I was running as fast as I could, trying to keep up with my dad, who kept yelling at me to hurry up. The ground was shaking violently and, overhead, the sky echoed with the noise of explosions. No-one had expected an attack to happen this quickly, and I was thankful that my family, at least, was prepared. But then I remembered that many of my friends were not, and it was very likely that almost everyone I knew would not survive this war unchanged, or even survive it at all.

It was the year 2107, and my name is Katie Martyn. I was a sixteen-year old girl living in Washington, D.C., where I attended a prestigious high school, and where I lived with my family. My parents were both extremely wealthy, and throughout my life I had never been lacking in anything my heart desired. I was part of the school’s hockey team, as well as the cheerleading squad, and each weekend I loved to out partying with my friends, or go with my family and watch the hovercar races in Virginia. My boyfriend, Hal, was 22, and one of best young racers in the country. He and I loved spending time with each other, and I was already dreaming of the day when we could get married. In short, my life was perfect. I had it all: beauty, talent, a loving family, a gorgeous boyfriend, and all sorts of great prospects for my future. But, while my life may have been perfect, the world around me wasn’t.

Over a hundred years of America telling the rest of the world what to do had led to this. An alliance of nations in Asia, the Middle East and South America had declared war on those countries that called themselves the ‘First World’. It was the beginning of World War III, and, for once, the USA was reluctant to get involved. But after the European Union had fallen in less than two months, our government decided to act. I don’t remember exactly what event happened first, or when (I lived a very sheltered life, something I regret), but I do know that we were not at all prepared for the magnitude of the coming war. In fact, there seemed to be a very real chance that we might not even win.

My parents, being more concerned about the future than I was, did their best to ensure that our family wouldn’t be among the casualties. My dad paid for the excavation of a secret vault, hundreds of feet beneath our mansion, which could only be reached by a secret elevator. Inside this vault he installed three ‘survival cocoons’, as they were called, for my parents and myself. Apparently, these were supposed to be almost indestructible, and they kept you alive inside them by sending you into a deep sleep, and freezing most of your body solid, so that you don’t age. At the time I still thought it very unlikely that the war would ever reach us here, or else I would have begged my dad to send additional cocoons to all my friends, and to my boyfriend. On the night of the unexpected attack it was too late for this, and the only thing I could do was hope that Hal and his family, and all of my friends, and everyone I knew, had the same chance to survive that I did.

I remember that night vividly. I had been at one of the clubs I like to go to, intending to party with some of the girls in my cheerleading squad. Instead, we spent most of the evening watching the unfolding horrors on one of the club’s TV screens, and praying that we weren’t in any danger. And what we saw was really horrifying. The enemy air armada was dropping not only dirty bombs and chemical weapons, but also a terrifying new type of gas bomb, something their technicians had built in secret. It released a glowing radioactive gas on impact, something no-one had ever seen before, and its effect on people was both alarming and somewhat surreal. Anyone who inhaled it immediately began to decrease in size, and we saw on the news scenes of people, shrunken down to mere inches in height, running for their lives, while advancing enemy soldiers in gas masks and body armor either shot these people down, or simply stepped on them. After a while I couldn’t even watch any more, and not even the news that our own Air Force was finally retaliating made me feel better. My ‘perfect world’ had ceased to exist that night, and it was about to get even worse.

At first I was glad when my dad came to fetch me. I just wanted to go home and go to bed, and try to forget what I’d seen on the TV. But his urgent, almost panicked, state frightened me even more, and while driving home, he told me that the time had come to go into hiding.

“You just have to trust in me, sweetie,” he said, as I asked questions frantically. “Just head down into the vault – I’ll go with you, of course – and trust me. Your mom’s not home yet, but don’t worry, I’ll wait for her. You just head on down, and I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

“But…what about my friends?” I asked, feeling close to tears. “They’ll be okay, won’t they?”

“I don’t know, baby…”

“And what’ll happen to me…to us? What happens if we lose the war? Won’t they kill us then? Daddy, what…”

“Shut up!” he yelled. I fell quiet, but couldn’t stop myself from crying. “I don’t have all the answers, Katie! Right now, just do as I say, okay? I’ve been told that Philadelphia’s been hit by that new weapon of theirs – you saw it on the news, didn’t you? If they make it here, and they will…”

He didn’t need to say anymore. I was scared, utterly frightened (I pictured myself getting shrunk and squished under an enemy’s boot), and I couldn’t help but think that this might be my last night. When we reached home Dad didn’t even drive into the garage. He parked on the street and rushed me into the house, just as the horizon to the north began to light up with fire and explosions.

We ran to the elevator, struggling to keep upright as the ground started to tremble. Daddy pressed the DOWN button, and I felt sick as we went deep underground. When we reached the vault he switched on the lights and dragged me over to the nearest cocoon and began the preparations for life support. It was a huge steel box, ten feet by eight by six, with enough space for one person, as well as a compartment containing food, water, and all sorts of items which could help someone survive in whatever world remained after the war was done. After the cocoon was fully configured, Daddy helped me up into the snug, coffin-like compartment. I was feeling dizzy, almost faint, but I said that I wanted to wait for Mom to arrive being put to sleep.

“No, Katie,” my dad said, quietly and firmly. “I’ll call her and make sure she’s almost here, but you have to be safe first. Just relax, and take deep breaths, and we’ll all see each other again when this is over.”

“Promise me, Daddy…”

“I promise, baby. You know I’d never make such a promise if I couldn’t keep it. Now, just close your eyes, and know that we love you.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

I was crying like a baby again, but my dad took my hands and kissed me on the cheek, and I felt a little bit better. Then, without saying goodbye, he closed the lid and activated the hibernation process. The lid had only a tiny window to see through. I held my breath, and watched my dad walk back to the elevator and go back up. I wanted to stay awake until I saw him and Mom coming down safely. But the freezing process had already begun, and the shock of the intense cold made me gasp. In that moment I inhaled the sleeping gas. I watched the world outside the window turn dark, as I drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

It was cold and dark when I woke up, and deathly quiet. The only light came from a small flickering bulb above my head. I could see nothing outside through the little window in front of me, and I was still too cold to do anything, except open my eyes and wonder what had happened. Gradually the compartment began to warm up, and I felt life returning to my body. My tears, which had frozen on my face, melted and rolled down my cheeks. I inhaled deeply, but the air was old and stale. I soon felt strong enough to speak, and called out to my parents for help. But I realized that it was no use, and I remembered that the cocoons were soundproof. Slowly, agonizingly, I began to move my stiff arms, wriggling and fumbling and searching for the switch which will open the lid. Only then did I realize that I was lying on my back. The cocoon must have fallen over backwards, even though I clearly remembered that there had been a wall right behind it. This realization made me gasp with shock.

“Where am I?” I thought. “Am I still in the vault beneath our home? Have I been captured by the enemy and taken away somewhere? Oh, I hope they haven’t caught Mom and Dad! I hope they haven’t caught me! But why haven’t they killed me yet? What do they want with me?”

I asked these questions to myself over and over, without receiving any answers. In the end I knew that there was only thing I could do. Unless I wanted to starve to death inside this compartment, I had to find a way to get out. I began to push every button my hands could find, until at last I hit the right one, and the lid swung upwards, and I was free.

Still lying in the cocoon, I looked upwards in disbelief. Above me was a clear sky, filled with stars, slowly becoming lighter and lighter. It must be nearly dawn, I thought, but I had no idea how or when or why I ended up here, outside, in the open. Lifting my head a little, as if I was afraid of what I might see, I dared a quick look around. It was still pretty dark, but I could tell I was somewhere high up. Not only was the wind bracingly cold, but the ground around me only stretched about ten yards in every direction before sloping away. I had to be on some kind of hill or mountaintop. Still, that wasn’t the weirdest thing.

All around me I could see a collection of small, strangely-shaped structures. The largest were about ten feet tall. There were four of them, shaped like pyramids, only with steeper sides, and they were located at each corner of my container. I sat up to get a better look. There didn’t appear to be anyone about, which was both comforting and rather alarming. To my right, where my parents’ containers should have been, there was nothing, nothing except more of those strange pillar-like structures. The sun was almost up now, and I could see around more clearly. The little buildings around me seemed almost to be falling into ruin, as if they were very old or hadn’t been used in a long time.

“H-hello?” I said. I still didn’t know if I should shout out for help, or remain quiet and hidden. “Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me? Dad? Daddy, are you here? It’s Katie!”

Feeling a bit braver, I slowly climbed out of the cocoon. I saw that it was buried in the ground, sticking out only about two feet above the surface, and this puzzled me as well. Feeling the cold wind more strongly, I wished I had remembered to dress warmly on the night before the attack. I was only wearing a rather skimpy top, a short miniskirt and a pair of flip-flops. But I remembered the survival supplies stored in the back of the cocoon: there had be warmer clothes there. If only I knew how to open it…

While I was wondering what to do next, the first bit of sunlight came shining over the horizon. The light and warmth felt incredible, and I could finally get a good look around. Making my way through the weird ruins, I reached the edge of the mountaintop. I looked down, and was so stunned by what I saw that my legs gave way and I fell on down on my butt. Beneath me stretched a sight unlike anything I’d expected to see. I was looking east, directly into the sun. I’d expected to see the city of Washington, or, at worse, the city in ruins. Instead, there was not even a trace of anything manmade.

Several hundred feet below me, the waves of the ocean beat against a forested shoreline. I was on a small peak next to the coast. Behind me, to the north, west and south, I could see miles and miles of forested land, with only an occasional small mountain, like the one I was on, breaking the monotony. It was all stunningly beautiful, but so frighteningly unexpected that I couldn’t bear to look at it.

“Where am I?” I said aloud. “And where is everyone else?” Then I stood up and abandoned caution and began to scream aloud.

“Hello?! Anyone?! If anyone can hear me, please, I need help! My name is…my name is Katie Martyn, I live in Washington, D.C., in America. My parents are Cole and Sue Martyn, I go to…goddammit, is anyone listening?!!”

I sat down again and buried my face in my hands. I knew I shouldn’t cry, but I felt so lonely and frustrated and scared. My life was over, I thought. I was stuck, all alone, in this desolate place in the middle of nowhere, and I didn’t know what the hell I should do next. I began sobbing, but not for long.

“Stop being such a baby!” I said aloud to myself. “There’s gotta be someone living near here, somewhere – who else could have built all these things? Pull yourself together, Katie! We’re going to find something to eat, and then we’re going to look around, until we find someone who can help. Yes, we’re going to get help, and we’re not going to cry like a pathetic little girl anymore!”

Scolding myself seemed to do the trick, and I felt a little bit stronger. I got up and walked back to the cocoon. There were many switches on the outside, and I knew one of them had to open the compartment with the food inside. The lid had closed by itself again. I grabbed hold and tried to pull it open: maybe there was something in there that could help as well. Not succeeding, I searched for the OPEN LID switch, the only one that was actually marked. I pressed it, and it opened like a trap-door. Inside, in the padded box I had slept in for who-knew-how-long, there was nothing I recognized, but there was something nevertheless. Something that, again, was so completely strange and unexpected that, this time, I shrieked loudly and backed away quickly.

In a corner of the compartment was a tiny man, or rather, a tiny boy, less than three inches tall. He looked a few years younger than me, had dark hair, and was wearing brightly-colored but very simple-looking clothes. When he saw me he fell flat on his face, his hands lifted in the air, as if trying to worship me or something. He stayed like this, even when I dared to come closer to get a better look.

“Is he…was he a victim of that awful gas?” I thought to myself. “He must be, but how did he get in there? Was he there the whole time, frozen next to me, without me noticing? No, that can’t be, the enemy hadn’t even reached us yet when…anyway, maybe I should talk to him and find out where I am. Poor guy, he looks so scared…”

I went over and knelt down next to the cocoon. He didn’t move, so I reached down and picked him up gently. Now I had him sitting in the palm of my hand, looking up at me in fear and wonder. He wasn’t a bad-looking boy – I might have considered going out with him if he were a little bit older, and his usual size, and if I didn’t already have Hal – and I felt sorry for what must have happened to him.

“Uh, hi there,” I said, hoping he could understand me. “You, uh, you wouldn’t happen to know where I am, by any chance? You see, I’m…well, I’m kinda lost, you know…and I’d like to get home as soon as I can. Am I still in the USA?”

He didn’t answer. He just sat there, still as a stone, his mouth hanging open. I was still pretty freaked out myself, though I tried not to show it. This wasn’t something I’d ever imagined myself doing. A tiny little guy, the size of my thumb, sitting in my hand, as if there was nothing at all strange about it. He weighed so little that I could hardly even tell he was there without looking. I wondered where he lived, and how he survived in this place, since everything except him was still normal-sized.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I need to introduce myself first,” I said, trying to sound friendly, and not irritated and despondent. “My name’s Katie, Katie Martyn. I’m sixteen, and I live in Washington. My parents and I hid away in these cocoons when we were hit by the war, but somehow I ended up here, wherever here is, and I’d like to get back home. Listen, even if you can’t help me yourself, could you please show me where I can find someone who can? Your parents, maybe? What’s your name by the way?”

He still didn’t say anything, but at least he began to move. He ran his tiny hands across the skin of my palm, almost like he was trying to make sure he really was sitting in a giant girl’s hand. Then he got up and took hold of my raised thumb, trying to push and pull it this way and that, without success. He looked so absurd that I began to giggle, forgetting for the moment the dire circumstances I was in.

“Okay, that’s enough,” I said. I pried him from my thumb and put him down in my palm again. “I’m just an average high school girl, that’s all. Sure, I guess I look pretty strange to you, but you look pretty strange to me too. Haven’t you seen a normal-sized person before, or what? Now tell me, what’s your name? And more importantly, where are we, and what are all these weird things?” I gestured at the miniature pyramids and other odd structures.

He stared at me for a few more seconds, then exclaimed: “It’s…it’s really you! You’ve woken up! Oh, wow! You’re…you’re…”

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on!” I said, not following him. “What do you mean, ‘it’s really me’?”

“You’re…you’re alive!” he yelled. “You’re really alive, and you’re here, talking to me! O Great One from the Stars, we believed you were dead for so long!”

“Uh, what are you talking about?”

“I mean, our ancestors believed you were alive, but then…”

“Ancestors? What ‘ancestors’? Your ancestors?”

“Yes! They built all these temples in your honor, and they prayed to you to wake up and…”

“What?!” I cried. I must be hearing wrong; nevertheless, I began to feel an awful feeling inside of me, something I’ve felt ever since waking up, but which I tried to ignore. “Your ancestors built all these…things…because of me?”

“Yes, O Great One, but we don’t know what they are anymore. They’ve been in ruins for centuries…”

“Centuries?!!” Tears began to form in my eyes, and I felt like I was going to be sick. What on Earth had happened to me, I wondered. Where was the world I’d left behind? I Closed my fingers around the little boy, not to hurt him, just to show him that I could.

“Stop lying to me!” I yelled at him, hoping that he was in fact lying. “Where am I? What the hell is this place? And where are my parents? Where are the other two cocoons, huh? Where are they?”

“Other two? I…I don’t know what you mean! Please, you’re…you’re c-crushing me…”

“Shut up!! My mom and dad…they were right here next to me! Tell me where they are, so I can go home! Home, do you hear? To America! You know where that is, huh? Do you?”

“A…America? That’s…that’s just an old myth…please…”

“No!!! No, it can’t be! I…oh f-f-fuck…I’m gonna…” I dropped him on the ground quickly and fell down on my hands. I couldn’t handle it all any longer and puked violently. Then, crying intensely and calling out to all the people I loved and would never see again, I collapsed to the ground and wished I’d never climbed inside that horrible, awful device. I’d much rather have died that day, however long ago it was, than be left here, in this strange new world, all alone.

I was sitting on the ground, eating and drinking the food and water I’d found in the cocoon’s storage compartment. The sun was high in the sky now, and the warm light shining on me helped me to cope with everything that had happened. My face was still wet with tears – I’d been crying for hours, I figured. I kept expecting to wake up, to find that I was still in that device, and that my house, my parents and everything I knew was still there. But sooner or later I was going to have to accept that it was just me now. Somehow I’d managed to stay hidden during all that had happened, and for thousands of years afterwards, and now I was apparently the only human from my time still alive. I was the only normal-sized human too: that shrinking gas must have spread uncontrollably during the war, affecting almost everyone who survived. Their descendants, a race of three-inch-high humans, now made up the world’s population.

The boy I’d found earlier was still with me, sitting quietly on my miniskirt, taking in everything I’d told him. His name was Ryu Merlon, and he was thirteen years old. He lived in a community in the forest, a whole day’s walk for him from here, and had come to visit the ‘sleeping giant’, about which his people had told so many legends for ages. He had climbed up the cocoon, but, when I opened it to get out, he fell in without me noticing him. That was how I came to find him in there.

Between bouts of tears, I’d managed to tell him my entire story, though how much he believed me I didn’t know. At the very least I’d managed to get him to call me ‘Katie’ instead of ‘O Great One’, and I think he’d accepted the fact that people long ago were all my size, and that I was no different from him, just much bigger, and from uncountable years in the past. I explained how the cocoon worked to him, but it didn’t seem to help. Apparently his people had lost most technological knowledge over the ages, and things like nuclear power and electricity and space travel didn’t make sense to him. At least people still knew how to speak English, though it sounded a little different. Otherwise my new life would have been a lot more difficult to live.

I’d figured out how to open the back of the cocoon, and what I’d found there both cheered me up and brought back the sadness. My parents had managed to pack a lot of my clothes and other belongings, lots of food, and even a self-erecting tent for me to stay in, in case our house got destroyed. There was a box full of books – old-style books, with paper pages – along with an inflatable mattress and blankets, and even an inflatable raft. I was indescribably thankful to my parents for their foresight, but looking at all these relics of the world that was long gone just reminded me of everything I’d lost. Seeing my school uniform, which I’d always hated to wear, made me think of all my friends from school whom I would never see again, except maybe in my dreams.

While I was thinking I saw that Ryu was getting restless on my skirt. I picked him up carefully, and held him close to my face so I could hear him better. He looked back at me shyly, still half-afraid of me, but also with empathy. He’d told me his parents had been killed by an ishiloo when he was very little, and that he didn’t really have any family left either. (I had no idea what an ishiloo was, but apparently it was some kind of big, man-eating beast. I hope I never run across one.)

“So,” I said, wiping away my tears for what I hoped would be the last time. “Is it still okay if I go with you back to your village? I don’t wanna stay here any longer, and I’d like to get to know some people as soon as possible.”

“Uh, okay, Miss Katie…”

“Not ‘Miss Katie’, please! I’m just sixteen, remember? Just ‘Katie’ is fine. I may be way bigger than everyone else now, but I don’t wanna feel like some kind of freak.”

“Okay…Katie,” he said. I smiled at him, and he actually smiled back. “We can go if you want…but what about all your things?”

“I think I’ll just come back for them later. You said it’s a day’s walk for you, but it can’t be that far for me, right? And I don’t want to walk into town dragging a bunch of luggage behind me. In fact, I think I’ll pitch that tent some distance outside your town – I kinda want a little privacy right now, you know?”

“Uh, all right. We can go. I’ll try and walk faster…”

“Don’t be silly! I’ll carry you, of course. You barely weigh anything, so it’s not like I’ll get tired…”

He looked at me in wonder. I could already tell that his people’s world is going to change dramatically once they see me.

“Thanks,” he muttered, blushing a bit. “Um, Katie, could I…could I perhaps sit on top of your head? I’d like to get a nice view.”

“Aren’t you scared you might fall off? It’s a long way down…”

“I could hold onto your hair. You’ve got such nice long hair.”

I laughed a little, and he blushed again. Despite him trying to act cool and natural, I could tell that he was a little, uh, let’s say ‘smitten’ by me. Not that I was surprised – guys had fallen for me all the time, even thirteen-year old guys – but I didn’t think anyone would ever have thought that an attractive girl one-hundred-and-forty feet tall was still attractive. Having lost the man I was completely in love with, I really didn’t feel ready to start another relationship, but I guess it couldn’t hurt having a little admirer.

I agreed, and put little Ryu down on top of my head. My hair, which was strawberry blonde and almost waist-long, was my most beautiful feature, or so Hal had told me. (But then, he’d also said the same thing about my legs, my breasts, my eyes, my hands and my lips.) Ryu lay down on his stomach, spread out his arms and legs, and held on tightly. His tiny body tickled my scalp, and I pressed down on him gently with my hand to make sure he was secure. I stood up and headed over to the edge of the cliff, and looked down on the calm, blue ocean.

“Wow!” my mini-passenger exclaimed. “You can see everything from up here! You must feel like, I don’t know, a…a walking tower or something!”

I laughed again. I told him that everything was still the same size it had been in my time. Plants, insects, rocks, the ocean’s waves, everything was normal-sized. Only humans seemed to have been affected by the shrinking gas.

“I’d like to go down to seashore sometime,” I said. “It looks so beautiful down there. But right now I’d like to meet the rest of you little guys. Will you show me the way?”

I made my way down the grassy slopes of the hill, until I hit the trees of the forest and the ground began to level out. The forest was lush and beautiful, but not at all difficult to walk through: it reminded me of walking through a wooded city park. Ryu kept on making comments from on top of my head, and I laughed out loud when he let slip how nice he thought my hair smelled.

“Let’s hope I’ll be able to wash it from time to time,” I said. “Otherwise it might not smell so nice before long.”

“Don’t worry about that, Katie. There’s a river that runs right next to where we live, and a large lake some distance upstream. You could take a bath there, if you want.”

“You bet I want. Just tell your people not to come close whenever I’m there, okay? Unless they want to see their ‘sleeping goddess’ naked.”

“Well, uh, I thought you…”

“That’s a ‘no’, Ryu.”

“Um, I…I understand. Sorry…”

“That’s okay. Now, how much farther is it?”

After another thirty minutes of walking Ryu warned me that we were getting close to his home. After my long confinement I must have lost a little of my strength, since my legs were pretty tired already. I sat down in the shade of a large and beautiful tree, though what kind of tree it was I didn’t know. There were so many new things I saw in this world, things that were strange, yet familiar at the same time. Even the sky seemed to be a different shade of blue, and a half-moon rising above the tree tops appeared a little larger than the Moon I remembered. It began to strike me that maybe it hadn’t been just a few hundred, or even a few thousand years since that awful evening when my life changed.

I held my hand against my forehead, and Ryu gladly climbed down into it. I put him down on the ground, next to my outstretched legs, which immediately drew all his attention. He was only half as tall as my thigh. I told him he could climb up into my lap, but he declined. Maybe, I thought, he was nervous about what might happen if he didn’t manage it. It would definitely be embarrassing for a guy to be seen failing to climb up a girl’s leg.

“I could go on ahead, if that’s okay with you,” he said, walking up and down along the length of my thigh. “No offense, but you really are massive compared to… well, us ‘little’ people. You could scare everyone to death if you just walked into town.”

“So you’ll go ahead and warn them? Good idea! Let’s hope they believe you first. But in case they don’t, here, you can take these.”

My little skirt didn’t have any pockets, so there was nothing there I could give him. All I could think of was the pair of pearl earrings I was wearing. They’d been a gift from my mother, and I’d had them for ages. I took them out and gave them to my little friend. He needed both hands to carry them, and once or twice he accidentally dropped them. I didn’t mind, though.

“Thanks, Katie!” he said appreciatively. “I’ll bring them right back…I won’t let anyone take them.”

“Oh, it’s fine, really! Keep them as long as you like. Why would I still want to wear earrings, anyway? There’s just no point anymore.”

“Will…will you…be all right?”

“Yes, thank you. Just go now, okay? I’m getting hungry again, and I don’t wanna be stuck in this forest, alone, for long.”

I curled up my legs so he wouldn’t have to walk all the way around them. After a hasty ‘goodbye’ he disappeared behind the tree I was lying back against. I sighed and closed my eyes. The sounds of the forest – leaves rustling in the breeze, strange birdcalls from unseen birds, the sound of a river far in the distance – helped to ease my mind, and I didn’t begin to cry again. I just wished, over and over, that events had been different. If I had just done one thing different, perhaps I wouldn’t be here right now. But such thinking was pointless.

“I’m here, now, and that’s that,” I thought. “Nothing, nothing is going to change that. What had happened was awful, horrible, but I can’t let it take hold of me. I’ve got to at least try and carry on living here, maybe it will all turn out all right in the end. If only there was a…a place for me here, where I could fit in. Where I could be happy again.”

I nodded off in the shade, and woke later with a stiff back, and still no sign of Ryu. I thought he might have run into trouble, but just then I heard a sound. It was the sound of voices – many, many voices, though they were soft – and I realized they were coming from behind the tree. Where the village lay. I stood up and stretched, then walked around the great tree trunk. I almost got the shock of my life.

Just a few yards in front of me stood a huge and diverse crowd of tiny people, none of them taller than three inches. They seemed to be mostly men, but there were a handful of women and young boys as well. They were a mixture of many different races, but their voices and accents varied little between one person and the next. Men and women both wore plain and simple clothing, though it could come in any color, and was often adorned with small leaves, feathers and flower petals. Some of the men carried bows, others spears, and others still a kind of small, primitive-looking handheld cannon. Upon seeing me, the group as a whole stopped dead in its tracks. I heard some people scream, and saw a few faint as well, but most of them stood riveted to the ground, unable to move a muscle.

One of the tiny folk came running towards me; it was Ryu. He ran all the way to tip of my toes and bent over, out of breath. I bent down and scooped him up, before he could get a peek up underneath my skirt – not that I would really mind that, I just didn’t want him to get any, well, ‘ideas’.

“Look…Katie…” he panted, lying on his back in my cupped hand. “I’ve…brought them…everyone! They still didn’t believe me…but I got them to come!”

“Oh,” I said. Though the people were miniscule, there were a lot of them, and I wasn’t exactly comfortable in front of crowds. I hugged Ryu tenderly against my stomach and began approaching the mob. None of them moved or ran away, but as I got closer I could hear cries, murmurs, gasps and whistles erupting from the crowd. I approached to within a foot of the nearest of them, towering over them like the goddess they must have thought I was.

“Hi, uh, everyone,” I said. “I’m Katie Martyn. I…well…I guess I’m your newest citizen. Pleased to meet you!”

The young men who made up the first few rows of the crowd were staring intently up at me, and I blushed as I realized why. Feeling self-conscious, I pressed my thighs together.

“Okay, uh, are we just going to keep standing here? I was told I would be welcome in your town, or village, or whatever. If that doesn’t happen soon, I might get angry and…”

I lifted up one foot and held it over the nearest row’s heads. Everyone ducked down or ran away, and a panic began to spread through the multitude. I regretted my stupid joke, and immediately put my foot on the ground again. At that moment I saw something  utterly strange. A small animal came running up to me, alongside the crowd. It looked like nothing more than a small dinosaur, less than two feet long. It had a birdlike neck, long arms and legs carrying sharp claws, and a long tail sporting a fan of red feathers. The rest of the animal was cover in blue feathers. It opened its mouth and chirped, and I saw rows of gleaming teeth.

Riding on top of the animal, in some sort of saddle-like contraption, were several men. They were dressed just as simply as most of the others, but their bearing clearly showed that they were leaders of some sort. One of them, a well-muscled man in his thirties, dismounted and approached my feet. He went down on one knee and looked up at me.

“Mighty stranger,” he said, addressing me. “Please, do not be angry at us. We all came to see you for ourselves, because none of us believed that boy’s story. But we can see you now. My name is Carn Cosell, and looking after this community is my responsibility. I would like to invite you into our village, but I cannot be sure of your intentions…”

“Oh, don’t worry,” I laughed. “I was only fooling around just now. I won’t do it again, and I’m sorry. Of course I’m not going to hurt you, or anyone else. I just…maybe I should tell you my story first?”

“If you wish. But why not come with us first? Our home is not far away, and you must be tired from your long journey down from your mountain…”

“Nah, not really. But thanks a lot. I’ll definitely come with you…speaking of, should I just follow the group, or what?”

“You can follow me, great lady. We will ride on the fessofar you see before you. It’s a swift bird, but I believe you can keep up.”

“No problem! Ready when you are.”

I put little Ryu on my left shoulder and told him to hold tight. He grabbed hold of both the fabric of my top and my dangling hair.

“I’ve never been called ‘great lady’ before,” I whispered to him as we set off. “You did tell them exactly who I am, right?”

“Well…I may have, you know, exaggerated a bit…”

“Great. Just as long as no-one starts worshipping me, or…god forbid, what if someone wants to…you know…copulate…” I made a grimace, then burst out laughing at how stupid I sounded. Ryu just sat there on my shoulder, quietly. He didn’t seem his usual, cheery self.

“Hey, I wasn’t talking about you!” I said, giving him a little prod with my finger. “I was just…oh, never mind!”

I let him be for now. My new life was about to begin, and I didn’t want to screw it up by making an ass out of myself. Carn and his buddies were riding ahead of me on their dinosaur-bird-thing, while the rest of the people were walking along somewhere behind. As of that moment, I wanted nothing more than to become part of their community, though I could tell it wouldn’t be easy. Either I would have to adapt to their way of life, or they would have to get used to me and my personality, not to mention my ridiculously huge size.

“It’ll be weird for all of us,” I thought. “But…somehow…I don’t think it’ll be that bad. In fact, it might even be kinda fun.”

I bit into the large juicy fruit I’d been offered by the little people. It tasted fantastically good, like nothing I’d ever tasted before, and I wasted no time in devouring the rest of it. Afterwards I gave a little burp and wiped off the juice running down the sides of my mouth, before remembering that the whole town had been watching me eating like a pig. I felt a little embarrassed and apologized for my bad manners.

“That nanwan fruit could have fed our entire community for a day,” their leader, Carn, said.

He was sitting on the peak of his hut’s thatched roof. I was reclining against a cliff face next to his hut, and he was still only as high up as my chest. Before me lay the whole village, a widespread collection of wooden huts and structures, with small and large farms intermixed between them. It looked very picturesque, especially with a large dividing river between the two halves of the village, and a row of forested cliffs along one side. I wouldn’t have minded living here, if only I were the right size.

“Gosh, I’m sorry,” I said, feeling bad. “I thought you were offering me the whole thing.”

“We were. I was merely remarking upon your prodigious appetite, O Great Katie.”

“Ugh, for the last time, it’s just ‘Katie’! Not ‘Great One’, or ‘Great Stranger’, or ‘My Lady’ or anything else of that kind. I’ve told you who I am, and where I came from, and how I got here. So you can at least pretend to believe me, even if you think I’m making it all up.”

Telling these people the story of my life hadn’t been easy, with the memories of what I’ve lost still so close to me, and, though they seemed immensely interested in it all, I wondered if much of it didn’t go right over their heads. They couldn’t quite grasp how I was able to survive for so long while frozen. I was told that the average lifespan of their people was only fifty years, and was stunned. No wonder Carn Cosell and his male friends were referred to as ‘elders’. They still looked young and vigorous, but they assured me that some of them had less than ten years left to live. Whatever the reason for this drastic change, I could only hope that it didn’t apply to me as well.

When I related how I went on a vacation with my family and my best friend Betty to a hotel on the Moon during sixth grade, there were gasps and cries of disbelief from my audience. While the ‘elders’ were arguing amongst each other over the truth of my tale, I wondered if that hotel in Tycho Crater was still there.

“Surely that god-awful gas didn’t spread all the way into space,” I thought. “I mean, that would be just…well, impossible, really. Maybe there are still normal people up there, who don’t want to return to Earth in case it’s not safe.”

With the little folk discussing and contemplating my story and paying no attention to me, I took another of the odd fruits some of the villagers had carried in from the forest, just for me. This one was apricot-sized and bright pink, and I ate it more slowly this time. Then I saw a small group of women advancing up the length of my outstretched legs. They were struggling with a wheeled cart, upon which rested a hollowed-out nutshell filled with water. It was the size of a coffee mug to me, but it must have been extremely heavy for them.

“Thank you,” I said, reaching out and taking it. “I was so thirsty. But you don’t have to put in so much effort just for my sake. I can easily fetch my own water; I mean, the river is right over there.”

“We were just fulfilling our duty to you, Katie,” one of the women said. Her name was Eleret; she was Carn’s wife, and had been charged by her husband with making sure that I didn’t lack anything I desired.

“Thanks, ladies, but I can look after myself. If there’s something I really do need your help with, I’ll let you know.”

I then looked over at the little house beside me. Carn and the other men had stopped talking amongst themselves, so they must have reached some agreement, but I could tell that not all of them were happy.

“So, guys, what’s the verdict?” I asked. I should probably have addressed them with more respect, but somehow I didn’t feel like it, what with me being so much more powerful than all of them combined. “Do you believe me or not? And would it be okay if I came to visit you now and then? You know, just to make friends, help out, that kind of stuff?”

“We do believe you, Katie,” the young leader said. “We are satisfied that you are not here to harm us. We also trust that you will not reveal the location of our community to Penton or any of the other city-states. We are fugitives, after all.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. You didn’t want to live under that city’s evil rulers, right? Sorry, I kinda forgot most of the stuff you told me earlier – this is all too much for me to take in at once. But yeah, you can trust me. I won’t tell anyone where you live. In fact, I don’t think I’ll go anywhere near those cities – who knows what they’ll try and do to me if they see me?”

“Good. That’s what we wanted to hear. Now, about where you’ll be staying…”

“Already ahead of you, Carn! Ryu – that boy who first found me, that is – told me about this huge lake upstream. I think it’ll be perfect to put up my tent right next to it. Then I don’t have to worry about finding fresh water all the time, and I’ve got somewhere to wash myself and my clothes too.”

The elders began to whisper heatedly amongst themselves. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, and I wished they’d talk to me directly if they have a problem.

“What’s the matter?” I asked. “It’s not close to your village, so I won’t be bothering you at all. And I promise I won’t pollute your water supply or anything. I’ll scoop the water out of the lake before washing my clothes.”

As I waited for them to reply I reached out my hand for another fruit. I didn’t look at it before putting it against my mouth, assuming it would be just as delicious as the previous two had been. Instead, as I bit into it, I heard a piercing scream, and felt something large and alive squirming in the front of my mouth. I immediately spit out everything in my mouth into my hand, and was horrified by what I saw. Curled up in my hand, covered in saliva and bits of fruit, was a young girl. I recognized her as one of those who had brought me the water. She was about the same age as I was, and she looked so scared that my initial anger at her disappeared.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry!” I cried out, looking for something to clean her off with. “I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t see you there…I am such a stupid, stupid idiot…”

Finding nothing, I resorted to rubbing her gently against the fabric of my top. Sure, it would get dirty, but I didn’t plan on wearing it much longer anyway. (Several of the elders had already complained about my attire, or lack of it – though I still thought they were being a bunch of prigs.) I’d managed to get most of the stuff off of the girl without hurting her, all the while apologizing, though I wondered what she’d been doing sitting on the fruit in the first place. When I was satisfied with how clean she was I put her down on the ground next to my leg. Immediately a pair of men stepped up and grabbed her roughly by the arms, and she screamed again.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked, not quite getting it.

One of the elders spoke up. His name was Fott Orisel, and it wasn’t difficult to see that he clearly hadn’t taken a liking to me. He’d been the first to complain about my outfit, and he’d also made a scene when Carn suggested that I should be served some of the fruit, which he said were not permitted to ‘people like me’. Of course I’d been friendly the whole time, but I guess some people will always have something against those who are different.

“That girl had forgotten her place,” the man said. “That food was meant for you, and she wasn’t supposed to touch it. For this disobedience she will be whipped.”

“What!? Are…are you serious? It was just an accident, that’s all! Is this how you usually deal with accidents here, Carn?”

“I…well, I suppose there’s no harm done. Would you like us to release her, Katie?”

“Duh! Of course!”

With my finger I pushed back each of the men who were holding the girl. They staggered back a few feet, completely overcome by my vastly superior strength. I then wrapped my fingers around the frightened girl and picked her up.

“Hey,” I said reassuringly. “Don’t be scared, okay? No-one’s gonna hurt you, I promise. What’s your name?”

“It’s…Katia,” she said, bravely looking me in the eye. I knew she’d still been afraid of me, but once she saw that I wanted to protect her she lost most of her fear.

“Katia? Why, it’s almost the same as my name! Nice to meet you, Katia.” She gave me a nervous smile and I smiled back. Then I looked at Fott and the other men on the roof.

“If any one of you try and hurt this girl, I’ll personally break every bone in those tiny, helpless bodies of yours. Are we clear?”

To illustrate my point I made a fist out of my hand and held it in threateningly in front of the group. Fott gave me an evil look, then he and his pals climbed down, out of my sight. Only Carn and one or two others remained. With my other hand I carefully put Katia down on the ground again. She mumbled a ‘thank you’ and waved, before dashing off into the village. I didn’t blame her; with things being as tense as they were, I didn’t want to hang around any longer either. Besides, the sun had almost set, and the last thing I wanted to do was scramble through the forest in the dark. I stood up and looked down at all the tiny people at my feet.

“Thank you again – for the food, and for, well, not trying to kill me the moment you saw me! I don’t know if we’ll all get along any time soon…but I would very much appreciate it if you would all treat me like a…like a human being, I guess.”

Many voices below me began to talk amongst themselves, but Carn silenced them from his rooftop perch. There was no sign of all the elders who had left – I figured they were really, really infuriated by my uppity behavior.

“We must admit,” he said, “you aren’t like anything we’ve ever encountered. This will be a challenging time for all of us, Katie, but, if you promise that you will abide by our rules and not try to hurt us or destroy what we have, then we will not be unwelcoming. Your giant size may even be of service to us, and we – or I, at least – am confident that you will soon feel more comfortable among our community and our people. Also, you have my word that the girl, Katia, will not be harmed – but do try and be more careful during your next visit.”

“Sure, I’ll try, I promise. First day is always the hardest, isn’t it? I’ll come by again tomorrow, and hopefully then I’ll get to know more of you, and learn a bit more about the world I’m going to live in. Anyway, thanks for everything! Goodbye now!”

It was almost dark and the stars were already out by the time I got back to hill where I’d awoken this morning. It already felt like a lifetime ago! I was overcome once more by the devastating emotion of the life I’d lost, and I tried not to cry as I ate some of the hibernation pod’s supplies for supper. Then there were all the frankly embarrassing moments during my visit to the little people which upset me. I hoped that I could get at least some of them to like me soon: I really didn’t want to be stuck here without any friends.

“At least I’ve got Ryu,” I thought to myself. “He seems to like me…a bit too much, if I’m honest. Oh god, I hope he doesn’t think I’m ‘interested’ in him or anything! How the hell am I even supposed to have a relationship with someone the size of my finger? Shit, why did all this have to happen to me? Why?”

I decided to go to sleep early, despite the fact that I’d just ‘slept’ for what must have been ages. While things could have been worse, I wasn’t happy with my ‘entrance’ into the lives of the tiny people. I guessed I’d already made a few enemies, judging by the way Fott had glared at me before storming off, and I wanted to ‘start over’, as it were. Also, I wanted to get up early tomorrow, so that I could carry my tent and all my clothes and supplies down to the lake, which I could see glimmering distantly in the moonlight from up here. It would take several trips, and use up a lot of time, but I didn’t want to sleep one more night in that abominable tomblike cocoon than I had to.

Still, that was the only place I could sleep that night that felt safe. I didn’t close the lid, despite the night being cold – I was really scared that the machine might somehow activate again, and send me another thousand years into the future. Instead, I searched around in the back for blanket, and found one I could throw over myself. Then I lay in my cramped cocoon and looked up at the stars, until I fell asleep.

The next morning when I arose, like a vampire from its coffin, I felt much better. In fact, I almost felt like a new person. The sun was shining, but a cold wind was blowing from across the ocean, and the world around me seemed a lot more beautiful than it did yesterday. I don’t know why, but suddenly I felt ready to begin a new life, to make the most of what fate had dealt me.

“Look out, new world, giant-size Katie is here, and I’m not letting you beat me down again!”

I actually said that silly-sounding line out loud, and I didn’t care that anyone might have overheard me. I did care that someone might be watching me while I got dressed, though, so I went over to the seaward side of the hill and climbed down its side a short bit. Feeling a bit more sheltered, I took of all my clothes from yesterday and put on some new ones I’d found in the cocoon: fresh underwear, a pink T-shirt, denim jeans, a white fleece jacket and a pair of sneakers. After that I ate some breakfast – bread and biscuits, mostly – and began to organize my things for the trek to the lake. I was craving a warm bath by then, but I decided to wait until the day’s work was done before trying out the lake’s waters.

It would take me at least three or four trips back and forth to bring everything I needed. On the first trip I took the tent and an inflatable mattress, packed into two bags, one on my back and one in my arms. They were made out of the lightest, most modern materials, but still weighed a lot in my opinion. I was quite fit, luckily, but I knew I would feel completely exhausted by the time I was finished. I could see the blue waters of the lake from up here, and headed off in that direction, trying to keep going straight.

Down in the forest the cold wind had slackened to a cool breeze and, since I could go most of the way in the shade, it wasn’t as tiring as I’d thought. It took me about forty minutes to reach the lake, and I realized it was totally worth it. Almost a mile across, its blue, blue surface looked like heaven, and I wanted to jump in right then and there. The trees of the forest came right up to its sandy shores, and when I dipped my hand in quickly it felt gorgeously warm. But duty came first, and I began to look for a place to camp. I didn’t bother looking far, and set up camp as close to the water’s edge as I could.

Erecting the tent was easy – all I had to do was read the instructions and pull a few cords, and the self-erecting mechanisms did the rest. Ditto for the mattress. I chucked it in the tent, zipped up the entrance to keep out any unwanted guests, and headed back for the next batch of things. Without having to carry a lot of stuff, I practically jogged back, and twenty minutes later I set off again with another heap of things I felt I would need. Five trips later I called it a day, and began the task of sorting out everything I’d brought.

I’d brought all my clothes, even ones I wouldn’t really wear a lot, because I didn’t want to do the laundry any more than was absolutely necessary. I’d also brought all the canned food and other supplies – they wouldn’t last for long, I realized, and I would be forced to learn how to fish, or gather fruit in the forest, or maybe even catch small animals. I’d also brought a portable electric light, flashlight, rechargeable solar batteries, portable stove, cutlery, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, toothbrush, hairbrush, other small cosmetic items, walking boots, blankets, pillows, the box with the books – everything I would have taken on a normal camping trip, I guess. I couldn’t believe how thorough my parents had been when they packed that compartment – they’d clearly expected the worst to happen, and it did – and I thanked them with all my heart, even though I knew they couldn’t hear me.

The only things I’d left behind were a crate filled with electronic equipment – useless now, I thought – and the inflatable raft, which I didn’t want to drag anywhere unless I absolutely had to. By the time everything was in its place it was way past noon, and I was pooped. I yearned to take a swim, but I decided to take a short walk first along the lake’s shore, just to get familiar with my environment. I was sweating by this time and took off my jacket. I grabbed a still relatively fresh looking apple from my supplies and set off towards where the river which drained the lake must lie.

Eventually I found the spot where the river flowed out of the lake, but that wasn’t the only thing I found. A miniature canoe, less than a foot long, with a tiny sail and everything, was drawn up on its bank, and three tiny figures were standing next to it. I recognized one immediately – it was Ryu, of course – and the other two were boys of about his own age. I approached them and decided to say ‘hi’.

“What’s up, little guys?” I said cheerfully. “Come to pay your new neighbor a visit?”

The two unknown boys didn’t move or say a word, but Ryu came running up to me with great eagerness. I sat down on the river’s edge and waited for him to reach me. When he did I stretched out my hand and gave him an embrace with my fingers, but I didn’t pick him up. He seemed really pleased to see me, and came right up to me and stood next to my thigh, looking up at me in admiration.

“Hello, Katie!” he said. “It’s really good to see you again!”

“Why, thank you, Ryu, it’s nice to see you too! I hope it hasn’t been too hard for you, spending a whole day without me – I was worried you might not make it!”

He blushed quite conspicuously, and there was no doubt left in my mind that he had a crush on me.

“Relax, I was just kidding!” I said. “Why don’t you introduce your two friends?”

“Uh, sure. Hey, guys!” he called. “Guys, come over here!”

The other two begun to move in our direction, definitely not in any kind of hurry.

“They’re still a bit…scared, I think,” Ryu explained. “It was really hard to get them to come with me, they really didn’t want to meet you.”

“’Cause I’m a giant, right?”

“Well, not just that – it’s mostly because you’re a giant…girl.”

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t really fancy becoming the object of lust for every teenaged boy in the village – but, then again, that did give me some sort of…status, I guess, in their eyes. The boys had joined us by now and I could see them more clearly. One looked exactly the same age as Ryu, though he was a bit shorter. The other one was tall and athletic-looking, and definitely a bit older than the other two – about fourteen or fifteen years old, I guessed.

“Katie, these are my friends, Sai and Emmon. Guys, this is Katie, she’s – well, I guess you already know who she is. Everyone does.”

The two of them mumbled greetings, but backed away when I tried to touch them. Ryu went over and grabbed Sai, the younger boy, and dragged him towards me.

“Say hello to Katie, Sai. She’s not going to eat you, so you don’t have to be scared of her.”

“But…but she’s so…so big and…and huge…”

“Yeah, tell me about it!” I joked. “A grand total of five feet and eight inches – freakin’ massive, that’s what I am!”

“Wow!” Sai lost a little of his fear and walked up all the way to my knee. He touched the fabric of my jeans. Then he grabbed on tightly and scrambled up onto my leg.

“Wow, this is just…wow!”

“Lost for words, huh?” I laughed as he ran all the way to my shoe and climbed onto it as well. Ryu soon joined him, but Emmon hung back, uneasy.

“We should go back!” he called to his friends. “Come on, there’s nothing more to do here!”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong,” I said. “You see, I’ve been working my ass off all day, getting my camp set up and all, and I’d really, really like to go for a swim in that lake. I would have been fine going alone, but, with you guys here, it’ll be a lot more fun. What do you say?”

There was no answer, and even Ryu looked hesitant. I wanted to egg them on, but then realized that what might be a safe place to swim for me wasn’t necessarily for them.

“Damn, I forgot – you guys are a lot smaller than me, aren’t you? You’d be an easy meal for a fish – or whatever else lives in there. Crap, now I don’t feel like going either…”

“It’s all right, Katie,” Ryu said. “There’s nothing living in the lake now. It’s autumn, and the fish only come in from the sea in spring. You can swim there if you want – just, please don’t tell anyone about it.”

“Uhh, okay. May I ask why?”

“There’s a bit of…trouble in the village. More and more people are saying that it’s better if you just leave, and never come visit again. People are scared of you, and they don’t like the way you behave.”

“They sound like a bunch of grouches to me…but I guess I’ll just have to show them I’m not a threat, or they’ll be coming for me with pitchforks and torches, haha! Hey, why don’t I take you back home after our swim…that is, if you’re still keen on joining me…”

“I want to go!” Sai said excitedly – he’d quickly turned into another admirer, I thought amusedly.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll come too,” Ryu said. “You’ll look after us, won’t you, Katie?”

I smiled at his straightforward request, glad that it didn’t make him feel ashamed to ask for my protection.

“Sure I will. How about you, little fella? You coming too?” I addressed Emmon, who still didn’t look comfortable. He gave me a bad look.

“My name is Emmon, and I’m not little!” he yelled back. “I don’t have to come if I don’t want to. And I don’t need a girl to look after me! I can do that myself!”

“I never said you needed…”

“You’re not better than me, you know! You’re still just a girl, no matter how big you are, and I’m not scared of girls!”

“Oh, I can see that. Well, suit yourself, big man. Guess I’ll see you back at the village then.”

I lifted the two boys off of my leg, then got up and looked back in the direction of my tent.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” I said. “I’ll go and change, and then I’ll meet you back here. That okay with you?”

They nodded in agreement, and I turned and started to leave. I hadn’t walked two steps, however, before I heard screams behind, and frantic calling of my name. I looked down and saw the three of them, Emmon included, running across the grass towards me with great speed. Ryu reached me first. He jumped onto my shoe, climbed up it like a miniature monkey, and grabbed hold of the bottom of my denims. The others had climbed onto my shoe as well, and I could tell they were all intensely scared.

“What’s the matter, guys?” I asked. “Did anyone follow you here?”

They didn’t answer, so I looked around. I immediately saw what they had run from, and screamed loudly. Not ten feet away, at the edge of a grove of bushes, stood a large, frightening and deadly-looking creature. It must have snuck up on us, I thought, and was now looking at me, an unfamiliar entity.

Upon first seeing it, I immediately thought ‘dinosaur’, though it was really more like a lizard. It was six feet long, brown in color, and walked on all fours. From its upper jaw hung two lethal, dagger-like teeth, five inches long each. On its back were three rows of spines. Two of the rows stuck out at an angle, and the spikes on the tips looked painfully sharp. The third row stood upright, and between the spines there was a blood-red sail of skin. I looked down at the frightened boys, then quickly bent down and gathered them up in my hand. They looked so terrified, even though they were relatively safe up here, next to my torso.

“What…what the hell is that thing?” I whispered. It still hadn’t moved, and neither had I.

“It’s an ishiloo!” Emmon blurted out “It…it eats people!”

An ishiloo – the same creature that had killed and eaten Ryu’s parents. I began to get alarmed, but I didn’t dare move. It might not attack me – I was pretty big to be its prey, or so I desperately hoped – but the boys were in real danger, and I knew that, whatever happened, I couldn’t let it get to them, or they’d be dead. Trying to be as quiet and deliberate as I could, I took a small step backwards.

Without warning, the beast snarled and leapt in my direction, teeth bared. I screamed again and turned to run, but tripped over my own feet and fell on my butt. This was fortunate: if I’d kept standing I would have been dead. Instead, the ishiloo’s jump carried it right on over me, and it landed ten feet from me in the other direction. However, I was still screwed, unless I could find some way to defend myself. I spotted a short, thick stick, and my free hand lunged instinctively for it. The ishiloo turned and readied for another attack, but I was ready. Emboldened by the fact that I had three lives depending on me, I started swinging the stick wildly in front of me. As soon as it got within range, the monster received a mighty whack on its snout. It roared in pain, startling me and almost causing me to drop my weapon. But I kept at it, all the while shouting things like: “Back! Get back, you piece of shit! Leave us alone!”

Another well-placed blow on its face and it began to back off. I kept screaming like a possessed girl, and eventually it skulked back into the bushes. I could breathe again, but didn’t dare to hang around for a millisecond longer. I was up and away, running back towards my tent, while looking back every now and then to make sure it wasn’t following me. Only when I felt safe again did I slow down, and I opened my left hand to check on the three guys. They seemed to be unhurt, though they must have been squashed together a little while my hand was closed, and all three of them looked up at me with both wonder and obvious gratitude.

“E-everyone okay?” I asked, out of breath. My heart was pounding like a sledgehammer.

They nodded, and I sighed with relief. No-one spoke until I was back at the tent. I sat down on the soft grass and tried to calm myself down. I put the guys down on my leg, and they collapsed as well. Then Ryu got up and did something that, in my exhausted and heightened emotional state, really touched me. He walked up to my waist and hugged his entire body against my T-shirt.

“Thank you, Katie,” he said sincerely. “Thank you for saving us.”

“Aw, don’t mention it!” I said, trying not to get too emotional and do something girly like crying. “Of course I wouldn’t leave you guys alone at my feet – I could never do that.”

“You...you scared away that monster!” Sai exclaimed. “You beat it away…and you saved us! That’s…that’s so…cool!”

“Told you she was awesome,” Ryu said. “I bet she could have beaten that thing completely if it hadn’t run away…”

While they were discussing whether or not I was more powerful than an ishiloo, I was looking at Emmon. He was sitting quietly in my lap, not looking at me or saying anything. His ‘I-don’t-need-a-girl-protecting-me’ macho boasting had just been proven wrong, and it must have been a bit…hard on him. I could have rubbed it in, but right then I was just glad we were all alive, so I left him alone. I ordered them off of me, then got up and told them to stay while I put on my swimsuit.

“No peeking now, guys…I mean it,” I said. “You just stay out here, and I’ll change into something more suitable. And if you see that…that thing again, just scream, and I’ll come and fetch you.”

I left them standing outside – maybe not the best idea, but I was pretty certain nothing would happen to them. I took off my clothing and put on a red bikini swimsuit. I’d had it for over a year, so it was kinda too small for me now, but it was comfortable, and I didn’t think the guys would complain about it being too revealing. I stepped outside again, and saw that they had taken off their shirts and shoes, and were looking very nervous. Maybe they were a bit shy, but once they saw me they couldn’t take my eyes off me.

And no wonder. A hundred foot-plus girl in a bikini would be an eye-catching sight for any man to see, big or small. My legs must look like tree trunks to the little dudes – but a lot sexier than tree trunks, obviously. As for the little G-string covering my crotch…well, all I can say is I hope it doesn’t leave too little for their imagination. I stooped and picked them up, and held them at chest level.

“Okay, you guys look ready, so let’s go! By the way, what’s going on with you, Emmon? You had a change of heart or something?...um, guys?…I’m up here!”

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, no matter how hard I tried. The three of them weren’t looking at my face: they were staring most intently at my cleavage. Never underestimate the effect a good pair of tits had on a guy’s brain, I thought – especially if said tits were the size of small houses, relatively speaking. Carrying three guys in my hand was one thing, but to think that all three of them could be squeezed in cozily between my breasts was something else, and it gave me a serious…well, not a power trip, but something almost like it. I grabbed Ryu’s skinny torso between my fingertips and wiggled him like a little rag doll.

“Are you done, you little creep? If I’d known how my boobies would make you behave…”

“I’m…I’m…I’m sorry, Katie,” he muttered. “I…I…I…”

“Ah, don’t bother,” I said, putting him back in my hand. All three boys were looking seriously embarrassed, and they couldn’t look me in the eye. “I don’t mind guys staring at me – story of my life – so don’t feel bad. No harm done, you know? In fact, let me bring you guys closer, since I think it’s important you get comfortable around me.”

I held my hand snugly against my left breast, and the guys had an opportunity to lie against the red fabric of my bikini top. This couldn’t have been anything less than a dream come true for them – even Emmon seemed to be enjoying himself. I didn’t know whether or not I was making them aroused, but I definitely felt something. Perhaps getting intimate with a tiny guy wouldn’t be the nightmare I’d imagined it to be. But that would have to wait until much, much later. I wanted to get used to all this first, and to make friends. I headed towards the lake, ready to cool off, and to have some fun.

When the water was up to my chest I stopped and dropped my little friends into the lake. They splashed down right next to my boobs. I realized, of course, that I couldn’t play too zealously with them, ‘cause accidentally hurting them would be very easy. I left them be for the moment and dove underneath the clear, cool water. The lake’s sandy bottom was clearly visible as it sloped down into the distance, and I set off, away from the guys. I would rejoin them later, but first I wanted to get some exercise.

I swam as fast as I could into deeper waters. It was like being in the biggest swimming pool in the world, so calm and pleasant was the water. I must have gone more than a hundred yards before looking back, and realizing that I couldn’t see Ryu and the others anymore. Luckily I had a good sense of direction, and knew which way to go to return to them. When I saw three tiny specks floating in the distance, I decided to surprise them and dove beneath the surface. I kept on going until I was right beneath them, and could see their small floating bodies silhouetted against the sky above me. Then, without giving them any kind of warning, I resurfaced right in their midst.

“Woohoo!” I shouted, bursting through the surface and shaking the water from my body. “I’m back, boys! Bet you guys weren’t expecting that, huh? Hey, what the hell…”

Without even noticing, I’d inadvertently almost swallowed one of them. Little Ryu had been sucked into my mouth, along with a little bit of lake water, and I had to spit him out. He screamed as he fell through the air, but landed safely in the water, after hilariously bouncing off one of my breasts. It was then that I noticed another of them in a predicament. Poor Emmon was stuck in my cleavage, head downwards, his legs kicking spastically. I pulled him out as well, and he came out with a little ‘pop’. I put him in the water as well and immersed myself in up to my neck.

“Hell, I’m sorry, guys,”  I said, feeling only a little bit bad for scaring them like that. “I just couldn’t resist, you know? Still, it can’t have been all that bad for you…wouldn’t you agree, Emmon?”

“No,” he whimpered, shaking his head. I laughed and dunked him easily with my little finger. Then I wondered what had happened to Sai. I called his name, and was stunned when the reply came from right next to my ear. He’d been caught up in the swirling mass of my wet hair, and was trapped by it against my head. I awkwardly removed him and dropped him in next to his pals.

“Please…please don’t do that again,” he pleaded, and the others nodded in agreement. “It might have been fun for you, but we could have been killed!”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad…was it?”

“Yes!” they all said together. I said ‘sorry’ and begged them to forgive me.

“I’ll make it up to you,” I promised. “When we’re finished, I’ll give you a lift back to shore, and then I’ve got a special surprise for you.”

“What is it?” Sai asked eagerly. “Is it something to eat?”

“What? Please! As if I’ve got anything in my tent that tastes as good as those fruits your people gave me. But I have been wondering recently what a certain thing tastes like – that certain thing being a two-and-a-half inch boy who’s currently swimming right in front of me!”

I grabbed Sai gently but firmly, holding him by his left foot and dangling him over my open mouth. He was protesting loudly, but I ignored him: if he couldn’t tell that I was only playing with him, then it’s his fault. I stuck out my tongue as far as I could and lowered him face first onto it.

“Argh, eww!” he screamed, his hands pressing down on the soft, slippery surface. “Katie, no! Katie…!”

I maneuvered him so that his feet were pointing towards my mouth, then began sucking him in. When nothing but his head was left outside I stopped, and looked down at the other two. To say that they were freaked out would be putting it mildly – they seemed positively terrified. Sai was trying his best, but there was no way he’d be getting out. His puny arms and legs kicked and spun, hitting my tongue and my palate, and he screamed like a baby. I was enjoying it, though, despite feeling like maybe I’d gone too far. It was a good way to show the guys how much stronger I was than them, and that they would have to get used to me playing with them like this. What else could I do to spend time with them anyway, besides talking?

I spat Sai out, and, like Ryu before him, he bounced off my bosom and hit the water. Unlike Ryu, however, when he came back up he didn’t look that upset. In fact, he immediately shouted out how awesome that had been.

“That felt so weird…and scary!” he said excitedly. “Emmon, you’ve gotta feel what that feels like…that tongue…it’s so warm and squishy…”

“No thanks!” Emmon interrupted. “I’m going back now – this hasn’t been that fun, honestly. You can all stay if you want, but I’m going back.”

“Had enough, huh?” I saw that the afternoon was getting on, and decided that I had had enough too. “Come on, let’s all go back. I want to catch a few rays before the sun goes down.”

“What about that thing you promised us?” Ryu said as I gathered them up in my hand.

“Well, you’re still going to get it, obviously. Unless you really want to go home…”

“No!” Ryu and Sai exclaimed.

“We want to stay with you, Katie!”

“Yeah, you can take us back to the village later, can’t you?”

“Emmon can take the boat, and we’ll return later with you…”

“Yeah, he’s scared of you anyway…”

“I’m not scared!” Emmon yelled. “I was never scared of her! I’ve just had enough for today, that’s all! You guys are the ones who are scared – especially you, Sai. You screamed like a little girl!”

“I didn’t! You would have screamed like a…”

“Shut up!” I yelled, squeezing them in my fist to get their attention. “Yeesh, you guys are like little bratty first-graders or something. Act your age, okay? Anyone who wants to stay, stays, and anyone who wants to, can go. No-one is accusing anyone of anything, got that? Look, here we are, back on land. I’m taking you, Emmon, back to that little boat of yours, then I’m coming back. Should I leave you two here, or would you like to come along?”

They wanted to come along – no surprise – so I headed off towards the river after fetching Emmon’s clothes for him. I returned Emmon safely to his boat and waited until he’d disappeared around a river bend, just in case that man-eating monster was still lurking around. When he was out of sight I headed back, Ryu and Sai nestled comfortably in my hand. I was almost dry by now, but I still wanted to lie in the sun for a bit, so I spread out my towel on the lake’s sandy beach.

“Ah, that feels good!” I sighed, lying down on my stomach and putting my friends down in front of me on the towel. “Now, about that promise…how would you guys like to climb onto me and explore my body?”

They looked up at my face in disbelief, and didn’t say a word.

“Whoa there, don’t get too excited!” I said sarcastically. “It’s not that big a deal. Seriously, though, feel free to have a little fun with the only giant-sized girl you’re ever going to meet. Nothing provocative…just me, wearing a sexy swimsuit, with two thumb-sized guys walking around on my body and seeing me from a new angle. If that makes you uncomfortable, then I’m not going to force you…but you might not get another opportunity like this again either.”

“But…what about your…dignity?” Ryu said – apparently being completely serious.

I couldn’t help myself and broke out into laughter. He blushed deeply – something I’ve noticed he tends to do a lot around me, poor guy. I put my fingertip on his chest and prodded him gently, and he fell backwards onto his butt.

“Aw, that’s sweet of you, Ryu – I’m glad that you don’t think of me as just a huge chunk of meat you can get off to. But we’re going to be spending a lot of time together, my little cutie-pie, and if you’re always going to be this awkward around me, it’s not going to be much fun for either of us. So go ahead – just think of how jealous the other boys in the village are going to be. That goes for you too, Sai. There’s more than enough room on me for two.”

They didn’t need to be told again. Both of them scrambled up my folded arms, all the way onto my bare shoulders, and from there onto my back. I could feel their tiny feet tickling my exposed skin, as they ran down into the hollow of my lower back. Then it was up the little mound that was my ass. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw them lying down, one on each cheek, the same way I was lying on the towel. I guess my endless legs weren’t as tempting to them as my butt, even though they were more exposed.

“Hey, don’t get too comfortable back there!” I called out after a while. “It’s getting late, and there’s still my front half left.”

That got their attention, and they were up immediately and ran down the whole length of my legs. When they got to my feet they climbed up and over the heels and slid down the soles, ending up just beyond the reach of my toes.

“Okay, watch out, boys! I’m turning over!”

I rolled over onto my back and sat up. The boys were still admiring me from a distance, but I beckoned them over. They ran up until they were standing right next to my thigh. They couldn’t have looked any more eager, and I didn’t blame them. I was almost certainly the first girl they’ve ever been this close to, and their boyish infatuation with me was obvious…and kind of adorable. I would just have to tell them sometime that there couldn’t be anything between me and either of them – not for quite some time, at least. I had not gotten over the guy I’d lost yet, and I was still having trouble coping with that.

“Crap, it really is getting late, so let’s make this quick, okay fellas? Climb into my hand: I’ve got a treat for you little guys, and I think you’ll like it.”

They did as they were told and I lifted them up to my chest. I picked up Ryu and slipped him carefully into the right breast cup of my bikini. The fabric came up to his torso, and his entire body was resting against the upper slope of my breast. I did the same to Sai, only on my left side. It was really cheeky, I supposed, and I hoped it wouldn’t scar them or something – but I couldn’t resist. The whole idea had just popped into my head, and I thought it was both naughty and delightful.

“That’s nice, isn’t it?” I smiled, holding my little friends firmly against my breasts with my hands. “Now you know what a girl’s boobs feel like – or the top part of them at least. Most guys would probably kill to be in your position right now – unless they’re gay, I suppose, or if they like tiny…I mean, regular-size…girls more than big ones. Do you like big girls, Ryu?”

“Hmm-mmm,” he mumbled, his face pressed against my skin. He was squirming around so much that I wanted to ask him if something was wrong. But then I realized what he was doing. He’d wriggled his upper legs out of his trunks…and began to move his hips back and forth against my body. He was having an orgasm – probably the first one he’d ever had – and I didn’t think he knew that I was aware of it! Afterwards he just lay still and quiet, not moving or speaking or looking up at me.

“Shit, what have I done now?” I thought. “Things are gonna be awkward between us now, I bet. Unless I talk to him about it…no, I can’t tell him I know what he did, he’d feel so guilty and ashamed. And he didn’t do anything wrong – he’s just a normal guy, with normal desires and feelings. It’s my fault, really, for acting like such a slut – they’re just kids, and here I am, jamming them down against my tits, like they’re my boy sex toys or something. At least Sai seems okay…”

Sai was lying comfortably, looking around, rubbing his hands all over my smooth skin. He didn’t appear like he was horny for me or anything like that…though maybe he was, and he was just trying really hard not to show it. In any case, I began to get up slowly. I still had to take them back home, so I gathered up my towel and headed back to my tent, my little friends still trapped underneath my bikini. Ryu was furtively pulling his trousers back on, and again I pretended not to take notice.

“Okay, guys, it’s time to get going,” I said, pulling them out of my costume and putting them down at my feet. “Let’s all get dressed, then I’ll take you home. I…well, I hoped you enjoyed the afternoon, hanging out with me, the swim, all of that. I really appreciate it, and I’d like to do it again sometime. Perhaps you can get some more of your friends to come along next time? Maybe some girls too, as well. I’d like to have some girl friends again. Talking to boys only tends to get old after a while…no offense.”

I left them standing on the grass and headed inside. I put on my T-shirt and jeans, and some sandals, and brushed all the tangles out of my hair. The sun had sunk behind the distant hills and the place was cooling off. I put a flashlight in my pocket, since I didn’t expect to return before nightfall, and I actually wanted to spend some time in the village and make a good impression on the people this evening.

With the guys sitting side-by-side on my shoulder, I headed off. The road was an easy one: just follow the shore until you reach the river, and then follow the river to the town. The evening was quiet, except for some late birdcalls, and I looked around at the beautiful nature surrounding me, and the stars shining brightly above me.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” I said to my miniature passengers. “You people live in a stunning world – you’re really lucky. Where I come from, the beaches are so crowded you can’t even see the waves roll in, and the last few square miles of forest are hidden away under domes to protect them. And even on clear nights it’s difficult to see the stars, with all the pollution in the air.”

I looked down at the boys, who quickly looked away. They were holding on securely to my shirt.

“I suppose you guys don’t see it that way, though. Being so tiny and all, with so many big things that could kill you and eat you…it must be hard just surviving, without any advanced technology to help you. Don’t worry too much, though – I’m more than willing to help out where I can. You know, protect your town, gather food, that kind of thing.”

“Why are you so nice to us?” Ryu asked suddenly.

“What? Am I supposed to be…not nice or something?”

“But…you don’t owe us anything. We’re so much smaller and weaker than you…why do you want to help us? You could destroy our entire town in an hour if you wanted to.”

“But I don’t want to! I would never, ever do that!” I thought about the enemy soldiers on the TV news, squishing the tiny, helpless, fleeing civilians. “If I ever become a monster like that, then…then I’d rather die!”

I snatched them up and held them directly beneath my eyes.

“You’re all I’ve got left now, Ryu,” I said. “You and your friends and the people of your village. ‘Why am I so nice to you’ – huh! I’m nice because that’s what makes me human. A better human, hopefully, than the people who were responsible for the world turning out this way. Sure, maybe I’m a bit too nice sometimes – you’re definitely not getting a ride in my swimsuit again, that was just stupid of me! – but I try my best to be a good person.”

I sighed loudly. Being a giantess was fun, sure, but I didn’t know if I was ready for the responsibility that comes with it – or the feeling of alienation.

“It’s okay, Katie,” Sai said. “We know you’re a good person, and we really appreciate it…”

“Yeah,” Ryu added. “I’m sorry I doubted you, I’m really sorry. We’ll do everything we can to make you feel at home. And we’ll try our best to get used to you, to your size…the way you talk and…and…handle us…”

“Thanks guys…I don’t want to cry again, but you’re making it hard for me,” I laughed and brushed the tear droplets from my eyes. “Here, a special kiss for my new special friends…”

I gave them each a tiny peck on the tops of their heads. It felt wonderful, having met new people whom I could trust so quickly – people I could care for, and who valued my companionship. I hoped Ryu and Sai wouldn’t come to blows later about which of them gets to be my ‘boyfriend’, ‘cause I had no idea how I would settle it. But maybe I’m underestimating their level of maturity. They may be tiny and adorable, but I’d be wrong not to respect them and value them as friends.

“Here’s the village,” I said, seeing lights in the distance ahead. “Not a word about what happened today, okay? It’ll be awkward for all of us. If you have to talk about something, talk about the close call with the ishiloo. That might just convince those so-called ‘elders’ that I’m not their enemy, or whatever they think I am.”

“Okay, Katie.”

“We will, Katie. And we’ll tell everyone how great you were to us. I’ll even take on Elder Orisel myself if I have to. He’s just on old fart who hates anything we kids think is fun.”

“Hah, I couldn’t have put it better myself! Well, here we are…hey, looks like something’s going on there! Come on, let’s go see!”

There was indeed a commotion in the village, and as soon as I arrived matters only became worse. It seems a minor rebellion of sorts had begun, led by none other than Fott Orisel. They were, obviously, upset about the fact that I was staying on in the vicinity, and they had swept up against Carn Cosell, who led the majority who wanted me to stay. I put down the boys on the outskirts of the village and headed on in alone. Things hadn’t come to blows yet, but they might have had I not arrived at that moment. As soon as everyone saw me, all the arguing and in-fighting stopped, and I was greeted by the stares of the tiny folk.

“Hi, everyone,” I said cheerfully. “I just dropped by for a short visit, you know, just to say ‘hi’. I’ve set up my camp over by the lake, so I guess you’ll all be seeing me a lot more from now on. By the way, what’s going on here? Did I miss anything?”

“You unholy monster!” came the cry from one of the…well, I guess I could call them the Anti-Katie Movement. “Leave now, and don’t dare come back!”

That seemed to spur them on, and soon the place was echoing with screams of “Leave now!”, “Go away!” and “Begone!”. Some of the friendly townsfolk tried to stop the stampede, but they were shoved aside as the mob, mostly men, came charging at me. They yelled and waved their weapons, but when the front row reached my feet, they stopped and hesitated. It looked like they’d actually forgotten that I was over twenty times taller and thousands of times stronger than them, and that I couldn’t be frightened, intimidated or coerced by a hundred miniature bullies who stood no higher than my ankles. The noise quieted down, and I smirked at their futile effort.

“Whoops, not so tough now, are you?” I said, and was pleased to see the impotent anger on their faces. “All that screaming and yelling and running, and you’re not even gonna try and attack me? Pathetic!”

“How dare you mock these brave men!” came a voice from way, way at the back of the mob. It was Fott; I could tell from listening, since I couldn’t see him clearly. “None of us are afraid of you – it is you who’s too cowardly to make the first move!”

“Say what? The ‘first move’? You think I came here to pick a fight, is that it? Didn’t I tell you over and over again that I’m your friend – or at least I would like to be. I came here to deliver my friends, Sai and Ryu, safely home, and to get to know more of you people. We’ve had a wonderful time at the lake – ask them, if you don’t believe me – and if anyone tries to get at them for being friends with me, it won’t end well, believe me! Now, if you’ve quite finished all this nonsense, I’d like to talk to your chief, Carn. Is he here right now?”

An affirmative shout came from the other side of the crowd. Several people began pushing their way through towards me. Fott and his followers offered resistance, but when they saw me taking off my sandals and getting ready to squash them beneath my feet , they wisely backed down. (I was kinda disappointed. I’d been hoping to at least get as far as actually pressing some of them down with me bare feet before letting them go – it would have been fun to see their faces afterwards!) I saw Carn and picked him up, then took a few steps away from the crowd. I sat down in an open, grassy area, still holding him in my hand, and we began to talk.

“Looks like things are getting out of hand here,” I said. “Is there anything I can do to help? I’m thinking that, if these people hate me so much, maybe they should just pack up and leave. Go and live somewhere else, maybe.”

“I agree with you, Katie,” Carn said. “Unfortunately, there are risks. The city of Penton is not far from here, and they consider us traitors for trying to start a new life here, away from their evil rule. But if Fott and his followers were to leave and head back to Penton, they might be pardoned if they could provide the ruler of the city with information. Our location, for example, or the fact that there is a giant – you, that is – living nearby.”

“Yeah…you’re right, I guess. But what are you gonna do, then? Please don’t tell me you’re going to execute them all or something – I don’t want that to happen because of me. I’d rather leave myself.”

Carn thought for a while before answering.

“We could keep them here, confined to their homes. Of course, that would require constant vigilance on our part, as there will certainly be escape attempts. Perhaps, the longer you stay here, the more accustomed they’ll become to having someone like you around. Just maintain a respectful attitude when interacting with them, and they may come to like you.”

“What? I’m supposed to be respectful towards them? Why? I wasn’t the one who started all this!”

“But you are the object of their animosity…”

“Hmpf! I couldn’t care less what a bunch of ignorant twerps like them think of me! I’d rather hang out with the more open-minded people, if you don’t mind. By the way, I was going to offer my services as ‘protector’ of the village. I had to fight off an ishiloo today, and I managed to chase it away, so I figured that there’s probably a lot I can help you little folks with. I need some help from your side too: I don’t know where to find food, or which plants to eat and which not to eat, or how to catch animals for meat, which I want to learn how to do, ‘cause I’m not gonna go vegan. And I’d like to know where all these ‘evil cities’ are, so I don’t accidentally walk into their sight. But that’s only going to happen if people stop thinking I’m some kind of demon or monster, or whatever they think I am.”

I put the little man on the ground next to my feet. He looked puny and helpless, not at all like a leader. But he was one, and his people looked up to him, not to me. Many of the non-hostile villagers had come closer as well, including the three boys I’d spent the day with. I also recognized the girl I’d almost swallowed yesterday, Katia. She was hanging out with two or three other girls, and seemed eager to come closer and talk to me again. I gave her, and the guys as well, a smile.

“You’ve been really good to me so far,” I said to them. “Please, let me stay here and repay you somehow. I can’t just go and live by myself somewhere, I wouldn’t be able to deal with that!”

“I understand,” Carn said. “Very well, Katie, you can stay. From tonight on, you are welcome in this place anytime. It won’t be easy for us – for most of us – to accept you, a young and innocent girl, as our protector…but if the worst should happen, and there is nothing any of us can do…well, I suppose no-one here would object to your assistance.”

“Thanks, that’s really sweet, little guy…uh, I mean, thank you, sir! Thank you, all of you, for giving me a chance to prove myself. I’ll try my best to help out wherever I can…”

I really couldn’t think of anything else to say. I f there were any among them who still distrusted me, I didn’t think I’d ever win them over to my side. Besides, it was already dark, and the only light came from all the torches and fire which were being lit up in the village. I decided to head back home – I already thought of my tent as home, even though I haven’t as yet actually lived in it – so I got up slowly, careful not to tread on anyone in the crowd.

“Good night, then, everyone!” I said. “See you tomorrow, I guess.”

“Are you leaving already?” asked a female voice. It was Carn’s wife, Eleret, standing next to her husband. “Don’t you want to stay and eat first?”

“Eat? You mean, here? I…I would love to, but…well, I didn’t think you had enough food for me.”

“I’m sure we can organize something,” Carn said. “It’s too late to go hunting or gathering in the forest, but perhaps our reserves would be enough to provide you with one meal. We can show you how to find your own food tomorrow, but tonight, please let us provide you with supper, to show that there is no strife between us.”

I was led into the village center, and the preparations began. While I sat and waited, I got together with Ryu, Sai and Emmon again. The three boys climbed into my open hand and I put them down on my curled-up leg. We were chatting about what we did that day, when, just as I’d predicted, Katia approached and began talking to me.

“H-hello, Katie,” she said nervously. “I…it’s me…Katia…you remember?”

“How could I forget?” I laughed. “You almost became part of my first meal here, didn’t you? Come here, don’t be shy! I look a lot scarier than I am, really!”

I delicately picked her up as well. Soon she was sitting on my leg, amongst the guys. They weren’t too happy about her joining us, but I told them to shut up and make friends with her. A small group of boys and girls was forming by my bare feet, and every now and then one of them would dart forward to touch me. When one poor girl tried rubbing my sole with her hands, it tickled so much that I jerked my foot upwards, knocking her back a good ten feet.

“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed. “I’m really sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, you just startled me!”

I bent forwards and scooped the frightened girl up with my hand. She wasn’t hurt badly – just a few bruises, she said in a whimper – but I still felt like a jerk, so I held her by my bosom and gently hugged her.

“You can come closer, if you want,” I told all the remaining young people. “Climb up and join your buddies in my lap. It’s really not that bad a place to be.”

They didn’t need to be told twice. Soon I had at least twenty teenagers, along with a few kids both older and younger, clambering onto my denim jeans. I had to stretch my legs out just to make room for them all. I put the girl I was holding down next to Katia, and marveled at the sight of two dozen tiny people sitting on my legs and looking back up at me. I was so much bigger than them that it was a bit scary. I wondered how many of their men it would take to beat me in a tug-of-war. A few hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? Maybe I ought to challenge them – the whole village – to a contest of strength, just for fun.

“Talk about girl power!” I thought amusedly. “I could be the strongest thing – or, at least, the strongest person – on Earth now. Me, sweet little Katie, who used to be a shopaholic cheerleader who liked to party every weekend, has become a goddess…”

But this goddess still needed to eat, and my supper was soon ready. It consisted mostly of one creature – a lusomog, cooked in its shell. It looked a little bit like an armadillo, though it was a reptile, and it had a really plump body and legs tucked underneath its eight-inch long turtle-like shell. It looked pretty unappetizing, but once I took the first bite I had to admit it was delicious. There were fruits and vegetables too, all eaten raw, and all tasty and, I hoped, healthy. It turned out there was actually too much for me to eat, so naturally I let the tiny townsfolk finish what I couldn’t. As a final treat I was given a cup filled with a liquid extracted from a tree trunk, I was told. It was sublimely sweet, and I thanked the women of the village who’d gone to the trouble of preparing it for me.

But it was getting late, and, while I would have loved to stay and talk and make new friends, I was incredibly tired after the day’s exertions. I’d made quite a few new friends in any case, and Carn gave me his word that any people who still hated me, elders included, would be kept under guard. No-one would come and disturb me at my tent, he promised. I said thanks and then goodnight to all my friends. When I was about to leave, I took out my flashlight and switched it on. This led to exclamations of wonder among the villagers, and my return home was delayed for fifteen minutes as I explained how it worked. I also promised to show them all the other examples of long-forgotten technology I had brought with me from the distant past.

I managed to find my way back safely, without any hostile beasts attacking me. I went to bed almost immediately, so tired was I. This was what my life would be like from now on, I realized. How long would I be able to live here, without succumbing to boredom or loneliness, without any people like me to talk to or spend time with? How long would a restless person like me be able to stay here, in one place, following the same routine every day, for years? I sighed and tried to get rid of the homesickness which I knew could never be cured. It was up to me to make my new life worthwhile, and I would try my very best. If the tiny people I’d met so far have managed to survive in this strange world, and to find satisfaction, then I could too.