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Author's Chapter Notes:

Zava meets new friends and new foes

 Doctor Ben Kahanoff got out of the black van he had ridden from the airport, blinking in the sun. He had come all the way from Berkeley and was truly ecstatic that he had finally managed to elbow his way into the committee; it was a close call and he only finally made it because Tyson (the default choice) had the flu and was, as always, gracious and helped him squeeze in, as he did not want to risk passing his flu to the alien visitress. This trip was the culmination of a lifetime of efforts as an astrophysicist, xenobiologist and a SETI expert. He was trembling with excitement and disbelief at the chance of a lifetime: being able to see up close, interact and actually speak to a sentient being from another planet!

He had to admit to himself that he was a skeptic when he first saw the news about the ‘giantess’, as the media now called her. It was all so outlandish that he was sure it was an internet prank. But then people started calling him, almost hysteric with excitement. The first of these, a SETI deserter, but nevertheless colleague and friend from NY’s Columbia’s University, Claudia Basile, was, by coincidence, in Martha’s Vineyard vacationing with her husband ‘s relatives and had seen the girl from up close, as his brother in law was the keeper from the lighthouse where the giant extraterrestrial woman first appeared.

She managed to get into the lighthouse before the police pickets were raised and was, therefore, able to follow the whole affair in first row, taking (and kindly sending him) pics taken with her telephoto lens of the events of that day, up to the moment where the giantess passed near the lighthouse on her way out of the area, waving at the people at the top of it, and Claudia was there, waving back. She assured Ben the woman, who now they knew was called Zava, was no prank. She was a living, breathing, and bewildered humanoid girl, if 80 feet tall. Claudia even touched her, before the police arrived. The giant female was flesh and blood, she swore him, giddy with enthusiasm.

Afterwards, Kahanoff saw, flabbergasted, that Zava could even speak English, for crying out loud! And Zava herself had admitted coming from beyond Earth. Kahanoff, having privileged information from Claudia, started following the events earlier than almost anyone. He even saw the Boston Globe and Mark Wilson’s videos and wasted no time in contacting him to offer his unconditional assistance and rallying his college colleagues, astronomers, physicists, sociologists, etc., and them their colleagues from all over the country and beyond. Soon the critical media and political mass to persuade the people in Washington that Zava had to be saved from the vivisection scalpel was gathered.

As he was chosen for the bombasticly named ‘First Contact Advisory Committee’, more interesting data was offered about the alien woman and more kept pouring in. If her size was not enough to prove she was not of this world, DNA chirality was reversed with that of Earth, making it almost undeniable that she was indeed an extra-terrestrial being, evolved in another planet; dozens of new gut flora organisms of a kind never before seen on Earth were discovered on the samples taken from her; her bones were not made only of calcium, but also of titanium, which was apparently much more abundant on her world than on Earth. More and more new interesting things were discovered about her biology. And there were so many interesting things to ask her about her world’s history and culture!

He did not wait for the security goons to indicate him the way. Counting on them being too busy fussing over the entitled and puffed-up politicians the committee was riddled with, he strode purposefully towards the stage. He soon was on it, leaning against the security railing that prevented the people on stage to plummet 20 foot into the airport’s tarmac. Kahanoff was overjoyed to be able to feast his eyes on the huge woman sitting in front of the stage.

Zava was not looking at him, as she was clearly more interested in the little drama unfolding as the self-proclaimed celebrities-du-jour of the committee pompously paced towards the stage, tailed, flanked and preceded by their inevitable entourage. Therefore, her comely head was turned towards the throng of people getting off the motorcade. Kahanoff saw the giantess’ face was lit with almost childlike awe and curiosity as she leaned her body towards the approaching little crowd to gawk. He supposed Zava would think of the scene as cute. Little people piping excitedly and prancing around like a tumult of living dolls in a diorama come to life before her.

The pictures and videos could not possibly do her justice, thought Kahanoff, heart rate picking up as he took in the giant figure of Zava Casafus, the otherworldly giantess. She was monumentally, breathtakingly beautiful. Her olive skin tone, raven dark hair, the quintessential feminine curve of her neck and shoulders, abundant and curvaceous (but not too much) bosom, her small ears, slender waist, firm, rounded hips and the firm swell of her obviously athletic legs, folded below her, capped by her lovely sandaled feet, were the personification of divine womanhood. In her white dress, she was poised, reclining in her seat like a giant Cleopatra holding court, with undeniable but effortless grace.

And then she turned her attention toward the stage, where he was almost the only person standing there, looking at her, the rest of the staff was at the back of it, ready to greet the other panelists. She locked eyes with him. He smiled instinctively, and she noticed, grinning back with her gleaming-white, three-foot wide smile,  also lifting her well-formed, slender hand to wave at him, Kahanoff responding in kind.

Her smile was infectious, radiant. Her presence glowed with a kind of stately, but approachable allure, like the goddess of sympathy. Her chocolate brown, enormous doe eyes brimmed with life, wit, and warm youth. There was absolutely zero guile in her beyond lovely mien. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them draw and quarter, or even cage this lovely, giant bird… thought Kahanoff resolutely… he was going to help her fly free or die trying. They held each other’s gaze for a breathless instant.

Zava seemed to notice she was staring at him and lowered her eyes, becoming quiescent again. Kahanoff reluctantly tore his gaze from her and turned to watch the other panelists climbing onto the stage. They had never met before in person, though of course there had been several virtual meetings. The first to appear at the top of the stairs was, of course, Jonathan Chilton III. Kahanoff had disliked the man from the moment he first heard him speak in the first virtual meeting of the Committee.

Chilton was a US Congressman, a fact he loved to keep reminding everyone of several times in every conversation they had had. The man was the proverbial narcissist asshole, disproving the notion that politicians had to be charismatic to succeed. Every interaction Kahanoff had with the man revealed Chilton always had to be the first to speak, the loudest and had to have the final word on everything.

The disdainful glower he shot Kahanoff as he climbed to the stage clearly conveyed his vast disapproval at Kahanoff’s perceived uppity to be the first to arrive, as clearly (in Chilton’s mind, to be sure) he had the birthright to be always the first in line (for anything good, at least) and he was not happy with anyone trying to steal his thunder. Kahanoff simply rolled his eyes, eliciting a deeper scowl, the politician’s patrician head lifting his chin even more, his lips curving noticeably downwards, with a now unmistakably hostile glare.

Kahanoff ignored the fool and turned his attention to the rest of the people entering the stage. Behind Chilton, Amanda Kajitani, a noted psychologist from Cornell, appeared, smiling at Kahanoff, who walked to meet her and shake her hand. Behind her, Belinda Patel, the United States Secretary of State, and the inscrutable but kind Andreas Heckenlaible, the UN Secretary General (and former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee), no less, approached Kahanoff to greet him and greet each other, including the looming Chilton, who had in the meantime wasted no time to berate the aides for their alleged poor choice of brand for the water bottles.

The committee members did not take long in greetings, as everyone then turned to look at Zava, who, hands in her lap, had raised her eyes again, composedly surveying the scene. She smiled and nodded in acquiescence of everyone’s presence, they nodding in return, except, Kahanoff noted, not surprised, but annoyed nonetheless, for Chilton, who only frowned at Zava. Kahanoff reddened with shame and exasperation on behalf of Earth’s people at having a blundering churl such as Chilton snubbing the extraterrestrial girl so openly. His hopes that Zava hadn’t noticed the slight quickly vanished as Kahanoff saw her slightly lift an eyebrow while looking at the haughty politician, her face carefully neutral. She turned her lovely eyes to Kahanoff, who shrugged, ruefully. She rewarded him with a complicitous glint in her eye, accompanied by a slight upward curving of her lips and eyes crinkling at the corners.

The now seething Kahanoff knew, of course, that Chilton had been one of the most vocal (more like foaming-at-the-mouth) personalities hyping the purported ‘alien hoax’. He had bullied his way into the committee as a ‘voice of dissent’. It was also no secret he had presidential ambitions, which he blatantly expected to boost with his participation in the first contact events. Kahanoff, of course, had met his share of anti-science politicians, of which there were two sorts: the ones who sold their idiotic ideologies to morons gullible enough to believe them, but without swallowing them whole themselves, and the other kind, the most dangerous ones, who were stupid enough to believe them themselves, therefore being zealous to the point where no evidence would convince them otherwise. It was pointless to try to have a meaningful conversation with the latter kind, to which, Kahanoff was sure, Chilton belonged to.

Any attempt at civilized discourse with those would only end in shouting, name-calling and Bible-quoting. These zealots were also very persistent and had an equally ignorant follower base. Kahanoff knew this Chilton guy was going to be the proverbial stone in the shoe and Zava’s worst enemy. More worryingly, he had quite a few connections within the military, he had been told by a Washington friend.

Belinda Patel encouraged the panelists to take their seats. Of course, Chilton was in the center of the table, no doubt placed there by a discerning Patel, who knew he was liable to make a scene if his ego was not pampered a bit. There was a bottle of water for each panelist, along with a microphone, in the table, in front of each seat. One of Patel’s aides quickly brought a brand of a different, more expensive water bottle and exchanged it with the more generic brand in Chilton’s place, with an apologetic look at Heckenlaible, seated besides, who returned a beatifical but knowing smile. Everyone took their seat, including Kahanoff, who was placed in the right corner of the table, next to Kajitani, who in turn was next to Chilton. In the other extreme of the table Patel was at the corner and next to her and to Chilton, secretary Heckenlaible.

Kahanoff noted approvingly the camera crews and rigs around the stage, ready to capture every angle. The event was going to be streamed live, a triumph that had only been confirmed two days before, delaying the start of the audiences. He had worked tirelessly with his other colleagues and politician allies to convince the President of broadcasting the audience live. An unexpected ally on this had turned to be Patel, who agreed that in view of the increasing media noise about the ‘giantess issue’ and the incredulity of many, it was better to dispense entirely with secrecy and perform the audiences openly. The cat was out of the bag, anyway, and denying Zava’s alien-ness and trying to hide her would only increase suspicions and encourage the kooks, besides being ridiculous, given her size. She obviously was no military person, so there was little chance of starting an alien invasion panic, in which even the usually twitchy DHS and the military were quite unanimous on.

After everyone was settled, and a small drone cart had delivered an apple juice keg for Zava, the panel started.

“Good morning everyone” Said Patel into her microphone. “We now commence the first audience of the ‘First Contact Advisory Committee’. This committee was gathered by the Government of the United States of America, with the participation of the United Nations. The goals of this committee are manifold:

  • First, to welcome the first extra-terrestrial visitor ever to come to Earth and to American soil,
  • Second, clarifying how the visitor arrived to our planet and in American soil, and to determine the purpose of said visitor in coming to Earth.
  • Third, to determine how -and if- this person can be integrated into American society”.

After a brief pause, Patel looked meaningfully at Heckenlaible, who continued:

“In more conventional circumstances, this committee’s audiences would be held in the United Nations General Assembly. But, given the patent differences in size between the visitor and the people of Earth, transportation, not to mention ingress of the visitor to the United Nation’s Headquarters is impossible, which is why this special committee was selected, and the audiences were decided to be held near the quarantine site.  As is customary, the one who arrives is the first to introduce herself or himself.” There was a small pause, after which Zava, nodding, realizing it was her cue, sweeping her eyes through the committee members, straightened in her seat and spoke in her tuneful cadence:

“My name is Zava Casafus-Djacome. Although I am 20 years old in my world’s reckoning, due to differences in the duration of our planet’s orbital cycle compared with that of Earth, I would be more like 23 years old on Earthly years. If you may, I would request that the members of the committee call me by my first name, Zava, as it is easier to pronounce”.

“Noted, Zava. Could you elaborate a little more about yourself?”, said Heckenlaible.

“I am a human female of the world I call Lur, known to the people of Earth that have visited it as ‘giantland’. Casafus is my father’s last name, and Djacome is my mother’s. I also come from what you would call the country of Bitagweh, and I used to live in the city of Hewtwango, where I was a college student attending the Electronic Engineering course; I was in my second year”.

“Do you identify yourself as human?” added Heckenlaible.

“Yes. That is how we identify ourselves in Lur”.

“Are the people of Lur aware of Earth’s… and its habitants’ existence?”

“The Earthlings were known in my world as ‘little people’… for obvious reasons. Before the Spindrift’s crew, there were a (very) few instances of tiny people being seen in centuries past, but with no conclusive proof. They were thought of as legendary creatures. On the other hand, after the Spindrift crew arrived, spottings were more frequent, and some managed to get pictures of them, albeit of low quality. In any case, the government of my country recognized they were real and offered a reward for any information conducing to capture of any little people. They were thought of as uncanny and dangerous. There was no consensus about their provenance nor their true intentions, however”.

“Thank you, Zava”. Said Heckenlaible. “I am Andreas Heckenlaible. I represent an assembly of the nations of Earth, called the United Nations. On behalf of the people of Earth, welcome to our planet. We are looking forward to knowing more about you on the coming sessions of this ‘First Contact Advisory Committee’. For your information, Zava, Sessions of this committee are transmitted live. Each member of the panel will introduce themselves”

“My name is Belinda Patel. I am the Secretary of State of the United States of America. My post relates to relations of my homeland with other countries”.

“I am Amanda Kajitani, from the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Cornell”

“I am Ben Kahanoff, astrophysicist and xenobiologist of the University of Berkeley, California. Nice to meet you, Zava”.

“And my name is Jonathan Chilton the Third. I’m a United States Congressman, of the House Committee on Homeland Security”. Chilton said this looking to his sides, again clearly giving Zava the cold shoulder, to Kahanoff’s further annoyance. “Wh-what are you doing?” said suddenly a clearly uneasy Chilton… as Zava leaned forward, getting her head closer to the stage and narrowing her eyes.

“Sorry, Mr. Shilton” said Zava “Just trying to read how your names are spelled in English, which I know of as ‘common northish’... those nameplates are awfully small, though… Oh, I see, it’s Chilton with a C., in your case. OK”. She leaned back into her reclining position.

The following hour went by as Zava was then questioned on her arrival on Earth, mostly by Kajitani and Kahanoff, and more occasional input from the others. There were only clearly incredulous grunts and barely concealed snorts and head-shaking from a silent Chilton, however. Kahanoff felt his face getting ever hotter, his anger now barely in check… he was a hairbreadth away from strangling the idiot Chilton, who was ruining one of the most important moments in humanity by his lack of manners and patent imbecility… he was not the only one being rubbed the wrong way by the senator’s incivility, as after a particularly derisive sound from Chilton, Zava, with a slight frown, interrupted one of her declarations and said:

“Sorry, Congressman Chilton. Have I said something wrong?”

Chilton, startled, seemed to struggle with addressing Zava directly. Finally, avoiding her steady gaze, he talked, addressing everyone and no one in particular:

“I have to admit, dear members of the Committee, and the fellow americans watching us, it is difficult to keep a straight face in the face, pardon the pun, of so many outlandish tales being churned out so glibly”.

“Do you have any alternate explanations about how this came to pass, and by ‘this’ I mean her obvious existence and her presence here?” Interjected an annoyed Kahanoff, unable to hold it any longer.

“I could offer many, but not one of them involve ‘aliens’ or a planet full of giant ‘humans’” he made quotation marks with his fingers. “It is indeed laughable that this charade has been allowed to continue this far… phsew!”

“Enlighten us then!!” growled Kahanoff.

“Obviously the American public is being taken for fools! Who can believe this nonsense? Giant women from another planet? Puh-lease!!!”  He stood up, getting increasingly worked up. “This is probably one of the stupidest, most blatant hoaxes in history!! Fake news!!! Clearly, we have a clever group of people behind this giant puppet in front of me! I admit it would be interesting to see how they are trying to pull this ridiculous stunt. But as a public servant, I find it my duty to expose this as a waste of taxpayer’s money and time from all the personalities in this committee”. With this, he walked to the back of the stage, descended the stairs and turned, walking briskly towards Zava, but avoiding her eyes.  On the stage, Patel stood up and said:

“Congressman Chilton! What the f… What are you doing? Please do not breach the quarantine!”

Kahanoff could see Zava, on her part, was sitting very still, hands in her lap and eyebrows raised, looking with a mix of uncertainty and amusement to the belligerent little man approaching her, trailed by two security staff, following him uncertainly a few feet behind. Kahanoff was filled with trepidation… he hoped Zava handled the situation well, there was nothing he could do to help her… or Chilton, for that matter, should Zava decide to do something to him.

Chilton reached Zava just in front of her knees, covered by her gown. She was sitting, as we said, on her side. Her knees protruded just a little beyond the cushion she was on. Kahanoff watched as the giantess looked down quizzically on the little person bearing down on her. The congressman avoided her gaze studiously, but started to tug at her gown, clearly agitated.

“Er… excuse me?” Said Zava in disbelief.

The congressman ignored her, yelling, increasingly franticly:

“Fake! Fake! Fake!”

Zava saw, more entertained than offended, that Chilton did not manage, with his feeble tiny person’s strength, though, to really move the many yards of the garment. In his frenzy and frustration, suddenly, he kicked her knee.

“Hey! That was uncalled for!” said Zava, indignantly, but careful not to speak too loud, as she did not want to look threatening. “What the heck are you trying to do? Here, if you want to see some leg, little man, I’ll give you more than you can handle!”  Raising her legs a little, Zava rolled up her gown so her knees and part of her thighs showed. She grasped and looked at the part of her gown that had received the kick, frowning as she saw some dirt stuck to it from the little man’s shoe.

Chilton had stood as if thunderstruck when he saw Zava’s enormous hands approaching him, calming a little when he saw the giantess only intended to manipulate her dress. And once her legs were exposed, he gaped, open mouthed, unsure of what to do. Zava, annoyed, loomed over Chilton, looking down on him.

“Let me tell you, congressman… I’m no one’s puppet, I’m no poppet and… I assure you, I am a real woman, and as anatomically correct as they come. Do you REALLY need to check?  Knock yourself out… you’ll see I’m no fake, little man”.

As she said this, she kneeled on her seat, and spread her legs a little, calculating so that the surrounding camera rigs did not have a shot at her crotch, but it was full in view of the tiny bully in front of her knees. Chilton’s jaw dropped even further at what he saw.

“Go for it, tiny, I’m giving you permission to get in there yourself and do whatever you have to see, touch and do so you are convinced I’m as human as you are”.

As she said this, Chilton’s gaze turned to her eyes from between her legs, where, though dark, he had seen indeed, as Zava was wearing no underwear, that she was no doll. Zava’s gaze was not really annoyed, unflustered, but not unkind. She certainly did not feel threatened in the least bit by whatever the tiny Earthling might do to her. They locked eyes for ten seconds… ten very awkward seconds… and then, unmanned, Chilton turned red as a beetle and stalked back towards his car, followed by Kahanoff’s sardonic, very loud laughter…

Zava, pensive, watched as the senator, oblivious to the words of the Secretary of State’s aides’ words of ‘quarantine’… practically dove into his vehicle and, followed by his entourage, stormed out of sight. Uneasy, she was sure she had made an enemy today.

 

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