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Author's Chapter Notes:
I struggled with publishing this as a single very, very, veeery long chapter, but what finally made my mind was the fact that it is basically a set of three separate mini-stories that take place along the events of the chapters 2-4 – but can safely be ignored or postponed if any of You are tired of long descriptions. But if they are read together – instead of one every couple of days or so – then I think the contrast between them produces effects that I was aiming for. And, of course, I feel that the stories help to understand what is happening in the broader world – as some examples of what tinies are experiencing in several places. I also think that this is the best time to read them – as they prepare some general emotional and descriptive background for the next ten chapters (well, actually 6-14 plus 16th). If anybody feels that it would be nice to split this into three separate chapters – with only a single part each, please let me know (but I would have to update the future chapter dependencies matrices – since their numbers would change, You just have no idea how tedious...). You can always trickle it one part at a time or what have you.

Additionally – instead of writing a separate “meta” chapter (also tedious rearranging), I decided to put it in end notes here – so even if You feel like skipping/deferring this chapter, I think You should still read the “general story notes” at the very bottom. I tried not to spoil much of this chapter contents – but ideally it should be read after it – and before the following ones (as the order suggests).

And should You have enough time and will to read this chapter, just a quick warning: if You think the 3rd one was already a bit much for an X-rated story, then You may want to skip the second part. I am serious. No - really, don't read it - it is crazy. The rest, however, should be fine.








Part I – Designing a giantess friendly environment.

Adam Ferdam is a joke. Or at least his entire life was so far. Even his parents figured that out before he was even born – and gave him a name that would rime with his last name. A small detail – but it seems everybody he introduces himself to notices that, “Oh, what an almost rhyming name” - he gets that a lot. And it seems to make everybody taking him less seriously, including himself.

Even though he was getting 9+ rates, he only finished his school by the age of 21 – the average was about 17. He always preferred to have some fun instead of studying and since there was no upper age for it... Well, many people did have lots of fun in their teens – but the school was also fun, and really easy – so You did not need to worry about much. Hence the average was usually low. But for him finishing school meant having to become more serious. Some college? The University? His parents of course wanted him to get to the latter – and with his attitude tests scores he would have little problem getting in. But then he would have to actually do something...

That's why he is “studying” architecture in local city college. Apparently his parents have great sense of humor – and for a couple years they simply thought it was a practical joke. What difference does it make what you do with a couple of years if you have a perspective of eternity. They recounted how they used to rebel in their thirties or forties – just around the Second Reorganization, when everybody had reasons to rebel. Well, his father did rebel then, at least – mother is, as she likes to put it “ancient” and her early years were quite different...

Either way, when they started complaining about it, he asked them if they mind paying his taxes – and of course they answered no, it is not a problem and that he can take his time – but in the same sentence complained how they wanted him to do something with his life. Adam simply preferred to listen to the former.

After 37 years of living more or less with them, he is tired – he has no idea how they managed to stay together for almost 60 now... was it because they were both equally annoying? He wondered sometimes.. if his mother was over hundred seventy when she met and liked her father of barely eighty.. was she a cougar? Doesn't matter. Their relationship is, as almost all of them, unofficial – only joined by.. well, living, working, traveling, paying taxes, sleeping together and – probably most importantly for Adam – raising him. But they could go away from each other any moment they wanted – which would create some problems for him... But he assumes he is good for another 40 years or so.

And in another two or three more years he will get his college certificate.. but he doubted he would be able to make enough on his own to pay his taxes. Architects weren't exactly wanted nowadays. Like her mother mocks him... “But isn't everything built already?” Well, she has a point – but surely someday people must.. change their construction taste or something.

So he is biding his time and tries to extend his education for as long as he can. It is not easy, unfortunately. The college bureaucracy is unbearable – in order to get two weeks of free time, he had to keep sending requests to teachers, group leaders, units and various less known organizational entities for almost a month. Apparently nobody thought of a unified system to defer one's studies and tests. Everybody prefers to attend them in a timely manner. Time is money, after all. But now it wasn't his money – and mom and dad, annoying as they were – surely aren't poor, both employed in the Security Works. Thats why they wanted him to do something meaningful... Maybe someday.

So he enjoys his private holiday in their part-time owned countryside house. Well, technically apartment – but since the other one was currently empty, he was enjoying the quiet isolation. He even managed to borrow his parents skycar... took much longer than a month to arrange that one. They were always seemed worried that he would take every risk possible while driving it - even now they only agreed to borrow it when he agreed to only use autopilot. Sure.. for take off and landing, perhaps – but everything else.. as long as he keeps away from large buildings and avoids sudden turns, they had no way of checking if he is using auto or not.

They were nagging him ever since he wanted to have some real fun and turned off his engine mid flight. “How could You risk something like that?” “Aren't you worried about yourself?” “You know meds wouldn't pick you up!” - were the arguments they used, but come on, every skycar had backup systems, not to mention it would enable auto if he fallen low enough. It was deep in the farmland anyway, so except some fines there would not be any problems.. almost all farm machinery was automated nowadays, creating no human risk.

He even pointed that he was equipped with a parachute - “But.. how could you even think about using that thing!”, mom was especially worried about his safety – since she learned to appreciate the longevity over time. But it was so hard to get some real thrill nowadays as everything was tightly controlled and even simulated experiences were no fun when your brain got used to the idea that you respawn when dead. Was he thinking he would also respawn outside VR? Nah.. that thought was silly...

Besides, who cares now.. just relax, enjoy his nine more days of peace... maybe even he could get out to try this new countryside market they opened a couple hundred kilometers away – apparently it had real, fresh and actually farmed fruits and vegetables, identical taste with the originals... His friends said it was pretty fun. Which in their vocabulary meant only worthy if you are bored at 8 or more on the scale of 1 to 10. What couldn't genetic creations accomplish nowadays...

He would rate his boredom at 10, but no, fruits do not interest him. He needs something.. more exciting. So instead, he just lays on the balcony in the early afternoon sun.

“What the heck?”, he spots something very large in the distance, “Who would put some balloons in the shape of...”, but.. the figure seems to be moving, just barely breathing and looking around is noticeable. Wait, breathing? It must be some illusion... Adam instinctively tries to use his shortcuts to enter the VR menu, but.. his fingers do not hold the controller – and this is the real life.

He keeps looking at the phenomenon – was it some ad now? It would be unusual to put it in the probably the most remote point of the entire zone – nothing but farmland and towns with maintenance engineers and visitors like him. On the other hand it should be visible from the entire state – but.. who could manage to set up something that huge so fast, seemingly in a blink of an eye. Especially that it seems like a girl – but it is impossible to estimate its size lacking any point of reference.. at least a couple kilometers judging by the distance. Lets see.. whitish outfit, some sort of sneakers with orange “C” on the side. Her trousers also have C on the outer sides, same with a sort of.. shirt? Who wears those.. or who would advertise them? The outfit is basically asexual, but he can clearly see it has a female figure, dark eyes, black neck-long hair, decent tits. One thing that does not make sense is that she seems to be a bit... chubby? When was the last time he used that word? Where does he even learn it? Not much, but.. to advertise with a non-ideally-slim figure? Either way, he figures that this C must be the key to all this. Trying several searches on his com, he finds no product that would match – maybe they will be launching it shortly as...

It moves... She moves... How could anything move that fast? Was it some hallucination of his? Perhaps they perfected holograms as he hears no sounds of her walking...

But he can feel them shortly – every step is followed by a small quake after 5 or 6 seconds.. small, at this distance. Adam notices how she walks very carefully, putting down her feet softly, carefully surveying the ground almost as if she was afraid of... No, wait – he must be hallucinating, right?

“Let's see the news feed”, he thinks while putting on his omni.

“... still unable to believe what we are seeing. It appears she is nearing the 87/13 crossing town. Ladies and... “, he removes it, since he has better view from his balcony than the reporter... wait... “Map destination 87/13 sky”, his com opens the suggested air traffic paths – direct approach 71 kilometers. But even as she is crouching now, he can see her as if she was just...

Wait, does she.. speak? Is she speaking now? It looks almost as if she is actually talking while looking down at the ground – the town, probably. But he cannot hear her due to the distance, he figures. He puts back his omni, searching for a news feed closer to her just as he can hear noise, just like.. thundering footfalls, he realizes. It takes over two minutes for the sound to reach him, which means.. if he waits a bit, then her voice should also reach him. But how is this even.. 70 kilometers to 87/13, she looks more like 10 kilometers tall – maybe even more. From here, he can clearly see her side, the C's on the shirt, the smooth simple hair, the side of one shoe, her arm gesticulating softly – his eyes keep jumping up and down, left to right.

If it wasn't for the local town houses getting smaller further into the distance, he could swear he was standing – no, laying down - on the ground and she was crouching only several meters from him. Suddenly he can hear a loud, but soft, like.. girlish, happy – but perhaps also concerned, young voice:

“Hi, I'm Kate, nice to meet you. I don't want to hurt you guys, so just be careful and don't...” It is so surreal to see her talk and sound to reach you only after some time. And she does not want to hurt us? Suddenly the weight of the situation hits him.. if she was really... She is so huge that she can easily crush the entire town flat with.. a single step? Or clap of her hand? She could reach him in.. several seconds?

But “she does not want to hurt us”. He never felt so excited and anxious in his life. He tries to pay attention to what she is saying again and it seems that she continues to talk how she would like them to vacate the area around her – but she is crouching in the middle of nowhere! As long as she does not crush the town it does not matter where... Oh no, she can't see it. She must be aware that people are too small for her to notice and she is afraid to crush somebody.. She really does not want to hurt us.

One more thing Adam notices, is that even though she is asking for various things – well, at times they seem more like orders – she never stops to wait for any answers or even confirmation, just carries on. That is not the usual way to speak, but since she probably cannot hear the people anyway...

But then she begins repeating herself, asking to be careful and that she means no harm, and how we do not need to worry... What is happening out there that she is so troubled...

Lets see... news feeds will probably all transmit her omni, without any other information. Heads! Nothing seems interesting – crazy talk for the end of the world, unpopular since things settled down after the Failure. Lots of “You will not believe what is happening” and such. Hmm.. “Caretaker appears in south-west state, communication and transport restoration imminent?” - a caretaker? He learned in some history classes on uTopia about them.. weren't they the engineers and specialists left outside the chambers to make sure the facility functions correctly? But a couple decades after the Failure everybody assumed they must be... she looks all but dead. In fact, she seems more worried about them than about herself. Babbling about their safety and everything... She did not seem very mature to be a caretaker... and why on earth would one of them ever enter the zone full sized? Well, the Failure must have broken the communications really badly – and now, after almost a hundred years, they must be trying to fix it. Maybe she is not that young, just meds were more advanced out there? The ones they had were able to keep people's natural look within the range of early thirties – so he already looked roughly as old as everybody else. Anybody younger was considered immature, kids... His parents did not have problems with calling him a kid or a boy even up until 26 – and it only changed when they found him with some girl in bed... They even made fun of him calling him a “man” since then.. for 6 years...

But no.. she does not seem to be on the mix yet, unless they solved all of its slight side effects – and at this size he was pretty sure she looked very young. 20? Maybe 19.. a sweet age, just around the time when you mature and really become fully adult. Physically at least. And she definitely looked like an adult - but why no makeup at all? Or incredibly well concealed. But a woman would at least put some lipstick and eyeshade.. even a professional at work. If she was his size, he might consider her somewhat interesting, especially given the unusual raw look. But he would no longer consider such age sexy. Attractive – yes, appealing – perhaps, but after he reached mid thirties, kids were right out – it was fun, but after sex you could barely have a conversation. Not to mention they always seemed to want gifts and such... If they can't work yet – like him – don't they have parents?

And at this size she seemed just... overpowering. Like, a commercial skyscraper cluster, but no.. she was so much bigger. If she laid down.. – but even then hardly anything would be comparable to her... Cities are very condensed, rarely upto 4 kilometers in diameter. Reservoir lakes perhaps? They are some 8 kilometers across if he recalls correctly – she could barely bathe in the largest ones.

Right then, Adam makes a decision. He gets to the skycar and is going to fly to her to see her up close – if the sight was thrilling from this far, then how it must feel from the 87/13. And if she changed her mind about hurting them, there was nothing that could stop her from doing that – and even then, it would be easier to run away in the air.

He starts an engine and leaves the roof ignoring traffic rules but simply rolling towards her. When high enough, he kicks off the other one and speeds up to maximum. It will still take a good 8 minutes... she carefully walked a seemingly longer distance in less than two... Maybe it was a bad idea to approach her?

He turned the news feed – they were reporting of the newest developments, a lot of accidents around the zone – everybody seemed to focus all their attention on the new landmark. There was a mention that many religious cults saw this as a sign to transcend, others were simply too scared and simply passed their life to somebody else. There was a report from Zonin – the state on the other side of the zone - even crouching down she was easily visible on the horizon.. although significantly hazed by the atmosphere. “That must be a sight as well..” Adam thinks – at his current distance of 50 kilometers he can see her perfectly clearly in the usual dry southwestern summer air.

The strangest thing is that even that Adam is flying towards her – at the skycar's maximum altitude of three kilometers, even below her kneecaps – the illusion makes her looming monumental form seem even bigger and further away. His brain simply cannot properly process human form at this scale. Soon he is unable to perceive her as a person, being only able to notice specific parts of her body as if separate, enormous objects – her hands carefully lowering onto the ground between her legs, which in turn seem like humongous towers built at an angle – her bosom is already obscured by her legs, as she is still crouching – but her concerned, pretty face impends from the sky.

His attention is brought to navigator's warning lights – which he quickly finds alarm of coming close to a restricted airspace – usually established only around centers of the cities and important places, like water reservoirs or major transportation hubs. He contacts the regional controller, only to hear an automated voice of the Security Service system, warning him that he is dangerously close to the restricted space and needs to turn away immediately – have they arrived at the scene so fast to take control of the civilian traffic as well? He requests a contact with a human – knowing enough about flying around SS facilities that the request blocks any automated actions and it will probably take enough time for him to land, tour the place while taking in the sights and fly away before they contact...

“Flyer 9361/Z/73/AD, you are nearing the restricted area, what is your imperative, over.” - he can hear a female voice, with tone screaming of decades experience in SS – and only seconds after his request.

“Um”, surprised and trying to figure out how to reply, “I was... asked to pick up some friends in the town... I heard about the evacuation... over?” - he bluffs and is unsure how to interpret the silence on the other side. If he turned back now, it would invalidate his story, so just holds on to his controls bracing for how they react.

“9361/Z/73/AD, your access is confirmed” Adam hears the operator say and disconnect without even asking for confirmation. Damn, they must be running amok out there – SS was known to be the most bloated and bureaucratic institution in all the states – the fact that it seems to be the one remaining federal agency is probably the main reason for it.

He is shocked to see how all restrictions markings vanish from his navigator overlay, he expected them to grant him 87/13 approach vector, but it seems they simply allowed him to freely roam around! He wonders if he could fly closer to the... But no – they would probably react to that as quickly as to his request. Still he is only barely able to stop himself from changing course to approach the shapely calfs...

If she was immense before, at eight kilometers away the sight could barely fit into the skycar's limited field of view. Adam wonders if he should use his omni to transmit front cameras broader view, but gazing at the with his eyes seemed so much more real and thrilling... he is also certain that if he saw this view in the binocles, he would simply assume it must be some sort of visualization, just like he felt watching the reporter's feed at the appartment.

And the town was even closer to her – maybe three kilometers away from her sneakers, each of them was easily wider than the entire town – but her face, he still perceived it as a separate entity, leaned towards it much more forward from high above. She was just explaining how she would like them to prepare some means of communication, like “colorful objects”? It sounded a bit.. childish... He wonders if anybody is actually still left down there – the SS seemed to act so quickly, that they might have taken steps to evacuate everybody already. He did not think about it when he bluffed – but they bought it, so he assumes he is good for now.

As he descends somewhat erratically – landing on manual control was never his thing – he loses the sight of her face and then even the enormous legs in front of him. He chooses not to look into the left window, since any distractions right now might be bad – and auto would turn the skycar inside out, unable to figure out any sense out of the surroundings. The image recognition algorithms probably were not exactly used to analyzing a sight of ten kilometer tall girl... Or bigger – was she even bigger? Before her view moved to his side, he could think she could be dozens of kilometers high.. but that was impossible since the zone's roof are less than fifty kilometers above the ground and she wasn't reaching it, even while standing up.

He will need to check the heads to see if anybody figured her size already – people always seemed ingenious to figure out everything about any event that was happening around. But right now.. the landing... Damn, autos should do that, balancing the skycar in horizontal position while slowing down both forward motion and descent required paying attention to nine different readings and visualizations, a good handling of the reduced-feedback controls and most importantly – a lot of experience with flying acrobatics. Usually if he wanted to land manually, he would first slow down to almost zero and then descend – while maneuvering his exact heading. But right now, he just wanted to get out of the skycar and see.. her in full size.

Would the systems save him if he did something wrong – he wonders. His altitude was already too low for auto or safeties to react properly, and the only thing he has is the parachute.. he heard that they have a minimum height required to open, is he already below it? “I can do this” he thinks and continues descending towards a seemingly large enough square at the side of the town.

The touchdown is a bit rough – he was a bit too excited to properly decelerate – but everything looks okay, so he leaves the skycar and... “Oh god, this is just...” he thinks...

Overwhelming.

The reference to “his god” was just something he got used to when dating a girl a couple decades back – a catholic cultist, apparently, with an annoying habit of pushing her “God” into every situation it could fit. “Oh my God” “Thank God” “Good God”... but when they left each other, it seemed like in the most difficult situations he could recall one of her sayings. “Oh god” always reminded him of her screams during sexual fun they had together.. and lots of.

But now the dark brown eyes are so far up in the sky, and yet they are still so big, that the illusion is she is looking directly at him, even though they are probably fixed on the town in general. All the while talking about.. things. But he ignores the thunderlike voice – which is coming from her barely parted lips, as if she was talking carefully. Naturally beautiful lips, he thinks.

For at least several minutes Adam can only gawk upwards, completely shocked.

When finally able to collect himself, he is surprised to realize that now the voice seems in sync with the lips – he was already used to them being like two separate concepts. It is strange that it takes them only a fraction of a second to reach him from several kilometers above – while maybe ten or twenty times further away it took minutes. But Adam adds it to the list as another strange thing about her as he tries to view her as single entity – incredibly, amazingly, astonishedly, unbelievably, incomprehensibly humongous being.

Eventually, he again starts to listen to the voi.. to her talking, but nothing changed since she crouched down – all the same kind of chatter she filled the air with for almost half an hour now. While he is trying to figure out what it can possibly mean – a figure approaches him. Preparing to explain his reasons for being here – as obviously he has been standing on the square for a good ten minutes now, Adam is asked with the man almost shouting into his ear:

“Are you doing anything important here?”

“Well, I wasn't really.. I just wanted to...”

“Then come with me” - he is baffled by the request. He was expecting the person to send him away, or at least demand an explanation...

“But.. where? What for?” - he asks trying to catch up with the man, who simply turned around and is now walking back to wherever he came from.

“You seen her?” - the man asks rhetorically, pointing upwards – in the direction of the woman - “She asked us to try and contact her and we're doing just that.”

“But wait.. how...”

“That's just what we're trying to figure out now.”

“And who are we?”

The man stops and turns towards him - “Jack Hendricks, mayor of the place until an hour ago has been unknown to everyone – and three others.”

As they go to their destination – which turns out to be the city management building – Adam learns that most of the people drove away before anyone could figure out what is going on and when she asked them to communicate there was only the mayor, two maintenance folks and one tourist left – all of them have simply assumed, that if she wanted to, as she put it, “hurt them” – even despite what she was saying – the distance from her simply would not matter.

And they were left with an impossible task – how to communicate with somebody, whose tips of shoes easily reach the highest skyscrapers.

They had a good view of her from the street in front of the building, where they tried to discuss the possibilities. Adam learned they have tried contacting SS, but getting even a word of information from them was like purchasing land... simply not happening. The city was also mostly deaf – they only told them to do whatever she wanted. Like they could actually defy her... So now they are five people – and doing exactly what she suggested was no use, obviously. Even if they reprogrammed the farming vehicles to form letters of some kind – as they haven't figured out what to even say, it would still take hours for them to move into position – and she was constantly watching the city, so how would she even notice the message...

All the time they discussed, Adam tried to glance over her – noticing the subtle movements of her body. Breathing, casual shift of weight, supporting herself with a hand... Even the most mundane action was magnified to the boundaries of his comprehension.

Since the sun was already slowly setting down, they figured they can try to contact her by setting up the city lights to form words. They quickly found that SS has apparently already taken over the control over public controls – streets and the park illumination will all be dark. They are left with manually going door to door and switching each buildings central switches. They will be lucky if the Service does not bring the power down – but they could not do anything else.

Adam suggested at some point that they could use his skycar to get out of there.

“Why, like she seems dangerous at all?” - the tourist replied, causing uneasy smiles. It was true – even though they did not have to scream anymore to overcome her voice even next to each other – she was still occasionally reassuring them of her intentions not including hurting them or destroying anything. But dangerous... an automated truck train was dangerous since it may not stop if you walk onto its path – the image recognition patterns again... And it seemed like she was infinitely bigger than anything they ever had come into contact with...

When it comes to her reassurances, it was strange what kind of words she was using – why didn't she just say that she cares for them, or – even better – what she intends to do after they are able to communicate back with her. And why on earth would they assume she would immediately hurt them – sure, fear was the first emotion when anybody saw her, but how many times did she think it was necessary to repeat the same words to make them understand, they had nothing to worry. Well, at least not intentionally – one of the maintenance guys noted at some point... On the other hand maybe she assumed that the civilization was destroyed and they might not understand her? It did not make sense – she may not be able to see individual people, but clearly the town was civilized – and many cities may have been some distance away, but still big enough for her to notice. They did not know what to think about problems like that.

Either way – since they only had three sets of electrical tools – and quite frankly, both Adam and Dick – the tourist – had no idea about how to use them anyway, they were left with a couple hours before dusk, while the mayor and the maintenance guys were going door to door – often breaking in – and opening circuit boxes, reconfiguring them to allow quick switching and then moving to each room with any windows to turn on the lights.

The two suggested they could help with the last part, but heard it was a quick task and the mayor wanted to make sure it was done right. Yes, obviously any outsiders cannot do the job correctly... But Adam did not mind – this time he has some time to observe her, sharing his thoughts with Dick.

At times it seems just as if she is also observing them – but the entire town is empty.. Is she able to see them? Maybe as the tiniest dots on the ground? Nothing else was moving so perhaps... They surely were able to see her. Even the tiniest details of her her clothes and all exposed skin. There were realizing so many strange little facts – like why her hair was rather ragged, as if she did not bother about her haircuts at all. It was nice, naturally healthy and smooth – but it was obvious it received hardly any care at all. Same with many other parts of her body – uneven and plain fingernails, unpreserved skin, even no jewelry at all. She seemed clean and healthy – so perhaps at least meds were working on the outside.

They also talked a bit about each other. Dick asked how did the SS let him through – and he just answered he got creative in explaining his reasons to be here. Adam learned Dick was sort of a researcher for InterMedCare – one of the bigger cosmetics and medical supplements provider in the states, hence his knowledge on the matter while evaluating Kate – as they started to call her. Although it still seemed a bit strange to call the visitor by her first name, especially that she did not know them at all. Probably wasn't even aware of their individual existences.

They both almost jumped out of their skin, when they noticed her enormous hand reach forward. Adam wasn't really scared – it all happened too fast to even think about anything. They watched as her enormous finger patted the city park seemingly softly – but still breaking many trees and lampposts, as they could hear. “What is she...” - was his only thought when her hand was already receding.

“Nice plants you have there” - they heard. Well, mostly “had” – they realized when they looked towards the park. It's particularly interesting how she managed not to damage any surrounding buildings though.. the park was rectangular, maybe forty meters wide and a bit more long – she only used the very tip of her forefinger. As if to just barely feel the touch of the “plants” - and not touch anything else. Has she got experience in dealing with tiny things? It seemed to give them some hope – maybe she actually knew what she was doing.

Adam still can clearly recall her hand high above an in front of them, with the arm stretching into infinity. It completely shadowed them – even given only her single finger was pointing forwards and actually obstructing sunlight... Dick admitted a bit later that at first sight of it, he wanted to hide somewhere - anywhere, but just absolutely nothing seemed appropriate...

But they are now running around the town switching lights on and off according to the plans they received on their coms. The town is small, but several rows of houses seem to be just enough to “write” a single word or so. He remembers hearing what they need to display first - “spare us”... which did not make any sense – “Hasn't Kate just spent last four hours on repeating that she is not going to hurt us?” he asked – but the mayor replied these were orders straight from the city. Oh, so they finally managed to tell us something – how nice of them. SS seemed still mute – but they will probably do something in a couple of days, Adam thought. They were also confused that Adam used her name – they were always referring to her simply as “visitor” or “her”. Sometimes “caretaker” - but they were unsure if she was one of them. But why would she introduce herself if they weren't meant to use it?

Adam is slowly beginning to think of her as sort of concerned young woman who maybe was given a task to establish basics of communication with them. Maybe others were preparing to come to bring tools and fix everything, just wanted to make sure the people are ready to receive them? Even making sure they have enough space to move around, or even stand was important – but how could they be sure about it before appearing here – however it happened anyway. If she happened to appear in... or rather on a city... He can only shudder at this thought.

At first, it took them forever to set up the letters right. They were far away from properly displaying the message, but at some point she must have figured out what they wanted to say and exploded in reassurances again. Adam had to cover his ears, as she apparently used her normal voice when suddenly became anxious. Was she normally this loud? The “quiet” one she used earlier still reached the ground louder than anything he has ever heard, outside games and simulated experiences – and her head was kilometers above them... When she was surprised by the message, it seemed her voice was reverberating through his entire body. He could clearly hear her even trying to cover his ears – the words seemed to be coming from all directions. When she finished after maybe fifteen minutes, his ears still rung. “We surprise her one more time and I will go deaf”, Adam thought...

She seemed content when they shut down the lights and hid the message – and started asking them basic questions about how they were organized, who was their leader and such – but it took over five hours to answer just several of them. Eventually she figured to only ask yes/no questions and they could answer them by simply switching several lights in a cluster of houses off or on – depending on whether they needed to change the answer. He did not think about it – she may be young, but she also seemed pretty clever.

One question she asked they did not know the answer to – whether they are working on selecting a “governor” - and were unsure how to proceed, but after they did not change anything, she just laughed softly noticing they haven't blinked and said “Oh, you don't know? Does not matter.” and continued with a next question. It was also surprising how she simply overrode their political system of elected comities cooperating across all the states by asking for “a single governor for her to talk to”. A complex system of rules, voting systems, relations between various organizations across all the states created across several decades made obsolete by a young girl – as he learned later the authorities actually started working on it immediately after she requested it. They heard everything she said – although at a distance. Well, in this case they probably had to wait an hour or so for her voice to reach the city, unless they tapped into some local mike. But she was careless about such “demand” - should he call it that? It seemed actually reasonable.. it would have taken her several years to understand the interconnected economical and political system they had here. And many things would certainly surprise – if not shock – her. He remembers trying to understand the scale of the changes that took place after the Failure, but it was still baffling him how they managed to get all that done so quickly and mostly peacefully... But maybe she was right. It was just the way how she carelessly added “it does not matter”...

So while running around the four houses he was supposed to switch lights in, Adam is beginning to like her. It seems like a strange feeling, but Kate obviously cares about them – and wants to learn details about their organization here. He is not attracted to her, he does not think so – after all, given her size he is not sure if he could think about Kate sexually even if she were naked...

No, he is her tiny one-side friend. One that she can only perceive effects of mush effort of – and even then, only barely.

Sometime before the dawn, three SS skyjets arrive – even despite her specific request not to approach her with “airships” - was anybody actually using that word after nineteenth century? Or was it twentieth? The SS guys take control of the situation – continuing to answer questions, which – without explaining anything or even saying much, so he is left merely with an opportunity to observe a barely lit monumental form of hers and listen to her subsequent questions. At least she is no longer babbling about “not going to hurt you, I promise, I don't want to you to be worried, (...)”. Funny how she usually worded it – for instance not “you don't have to be worried” for instance, but rather “I don't want you to...”. Maybe the organization outside has became more authoritative than theirs?

But he just laid there, in a middle of an empty town and basked in the impossible.

When the next day came, they no longer could communicate with her this way – but it seemed SS actually started doing something about this situation, as many heavy vehicles arrived. Carrying a lot of equipment and materials. Nothing seemed like weapons – at least they weren't crazy enough to attempt that. He wondered if she could even feel any attack they could muster. Most of it looked like prefabricated materials to make what she called “a headphone” so she could “hear them”.

It was funny how they never cared about who he was or what he was doing there – and they even offered him the rations. The regular ones, probably most common in the Service – somewhat flavorless, but surely better than nothing. Since SS carefully secured the area, he had to stay far away from the construction sites outside the city and it did not seem so dangerous when she reached for some products sometime later in the day.

It was kind of amusing to watch the result of work of hundreds hardened officers and engineers apart at her touch. Kate began to apologize immediately – but judging by the lump of broken and crushed metals that fell from her hands it was the constructors that did not appreciate her strength.

And so we were again – for the next quarter hour or so – bathed in her soft voice explaining how she must have held it too tightly and that she did not think it would happen and so on... When Adam closed his eyes, it actually felt kind of relaxing – to have a seemingly all-powerful being care for them. Maybe some of those cultists were right, after all? Maybe there was a God out there – it seemed like right here, right now – Kate was their Goddess. Or at least an angel. He eventually fell asleep on a roadside bench, basked in her love and caring.

He is woken up by a strong quake. He looks around panicked and realizes Kate must have sat down just now, since the outline of her head is further away. Much later he learned that once they got a working speaker system to talk to her, they answered her that the area underneath her is empty and she can sit down. It is already dark now, but he can see some buildings in ruins – or falling apart. The quake threw him off the bench, so no wonder the buildings also took some damage. After composing himself, he notices large amount of commotion around him. It seems that the Service already took some of the buildings for whatever use they needed them – and now many of officers are wounded or dead in the ruins. It feels sad – he is sure that all she wanted to do was sit back. It must have been irritating for her to stay in the same position for such a long time. He gets up and tries to help with rescue efforts that are in progress. He can hear Kate saying “Oh, sorry” - obviously she must have realized the fires and wanted to apologize.

What surprises him is that only after a minute or so, she resumes any conversation she might have. At first it makes him angry – how could she just ignore them, couldn't she help them? But then he realizes the sad position she is in... even if she wanted to help, they were simply too small for her to do anything. Her smallest finger would have crushed the remains completely instead of saving the wounded... No wonder she wanted to take her mind off what happened. But why would the SS officers even enter any houses? Were they setting up something? He never found out what really happened here.

They quickly manage to recover most of the wounded and dead – and soon there are hundreds of bodies laying on the streets. Thankfully they all had locators to aid in the search and they brought some equipment from the construction sites that managed to save some trapped in a timely manner. He realizes that is he had entered any of those homes – he would be probably dead or forgotten, trapped until death. The entire town was almost destroyed. By the simple act of her sitting down – he was certain that Kate did not mean that, but... He remembers the quakes of her careful footsteps back in his apartment. And now her entire body sliding backwards to hit the ground – and so much closer. Was this how the people felt in the town upon her footfalls? Was this the reason they all ran away? Was this what they were afraid of?

He tries to listen to what Kate is saying to clear his mind. It seems they are finally able to talk with her more efficiently. Unfortunately this means that he is no longer sure what they are discussing. Sometimes she is speaking using longer sentences, but usually it is just yes or no – like they used to, only this now it was their questions. Whoever is asking them, at least. And even then, after this recent tragedy, it is nice to listen to her – sometimes almost confounded by a question, but usually just carefully listening to what they say and replying briefly.

While he is walking around thinking to do now, somebody from the Service finally approaches him – it is pretty obvious he is an outsider, no uniform and just wandering around. She questions him what he is doing here and why hasn't he been evacuated. He answers truthfully – even about the part where he lied to that airspace operator. The earthquake and its results traumatized him so much.

“But why haven't you left with the remaining three men?”

“I wasn't even” - he is interrupted by Kate saying “I don't know” - as if supporting him with what he was saying - ”I didn't even know they were leaving...”

“Figures, it was chaos around here back then.” The officer - he later learned her name was Mary, ponders for a moment - “Do you want to leave now?”

After what happened to him in the last two days, he is simply lost and unsure what to do, so he answers – again truthfully - “I don't know.”

“Look, we are trying to get anyone around here to work for us. But people are in the surrounding towns are mostly terrified – or already fled. And with the recent events around the states, the Service is stretched thin. But if you want to leave, we will try to organize a transport for you to...”

“I can help” - Adam answers without thinking.

“Good, follow me.”

Once again, he is recruited to serve Kate – he does not know where this will lead him, but he isn't afraid – not of her, anyway.

Kate left shortly after dawn. But was back with them on the next day – and the “conversations” resumed.

Days move slowly, at first he was helping with some physical labor – but then they realize that he has some architectural training and they can use somebody like him on the site. He tries to help – there were a lot of people trying to come up with designs and constructs to deal with this new problem, but without understanding of the situation, it does not help much.

He takes part in a omniconference where various engineers are discussing how to avoid what happened in the town. Specialists that are sitting hundreds of kilometers away, are suggesting ideas like digging steel-reinforced bunkers that could protect against quakes and even possibly direct impact – as if she was some kind of a weapon.. - others saying we could reinforce some of the existing buildings or proposing construction of high towers that would amortize the shocks. When he is finally asked what he thinks about these ideas – he simply says:

“I think that... Anything that we do is meaningless if Kate” – which confuses them, just like everyone who hears him calling her by the first name.. - “does not know where all the people are. If she moves near them, they may die – either from the shock, falling buildings or other effects...” He pauses for a moment when he realizes people's scared expressions, but continues: “I think we can only make sure the is aware where they are and hope she is careful enough not to cause their deaths“ - he does not want to say “kill” them - “like bright colored uniforms and tents, maybe some heavily lit towers to indicate smaller settlements nearby...”

A long silence comes next, after which they continue suggesting another “smart” ideas – but eventually agree to recommend things he suggested plus several of their own, which he still thinks will not help at all.

He still likes to watch and listen to Kate, although she no longer talks to them – only discusses various things using the headphone and deprived of the context, he is rarely able to figure out what she means. She seems less childish now – perhaps it was that she no longer was so anxious about everything. Or perhaps the earthquake that almost killed him changed his perception of her. Not that he is afraid – he still trusts she cares about them, it's just that... how can you protect somebody you cannot see?

The authorities released very little information about what they found out during their interviews – and simple “yes”, “no”, “about eleven” or “eighteen” he could hear from Kate did not explain much... Although the last part was shortly preceded by her asking the new “governor” about his age – Adam did not even know who he was – but... If she really was eighteen years old, then it would confirm his worries about the girl's childish ways. Could they trust her? Or were they just a toy for her – which she is simply careful not to break?

But one day it all changes once again. Just as the sun is setting down, Kate is walking around her “spot” - a roughly thirty by fifty kilometers large area – give or take a couple – although she used miles to describe it. Are they still using the imperial unit system out there? From what he remembers from school, almost all zones used metric system – it simply did not make sense to mix them in such multinational environment. That is, before the Failure, of course – nobody knows how it is now, maybe they all turned to imperial units now?

But as Kate is walking around her spot, she obviously seems more anxious than usual – playing with her “wristcom” as she calls the device on her hand – it seems like somewhat larger and less functional version of their coms, but who knows what other functions it may have? And then suddenly – another girl appears. Completely without warning, he is shocked by this – they were used to Kate vanishing and appearing every day, but they have never seen another caretaker before. And yes, she confirmed that she is a caretaker and that there are others. But to know about their existence is one thing... to see two giantesses standing next to each other is something completely different. Especially that Adam has rarely seen Kate standing up, she usually sat down or even laid on her belly quickly after arrival – and sometimes changed her poses in the meanwhile, but generally only stood up shortly before leaving.

And the new girl is similarly clothed, has blond hair, slim build and – most importantly – is equally huge, give or take a couple hundred meters – since it is hard to compare their heights from this perspective. To see them both standing up brings the memories of the quakes and possible destruction, if they are not careful. Adam trusts Kate to do just that – but the other one? What happens next is simply beyond belief – the new girl's face turns joyful and she speaks something – but her voice will reach him only after a minute or so – and moves... simply walks beyond the spot Kate marked carefully digging lines with her fingers – and enter previously unharmed area. Kate never left her spot – after the first days she never walked anywhere – just sat or laid in there. And the new girl simply steps above where he is standing – if she put her feet about a kilometer to the left and a bit closer – he would have been flattened. The resulting quake is still very strong. She is not walking carefully like Kate – she just moves towards she has noticed somewhere. Which appears to be the city – Ankar, the city of their state – the closest to where she appeared.

When he stands up, he looks around – hopefully nobody should be hurt as they used his idea to use tents rather than place Service employees in some buildings. Unless she stepped on anybody – and he thinks it was already beyond the perimeter they set up around the Kate's spot. But what will happen next – the new woman did not seem to care about them at all, if she approaches the city in this manner, then...

Thankfully she slows down nearing it – maybe she just did not know they were here? He was already used to not being noticed by Kate – it makes sense the other girl simply missed them. Maybe it will be alright, after all – they just need to wait for Kate to explain...

His thoughts suddenly come to a halt as the new girl reaches into the city. Crouching down, it seems like.. she... is playfully... poking it? Even despite the distance, he can see a top of the highest skyscraper fall down – almost in slow motion, compared to vastly faster movements of the caretakers... He can see Kate following her – but she is still careful and moves more slowly – in the meanwhile the other girl reaches into the city again and... tries to pick up another building? But... Adam is shocked – what is she thinking? Are we like toys to her? He watches in horror as a part of a tall tower – broken off its base – rises from the ground to some height, before it is crushed between the giantess fingers... The huge blocks of concrete and steel will impact other buildings and... But even that is nothing compared to the girl can possibly do – he is unable to comprehend what is happening. Doesn't she know there are people in the city? And millions of them? Those buildings easily held a thousand of apartments each... with thousands of people – is she stupid to be so careless?

Fortunately before she is able to do any more damage, Kate reaches her and pulls her back – but one of her leg shoots forward and... the sneaker crashes into the city, bulldozing its side and sending huge boulders roaming across the entire zone! As Kate is trying to get the other girl up and draw her back to her spot – he can hear what the was said at the beginning: “Cute” - in a happy, girlish voice.

We were “cute”. Like some.. toys... Was it really all she had to say? No name, not even a greeting... Adam was unable to understand the consequences of this. As Kate drags her closer, he can hear how they seem to be... arguing? Like.. Kate was obviously angry at “Amber”, it seems the other is called. They are coming this way... and the sudden footfall thunders and quakes shock his very being. Miraculously they both miss him – it seems Kate steps carefully over the cliff of her spot, but the other, Amber... her foot crushes maybe a hundred meters from him. He can see an orange C letter symbolizing the “caretakers” looming like the moon high above the ground. He is sent flying backwards a dozen meters and fortunately lands inside a field... others are not that lucky – either colliding with some tower, falling on a vehicle, or... hundreds are probably crushed under the shoe.

It rises taking some bodies of his new comrades with a layer of soil – others are probably plastered deep into the ground. He still struggles to understand.. why... why? Why!

Bits and pieces of the conversation reach his consciousness: “know you should be careful” … “not mean it” … “how could you do” … “if you ever” - and he passes out from pain, shock and apparent loss of blood.

He awakens on the next day to find that his spine was broken on that tragic day. He learns that nobody has been told how many people died, but some local officers have estimated at least three hundred thousands by the aerial footage what remained from the city. Possibly up to half a million.

Half a million. HALF A MILLION PEOPLE! And nobody knows what happened – why did “Amber” do that. They all listened to the conversation that followed, but it was very simple and almost generic.. it seemed almost as if it wasn't the first time the giantesses were arguing like that. But that would mean... No, Adam has no idea what happens – just like everybody else. One thing was certain – they both vanished shortly and have not come back since then.

He is sure that Kate will come back and she will tell explain it all to them. She will tell them everything is going to be okay, that she fixed it and that we have nothing to worry about it in the future. That it was just a huge, tragic misunderstanding and that everybody is really sorry about what happened. Maybe the “Amber” did not know there were people in the city? It seemed.. strange, but... how else could she even do that... No, he does not need to worry about it, Kate will fix it. He is sure about this. But he needs to help her. He needs to help her make sure it never happens again. He keeps thinking while he lays on the heavy surgery medunit.

He thinks about all the possibilities. Perhaps they should mark the cities somehow? They seemed already huge and “hard to miss”.. except for the giantesses – everything seemed tiny compared to them. So what if they marked the ones with people inside... but that would mean every city! Maybe it happened because it was already late and the light was not so good and she was just thinking that something... Adam is unable to think what could have made her do that, but at least he knows how to solve the visibility problem – at least to a certain degree. But first, he needs to get a new com – his old one must have been lost in the field.

Explanations are problematic – nobody from the architects he remembers from the meeting seems to understand his idea... Eventually he was able to meet somebody who agrees to pass the idea upwards. Great – knowing SS it will take a couple days... but on the other hand they seem to be all working more efficiently since the Kate's first arrival. Especially where it matters... He will have to see.

The next day he figures it must have been noticed by somebody high up – as orders come to concentrate on setting up his “lighthouse” perimeter – to make sure the caretakers can see the borders of the spot. A somewhat hopeless, but possibly useful idea – as he starts to view it.

Only hours later most of the two hundred meter tall towers is already standing up and connected to a redundant underground energy grid. Even if it got broken in several places – most of the lights should still shine. As the night approaches, they are running the final network tests and most of the lights are on. He is somewhat proud that his idea was implemented so quickly, but already started to doubt it will help at all.

Suddenly Kate appears in her spot – and looks around the changed environment. It is still not completely night, so Adam can see the puzzled expression on her face, as she reaches for one of the headphones – probably to inquire about the meaning of this, but stops in her tracks, smiles and says:

“Hey guys, great idea with the lights. They will surely help!”

Adam feels exhilarated – his own idea, first noticed by the authorities – is now appreciated by Kate. And he helped her! He knew everything will be alright – now she only needs to explain them everything and reassure them and...

Almost a week later he reminds himself that the explanations never came. He had no idea what that meant – Kate never even apologized about “Amber's” behavior – which made sense, if it was not her fault, but.. she never actually seemed to speak anything about it. Even in the cryptic conversations she and the governor had – who he found in the meanwhile to be nobody else but the James Crawford. If anybody can deal with this, it is him – but given the events of the last two weeks... Adam was not sure about it.

He is now standing next to a music arena he designed for her – just next to the perimeter, heavily lightened and with bright colors – everything he thought was necessary and sufficient for any caretaker to spot it... But is that good or bad?

During the week since Amber, yet another giantess came in twice – and she behaved normally, well, at least compared to the other... And everything would be great except for what she spoke – it seemed she hardly acknowledged their existence - just.. wanted to have a word with Kate about things he did not understand... During the first visit, they did not even mention her name – so it left them in the dark, calling her “the newest one”. Neither did Kate mention it afterwards. It was just like Amber's “visit” – absolutely no warning, she just appears out of nowhere and approaches Kate – to be within her voice range – as we are calling the area of increased velocity of their voices. He heard some theories, but... it does not matter really.

Yes, the first time was the worst – maybe because they hoped that since she behaves rationally, then it would mean that perhaps the “Amber” was an exception. Some kind of freak – unpredictable and unimaginative. But as they talked...

Kate complained about what Amber did – which would be great if only she didn't use the word. “Micros” - it burned in his memory. Even though it was the first time he heard it, he immediately knew what it meant. But.. it felt plain wrong. “WHY NOT PEOPLE?” - he screamed in his head - “WHY CAN'T NOT YOU SAY SHE KILLED PEOPLE! MURDERED AND SLAUGHTERED!” He has no idea what is she talking with the governor, but apparently this was not one of the topics... But back then he could forgive Kate that – she must have had a reason. He was still certain she cared about them. She have never done anything to suggest otherwise.

But the newest one... The worst part was what she replied to the complaint...

“Don't worry, you have plenty more...”

Like we were.. their property, some kind of.. toys or... he did not even want to think about it. He still hoped that Kate will protect them, but was no longer sure about... anything. It was slowly beginning to seem like some kind of sick joke. The next time she arrived they learned her name when Kate welcomed her with “Hi Nicole...”

But now he stands next to the amphiteatre they built for Kate and watches her enjoy the music. He never liked bands like the Red Elector.. they seem to make up their lack of skill with the noise they produce in the background. Most of the post-neo-multi genres did that. She admitted she never heard music before – and Adam no longer wondered what that meant – but why not something nicer, even pop-rock would be fine, not to mention some classics to start with the basics. He was never a great fan of old orchaestral music, but you had to admit they surely were skilled and it affected every other kind of music afterwards. But he heard they were the first group to agree to come here, to play for Kate onsite. And the high-ups wanted Kate to experience real “personal” artists... rather than just a recording, so here they are.

Kate still seems to enjoy it – which is great. He always likes the happy expression on her face. It still gives him hope. But now she is lying on her back learning the advantage of the stereo over single headphone – he was barely familiar with the concept, as omnis use full field-positional sound generators to produce not only full spectrum of sounds, but also imitate the exact direction of the source, within angular seconds. It's good she likes it, but he feels sorry he cannot see her face. Her regular breathing still manages to calm him. Right now she seems like a mountain that he can hide under, during a storm.

But he notices that “Amber” appears in the distance. The band seems not to notice this – it is getting dark outside and they are in a bright surrounding. He wants to scream they need to warn Kate to save them – but quickly figures like it is not necessary. He feels safe next to Kate – she is their protector, their guardian angel. “Amber” will not dare to come here. Unfortunately, she does – and as she raises her destructive foot over them, Adam just stands there and wonders how many other things he was wrong about. At least he managed to surprise his parents and will die with some actual professional experience - designing a giantess friendly environment.




Part II – And the Death found me.

My name is Justin Maxx and I live in the Village 85. It wasn't always called that. Once it was a city of little over nine thousand souls known as Barmonton – a time and place that now seems like heaven. What happened? One day, as I was returning home from the local bakery, our Caretaker came round and plopped a half kilometer high pole with a sign on top presenting a handwritten number “85” right in the center of the city. Much earlier, we could see Her standing at a distance presenting a speech – which usually heralded bad news. It seemed Their every idea made things worse and worse. And as it turned out later, this one was surprisingly efficient at that.

But after putting Her sign, like a spear through the heart of their city, She then manipulated the monstrous device on Her arm They once called “wristcom” and moved away without a single word – apparently assuming that we will be informed what that means when Her speech reaches us in a couple hours. We could see Her leaning down towards other places before and this process continued afterwards. Only now we knew what She was doing, but we still had no idea what She wanted from us.

Unable to hear what She said yet – and nobody in the city was able to read lips – most of us simply followed Her actions anxious how it will affect our lives. We thought we were already in a very bad situation... only few months earlier, the city has had a population of about 23 thousands – that was, before the Foot came. Multiple conversations could be heard around where I stood and even some people seemed to hope that maybe this may bring an improvement. After all, so far most of Her actions were spontaneously destructive – and other were inspired by Her fellow Caretakers or seemingly taken to impress Them. This was actually the first time we could see something like an organized plan being implemented. If only we knew... But even then – what could we do?

After She seemed to be content with the signs distribution, She started making paths – as those enormous canyons were called by Them. Almost two kilometers wide – or double the width of her shoes – and over a hundred meters deep, those paths were consequently trodden by Her shifting her unimaginable weight from foot to foot while moving forward to form a roughly rectangle board dozens of kilometers large. It must have contained hundreds of settlements, effectively isolated from each other unless you had a professional mountain climbing equipment, which was uncommon in a previously mostly flat zone – with major exceptions being depressions formed by Her or other Caretakers before.

She finished Her work even before Her voice reached us and just stood there for a moment surveying the entire site only to operate her “wristcom” and disappear. Some of us were really scared right now, including me – were the news so bad She was unwilling to remain here while we had to listen? But She returned after only several minutes, wielding a pile of huge metal walls or plates. She put them on the side and only used one to even the edges of a remote canyon. We could clearly see Her actions despite the distance – as always. And now it was truly impassable – even if you somehow managed to get down, you would surely got crushed or worse while unable to climb the other side. She then started placing the plates on the paths – apparently they weren't walls, since it seemed She was positioning horizontally.

But as She was working on the edges, her speech finally reached us...

“I don't like the tendency of the population to continuously decrease”, it announced in somewhat annoyed, young woman voice, “so I figured you micros need a little incentive to repopulate and came up with a little plan...”

It was already unbelievable. How could She blame... Tears formed in my eyes when I remembered my dead wife and many friends. Was She actually blaming us for Them continuously murdering “the population”?

But as I continued to listen, the hell we were already in turned to some sort of sick, nightmarish horror, then turned to something even worse.. and continued to worsen for the entire length of the speech.

She was..
She...

With tears of hopeless anger I wanted to kill Her right where She were, carelessly composing Her fucking plates that she explained were to stop us from moving away from our “designated sites” – under the risk of crushing entire “villages” should she see anyone running away from them.

I even walked towards her with my hands turned into fists – hopelessly watching the unchanging perspective. Something I would consider a mirage only a couple years earlier. Or more like a sad, wretched joke... but this sight was a common reality by then.

Still, it felt like the final moment of the worst nightmare possible, just when the unthinkable horrors would leave the darkest parts of the mind to wake me sweating and with pounding heart to realize it was only a dream. That things like that don't really happen in the real world. Because if they could, then... they would be called Caretakers.

But the awakening never came. In fact, instead arrived the full realization of what She just did.

She turned the place into breeding ground. Like some fucking cattle – only sentient and aware of their fate. A realization that either never occurred to Her – or did not seem to make Her feel bad about it. I still am not sure which possibility is worse. Her monotonous, almost bored, voice had just explained how there were rules and conditions to determine villages that were “doing well” and would be “rewarded” - and the ones that did not register an “increase of population” would receive a “penalty”.

She wanted to cultivate us and even for villages to compete with each other as the results would be judged by “the local improvement compared to the average percentage of population increase across the sites”. And that she will record the current population for comparison – it must have been what she was doing with her device. Scanning us, counting.. like... NO!

Even after almost an hour passed, it still seemed like a freaky joke – I expected Her to turn towards us with a smile and say “Happy Halloween” or something... but it never happened. She just continued to even the edges and compose Her plates.

But it was then when I realized even scarier fact. “I...” I couldn't move. My muscles refused to work. “I have to...” I could only fall down on the ground crying and desperately trying to avoid what awaited me. “I have to go home and...” I felt that maybe if I killed myself then things would be better – but was unable to force myself to do it.

Because... “I have to go home and explain my five year old daughter what the Caretaker meant...” I shouted at nobody in particular. Unfortunately, I heard even worse confessions in response. When I regained control over my body and returned home eventually, I simply couldn't do it. I could not tell her that the only perspective that awaits her in life is growing up, giving birth to several children and then being “reaped”... did She actually use that word? Maybe I just misheard Her, maybe She meant... No, I told my daughter that everything is going to be alright, that I will not let anything bad happen to her. I wish I could possibly make that happen.

But time passed. We learned to deal with it. Some actually thought our lives became better – it seemed we did not have to fear Their games anymore, as if She was protecting us now. If only it wasn't for the terrible fate that awaits us. Some people actually did kill themselves – some tried to run away, hopefully to reach some regions unaffected by “the Caretaker Plan”, as we began to call it. I felt sick hoping they splattered on the base of the cliff, worried for my family. The Caretaker did “deal” with two escape attempts She noticed in other villages. At least we hoped there was less competition now. She even helped us to copulate several times, assuming that we do not seem to be taking it seriously. She.. She made me... I did... No, I could not admit to myself the truth that I raped several women.. and sometimes felt I almost enjoyed it at the time...

Eventually I even took in a widow I remembered I might have... I helped her with the last months of her pregnancy. She must remember it too – as she has only spoken two words to me in three months that passed since then and I still want to forget them. She gave birth to a beautiful boy. I was not sure if he was my child, but I treated him as such. Another angel in hell, next to my little Sophie. She is six now and still does not fully understand what awaits her. I want to keep it this way for as long as possible. Yes, I will do whatever I can to protect my little angels. Me and my partner – I do not even know her name - even recently started having sex to “compete” without ever talking about it. The sad necessity seemed to finally have reached us. I think she may be pregnant again, since she visits the bathroom more often now. And not only to pee or defecate.

It sometimes feels scary to watch the changes in the people – and even worse in myself.. Unknown strangers are asking women with enlarged abdomen about health and their living conditions, concerned about their pregnancies. Even though many relationships are made between random people purely to impregnate – often with mutual consent, the involved parties turn to care for each other even outside of gestation and bringing up the childen. It seemed the desperate and hopeless situation they were in was bringing the good parts of people, they never knew about. I.. I just could not force myself to try to ask my partner for forgiveness or any emotion.

But now as I am trying to distract myself from the reality as much as I can in my home after work, the Caretaker appears in a distance. I can see Her through the window as She fiddles with her arm for a moment and moves in our general direction. She moved around a lot recently, especially since the babies from first pregnancies were born, scanning and seemingly comparing numbers – so I am not really worried now.

It does not change when the earthquakes stop when still dangerously strong, which suggests she is close to us and even though I can no longer see Her I assume She is probably scanning some village in the neighborhood. It all changes when she speaks in thunderous voice:

“Village 85” - the first time she addresses us directly - ”Your growth rate is unacceptable. I think it may be due to improper male to female ratio, so you have a choice. Either some men volunteer or the site will need to be reset. You have five minutes to gather.”

I was a little surprised, since it never happened with any village before – were they doing that much better than us? But I look at my partner, think briefly about my angels and simply stand up heading towards the doors. Her voice shocks me as I hardly remembered how it sounds:

“Wait”, she pauses for a moment while I turn to her and await what she intends to say, “I love You.” I quickly nod and leave.

The Caretaker hovers over the village like an incoming doomsday, but I do not raise my eyes to look at Her. Walking casually, I notice a lot of men coming towards the central square from around the city. Nobody speaks. We all seem to quietly agree about what must be done if we are to save our loved ones. A moment after I enter the square, the voice from heavens instructs us “The ones on the square are enough” - when I look back, I see some men backing away before following in my steps. “Yes - go and make sure that next time the rate is better”, I want to scream, but the grave seriousness of the situation forbids it. I can see Her hand approaching. An enormous, young, shapely hand that usually brings death and destruction. This time however, she brings a contraption I can recall as some sort of transport container for us, “micros”. She used it a long time ago to move some more people in. The can-shaped object turns out to be several times bigger than any building in the village. It crashes several houses and a couple dozen men. My only concern at the moment is that it may reduce the population slowing down the growth. I do not care about myself - I wonder if anything else than death can possibly await us – since She just specifically stated, that so many males are not necessary here. I estimate the container to be at least hundred meters high, a bit less wide. Maybe higher as from this point I have no point of reference. The Caretaker's face looms infinitely distant in the background and her fingers have already backed away. But it does not matter.

We start boarding the craft even before She orders us to. It turns out the interior consists of number of stairs to more levels - but we all easily fit on the first one – and rows upon rows of chairs with numerous seating belts. She never orders us to sit in them, but that's just what we do. Some men seem to change their mind realizing the hopelessness of the situation and try to leave the contraption, but others remind them of why they are here – or even forcefully drag to the seats when the first does not help. I get seated and await what happens next. We are suddenly snatched into the air – and even though the acceleration should have killed us, we are fine. I heard once that these things are made with some technology that smooths the movement of the contents – which allows Them to move more around comfortably while transporting “micros”. Still some men unfortunate enough not to have in the seats by then fell through the entrance – as there is no door – and screaming fall to their certain death.

Or maybe they were actually lucky? I consider leaving the safety of my seat to speed up my death but eventually decide not to risk upsetting the Caretaker. Some men make choose differently.

Most of us however, soon arrives at the apparent destination after blurry movements outside make it hard to determine how far are we gone. I hope my family will not see my fate – usually not knowing was better. But now it mostly depends on how verbose She is about our orders – if she explains us what to do in detail, then everybody in the zone will know our end – regardless of the distance or whether they have a line of sight or not. It just happens that She was usually very keen to do that to her “micros”. I see as an Iron Plate stretches far beyond the entrance – or now exit – in front of me. “Okay, get out”, we hear – even louder than in the village, she must be leaning really close, but somehow.. different – as if more playful or anxious. It is the end then.

I unstrap and head towards the exit. Looking back I can see Her already laying down beneath the transporter, looking down from kilometers above us even though Her chin was almost on the ground. The perspective is impossible to describe – while on the ground, She almost looked like a joyful young woman unable to wait to play with Her toys. The problem is that I know I am one of those toys. But I decided a long time ago that I will do whatever it takes to save my family. I will not fail. We will not fail.

She orders us to “Split up and form two lines, here”, She points her finger to the side of the Plate next to her “and here” - which is on the other side. Regardless of what She wants to do next, I prefer not to look at Her when I walk to my doom. I do not want to look Death in the eyes – but I will be happy when she finally reaches for me.

But as I turn my back to Her, an even worse thing happens - another Caretaker appears out of nowhere far out in the distance. I walk thinking if we can stop two Caretakers from destroying our villages. Can we fulfill their wishes? As the Other one moves closer, I can see it is actually even worse – looking at those empty eyes hungrily examining us now, it feels that if we somehow do not satisfy her curiosity, the Other one may do so much more than merely kill us. She said that She only wanted some men – but it seems that now the Other one shows a part of Her true self – and I can easily see Her continuing trying to settle her insatiable hunger with everybody the Other one can find - turning on other villages, sacrificing more and more people in her pursuit to fill Herself – and eventually my family, and my angels.

I want to ask her screaming what does the Other one want from us – but it would be as futile as nagging a hurricane to change its course and not destroy a home. I cannot think of a closer approximation than an old early twenty first problem – from before humans learned to affect the weather controllably. But she was not a force of nature, no. By looking into those empty eyes, I realize now that I was wrong comparing Her with a hurricane. There is nothing even remotely as cruel and unyielding as a Caretaker can be and while our She seems to somehow care that we reproduce, the Other will at nothing.

During this chain of thoughts other men push around me not seeing the futility of the situation. The Other one is going to first kill us, then turn to our tearful loved ones. I stay a little behind the group and some men are starting to look back at me to see if I will not try to run away. Despite knowing we have failed, I resume moving forward. Only – as the Other one is coming from the left, I immediately move to the far right side of the slowly forming and marching line and eventually reach the very end, just as we reach the intended area. Give or take a couple dozen meters – since the plate had no points of reference. It seemed our position satisfied our Her as She smiles.

I notice they started talking a moment ago – but shocked and hopeless I missed the beginning of Their conversation. They are conversing now just like two girls would discuss a new treat they found out somewhere. We are this treat, of course. Maybe in the end They will be satisfied after killing just us? The Death has strange ways, it seems.

Then I remember the comparison to a hurricane, just as strong wind smacks me in the face – no, pulls me backwards strongly - almost as if...

I turn backwards and see Her finishing to suck the other half of the men into her humongous nostril using some sort of monstrous tube created for this. When She pulls Her head back in obvious enjoyment I ask myself what kind of person could do this to Her fellow humans. But then I realize something I knew for a long time without noticing it. Something obvious and simple. Something that explained all the terrible things that have happened to us ever since It appeared in the zone for the first time.

“It is no human”, I say out loud, “It is Caretaker” - I meet several scared faces on my right - “It is Death.”. Apparently this is having quite some effect – several men actually try to run away from It, but It speaks and they go back. The Death itself is hungry for them. And It does not like waiting. They must not make It wait if they want to give their families more time. But the Death will find them too. There is no escape. There is no way to deal with It.

Every men I can see from here trembles from fear, cries, begs to be saved or otherwise fails to understand. The other Death leans closer to suck their souls as well. I am ready. I close my eyes and feel the wind pull me to Death but somehow I am not Dead. Is Death playing with me? I open my eyes to see It coming again. I feel myself flying through the air. But again – I am not Dead. It feels as if the Death took me into It's hungry mouth and then spat back out. When I hit the ground, I pass out.

Waking up I see only One Death. And It is playing me. Left me to live even that I wanted to sacrifice myself for my family. For my angels. I try to stand up but see that my left leg is broken, bleeding. Is this a test, oh Death? Are It tempting me to save my life to devour my loved ones? I will not fail them!

But no.. I notice that Death is playing with Itself. As if it was amused by my failure to attain It. Have I failed? No, I cannot fail. Despite my injury I begin to crawl towards It, then carefully get up and limp towards It. I will not fail You, Partner. And I will not fail You, Angels.

Even despite that It already stretches high into the sky – It is still a long way ahead of me. As I continue to move towards It, I start to feel weaker, probably from my would. But I cannot bleed out before I reach It. I must not fail.

I collapse. Unable to go further. I did not even reach the end of the plate. I am sorry, my Angels. I am sorry I failed You. I am sorry I did not sacrifice myself to Death. I hesitated and It rejected my sacrifice. My conviction was not strong enough. It has tested me and I failed.

I lay there waiting for Death to discard me for good and suck the souls of my family. But It never moves. Ground trembles from It's apparent satisfaction with my failure. I am sorry for not reaching It, oh Death. Spare my family. They do not belong to It, oh Great Death. Please accept my sacrifice.

Suddenly the trembling stops and when I look up, I can see It's glossy hand reaching for me. I offered myself to It. And the Death found me.




Part III – How can she not see me?

Brian Leibner is walking on the eyelid, trying to cover any spots with shading solution that the vehicle moving in front of him might have missed. He is supposed be thinking about ways to improve the process, make it more reliable and safer for the workers – but can only think about his early retirement in three weeks. Yes, it has become too much for him, what was he even thinking all those years ago when he applied for the job?

He heard from a friend that it is quick and well paying job. The manicure detail for the Caretakers – how they called themselves, but they only ever seen two of them. The mother – it seemed, although they were only seen them suggest it once – was always considerate, but he always thought she simply did not want to kill too many of them, so she could still get their services.

The young one was more problematic. Especially earlier – when she was “playing” with workers desperately trying to finish their assignments before she forgets about them and... There were so many ways she could and kept killing them.

But about seven or eight years ago, it began to change, as if Nicole – what they heard several times her name was – was learning from her mother. Everyone was still afraid of the job, so they kept ramping up the benefits – which eventually convinced him to try.

That and the talk he had with one of his friends – he told Brian, that it is safe – you just have to know what not to do. And which specializations to avoid. Foot detail was his favorite one – especially after the mother seemed to stop using their “services” and Nicole was the only one they had to serve. Back in the beginning she barely wanted them to work on her feet, so he literally fought for the transfer.

Life was good back then. The pay was good – very good, in fact – and he had a lot of free time. He could roam free around the city, provided he was ready to come in whenever she appeared within a couple minutes. Both Caretakers seemed to hate waiting for them to start their work...

But nights were always safe, he could party and have fun as much as he wanted, as they were never teleporting in late. As long as he could wake up in the morning to assist, he was free to spend his money on drinks, drugs and anything else he wanted. He did not even need hookers – the “manicurist” was now a sign of special social status – like doctors once used to be, he heard, before the medbeds came.

Yes, life was good – he remembers how he could easily leave the bar with three gorgeous women looking for a place to spend a night in – and they were all trying to fuck him, happy to give him something back for his work protecting the society. And to use his money on food, drugs, clothes and what have you – at least during the night – but he had enough, so who cared, he could share. And the truth was that they were mostly poor – and sometimes he even gave them some cash to take care, after they made him happy.

Most people were living in relative poverty – compared to a fairly stable society they had before the first Caretaker came. But people died and others had to spend their time rebuilding, struggling not to starve while being cruelly hunted by the giantess – it seemed. It changed when she came up with the idea that they can service her. It seemed disgusting, but at least their situation improved. They were especially reminded of the fact when she even brought any “immigrants” - as they called forcing some people in other zones to enter the transporters to be dropped here. She figured she needs more population to do the job properly... and those new arrivals told stories.. terrible stories about how things were elsewhere.

At least they survived, and even managed to slowly rebuild. It did not change when the mother seemed to start letting her daughter use their “services”. She was bratty at first – if you can call crushing entire towns and “playing” by that. Usually “playing” was the worst, she had so many cruel ideas about it – like when she put her enormous hand on the ground and “walked” her fingers pretending they were some kind of a monster – and from under them they really were... Many people died around Brian on that day, he recalls. But eventually she seemingly matured and just limited herself to enjoying their work.

Like her mother, she never seemed to appreciate it though – they always simply demanded them to do what they had imagined, even if it required tremendous amounts of effort and even their lives. Sometimes the giantesses were able to understand that people could not do something they wanted, but only.. sometimes.

But when he was convinced by his friend that as she grows up, things should continue to become better – so he joined up and was assigned to work on her fingers at first. Things were hard back then – she would still often twitch or move one her fingers, which caused people to fall to their deaths from the heights of dozens of meters. He managed to survive her mood swings, one time was only barely able to hide under her fingernail when he noticed she was examining her other hand – heralding that she would soon rise the one he was on as well, sending everybody unfortunate to be on it to their doom. He remembers being petrified almost dangling down the abyss below his haven, as she carefully watched her fingers, completely unaffected by the terror she just caused. Another time he was thrown off them, but managed to open his parachute in time and land – and even was fortunately missed by her spread fingers coming back down, as she speechlessly demanded them to continue, dissatisfied with the result. As if she could not wait for their managers to tell her they were done...

But it happened fairly rarely, unlike stories he heard about earlier... Hell, he could remember himself watching her humongous form on the horizon “playing” with the workers – back before when he joined in. The fact that everybody could see the atrocities she performed, was the main reason everybody was afraid to work directly on her.

There were a lot of support crew – in various factories and other installations, coming up with specialized materials they used to “make her pretty”, as she once demanded, was not easy task. He did not even see how it could be possible – even if he ever managed to see anything about the Caretakers as pretty, it was lost after only a couple weeks of the work. Everything about them was just humongous and terrifying. Sometimes he felt that they have no chance of satisfying her new demand and she will just kill them all. He heard people spent years trying to figure out substances that would not break, or change color and consistency upon de-dilation on the Caretakers skin. Sometimes the spray, or paste they were applying even was specifically designed to do that – turned into the final form only when already on the skin. He was still fuzzy about the process and especially scared of “de-dilating” himself.. it seemed they were working so close to being turned into a mashed pulp of minerals by the invisible force field... There were also stories...

But thankfully by the time he joined, things were already mostly figured out. But there were so many people working on it, that the entire organization became unwieldy. The managers were seemingly unable to adapt to change in the customers intentions or behaviors in a timely manner, which often caused people to die.

He learned that the hard way right before deciding he will kill, if forced to, in order to get away from the finger detail..

Fortunately a spot opened up, as they used to specific cases of death rate among the workers – and he was transferred, thanks to his long employment and good efficiency. Well, almost a year was considered long on the fingers back then. He heard it has improved a little, but he was still having nightmares from the work – not only she could not feel or see them on her nails, but always seemed to be disappointed by the outcomes of their work – and yet, almost always managed to not communicate what exactly was wrong about it... “You call that a nice color? Fix it!” - he still trembles at the recollection.

At the foot department – as they jokingly called it – things were more calm. Not only she did not want them to work on it more often than once a couple weeks, sometimes even a month, but also did not want to make them “pretty” - she always seemed to wear full sneakers covering them completely. They only had to make sure they “massage” them real good – it seemed unreal to apply such names to what they were doing. But at least driving the massive tracked vehicles they used to do that with, did not require many people. Less victims of the mood swings, their overwhelming teenager girl was sometimes experiencing. And the caterpillar treads were critical for climbing up or descending from her soles, as well as for crossing or avoiding the building sized folds of her skin. Over the years he learned every single detail of each of her feet – every fold, every tiny wrinkle, every little depression of the young skin – compared to the enormousness of everything around these features at least...

And the knowledge was critical. There were only three dozen of workers driving those machines – almost everyone had many years of experience, training alone took several months. The machines were large enough to be felt by her – that was their main purpose – and it was crucial to know what path would “massage” her and where she would be irritated – and also constantly pay attention to the subtle signs suggesting she may twitch when “tickled”.

Yeah.. he remembers explaining some of his lovers how he would maintenance their feet if he worked on them and even sometimes using tiniest flakes to simulate the effect – it seemed to arouse many women greatly, especially being able to see it happening outside on the gigantic girl. It seemed to allow both him and his “customer” to forget about their problems for a little while and enjoy the situation. If only he could do this at his work...

But yes, life was good back then.. it almost makes him wonder what is he doing up here. Well, it was... but then she started to enjoy her foot service more – even sometimes came in just to get some of it in the morning only to return just before dusk. Previously she would usually require them to work on her other features and only sometimes finish with some “relaxing massage”. While driving those things once every two weeks for an hour may be acceptable, having to pay full attention to everything around him – mindful that a tiniest error may cause not only his death, but also the death of his comrades...

That is why experience, training and even trust was so important – they learned a single vehicle would not suffice, and if she – shall that never happen – shakes her foot to stop a tickle.. they would be all mashed into a pulp by the acceleration long before crashing kilometers away, followed by her mortuary giggle.

He managed to handle the stress for a long time, it just felt he needed to – but servicing her once every day or more was taking all strength from his life. He would fall on the bed in the refreshment room shortly after returning from an assignment only to being woken up by his some manager to get back again there. It seemed that even twelve hours of sleep a day was not enough to rest with those strenuous activities...

She has changed her preferences so quickly that they had no chance to train more staff – they started working with apprentices to show them how to do it, but it took so long for them to learn... It became even worse after what they were afraid of happened – he was driving up the outer side of her foot, relaxing in the relative safety of the “cliff”, as they called the less nerved but still stimulating part – when suddenly felt a tremor, he feared the worst – but it was actually her other leg rising into the air by little and sending half his team to...

The depressing realization hit him... he still had seven more years on his contract for feet care – that was another reason why people avoided those jobs. Due to highly anxious and volatile nature of the employment, they needed to make sure they have enough staff to satisfy her – regardless of any recent massacres. The managers simply had to maintain continuous operation. All workers were employed under threat of automatic death sentence, should they leave their posts... and some more specialized functions were long-term contracts. What made him even sign up for this! He no longer had anybody to blame for convincing him, since Max was long dead, as he did not manage to get away from her nose, when she... But that sneeze seems like ancient history right now, covered by countless more tragedies that followed.

He had to carry on his tasks, even despite the state he was in – they tried to offer him raises, motivated by explaining he keeps others safe.. but he kept trying to negotiate some early retirement. It was rare, but given his long employment and traumatic experience, perhaps...

Eventually they agreed when he was really bad, risking another failure – did somebody break like him that caused it the first time? Given his substantial experience with the Caretaker, he was reassigned for five months to analyze possible means of improving various other operations they had to run. Sometimes he just had to watch from distance, thinking what can go wrong with how they are running things, other times – like now, he was actually on the site helping other workers while trying to come up with safer ways to do the job. They had many people working that before their retirement – that was why the procedures were so refined and even though sometimes something went wrong – usually safe.

So he counted days left for him to be able to get out of this place and tried to avoid any danger. It seemed fine, Nicole was even relatively reasonable nowadays – as if her maturing taught her to recognize their work. She looked like adult woman now, all features in place – and if she was regular size, he could easily consider her pretty... Just now he will never be able to consider her monstrous features alluring.

Most of the work took place on her face – and thats where he spent most of this time. Fortunately he was able to avoid any work on the lips... at least so far.

Working the cheeks seemed surprisingly simple – if it wasn't for the height and often subtle twitches. Applying a sort of moisturizer was the first part. Although they would love to perform as much as they could using automated vehicles, most functions simply required human operators to adapt to the changing conditions. The only things that were run remotely or automated were some of the preliminary cleanup vehicles and the airships that provided trucks on the skin with the fluid. It seemed to relax and smooth the skin, but also made it more dangerous – he heard that entire trucks could be de-dilated to ash if stuck in the ooze, so it required careful maintenance – hence the human drivers. After the composition de-dilated and sunk in – and it was the main reason it was taking so long, the cheeks and eyeshades were by far the most time-consuming operation – they had to go back there and apply subtle colored substances to either smooth her look or outline certain features – after they painstakingly learned her preferences.

The main problem was that the last part required smaller trucks and even people to go out there and apply it manually. There were chasms of liquid ready to open upon the slightest pressure and suck any unfortunate workers in. He remembers a terrifying sight of a guy in full suit – being partially turned into bloody ash as he de-dilated in the mix... They could not help him in time, and the screams were just... At least the risks while working on the feet were quick.

But he tried to explain that he is not specialized in these kinds of things – so they assigned him to analyze any machinery, they were using up there. He usually tried to track any signs that he knew of irritation or any muscles below the skin preparing to move, in order to warn them in advance. He had several training sessions where he tried to share his realizations – often was proved wrong by more experienced co-workers.. face skin simply worked differently than the soles. Still he explained some ways and signs he noticed up there that may be worthy to know of.

Now he is supposed to do the same in the middle of her eyelid – and here, the main problems are the wrinkles and lashes spiking up from the skin. If the vehicle applying the shade is too small – it may not be able to cross some crevices and faults and if it is too large – it may get stuck between some hairs. They will probably want him to examine the lashes detail – but right now he is trying to focus how to upgrade the operation down on the skin. Suddenly he notices one of the things that everybody is afraid of around here – the driver of the truck he was following must have tried to cross the split between the eyelids and fell into it as they parted slightly – creating a deep crevice. It must be to steep for him to back off, but... he realizes in terror that the driver escapes his cabin! “What does this idiot think he is doing!” he thinks quickly – normally, if she opened her eyes they would all be sent outwards by the movement of the lashes. Most of them – at least, but vehicles are long enough to be caught by them. If they weren't... well, anything much larger than a human would almost certainly irritate her eye – which would result in a massive massacre. He learned earlier that it happened twice so far – and nobody wanted to repeat it. Not only would she rise up, killing anybody on her, but also risk sudden movements trying to shake the irritating agent from her eye. Once she managed to remove it while still sitting down, the other time... she walked half-blinded to the nearest water storage. He heard almost a million people was crushed under the feet or buildings falling apart from her steps... The managers even thought if they could prepare some water closer around here, just in case that happens again, but the cost of creating a large enough artificial lake was so far beyond them.

And right now it seemed like exactly this would happen. To make matters worse, he thinks that the recent movement of the eyelids suggests she will be opening her eyes – and it was not some lightweight personnel transporter – the truck was full sized, double decker, heavy shader dispenser, with multiple arms to also supply workers... If she opens her eye and it fells down...

He jumps forward asking a confused co-worker to get to the drivers seat and try reversing – it is their only chance – as he surveys the situation. He communicates to the managers that they will need all the available vehicles around his location to pull it asap. Fortunately, the truck did not seems stuck – with the tank treads moving and the pushing and pulling of all workers who were nearby, it finally backed away. “We were lucky, this time...” Brian concludes as he tries to move out of the trench – but suddenly founds his support move into the distance. He can see the truck being safely catapulted into the distance by the traction – but he falls right into her eye...

Great. He heard that for some strange reasons, it seemed that the eye solution does not cause people to de-dilate, they suspected it had something to do with its density or watery consistence – so even though it was very dangerous, he heard about people getting rescued after falling in. He watches to any signs for irritation, but fortunately he and three others – that were unable to get out – aren't enough to cause it.

He is scared out of wits by the eyelids closing back over him – miraculously he managed to survive.. and his suit will supply him with some breathing time, but... will she be compassionate enough to wait for others to save him? He doubted that... in fact, Brian does not think the managers will even mention that – not to enrage her. Any suggestions about what she could do to help them ended rather messily.

And so he awaits his death by de-dilation or drowning – whichever comes earlier... Thinking what was it that he did wrong. Should he run away like that suicidal driver? They were all dead already anyway, he thinks. When anything went wrong, it wasn't about saving themselves, but rather trying to save others – didn't that guy realize that? How could anyone put somebody so irresponsible in such position...

But he is surprised to see sunlight again and watch the world rotate, as she seems to be sitting up. His last hope is that maybe “Nicole” will find a moment to help him out of his predicament.. after all those years he served her... But she is probably not even able to notice him... “I'm in her freaking eye!” - he thinks as she seems to be preparing to teleport away - “How can she not see me?”







Chapter End Notes:
An apology

The BBC would like to (…)

More seriously - sorry for the wall of text (again, and this time even worse) – hope it is acceptable to read and I think we should have enough POV for at least till 20th chapter or so – although I added something in the script for the 9th in order to fill the pieces missing in part 3 - and sorry for it being rather short, it's just.. ugh... 17k words.... Also sorry for any gentle fans being hit by the perceptive difference between part 1 and what Kate thought - and sorry for killing the guy. Finally – sorry for the part 2, that is exists.

Also – as I had to research the topic of “makeup” a bit to make the last part sound reasonable and I discovered that previously I hardly knew anything about it – now at least I understand how it can take that long, being more of an art really than something one feels bored waiting for to be done... My knowledge before was mostly limited to scheduling the necessary time before going out, “about 20 minutes for light, up to an hour for full”, so if we have here anyone more familiar with the topic – and I did mix it up, please let me know so I can correct any details to make the story more convincing.

If any of You feel saddened by the violent turn the story has seemingly taken – remember that when something reaches the bottom, it can only get better. It is all part of a greater plan to understand it all.

And thus, the story length doubles with this chapter. Hopefully the next ones will be simpler and shorter – now that we have some observations from both sides on what is really happening in the zones...

Either way, see You later – and, as always, let me know what you think!



!! CHAPTER 5 SPOILERS ABOVE THIS POINT !!








General story notes:

I feel like I never included a lengthier explanation for making the story this way. Well, better late than never – and at least now I think we have some examples of what I want to describe further. Although I think there are no spoilers for chapters 5+, it does mention some events from 1-4. Many facts might have been already noticed by most – if not all - of You, but I wanted to point You to some of the very fine, but often important, details.

At the beginning (after the intro – that is), I struggled a lot whether to push the action forward with smaller chapters to keep it clearer and more accessible or go with this – more descriptive and, sort of, slower - way. There are several reasons that eventually convinced me to the latter rather than focusing on just moving forward – and I can easily understand how it may be frustrating to see almost nothing happening as we go through such long chapters.

The main reason is that I think the world it is happening in, is simply so much different from anything that anybody could understand otherwise – and I am trying not only to think it through, but also to explain the particulars of why things happen and not just how. Keep in mind that we are thrown not just into an aberrant and dysfunctional reality, but also over twenty years (!) into what the Caretakers have been doing with it. They all have already had an enormous amount of experience with the tinies and as you already have seen, this creates A LOT of “cultural differences” – if one could call it this way – which would literally make the characters actions seem random and erratic without understanding their background – hence the slow progress so far. To say it may seem “alien” is simply a huge understatement. And I believe that there is no way to immerse in this kind of world without going through learning its details, however tedious and long it may seem – and believe me, it takes so much longer to write (which also is irritating, as I would love to share everything with You immediately, dear Readers).

When it comes to the rich storyline (I hope it is already beginning to feel this way for many of You – and I think it will only get much, much deeper) – I believe that tales with shallow plot quickly become repetitive and even in the worst case - virtually redundant. Especially in the giga section – where there is simply only so many ways the character can actually interact with the little people. And to make things worse, most of them rotate around the cruelty and violence – which in turn, without proper emotional background quickly becomes meaningless. How many times it happened that the story ended seemingly because there was nothing new to add to it. Or we wished it did, once it started to repeat itself in slightly modified variations. I prefer to explain any particular activity only once or twice – hopefully in a detailed enough manner that it might possibly even make sense to revisit some earlier chapters when we know more about the characters – and also when they learn more about themselves, as their subsequent development is just as crucial for their reliability and liveliness – even if their actions repel us in the end. You can also always easily imagine what various Caretakers are doing in their zones – that is why I am also focusing on their natures and emotions. I am sure that most of You can easily envision scenes that would be far beyond what I could possibly come up with. The story and characters are unlike that – I always felt a big difference between those of my own fantasy and suggested by external sources. I think that we as humans simply do not perceive “people” and backgrounds of our own imagination the same way as suggested by something else, even if it is just a fiction – and I want to deliver a large stock of different kinds of rich characters and settings.

I am also trying to imagine and describe the story from the perspective of the characters, think of what they would do, how they would feel – instead of just focusing on the wellness of the storyline. But I also think about where it is going – while continuously refining the future details as we go further (hopefully without needing to edit already published chapters, as this tends to brainwash everyone a lot). I am hoping I will eventually be able to explain my idea of who they are properly enough for everybody else to understand them as well. Of course one cannot simply “make” the characters do things – it has to be in line with their earlier actions and experiences. Well, at least usually...

And I think for a character-driven tale, nothing is as important as.. well, the characters – and how their actions shape the progression of the story (I hope I am able to get to the point where we actually see any..). Obviously the story and characters must be interrelated and depend on each other – unless one is willing to settle for deus ex machina...

The varying perception of the world – depending on the current character – also introduces several problems. Most of you may have already noticed they do not even have the same vocabularies – resulting in funny or scary situations, depending on the context. It also affects the descriptions – how could Kate think of her looks when she was worried about the littles, or recall how she refrained from urinating two weeks earlier. Why would Amber think how she wiped her hand on the plate after climaxing or bother about explaining what Andrea was like if she only cared about her micros – even the words which they use to describe the people also can differ. Nicole did not know the meaning of the word “cliff”, while Kate was comfortably using it while recalling the events. Their general vocabulary is yet another story – more details will follow, but we could see already how they never seem to use words like “parents”, “father” or “bugs” - and they have no reasons to even know what they are. Many such little things - that currently may appear for You as coincidences - are in fact results of their very specific environment and history – and each of them may be affected differently. Some of their observations are also very subjective – just like Kate thought she was crushing people just after her teleportation whenever she noticed counter decreasing on her footsteps – but we learn later story that they were merely various accidents, no doubt her arrival and quakes she caused may have helped – but she was stepping on farmland completely devoid of any population (sorry for breaking the amusement for any crush fans).

The perspective of the tinies is, of course, completely unlike the Caretakers, just like the things they notice – naturally depending on the zone and the situation – and obviously people used to the sight of a Caretaker will not constantly describe her body details, it does not make sense for them – besides, it's not like they can be consciously attracted by them after seeing what they do. Not to mention the effect they are having on the littles – on every single one of them in a different way, as an individual, thinking and feeling person.

More examples could be provided, but I think You should already get the idea – the point of view can also change a lot.

I believe all those small details make a more interesting story – especially if, like in this chapter, one needs to think about what really happened to merge two different perceptions of the same events. But again, it requires a lot of descriptions.

Finally.. without any disrespect for anybody, I think there are already so many stories with colorful visions and picturesque explorations – which do not attempt to extend beyond the “visuals”. Please do not get me wrong – I think a lot of them are great, just.. in the long run they feel a bit.. empty. I do not wish to seem arrogant or insolent – but I think You already noticed that this is not exactly some random shrinking tv remote gun hit by lightning story with shallow people running around zapping each other resulting in unreliable consequences. If You think that something feels wrong with the story, characters, their actions, the background or anything – please do not hesitate to let me know your feeling – many things are already scheduled to be detailed later on, but after planning the next 32 chapters plus any important events beyond that, I may be far more familiar with the characters and may not even be aware of what I failed to explain. Also, if You are afraid of wasting time on descriptions that may lead to halting the story in the middle – don't be, I am sure I will finish it (well, unless I die or worse). Additionally I am sometimes having troubles putting myself in the shoes of 18 years old girls (and this sentence sounds wrong every time I read it) – to make matters even worse, they are not exactly some average young women... so if You have any thoughts that I my be missing or be wrong about something with their personalities, please let me know.

But these were just some of the reasons why I eventually decided to try and come up with something relatively sophisticated – and it may be that I aimed too high, especially for my very first story. And so I have a huge favor to ask of You, dear Readers – please do immediately warn me if it is becoming dull and boring or if You feel that I am failing in anything that I stated earlier. I would hate to miss such attempt – and any early warnings if that happens will surely help to fix it.
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