Theo got back to the Village before sunset, now with some new reference points to consider.  While there still weren’t a lot of Atlasian females making their way to the main campus, there were a lot more showing up in the Village. There seemed to be three times as many as there were just two days previous.

Coreys and Earthers were fewer, but not exactly rare to see walking around. They would give each other a head nod in acknowledgment of their mutual shortness, then move on.

The local residents responded largely with apathy.  Theo noticed mild annoyance directed toward a group of three coreys, guys, who seemed to be sightseeing.  Walking around by himself, he didn’t get many bad looks.

His concern that exceptionally tall women would treat him with disdain, that definitely did not bear fruit. So, yay.  Yay for him.

Not that they were all over him, but he noticed a number of them checking him out, giving him the up-down. Looking at his face, down to his feet, and back up.

Theo wasn’t a heart-throb. He did pretty well by picking his spots, but he was no ladykiller. He found it hard to believe these girls were any more impressed than girls back home. What he thought was happening is that they had the physicality to be direct.

Back on earth, women still had to maintain at least some sense of caution dealing with men.  Couldn’t come on too strong and find out some loser took it like a blank check on her person. Here among the Atlasians, no man alive presented a physical threat.

Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun, as Renny would say.

Big Girls Get Bigger. Theo was starting to get a sense of it. They got bigger like it was their job, and they took their jobs seriously.

Theo now figured Camille was only a little above average height, at least in the Village.  She was... twenty-one?  Maybe? His guess was that Diane was a couple of years older, a Senior.

He grabbed a couple of sodas from the convenience store down the street... the same one next to the park where Camille had done her “demonstration.”

He came out of there and started his way back to the dorm.  He started to think he’d gotten off more than he could chew, with about four gallons of soda on a ten minute walk.

He noticed the three coreys, two white one black, trying to approach two local girls. It was clear they were local because they were about ten feet seated on benches, one girl black and the other brown.  It was an interesting visual, two of the coreys craning their necks and going up and down on tiptoes as each tried to speak.  Theo wondered if he did that without realizing it.

The girls were definitely not into it. One looked like she was struggling to stay polite, and the other was amused by her friend’s annoyance.

The third guy was a couple of steps back, looking like he was thinking this was a mistake.

Then something happened that made an impression.  The one who was talking pulled his phone, like he was trying to get a number or take a photo. The mood changed immediately.  The annoyed girl stood, the failed suitor barely to her mid thigh, and the situation got real. One of his own friends actually knocked the phone out of his hand, and started to drag him away.

Then Theo got run over by what he assumed was a truck.

The soda went flying and his backpack hit him in the face. He landed on his side, his face scraping the reinforced concrete.

“Whoah. You okay, brother?” A male voice said.  Male voice, explaining why he was actually still conscious and able to move.

He managed to roll over as he felt a hands on his arms.  There were three towering dude-shaped blurs standing over him. The hands helped him to his feet, though that was only enough to make him sternum high.

Theo had been distracted, and wandered into their path.  But not much, he’d still been avoidable. It was the case of two bodies not paying close enough attention. But they would have had to look down to see him, so Theo decided it was on him.

“That’s my fault, sorry,” Theo said.

Two of the men tried to take the blame, but the third got a tiny bit pissy. “No problem.  Just watch where you’re going, you’ll get stepped on around here.”

That annoyed Theo, a lot. “Thanks for the advice, maybe keep an eye forward yourself.”

And the huge pissy blur in the middle said, “Excuse me Corey?”

The other Atlasians were trying to leave, telllng him, “it’s not a big deal, man.”

Theo’s vision was starting to clear, two of the three guys seeming annoyed by the third.  He wasn’t sure which of these three eight plus footers ran over him.

He wasn’t going to trash talk, but he wasn’t going to be talked down to.

Well, okay, literally he would be talked down to... but he wasn’t going to let it be figurative too.

“Take it down a notch, tough guy.  I live here, too.”

Now it was the big guy’s turn to be annoyed.

“Really? Atlasian housing at a premium and some hobbit gets it?”

Theo would later wonder how the hell he had the audacity to step right toward the four or five hundred pound local boy and egg him on. “Who in the fuck think you talking to?”

Theo’s vision was clear enough to see the smug grin form on the face almost two feet above his own.

Theo internally tried to find his sense of reason.  They were eight feet tall, and there were three of them. He needed to be afraid.  He needed to run.

But he wouldn’t be able to live with it. He decided that yes, he would accept any forthcoming and possibly life-altering beating, and make any behavioral adjustments at a later date.

Then Theo saw the condescending cat-with-a-canary smile evaporate. The angry Atlasian’s gaze turned up from Theo, to a much higher point of interest.

“What the hell is this?” Theo heard from above as a shadow fell across both him and the pissy giant. He didn’t bother looking over his shoulder. He looked straight up, and saw Gen, looking really, really angry.

She stepped right past Theo, to stand in front of the Atlasian guys.  Theo saw them get really nervous.  He was suddenly nervous himself.

“You have a problem with him? You talk to me about it.”

One of the three eight footers just turned and hurried away.  Not running, exactly, but something more urgent than walking.

The  pissy one wasn’t projecting anger anymore.  He had a pained smile, trying to seem friendly, a man walking on eggshells.

“It’s no problem, I just didn’t see him:”

Gen said, “Excuse me? Hold on. If you did not see him, that is definitely a problem.  You are a problem.  You need to watch where you are going.”

Theo turned and tried to get in front of her.  It wasn’t helpful.  He wasn’t quite chest high to these guys, but he was barely belt high to Gen. He reached up to put his palms out to stop her, but he was comically undersized with zero leverage. He found himself hanging from her hip with both hands gripping the top edge of her jeans. He wasn’t sure she even noticed his weight.

“Hold on, Gen, it’s okay...” he was saying, but not with much conviction.

The guy who was pissy thirty maybe forty seconds ago said, “It’s my fault, sweetheart. My mistake, I get it, we get it better then anybody.  Big fan of, you know, being careful and watching your surroundings.” Sounding eager to help.

“It’s not like you can’t relate to being

at a size disadvantage,” she said, folding her arms across her chest, just above their eye levels.

“Right,” the (newly) eager guy said, nodding. Then he quickly ran over to where Theo’s sodas had landed.  He picked them up, ran back over.  He brushed The bag off with his hand, and handed it to Theo. He looked up at Gen.

Gen waved dismissively at both of them.  “Get out of my face.”

He nodded, still smiling.  “Again, sorry.”  Then he turned to go.  He paused to look at Theo and said, “Sorry, man, my bad.” Them they were gone.

Gen said, “You alright, Theo?”

He realized he was still holding on to her belt line, and let go. “Take it down a notch okay? Wow.” His heels touched the ground. Theo hadn’t noticed he was on tiptoes.

“What?” She looked surprised at his reaction. “We gotta look out for you. We promised your mom.”

“Great,” Theo said, rolling his eyes. “Three guys at least twice my size, you just look at them funny and they’re all shitting their pants.”

She shrugged, then smirked a tiny bit. “Yeah, people kinda think sixteen year old girls are crazy. So...”

That tracked, from what Theo saw.  It was universal.  Sixteen year old boys were morons, sixteen year old girls were crazy. He figured on Earth, they threw tantrums, but on Atlasia, they probably threw cars.

The guy has called her “sweetheart.”  It was out of place, to Theo’s ears. He wondered if it had a different connotation. When did he just hear that word?

Oh yeah.  Camille said Roxanne was a “sweetheart” something something.  Same meaning but... some colloquial significance maybe?

Gen asked him, “Can I carry that bag? Looks like it’s heavy for you.”

“Please.” He nodded, pushing it toward her.  He was looking forward to getting back some feeling in his shoulder.

Theo reached the dorm and let Gen go in ahead, figuring he’d check on local mail and deliveries, of course all from the university. He got a couple of access cards and a small unlabeled package.

He pocketed the paper envelopes and access cards, and took the package in his hand.  He found the tabs to open it, and found a small, almost paper thin metal square with nodes and wired staring back at him from inside a plastic sheath.

The package said “Guardian.” It was a safety and access implant. It would keep track of his location, monitor basic health, and even allow for access to certain locations and simple transactions.

Self installation at that.

He looked more closely. What was this supposed to be?

He was about to leave the mail room when he found himself facing the shins of a real behemoth, and flattened himself against a wall.

“Watch it, pipsqueak,” she said from somewhere above him. It struck Theo as distantly amusing, this high and girlish voice calling him “pipsqueak.”

 He didn’t even bother looking up, just seeing ragged denim and the biggest Converse sneakers he’d ever seen. Her knees were distinctly above his head this time, so easily over triple his height.

Theo just kept himself pasted to the wall, his hands up to let her by, grumbling under her breath.

Theo looked up as she passed. All he saw a bulky backpack and a hoodie. Big Girls were pretty body conscious even for college girls, but this one looked like some eccentric cloth-based Batman villain.

Luc was at the desk, standing next to the thigh of a woman who Theo thought looked like Nia Long if she lived on a weight rack.

Theo approached Luc. For whatever reason, Theo wanted his insight. “Hey Luc.”

“Ramirez. How are you finding the Village?” He struck Theo as the kind of guy who called other men by their last name only if he liked them.  It was pleasant.

“Well,” he said, trying to find a simple way to put it, “At times I’m not sure I’m tall enough for this ride.”

Luc smiled down at him across the desk and said, “I feel like that’s a clever remark but I don’t quite get the reference.”

Theo held up the box with the implant. “What are these?”

“Oh,” Luc said, “They recommend that for all students.  Especially the ones who come to the Atlasian Village.  It’s supposed to make people feel safer.”

“For coming to the Village you mean?”

“I mean we’re a big motivator I guess,” he laughed. “But all over, really.”

“So... do you wear one? Or is it just for little people?”

“I don’t have one, just because it feels intrusive, and I don’t want people to find me on a map with a directory search. Lot of people feel different.”

“Like who?”

“Oh,” Luc had a look of surprise, and shrugged. “Like nearly every girl coming from the core. They think it keeps them a lot safer.”

“Really? They hang out here a lot?”

The Nia Long lookalike piped up. She was looking at him like he was slow to catch on.  He supposed he was. “Not safer from us, man,” she said. “Safer from you.”

It hit Theo hard to hear that. Luc was right, it felt like an intrusion.  But that was a male, who had at least until recently felt pretty secure in his day to day safety. It was the theory of freedom, vs. the reality of his personal safety.

Nia Long had made a good point.  Luc introduced her as Sara.

Luc assured Theo it was not a huge deal, that some Atlasians had them, even some of their females.  After all, a senior was often two meters or more taller than a freshman.

“Dude, should I just get a gun?” Theo said half joking.

Sara laughed derisively. Luc said, “Oh, they’d kill you.” He said it casually, factually, without missing a beat. 

Sara turned toward them. “Okay. American earther, right?  American earthers are always with the guns.” She shook her head.

Luc leaned down, put his hands on the counter and looked Theo in the eyes. “A handgun is seriously not going to stop any Atlasian woman over the age of fifteen. Really.”  Then he held up a finger, highlighting his point. “But check it out: Guns are still considered lethal weapons.. right? So you use a gun, anything she does to you will still... legally... qualify as self defense. So yeah, they’ll kill you. Just on principle, they’d kill you.”

Sara stood full height, way, way up above the both of them. Luc’s two plus foot height difference seemed to damn near disappear for Theo.  It suddenly felt like he had one head on Theo instead of three.

Sara looked down at Theo almost pityingly.  “If you pull a teeny tiny handgun on... this?” She stepped back and spread her hands to show her vast, steely, curvy figure. “What do you think happens next, Timmy?”

He stared up at her, fully twice Luc’s height. A head taller than Camille, he guessed. She was dressed in green leggings and a sports bra. Her deltoids were the size of beer kegs. He didn’t correct her on his name.

“Oh, It’ll hurt,” Sara said chuckling humorlessly, “Might need more than a bandage.  Maybe an ointment.  Be like a bee sting.  What’s that guy say in the movies? The Yankee cop with the craggy face and the big gun?” She leaned over the desk, and Theo was looking straight up. There was nearly ten feet between their faces.  Sara sucked her teeth and said, “Oh yeah.  He asks people ‘So do you feel lucky?’” She blew a derisive sigh through her lips. She left the desk, walking out into the lobby.  Luc and Theo watched her go.

Luc went back to filing papers, shaking his head pityingly at Theo. “Kill you.”

Theo sat there in front of the desk for a moment.  That size, that strength, that speed, and on top of that... “They’re fucking bulletproof too?” Theo threw up his hands.

Luc rolled his head left , then right, considering that.  “Well, bullets can’t seem to get past the muscle and bone to hit anything vital. And the heart is another muscle. And hey man, you don’t even want to know what adrenalin does to Big Girls. Holy shit. So insane. Seriously, safer to just give her some tequila, then some cocaine and a bump of pcp. Then, what you do after she’s wired as hell and paranoid, you call her the c-word, tell her she’s gained weight, and maybe, I dunno, maybe say you got her little sister pregnant. That’s gonna be about the same result as shooting her.”

“Holy shit,” Theo said.

Luc said, “Yep.  Welcome to our world, earther.”

Theo was getting good about keeping his head on a swivel to avoid being hit by vastly larger strangers. Walking down the hallway to the room he shared was different. It was quieter, so he found himself looking at the security implant as he approached his own door.

There was something there, in front of the door. He looked up. Then further up.

A living pile of fabric fourteen feet high, working in front of his door. He looked down and saw the bottom of those converse, and recognized this was the one who had pushed past him in the lobby. And, holy shit, she was kneeling. Fourteen feet kneeling, rummaging through a bag twice Theo’s size.

All of a sudden, she stopped. The hood at the top of the mass turned, enough to peer over her shoulder.

So this was her.  The same girl who called him “pipsqueak,” like a Popeye cartoon.

Roxanne.