"And we're back. Coming to you with continued coverage of the Protectorate's recent press conference. We're here with University of California Berkeley Anthropology Fellow Alan Wong, who attended the press event just hours ago. Alan, what I want to know, what our viewers want to know, is whether what we're seeing is real. Is this a hoax?" Kathy, anchor for the segment, waited for Alan, present only via video-conference, to respond.

Unlike the choreographed show for the audience, the newsroom was a frenzy of activity. The wall of monitors showed dozens of feeds from their field crews, competing news programs, and sourced video-clips. A larger monitor in the middle showed their output feed, with squares for Kathy and Alan alongside silent hours old video footage from the press conference. 

At the moment, that footage showed a ground cameraman just a few feet away from a beautiful and impossibly oversize woman. She was down on one knee and surrounded by attendees to the conference all trying to get a moment to speak with her. Even bent down, the woman was easily a head taller than everyone in attendance, and her broad shoulders and oversize features made her resemble a living moving statue next to the people around her. She had light skin, flowing red hair, and was wearing a dark spandex outfit that resembled modest work out wear, tank top cut and knee length. A field reporter awkwardly held a microphone up over her head to capture a response from the woman.

After a delay introduced by the video feed, Alan responded to the question. "It's going to take the scientific community quite some time to understand what we're seeing here. Wendel Varden has not disclosed any details of the science behind his demonstration. Until he does, we have no means to verify any of what is really happening. It was certainly an impressive display, unlike anything I've seen before. Is it a hoax? Is it real? It's simply too soon to offer a clear answer to that question." 

In the silent video playback, the huge woman turned her head, said something to those near her, then slowly rose to her feet. The camera-angle tilted up as she rose. With the hair and heads of nearby spectators nearing the bottom of the frame, she appeared to be easily three or four feet taller than those around her. The top of their heads barely higher than her tummy and elbows. Her upright posture also made it apparent that she was unusually buxom. She appeared to be moving slowly and with great care, and it was easy to see why. An inadvertent step or swing of her arm would likely cause great harm to whoever it connected with. 

Kathy started her retort. "Alan. You were there at the conference. You're seeing what we're seeing on the playback. Is this a living breathing person? Some type of animatronic masterpiece? In your opinion, based on what you saw at the conference, what are we seeing?" 

The playback shifted to a camera further out and higher up. Titling slid into view identifying the woman as "Protector Sarah." She looked like a giant among a sea of tiny people, as she slowly turned, and pointed off in a direction. Her huge arm extending out above several spectators. Then the sea of people began to shift and move, clearing a path in the direction she had pointed. As room allowed, she stepped gingerly into the open space, with camera lights flashing on her. As she moved, onlookers craned their heads up to watch her pass as those nearest reached out, some brushing their hands against her hips and torso. 

Alan's posture shifted. His discomfort at being corralled into direct answers was apparent. "Certainly I'm not aware of any animatronic technology capable of this demonstration. There was too much of a crowd for me to get close to either of the protectors, but it was obvious there were no wires, or tethers or other signs that this was some form of advanced robots. Even so, our current state of the art robotics is barely capable of awkward walking, let alone this kind of human fluidity."

In the newsroom, a man pointed and shouted an order, "run the bigdogs clip!" The press-conference footage was replaced with the scene of a clunky four legged robot awkwardly bouncing over uneven terrain. A caption slid in reading "Big Dog - Advanced Military Robotics". It was followed by a few different clips of the same robotic dog from different angles, before cutting back to a clip from the press conference. A different woman standing on a stage, identifiable as similarly oversize only because of Wendel Varden standing a few feet away in the shot. She was very trim, with olive skin and jet black hair. 

"So Dr. Wong. Would you say then that it appears what we're seeing on screen is real?" As Kathy paused, the titling slid onto the clip identifying the woman on stage as "Protector Gia." At the same time, the giant woman nimbly bent over, placing her hands on the ground. A moment later she was in a handstand, back to the camera feet in the air, another moment and one arm was out, making it a single-arm handstand. Kathy continued, "would you say it appears the Protectors are in fact somehow fantastically transformed humans?" In the clip, Wendel walked towards the Protector as she remained stably and comfortably balanced on one hand. He was talking and gesturing as part of his demonstration, but the video clip was played without sound. 

"It would appear," Dr. Wong appeared distracted through the feed. In the clip, Wendel now seemed impossibly small next to the Protector. Her arm was notably longer than his legs, and in her handstand her body extended more than double his height into the air. "It would appear, that yes, what we're seeing is real. That the protectors are in fact human." Even as he said it, he backpedaled, "however, remember that there has been no scientific review of these facts. We need to independently repeat his results, and develop proper theories as to..."

Kathy cut him off mid-sentence, "Mr. Varden was also very clear that the Protectorate would be exclusively female, that the transformation process was only compatible with the female genetic makeup. If this is true, in your expert opinion, what kind of changes might we start to see in society as a result of this new advancement?" 

Dr Wong again appeared visibly distracted. In the clip, the protector now had both hands back on the ground, and her legs spread in a flat split several feet above Wendel's head. "I'm sorry, I." Wendel was now under her foot, and reached up. He seemed to laugh a bit, and the protector hyper-extended her split to bring her leg down so Wendel could get his hands around her ankle. Then as if he weighed nothing at all, she straightened her split, lifting him several inches off the ground. "Ohh my." The shock on his face was apparent, and he finally seemed to remember he was being interviewed on live television. "I'm sorry. I didn't see this demonstration at the event. What did you ask?" 

Kathy picked up without skipping a beat, "What type of societal changes might we expect to see if, as we've been told, the transformation and capabilities we see before us are only available to one gender." The on-screen tension suddenly became palpable. Dr. Wong was already visibly shocked by the images. Kathy's question couldn't help but he heard by Alan, and the entire viewership, in a personal context. As if she had said, "the female gender, my gender. How will you feel when I'm towering over you, when women are the dominant sex?" 

Alan looked disturbed as he responded, "we aren't yet sure what is causing this, and without knowing the scientific basis behind the discovery, we don't know it's risk, it's limitations. It could have dramatic effects on lifespan, reproduction, mental function." In the clip, the gymnastics had run it's course, and Protector Gia was standing alongside Wendel, her arm gingerly draped down to his shoulder, the top of his head just under the distinctive curve in her stretchy top caused by the bottom of her right breast. "Even if it were available to all women, it's hard to say how many would elect to participate." The smirky look on Kathy's face seemed to telegraph the female opinion, 'right, you keep telling yourself that.' At the same time, she held her hand to her ear, distracted by something. "Our gender roles are as programmed by hormones and animal brain mating rituals as they are by..."

"Thank you very much for joining us, Dr. Wong." She hurridly cut him off mid-sentence, and in the newsroom the output feed dramatically changed. The replay clip was gone, Dr. Wong's feed was replaced by a static headshot and titling with his full title, and Kathy was again shown full screen. "This just in, we have reports that a tweet has suggested Amazons are to appear outside a downtown nightclub, where a large black bus just showed up minutes ago. Is this a prank praying on the hype, or the second Amazon sighting in the making. We'll find out in just a few minutes." 

The newsroom lead again waved his hand and shouted, "now, swap in the helicopter feed." The whole output feed was replaced with a nighttime helicopter shot down at a black bus surrounded by a growing crowd of people. The helicopter was slowly circling, and there were obviously no unusual sized people present. "Six seconds longer, then cut to commercial. Five, Four, Three, Two, One... and we're off." The output feed switched to vertical bars, and audio piped in from the camera floor.

"Is this shit fucking for real?" Kathy seemed livid. "Are the other network's airing it? This better be real or it's going to fry my career."