Noon came, and Zima returned to her dorm, where Nolan was waiting for her. He was on the same scale as Zima, she had enlarged him with her shrink-ray pistol set on neutrino transfer protocol. Nolan was expecting some really good sex, as was usually the case whenever Zima enlarged him.

"How's it going, tiger?" Zima asked.

Before Nolan could answer, her cell phone rang. "Hello? Oh, hi Adonis. Why do you want to know the password to the lab? I guess you can have it, it's thirteen sixty-nine." Zima hung up her phone and straddled Nolan, who was lying on his back on her bed.

"Why would Adonis want the password to the lab?" Zima asked. "Do the two of you have something planned?"

Nolan knew there would probably be no sex with Zima today. He had to keep his plans with Adonis a secret, so that Adonis could refuel the Thunderbolt so his sister and the other people who came to Thanatar could return to Earth. It pleased Nolan that he was finding out first-hand that Adonis was getting the password to the lab so he could follow through with the plan to refuel the Thunderbolt.

"I can't tell you!" said Nolan. "Just be patient, and wait to see what happens!"

"If I end up married to Adonis, I'm going to be pissed!" said Zima.

"You can marry whoever you want!" said Nolan. "Haven't you ever broken a promise before? You don't have to follow through with this deal you made with me and Adonis, if he wins the competition, you can say screw him and just marry me instead!"

"I know," said Zima, "but if you tell me what Adonis is doing, I'll give you the best sex of your life right now!"

Nolan was tempted. In his current situation, he wasn't that far from death, at least in his mind. If he got on Zima's bad side, she could easily do away with him, and there would be nothing he could do about it.

"Well?" said Zima.

Nolan weighed the possibilities in his mind, and felt that honesty was important in a relationship. "Adonis is refueling the Thunderbolt today!"

Zima grabbed her cell phone, but Nolan grabbed her hand before she could dial. "What are you doing, Zima?"

"I'm calling Darian!" said Zima. "If they get away, it would ruin her project!"

"You need to let Adonis refuel the Thunderbolt!" said Nolan.

"Why should I do that?" said Zima.

"Because if he gets caught refueling the Thunderbolt, he will get busted, and you and me can get married." said Nolan.

Zima smiled at this. "That's a good idea! In fact, when I have proof, I can report him myself!"

"You don't have to do that," said Nolan. "Adonis made a deal with me and he thinks I'm going to be on the Thunderbolt when Mason pilots it back to Earth!"

"Who's going to work the space-warp cannon?" Zima asked.

"Leo, as far as I know," said Nolan. "It's my understanding that he knows how to work most of the devices in Darian's lab!"

"Leo was won by some other woman on Arcadia!" said Zima. "Darian doesn't own him anymore!"

"It doesn't matter, Adonis is working with the resistance!" said Nolan. "Somehow, he'll get Leo back to that lab!"

"Were you seriously considering leaving with them back to Earth?" Zima asked.

"All I'm going to do is say goodbye to my sister!" said Nolan. "Maybe Brody can take my place on the Thunderbolt."

"Brody isn't from the same world as you!" said Zima. "He's from an alternate quantum reality! Here, I'll shrink you and put you in with him and you can talk to him about the history of your world, and compare it to his."

"Aren't we gonna have sex?" Nolan asked.

"I have a class pretty soon!" said Zima, who had the shrink-ray pistol in her hand already. "Get up on the dresser, like usual!"

Nolan got up on the dresser, and Zima shrunk him back down to his normal size. She grabbed him and put him in the containment unit where she kept Brody, Anthony, and Johnathan.

"How's it going, Brody!" said Nolan. Zima had gone to another part of the dorm as she got ready for her class, and wasn't paying attention to the captives. Nolan recognized Brody, Anthony, and Johnathan, because they were skilled tennis players and Zima planned on keeping them, but he didn't really know many of the others that well. They were 'expendable' in Zima's opinion, therefore Nolan didn't really want to get to know them too well. He did notice, however, that there was one man missing, that must've been the one whose skull Nolan ran into when he was in Zima's digestive system.

"It's going okay," said Brody. "I heard what you were saying to Zima. Our realities are different?"

"Let's see!" said Nolan. "Who won the 2008 election on your world?"

"McCain!" said Brody.

"You've got to be kidding me!" said Nolan. "On my world, Obama won!"

"I heard what you were saying about the Thunderbolt," said Brody. "Is it true that you would let me take your place if you decide to stay here?"

"I've already decided to stay here!" said Nolan. "I think if we need the same number of passengers, we could use you. But you won't be returning to your own world! Is that okay?"

"Anything is better than being stuck on this crazy world!" said Brody. "Your world couldn't be too different from mine. Remember twelve thirty-one?"

"What's that?" Nolan asked.

"Terrorists crashed 747s into the World Trade Center. Both towers came down, and a lot of people died."

"For us that happened on nine eleven," said Nolan.

"Huh?" Brody asked.

"September eleventh, 2001!" said Nolan.

"Maybe your world really is different than mine!" said Brody. "But it's a chance I'm willing to risk to get the fuck out of this crazy place! If it goes down like you said, can you make a promise to me?"

"What?" Nolan asked.

"If you really do stay here and get enlarged and marry Zima, and I go back on the Thunderbolt, can you take care of Anthony and Johnathan for me? They're like sons to me!"

"Yeah, of course!" said Nolan. "Zima can't help them get back to Earth, because she would get arrested for treason! Once I'm married to Zima, I won't be able to help them return to Earth, either!"

"I know you can't do that," said Brody, "but I was just hoping that you could make sure they don't get swallowed by Zima! If she ever talks about wanting to swallow them, can you talk her out of it?"

"Yeah, I can do that!" said Nolan. "But I can't stop her from gambling with them. If they end up being won by another giantess, there's nothing I can do to stop that from happening!"

"Oh, I know that!" said Brody. "I don't care if they play like shit and get won by another giantess, I realize you have no control over that. My concern is with Zima, and her affinity for swallowing captives. I just don't want her to get drunk one day and forget how good they are at tennis and swallow them!"

"I'll do my best to look out for them!" said Nolan.

"Do you think this could really work?" Brody asked. "Me going back to Earth on the Thunderbolt?"

"We don't know what the future holds," said Nolan, "but right now, Adonis is trying to refuel the Thunderbolt as we speak!"

At that moment, Nolan proved to be correct; Adonis was at the lab where the Thunderbolt was housed, and he punched in the password he needed to get in. When the door slid open, he went straight to a matter conversion device and turned it on. He had some tools with him. He grabbed his tool pouch and pulled out a certain type of scanner. With it, he was able to determine exactly what kind of fuel the Thunderbolt used, in this case, liquid hydrogen and oxygen, the same fuel used on space shuttles since the early 1980's.

This wasn't a quick or easy task; Adonis needed to have fittings and hoses that were compatible with the Thunderbolt, and he needed to have them hooked up to the matter conversion device. He actually had to use the matter conversion device to manufacture the fittings he needed. When everything was hooked up, he set the matter conversion device to hydrogen in one tube and oxygen in the other tube, and he programmed the device to make them on the same scale as matter from Earth, about seventy-two times smaller in diameter than the atoms of Thanatar.

When the tanks were full, Adonis shut down the machine, and tried to erase any evidence that he had been there. When he was finished, he went to his shuttle cruiser and grabbed a dozen roses he had bought as a smokescreen. He would be able to explain to Zima later that he wanted in to leave her those roses. He had no inkling that Nolan had already blown his cover. When Adonis left the lab, he was convinced that he had succeeded on his mission.

When Zima's class was over, she went back to her dorm and dropped off her backpack, then she checked on Nolan.

"How are they treating you?" Zima asked Nolan.

"Brody is like a home-boy!" said Nolan. "Can you bring Brody in to replace me when the Thunderbolt gets ready to take off?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," said Zima. "It's a good thing you told me about your plan, you're going to need my help!"

"Won't you get in trouble if you help us?" Nolan asked.

"I've thought about that," said Zima. "If I'm asking you to make a sacrifice for me, I think I should be willing to make a sacrifice for you!"

"So you would risk your freedom for me?" Nolan asked.

"I'm going to have to!" said Zima. "I'll just tell Adonis that you made the greater sacrifice for me by staying on Thanatar!"

"Do you want him to get busted for helping the Thunderbolt get back to Earth?" Nolan asked.

"I can't turn him in, because I'm helping you guys, too." said Zima.

"And he can't tell on you, because you could drop the dime on him!" said Nolan.

"Drop the dime?" Zima asked. "What does that mean?"

"It means to rat someone out, to snitch on someone!" said Nolan.

"Oh, I know what you mean!" said Zima. "You're right, we'll be in a mutually assured defeat if we tell on each other! He'll have no choice but to keep quiet! Well, I'm going to go check on the lab! See you later!"

Zima left the dorm and went to the lab, and entered the combination. When she entered, she saw the roses left by Adonis, and her heart sank.

"Maybe he only left the roses, and didn't do anything else!" Zima said to herself. She grabbed an instrument and measured how much fuel was inside the fuel tanks of the Thunderbolt, and the instrument indicated the tanks were full. Zima let out a sigh of relief. She read the note that came with the roses, then pulled out her cell phone and called Adonis.

"Why did you leave roses for me in the lab?" Zima asked.

"I wanted to surprise you!" said Adonis.

"What's the real reason you wanted into the lab today?" Zima asked, feigning suspicion.

"Didn't Nolan tell you anything?" Adonis asked.

"Nolan won't tell me shit, but I know the two of you are up to something!" said Zima.

"You'll be surprised when you find out!" said Adonis. "But it's going to take some time! Just have patience!"

"Okay!" said Zima. "Bye, Adonis!"

Zima locked the lab and went back to her dorm and collected Nolan and re-enlarged him, and told him what happened at the lab.

"He doesn't suspect a thing!" said Zima. "If Adonis sets up a time for you to return to Earth with your sister and friends, be sure to tell me so I can plan for it!"

"You've got a deal!" said Nolan, and the two began making out passionately. Nolan was happy because it looked like he was going to get to have sex with his mistress after all today. As he took his shirt off while kissing Zima, Nolan was about to take off Zima's blouse when she stopped kissing him and spoke.

"You do realize what will happen to you if you betray me, don't you?" Zima asked.

"What?" Nolan asked.

"If you do end up back on the Thunderbolt heading back for Earth to try to escape me, I'll track you down and send you to my belly!"

"I'm not going back!" said Nolan, trying to kiss Zima again.

She held his lips from kissing her. "Promise me!"

"Ok, I promise!" said Nolan, and they resumed making out as a prelude to sex.