Giantess World
Setting foot for the first time in this city, not only one so remote and unfamiliar, but one that she’d had to acquire permission to enter at all, Lexi still found it easier to keep herself walking in Sanctuary than in the capital city after almost two years away from home. Only two days ago, she’d stepped out of Jenna Reynolds’ home with a hopeful song in her heart and renewed focus. Now she was across an ocean in a continent she’d seen only in pictures, overshadowed by decidedly snowier conditions past the translucent glass shield that arced over the whole of Sanctuary. She was also currently one of only a half-dozen Alphas in sight, while hundreds of Betas quietly went about their day around her.
It was both pleasant and a little unnerving to be surrounded by so many Betas as Lexi strolled the narrow streets: she was happy to see these three-inch-tall denizens living in peaceful solidarity far from the reaches of most Alphas, but also paranoid of how many of them may or may not have known her face. If Opal had recognized her from across the aisle on a train home, how many of these unknown persons, a great number of whom only migrated here after suffering traumas, would see only the daughter of an Alpha terrorist, and a girl who it was once believed had committed brutal atrocities herself? Even though she’d been cleared of those latter charges, judging by some of the unreadable expressions from the sober expressions of tiny men, women, and children she bypassed on the raised Sanctuary sidewalks, Lexi had a hard time deciphering just how “welcome” she was here.
Granted, to hear Evelyn tell it, her allowance to enter the grand domed city had been as simple as sending a casual single-line text to Dr. Kayla Everett herself. Lexi wasn’t even aware of the city’s high security before explaining her intention to her Omega-mother, and quickly fretted that the plan to seek out Bridget and bring her home would be curtailed before it even began. It turned out almost every Alpha or Omega resident of Sanctuary was someone in the employ of Aegis or a connected service, with job descriptions exclusively devoted to improving the lives of the Beta citizens, whether that meant building sustainable housing or developing technologies useful to the shortest class. Suddenly the whole endeavor sounded more complicated than the earnest and newly enthusiastic Lexi had anticipated.
Just to prove to her surrogate daughter that she wasn’t overstepping her privilege, however, Evelyn lowered her big-screen-TV-sized phone screen into the Alpha’s view, where she could see for herself the thumbs-up emoji the benevolent and probably-omnipotent Omega leader had used to respond within two minutes of the request. And like that, Lexi had her clearance. Evelyn couldn’t have been more supportive of the journey, offering to accompany Lexi to help collect the wandering Enforcer, but had ultimately agreed with the young Alpha that Bridget would be more successfully lured back when faced with a, literally, smaller welcoming party. After a long encouraging talk from Evelyn the night before, and a maternal kiss that covered most of Lexi’s head, she’d been ferried off on her way.
A mere twenty minutes ago, she’d arrived at the guarded checkpoint to enter Sanctuary, where it took only an ID scan to be given entrance, no questions asked. Lexi was able to relax a bit now, once she was actually inside the place, knowing that somewhere in the spacious Beta-focused metropolis, Bridget would be found. And even though she didn’t have a place to start looking, Lexi wasn’t concerned about the finding part; Bridget was kind of hard to miss.
She was far more apprehensive of what would happen afterward. Lexi had been so fired up about the chance to start mending the gulf between them, starting with the geographical gulf and then moving onto the emotional one, it had only occurred to her now, as she stood in the same city as Bridget for the first time in nearly two years, that maybe the Omega didn’t want to see her?
This rather crestfalling possibility was enough to make Lexi stop in her tracks. She wasn’t totally convinced of that pessimistic chance, of course, and there was no way she giving up her mission over a single unforeseen risk, but she had to catch her breath nonetheless. After stepping out of Jenna’s house two days ago following the revelatory visitation with her batshit blood-mother, right up until this exact moment, Lexi had kept her momentum going forward, so positive that she herself was ready for the reunion. The thought of whether her kind-hearted, ultra-powerful, and likely semi-broken sibling was also ready hadn’t even occurred to her.
Sanctuary’s Alpha passageways were narrower than those of Lexi’s native city, the majority of the real estate here appropriately devoted to squat buildings and crisscrossing networks of Beta roads. For Lexi, this tighter proximity to the architecture and bustling urban activity meant she was more exposed than usual as she stood in place, clutching her duffel bag and nibbling her thumbnail. With so few other relative-giants to catch their eyes, she knew at least some of them had to have taken notice of the newcomer loitering on the thin thoroughfare like the awkward living landmark she was. If any Betas happened to recognize her and raise their eyebrows before, then Lexi knew this behavior couldn’t have been helping her case.
“Pardon.”
Startled, Lexi looked over her shoulder and down at the nearby Beta walkway, where she spotted a three-inch-tall gray-haired old woman peering up at her. Hiding behind the elder’s skirts was a boy probably no older than six, his eyes bugged as he drank in the tower of the nearby Alpha. Like most of Sanctuary’s infrastructure, the little road seemed designed to put its users in more closely integrated proximity with the larger class, and Lexi was cognizant of the fact that she was within easy touching distance of the old lady and young lad, particularly here where the path winnowed. All she’d have to do was reach.
Not that these unknown Betas had the slightest reason to be concerned by that distant possibility, of course, but in her fish-out-of-water state, Lexi couldn’t help but feel some secondhand stranger-danger on their behalf. Especially based on the way that little boy was looking up at her, not exactly outright terrified, but with a healthy survivalist’s jitters that told him to put the old woman between himself and the humongous new girl in town.
“Y-Yes?” Lexi coughed, taking a step back from their elevated path. While her elbow wasn’t quite hovering over the path’s railing, as a lifetime of public walking experience had taught her to avoid, it was resting pretty close. She nervously combed her fingers through the brunette fringes of her hair. “Sorry, was I in your way?”
“Not anymore, you’re not. I need to get at the edge here,” the old woman replied. Her voice was gruff, but devoid of prejudice, even with an unknown member of the most historically violent race appearing out of the blue. She just had a job to do, and once she’d said her piece, seemed to have all but forgotten Lexi, in stark contrast to the little boy. Behind the pair of Betas was a rolling cart the size of a matchbox car for Lexi, containing a folded-up tube of white canvas thin as a tissue.
“My mistake,” Lexi assured softly.
“We could have managed, but better safe than sorry,” the old lady said just as neutrally, not even looking up this time as she fussed with the tiny cart. “All right, Hector. Like I said. Hold this end. I’ll take the other.”
Hector did as he was told, while the old woman lugged the canvas off the cart and handed the small boy his end. She trudged in the opposite direction, then, unraveling the white sheet, and leaving the youngster to stand in place. He grasped the material to his chest like a safety blanket, all the while looking up at Lexi in a half-frightened half-awed stupor, since the miniature elder lady could no longer stand there to act as his barrier. It was good the old woman had asked him to stay there, because Lexi doubted the two-inch-tall pipsqueak’s legs could’ve moved now.
The Alpha took another step back, knowing she should’ve kept walking so the kid could relax and she’d be in no one else’s way, but found herself strangely magnetized to witness what the old lady and Hector were doing. Internally, Lexi wished to make amends for getting in their way by offering to handle whatever-they-were-doing with that canvas, as she could’ve picked it up herself, one end pinched between fingers of each hand like a party streamer. Ultimately she concluded to say nothing, as she didn’t want to look patronizing after she’d already gotten in their way and intimidated the boy.
The old woman, still blissfully unconcerned that there was an Alpha standing above them and watching, finished unrolling the canvas, then set about hooking it into the railing that lined the Beta pathway. She moved along purposefully, threading it in, until she reached Hector again, who had yet to budge from his unreadable petrification-gawk at the gargantuan twenty-two-year-old whose thumb alone would’ve outsized him.
When the old woman finished her duties, taking Hector’s end and fastening it in place, the canvas was rolled over the side to hang from the railing, facing out toward the other side of the street, and Lexi realized it was a banner, featuring big bold hand-painted red letters.
POTLUCK DINNER, YOGA, AND SELF-DEFENSE CLASS TOONIGHT.
Tonight was misspelled, written sloppier than the rest, and once Lexi squinted at the pair again, noticing red paint splatters on the boy’s pants, she guessed that word was Hector’s handiwork. The old woman dusted herself off, then patted the boy on the shoulder to run along back to the building they’d emerged from. Instead, though, he tugged on her skirt to get her to stoop, then whispered something in her ear. After listening and solemnly nodding, the elder Beta turned and looked up at Lexi again, while Hector resumed hiding behind her.
“My grandson would like me to ask you if you’re a nice Alpha?”
The woman’s voice remained free of benevolence or judgment. Lexi found it refreshing. She also had to fight to urge to look overhead of the old lady at little Hector, knowing that leaning suddenly in toward a clearly timid lad, with her anonymous face already looming above, would probably make him answer the innocent question on his own with panic.
“I hope so. I try my best to be nice,” Lexi replied with as much diplomacy as possible, then reminded herself to smile, hoping it didn’t come off as ominous to the little boy.
“See?” the old woman said to her grandson, patting him on the head. “She is nice. Now, go pick up the paints inside. Try not to spill, please.”
Apparently satisfied with this answer, the boy still didn’t return Lexi’s smile, but nodded, gave her a flustered high-speed hand-wave, then turned and sprinted fast as he could for the door. Once they were alone, Lexi wrung her hands, not sure whether she had cause for guilt or not.
“I’m… sorry if I upset him.”
“No need for your sorry. This is a public street. You didn’t do anything. And I trust the boys at Sanctuary’s gate,” the old woman responded. She worked on smoothing out the creases in the banner, granting Lexi the occasional upward glance, but otherwise devoted to her work. “You should be flattered. Compared to what he normally does when he sees, well, someone like you, that was a love letter.”
“I’m glad,” Lexi said. Content that she wasn’t branded a child-traumatizer, the girl still felt a compulsion to make further amends: “He, um, looks a lot like you!”
“That’s nice of you. But just a coincidence. No blood relation.”
“Oh.” Now the Alpha regretted pushing the envelope, as the old lady’s dry tone made it impossible to tell if any given thing had offended her.
“Every boy and girl deserves a grandma, if you ask me. I guess he could’ve called me Mom too. Seeing how I’m his whole family tree now. But by Christ, I’ve gotten too old to be anything but a grandma,” the woman continued, as if reading Lexi’s thoughts, and again put her at temporary ease. “It takes some time. Especially for one like him, who’s been through the kinds of things that give him reason to ask if you’re good or not.”
“I see. That’s… good. Great! Or, what I mean is… my mom isn’t my, um, blood-relation-mom, either.”
“So you understand, then. He didn’t used to want to come outside the house. But I’m helping him come back around. To see there’s good ones, like you. You know how I know you’re actually good and not just saying it?”
“H-How?”
“Because you sweated a lake when you thought you scared my boy just by existing.”
Lexi wiped her brow and hung her head a little, grateful. It occurred to her that now, with at least a smidge of rapport, she might as well see if that goodwill could get her on the right path again.
“Sorry, I… see you’re working, and I don’t mean to bother you anymore, but do you know many of the Omegas who live around the city?”
“Not just many. I’ve met them all, so far as I can tell. Hard to miss when they stack ‘em that big, see.”
“Really? So, um, do you know a… Bridget Cade?”
“I should know her, seeing how she installed this whole building on the block with two fingers,” the old lady said, brandishing to the Beta complex behind them, which Lexi now realized was a ten-foot-tall community center. The banner was straightened to the woman’s satisfaction, but she remained standing by the railing, hands on her hips and squinting up at the much-taller girl. “Why? You need a hand from her?”
“You could say that,” Lexi sheepishly replied.
“Tell you the truth, I don’t see Omegas every day. They can’t exactly squeeze through every part of town here. But you might try the market nine blocks that way and three over. Big open space, can’t miss it. Should be a quick trip for you.”
“Great. Thank you,” Lexi said and, feeling clumsy the moment she said it, couldn’t help but add: “Good luck.”
“We make our own luck around here. But I’ll take it all the same. Hope you find her. Like I said. Just look up.” With that, the old woman stuck her arm out well over her head, her tiny wrinkled hand opened to accept and shake. Flustered at this end to such an initially uncertain exchange, Lexi delicately extended her pointer finger, laying the pad of it over the elder’s diminutive appendage. Despite her petite size and advanced age, the woman had a surprisingly strong grip. When the hand-finger-shake ended, Lexi nodded farewell, and set off down the indeed-brief Beta-scaled blocks.
As promised, she followed the grandmother’s directions and arrived at the advertised marketplace in less time than it took her to walk past a single Omega house back home. It was a colorful and lively location, the first sight in Sanctuary yet to even remotely resemble the all-sizes capital city architecture that Lexi was familiar with. The marketplace was an aesthetically-pleasing scale-distorting marvel of city planning that she couldn’t help but wonder if Evelyn had personally designed, with many a Beta-tailored terrace and shop looking like the most intricate and inviting of dollhouse paraphernalia, even though it was all in very functional use by the mostly-tiny population.
Despite its size, though, there was an undeniable air of calm over the market sprawl, befitting the rehabilitation-minded city’s serene, soft-spoken disposition. Even with hundreds of Betas in sight from the entrance alone, their combined voices amounted to little more than an amiable mumble-chatter. The Alpha path Lexi stood upon spiraled out into the open-air space away from the market and along the broad canal of an Omega road, another first-time discovery during this unusual trip to the domed town. The Omega thoroughfare took center stage in this part of town, as it had to by the necessity of its dimensions, running straight down the middle of the market. Near the edge of that treadable gap, the Alpha and Beta paths ascended, allowing all three classes to comingle at the juncture point.
To Lexi’s disappointment, there wasn’t an Omega in sight at the moment, least of all Bridget. Though deflated, the Alpha still meandered down the sidewalk toward the edge of the Omega walking canyon. She didn’t need to have seen Sanctuary before today to know that Bridget would enjoy being here, probably often occupying the immense stage that acted as an Omega chair down in the empty canal, where she could sit and interact with those mixer-friendly Alpha and Beta paths.
In the close-by gathering area for the smallest race, Lexi noted the presence of grass patches, benches, and even Bonsai trees that made up a micro-park for anyone looking to engage with passing titans. The Alpha road here was just as blank as the Omega’s, but upon examining the cute miniature forested area lofted at the height of her shoulders, Lexi noticed a crowd of at least two dozen Beta youths gathered in the park, most of them roughly tweenage, reading on benches, playing catch, climbing trees, or simply leaning against the railing overlooking the Omega path. Their squealy laughter warmed her heart, activating the innate part of Lexi’s brain that lit up whenever she was around adorable beings, and doubly so when she realized that even though they’d noticed her standing there, none were the least bit upset. If anything, they cheered and played louder at the arrival of a newcomer.
“HI!” one wild-haired girl shouted at the top of her lungs, practically hanging off the railing and wind-milling her arms at the Alpha. Lexi almost flinched at this over-friendly greeting, not knowing before now that a Beta could be that loud. But apparently they could.
“Hello there,” Lexi said, allowing herself a chuckle. Cautiously she approached the raised park, once confident that none of the at-play Betas were shrinking away from her. “Sorry if I disturbed you guys.”
“That’s okay! We like visitors! Only, there’s nothing else to do up here today, and nobody’s walked by in an hour. Can you believe it? A whole hour?” the girl babbled on, as though she’d known the Alpha for years. She rested her face up upturned fists, gazing out over the railing at Lexi like it was her personal fairy tale tower. “My name’s Tiff. Do you know what that’s short for?”
“…Tiffany?” Lexi smirked.
“Nope! It’s Tiffandra!” she blurted, wheezing out childish cackles and slapping the railing, then receded to a mere outdoor-volume: “What’s your name? I don’t remember seeing you around here before. Are you new here?”
“Yes, it’s my first time here. My name is Alexandra, but my short version is Lexi.”
It previously seemed impossible for Tiff to burst with any more hyperactive energy, as the nearly three-inch-tall girl was having trouble sitting still even in conversation, but at this admission of Lexi’s name, Tiff went stark-still and gasped so loud that her Alpha audience did in fact wince this time, afraid that she’d accidentally activated some deep-buried trauma in the poor youth. If she managed to almost-spook two young Beta victims within her first half-hour of being in Sanctuary, Lexi decided, that was probably the fates trying to tell her something.
“D-Did you say… LEXI? Like… that Lexi?”
The Alpha bit her lip. Though Tiff hadn’t specified which Lexi “that” Lexi even was, it wasn’t hard to guess. She was only tangentially semi-infamous for a couple of reasons, and neither would probably make productive chit-chat in a city erected for tiny mentally-wounded casualties. Increasingly, retreating from the Beta park seemed a good idea.
“Do you… want me to move away?” Lexi asked in as even-keeled and non-threatening a murmur as she could muster.
“NO!” Tiff crowed, now fetching the attention of the other young Betas playing in the park. Some of the youngsters even dropped their baseballs and books, wandering to this side of the railing. Their curious little faces all gazed unblinkingly out at Lexi, making her feel simultaneously that she had to back-pedal, and yet that she also had no right to flee in the face of the girl’s request. Odds were that not a single Beta in this city deserved to be denied a thing they asked again for until the day they died.
“Okay,” Lexi swallowed. “I, um, might be who you think I am. But I’m just here to visit, and to look for someone named Bridget.”
“It IS you!” Tiff screeched in so shrill a voice it raised Lexi’s heartrate. The Beta was also now, despite her gymnastic build and clearly adept hand-eye coordination, leaning so far out over the railing that the Alpha was tempted to cup both hands underneath, just in case the youth took a tumble. “Y-You’re… you’re her sister, right?”
Lexi was now feeling so overwhelmed by this conversation, constantly unsure of whether her presence was a positive or negative force on this excitable girl, that upon this final statement, she almost needed a chair to keep herself steady. Ensuring there were no Betas within reaching distance who could misinterpret her incoming fingers as a threat, she gripped the lower edge of the elevated parkland, rebalancing and letting out a deep breath.
Evidently she could be known for something other than her monstrous mother or heinous framed crimes. And it was the best possible thing to be known for, as far as Lexi was concerned.
“Yes, that is me. Bridget is my sister,” Lexi warmly stated, her confidence renewed. She kindly regarded Tiff and, looking between the other cute Beta expressions flanking the girl along the railing, realized they too all knew exactly who she was. The pieces fell into place now. “You… all know Bridget, don’t you?”
Two dozen heads merrily bobbed, several accompanied by proud yeses. Naturally, Tiff led the pack with a cry of affirmation just as loud as her initial greeting. Several times now Lexi shot a furtive glance back up the path to the marketplace proper. Despite this unusual encounter with the kids going rather swimmingly, she hoped the adult residents wouldn’t take issue with the fact that a crowd of young Betas in the park was making such a racket while an unknown Alpha looked in on them. Lexi wouldn’t have trusted herself, if she was in their shoes. Fortunately, she wasn’t receiving any misinformed death-glares from shop owners or pedestrians. If her first two minutes after meeting this precious group was anything to go by, the market was probably used to their loudmouthed joy.
“Are you all her friends?” Lexi softly questioned the group.
“Uh-huh!” Tiff replied on behalf of her mates, who again vigorously bobble-nodded. “She’s super-cool and nice and awesome and she’s kind of quiet actually she’s really quiet and she used to hold us in her hand and doesn’t so much anymore but that’s okay because she still comes here and talks to us all, like you! You guys really are sisters.”
“Yes, I guess we are,” Lexi laughed, impressed that Tiff got through all that and still sounded like she had enough wind to keep talking. “And I’m glad all of you are her friends. So, she’s… talked to you guys about… me before?”
Another wave of nods.
“What has she… said?” Right away the Alpha wondered if she was digging her own grave by voluntarily seeking out this information before she’d even ascertained whether Bridget wanted to see her or not. But at this point, she was starved for any piece of information, even if it had to sting.
“Oh, just that you’re the BEST sister ever and the coolest person and like also her best friend forever and that you used to have a lot of fun together and do adventures but that also she did something bad to you and she hurt your feelings or something only she wouldn’t tell us what she did but just that it was bad and now she hasn’t seen you in a long time cuz of it and you went away to have some time by yourself to get better like we did here and that’s okay cuz everyone deserves the chance to get better and she didn’t think you’d ever wanna see her again, but you DID!” Tiff monologued.
Her rampant speaking speed was actually a blessing for Lexi, desperate to absorb whatever tidbits she could, however parsed the message was by this girl’s exuberance. She was mainly gratified not to hear anything suggesting that Bridget had chosen to live in isolation from Lexi until the end of time. But then again, that probably wasn’t information the Omega would’ve freely given to a traumatized child even if it was true.
“I see,” Lexi said. She cleared her throat, and tried to keep on a cordially smiling face for this row of tiny tweens looking at her like she was a beloved fictional character come to life, even while the knowledge that she was getting ever-closer to her sister made it difficult to stay brave. “And do you guys know where I could find her?”
The adolescents looked to one another, muttering excitedly, then all took hold of the railing. Again they deferred to Tiff.
“She’s probably in the Peace Garden! It’s really pretty and it’s got lots of plants and people go there when they wanna be around the trees and stuff and she’s usually there at this time every day before she comes here to see us and all you have to do is follow the street and it’s kinda far away for us but for big people like you it’s probably fast!” the Beta declared.
Lexi peered down the length of the Omega channel. An Alpha path flanked it all the way around the slow bend, vanishing behind the modestly proportioned Beta roads. It was a simple enough route in terms of direction, but Lexi sure was envious now of Tiff and the kids’ courageous energy. She’d probably need all the help she could get.
“Thank you so much,” Lexi said, looking each tiny kid straight in the eye. Several of them trembled and laughed when they shared her gaze, making the Alpha feel oddly like a low-level celebrity, which apparently was precisely what she was to this group of tweens, though to them she was probably high-level at least. Bridget must’ve told them a good story. At least the Omega hadn’t lost that skillset in her self-imposed banishment.
The group bubbled with cheerful you’re-welcomes and waves. Lexi, almost reluctant to have to leave this audience of psychological supporters, whispered goodbye and marched on her way. The kids, especially Tiff, seemed a bit scatter-brained, but there was no trace of uncertainty in their suggestion that Bridget would be found in the garden. They spoke with the wisdom of beings who knew this city and its goings-on, especially with regards to the leviathan blonde who so sweetly paid them regular attention.
Now with a clear heading, Lexi didn’t have to let worries slow her pace. There was no turning back now. She didn’t make use of a train or even moving path, wanting to be able to control her pace, but still power-walked for her unknown destination. Sure enough, at the exit to the pitched marketplace hub, she discovered a sign touting the Peace Garden just a quarter-mile away. All she had to do was follow the road.
Lexi’s pulse quickened at the first sign of full-size trees dotting the streets more and more populously. The buildings thinned and gave way to the Peace Garden’s greenery and finally, passing under an archway alongside the Omega canal, she entered a vast rounded arena of a place, richly flush with flora of every stripe, from dizzyingly tall great oaks to neon-rainbow perennials. It truly was a beautiful place, aptly named, and Lexi saw close to a hundred Betas and Alphas as well dotted around the immense area, tending the plants or otherwise enjoying them. Despite the presence even of such towering trees, however, not one visitor or bit of vegetation was more noticeable than the Omega who stood in the center of it all, with her back turned to the entrance.
Bridget.
There she was. Right there, real as anything.
Lexi didn’t even have to see her face, knowing the arch of her back and every roped strand of golden hair like the back of her own hand. The Omega didn’t appear to be speaking to anyone or even gardening, but was simply cradling delicate hanging willow-vines over her trunk-sized fingers without snapping a single leaf. For a nauseous second, the Alpha fought her first impulse to scream and catch her sister’s attention, before looking around again and gaining some better scale perspective. She wasn’t even in arm’s reach for Bridget right now. Fortunately, a series of overpasses allowed Alphas and Betas shortcuts around the spacious garden, as the place was its own forest for the former and a veritable biodome the size of four stadiums for the latter.
Legs moving almost independently now, Lexi traversed the closest branch of the path, climbing stairs and jogging along the platforms until she stood somewhere in the middle of the pleasant green void, roughly at eye-level for the Omega, if only she’d turn around. Wondering at first if there was a gentler way to reach her sister, Lexi found she could wait no longer. Their time was well-overdue.
“BRIDGE!” Lexi shouted, hands cupped around her mouth. She’d expected to stutter her yelp, but the cathartic release from two years of angst kept her tone straight, and she drunkenly grinned in the face of her fears. “OVER HERE!”
Her cry, small as it felt when she made it, echoed around the Peace Garden like a concert hall. Alphas and Betas all around turned inquisitively to face her; the only one present not to swivel around instantaneously was the Omega, who only shuddered at first.
Then the angelic giant turned, slowly, gracefully, her expression placid as a mausoleum monument, yellow locks splaying over her shoulders. As soon as Bridget caught sight of the speaker on the level platform, though, a notable layer of her stone-stoicism melted right off the giantess’s posture, leaving her wide-eyed and pout-lipped like she’d been struck by lightning. Once those oceanic blues locked onto the Alpha with the intensity of spotlights, they wouldn’t have diverted for the world, and indeed it seemed for a gravity-less moment that the Omega could see nothing else of the world now except Lexi.