The next afternoon Jessica walked out of the busy city with Tucker on her shoulder. She was carrying a scaled up wicker basket which contained enough food to feed a small army. She also carried a large red blanket that she kept under her arm and her handbag was resting on top of the basket. Tucker had given a clean bill of health from his doctors so he was finally allowed to leave their care. He was wearing some more clothes that had been found out by Jessica, he had the same rough dimensions as one of Jessica’s late husbands and she had kept his clothes just in case of an event like this. Jessica herself was wearing a bright summer dress along with a pair of black flip flops. She even wore a large straw hat and a scaled up pair of sunglasses, she had applied some make up but not too much. It wasn’t like she was going for a night out, it was only a nice leisurely picnic with a friend.

  The weather couldn’t have been any better for a picnic. The sun was shining and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. There was also a gentle breeze that made Jessica’s hair blow a little but all it did was add to her beauty. By now they had reach a forest like area that was outside of the city. It had been untouched by any settlement and Tucker could hear some animal sounds that he did not recognise along with Jessica’s heavy footsteps. He could see bird like creatures fly very close to her but they did not seem to be afraid of the colossus before them. One even landed on her nose although to her it wasn’t much bigger than an insect. She didn’t mind it staying there for a moment so that it could rest before it flew off again.

  After several minutes of walking the city had disappeared over the horizon and Jessica had found a nice clear spot that was idea for their picnic. It was large enough to accommodate her enormous size and it was miles away from anyone else so there was no danger of them having an unwanted guest. It was a clear area surrounded trees that were roughly half of Jessica’s height and it reminded Tucker of a place that he used to play in when he was a young boy.

  Jessica put the basket down on the ground and rolled out the blanket that once again was scaled up to her proportions. When she had everything set up she carefully took Tucker off her shoulder and placed him on the blanket itself. She then sat down right next to him and picked up the basket that was within her long reach. She placed it on her lap and she opened it up so that she could get some of the food out. Most of the food was for herself but a very small percentage of it was for Tucker and she had taken extra care with that. She had a lot of practice preparing food for people who were of a more reasonable stature but it didn’t make it all that easy for her.

  She had prepared a few sandwich like portions and some cakes for when they had finished. She also remembered to bring some bottles of water for the picnic but that wasn’t the only thing she had brought. She had brought a small amount of alcohol but not enough to get her drunk. There was more than enough to make Tucker drunk but she wouldn’t let him get to that stage.

  “There you go little man,” said Jessica placing a plate of food right in front of him. He was very close to her but her body was not blocking the sun’s rays from him. Before they had left they did both rub themselves with sun cream so that they didn’t get sunburned. “I hope you like it, I made it especially for you.”

  Tucker took a bite out of his sandwich and his taste buds felt new tastes that he didn’t think was possible. It was the tastiest sandwich that he had ever tasted and he didn’t hesitate in gobbling it up. He saw Jessica eating her sandwich at a much slower rate and he could see her looking over the beautiful horizon. She had looked upon the same horizon several thousand times over her life and she would have close a million more opportunities to see this horizon before she died. She was beginning to daydream again as she just looked continued to look over the horizon.

  “Jessica,” said Tucker looking up to Jessica. By now he had finished his sandwich and she was only half way through hers. “Jessica.” He didn’t get a response from the colossal woman who just seemed to be in a world of her own. “Jessica!” He had to shout so that he could be heard and it seemed to snap her back into reality. She looked down with a confused look as she thought that something might be wrong.

  “What is it Tucker?” asked Jessica with some confusion. She had been completely in a world of her own and he had snapped her back to reality.

  “I just wanted to ask you something.” He saw that she still had a full sandwich in her oversized hand. “Maybe I should ask when you’ve finished eating.”

  “No you’re fine little man.” She smiled at him to show that she wasn’t annoyed and that he had nothing to fear. “Ask away.”

  “Well I was wondering if you guys had any religions here. On my planet there are several different religions and well there’s been a lot of fighting over them for the last couple of thousand years. I was wondering if there were any religions on Home or if you guys were all atheists.”

  “There are a few religions on Home. Much like on your home world there are numerous religions here but there have not been any religious wars for years beyond count. There are some small skirmishes from time to time of course but nothing to really be worried about. Obviously there are a fair few people who don’t believe in religion but those who do often don’t have much problems with people who have other religions. There are some who like to cause trouble but they are dealt with immediately.”

  “What you kill them?” He was in shock and he could see Jessica giggle.

  “Of course not silly. Anyone who causes trouble is arrested and charged with whatever crime they have committed. If it’s something very minor they might just get a slap on the wrist but if it’s something more serious then they could go to prison.”

  “What do you believe in then Jessica? Do you think that there is a God or if it’s just a big pile of BS?”

  “I don’t know really, I think there might be something out there but I’m not sure. Maybe I would truly believe if there was more evidence besides blind faith.” She continued to smile. “I guess that would be the case for everyone.”

  “I guess I’m pretty much the same. I was raised a protestant but I don’t believe entirely. Like you I think there might be something out there but so far I haven’t seen much to suggest that my religion is right.”

  “Well there is one religion I know is almost right.” She began to chuckle. “There is a religion based around myself.”

  “Wait what?” This had caught him completely by surprise and he thought that Jessica was joking but as the seconds ticked by he didn’t see her laugh as if it were a joke. “There’s a religion based around you on Home?”

  “Not on Home of course but there is a race of people on one of the planets I visit who think I’m a goddess. It’s flattering to think that I’m the idol of an entire society’s religion but they like to exaggerate my size and power. They like to say that I’m the size of a mountain and that I have the strength to rip a planet in two.” She began to giggle once again. “The second part is true but it would have had to have been a very, very small planet.”

  “W-why do they worship you? I thought that you weren’t allowed to reveal yourself to the locals?” He still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He could see why a primitive race could worship Jessica as a goddess, from what he had seen of her if she truly was a goddess she would beloved by all.

  “It’s a long story Tucker, I’ll tell you another time but it’s definitely an experience I’ll never forget.” She took another bite out of her sandwich and she allowed herself to swallow it before continuing to speak. “You know I was saying about a very, very small planet, well there is one planet out there that we visit but everything about it is so small that only Jenny can visit it.” She took one more bite out of her sandwich as she saw Tucker look at her in amazement over everything she was telling him. “And even when she does go to the inhabitants she’s so tall her head is in the clouds.”

  “Wait Jenny, Jenny, Jenny.” He was trying to remember who she was, he wasn’t particularly good with names. It took him a moment to remember who she was, he remembered her being present on the night out just a couple of hours after he first met Jessica. “Jenny’s the really small one isn’t she?”

  “Yep you’ve got it. I could never go to that planet because I think I’m literally bigger than it. I know it’s insane to think that there could be a planet like that but the universe is so diverse that there is probably a planet of every scenario imaginable.”

  “Has your people gone to every planet in the universe?”

  “No in fact we’ve gone to less than one percent of the total planets in this galaxy alone. And that’s not including planets that can’t sustain life. If you add every other liveable planet in the galaxy the sheer number is beyond count. Even if we discovered a new liveable planet every day it would take us thousands upon thousands of years to actually find them all. In fact everyday planets are created and destroyed.”

  “Wait I thought your job was to prevent planets from being destroyed.”

  “Of course it is but we don’t bother with the ones that cannot support life. It is pointless wasting our time and resources on planets that have absolutely no chance of sustaining life. Also if the star in their solar system burns itself out there’s not much we can do about that. If that does happen and the system has a planet that can sustain life we evacuate every living creature to another planet with a similar gravity and atmosphere to their home. As you can imagine it’s a huge task but normally we have some time to complete the job.” She took one last bite out of her sandwich before she lay down on her stomach with her face very close to where Tucker was standing. She had placed her arms on the ground and rested her chin on top of them. She also held her feet up in the air and she slipped her flip flops off. “But enough about me, tell me about your home planet. I may have visited a few times but each time I go I don’t get much time to go sightseeing.”

  “Well…” He didn’t think she would have been interested in Earth. Home was so much more advanced and from what he had seen a lot more civilized. He also didn’t want to disappoint her, he could see her face beaming at him and when she smiled at him her teeth were so perfect and white that he could see his reflection in them. “I don’t really know where to start.”

  “Well the best place to start is at the beginning.” Her smile did not fade as she made her little joke. But when it came to her nothing she did or said was ever little. “Then you work your way to the middle and after that you finish off at the end.”

  “Ok very funny Jessica.” He began to think about what he was going to say. He decided to only really speak about England rather than the whole world at large, it would take too long for him and he didn’t really know what was happening in the other countries. “Well in England it rains every other day, everyone’s miserable and we have a useless tosser as a Prime Minister.” A smile began to appear on his face as he saw Jessica soak up every word, he was tempted to make a white lie to make him seem more important than he was but something inside him prevented him from doing so. He didn’t want to lie to her and he thought that there would be someway of her finding the truth out if he did lie. “The economy’s in the shitter and my team is facing relegation. I have to admit that things aren’t going too well for us.”

  “But you’ll recover eventually.” Her optimism didn’t seem to diminish despite his harsh truths about his own country. “No society can do well all the time, there are periods of highs and lows throughout history and you just have to enjoy the highs when you have them. If you know what you’re doing you can make sure that you’re prepared when things take a turn for the worse.” She slowly sat up and placed her hand on the ground indicating that she wanted him to step into her palm. She had given him no reason not to trust him and he did not hesitate in stepping onto her hand. As soon as he gotten both feet onto her hand she slowly lifted him up and brought him up to her level. He could see the deepness of her eyes and he thought that he would be lost in them if he stared into them for too long. “You know one day I actually want to visit your planet and I don’t mean just for a mission. I want to see everything about it; I want to see your monuments, your cultures, your landscapes. Basically I want to see everything.” Her smile faded and she looked disappointed. “But I know that will never happen. I know what your race is like, I’ve seen how you treat each other and I shudder to think what they would do if I actually made a visit without being cloaked. It may be worse than our treatment by the Dolorians. Your people have enough weapons of mass destruction to destroy your planet several times over and there have actually been a couple of occasions where you got very close to complete annihilation. In fact almost fifty years ago in the event that your people have dubbed the Cuban Missile Crisis our Government were just about to send a few of the agents to stop your world leaders from destroying each other. Thankfully they saw sense before they decided to destroy one another. Your people are very suspicious race and your fear what you don’t understand and what you fear you tend to destroy.”

  “I know the human race isn’t all good. But you’ve met me, do I seem suspicious and eager to destroy my own kind?” He was trying to make out that humanity wasn’t all bad but he had to admit that what she was saying was true. Although he didn’t know much about the Cuban Missile Crisis he knew that it was the closest the Earth had ever gotten to all out nuclear war. He saw her think for a moment before looking back at him.

  “Well you were suspicious of me when we first met.” Her smile began to reappear. “But it seems that my warm personality rubbed off on you. Now it almost seems that we’ve been friends for years.”

  “And we’ll be friends for many more years hopefully.” He expected her smile to grow but once again her look of disappointment began to return. He thought that he had said the wrong thing to her. “We will be friends for years right? That is unless I do something to completely cock it up.”

  “No it’s not that.” It took her a couple of moments before she could look at Tucker again. “When the thirty days are up I have to take you back home, but before then we have to wipe your memory.”

  “What?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re gonna wipe my entire memory?” He was beginning to feel nervous for the first time while he had been with Jessica. He had thought that she was joking at first but when he saw her expression he knew that this was not the case.

  “Of course not your entire memory, just everything you’ve experienced within the last thirty days.” She could see his nervousness but this time she didn’t know how to make him feel better. She didn’t really want to tell him the truth but she thought that it would be easier now rather than him finding out the hard way. “The company won’t risk you telling your people about our existence. I know that you would never do that but they won’t take that risk.”

  “Can’t I just stay here on Home? I always prefer it here more than Earth, I don’t have to live with you if that’s the problem. I could find my own place and get myself a job.”

  “But you don’t belong here.” She hated having to shatter his little dream but she had to be firm. “Your place is not here, it’s on your home planet and we cannot let you stay.” A tear began to develop in her eye. “You have family on your own planet and we cannot separate you from them any longer than we can.”

  Tucker wanted to say something that would somehow change Jessica’s mind but he knew that there was nothing that he could say. He understood what she was saying but it didn’t make it any easier for him to hear. When he first came to Home the main thing on his mind was getting back to his world, but his short time with Jessica was changing his mind. He had not been happy in his own world and he would have liked to stay on Home. He really wanted to stay with Jessica but he thought that she wouldn’t want him around for much longer. She had not chosen to take him in, her superiors had forced her to since she was the one who brought him here. He could only look into Jessica’s eyes as he saw a tear roll down her face and drop onto the blanket. He heard a small splash when the large tear impacted with the blanket.

  “So we only have another three weeks or so to enjoy each other’s company?” asked Tucker trying to break a small smile.

  “Yeah somewhere like that. It’s been a week since you came so yeah, we have three weeks and two days before you have to go back.” She could see him smiling but she didn’t get why. She thought that he would be saddened by the news.

  “Well I guess we should enjoy every moment we can since we don’t have all that much time.”

  “I guess we can.” She could see what he was trying to do and she quickly wiped her eyes and a smile developed on her face. “And I have a good idea how we can start.” She slowly lowered him to the ground and he knew that she wanted him to step off her hand. He slowly stepped off her hand and looked up at her with some confusion. “You have hide and seek on your planet right?”

  “Right?” He wasn’t sure exactly where this was going but he thought that he was going to live to regret it.

  “Oh good I don’t have to explain the rules then.” Her voice was sounding more playful and the sadness seemed to have evaporated. “I’m going to close my eyes and count to one hundred and you’re going to go and hide.” Her smile showed a hint of mischief as she looked down at him. He didn’t exactly know what she was up to but he felt that she was about to treat him like a child.

  “That’s a kid’s game. I think we’re both too old to be playing it.”

  “Oh come on Tucker.” She never took her eyes off him as her mischievous grin continued to grow. “If you can hide for five minutes I’ll let you have a little surprise.”

  “A surprise?” This had attracted his curiosity and he hoped that she wasn’t playing some kind of trick on him. But so far she hadn’t lied to him so he thought that she was at least telling the truth on that part. “What kind of surprise?”

  “Well it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.” She then gently picked him up only a couple of feet above the ground and he turned him around and placed him down on the ground. She pushed him gently indicating that she wanted him to run. “Now go and hide little man or else you won’t get your surprise.” She didn’t see him run but she closed her eyes and began to count to one hundred.

  Originally Tucker was not in any mood to go and hide but as he heard her counting he decided that it would probably be some fun playing the game. He hadn’t played hide and seek in almost a quarter of a century so it would be fun for him to play it just one last time. As Jessica continued to count he ran into the wooded area as fast as he could. He knew that her size would make it easier for her to search large areas but he thought that if he could find just the right place her size would work against her. He always remembered how hard it was to find something small if it fell on carpet. If he could keep himself completely hidden he hoped that she would miss him when she went through her search.

  After a few seconds he discovered a large bush and he would have liked to dive into it but he wanted to be a little more cautious. He didn’t know whether this bush was similar to poison ivy, but as he heard Jessica getting close to one hundred he gently made his way into the bush and he made sure that it didn’t look too obvious that someone had just entered it. He was able to cover the hole he had created with the rest a couple of branches from the bush itself. No sooner had he made sure that he was hidden he heard Jessica reach one hundred.

  “Ready or not here I come!” shouted Jessica as she stood up to her full height. Just before she began her search she slipped her flip flops back onto her feet so that they didn’t get dirty when she walked around on the ground. Almost instantly she began to make her way towards where Tucker had ran towards. He didn’t know it but she already knew exactly where he had gone. “Come on out little man you can’t hide from me forever!”

  She could see the small dents that Tucker’s feet had made in the grass and the footprints would lead her straight to where Tucker was hiding. As she came closer she could hear him breathing heavily after his little run and normally it would only take her a few moments to find him but instead she chose not to. She didn’t want the game to end like this and inside his bush Tucker could see Jessica’s giant foot only a few metres away. At that moment he thought that she had found him but as it rose back up into the air he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t really want to admit it but he was actually beginning to have fun, the thrill of actually trying to hide from a person who could had the power to take on an army but had the gentle soul of a saint.

  As the minutes ticked by Tucker thought that Jessica would never find him. He sat inside his bush and waited to see if he could see any sign of the gentle giantess but he couldn’t see her at all. His vision was extremely limited and he could only see in one direction. He didn’t realise that Jessica was standing only a few metres behind the bush looking down on him. She couldn’t see him inside but she could hear his breathing and she could also see the small hole that he had tried to cover up. Her feet were beyond Tucker’s small cone of vision and she made sure that she was absolutely silent. She just stood there looking down at the bush and she was counting the time in her head.

  After a few minutes Jessica bent down to the bush and opened it up so that she could see Tucker inside. He looked up to her and saw her smiling as she lowered her hand and gently grabbed him. She lifted him up to her level and her smile never faded, her sudden appearance had taken him by surprise but he couldn’t help but smile back at her. The game had been some fun but it was something that he didn’t particularly want to do again anytime soon. His little run had tired him and it furthered his belief that he was out of shape.

  “Found you,” said Jessica in a cheery voice. “And if my counting is correct you lasted longer than five minutes.”

  “Yay me,” replied Tucker in a small amount of disappointment.

  “You win the surprise little man.” She began to walk back to where the picnic was set up. “I left it over here, I know it’s a bit of a walk for you but for a big girl like me it’s only a few short steps.”

  Jessica walked back towards the picnic and much to her word the trip only took her a few short steps before she sat back down on the blanket and rested Tucker in the palm of her hand. Her eyes were fixated on him and he was a little confused with what was about to happen. He knew that he had won the game in a sense and that Jessica was going to give him a surprise but he didn’t know what it was.

  “Are you ready for your surprise little man?” asked Jessica.

  “I guess so,” replied Tucker not knowing what to expect.

  No sooner had he said those words Jessica lifted him up to her warm soft lips and gave him a kiss. This was not the first time she had kissed him but this time was different, it was a simple goodnight kiss but instead seemed to be more of a lover’s kiss. It had taken Tucker completely by surprise and a small part of him wanted to resist but the majority of his mind actually enjoyed it. He was in no pain as he felt Jessica’s soft lips engulf most of his body and he had no fear that she would accidentally swallow him.

  The kiss lasted several seconds before Jessica finally lowered her hand away from her lips and Tucker was speechless. His body felt a strange sense of energy that he had not felt for a good many years. He had once felt this when he was first with his ex-wife but that time had long since passed and he couldn’t help but look at the Jessica’s playful smile. It took him a moment or two to even come out with a coherent sentence.

  “T-that was something else,” said Tucker in disbelief.

  “Well you deserved it little man,” replied Jessica with glee in her voice.

  “Because I won our game of hide and seek?”

  “No silly man, I knew where you were the entire time. I wanted to thank you for what you did on Doloria.”

  “All I did was get captured and practically tortured by giant lizards.” He was in some confusion; he didn’t think that he had done anything in particular to deserve a kiss like that. Not that he was complaining of course.

  “You did more than that. I know that they tried to scan your mind but you refused to give them anything about me or the company. I maybe a giant, but a girl always appreciates a man who her safety before his own physical wellbeing.”

  “It was nothing I guess.” He thought for a moment before coming up with something that troubled him. “Wait how did you know about that?”

  “Well when you were asleep Agent Carpenter scanned your mind to see if there was any permanent damage and to see if you had given the Dolorians any information that would jeopardise the company’s operations.” She saw the he had a worried expression on his face. “Don’t worry she didn’t go anywhere that she wasn’t supposed to.” She saw him begin to smile once again. “This is my little way of saying thank you Tucker for making sure they didn’t learn anything about me. Most men would have betrayed me the first opportunity they had, it’s happened to me a couple of times but you are different. You knew that you would likely die if you didn’t give them what they wanted and yet you still gave them nothing. I might have the strength to take on an army but that Tucker Martel is true strength.” There was silence for a moment as she looked down at Tucker. “I hope that you don’t think any less of me because of that kiss.”

  “Of course not but you know Jessica you’re just like the BFG.”

  “The what?” She had never heard of a BFG and she was very curious to learn exactly what it was.

  “It means the Big Friendly Giant. It was a book I used to read when I was a boy and you’re just like the main character from that. An enormous giant who was also the kindest soul a person could ever hope to meet. So to me you are the Big Friendly Giant given a physical form.”

  “You mean giantess.” She had replied with a smile. “I’m a giant woman so the technical term is giantess.”

  “In that case Jessica Snape, I official give you the title of the Big Friendly Giantess.”

  For a few moments both of them laughed at each other in what seemed to be a magical moment but this was suddenly broken when a severe pain over took Jessica’s entire body. The pain had come so quickly that she accidentally dropped Tucker out of her hand and he landed on her lap. Thankfully for him due to the fact that Jessica was already beginning to lower her hand and that her lap was very soft that he didn’t receive any serious injuries. It was like he had been dropped onto a cushioned crash mat and he was able to roll off her knee and down to the ground. That drop had only been a few feet so it didn’t feel like anything.

  Jessica began to scream in pain as she was enveloped by a strange glow. Tucker could only step away as he saw his friend in sheer agony and he felt powerless to do anything to help her. He saw her bring her hands up to her head as her deafening cries could be heard for miles and miles.

  Tucker could only watch as the bright orange glow grew brighter with each passing second and he had no idea what was happening to his friend but what he saw next sent chills down his spine. He saw the clothes, skin and hair of Jessica disappear leaving the muscle and tissue underneath. It looked like she had been flayed but she did not seem to die, instead she continued her in humane scream as the pain continued. Next her muscles disappeared revealing her internal organs and veins and it was like Tucker was in a high school science class again. He was afraid that Jessica was dying but he didn’t know what was happening to her, he didn’t know whether this was normal for her or some kind of side effect to her power but he couldn’t think of a way that it was even possible.

  Next all of Jessica’s organs and other tissues disappeared leaving only her skeleton behind. It almost seemed like something out of horror film as he watched her enormous skeleton move even though it wasn’t attached to any muscles. This only lasted for a few moments before her skeleton also faded away, only when the skeleton had completely evaporated did Jessica’s screams finally end. There was no trace of the mighty giantess and Tucker ran towards where she had been sitting trying to find some kind of sign of her but there was nothing. Jessica had completely disappeared into thin air.

 “Jessica!” shouted Tucker frantically trying to find her. “JESSICA!”