yelled, breaking into a run.

I was about to follow, when I saw the gargantuan leg, sheathed in black leather, moving rapidly toward us. The shock struck me speechless. I wanted to cry out to Chloe, but my warning stuck in my throat. Chloe ran forward, heedless, as the spiked heel of Vanessa's boot accelerated towards the ground.

I somehow managed to snap back to reality. There was no time to lose. I triggered Sess, felt the adrenaline rush, the familiar slow-motion. I'd need it now more than ever. Chloe was staring up as the sole of the boot descended. I broke into a swift run, my feet flying across the ruined pavement.

Chloe was within reach. I leaned forward, hands outstretched as the boot descended, not ten feet above. I felt my hands grasp fabric, and came to a sudden stop, shifting myself so that I'd tumble backwards.

Chloe and I fell away from the tremendous boot as it slammed into the ground, the shockwaves rattling my bones. The boot swiftly receded again as Vanessa continued to step backwards. Chloe got back to her feet and ran inside the small enclosure, coming back with two of the shock weapons. She exited just as Sarah's bare foot came swiftly down upon the former headquarters, flattening it.


Sarah was in midstep when Vanessa abruptly halted her retreat and moved forward, grabbing Sarah by the arm. This sudden reversal threw Sarah off balance, both literally and figuratively. She plummeted, but she took Vanessa with her. The two began to slug it out on the ground, kicking and punching savagely.

Now it was just a matter of who would run out of steam first.


Chloe was speaking tersely over her radio. "Okay, Charlie team you take point, get some elevation and ready the RPGs."

"How in the hell are we supposed to get elevated in the middle of a city?"

"Get in one of the office buildings, or climb atop some wreckage. You figure it out," she snapped back. "Beta team, you're our distraction. You'll run right past her, as fast as you can. Make sure you have cover to get behind once she's seen you." There were audible grumbles over the radio. "Finally, Alpha, you're following us. Meet us at coordinates 73 - 20."

"Roger Foxtrot," came the reply. "Over and out."

"Okay," said Chloe turning to me. "We've got some distance to cover, we'd best get moving."


Sarah's punches were coming weaker, her breath beginning to be labored. Vanessa only grinned and slugged harder. Eventually Sarah simply stopped hitting all together, and tried to roll up into a fetal position. No matter how many self-defense courses one takes, it's still difficult to square off against a fighter born and bred.

Vanessa got to her feet, snickering. She drove her leather-sheathed toe into Sarah's stomach, causing the fallen woman to curl up further. Then she bent down and hauled the larger woman to her feet.

"You know, I never liked you," she said, tasting her bitter words. "You were the intellectual, above all us fighters. But while you sit around futzing with gadgets, we're making changes in the world. That's right, it's fighters, not inventors, that change the world. It's why I got Brian, while you got your half-inch man."

"How do you know about..." Sarah trailed off weakly.

"Your microscopic boyfriend? Well, for one thing, you shouted 'Leave him alone.' instead of 'Leave them.' But the signs were visible miles away. You're really quite predictable. How else do you think we managed to defuse that bomb planted in your lab? I can read your tactics like a book."

Sarah swayed woozily in Vanessa's grip, then steadied herself. Once again, she managed to steel herself despite her complete physical defeat. "You psychopath," she said quietly, not needing to rant and rave like Vanessa did. "Don't you know you've already lost?"

"Lost what?" Vanessa demanded.

"Your boyfriend. He's gone."

These four words were enough to convey the full meaning of what had transpired before we left Sarah's world. For a moment Vanessa stood perfectly still, staring blankly into space. Then she hurled Sarah to the ground and screamed.

It was a bloodcurdling scream, feral and completely devoid of any intelligence or restraint. From there, Vanessa went insane. She began ripping apart the city streets, stomping about without any control whatsoever. Fireballs plumed beneath her as she rampaged, but she paid them no heed, continuing to destroy anything within her reach.


"Now's our chance," Chloe told the Alpha team as she heard the howls of rage from afar. "With her enraged like this, she'll be easily distracted. Everyone remember the plan?"

There were nods all around.

Chloe picked up her radio. "Charlie Team, Beta Team, execute Attack Plan A!"

Charlie team fired off the first salvo, the rockets leaving a trail of smoke as they raced towards Vanessa. Two of the three missed their marks, but the third impacted, mushrooming into a cloud of smoke and fire and causing its victim to cry out in pain. Vanessa stumbled, putting her hand to the spot where the RPG had hit her, just above the left thigh.

As she recovered from the shock of being hit, Beta team raced by her, not fifty feet between them and the giantess's boot. Vanessa looked down and cried out in rage, lifting her boot and bringing it down wildly in an erratic pattern. Beta team managed to duck and weave between the blows, losing only a few men. They made it to shelter in a small underground parking lot.

Just as Vanessa was about to give chase, Charlie fired their second round. This time all three rockets made it to the target. Vanessa didn't even scream but grunted, taking the rounds without any loud noises. She tottered slightly, but maintained her balance.

"Damn it!" I yelled. "For the plan to work, we need her to fall."

"I got that covered," came a woman's voice over my link.

A tremendous leg swung over our heads, aiming a kick at the leather boot a hundred feet from our position. Sarah's tactic worked, and Vanessa plummeted to the ground. I signaled for Alpha team to get out of her fall zone, and the men quickly and competently combined, all of us scattering as Vanessa smashed to the ground.

The unconscious giantess's body slammed into the pavement, throwing up dust clouds and flattening anything beneath her. I quickly raised my shock weapon and made a beeline for her neck.

Reaching the vast expanse of pale white flesh, I dialed up the weapon to full energy, then jammed it into the flesh next to her carotid. Vanessa began to twitch, a dangerous prospect for those around her, but I continued to keep the weapon in place, even as it vibrated within my hands. Finally, Vanessa ceased twitching. I removed the shock device.

The men of the other teams gradually collected around me, each giving a salute. Chloe came to my side, and Sarah rolled into a position where she could see all of us, lying on her elbow. "We did it," said Chloe.

"All of us," I replied. "But we couldn't have done it without you, Sarah."

My lover smiled wearily. "I did what needed to be done."

"The president will be wanting to speak with you," Chloe said quietly to me as the rest of the soldiers ran off to find transportation. "He'll want your opinion on what to do now."

My mind raced. I had thought this was the final battle, the be-all end-all. What was there left to be done?

For the moment, however, I made the decision to put those thoughts out of my mind. Instead I walked over to Sarah, and placed a hand on her much larger arm. "Let's get you fixed up."

Chapter Seventeen

 
The sentry stood next to the large, wrought-iron gate and cursed. Gray rain clouds overhead. He wouldn't be allowed to head in until the end of his shift, and that was still an hour off. Soon he'd be soaked to the skin and standing in an inch of mud. God, he hated rain.

There was a distant rumble. The sentry looked up, then fumbled for the binoculars on his belt. He realized a second later that there was no need. What was causing the rumble was easily visible from his six hundred yards' distance.

It was a giant woman, clad entirely in form-fitting black, striding confidently across the plains. The sentry cursed far more loudly, then reached for his pistol. No, that wouldn't work either - what would a 9 millimeter round do to a three-hundred foot tall woman? He thought back to a news program he'd seen earlier that day, which he'd quickly dismissed as a joke. Something about a rampaging gigantic woman in the city nearby.

As she came closer, he could see the expression on her face, and was slightly relieved. She didn't look upset, merely concentrated. Furthermore, he could make out several small vehicles trailing behind her massive feet. If she didn't attempt to hurt them, she wouldn't try and hurt him, right?

Right?

Soon enough, the sentry had no more time to ruminate. Two feet, each the size of a small chopper were planted about fifty feet away. Then the woman bent. So did the sentry. He bent into a fetal position, and began to sob. The size hadn't really hit him until she crouched.

"Take it easy," said a man's voice, and the sentry looked up. Above him was a man with a jutting jaw and intense eyes. His arm was covered in some strange, silvery material that looked simultaneously liquid and solid.

"She's on our side," said a blond haired woman who was climbing out of a recently parked Jeep. The sentry recognized her as Chloe Strand, a high-ranking official. Several other soldiers began exiting nearby vehicles.

"You might want to open the gate now," came a thunderous rumbling voice from above, which while feminine was still utterly terrifying to the poor guard.

"Yes, m'am." was the stuttered reply.


Sarah curled up on the elevator in a manner almost feline, leaving several soldiers to emit audible groans. There was only enough space now for one other person, being myself. None of the others were quite willing to get close to my lover.

As the large platform began its descent into the bunker, I looked up at her. "Why exactly did you position yourself like that?" I asked, trying to be discreet.

"I like having you all to myself," Sarah said seductively. "Plus, I get closer to eye-level with you this way."

Eye-level, now that was a joke. Even lying down, Sarah still had to look down some twenty feet to see my comparatively diminutive face. "Well, now that you've got me all to yourself," I replied slyly. "What are you going to do to me?"

She responded with actions, instead of words. Cupping me in her hand, she quickly raised me to her lips, which paired together formed a soft pink wall as tall as I was. She pressed me into this wall with two fingers, and I reached out with my hand and stroked the insides of her lower lip. This seemed the most natural course of action, as I didn't have many options.

Then a tremendous red thing came bursting out of the wall, almost knocking me over as it playfully stroked me. "This your way of slipping me the tongue?" I laughed.

The tongue slipped back between the massive pink folds, and I was hit with a blast of sound and humid wind. "This is."

Her lips opened, revealing the spacious darkness that was her mouth, and stuck out her tongue, using it dexterously to pull me in.

Now that I wasn't being ordered in by a certain insane Colonel, I felt free to enjoy myself. I glided over her soft, slick tongue, reaching out a hand to stroke one of her gums as it passed. She passed me side to side, playfully relishing the unique sensations both of us were experiencing.

Then, all too soon, I was ejected from her mouth, back onto her hand. She clumsily patted my head with a finger. "I think we're almost at the bottom, and you've got to get cleaned up."

I moved away from her tree-trunk sized finger. "I think you're mussing it up more than helping," I replied in jest. I slicked down my hair with my hands as best as I could. "Well, I guess the president will have to deal with me in my semi-unpresentable state."

The platform came to a jarring halt, and we were faced with a long corridor, paneled floor to ceiling in gleaming white plastic. The corridor was wide enough, but only fifty feet tall. Sarah grimaced. "Looks like I'm crawling from here."

"That won't be necessary," said a trim man with neatly clipped and gelled hair and a smart appearance, as he stepped out from a small doorway. I recognized the person behind the suit and shades.

"Peter, you bastard," I gasped. "You're a suit now?"

"Not just, Eric," he responded. "I'm THE suit, if you will. Top of the brass."

"You always were ambitious," I replied, trying to ignore the explosion of anger welling at my core.

"'Ambition should be made of stronger stuff', my friend. I'm but a hard worker who through constant striving managed to make it to my humble position."

"Always were fond of quotes, as well." My vain effort to parlay the tension into some form of truce.

"I suppose I have a weakness for them." Peter flashed a cold smile, then turned back to Sarah. "Now my dear, we've specially arranged an area for you to view the conference in."

"I suppose, then, dear," Sarah returned with an exaggerated accent on the word 'dear'. "That I shall have to follow you. But I do so only in the company of my man."

"If that must be so," said Peter, slightly flustered by the turning of his own flowery language against him.

He led us into a vast space, about the size of an aircraft hanger. A fifty-foot diameter projection screen was outfitted on one of the walls, currently showing static. "I assume this is what I'll be watching it on?" Sarah asked.

"You assume correctly." Peter replied curtly. "Now, if I may, I will take my leave of you. Dr. Lehmann, you will be expected in the conference room in one hour."

I didn't bother to ask where the conference room was. Peter was already striding out of the area, and I had no desire to bring him back.

"What a prick," Sarah muttered.

"This room is probably bugged," I said as Sarah brought herself as lightly as possible into a cross-legged sitting position. "You might want to be careful of what you say."

"The guy already knows I don't like him. I bet he doesn't like me either. I'm not telling them anything they don't already know."

"Well, he's more of a prick than you know." I confided.

"You mean he does worse than mangle quotes from Shakespeare?"

I laughed along with her on that one, but my mood quickly returned to serious. "He does much worse."

"So, we've got an hour free," said Sarah quickly, trying to steer the conversation off the darkening path it had taken. "What do you want to do with it?"

"I believe the question," I replied. "Is what do you want to do with me?"


We finished forty-five minutes later, leaving me just enough time to get cleaned up and find a change of clothes. When I emerged from the restroom Peter was waiting. He didn't bother conversing, simply gestured for me to follow. Like a pompous butler, I thought.

He led me into a rectangular, wood panneled room with a large table in its center. Around it were seated several dignitaries, obvious by their puffed chests and haughty demeanors. The political scene had lost all of its interest for me after my incident with the military, and as such I didn't know the diplomats' names. The president, however, obviously seated at the front, struck me as looking rather simian.

I took my seat at the opposite end of the table, and Peter went to the forefront of the room, standing in front of a small video screen. Once everyone was seated and the whispers that were prevalent in the room died out completely, the lights dimmed and the screen lit up.

On screen came a birds-eye image, likely taken from a helicopter, of Vanessa destroying a city block. "I'm sure most of you gathered in this room are well of the events that have taken place within the last hour. We've been introduced to an unprecedented threat, which has the ability to destroy most of our populated areas. Due to its fast rate of motion and unbelievable strength, it has been exceedingly difficult to contain said threat.

The image changed to one of the fallen Vanessa, seen from afar. A small figure was just visible at her neck, holding something in place. "Thankfully, a small group of operatives were able to neutralize the threat, allowing some small measure of survivors." Typical of him, I thought bitterly, to downplay my role in the success of the mission, and even its success at all.

"Unfortunately, this prior threat was not the only of its kind." My mind raced. What was Peter talking about?

The video screen lit up once more, this time lit up with another news-feed helicopter shot. A gigantic, blond woman was destroying much more crowded streets, filled with neon. The view zoomed as her delicate hand hefted a bus full of screaming tourists into the air, only to crush them into oblivion.

The letters on the top of the screen read "Tokyo".

And so it was in London, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro. A different giant woman every time, but all of them taking exceeding pleasure in destruction. How could this be? Where had all these giantesses come from?

That's when I remembered. The military never goes in without backup.

The lights returned. The president spoke first. "What can we do about this? None of our strategeries were, uh, construed for such a situation."

A black woman to his left politely cleared her throat, then said, "We obviously don't have enough firepower to safely solve the situation."

"We should just nuke the hell out of them!" A fierce-looking bald man to the president's right growled.

"Think about the cost in civilian lives -" The black woman began.

"Screw the civilians!" The bald man shouted back.

"More importantly," Peter interjected. "Destroying them will only lead to more appearing."

"What other options do we have?" cried a grizzled, gray-haired general.

The discussion was quickly becoming a shouting match. Everyone was looking angry, except the president, who merely looked puzzled. The options were few, I understood, and this was making everyone agitated. I had to take action.

I stood, and loudly coughed. Everyone quickly quieted. "The only solution to this problem," I said firmly, "Is to defeat it at its source. And that source is in another world. We have to destroy the portal that leads to this world, and only then can we worry about neutralizing the threats already here."

There was general silence after that. I clumsily sat back down. What was I getting myself into?

"I concur," said the bald man and the black woman in unison.

It looked like I would be returning to Sarah's world sooner than I'd expected...

Chapter Eighteen


"Don't you understand that we're dealing with an invasion force here?" the General shouted.

"Precisely, but the invasion force will continue to invade unless we close off their attack route." Peter replied coldly. I was surprised he was supporting me on this one.

"General Rathbone is correct," the bald man opined. "We need to take immediate action against the current threat."

"But our current threat isn't the most major concern!" The black woman retorted.

I slipped away the desk and opened the door, claiming softly that I needed fresh air. What I really needed was time to think.

Was the plan really all that foolproof? There were so many things that could go wrong... And deep down, I still had very little trust for the military. I had no choice but to work with them on this, as I didn't have the necessary firepower without them. And who knew? General Rathbone might be right. We might be forced to take desperate measures to eradicate the giantesses.

I stared at the landscape posted on the wall, of fir trees lined against a setting sun. Probably designed to offset the rather bleak interior of the facility. There was a noise near me, and I turned to see Chloe exiting the nearby restroom, dabbing at her eyes.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her as she tried to walk past. "Are you all right?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she said, not looking at me, keeping her tissue firmly in front of her face.

I turned her towards me. "No, you're not. And if you don't tell me why you aren't, it'll put stress on you, and consequently the whole team."

"Okay," she said, removing the tissue to show smudged glasses, behind which were eyes rimmed with red.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a more soothing tone.

Chloe fidgeted with her coat zipper, something I knew she did whenever she was nervous or distraught. It took her a while to answer. "My sister lives in London. She hasn't called yet."

I was slightly stunned. Right here, the tragedy outside was made real for me. Now the thousands of people at risk had a name and a face. Chloe's sister might be dead, I thought. And so might many others. I stroked her shoulder, repeating, "It's okay" over and over. In my mind, I seriously doubted whether or not this was true.

"There's so much that has happened today," Chloe continued. "I don't even know what to think about it all. Normally, I'm so together, but today I'm just..." She stopped then, staring into my face. Then she lunged forward in an attempt to kiss me.

I pushed her away, not as hard as I could have. She stumbled backwards, looking hurt. "Chloe, you know I can't do that," I cried. "I can comfort you, but I can't do that."

She was already walking away, hurrying back into the planning session. I had probably just hurt her feelings terribly, and at the worst possible time. I had no other choice, I told myself. I had an obligation to Sarah.

After waiting a few thoughtful moments, I went into her holding chamber. She was still staring intently at the viewscreen when I got her attention by smacking her on the foot.

"Ow," she said distractedly, but when she looked down and saw me her face lit up with a smile. "Oh, Eric. I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can help me get this whole thing straight."

"As to the plan?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm not part of it, am I?"

"No, you can't be, Sarah. We don't have a portal large enough to allow you to cross through."

"That was my next question. Just to sum it up, you plan on entering my world, finding the portal and destroying it?"

"With a nuclear weapon." I confirmed.

"Isn't that a little... unnecessary? Crazy? Over the top? I don't even know what to think anymore. I mean... what is this going to do to my lab...?"

"Sarah," I said sharply, causing her to look directly at me once more. "This is our only option. We have to stop the giantesses, before they fully invade our world. And the only way to do that is to destroy the portal."

Sarah paused and took a deep breath before she responded. "I trust you," she said slowly. "And I love you. And I know that you have to do this. But Eric -" I saw her eyes were wet and shining. She was tearing up. "What about us?"

And in that instant, I remembered. Destroying the portal might mean that we would never see each other again. But just as quickly I remembered something else. "We'll still have my portal." I said soothingly. "I'll always be able to visit you, even if you won't be able to come back here."

"And how will I return home?" Sarah questioned, slightly hysterically.

"We'll build something," I answered, trying desperately to reassure her. "Just please, be calm. I don't like seeing you unhappy."

She frowned, turning away from me to gaze into the distance pensively. Then she turned back. "Just be careful." She said worriedly.

"I'll handle everything, Sarah. It'll work out fine. You'll even be in communication with us the whole time."

"Really?" she brightened. "How?"

"I managed to figure out away of rigging up the interstellar- er, interplanar communications unit so its somewhat portable."

"Great. Hearing you will make things a bit better." she said with a little more confidence.

"Okay, I've got to get going. We're assembling at the lab for transport." Sarah motioned to get up and follow. "You've got to stay here," I said quickly. "They'll provide you with the communications system. Just make sure General Crazy-Go-Nuke doesn't blow this world to smithereens."

She laughed at that, and I took my chance to slip out the door. I've never been any good at goodbyes, particularly not when I know they could be permanent.


There were ten soldiers assembled before me, as well as a Jeep carrying weapons and the communications tech. Peter was at their forefront; he would be leading one fireteam, I the other. Chloe, due to her fragile emotional state, was subordinated to a position in my team. I worried about how well she'd be able to work given the stress she was under.

Time to focus on the task at hand, I said to myself. I had instructions to give. "At my signal," I said loudly to the crew. "We will step into the portal, soldiers first, vehicle last. There are several odd sensations involved with transport, but do not be alarmed." Christ, I sounded like an airline safety video. "When we reach ground zero, form on me. From there we will divide into fireteams and commence with the operation."

The soldiers nodded their assent. They were good men, obedient, but I still was concerned about the task that lay before them. How would these people react to a world that was nearly infinitesimally larger than they were used to?

"Once the operation is complete we'll use the return triggers to transport us home without the use of a portal."

I still had nagging doubts breaking through my thoughts. No time to worry now. I was first up for transport.

I took a deep breath and stepped through.

The rushing sensation, the gravitational pressure... it was all growing routine by now. I would have chuckled, if I was conscious of having a mouth. Instead, I watched as the tunnel disappeared into blackness, and prepared to come out the other side.


I landed, chest heaving, struggling for breath, on Sarah's countertop. I was able to roll myself aside to assure that I wasn't in the way of the landing zone (although with quantum mechanics at work, I doubted anyone would land in precisely the same area). Then I struggled to regain control of myself.

The teleport had hit me much harder than I'd expected it to; my fault for underestimating it's effects. Third times the charm. I felt like laughing, and half did so, but it hurt my ribs so much that I was forced to stop.

Eventually I regained my strength, and the after affects subsided. All the soldiers had come through, and we were only waiting for the Jeep. Sure enough, the vehicle materialized before us. It was odd, seeing it appear dot by dot, like a computer image being filled in pixel by pixel.

Then we were all assembled. Peter was getting ready to brief, while I scanned the surroundings. There was only one problem.

"It's not here." I gasped.

"What?" Peter turned and faced me, his look slightly shocked. I wondered at how he grasped my meaning so quickly.

"The portal isn't here." I said urgently.

"Oh no," Peter said, his usual flowery language failing him. "What can we do?"

"It's over," Chloe said dismally. "It's all over, we're screwed."

The portal wasn't present, but something else was. One of the soldiers pointed, speechless. Then all of us stood there, bolted to the spot.

In the room was a three hundred foot tall black woman. And she was coming right towards us.

I was the first to break from the frozen position. "Tamyra!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, waving my hands. "Over here!"

A large grin was spreading over the black woman's face. I didn't like the looks of it at all. "Say, if it isn't Sarah's little boyfriend. And he brought some friends along, too." She leaned in close, until her mouth was practically level with us. When she spoke, tsunami waves of hot air pounded me. "This is going to be a lot of fun."

"Tamyra, don't!" I practically squealed. Way to maintain my cool under fire. "We're here because of Sarah! If you don't help us, billions of lives are at stake."

That brought a shuddering laugh which nearly bowled me over. I looked up to see two huge pillars of flesh bearing down on me, with pointed purple-red tips. Tamyra's nails pinced onto the back of my shirt and hoisted me roughly into the air.

I was suspended some 275 feet above the ground, staring into the face of a giant black woman who clearly didn't like me. The situation was as absurd as it was terrifying. Somehow, the novelty of seeing giants just didn't wear off.

"Little man, what the hell are you talking about?" Tamyra asked sharply. Her face filled my vision, allowing me to see every mountainous detail. And from what I gathered, my situation didn't look good.

"My world is in danger," I replied as bravely as I could. "There are women from your world who are trying to invade it. The only way to stop the invasion is to destroy the portal leading to it."

I was easily able to see Tamyra's river-sized lips press together as she contemplated what I had told her. It took her a minute to respond. "Little man, you don't know what I would give to do what I want with you right now." She ran an enormous tongue over those lips, and her eyes pressed shut as she imagined, her voice becoming throaty with a very strange passion. "You don't know what I would give to crush you under my foot, or squash you under a finger, or chew you to bits. I've wanted to have that kind of power ever since I was fifteen. And when I saw you, I knew how I could have that power."

I would've responded, but wisely refrained. I sensed a "but" coming, and indeed it did.

"However," she said, her eyes opening, her lips tightening again. "I have an obligation. Because Sarah is my friend, and I cannot betray her." She began to set me back on the table. "Prove to me that she wants you to do this, and I'll let you."

Luckily, Sarah chose that moment to radio over the communicator. "Eric? Eric, have you made it there?"

"Roger that," I replied into the microphone next to the communications box. "And you just saved my life," I added under my breath.

"I'm satisfied." said Tamyra, looking quite the opposite. She began to turn around.

"Wait," I said, switching the communications box so it would act as amplifier, preventing me from having to shout. "I need you to help us."

The black woman's hips swiveled as she turned, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face, her expression quizzical. I felt some physical attraction to her then, despite myself and her maniacal tendencies. I shelved the erotic thoughts quickly, however. There was work to be done. "How can I help you?" she asked doubtfully.

"Can you get us near the local military facility?" I asked.

"I can do better than that," she smiled toothily. "I can get you in." She flashed a military identification card. And with that, I learned how Tamyra and Sarah met.

Chapter Nineteen


I was slightly amused by the queasy looks of the soldiers around me. They had clearly never experienced purse travel before, and were heavily feeling the effects of it. I for one considered them lucky. At least Tamyra had been considerate enough to empty the purse out before stowing us in it.

One of the soldiers was busying himself taking stock of the inventory, rummaging through the Jeep. "Five shock prods, sixteen grappling hooks, ten assault rifles," he continued to drone.

"Careful not to damage any of that, Soldier." murmured Peter. He seemed to be faring the worst of us.

I decided I needed something to occupy myself, and pulled out the communications equipment. "Sarah, you got any news?"

"Eric, I'm so glad you've called, how's the mission coming?"

"Good so far, we're currently in transport to the military facility, where we think the portal's being stored. How's everything back in my world."

"I won't lie to you," Sarah began. Her tone was filled with concern. "It doesn't look good. With you and Peter gone the General's been arguing more successfully. The president really seems to be listening to him, and even Ms. Arroz is wavering."

I grimaced. If the black woman gave up the argument, all was lost. "Sarah," I said heavily. "I need you to promise me something."

"Anything you need, love."

"If the situation gets out of hand, I need you to control it. Do whatever you deem necessary, but they can't launch weapons. If they do, millions of civilian lives could be at stake. Okay?"

"Yes, Eric. I'll do my best."

"Wish me luck, I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you too."

I hung up the receiver and put my head in my hands. If the General had his way, the whole mission would be a waste. I had a strong premonition that firing on the giantesses would spell doom for the whole planet. Right then, the mission took on a greater urgency.

The sky opened above me, and was instantly filled by a huge face. "We're almost there," Tamyra whispered into her purse. "We've just got to clear security, then I can help you find the portal."

I waved up at her. "Great, just tell us when you hit the checkpoint."

Peter staggered over to me, trying to maintain his balance and looking quite green in the face. "There's a big problem."

"Other than your being sick?" I taunted. I hated the bastard's guts far more than Sarah could ever know, and although it was cruel I relished the opportunity to lord this little weakness over him.

"No." He answered flatly. "We're carrying metal."

Peter's meaning slowly dawned on me. The jeep, the weapons... All of it would be discovered when Tamyra passed through the metal detector. "What do we do?" I asked.

"You're the leader of this mission, you tell me," Peter said miserably, before curling into a ball and dry heaving for a few minutes.

"Pull yourself together," I said dragging him to a sitting position. "Now, we're going to have to figure out a way of taking out the guards without attracting attention."

"Not possible," Peter said with slightly more control. "They're bound to have cameras watching the place. We won't be able to do it without tripping an alarm."

"Damn, you're right." I pondered for a few more minutes. "Check the inventory once more. I think I might have a plan."


The constant rocking and swaying of the purse came to a stop. From somewhere above, a surly voice said, "Okay Ma'm, please remove all metal items and step through the detector."

The roof zipped open, and a tremendous brown hand reached in. Tamyra snatched out a small wallet ten times my size. She left the bag open. Everything was going to plan.

"Now," I instructed the other three men in the Jeep, adding a hand signal to make sure they got the message.

Each of us shot four grappling hooks into the conveniently low ceiling, aiming for the section beyond the detectors. I prayed that the combined strength of the ropes would be enough to hold the Jeep and its precious cargo. Then, we piled into the already packed vehicle and began hoisting it into the air.

We rose above the purse, out into the open lobby. It was a fairly plain affair; two metal detectors, two bored security guards. We were about twenty feet away from the ceiling, hundreds from the ground. I watched as Tamyra walked through the metal detector, fingers crossed.

Nothing. No beeps and no alarms. I wiped the sweat from my brow.

The radio crackled to life. "Okay, make sure they're not looking, then lower yourself to ground level. Tamyra will bend down like she's picking up something she dropped, and take you in the process."

"I already know how the plan's going to work, Peter," I said irritably. "I helped develop it." He always acted like such a know-it-all.

"Okay, now!" Peter yelled.

All of us quickly pressed and held our triggers, causing us to rapidly descend, the grappling hook ropes extending to their full capacity. They were stretching as it was, the rapid descent putting stress on them. But when I looked down, we were still a good hundred feet from the floor.

I cursed quietly over the radio. "The ropes aren't stretching enough. We're still in the air." I said urgently.

Peter swore more loudly than I did. "Okay, she'll go over there anyway, we've just got to hope she sees you."

"No good, Pete." I exclaimed. "One of the guards is turning towards our position." I turned to the other three men in the jeep, carefully bringing out my combat knife, indicating they should do the same. I positioned the knife at the rope.

"Eric, don't do this, the equipment..."

"We've got no choice." The guard was about to see us...

"We can't afford to lose the weaponry!"

"Screw you!" I shouted. Then, to the others aboard, I yelled, "CUT!"

Each of us sliced through the ropes tethering us to the ceiling. There was a sickening drop. I closed my eyes.

I opened them a second later to find I wasn't dead. There were folds of warm brown flesh surrounding me. I saw the overturned Jeep behind me, one of the men crawling out from underneath it.

Then I turned to see the immense face of Tamyra. She was grinning contentedly. I couldn't blame her. A catch like that only happens once in a lifetime, and that's if you're fully aware of what's dropping and where.

Unfortunately, it had also caught the attention of the guards, one of which was striding towards us. I felt myself slipping head over heels off Tamyra's palm as she hastily dumped everything into the purse.

"Ma'm, what were you just trying to catch?"

"What, I don't know what you're talking about." Tamyra replied casually. Her acting wasn't bad, but it wasn't going to save us now.

"Ma'm, show me the inside of your purse."

"Why? I don't have anything to show."

I already saw the guard's hand moving towards the purse opening. If Tamyra didn't think fast, we were doomed. "Let me see the bag." The guard said forcefully.

"Fine," said Tamyra, her tone resigned. Her hand moved towards the bag opening, and the guard bent down to peer in. Then she quickly balled her hand into a fist and smashed into the bending guard's nose.

Then everything was in motion, the purse veering crazily front to back, side to side. The men and equipment were jostled around, the Jeep hurled about the bag, almost rolling someone over in the process. Tamyra was running as fast as she could, and I wouldn't have liked it any other way.

Behind us a shot rang out, sounding like a cannon being fired. Tamyra stumbled slightly but managed to keep her bearings, and continue running.

It was chaotic for a while, all of us trying to stay safe as the bag's contents tumbled about. Eventually, however, the motion slowed, then stopped entirely. The purse opened and once again Tamyra's face filled the opening.

"Everyone all right?" She asked, sounding truly concerned. She slowly tipped the bag so we were able to walk out. Surveying my surroundings, I saw that we were on a counter in what looked like the women's restroom. I took a good look, considering that this would probably be the last time I'd see the interior of such a place.

"Don't worry," Tamyra said as I looked. "No cameras saw us, I made sure of it. And I doubt anyone's going to look in a bathroom during a security alert."

I checked over the remaining men. There didn't seem to be any casualties, although several looked pretty banged up. Then I turned back to my savior. "Thanks for catching us back there."

"It's nothing," she said with a small smile. "What now?"

Peter stepped forward to answer. "All we need to do is locate the portal, then arm the explosives and get the hell out of Dodge."

"So, does anyone have any idea where the portal is?" I asked tentatively.

The other shoulders shook their heads. Peter slumped slightly and withdrew back into the crowd.

"I've got an idea," Tamyra said, chewing her lip. "It may be held in the Experimental Technologies sector."

"How far is that from here?"

"It's on the other side of the installation, so it should take me ten minutes running."

"Your hunch better be a good one," I said grimly. "This may wind up being our only shot."


Tamyra was as good as her word, and it took only ten jarring, nauseating minutes for her to stop. When she did, it was with a loudly exclaimed, "Shit!"

I turned on the amp and spoke through it. "What is it?"

She carefully lowered us to the ground before answering, bending over so she could talk into the purse. Tamyra positively loomed over us. "The door is locked with a two-scanner combo. You need to have both fingerprint and retina confirmation in order to get in, and I don't have either."

"That isn't good," One of the soldiers to my left said.

"What're we going to do?" asked Peter, stepping to the front.

"We have to abort the mission," Chloe said somewhat hysterically.

"No. We've got to hack the scanners, that's the only solution." I boldly stated. "Who here knows their tech?"

Not a single soldier raised a hand, but Tamyra somewhat sheepishly raised hers.

"Okay then, it's you and me, Tamyra. Let's do this."

Without letting me get any other equipment, Tamyra lifted me up, raising me into the air at breathtaking speeds. Soon I was directly in front of the scanning mechanism.

I quickly looked over the device. "No obvious routes of entry," I thought aloud. "Two bolts, possibly screws, on either side of the device, might allow us to remove the plate..." I turned on the amp and spoke to Tamyra. "Do you have anything that we can use to remove those two squarish fasteners?"

"What do I look like, a walking toolkit?" Tamyra rumbled softly behind me.

I turned, getting an eyeful of the tremendous breasts behind me before quickly shifting my gaze to her mountainous face. "No, but do you have something we might be able to use?"

"I don't know," she said irritably, stress showing on her huge face. "Can you use a paper clip?"

I studied the bolt carefully. Yes, there was a small slot on one side of it. If I could maneuver it correctly. "That paper clip just might work."

Tamyra fished in her pocket, then carefully dropped a huge tube of dim, curved metal next to me. Then she moved me close to the bolt. I raised the massive paper clip, and jammed it into the small slot. Then I worked it up and down, until there was a clicking noise. Jiggling it a little in that exact position caused the whole thing to yield, and me to fall over in the process.

The panel swung wide open, revealing a mass of tangled wiring. "Looks like this might be harder than I thought." I muttered before throwing myself onto one of the wires. I slid down the wires until I reached the bottom, and was able to truly admire the awesome clutter of tubes.

"Uh, Eric," Tamyra said hesitantly. "It looks like your friends below are trying to tell you something." She bent down and picked up one of the few remaining ropes, which I carefully anchored and slid down.

I hit the floor, and Peter and a few of the soldiers rushed up to me, carrying the interplanar communicator. "Sarah wants to talk to you," Peter said breathlessly.

I picked up the receiver, then motioned the soldiers away. "A little privacy, please?"

Sarah's voice came through the radio. I couldn't have been happier to hear it. "Eric, honey, how are you doing?"

"Almost there, Sarah. Just got to get through one last security door, then we've made it. I'll be back in no time."

"That's good," she said worriedly. "It's been decided that everything's coming down to a vote. To launch or not to launch. And between Rathbone, the President, and that bald guy, I think his name was Lon... well, they've pretty much got all the votes they need."

"Remember Sarah, I'm trusting you to stop this if it goes awry."

"I know, Eric. You can count on me. But I'd feel better if you were here."

"I'll be there soon, my love. Just be patient." I hung up the receiver. "Now where were we?"

Nobody responded, everyone was too busy looking to the left. That was because a female guard was at the other end of the hall. And she had just spotted us.

The woman rushed us, forcing the soldiers and I to scatter. Tamyra seized the opportunity to plant a hand in the guard's gut. The woman doubled over, but recovered quickly. Soon the two giantesses were in hand to hand combat.

"Quick!" I yelled. "Someone get a shock prod!"

Chloe quickly brandished one of the lethal instruments, running fearlessly towards the guard's black leather shoe. I would have yelled at her to stop, but I lost my chance. Chloe charged the woman's foot, screaming. She managed to leap up to the small shoe's ankle, plunging the shock device deep into the guard.

Chloe sprung away as the guard toppled, falling towards the instrument panel. An outstretched hand fell into the cavity I had opened, ripping through all the wires.

The door opened swiftly. "Well, it just figures." I said with a shrug.

We quickly entered the large lab area. I scanned for the portal, but couldn't find it. I did see something else however. "This is the wrong place. We've found a nuclear reactor." I said unhappily.

"Precisely," said Peter, stepping up briskly. "Seize him."

Chapter Twenty


I was being held by two military men, each of my arms pinned, with an enemy from my dark past in front of me. It had only been a day since I'd been in a similar situation. Possibly less. But this time the stakes were much higher, the confrontation far more serious. I called up, only halfheartedly, to the giant woman in the room. "Tamyra," I called. "Help me!"

Because of the way my captors were holding me, I was unable to look up at the black girl. I just stared at her big, smooth feet. They were gorgeous, curvy things with long toes and an elegantly sloping bridge. Such evil inside the attractive shell. Appearances can be deceiving.

"'Fraid I can't do that." Was the thunderous reply from above.

"She's working for you," I said to Peter. He merely smirked. Then I called up, "But what about Sarah? How can you betray her like this?"

Tamyra leaned over to reply, giving me a view of her ample bust, as opposed to her face. "I've got some bad news for you, Eric. This isn't the first time I've betrayed Sarah."

It didn't take much to put two and two together. "You left those plans out in the open on purpose!"

"More than that," Tamyra said with a dry chuckle. "I've been watching her ever since she joined us. It was my assignment. Us being friends only made that easier."

I wanted to scream and curse at her, expose her for the traitorous bitch she was. But that wouldn't solve anything. So I figured I'd just continue the questions. "But why work for them?" I said, tipping my head at Peter.

"Oh, she's being quite well compensated for her work," said Peter lazily. "I believe we promised you, what, half of North America?"

Tamyra nodded, giving me a partial view of her chin. "My own personal... stomping grounds, let's call it."

My brain reeled at what was being said before me. This made absolutely no sense. "Why would you do that, Peter? What the hell are you thinking?"

"After today," said Peter confidently, "We won't need it."

"Wait," I said, still angry and uncomprehending. "Forgetting even the cost in innocent lives, since when do we not 'need' half of our continent?"

Peter spread his arms in an expansive gesture, taking in the whole room. "We have more than enough space. We could fit three times the world's populace here."

"What?!" I shouted, then my voice immediately broke. "You can't be serious. You can't mean this..."

"We are standing, now, at the beginning of a new era for all humanity." Peter was speaking in a loud, brazen voice. He wasn't talking to me alone, but to everyone assembled there. "This is the day that we leave our tiny world, and embrace what is ours. The land that destiny hath promised us. And now we strike the first blow."

He motioned to two other men nearby, who quickly moved the warhead to the front of the room and began busying themselves affixing it to the base of the reactor.

"You're insane," I yelled. "Their reactors are linked on this world. Do you have any idea how much damage this will do?"

"Enough to cripple their government, and make way for the first wave."

"Cripple their government my ass. It isn't their government you have to worry about. One of their average humans can kill ten of ours in an instant. How do you hope to subjugate a race of beings sixty times your size?!" I ranted.

"I believe you are already intimately familiar with our ways and means, Eric," said Peter slowly, relishing the menace in his words. He pulled out one of the shock devices. "The giants will accept their domination quickly enough. Barring a few initial casualties, of course."

"You're not just talking about taking over this world, you're talking about enslavement..." I looked at Peter with renewed horror. I was dealing with a madman.

"Not just that, but resource harvesting, strip mining, oil extraction. The works. But this has been the plan all along, decided well before we came here. Even before you joined us in the bunker."

"But how did you know -?"

"About this world? Think about it, Eric, you always were so fucking bright." Peter moved very close to me, locking eyes with mine. "We had access to your lab, genius boy. Since you left to fight Vanessa. That's how we knew about the reactor, how we made our deal with your girlfriend's traitor. You were too slow, Eric, and too late. And now, we take this world for our own."

For the first time, I struggled. I kicked and screamed, howled with rage against the folly of my captors. Mutually assured destruction, I thought. An old Cold War catchphrase it seemed the government was itching to realize. They were going to try and nuke all the giantesses on our world, then colonize this one. But all they were doing was ensuring everyone's doom. One of my guards quickly hit me in the gut, and the fight left me.

The two men who had been working on setting up the nuke finished, and came over to Peter. "What should we set the timer to, Sir?"

"Hmm... I want to make sure our friend Eric is here to see the show. Let's say... five minutes?" He signaled the two men holding me to tie me up. They quickly and efficiently did so, using the climbing ropes and tying a triple slipknot. I wouldn't be able to slip my bonds anytime soon.

There was a loud beep from just behind me to my left. The bomb was set. Five minutes until mass destruction. Five minutes until the end of Sarah's world. Five minutes for me to pray.

A loud, blaring noise filled the room, causing everyone to raise their hands to their ears, all except me. Then gunshots rang out.

There was a tremendous impact shock right next to me, and I managed to crane my head to my right. All I saw was a mass of tremendous black hairs, slick with gel. So much for Tamyra. I had to say that I felt very little pity for the traitorous woman.

There were giant guards pouring into the room. Seeing the beings on the floor, they began to fire wildly, instead of doing the sensible thing and stepping on the bastards. I figured it was shock.

Bullets were whizzing through the air, each the size of a cruise missile, as the guards quickly ran towards us. My former team mates scattered, forgetting to use their instant triggers.

The instant triggers! In the chaos since we had found the reactor, I had completely forgotten about mine. I fumbled, trying to maneuver my hand into a position to use it... Just a press of the button and I could be home.

But I couldn't do that. Sarah's world was in danger, and I was the only one in any position to help. I had three minutes to save possibly millions of lives. How could I sacrifice them for my own well being? How could I let the land of the woman I loved fall under my government's control?

I couldn't. So instead, I gauged the paths of the bullets flying around me, and waited until I saw a likely candidate.

Then I triggered Sess. The world went into slow motion. Coming directly towards me was a massive piece of lead three times the length of my body. Even with my raised reaction speeds, it was still moving as fast as a well-pitched baseball. Timing would be everything. If I moved too soon, I risked losing my line of sight. This could cause me to misguess, and lose a limb or possibly my life. But if I moved too late, death was assured...

I waited until the bullet was just ten feet away. Then I twisted my entire body to the left, straining as hard as I could against the ropes. The bullet impacted, sending shockwaves through my whole body as well as the structure I was tied to.

I fell to the ground, the ropes binding me cut. Slowly, I raised myself to my feet, checked to make sure I wasn't missing anything. No, I was whole. So far so good. Now for the hard part.

I first scanned the area to make sure there were no immediate threats. The guards had calmed down, and were now methodically searching out my former comrades, crushing them underfoot once found. There were already many grisly spots of gore on the shining white plastic floor.

Dashing to the warhead, I checked the timer. Two minutes until detonation. I'd have to work as fast as I could. Quickly I whipped out my tool belt, examining the screws on the cover plate of the timing mechanism. A Shlips 2 cm would do the trick. I quickly whipped it out, and began unscrewing the bolts, struggling to keep my hand from shaking. Time was of the essence.

The bolts were off, and I quickly removed the cover. A mess of differently colored wiring lay before me, at least thirty different inch-thick plastic tubes. How could I tell what was what?

I struggled to focus. Look at the timer, I told myself. Just six wires coming out of there. Blue, Orange, Red, Green, White and Black. At least one was a dummy wire, which would cause immediate detonation. At least one would go towards disarming the bomb. One in six odds. Did I care to gamble with my life?

I wiped the sweat off my brow and checked the clock. Just one minute left. The decision had to be made fast. I tugged on each of the wires first. Tugging on black, white and red caused the timer to beep, which I immediately assumed to be bad. Nix those three.

Forty-five seconds. I had to start cutting wires. So I raised my combat knife to the blue wire, and carefully, delicately, made the incision, slicing evenly through.

The timer didn't stop. But the bomb didn't explode either. I released my breath. Thirty seconds. I quickly cut green. Still no change. Orange was next. But still the timer didn't stop.

I had fifteen seconds, and no more options.

Red, white and black. Three choices, all of them bad. Fourteen seconds. What could I do? Millions of lives riding on me. The fate of this dimension, possibly. Twelve seconds. Red, white or black. Which one could I cut? They had all beeped, they were all wrong... Damn it all! Ten seconds. Do or die. I had to make a choice.

Eight. Seven. I raised the knife to a wire, I couldn't even see which one. Hysterical blindness.

Six. Five. Just cut it, you have no choice.

Four. Three. I can't do this. There's no way.

Two.

I pushed my instant teleport trigger. I was gone before the timer hit one.

Chapter Twenty One


I woke to a wasteland.

There was no trace of green to be had in the landscape about me, nor even any color whatsoever. There was a uniform, dead gray. The distant skeletons of a few trees were present. But for the most part, what had once been my home was now an ashen desert.

I was certain that my lab had survived. I had built it to be radiation-proof, nearly immune to destruction and subterranean. Nothing had happened to it. But everything else... At least it wasn't irradiated. The Geiger counter clipped to my belt read normal.

I only managed to think about Sarah after a few minutes, and did so with a mixture of extreme guilt and despair. Had she survived whatever caused this? Where was she? How would I be able to find her? The communicator had been left behind in her world. But we still had the first system she'd created.

I toggled the mic, said desperately, "Sarah, this is Eric. Sarah, do you read?" The only sound was muffled static.

I began walking, because there was nothing to do but to walk. Paranoid visions filled my head. What if Rathbone had succeeded in convincing the council? What if I had arrived a minute after the apocalypse? What if the entire world looked just like what was before me, barren, lifeless and destroyed?

Eventually, I stopped walking. A slight wind picked up, whistling through the eerie silence. I sat down and huddled up, trying to put my thoughts in order.

I came to understand that I was guilty. I had been trying to save two worlds, and failed at doing either. Spread myself too thin. Now both worlds had been left destroyed. Millions of lives lost, and it was all my fault.

Then I criticized myself for being so negative. Just because this place looked ruined, didn't necessarily mean that the entire planet was the same.

And just because I hadn't seen the bomb detonate, it didn't mean that it had exploded. My words sounded futile even in my own head.

My thoughts turned in this morbid cycle for some time. Then I saw movement on the horizon. I leapt to my feet, instantly hopeful. But no, my sense of scale told me that it couldn't be Sarah.

I ran to greet it anyway, feet flying over the ashes of what was once grass. Certainly whoever it was could tell me what had happened. That's all I really needed to know, what happened.

I didn't recognize the face until I was but a few feet away. Her blond hair was grimy, her face smudged with dirt. But I recognized the glasses. I knew who she was.

My hand came up of its own volition, striking her violently across the face. "Chloe, you bitch!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. I lunged wildly at the woman as she struggled to her feet, connecting with her chin. "You and your goddamn military, you're the reason for all of this!"

She backed away on hands and knees, pleading. "Eric, no, I didn't..."

"Yes you did, Chloe! You're responsible!" I shouted, still stepping towards her. All my anger, all my helplessness, all of my guilt came pouring out. It was at that moment that I lost all control.

"Eric, please!" There were tears streaking down her dirty face.

I grabbed her by the shirt collar, lifting her up so we saw eye to eye. I pulled back a fist, and got ready to throw a punch.

"Eric, don't!"

It was a woman's voice, but it didn't belong to Chloe. It was far richer, more sonorous, and easily louder. And it was coming from directly behind me.

I practically dropped Chloe as I spun to see Sarah behind me, a look of immense unhappiness upon her face. "You're... you're alive," I said, unable to find words.

"She's not worth it, Eric. You can't drive yourself to violence, lower yourself like that. You told me that yourself..." Sarah was so preoccupied with what I had been doing that she didn't even notice my astonishment.

"You're alive," I repeated, falling to my knees.

She heard me then. "Yes, yes, baby, I'm alive." She said as comfortingly as she could, stroking me with a finger. "And so are you. At least we have that much."

I was sobbing then, uncontrollably. There were tears sliding down her cheeks as well. "Honey, I did the best I could," I said in a rush. "But it wasn't good enough."

"It's okay," Sarah said, without fully understanding my meaning. "We tried our best, both of us, and if it was too much..." She broke off, then suddenly clutched me close to her, her whole hand pressing me to her breast. I felt her tremendous heartbeat, and tried to derive some comfort even as I heard her words. "They launched the missiles, Eric." She sounded heartbroken.

"No," I gasped softly. But I didn't struggle, I didn't flail. Perhaps it was shock. But I prefer to think that I had somehow seen this coming, readied myself for the mental blow which I knew would hit me.

"Yes," she said tearfully. "Rathbone's vote won out. And I tried to argue with them. When that didn't work I threatened, then became violent. They wound up bringing in the air force, firebombing the place.

"I wound up causing the elevator shaft to collapse," she said ruefully. "They're all trapped down there now. I'm betting sooner or later they'll wind up losing oxygen."

"But they succeeded," I said breathlessly. It still felt like I'd been kicked in the stomach. "It's all over." Sarah didn't reply, but simply grimaced, tears welling up again. "Don't cry, Sarah," I said desperately. "Don't cry yet. You should cry for your own people."

She took me from her breast and stared at me hard. "Tell me what happened." she said firmly through the sadness.

I proceeded to tell her everything, the last few hours gushing out in a verbal torrent. I told her of the absence of the portal, of using Tamyra to transport us, of Peter's mad plans of domination and Tamyra's treachery. Then I told her of the guards, and the bomb, and my attempt to defuse it.

"I couldn't do it," I said bitterly. "I had no nerve. I just wound up pressing the button. I didn't even think, just panicked. And now, it's all over."

She hushed me, then pressed me to her cheek. "I forgive you," she said softly. "It's all right."

"I forgive you too," I said, and it felt like a great weight was lifting from me. The world was over, but we had survived.

"Do you still love me?" Sarah asked, her voice a soft quaver.

"Yes. With all my heart," I said, letting the feelings take over.

She pressed me to her lips then, gently. It was not a romantic kiss, but one meant to strengthen us. We had each other. And we had to use what was in our possession. How else could we keep our sanity?

Sarah lowered me to the ground. I lifted Chloe to her feet. "I'm sorry," I told her. "I just needed to lash out."

"I understand," she said, and she looked as if she meant it truthfully. I suddenly felt a great rush of pity for her, standing alone there, looking small and fragile. She did not have someone of her own. She had no one to support her, like Sarah and I had each other.

I took her in my arms, and held her tight, stroking her hair. Looking up at Sarah, I saw no disapproval. She understood.

"It's okay," I said softly to Chloe. "I'm here for you, Sarah is here for you. We will survive together." The words built my own internal resolve.

Chloe briefly returned the embrace, then moved slowly away. "Thank you," she mumbled.

Sarah leaned down, thankfully disrupting the awkward moment. "We'll need to find shelter, food, water," she whispered. "What should we do?"

"My lab should still be secure," I said solidly. "We'll be able to take refuge there. Plan our next moves."

"Next moves?" said Chloe.

"There are two worlds we know of now, Chloe," I replied. "They are worlds that are now deeply scarred. There are people in each which will be frightened, and homeless, and afraid. They won't know where to turn. Like you, they will think themselves alone.

"They need people to be there for them. They need people to help them pick up the pieces. They need leaders, not bureaucrats holed up in bunkers, launching bombs from afar. They need heroes. But most of all they need faces they feel they can rely on, people to tell them everything will be okay, and help them return it to that state.

"I think, and I hope you will agree with me, that we just might be the people for this job."

There was contemplative silence for a moment. Then, slowly, Chloe began to nod. Sarah followed suit. "We can do this," Chloe said positively.

"We can help," added Sarah.

"We'll do all that we can," I affirmed. And with that, there was a bond between us. We were now allies in a war not against any one mortal enemy, but against the specters of fear and disaster. Though we would part ways, we would always be connected.

Sarah extended her hand, and Chloe and I stepped onto it. Slowly, steadily, she began to stride off in the direction of the lab. There would be talk there, I knew. Possibly arguments. But what we would discuss would shape our efforts, and possibly the new worlds.

For the first time in a long, long while, I felt a glimmer of hope.

Epilogue


It was finally finished.

For over a year now, we had been constructing it. Taking the scrap metal and wreckage from the cities, and using it to build one last time. When the people began to return, hesitantly, to the bombed-out cities, we took them in. They helped us build it.

I had no longer any doubts. It was a scale model, and it would work. But I would not be the one leaving this time. I would just be saying goodbye.

The gate was done.


Sarah was sitting next to me, vast legs curving off into the distance. Nearby I could see a few scattered groups of people watching, there to salute their fellow worker, and say their goodbyes. I knew most of them by face, if not by name.

Chloe was stationed at the portal's controls, ready to initiate on my command.

But for now, I simply lay by the side of my woman, my giantess. I wasn't quite ready to part. Some part of me never would be.

Her lips leaned in and she gave me a soft, tender kiss, nipping slightly at me and dampening my clothes in the process. I reciprocated with an awkward peck as the lips moved away.

"I love you, you know that," I said tentatively.

"And I love you," she said, her voice filled with warmth, tinged with sadness.

"But we can't be together. You have your world to help, and I've kept you from it long enough."

"I don't belong here, it's true," Sarah said wistfully, her gaze growing distant now. "But I do think I belong with you."

"I know you do," I said, my voice becoming frantic even to my own ears. "I know that we should be with each other... But it isn't meant to be." As I said it, the full weight of that knowledge bore down on me. We were not meant to be. I loved her with all my soul, but we were not meant to be.

"I know," she said quietly. "But we will see each other again, won't we?"

"I still have the portal," I said, trying to martial my feelings. "I will return to you someday."

She didn't ask me to promise her. The promise had been in our kiss. It was flowing through our veins. We were so deeply intertwined that I would not survive without seeing her again. Someday.

We kissed one last time, deeply, her mouth gently rubbing all over me, her warm breath tasting sweet in my throat. My tongue brushed against her much larger one. I closed my eyes, already struggling to commit this kiss to memory, fearing it would be my last.

Then she got up, and began to walk towards the portal. I signaled Chloe to begin the sequence. The portal lights lit up.

This was for the best, I struggled to convince myself. Sarah's people needed her back on her world. And I had full confidence in her ability to lead them. I knew she would do great things for her world, just as I would try to do for mine.

The portal initiators turned on. I tried to instill her image in my mind, remember the curve of her hips, that particular sway in her hair, the fullness of her lips. I couldn't forget her. But right then I knew it would be impossible to even try.

The portal laser arced into the center of the gate. This wasn't permanent. I would visit her again. Someday I would return to her. Someday, someday...

The portal initiators finally slid into place, the gate was ready. Sarah hesitated just a brief moment, to lock eyes with me. Then she stepped forwards purposefully, towards the shimmering abyss, and her own world.

There was a bright flash, and she was gone.