Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
We go directly to another perspective, because he could not possibly have survived... I mean seriously.
This whole graduation thing is ridiculous. To have those kids celebrating the start of them enslaving and killing their own populations... - Rachel thinks while trying to find something more about a particularly strange portion of the log following the shutdown. Of course the entire system was locked then so she only has access to the raw event feed, but after over a century she has a fairly good grip on it.
This part does not make any sense. It never had she tried to understand it so many times earlier without success... but whenever she feels frustrated and hopeless, she goes back to such elements. It seems all the systems started behaving erratically at the same time. Maybe if she figures out something, then she will be able to break the lockdown and everything will get back to normal?
It seems impossible after so many decades of attempts...
But Rachel is unsure if anything could be normal again even if they managed to restore transport and communication, would the people be able to trust them again after all this? And of course they trying now means only her everybody else abandoned any attempts to fix things promptly after she figured how to use or rather abuse - the terraforming program. If only she knew what was about to happen... she was hoping they will be able to get some answers, maybe the operators did something wrong, lost control and the caretakers only needed to fix some things in the facility? They were all hoping the solutions would be there... but the people seemed to know even less about what happened. Zone after zone they found nobody knew anything and out of frustration... Lisa was the first to lose temper when people were asking her to help them with some famine - as she so compassionately put it. Searching for answers was important but they did not have to kill everybody that did not know them...
And then Erica discovered they can get pregnant... Rachel still cannot believe she actually joined them pushing the poor people inside their cunts. It seemed so... okay at the time? How could it be okay to kill millions of people just to...
It all seems like some sick joke. If at first she thought that something simply broke and nobody was controlling the uTopia anymore, after some time she was convinced that some operator must have gone rogue and was playing with them. Abusing the total control he had over everybody in there. Was it a man? Rachel used to think about whoever did it as a man it seemed no woman would be able to come up with such cruelty, but what the five of them were doing...
No, she hated herself for all this, even found unable to feel anything for her own daughters after they were born. Maybe it was the reason how Erica was able to control the lives of the firsts? It seemed nobody wanted to really raise them and she was free to manipulate them however she pleased... and then seconds behaved exactly how the firsts were taught, and the thirds did the same... Was it another one of Rachel's failures? It seemed everything she was doing turned wrong. Some were just plain bad ideas and others made the entire world a living hell.
Not a very good incentive to keep searching.
But she could definitely see that something must be out there. She noticed in the log, when the others were trying to get pregnant again, how it seemed that some field events were specifically engineered to allow whole sperm cells to de-dilate. Of course it was impossible to be sure the raw feed contains so much information, so many cryptic properties and entries.. but the ranges and physical characteristics were very specifically sized. It was impossible that such thing would be a part of the original programming before the shutdown the very idea for anybody to enter a chamber full sized was absurd, so somebody must have added those functions to perform very specific operations. Perhaps even watched and controlled it manually Rachel did not know what would be worse, it would take a monster to watch what was happening to the people. The procedure seemed almost impossible though she heard before the shutdown how the researchers were unable to maintain integrity of larger molecules while de-dilating, and the whole cells...
Either way, it seemed so cruel somebody was playing with their lives. All of them both caretakers and people. The biggest, sickest joke in history. Far worse than the assembler apocalypse. Probably somebody just sits there in some control room and laughs his ass off... or hers. If she could find something some way to overcome whoever was doing this. She thought about seemingly everything checked every available system, tried overriding every possible option. Even searched whatever parts of the dead facility she still had access to for clues on what happened and what she could do.
But this little detail about the shutdown she never shared with anybody simply made no sense. Even though all communications within the zones and across the facility died at almost the same time, there were weird things happening for hours after that it was easy to see for everybody, but searching and filtering this messy log was difficult trillions of events every second now. Even during normal operation of the facility it used to be much less than that several millions per minute at most... somebody must have planned this really well, probably a lot of software specifically designed to take over the facility.
She had written many procedures that helped her in querying the stored stream of information, but it took so long to analyze anything. And every single idea she thought up turned to be another dead end. A couple years after they divided the zones, she noticed some immigration events seven hours after the initial blockade. This meant that at that time there was somebody who still had control over the facility's functions and was using it... but for what? To get rid of witnesses? Hide in the zones the details of what was done? Five of them were left outside without any apparent reason were they simply missed? Overlooked and left to die?
But at least they were still alive and so were some people in the zones. Maybe those who went in seven hours after the shutdown knew what happened?
She spent several years on looking around the zones for somebody who knows more about those events, maybe some engineer or scientist even if they have immigrated before the shutdown, they surely would remember things about the outside. It seemed all she could find was some programmers, low-level operators and early caretakers who immigrated long before the shutdown. Yes, a couple decades after uTopia was established, only freaks were still out there, in the confined and heavily restricted space of the facility. And nobody who she questioned had a clue since the communication was lost, they were unable to do anything and simply lost the big picture of what could be going on. No, she needed to find caretakers who were still in the facility when it happened.
Her chambers were simple but she found no answers. The worst part was to search the ones owned by other mothers she was let in only after long discussions with each and often had to give something in exchange... usually some people or even a chamber or two. And even then they only allowed Rachel conditionally and for a limited time likely trying to get more from her. And when inside, many people would rarely talk to her she had to offer them gifts as well... and she also heard about acts of violence against those who conspired with the caretakers - Rachel did not even want to learn about the details, but sometimes managed to sneak some people with her to safety. Well, relative safety but she still cared about the people in her chambers far more than any other mother. Not to even mention the kids...
At least the gifts for the people were fairly easy to come by, some food synthesizers, medbeds and other tools manufactured in the assembler, but... there were so many of them hundreds of zones hungry for help. She wanted to give them everything but micro-assembling so much would take decades.. and she wanted to get information quickly so after several zones she had to change her offer only if they could tell her something. It was monstrous, but she had no choice she convinced herself that if she finds a solution, somebody who knew what to do, she would help them all by undoing the shutdown. But even then they would say anything for the gifts... promised they all were caretakers, scientists and so on just to get the life-saving tools. Some of them did not even know what those were civilization was often hurt by the shutdown so much they lost most of the technologies, but a miraculous machine with instructions to produce food seemingly out of air and water was very convincing. No, she needed to look for experienced caretakers, it seemed nobody else could know what was going on.
So she quickly figured a simple test a sealed container with primitive keyboard and terminal displaying an embedded question. The people could use many of the machines in the container, but the shielding was strong enough to stop them from getting the gifts out. The promise was that, if the question was solved, Rachel would leave them everything to use. Nobody ever answered, but she helped some zones anyway, with anything she could manufacture in the meantime, but.. it was always not enough.
She thought if everybody died already a hundred years in harsh conditions was probably hard for the solitary and intellectual people she was looking for. Or perhaps they were afraid of conspiring with her... Either way, in almost two years she found nobody who could solve the question of What is HX2/93-CS/BMM/53 plus J0-R/VS/R/14? - obvious and surely remembered by any veteran facility engineer, impossible to solve for anybody else including other mothers, who were mostly ignorant about the internal workings of the facility. Well, so was Rachel but as a level two communications engineer, she at least had to deal with many problems across a variety of areas. And there were hundreds of caretakers at the time of the shutdown. It seemed there are no other caretakers left in the facility they found that in the personnel application, but the little hidden detail gave Rachel hope that somebody may still be in the zones. So much was destroyed since she hacked the terraforming program, but maybe somewhere...
Over time, even this hope died. Rachel figured that regardless of reason whether they were dead or afraid she cannot get to them. At least she left some legacy by helping the people and Amy seemed to be inspired by that, when she started colonizing a couple years later. She is not only dumping some people in an empty zone to build everything up but also provides them with equipment to make their lives easier. Maybe she realized just how much is wrong with them?
But others.. of course it is somewhat crazy, but Rachel still blames herself for everything. No mother knew about the facility so much as she and it would have taken them forever to connect the dots. If only she knew was going to happen after they entered the zones... Maybe it would be better if they died in the first days after the shutdown? She could not even find how many of those immigration events were after the shutdown... was this what happened to most of the others?
Maybe if Rachel could cross the several she did found with the privileges checks log to see who authorized them maybe it would hint the person responsible for the shutdown? What would she do then.. ask him or her nicely to fix everything? Explain how she did not mean to destroy the zones?
Of course she did find how to restart terraforming and things have been deteriorating ever since... No this is just too much for her now, memories of the parties come back to her... how they, the kids.. were playing with people, killing them, putting them on their bodies... carelessly stepping on the cities and towns. Even their newest aberration, sniffing... no, Rachel needs to take a break. Run away from all this, forget about everything at least for a moment.
She hates to do this, but for her the only way of actually enjoying some bliss is to have the people caress her a bit. She is no longer a teenager to bring herself to climax, not to mention that after hundred years the memories of things that aroused her are sparse at least so she needs some extra stimulation.
Rachel first realized this back in the days when she was still trying to socialize with the others, hoping to convince them that what they are doing is wrong. When Lauren was working on her salon - the very idea seemed ridiculous. Instead of looking for a way out, they simply... well, tried to live with what they had. Was it too hard to accept? Maybe Rachel was crazy perhaps there is no way out and there could only...
But what Lauren forced her people to do was unthinkable. They died by the thousands trying to perform the simplest tasks for them. Of course she now claims it improved greatly since the early days, but the idea of using people in this way still repels Rachel. Knowing Lauren they still die while working in there, just.. slowly enough to repopulate in the meanwhile.
She could not stop thinking about it though. If there was a way of fulfilling her and keeping the people safe, would it still be wrong? Of course Rachel could only use willing people for that and make damn sure they understood what she means at their scale any kind of suggestion becomes a deadly threat for the inhabitants. After a lot of thinking she settled that the only play she could actually feel them while being able to maintain their safety were her nipples. Heavily innervated, yet easily visible while laying down. Perhaps even some men would enjoy this... if she only asked for volunteers and made sure they were unharmed, then it might actually be fairly exciting. She heard before the shutdown about some deviant groups dreaming about sexy women entering the zones full-sized.. if only they knew what that really would mean!
Now it is a reality of course. A very sad one. But if some people dreamed about this earlier, perhaps it could be fun for them as well? It took some experiments alone before she was confident enough to invite any micro people only a few at start, to make sure that she can handle it. She could just barely feel them... but since it was okay, eventually she started taking more and more. It seemed there was always more men eager to help her than she wanted to take the veterans spread the word and it must have made it quite popular, she even heard some women were also trying to join in... but Rachel still felt that she is using the people, no matter what they told her.
Of course there must have been an accident one day... as she grew increasingly confident, she started playing with herself while being serviced and one time while she climaxed she must have twitched or gasped.. she could not even remember the details, but... she could hardly feel anything on her breasts anymore. Later she learned that most of them were sent to oblivion only a few were able to hang on... She promised everybody in that zone she will never try to do this again, but over time she started hoping that if she was more careful, perhaps...
Rachel had to explain the procedure in a different zone guys in the original one would probably be willing to help her again, but she just could not do ask them after what happened. Having explained somewhere else only a couple years later, the helping out resumed.
So now she just leaves the terminal in the facility and moves to the new fun zone. Of course it takes them only a couple minutes to gather eager as always, at least until another disaster happens.. but no, Rachel is more careful now and knows how to avoid that at least so she tries to convince herself. Taking the field transporter, she carefully leaves to an empty chamber, where she has previously prepared a bed.
Nothing fancy, just a pile of compressed dirt, strong enough to support her weight. It would seem like a mountain range to the people, rising miles over the ground but when she lies down, it just becomes a comfortable incline from her feet on the ground level to the head about four miles higher. It has several benefits: her breasts are settled in a more stable position this way, it is easier for her to see the people with her head raised on the extra pillow-like bump and she can lay still like this for an extended time with both of her arms free to make sure that everything is okay and even caress herself a bit.
But first things first, she needs to prepare herself: remove her shirt and bra, lay down, massage and squeeze her breasts to make sure her nipples are erect she heard after early experiments that even such minute act is dangerous for the people if it they are near, the folds and wrinkles of the realigning skin can crush them.
Fortunately the chilling air on this altitude helps her quickly accomplish that. It also helps with sweating one discovery that scared her a lot early on was when she heard that even a tiniest bead of sweat is enough to de-dilate a person if caught by surprise. Of course they assured her that they can easily avoid it obviously very keen to be taken again, but she could not continue the fun until she was confident she has found a solution hence the bed. Higher altitude air may not be uncomfortable for her, but helps to chill the skin enough to avoid sweating. Rachel worries if it is not too cold for the people though, at least she hopes they wear enough to keep warm but sometimes she noticed some seemed to be.. naked? It did not bother her, just.. wasn't it too cold for that? Perhaps her body warmth was enough and she did not want to ask them about such details...
Either way, after readying she can finally place the transporter and tell them it is safe now. She never orders or asks them to do anything it bothers her enough to use them like that. No need to push them around any more... in fact, she would be glad if they were too scared to even leave the transporter she would finally have a reason to stop this ridiculous habit...
But they always do leave, it seems that the moment she puts it down on her left tit, there are dots flowing out of it already even without waiting for her words. She hopes some of them wait to be moved to the other one it feels nice if both are caressed, even if the touches are so slight. When the dots stop leaving the transporter, she warns them she will pick it up now, waits a minute and does that to place it on the other side of her chest. She can already feel the ones on the left trying to excite her they must be really exerting themselves.
Placing the transporter on the other side and notifies them it is safe again, she can also see the remainder of people leaving it. All is set, now time to enjoy herself. Remembering to breathe only through her mouth not to exhale on them, Rachel tries to feel all the little sensations around her aureolas. They seem so minute, but it is better than tinies using some machinery and it would probably get her too excited to control herself, which would be bad...
But she can still feel their efforts, stroking and hitting her skin, pulling and pushing various folds, jumping and ramming, just whatever they can do to excite her. Sometimes she can just barely notice what they are doing, usually it is just dots moving around. But it is enough to keep her aroused and after ten minutes or so, she brings her left hand to her cunt. Slowly playing with herself, she makes sure not to move or breathe too sharply, but it only takes a couple more minutes for her to come.
Relaxing afterwards, she thinks how the people must feel on her breasts obviously humbled by the monumental nipples, but even the smallest bumps and folds of her skin must be like hills to them. And they are still working for her even after she let out soft moans and stopped fingering herself... they must have felt her climaxing, but if they are still trying to keep her happy perhaps it is something more than a necessity? Maybe they are also having fun?
Rachel often tries to persuade herself that they are also aroused down there if she was not the only one having fun, it would make her actions less selfish. She cannot see enough details to be sure, but sometimes... And of course is too regretful of her actions to ask about it afterwards, back in their zone. Having no way of communicating with them here, she just watches their continuing efforts trying to enjoy her little timeout. After about thirty minutes she goes again, carefully caressing herself with her left hand and tries to rest while thinking. The people must be really having fun there, since she feels no signs of stopping. Good for them at least she does not need to feel guilty about it. She explains every time while they gather that if they are tired or if any problem arises, they should simply stop moving and she would immediately end the playtime. That did not happen so...
She thinks about what she she must be to them perhaps they are having sex with each other, what other reasons would women have to come along. And what would this make her? A background for their orgy? She does not feel bad or angry.. just... thinks of what she has become. Unable to even satisfy herself properly, she must abuse thousands of tiny people and if they are also using her as scenery to their fun. She tries to imagine how it must look like for them moving around the mountain of her tit, with looming dark plateau and various hills around it. Does she seem like a sort of terrain to them? Surely the scale would suggest that, but.. she always tries to show her people that she cares about them, that she is a good person. Does a person behave like this? Kidnap people from their homes to use them as toys... maybe she should ask them what is it that they are doing there and if she is not abusing their trust?
On the other hand maybe they would just stop exciting her if they no longer wanted to be here... which does no happen, even after an hour of play. Would it also excite her to be in their position? It feels strange, but... with the vision of what it must be like for them, she fingers herself again to climax quickly now perhaps she will not need their help to do it again when she feels like it? But concluding that she had enough for today, she tells the people it is time to get back now. They slowly start gathering back as if trying to exploit every moment they have on her. When she sees everybody on her right boob should be back to the transporter, she waits a couple more minutes just to be safe and moves the tiny container to the other side, again waiting for them to get in.
But suddenly she feels something... a tiniest sensation, away from her breasts Rachel looks further on her stomach and notices a couple dots, obviously a small group of humans... walking towards her neither regions? But this is preposterous... what are they thinking?
Guys.. what do you think you are doing... only death awaits you there... - she tries to discourage them while positioning her left hand to completely block their further advance like an impassable wall but only after carefully wiping it on the side, she does not want them any more excited. They seem tentative, but eventually seem to also enter the transporter she placed next to them. If I haven't noticed them... - she thinks about the inevitable. Was this how she was losing some people? She checks the population counter to see full eighty thousands but.. sometimes there were several less, even up to a dozen or so...
Nobody seemed to know what happened when she questioned the rest in the zone, no deaths were noticed on her tits but this would certainly explain the phenomenon. They must be very horny to attempt this... - Rachel realizes and feels really bad for risking their lives like this. Hopefully the memories may allow her not to need their help for several days. But at the same time she realizes that when back in the zone, just after the report they will probably ask her again if the next time she could take a bigger transporter or even more than just one she regrets how inevitable this always sounds - the next time...
Gary has no idea why he is committing suicide.
He always preferred the easier way. Not easiest, not lazy, not even the one with the least amount of problems. Just the easier. Whenever there was the right way to do things one what he could see would be best for him, he chose the easier one.
It really started when he wanted to study art but chose to follow his father footsteps to become a particle physicist. When they moved to uTopia in the middle of his studies, he should have continued them but instead joined the engineering force later known as caretakers. When a couple years later everybody kept telling him he should move in with his parents and he knew they were right, he remained outside. It's not like they were simple alternatives, but still what he chose always seemed easier than what he should have done.
Of course that did not lead him very far, now did it? Being stuck with millions of people in single zone with seemingly no chance of ever leaving it? That certainly was not how he envisioned his retirement from caretakers. Hell, being locked for hours in his room without power was not part of that plan either. Sure a couple of his friends told him they will help him just as soon as they fix things, but... now it seems they never have.
No, communication was never restored and after a hundred years he was still stuck in this chamber. At least he has survived and for the last couple of weeks he noticed just how much worse things could be for him. Well, the beginnings were not exactly easy either when he appeared in the zone, he tried to explain nearby people that noticed him who he was and that he has no idea what happened they did not listen. First they all wanted for him to save them, somehow he was a caretaker, after all... but an hour later almost everybody wanted to stone him to death. For what he did - whatever it was.
He never learned what it was meant to be. Neither did they, it seemed. Whatever was the reason of the Failure, he was asleep when it happened and was immigrated here without a clue. The sparse mesg that woke him up in the darkness: it all shut down working on it help coming did not help to understand much.
Maybe he should have let them trample or crucify him whatever was it the mob wanted to do... But no, he again chose the easier way of running away and hiding in dark valleys. He never made the same mistake of explaining who he was.
The Forces later renamed to the Stabilization Forces, then Defense Force, Security Service and nowadays is simply known as the Service did not ask him who he was as long as he did what he was told, he was okay. Even though for several years Gary felt he should tell them he is a qualified engineer, the easier way was to remain just a grunt. At least nobody asked him about anything.
Only when peace was restored and most of the recruits were released from service, he had to start doing something and engineering was what he knew for over nine decades, so he joined Technology Restoration Initiative. Well, life was good in TRI he spent a couple decades working on various designs recovered from scraps of data storages there were left after the Failure. Ones that did not contain only artistic materials it seemed all everybody in New Vienna always wanted to store locally was music, scanned paintings, models of sculpture and so on. Well, art will not feed you they quickly figured that. He should have worked on something more ambitious like trying to get out of here, but adapting incomplete designs for real world use was easier.
But that was an ancient past, just like his caretaker career. Now he is employed in the Works, trying to figure some innovative ways of saving the world. Of course that is the theory usually he just manages to attach himself to a promising project already in progress just to help finish it and get a tiny percent of the fat invention paycheck it gets upon completion. Not much goes to him, but it gives him a good record and while his normal wage pays the taxes and living costs, the bonuses allow him to get away for a couple months every year. Again he surely could and most likely should work on something more important, but the easier way.
When one of his coworkers came up with a ridiculous idea of making a horse stable, he knew he should stay away of it. Or maybe his life choices were not easier but simply crazy? Gary prefers the easier version.
Either way, when they called him back upon the caretaker arrival to deal with engineering whatever they needed to deal with her, it was easier to stay on his leave on the farm. He still has no idea how Pierre was able to get his hands on that piece of land. Nobody has land. Not after the Reorganizations. Everything is used for farmland, maintenance towns, highways or high rises. Well, they did not exactly own it... the official version was Agricultural Museum for Preserving The Old World Heritage and Getting Fat Bribes - or something along those lines. Yes, it did cost a lot but the animals were already paying off. And not some overgrown pigs those were the real thing. Or at least as real as it could get nowadays: reverse engineered from some antique leather, fixed up with similar species genes for their body to work and finally cloned in specifically developed artificial wombs. And they cost a fortune too - the best that can come from commercial research. It seemed the Works could afford anything but that was of course mostly because three quarters of taxes went to the Service, which they were a major part of most prominent rivals for funds were security forces. And there was not much security to do around here anymore, so...
But he could not believe just how much some rich bastards would pay to feel like some Genghis Khan or whatever was the reason they wanted to ride those beasts. He could never understand that... sure they were way better than any synthetics you could actually see in their eyes that they perceive you rather than just operate the image recognition algorithms analyzing your form. But the prices they had... Still, they better earn the bribes to keep this thing going or soon there will be no more Museum of Whatever they almost went dry during the winter. Spring started a bit better with nice weather inviting many guests, but then the caretaker came and everybody seemed to lose interest in them this new beast was simply important.
Everybody talked about it, but Gary he knew everything was wrong about this arrival. Caretakers should never enter a live chamber. They should never stay in any chamber for more than absolutely necessary for their mission. They should never walk around it. They should never be a psychotic young woman apparently deeply worried about her little population counter. Yes, he could see it clearly using his outdoors binoculars and although he was not familiar with that particular program, he quickly figured it out. He also remembered the famous CCR-PTr the terraforming program, or rather its resculpting variant, which they called teleporting. Caretakers should also never use childish names for everything.
Yes, caretakers should never come in and out of a chamber when they feel like it. And probably most importantly... they should never, ever, bitch to each other about breaking the toys inside like it was their private bedroom.
Gary assumed at the very beginning they will all die and everything that happened since the arrival only ensured this feeling. So at first he did not bother to tell the authorities about his caretaker experience and a week later he just sent an email to two of his superiors, which would be processed for the next year or so by the bureaucracy before ever seeing daylight.
No, he preferred to enjoy his last days in the relative peace of the stables. At least nobody bitched about his lack of progress on some project he could sit back and enjoy the view. And what a sight it was! Even though their farm was a good three hundred kilometers from the Kate's spot, they could clearly see her every movement. She seemed like a sweet way to bring the end of days, even though he could hear her constant reassurances about how she does not mean any harm. Well, should caretakers repeat that over and over? He did not remember any training on that... but maybe he missed a memo during almost hundred years of his employment there?
So what is he doing here why this sudden change of heart? Killing himself by crashing his skycar into the ear of this full-sized teenager does not seem like the easier alternative for anything really. Was it caused by her sudden confession? It only made everything worse, actually confirmed his worst fears, but... at least she seemed nice. Yes, if Gary should ever end his life by crashing into any ten mile tall teenager, Kate was probably the sweetest one to do it.
What is he trying to accomplish anyway? Even if he miraculously survives it... List all the ways they broke the caretaker procedures? Tell her how he does not really know what happened in the Failure either? Or perhaps explain how the uTopia used to work before it? None of these things made any sense and frankly... Gary wanted to finally do something that he felt was the thing he should do. Which right now it meant to tell her everything he knows, hoping it will help with... something? Anything?
From what she was saying it seemed that the facility did not get much better since Gary was locked in his quarters. Sure they could at least move around a bit, but.. the problems she seemed to have with even the simplest things, such as micro-assembly or asking them to construct the means of communicating with her. But what their look and behavior suggested was even worse. Basic emergency uniform, no makeup, self cut hair, no tools other than "temp wristcom it took him a while to believe she is actually using it on a daily basis or knowledge of anything.
Things on the outside must be even worse than in the chamber. Gary felt he needs to do something and trying to help with his knowledge of the facility was the only thing he could think of. Of course any attempts to escalate his cause now fell on deaf ears... even when he emphasized that he may have possibly important information regarding the current situation. The bureaucracy...
So he took it into his own hands and what exactly? He quickly figured there was no way he could make himself known to Kate other than flying in front of her eyes or using his speakers inside her ear finally settled on the second option, packing his skycar with various components of his personal sound system. Everybody used omnis nowadays, but sometimes he wanted for the sounds surround him instead of just being applied to his eardrums...
But even as he traveled towards the side of her spot that was furthest from any civilization and therefore hopefully the least guarded he noticed that his plan may fail, because of her.. long hair. Certainly not something that one would think of when driving his skycar. But then of course trying to fly into somebody's ear was one of its less conventional applications. Yes, until moments ago, her ears seemed not only covered by impassable layer of hair, but also beyond the vehicle's maximum altitude held high by her two mile long forearms. The vertical field engine is simply not able to work efficiently enough above around three kilometers.
But fortunately they wanted to play her Vee-valdi and she is now laying down on her back. Gary still cannot believe he is putting his life into hands, or technically ears, of a teenager knowing seemingly so little about anything. Especially how in Vienna things like basics on history and art were considered a necessary knowledge to be even considered mature. Perks of the society with average age of over hundred forty years.
When he was hiding from any recon drones in a small forest next to the edge of her spot one of few open parks in the zone it felt somehow wrong to spy on her... it seemed like looking into windows of some students, watching their games it was not like Gary would do such things, he was never into kids, just.. this was the closest similarity he could think of when he was watching the details of her movements through the binoculars.
But he noticed how the ear closest to him was blocked by the sound system they built for her, but then the sweet giantess spoke Wait, let me switch the ears... - Gary wanted to kiss her.. well, even though she was still good ten kilometers away and she was already larger than life. At least his way in is now open after she did what she suggested while explaining that No, no, it's not a problem at all, it's very comfortable and everything...
Yes, this is surely the crazy idea. Was he crazy? Definitely. But he is tired of waiting after a century of doing nothing followed by over hundred more years of doing even less...
The main problem is that even if the height is right, the field energy supply will run out when he enters the interior of her ear it was powered by unobstructed line of sight to the dilation field generators at the sides of the zone. Even flying in the cities was impossible autopilot could manage to land on some rooftops, but dropping below them was a suicide. Which means that he will need to enter it with maximum speed to get deep enough to be heard and decelerate using the vehicle emergency hydrogen reserve just enough to avoid the deadly crash. And even then he is unsure if his words do not fall on deaf ears again... only this time simply being too quiet rather than ignored.
He executes his crazy plan the best he can. He was never a good pilot, but the landing seemed fairly simple enter with straight flight, manually slow down and then rely on the auto to somehow use the remaining reserve to... Yes, this definitely is a suicide - he thinks while approaching her in heavily hacked skycar. The original firmware would never even allow him to come close to Kate's spot... but once he was working in TRI on some small detail of the navigational systems now commonly used in all vehicles and still remembered a trick or two. Of course tinkering around those things would probably cost him several decades if not his life given the current situation, but... if he doesn't die in the crash, they can do whatever with him.
Right now, she grows larger and larger in front of him as he moves forward. Trying not to be noticed by any defenses the Service may have around the area, he is trying to fly just over the trees, or plants, level which quickly turns into farmland and then a barren landscape of crushed and compressed soil, which exposes him to any systems in the area, but... who would be crazy enough to approach Kate? Even if she is laying down perfectly still on the ground...
But there he is, raising the altitude aiming for the ear which seems more like a geographical feature than part of the body. Like a cavern of some kind... at least it is wide enough for him to avoid colliding with the walls. The warnings light all over and the skycar starts hurling forward uncontrollably. He waits to start dropping as he manually tries to correct his trajectory auto would most likely try to reverse immediately, so he must rely on his lousy skills. Still, the physics of what he was doing was solid and he even calculated that he should have enough hydrogen supply to... Well, it was worthless since he knows nothing about skycars except some details on several of their subsystems. Not to mention avionics...
But when he seems to be deep enough, the manually controlled jet nozzles produce sounds suggesting the skycar will explode any second now... but nothing happens and he slows down enough that the auto should deal with the situation and land of course it is not that simple. Nobody thought to program emergency landing in a cave inside almost completely flat zone weren't they used in other chambers before the Failure? Does not matter the auto tries some strange tricks which leave him rolling through the air, but miraculously it is able to slow down just enough not to kill him upon crashing down, rolling several times to end on the roof.
Gary hopes the speakers will be alright and that he will still have enough emergency batteries to power them... normally everything was powered by dilation field in the skycar, leaving only small reserve for emergencies. Which gives him maybe a couple minutes to talk? Either way when he looks at his com, he realizes that the careful approach took longer than he expected and forty minutes of he four seasons are almost gone... If he is not heard now, her slightest move will send him towards his death.
Yes, the speakers work after connected to the batteries, he is able to get clear sound:
Hello, Kate, can you hear me? I am in your ear, please hear me... - which he continues for some time with breaks to save power. He almost loses it along with his hope, but finally hears a voice:
Is there anybody in my ear? - the voice coming from all sides sounds like salvation, he thought for good he was gone already... - Yes I can hear you...
Oh thank God - his parents used to be Baptists and even though he no longer has much faith, the words often come out in strenuous situations. Especially given that where he is, she does sound like a God. But he realizes that he has not even introduced himself, which is very impolite of him even though everybody in the zone recognizes Kate, she has no way of ever knowing him... - I am sorry, my name is Gary Oleman and before the Failure, I used to be a caretaker as well... I mean before the shutdown... - he heard how they were using a different name for it. Was it what Mahesh meant by it all shut down? No.. now is not the time for recollections - I know it may look weird, but I really need to talk with you and this... seemed like the only way.
A loud giggle invades his mind, pushing all thoughts into defensive, and is followed by the voice again: It's okay, you could have just asked the governor about it! But what did you want to tell me in my ear?
Well, I am kind of stuck here and actually running out of battery power, so I would appreciate if somebody would give me a hand to the outside so I could - and after that, batteries die - talk to you through the headphone... Great.
Half expecting her hand, or a finger coming through the ear opening to crush him offering him a hand, Gary can only wait... since the skycar is out of both power and emergency fuel, it would take him at least ten minutes to even get out.. and somehow his chances of survival look better inside.
Could what? Hello? Can you hear me? - obviously - Oh no, have I hurt you? Please say something... Can anybody help him? Please? - again, Gary wanted to kiss her. It just seems somewhat.. inappropriate, especially being inside her ear canal. Funny how she has not even noticed his crash... The acceleration field, seat belts and interior airbags saved him from being crushed, but still somewhat battered. It was actually the first moment when he thinks if he is seriously hurt it does not seem so, but his experience with adrenaline from the Food Riots tells him not to trust the lack of pain so he tries to leave the skycar carefully and stand up, flex all muscles no blood, no protruding bones, all seems fine...
Of course Kate continues her overwhelming monologue of explaining how she did not mean to do anything and asking if he is okay... Her voice is so loud here that his screams would have no effect. Eventually she stops babbling, answers a couple yes and nos which suggests the Service is trying to figure what to do. It should be only a matter of time now...
Gary uses this time to look around. The cave is just.. huge and it is already night so he can barely see any details... The binoculars! For whatever reason, they seem to have night vision and he measures easily hundred sixty meters to the exit and maybe second that to the drum although it is hard to find a good point deeper for DME to focus.
Suddenly his vision is flooded with light blinding him after being amplified by the binoculars. It takes a couple moments to regain his sight a skyjet's floodlights! Damn big and loud one, was it... right, the mighty V-Raptor, probably the largest aircraft in the Service's fleet... only it looks somewhat puny inside the cavern of Kate's ear canal even though it is easily ten meters wide and almost that high, twenty five meters long, in here it looks like.. some sort of parasite or bug. What does this make Gary? A microbe? They caretakers using the word micro a lot while talking to each other, but he never felt so minuscule. And the raptor... the last time he has seen one of those was during the First Reconstruction Revolt and they surely made a different impression back then heavily armed and armored, with jet engines pointing in all directions for maximum maneuverability... carrying several mechs for incursion or pacification, no happy sight... I was designed to make you want to run away and hide, except now it was a fly that came to save a microbe.
Re-enter the skycar, prepare to be taken up - coming from the aircraft definitely did not sound like requests to be reasoned with, so Gary does exactly that, hoping his belts will keep him inside... The skyjet was preparing to.. land? Well, I hope they don't tickle her - a funny thought comes to him, but he does not laugh. Apparently when they land and six of five meter tall mechs leave it as if to his military experience suggests secure a perimeter? What are they afraid of... ear wax attacking them? At least they waste no time and one of probably remote controlled bots surveys his skycar and picks it up, like it was nothing. Well, he has seen those things thrusting through two meter thick reinforced concrete, so his compact half tonne skycar was certainly not a problem. Kate seemed not to even notice this commotion in her ear.. or perhaps she was careful enough no to shiver?
Either way in no time he is back to the raptor's hangar and can feel the lift off and prompt evacuation from the ear. Kate apparently noticed that as well, since she speaks:
Are you okay? Is he safe? - a pause, obviously for explanation through the headphone - Uh, okay. Can I talk to him?
Great. She is interested in Gary... Well, what did he expect would happen? But it seems they are not going to land anytime soon after taking a long detour around her head, the skyjet even is gaining altitude and speed Kate in the meantime explains how she was really worried something might have happened to him and how happy she is that...
But Gary can only think about how he will explain his little excursion. I felt I really needed to tell her what I know about the facility as an ex-caretaker - was the least crazy explanation, but still... why didn't he talk to the authorities, just like Kate even suggested? Because your bureaucracy takes crazy long time to deal with anything? - he would obviously need to explain it to somebody high up. I wanted to finally do something with my life does not seem like a smart reason. He will have to figure it out when he meets somebody. He just hopes it would not be the old man himself...
Of course when they arrive, he is welcomed on the landing pad already with the slightly annoyed voice of nobody else than James Crawford himself, mentioning How nice of you to join us... - as if Gary was just casually dropping by. Sure, the unbearable weight of the man's experience and authority was comforting when you were following orders, but somehow Gary feels like he actually broke some of them just moments earlier... even though he was not anywhere under the old man's command for decades now.
He tries to explain as he is motioned to follow him inside some building, on top of which they landed: I only wanted... Sir, I was only trying to avoid bureaucratic barriers to help...
And what exacly made you think we were not already familiar with your report. Or that we did not have dozens of people claiming to know all about the external world and trying to help? Not to even mention that you were a couple decades late with it to be taken seriously... And now She wants to talk to you... Excuse my poor assessment of the situation, but it seems like you are a liability now rather than any help here!
Gary can barely keep a straight face obviously they knew much more than they revealed to the public in several bulletins, the most informational piece of information was The authorities are trying to make them know more about us and the usual tone was We survived the Failure, we will survive this...
But it seemed they would tell Kate something more, if they have much deeper insight into the external facility or perhaps were they hiding it? It seemed.. weird but were there more caretakers just like him in here or did Crawford simply refer to some old-timers? He could only follow him to an empty conference room with good view on Kate one side of the room was glass with direct view on her spot and the other walls were composed mostly of monitors and terminals displaying various details.
There is no chance they are letting him go after seeing this, he could actually understand some of the diagrams and models... No, now he needs to explain what he meant to do:
Sir, if I may... - the governor gestures him to continue - I know my report may seem unreliable, but I was still in the facility when the shutdown, um, the Failure happened. I also have a lot of experience with...
Crawford interrupts him: Gary Oleman, aged three ten, veteran caretaker, senior structural engineer, security clearance five, construction and stress assessment review specialist, unmarried, father Mark, support-researcher-operator, mother Matilda, no professional affiliation. Have I missed anything? - most of these facts were not in his report.. nor has he ever revealed them to anyone...
Surely there were thousands of people with some caretaker experience, but most of them moved in long before the Failure - Sir, but I was still an active engineer when it happened have you got anybody else like that?
Gary feels the old man's sight upon him, measuring him from head to toe, as if trying to figure out what is he suggesting... was it possible they do not have anybody like this? Gary has no idea why he appeared in this zone after Failure and even what exactly happened... were his friends trying to help him? Then why not just open the doors to his quarters there were surely easier ways of getting him out than immigration...
And how exactly did you manage to get in here without looking like Them?
I have... Sir, I have no idea how and why it happened...
Then what use are you for us or even for Her? - Crawford is perfectly right, it was pointless, he was crazy.. should he explain how his entire life he did nothing and finally decided to act with hope of Gary is not even sure what he hoped to accomplish... The governor continues: Look, I appreciate your enthusiasm about helping, but in case you have not noticed, we are trying to maintain this very delicate mix of calmness, anxiety and emotion in Kate's behavior and you certainly did not help to balance these things out - while still assessing him.
Sir, I meant no harm...
That's what She says - it sounds incredibly naive now... Gary feels crazy, after life of stupid choices, he just made the stupidest... but Crawford simply continues to evaluate him and eventually concludes - Fine, I don't see what could you possibly want to gain by lying about it, but you need to understand that what you did was reckless. That is why now you are going to answer Her questions, assure Her you never even thought about contacting the authorities so she can trust us and calm down Her curiosity to the point where she would go to bed and we can instruct you further... understood? - he does not have a choice, period.
Yes... Sir.
The old man turns to the conferencing device in the middle of the table which is like... who still uses those? - unmutes it and says: Miss Kate, we have your uninvited guest with us here and he was simply confused about how to talk with you...
Oh, don't worry about it I don't mind... - Gary can hear her voice coming from the speaker, obviously transmitted electronically as they traveled far beyond the sound de-dilation range, he still remembers his short experience as sculpting specialist... - So what do you wanted to talk about, mister ex-caretaker? - she finishes in almost playful tone.
Gary is lost in how to reply, especially when he sees her monumental form and her lips on the horizon moving in sync with the voice coming from the speakers she is now sitting down and clearly visible over the towns and farmlands in between... Crawford motions him to answer.
Um, hi... I just thought, maybe if I could help you with any problems you may have with the facility? - he notices somewhat annoyed look on the old man's face, right... inspiring her curiosity further was not the way to go, but it was already too late, since she inquired:
Oh, like what?
Crawford mutes to quickly point out no details - and motions him to speak.
Well, I was a fairly experienced engineer so I thought that maybe if you had any problems... - Crawford signals him the direction is good - but if you cannot think of anything, then we can always wait for another time... - thumb up, maybe the worst was over?
Oh I don't know... - Kate pauses for a minute - do you know how to unlock the big micro-assemblers?
Um - how were they locked? - sorry, no... - both thumbs up.
Hmmm... I don't know, I never really thought about what could be fixed, I guess... Rachel would know what to ask, but I simply have no idea - she concludes, Rachel.. Rachel... does not ring a bell there were still hundreds of caretakers at the time and she may even be one of the silly ones... but after a moment, Kate adds - Hey, she always wanted to know about something let me think, she told us in school.. what is H293CS53 plus JORVS - she spells it carefully - or something like that... Do you know it?
Gary nods to the old man suggesting he knows the answer and receives a go ahead to tell it:
Well, if I understand correctly her question must have been: what is HX2/93-CS/BMM/53 plus J0-R/VS/R/14?
Yeah, that's right, something like that so you know the answer?
It was an old uTopia engineers joke, actually.. I am certain you will not be able to understand it... - Crawford covers his eyes with his palm...
Oh come on, you can tell me I'm sure I will get the joke about the facility!
Crawford signals him to answer: Um, it may be a bit inappropriate for... - again reminded to continue - well, the exact answer is and sorry for foul language, but that was the exact expression, I quote a pile of shit.
Really? - she asks in suddenly excited voice, with a happy smile on her face Crawford quietly moans annoyed and mutes the microphone while Kate continues - But how's that?
Just explain her so she will not be any more anxious, can I count on this?
Sir, but the description is very technical and I did not think she would...
Use simple terms then! - and unmutes the mike.
Well, Kate... how to explain it this apparently illogical equation originated from two airtight high-yield masers operating symbols - signals to tone it down - Um, vehicle labels? Of two transporters that happened to crash two years before the Fai... shutdown, which resulted in a level three bio threat... - this time he can already see on Kate's face that she has no idea - created a sort of goo? - much better - which was fairly similar to excrements in both form and, well.. smell...
But to call something so smart with such name? - she inquires.
Well, there was a lot of it and removing it was very.. problematic, we simply were all tired of it already and annoyed that it seemed to enter every crevice in the chambers shielding and...
Oh I get it, I hate cleaning up too...
Well, it was sort of an understatement... When 53rd transporter from biological materials management center of 93rd chemical storage in region HX2 collided with this particular research volatile storage transport from research sector J0-R it always annoyed Gary that research had to call everything differently... they even had to come up with their own regional signatures little short of three hundred thousand tons of organic source materials for the new chambers almost ignited with highly efficient experimental fast-growth biological mix on its way to test containment... The no-oxygen environment created perfect conditions for the particularly annoying bacteria to grow unabated, at least until all raw nourishment was turned into sticky, toxic and most importantly extremely irritating mix of ammonia, various acids and other wastes. It stuck to literally everything, there was no getting rid even when they were returning to the quarantine zone, entire square miles of the facility smelled literally like shit, you had to spend hours in the shower just to get it out from your hair and skin... It seemed to even somehow find its way into airtight hazmat suits although it was probably because they wanted to avoid the full quarantine procedure and rushed through decon... after all the bacterias were perfectly harmless and died quickly in oxygen rich atmosphere. But the smell got to every shelter, every sealed containment in that area... good thing it was far enough from the core facility to avoid spoiling it. For over two years they fought to get rid of it and even afterwards they found the goo in some maintenance shafts, seemingly sealed containers and other places... If back then he was asked how hell looks like, that would be the answer. There was no way anybody who spent even a couple days fixing all the problems that arose from the collision to forget what it meant. At least it happened far away from any live zones... they had to shut some of them down to fix everything! Comparing it to hating cleaning up was like saying that Kate has cute little nose. Sure it was perfectly proportioned, but... her enormous face is still looming on the horizon as she continues:
Well, I can't wait to tell Rachel the answer to her riddle! Hey, wait maybe I could ask her if there is anything more she wanted to know? - well, that sounds reasonable, perhaps some actual caretaker would help them figure out what is going on - But she won't believe me when I tell her that I met you... - what? - Is there anything you could share to convince her?
Well, I don't know... - the old man mutes and quickly speaks:
I believe it would be beneficial to let Rachel know you are alive, did you know her? - why this sudden change of approach? A minute earlier he did not want Gary to tell her anything.
No.. I don't recall any caretaker with that name... Sir, why wouldn't she just believe Kate?
She wouldn't - that was not exactly his question, not to mention how can he be so sure of it of course Gary heard them discuss many things, but answers from her were never detailed enough to suggest... - There must be something more you can tell Her that would convince Rachel you really are who you say you are.
I don't know.. it depends on what department she was working on and...
What about the emergency ID? They could validate it with any temp wristcom, am I correct?
Sir, yes, but.. we were not supposed to ever give it...
Does She look like a sort of emergency to you or not?
Well, Gary may have been used to the sight of full-sized girl far away in the distance, but when Crawford mentions it, it is still kind of disturbing - Sir, yes sir.
When mike is unmuted, Gary is about to share the most important identifier he was ever told, his personal emergency code that was only known to him, one that was meant to only be used in situations risking a massive facility continuity failure when no other means of identification worked. Certainly that moment has come, but the secret code that could impersonate him to almost all emergency devices... giving it to a smiling teenager was a bit... much to deal with.
I think there may be a way, if you tell her my emergency identifier...
Well, what is it?
And with that he tells her... of course she has to write it down in her wristcom, spelling each letter for every zone inhabitant to hear years of procedures compliance training went forgotten. No, more like crushed, broken and smashed by this ten mile tall young woman.
Oh, it looks Rachel is out in private - Kate concludes his great confession - Maybe she appears on later... Hey, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?
Crawford stands up, mutes the microphone and speaks: Entertain her. Just don't tell her too much, that is an order. - if only Gary could understand what it means exactly... but the old man is already on his way out, apparently anxious to discuss more important things than Kate's entertainment.
Chapter End Notes:
Whoa.. it seems I underestimated Gary's survival skills there – but how long You think he can last, really – lets see, heads again... fine – at least to the next chapter he is in, but his luck is surely going to end quickly!
As for the perspectives, I hate the mothers POVs since they know too much – if you know what I mean... But at least we can have a bit more insight into what was happening, since Kate is surely going to speak with her any time now – that is unless Gary dies while entertaining her or something like that. I wasn't even trying to expand his story, since he is simply expendable.
Also – I hope the play description is inspiring enough to avoid the littles POV, it would feel a bit redundant...
When it comes to Gary's big stunt – do his motives seem believable? I mean, eventually he realizes that what he did must have been stupid, but it felt possible to me that at the time he might have been desperate to do.. something - anything. Not to mention that with caretaker experience, he could clearly see how wrong was everything that was happening. Please let me know if any thoughts or suggestions.
As for the Kate's behavior and even speech style – I hope I am not making her seem to silly or infantile – I mean, you have to imagine it looks much differently from her perspective, not to mention where could she “mature” during the young caretakers simplistic lives and of course, when “judged” by 300+ year olds.. I can barely imagine what such people would even think of her – I felt Adam in his late thirties should already be confused and somewhat worried by her behariour... I don't know – too much? (comments = welcome)
Either way – what will happen in the next four chapters (3+interlude bundle) ? Well, I don't know, lets flip... Oh, okay....
But as always – let me know what you think!
As for the perspectives, I hate the mothers POVs since they know too much – if you know what I mean... But at least we can have a bit more insight into what was happening, since Kate is surely going to speak with her any time now – that is unless Gary dies while entertaining her or something like that. I wasn't even trying to expand his story, since he is simply expendable.
Also – I hope the play description is inspiring enough to avoid the littles POV, it would feel a bit redundant...
When it comes to Gary's big stunt – do his motives seem believable? I mean, eventually he realizes that what he did must have been stupid, but it felt possible to me that at the time he might have been desperate to do.. something - anything. Not to mention that with caretaker experience, he could clearly see how wrong was everything that was happening. Please let me know if any thoughts or suggestions.
As for the Kate's behavior and even speech style – I hope I am not making her seem to silly or infantile – I mean, you have to imagine it looks much differently from her perspective, not to mention where could she “mature” during the young caretakers simplistic lives and of course, when “judged” by 300+ year olds.. I can barely imagine what such people would even think of her – I felt Adam in his late thirties should already be confused and somewhat worried by her behariour... I don't know – too much? (comments = welcome)
Either way – what will happen in the next four chapters (3+interlude bundle) ? Well, I don't know, lets flip... Oh, okay....
But as always – let me know what you think!