Chapter 46: The Debate - Part 1

Shannon took a deep breath, as a small army of helpers were preparing her for this evening show. She had to look perfect, of course, and it meant enduring it. But not being able to see Alejandro while she was on her back, with at least three different people dealing with her make-up, her nails and her hair, wasn’t such a pleasant experience. That he wouldn’t be with her for the most part of the debate wasn’t a great news either, but she had suspected as much, and decided that his appearance would pack more of a punch if he was just there, at some point.

“Are you okay sweetie?” she still asked, for the tenth time in half a minute.

“Shannon, I’m fine, really”, replied the Minor, his voice shaking, a telltale sign of his nervousness.

She resisted her impulse to turn her head to look at him, and not trying to Bond him on the spot was even harder, but she managed to control herself. They both needed to be fully in control, she couldn’t afford to let herself lost in the pleasure of being with him. She knew that Waid was a cunning and slippery man, who would prick at any weakness he suspected was there. She needed to be fully focused on dealing with him, for both their sakes, and the future of Minorkind. It was a strange feeling to know that the destiny of a whole branch of Humanity could be dependent on this debate…

“Excuse me? Miss Matthewson” asked a woman who had been dealing with her face.

“Yes?” replied the giantess, trying her best to not frown and wreck the work done on her since almost half an hour; she knew her make up needed to be perfect, if only to detract a little from her ample cleavage, even if she expected at least three full shots of her bosom during the show.

“We’ll need to have you sitting for the finishing touches on your hair Miss. It shouldn’t be too long, but would you be so kind as to sit down there?”

Shannon turned her head to notice a low cushion. She sighed but rose to her towering full height. The MAJORS around her gasped and fell back. She was used to such reaction, but the idea of having to sit so low wasn’t really something she liked. But there wasn’t any other Cyclopean here to help her deal with her mane. She would just have to smooth her black silky dress. She would make quite an impression, her massive cleavage in full display, a simple necklace of black pearl around her neck and a tiara of black diamond’s circling her head.

“Give me some space, would you?” she ordered more than she asked.

The women around her retreated in an instant, almost falling on themselves to avoid staying near her as she moved, which made her chuckle a little. From her vantage point of view, she was able to see her fiancé. He was sitting in a high chair, turning his back on her but looking at her in the great mirror facing him. They both smiled at each other, and it took a lot of self-control for her to not ruffle his hair. She had been against his chosen attire at first, but now she realized that he had been in the right about himself and how he looked.

She had wanted him to wear a white shirt, something which would highlight his naturally tanned skin, while giving him a respectable look, with his prosthesis –the normal one, since he was still against grafting one of the Project Renewal’s far superior models to himself. She had even suggested a pendant, something to give him a mysterious and enticing vibe, which would have seduced every MAJOR who would have seen him. With flannel trousers, he would have looked stunning, and they would just have had to go and find him shoes fitting with his attire.

Instead, he had chosen to wear a simple blue-grey T-shirt, without any picture on it, and a blue jean with black snicker shoes. And the left arm of the shirt was empty, his stump barely filling it. And somehow, it gave him a more impressive presence. He seemed to own his disability, and he stood straight, without seeming to try and look taller than he was. But he looked proud and fierce, she had decided when she had seen what he had chosen to wear, and it had surprised even her. And he look both fragile and strong… audiences will love it!

“Are you sure all of this is necessary?” he sighed, as a MAJOR woman leaned over him, smiling and combing his hair a little.

“Yes it is! We need to look respectable to the public at large!”

Truth been told, she doubt she would ever look like that, not without removing a lot of breast tissue from her torso. She knew perfectly well that a lot of MAJORS simply ogled at her, and she had learnt to like that. It simply meant that they were at least hearing her voice, even if she had then to make sure that they would end listening to it, not just letting it buzz in their ears. It was the trick she would have to perform tonight, and hopefully, she was ready enough. As she lowered herself on the cushion, she shook her head, trying to chase away her nervousness.

Her hair had already been tied down into a great number of large braids, with several silver clasping on each, which tinged and shone as she moved. But she still need her hair to be prepared for the talk show. She had refused to comply with such a treatment once, early in her career and she had regretted it dearly. Her hair had looked flat and without luster. She had received a lot of hate mail stating that she couldn’t even take care of her hair; that she should have buzzed it down whole and wear a wig. Others had been a lot less polite, of course.

“I just don’t see the point for me to do that” grumbled her fiancé, as a woman walked behind the giantess and started to apply various products on her hair. “It’s not as if I would be really photogenic anyway, and I doubt anyone would care about my hair even if I did.”

“If I may be so bold sir” giggled one of the smaller MAJORS hovering around her lover –which irked Shannon mightily already- “you ARE quite photogenic, in a cute way!”

“You are photogenic period” she growled, fuming a little, even while knowing that she shouldn’t have.

“Shannon, you’re not helping” sighed the deliciously beautiful Minor, which made her angrier at the other MAJORS laughing at his reaction.

“I’m just not happy about you being back-stage for most of the show” she explained, trying her best to make this half-lie believable. “Everything can happen, an accident, or a madman or…”

“Shannon… Jim’s here to protect me, should anything happen. And I heard you. You repeated it, several time. Anything. As in, if ANYTHING were to happen, he would have to protect me, at all cost, because anyth…”

“That’s ok, I get it, I get it!” she shouted, flustered and angry at being so easily embarrassed, but there were peoples around them, and she glanced a smirk on Jim Paolini’s face during a fraction of a second; and being ridiculed wasn’t something she enjoyed – at all.

“Then take a breath. Everything will be fine. I won’t be more than ten meters away from you anyway, so if something happens to frighten you, you’ll be there in seconds.”

He was right, she admitted. She didn’t had to like it, but he was. And talking so openly with him, as if he was a MAJOR, her equal in everything instead of being so because of how deeply she loved him, in spite of all his shortcomings compared to her –none of which were his fault- wasn’t it exactly what she wanted for Minorkind? It was the ultimate proof that Minors weren’t glorified pets, or some primitives in need of a superior being’s guidance. The women around them seemed to hesitate between nervous shock and awed expression as he talked back to her, despite their sheer size difference and the wealth she possessed, when he was basically unable to own anything.

She tried to relax and let her shoulders slump a moment. She was ready to take some figurative hits from Waid. That old rat was tough as nail and extremely vocal on his propaganda against any and all right for Minors. She suspected he had a lot of dirty tricks in his bag, and he would unleash them all. And her nature as a Cyclopean, as much as she disliked this name, she would be at a disadvantage, since he promoted the natural superiority of her kind over the rest of MAJORKIND, especially compared to the slightly less rare Tiers 3.

“Madam, if you’ll excuse me” said one of their helpers. “You’ll need to lean back a little more for me to better do your hair.”

“Oh sure…” said Shannon, absent-mindedly.

She closed her eyes as hands passed on and between her braids, enjoying the sensation. It would be her last respite for the evening, and she knew it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, to be here with us tonight!” almost yelled Margaret Deneuve, smiling wildly at the camera, from what Shannon could see, at the entrance of the stage. “It is always so humbling to know that you’d care to take the time to be with us!”

A thunder of applause and cheers followed this declaration, but Shannon couldn’t tell if it was spontaneous or if it had been orchestrated by some members of the show’s crew. In any case, it made her smirk. Those peoples were just props for her, puppets she would have to play carefully, to achieve what she wanted. If she managed to bring the audience here against Waid, she would have won at least a symbolic battle which would strengthen her position. And strength was everything for all MAJORS. If she seemed to have swayed the peoples here with them tonight, those watching from their tv would follow suit, however much they would grumble.

“One minute before entering the stage” said a masculine voice in her earpiece, and even if he couldn’t see her, Shannon nodded, letting her fingers play with themselves.

“As you know, the last year as seen an upheaval like none since the end of the Dark Age” continued Margaret. “A nation-wide – no, scratch that, a world-wide campaign as started, with one singular goal. That’s right folks! Giving rights to Minors!”

A wave of laughter washed over the show and Shannon gritted her teeth. It took all of her resolve to not barge into the limelight, roaring with righteous fury. It’s normal, you were briefed beforehand; that’s what peoples want to hear at a start. But even knowing that hardly made it easier to listen her campaign being belittled that way. She sighed and looked over her shoulder at Alejandro. He was too far away to have heard what their host had said, thankfully. He was sitting on a Minor-sized chair, and seemed rather nervous, which was perfectly normal, of course.

“But is it so ridiculous?” continued Margaret Deneuve. “After all, minors are people, we all know it. And if one takes an interest in history, they have proven to be quite able, at times. Is it truly right to put them aside and treat them like… well, like minors all their lives? Even if they are so incredibly tiny and frail that a gust of wind can make them fly?”

Another bout of laughter came and went, but to Shannon’s ears, it felt far more forced than the previous one. She took a deep breath and managed to keep her cool, however hard it was. She could feel a vein thumping on her temple, and she was happy that she had chosen to wear high heels, otherwise she would have probably stomped the ground, and making so much noise that she would have lost any chance to convince anyone. MAJORS liked strength, but going all roars and punches in an emission like that would be a total disservice.

“To talk about all of this and more, I’ll have the immense honor of two guests who have and are still shaping this country unlike any other! Please, make some noise for the first of them, a renowned business mogul, Howard John Waid!”

A thunder of applause followed as the frail-looking old man entered from the other end of the stage. He looks ridiculous, decided Shannon, so small and frail. He shouldn’t even have any business talking about anything about the future! And yet, she knew how shrewd and vicious he could be. They had sparred, through opposing media, several times, over the years, first as she grew in the sole business realm, and now because of her campaign to uplift Minors’ standing in society. But it would be the very first time that she would face him directly. She noticed with some joy that he peered disdainfully at the public, a disgusted smirk on his face.

“And to face him, the most colossal woman on Earth, who yet champion the rights of the smaller peoples! A round of applause for Shannon Matthewson, the industrialist of the new age!”

“It’s your turn, go!” said the man in her ear, which offended the giantess a little, since she was already starting to move.

As soon as she stepped onto the stage, she heard gasps and whistles. She was quite used to it, and she smiled and waved at the onlookers. She wanted to look as different as Waid as possible, after all. If she wanted to get the public on her side, she needed to start here and now, leveraging her looks and youth. She knew she was beautiful, even when discounting her ginormous curves, after all. The more she awed the vulgar, the better. She thus took her time and when she heard Waid grumbling, not loud enough to be heard by the public, she finally turned toward her chair.

It was a huge sofa, something able to endure her weight without breaking, which was a good thing. She had been afraid that she would have to struggle into a chair too small for her. She calmly walked to it and sit down, smiling at both her host – who reciprocated- and Waid, who glared at her with pure disdain and didn’t even bother with a fake smile. It made her all the more happy to notice how bitter he was. There was no way he would be able to keep his cool and be polite with her now, she was sure of it. It was just a question of when, not how, she would trap him.

“Shannon, Howard, it’s an honor to meet you” chirped Margaret, extending a hand to the older MAJOR, who slowly took it and weakly shook it but said nothing.

“Thank you Margaret, it’s an honor to have you as our hostess” gently replied Shannon.

“My, so polite! But we don’t need to be so formal with each other. I’ll be a debate, but not really a Senate hearing, really. Feel free to express your opinion as you want, instead of having to go for the politically correct wording, it’s a free talk show, in a free country!”

“I’m glad you said that, young lady” said Waid. “I was afraid we would have to spend the whole night going round around the problems at hand.”

His voice was surprisingly soft and polite. It left Shannon a little worrier now. She had expected to sound as he looked, with a croaky or hoarse voice, letting his evilness and hatred of others easy for all to hear. But he had a warm voice, a voice which made you want to hear it more, to just let him speak so you could enjoy it. It wasn’t a gift she had. She was massive, she was beautiful but her voice was average and it had taken her a lot of work to make it sound better than it naturally was. And suddenly she was afraid of Waid, he was to cunning to not make use of this advantage.

“I don’t really see what problem you are talking about, Howard” said Shannon.

She managed to keep her poker face and a steady voice. She was taking a calculated risk. Waid was so much older than her that no one would have found it strange if she called him Mister Waid. But doing so would have meant that she would put herself below him, no matter what she meant by it. But calling him by his name was quite disrespectful, even if she was stronger and wealthier than the old MAJOR. Hopefully, he would overreact and she would be able to play the offended victim. But when she saw an amused glint in his eyes, she realized that he was too shrewd to fall into this trap.

“Why, I’m talking about your proposals to give Minors power over our kind, Shannon” he replied, his voice as sweet as honey.

“Don’t you think it’s a little paranoid here, Howard?” asked their hostess, who was obviously hearing the audience growing with just this little exchange and wanted to milk all she could from it.

“Not at all Margaret. I’m quite old, as everyone will be able to say”; he posed, letting a wave of laughter wash over the stage and smiling gently. “Yes, I’m old, and I remember a long time ago. I remember an era when minors weren’t what they are believed to be today. When they were something dangerous to be feared!”

“So dangerous that they almost all were slaughtered like cattle?” asked Shannon, her voice sounding only slightly interested in what was discussed. “I’m afraid it may be because I’m larger, but I really don’t see how Minors, even millions of them, could be dangerous.”

“Of course you don’t, and I feel extremely happy for that. Because it mean that what our foolish government had dubbed the Dark Age. But back then, when minors crawled everywhere, none of us MAJOR was as tall and strong as you are. It’s what is required for everyone to understand: before this era, I would have been considered extremely tall for a MAJOR.”

Shannon almost let out an incredulous laugh. It took all of her willpower to stifle it, and even then, she couldn’t suppress the smirk on her face. She just couldn’t picture that below than average sized old man as tall, no matter the circumstances or the era. And she wasn’t the only one, since she heard the public laugh and she suspected that had they been at a rally, someone would have yelled that Waid was delusional. Dread settled in her stomach however, when she noticed the way his eyes glinted with joy –clearly, he was achieving what he wanted, and Margaret served him a supplement.

“Pardon me if it sounds a little insulting to you but… Aren’t you exaggerating? I mean, MAJORS have always been taller than minors and you’re rather, ah…”

“Small?” he completed, still sounding quite charming. “Today, I certainly am. But it’s because younger generations of MAJORS have had access to far more resources and purer stocks that they have been able to grow so much. Titans like Shannon here were utterly unheard of a century ago, and they are still a novelty today!”

“And why were those changes possible?” asked the hostess, as Shannon tried to craft a counter argument to the punch-line she knew was coming.

“Why, because we got rid of almost every minors of course!” stated Waid, a huge smile on his face.

“So you are telling us that killing millions of people made our kind better? I must confess that it fly against everything I believe in – and I’m sure that I’m not the only one chaffing at the amorality of such an assertion” said the Cyclopean, doing her best to remain cool and polite.

“I’m not saying that it wasn’t distasteful. But those t… minors were transitioning from pest to real threat for all MAJORS” replied Waid, his voice perhaps a little tenser now. “Thankfully, they are still extremely rare today, but back then, there was millions of them, perhaps even more than a billion, really. And they weren’t the solitary and withdrawn creatures that they are today. Back then it was really easy to see what separated them from us, real humans.”

“Are you telling us that Minors aren’t humans? For real?” blurted Shannon, immediately regretting it.

“It a little more complex than that. But compared to us? Yes, they are subhumans. They don’t live as long as we do, they aren’t as strong, as intelligent. They are closer to us than other apes, but that’s what they are, apes. Especially vicious ones, when in great number.”

“That’s…” started the giantess, more heatedly than she wanted and she paused, just long enough to be able to formulate better what she wanted to say. “Apes can’t talk the way we do, they can’t comprehend the world like we do. Minors can. Or are you saying that they are just aping us? If it’s the case, and I don’t think it is, how could they be a danger to us?”

“They aren’t, not anymore” replied Waid, still smiling. “Because they aren’t as numerous as they used to be. Because we purged them, before they could kill us all.”

“Pardon me Howard, but isn’t it a rather personal vision of the Dark Age?” asked Margaret, barging into the discussion, doing her best to sound neutral. “But the governments of the world have admitted that things weren’t so…”’

“Governments are full of imbeciles!” hissed Waid, dropping his gentle behavior for a second. “Excuse me Margaret” he immediately added, doing her best to sound contrite. “I’ve a history with our government, so does my family. They tried to put my father in jail and seize all our assets, because he and his brothers fought for our kind and made sure that the minors wouldn’t be able to overpower us with their atrocious mind-tricks.”

“What mind-tricks? The Bond? I don’t think you’ve enjoyed it long enough to realize how incredible it is, Howard” stated Shannon, huffing through her nose a little. “It isn’t a trick, it is truly an intimate experience, and where one gets to discover everything there is to know with her partner.”

“It’s a trap!” he affirmed vehemently. “The bonding process lures us into complacency. But should minors learn how to use it like their ancestors did, nothing would be safe ever again. They were all connected to each other, like a hivemind, in my youth, young lady! What you said to one was known to all, that’s how they planned to destroy us!”

Shannon should have exulted that he was losing his cool, but what Waid was saying was so horrible to her that she couldn’t press her advantage just now. That old monster was throwing shade at the government, something she was used to, because it had tried to bring down his family’s fortune for their crimes during the Dark Age, and he held the Minors in such contempt that he didn’t even saw them as humans. It was all something new to her, she couldn’t fully grasp at how hateful that man had to be to think that way, and to not hesitate to try and spread his hatred here, on live TV.

“Well now that’s… that’s some serious allegations Howard. I mean, I have a real hard time imagining minors connected like some… some ants or monsters from an alien movie” said Margaret, giggling perhaps a little nervously.

Waid looked at her and smiled like a gentle uncle, and Shannon had to hide a shiver running down her spine.