Chapter 02 – The Intern
The next day
Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on a very sunny day, the ship, “The Castor" with 4 crew members and 1 passenger on board was cruising towards a remote Island. The passenger was the twenty-year-old Dutch sophomore college student, Wendy de Vries. A young Red-brown haired woman of 1,75 m (5 10), short cut hairstyle, blue eyes who was looking forward to this trip.
Her mother, Paula, an anthropologist, recommended her for an internship/work placement on an Island. She was very enthusiastic about it and vague at the same time about that project when she talked about it on the phone with her daughter.
It was a relatively long and somewhat strange journey to her destination. The instructions to this place were cryptic and there was no information on the net about this Island or their projects. This whole ordeal starting from her hometown Rotterdam up till now took a few days.
"Island ahead", said one of the crew. Wendy then turned her head and saw a very beautiful Island, that looked like any Hawaiian Island. High cliffs, mountains, and beautiful green areas. "This is just what I need, a non-stressful work environment", Wendy thought.
Wendy picked her smartphone out of her pocket to take some photos, she noticed that her Wi-Fi connection was lost. When she left the port of Honolulu, she still had a strong signal from her satellite provider.
Suddenly the boat stopped just in front of the coast and the captain ordered one of the crew to escort Wendy on a rowboat to the Island shore. A small village came into view close to the beach and someone was waiting for them at the docks. It was a tall blond man with blue eyes in his late forties and had a friendly look. He was holding up a sign with the name ‘Wendy’ on it. He wore a simple gray shirt and green short pants and a pair of mountain climbing shoes.
The crewmate let Wendy disembark and quickly rowed back to the seaworthy ship. She had noticed the crew's change in behavior and facial expressions. The closer they got to the Island the more anxious they seemed, as if they didn't want to be there. "Well, no use worrying about it, I'm here to learn and enjoy myself in this environment for the coming six months." Reflected Wendy.
Hans: "Hi there, you must be Ms. Wendy de Vries. I'm Hans Netzer, pleased to meet you".
Wendy: "A pleasure, Mr. Netzer."
Hans: "Call me Hans, just plain simple Hans, Ms de Vries"
"Ok, Hans, and I'm just plain simple Wendy", She joked.
Hans: “I will be your guide and escort to your new work environment.”
Wendy:” Ok, I can’t wait to see this facility.
Hans: “Let’s go to the village first and have something to eat and drink, you must be tired from this long journey”
Wendy: ”Ok, sounds great”
The pair walked to the village and went past a small resort where some tourists were having fun or relaxing, enjoying this wonderful paradise of an Island. The hotel resort itself, was plain and simple, just like the rest of the architecture of the village.
When they arrived at the local diner Hans made an order for both of them. It had a nice atmosphere like you would find in a simple American Village.
The two were enjoying the local cuisine of fresh fish and other strange dishes Wendy never saw before. The smell of the food was so pleasant for her and it tasted even better. Hans was smiling at seeing the enjoyment on Wendy’s face while she ate at a faster rate after each bite.
When they were done, they walked to a yellow jeep in the small parking lot behind the local diner.
“It is not a limousine, but it will get you anywhere on this Island where you need to be”, Hans joked.
Wendy: “No problem, Hans, it looks very nice”
They got into the vehicle, Hans started the engine and the two were off to Wendy’s new workplace.
It is a half-hour drive from here, so It won’t take too long”, Hans said as he was concentrating his eyes on the road.
A few minutes later they entered a dense forest with large trees. It was a sight to behold and Wendy enjoyed every second of the beautiful nature this Island had to offer so far.
Hans just concentrated on the road and saw a big pick-up rental car in the distance, standing still a little beside the road. The motionless vehicle coming more clearly into Hans' view. Next to it stood two women who were looking confused at a large paper map of the Island. Hans slowed down his jeep and stopped next to the women, who happily waved at him.
Hans: “Wait in the car for a second, I’m going to help these ladies with directions”
Wendy saw Hans talking friendly to the ladies giving them directions.
“Hi Hans, you showed us the way on the map in town, but were just lost now and our Wi-Fi connection isn’t working since we got to the Island.” One of them said.
“Why don’t you two follow us for a bit. When we reach the crossroads, it will be close by and I will point out the last directions to your destination, no problem.”, Hans said in a friendly tone.
Hans stepped into the car again and set it just next to them. “Wendy, I want you to meet Lisa and Roberta, they’re from Dallas Texas and they are here for a camping adventure”
“She looks really good and got red hair too, just like you Lisa”, Roberta the 5”8 brunette teased.
“She is even taller than you Roberta and my hair is redder” The 5”7 Lisa teased back.
The four laughed about it and the two women got into their pickup and started following the yellow jeep.
Arriving at the crossroads they parted ways and waved happily goodbye.
Wendy: “Friends of yours?”
Hans: “No just some tourists I met in the village asking me for interesting places to go. I told them about this wonderful spot of unspoiled nature near a small waterfall and insisted that they visited that place for their camping day and night. I always insist on new visitors to go there”.
“Well, let’s be on our way, but before we go further you have to put on this blindfold. This facility is somewhat of a secret and those are the rules and orders given to me by my superiors.”, Hans said sternly.
Wendy found it strange, but didn’t mind and happily played along.
Wendy suddenly felt some tremors and heard some booming sounds in the distance in the direction of Lisa and Roberta.
Wendy; “What is up with these ground shakings Hans?”
“Oh, that is just one the mysteries of the Island. Those have been here for years”, Hans said.
“Alright, I never felt such a thing before”, Wendy said relieved.
Suddenly it got dark and Wendy felt a weird descending feeling like an elevator going down and then felt the car speed up again.
“You can take off your blindfold now, we're inside the facility now and almost at our destination.”, Hans said.
The light came back into Wendy’s eyes as she removed the blindfold. They were moving through a tunnel that was lit up by some white lights every few yards. When they reached the end of the tunnel, the vehicle slowed down.
The pair in the jeep entered an enormous hall. It was least 50 by 50 meters (164 ft) in length and width she estimated. The ceiling must have been around 30 meters (almost 100 feet) high. She saw a sofa, table, and floor with light-colored tiles, each one 50 by 50 centimeters (1 ft 7 inches). She explored the hall further and saw that halfway across the hall the tiles got much bigger. 500 by 500 centimeters (16f 4inches) per tile, each as big as her living room that was 5 by 5 meters (16f 4 inches).
Then some other things caught her eye. In the farthest corner from her point was what looked like an enormous gigantic door with a door handle at the height of twelve meters (36.8 feet). Wendy rubbed her eyes if she wasn't imagining it. She also saw what appeared to be a giant light switch next to it at somewhat the same height and gigantic power plugs. "What a weird looking...."
“This is where we part ways, Wendy”, Hans said somewhat afraid. He started the jeep and drove to the other side of the room into another tunnel like he was fleeing for his life.
"Hello there Ms de Vries, welcome to our facility and special project" Wendy suddenly heard through loudspeakers. "There will be someone to greet you very shortly, please wait on the side where the furniture is located. It is dangerous to stand near the giant door when it opens".
Wendy went back to the smaller door and seated herself on the sofa, reflecting on everything that happened before and during the difficult journey to this place.
While doing that she began to hear a faint thundering sound that got louder and louder after each second. The ground shook a little and the sofa she sat on moving more and more after the heavier shakes.
Finally, the door opened and what Wendy saw entering knocked her socks off. It was a blond middle-aged woman in scientist clothes, blue eyes with glasses and nice medium high heeled shoes. Everything looked human about her, accept her gigantic size. "She must be over 20 meters(66 feet) tall", Wendy whispered to herself in wonder and a little shocked.
The giantess stayed near the door so as not to scare Wendy. "You must be Wendy, nice to meet you, I'm Helga, Helga Braunn. As you can see I'm just a human like you only a little bit taller", Helga joked.
That put Wendy more at ease. "I'm going to walk towards you so we can get better acquainted, don't be scared", Helga said in a calm reassuring tone.
"Ok", said Wendy. She wasn't really scared, but more fascinated by what she saw.
Helga walked slowly towards her but covered so much distance in just a few steps in the eyes of the much smaller Wendy that it only took a few seconds before the giant woman stood very close in front of her. Wendy gulped as she saw an enormous pair of feet that were bigger than her and long legs the size of tree trunks and at the top a gigantic face, that looked down at her and smiled.
Helga then bent her legs, lowering herself and said, "We are going to the next room where we can talk more at eye level so I can explain this whole situation. For safety reasons, I will pick you up now. Put your arms up in the air so I can get a better grip on your body and you can move your arms more freely or rest them on my fist", Helga said.
Wendy complied as Helga's hand slowly got towards her, gigantic fingers started to curl around her body, creating a stable grip around her body. One arm leaning on Helga's index finger and the other on the giant thumb. Carefully Helga lifted Wendy of the ground until her hand with her passenger in it were 12 meters (36f 6) of the ground. The whole experience felt like a strange, gentle carnival ride.
Helga then walked in the direction of the giant door into a large hallway with multiple giant doors. She locked the door behind her and walked through the hall and entered the first door on the right.
The room was just as big as the previous room, except this one had giant furniture in it. She walked with her passenger to the desk and sat down. She lowered her hand and put Wendy on the desk.
In the middle of the desk was pyramid-like stairs with on top was a normal-sized desk and chair. "You can sit on that chair so that we are more at eye level with each other", Helga said. Wendy complied and climbed to the top and put down her backpack and got seated.
She now got a much better look at the giantess and her face was somehow familiar. Wendy then remembered some old photos she saw in her mother’s album with the two of them together. They looked like really close friends.
"Coffee or tea", Helga asked. "Tea with milk and sugar please", Wendy said.
Helga took out a small tray with a cup, a can with hot water and a box with a different kind of tea, sugar, and milk on it. Despite her hand being gigantic and seemingly impossible to comply with Wendy's request, she skillfully poured tea in the tiny cup without spilling a thing as if she had done it a million times.
"I'll bet you have a lot of questions and seeing the expression on your face, you are starting to remember me.”
Your mother, Paula and I go way back and worked on some projects together a long time ago.
I last saw you at your mother’s house, when you were just a little girl. And no, I wasn’t 72 feet tall back then”, Helga joked.
“To summarize everything,
We do all kinds of interesting, different research at this facility. You will assist me and some other scientists on a variety of projects. It is best to show you through a tour of the base.” Helga said.
That sounded very exciting to Wendy and couldn’t wait how the inside of the rest of this facility looked like.
“You were recommended by several people, whom we hold in high regard, for this internship so I have a lot of faith in you, Wendy. I’m sure you will love it here and grow as a person from this experience.
“But before you can get a grand tour of this enormous facility and be able to assist us in our work, we have to do something about your small stature. “Helga said with a smile.