ATACAMA DESERT, CHILE
(8 MARCH, 1943)
She had run, at full size, for the rest of that day and all through that first night. By sunrise the next day, she had reached the geoglyph known as "El Gigante de Atacama." The only one of its kind this far south of the Nazca Plains. And, fully exhausted (emotionally, as well as physically), she fell to the ground, face-first, right beside it.
"Mi pardon, senor," she whispered to the geoglyph: "I only need...to rest here...for a...moment."
She did not wake up until she heard the noise.
With a frightened gasp, she rolled over on to her back, initially disoriented. Then, she remembered where she was, and why. And, finally, she heard it again. A strange rumbling sound coming from high above!
She was vaguely familiar with the concept of aircraft, as she had long since become accustomed to the DC-3 that the norteamericanos used to transport the excavated nitrates back to the United States. This sound, however, was different. And the difference became visible to her pond-sized naked eyes, five minutes later.
It was the Cierva autogyro from Copiapo, searching for her.
At that same moment, the Chilean observer in the rear cockpit was searching the ground below through a pair of binoculars. And it was difficult to tell who spotted whom, first. Marisol or the observer. Yet, there was no disputing the fact that the latter immediately tapped his pilot on the right shoulder to alert him to the discovery!
This, in turn, prompted the pilot to radio Gonsalves in the stake truck.
"Repite', por favor!" the bounty hunter initially replied.
Ten seconds later, he grinned and opened up the sliding rear window of the cab.
"She's less than a hundred meters ahead!"
"Bueno!" exclaimed Dr. Aleman.
The archeologist then began speaking in Portuguese to a Dutch whaler named Hans (who had learned it as a second language during periodic shore leaves on the East Indian island of Timor). The latter, in turn, translated Aleman's instructions for his comrades. Whereupon, they all began getting the harpoon gun ready to fire!
Within ten minutes, both hunters and hunted had sighted each other. Marisol, however, would not be forced to run any further. She defiantly stood her ground, arms akimbo. Making her resemble nothing less than a female Colossus of Rhodes!
In all fairness to her, she had good reason to believe their guns would not harm her at this size. After all; the bullets that had been fired by the handsome bounty hunter had done little more than pinch her right sole! But, of course, she had no way of knowing that Gonsalves and Aleman had already taken that into consideration.
That was why they had obtained--from the same circus as the former Big Top--a veterinary elephant syringe with a diamond tip. And that syringe was loaded with enough morphine to overdose an elephant!
Two minutes later, that syringe was tied on to a harpoon.
"Do they have the range and bearing?" demanded Gonsalves.
Aleman nodded. So, Gonsalves gave Hans the order they had all been waiting for.
"Fuego!"
"Feuer!"
BOOM!
The harpoon sailed unerringly upward. The syringe's diamond tip hitting its intended target dead center! That target being...Marisol's shapely right shoulder.
Her ensuing yelp was more from startlement than actual excruciating pain. Consequently, she only had time to pull the syringe-equipped harpoon from her shoulder with her left hand before the morphine started to take effect.
"Que--es...?"
Once more, she fell earthward, face-first. And, once again, she left an imprint that would make archeologists of future generations think the male giant figure had been given two "concubines!"
Within five minutes, however, Marisol was once again only seven feet tall. So, there proved to be plenty of canvas to spare in which to imprison her! The septet of men (Gonsalves, Aleman, and the five Dutch whalers) then loaded her on to the back of the stake truck for the long drive back to Santa Madre.
There, the two Chilean army pilots were compensated for the "aerobatic demonstration" they had given, prior to their return flight to Copiapo. As for Marisol? She was loaded (admittedly, with some slight difficulty) on to the Fokker trimotor. The latter departing right after the autogyro.
They had been airborne for ten minutes when Gonsalves finally noticed something.
"Senor Aleman; why are we not heading southward for Valparaiso?
"A slight change of plans, Senor Gonsalves. We are headed to a certain Red Cross facility in the Bahia Huemul region of Argentina. There, she will be medically examined to see if the morphine had any adverse effects upon her remarkable growing ability."
"And, then what?" inquired the bounty hunter: "You will smuggle her to Nazi Germany?"
Naturally, there was an awkward silence.
"No comprendo," the archeologist finally replied.
Gonsalves laughed: "You may be a brilliant historian, Senhor. But, you are not a very good actor. Por ejemplo; 'Aleman' is the Spanish word for 'German!' Then, there are these 'Dutch' whalers. Hans' order to fire was translated into German. NOT Dutch! Plus, there are certain inflexiones in his use of Portuguese that make me think he more likely learned it on the Tanganyika side of the Rio Rovumba. Perhaps, as a result of being born and raised there!"
Another awkward silence followed. A silence that was broken only when Dr. "Aleman" began to laugh! Sporadically, at first; and, then, uproariously!!
"Sehr gut, Herr Gonsalves," he finally replied (after calming down enough to do so): "Hans did learn Portuguese in the manner you describe. Nor are he and the others from Der Nederlands. They are Afrika Korps tank crewmen! Und, ich bein Herr Doktor Gustave Liebenkraft. Ethno-genetic historian for Der Third Reich!"
tbc
Giantess World
Chapter End Notes:
*Tanganyika: post-WWI name for what was originally called "German East Africa."
Rio Rovumba: Portuguese name for the river that forms most of the border between Mozambique and modern-day Tanzania.
Rio Rovumba: Portuguese name for the river that forms most of the border between Mozambique and modern-day Tanzania.