The rift opened and Liam jumped through. It always felt like falling sideways. Hopefully, this world would prove better than the last one he’d visited. He’d stayed exactly long enough to learn that Dan Quail had been elected president and Mariah Cary’s movie Glitter had won best picture. Burr! It still gave him the shudders.  Some things in the universe were beyond horror.

Jumping to parallel Earths was a risky business, but Liam did it in the name of science. To be more exact;  on his first jump he had found a world that had seemingly been populated entirely by females dressed in scant clothing. He hadn’t seen any men. There must have been men somewhere, otherwise where would all the people come from? Initially the lack of men concerned him that things like football, beer and potato chips might not exist in that universe, but the initial panic subsided when he realized that all of the women there could have posed as centerfold of the year in playboy. They had welcomed him with open arms and immediately accepted that he was a traveler from a parallel Earth. All were exceedingly friendly.  One lady in particular, named Jessica, had been particularly friendly towards him. She had been in her late twenties and had explained that she was a PhD in Theoretical Physics at the local university. The fact that she had a body that would have made Demi Moore when she had been in her prime… well that was just gravy. Really, really good gravy.

Hours had flown by like seconds as the two scientists had discussed physics while drinking some really tasty wine. Liam had been hoping he could have stayed longer but had to open the rift to return home, promising to return. Jessica seemed sorry to have seen him go. Liam hadn’t exactly been a player on his home Earth but with the field seemingly cleared of other competition and his occupation as a physicist and parallel-world traveler, his chances of getting with Jessica had seemed extremely good. She appeared to be very interested in him, although Liam wasn’t sure if that was because he was the only man around or simply because he was from a parallel earth.

In a tragic blow to Liam’s sex life, the wine he’d consumed had affected him quite badly. Perhaps it was because he was from an alternate reality and not equipped to metabolize the high alcoholic content of the wine. Perhaps it was simply the company of a woman whose body made Olympic Volleyball players look plain and rival the intelligence of a Harvard Professor of Physics. Whatever the reason; the thought to program the coordinates of that particular parallel universe into his handheld jump device had slipped Liam’s mind. Liam had realized his mistake too late, resulting in him swearing a lot, kicking a door and spraining his ankle for the trouble. Unfortunately none of this gave him the coordinates for Jessica’s universe.

Now, with an infinite number of universes to explore to try and find Jessica again, he made his best estimated guess; and jumped.

Emerging through the other side of the rift, he hopped onto the tile floor he had seemingly just left. The hair on the back of his neck stood up from the electric charge and vortex of energies that swirled around in the rift like a whorl pool between realities. His best friend, Tuppy, arrived a moment later.  Then the gate winked out of existence. Liam looked down at his charger; only fifteen minutes until he was recharged and able to make the jump back. Of course, he had rigged the device so he could stay as long as he wanted two but he would need at least fifteen minutes for a recharge before it   was possible.

Liam stowed the tiny, mobile phone sized device (which he liked to call his Rift Key) in his pocket and looked around himself. He seemed to be in some sort of vast hall that stretched onwards before terminating an indeterminable distance away. The hallway looked almost exactly the same as the one in the university he’d just left, only the size had amplified many times over.

It didn’t take a cleaver cove like Liam long to work out that this parallel earth must have a different size ratio than his own.  It wasn’t much of a jump in reasoning for Liam to hug the walls as he made his way down the passage to ensure that he wasn’t accidentally crushed by anyone who might happen along the hallway. Fortunately Liam’s friend Tuppy was the only person in sight.  

 Liam’s best friend in the physics community was this rather bothersome slightly overweight fellow. Tuppy’s gift for science was marginal at best, but he was a dogged worker and disserved some credit, however begrudgingly Liam gave it to him, for the invention of the Rift Device.

Tuppy was dressed in khaki pants, held in place by a rather thin belt that pressed against a prodigious belly. He had a white shirt with a collar on it that looked marginally clean. Over this was a white lab coat.  For the hundredth time that day Liam held back a scoff at his friend’s appearance.  When jumping between worlds, it paid to be a bit more prepared than to wear lab clothes. Liam was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt that had a Detroit Red Wings Hockey logo on it and a Leather Jacket over that. He felt cool and confident. He was in good shape having wrestled in high school and was on the rowing team for his alma mater.  

“It looks like a larger version of our own college,” said Liam, annoyed.  “But maybe we can learn something from a little exploring. It’s a quarter of an hour until the key is recharged and were ready to jump again.  It doesn’t appear to be too dangerous so maybe we should split up to cover more ground. Why don’t you go the other way and see if you find anything interesting. We’ll meet back here in fifteen minutes.

“Okay,” said Tuppy reluctantly. He seemed disappointed that Liam wanted to split up. Tuppy was not a brave man which was why Liam preferred to leave him behind when going on jumps. Lately however, Tuppy had insisted on coming along. Liam believed it had to do with his descriptions of an all female supermodel world. While it was true that Tuppy would be helpful in pinpointing the coordinates to the universe, Tuppy’s presence made jumps a lot more of a bother. The man clung to Liam like a leached affixed to his arm, always getting in his way and slowing things down, causing Liam to become rather short tempered with his friend.

 Liam knew he had hurt Tuppy’s feelings by brushing him off like that, but he didn’t care. If he didn’t want to explore then he could have stayed in the lab.

Tuppy proceeded onwards alone towards a nearby classroom. Hearing voices emanating from behind a closed door, Liam found his curiosity grow. He very much wanted to see the inhabitants of this Earth. Squeezing under the crack in the door was tight, but proved no real problem to him. He hurried off to the side in case someone entered the room in a more traditional fashion, found a reasonably safe corner, and then took stock of his surroundings.

He found himself in a nearly identical classroom to the one in his university back on his Earth, once again allowing for the stipulation that everything here was about a hundred times bigger than he was used to. The foreground of his vision was taken up by two young ladies, whom like everything in this world, appeared normal aside from size. They towered over Tuppy like skyscrapers. They were however, quite pretty and Tuppy found it hard not to stare at their bodies’ curves, impossible to ignore at his comparatively negligible size.

“How many do you have?” said the girl with short black hair. She spoke English. This was good. It would be hard to learn a language that was not based on anything he knew. Lucky they spoke his language. They continued to do this at once; “I’d really appreciate a pick-me –up. Do you mind sharing?”

“You know Clare, you really need to remember to bring some snacks yourself. What would you do if I weren’t here?” asked her friend, seeming to imply that her absence would mean disaster to her friend Clare. This girl’s hair was more of a brown color, slightly curled and hung just past her shoulders.  She reached into a backpack and began rummaging around for something; presumably an apple, a granola bar, or some other portable snack.

Tuppy looked at her backpack. It’s tag said “TUG-TOTE” with the outline of a mountain being climbed by a stick figure with long hair to imply a woman. Below the caption read “a backpack for the outdoor girls out there.” Tuppy had never heard of the company but it was hardly surprising; he was in a parallel universe after all. Not to mention that he was far from athletic. If such a company did exist on his own earth, Liam would have been the authority.

The backpack had several buttons and patches fixed onto it. There was a patch of what looked like a flag but Liam was unfamiliar with it. The buttons had captions like; “I climbed Sleeping Mont Rock!”and,  “PLAY, Just Push It!” and finally; “Betsy’s Barr’s Bakery.”

That was a good sign, especially the bakery part. Tuppy would hate to find a world that didn’t include pastry. He wondered what the girls were going to eat. Maybe it would be a donut or a muffin.  He began to speculate on how the women might react if he introduced himself and asked for some of their food.

“Here they are,” said the long haired girl, extracting a Tupperware bin from where it had obviously slid to the bottom of her bag. She set her bag down, which actually caused a slight tremor to run through the floor, probably unnoticeable to the two giant women but Tuppy felt it keenly in his knees. He steadied himself and looked back up at the giantesses who were now opening the bin. It had tiny holes in it, which struck Tuppy as odd. He wondered what they considered a good snack in this world and why it would need air holes.

The long haired girl reached in and plucked an object from the bin. Tuppy was startled to see that whatever it was seemed to me moving. He tried to get a closer look but the way that the girl was holding the object prevented him from getting a good look.

“Are they fresh?” asked Clair, reaching in herself and grabbing another object.

“I bought them yesterday. They usually last me a few days, assuming I don’t run out early by giving them all to my friends,” said the other girl, with a sideways look at Clair. She popped whatever object was in her hand into her mouth and swallowed it. “But they still struggle fine if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Hey, sorry.  I’ll buy you dinner this weekend,” said her friend, holding up both hands defensively.

It was the defensive posture on the part of Clair that allowed Tuppy to observe the object in her hand. It was struggling too. It was waving its arms and legs…

With a cold chill Tuppy realized that the object in her hand was a tiny man, about his size. He even appeared to be screaming, although Liam couldn’t hear him from this distance.

The man seemed to be reaching out towards the Tupperware bin where, presumably, more little men were kept. Whatever his reason, Clare popped him into her mouth easily and without even bother to chew him, swallowed. She reached in for another object and extracted another man.

“Oh yeah that was wiggily. Good ones. Where did you get them?” said Clare, eating this next man just like the first. Tuppy watched in horror as a bulge moved quickly down her throat.

“At the local farm on Ashburn Road,” said her friend. “I always try to support the local man farms. And they taste so much better and wiggle more on the way down than those store bought kind. I can’t help but think that those guys at the store have already been through the ringer and don’t have any more fight left in them. These guys however. Nice and fresh.”

She picked up two more men and tossed them into her mouth together, gulping them simultaneously.

   Tuppy had seen enough. He began to run, hurrying back out the door and down the hallway. He had to find Liam.

He’d made it about halfway down the hallway, keeping his eyes peeled for his friend, when suddenly doors up and down the passage opened and people poured out.

Tuppy hurried into a classroom to escape the hallway. He ducked in a corner and took stock of things. A lecture in this classroom was still going on, but seemed to be wrapping up. Tuppy looked around.

Size difference non-withstanding, something strange struck Tuppy in this room. It took him a moment to put his finger on it; everyone in the classroom was a woman. All were exceedingly beautiful, which was a pleasant thought, but it struck Tuppy as odd. Come to think of it, everyone in the hallway had also been female. They had all been pretty too but Tuppy had been too preoccupied with avoiding being stepped on to take much notice of that.

Now, safely in the corner and out of site of the giant women, he had time to observe. They were all giantesses. They were all beautiful. And if those girls in the other room were anything to judge the rest by; they ate human beings his size. He had to find Liam and get out of here before any of them noticed him!

On the other side of the classroom, Liam checked his Rift Key. It needed three more minutes to charge. Hopefully in that  Liam could locate Tuppy. This world had plenty of women, in fact it looked like it was all women. That was nice but they all were about a thousand feet tall and if he and Tuppy didn’t leave they were bound to be stepped on.  

Liam had slipped into the classroom and listened to the end of a lecture about parallel universes. How appropriate. The teacher was assigning reading. Liam was in the process of ensuring that he was out of danger of being stepped on when he saw the teacher’s face.

Jessica?! Liam looked again. There was no doubt about it! This was the same woman with whom he had discussed physics on a parallel Earth, a woman who had shown every intention of being intimate with him before he was forced to jump back to his own Earth.

“And so, it is theoretically possible to bridge this gap between parallel worlds. Please read up on assigned reading in your syllabus for today and make sure you have the theory in mind before next lecture. That is all for today.”

The immediate scraping of chairs being pushed back resounded throughout the room as grateful legs were stretched after an hour of straight sitting. Lines of beautiful women streamed out of the classroom, girls chattering to each other, calling friends on cell phones, or just hurrying from class. Liam was holding the rift key. Two minutes! Don’t get stepped on!

Most of the students had left now. Liam even realized that he recognized a few of them. Amazing, he thought, but he had not time to dwell on it now.

“Excuse me!” came an accusing voice. Liam realized that the woman Jessica had spotted him and was now advancing towards him. “Stay right where you are little man,” said Jessica.

Liam looked for a place to hide. In looking around he spotted Tuppy, waving to him to him in an animated manner  from the corner of the room. He looked very excited. Liam understood why; he was no doubt worried about them being stepped on. But it was alright. Jessica had seen him and wouldn’t step on him.

 With Jessica appearing to be a physics professor in this universe, and just as beautiful as when he had met her in an alternate universe, maybe they could discuss physics together and perhaps even get some guidance on how to continue exploration of other dimensions.

“Hello Jes-“ started Liam as she loomed before him and bent downwards.

“Gotya!” said Jessica as her hand closed around him. She lifted him skyward and the ground fell away to an alarming distance. Liam was now held before her beautiful face which had a rather smug expression.

“Hello Jessica! I’m from a parallel universe. I found a way to jump between worlds. I wouldn’t know that because I met you on another Earth. I must say I’m happy to see you again. Just last time we met we were the same size.”

“Hmmm,” said Jessica. She looked as beautiful as ever. “Well you might just know my name because you sat through my lecture. Interesting story about being from another universe. Very clever of you but I’m not buying it. my whole discussion was about parallel worlds today. Don’t you think it’s a bit suspicious that you would come up with that excuse after my lecture on it?”

 “Really! I am. You’re going to be amazed! Wait another minute and I’ll show you!” said Liam. “Besides, how else would I be this size?”

“For the same reason that every other man is your size,” said Jessica.

“You mean all guys here are my size? How interesting!” said Liam.

 “Yes,” agreed Jessica. “So you can imagine how skeptical I am about you being from a parallel universe. I think you’re just trying to say something that you think would prevent me from eating you. I can’t imagine how you escaped from a holding pen. Maybe a girl brought you as a snack to class. Did one of them do that? Can you tell me which one? I’ve spoken to them about eating in class.”

“No. No you can’t be serious! I am from another universe!” pleaded Liam

“Har, har but the joke is over and  I’m hungry so in you go!” She opened her mouth wide and slid the protesting Liam in. With a large gulp. Liam was pushed into her throat and down her esophagus. He fought and struggled for all it was worth not knowing that Jessica enjoyed his struggles.

He landed in her stomach. It was dark and wet and smelled of chemicals. He took out his Gate Key and looked at the timer. The dim glow of the digital counter said 00:30. Thirty seconds. Liam held his breath. He was being thrown around now, most likely Jessica was walking somewhere. Perhaps her stomach was starting to digest him too. His skin was beginning to burn. Finally the timer reached zero.

Liam pressed the button. The swirling vortex appeared before him and Liam dived through, to appear on his lab floor on the other side.

Tuppy was trapped in the giantess universe! Before he could lose the coordinates, Liam punched “Save” on the Key. Now