With an exaggerated sigh, Essni folded the screen of her workstation computer into her desktop and leaned back in her desk chair. “Finally done for the day.!” She turned towards the far end of her desk where a number of her scavengers were sorting through the day’s finds for her.

From the center of the whirlwind of activity, Andimem directed traffic and helped his comrades to sort the valuable things that Essni wanted from the junk that the rest of the group would make use of . Of course, Essni was sure they didn’t see it in those terms. Certainly from their perspective they were keeping the useful things.

The poor humans would never understand the finer things the galaxy had to offer.

Essni rested her chin in her hand as a sudden dour thought occurred to her. Most of the truly amazing things were out of her grasp as well, stuck as she was in this middle of the road job. A bitter wave washed over her as she recalled all the spoiled, pampered idiots that swept through the spaceport, shielded from the common folk by their security teams and entourages of sycophants.

It wasn’t fair.

“All right, I’m leaving.” Essni sighed as she pulled herself to her feet and grabbed her coat and bag. “You little darlings be careful and I’ll see you in the morning.”

There was a muted chorus of goodbyes that echoed behind her as she left, but Essni hardly bothered to pay attention to them.

Andimem watched Essni sweep out of the room. He’d caught the expression on the titan woman’s face. She looked… exhausted.

“What’s the matter?” Andimem felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Elena.

“Nothing. Just Essni.”

Elena rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re worried about her.”

“Yes. A little.” Andimem admitted, shrugging his shoulders.

“You realize she takes advantage of us.” Elena grumbled. “We bring her back gold, jewelry and money and she-”

“She gives us what we need.” Andimem said softly, placing his hands on Elena’s shoulders.

Elena sighed. She wasn’t going to be able to convince Andimem of her suspicions any time soon, and didn’t really feel like wasting the energy trying. Not when there were much more productive things she could be doing with her time.

“Honestly, her expression reminded me of that far-away look you get sometimes, when you’re thinking about Earth.”

Elena turned and regarded him with a curious expression. “I thought you didn’t believe I was from Earth.”

Andimem shrugged and tossed a bit of cloth into a pile by his feet. “I’m not sure. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it still seems like a wild tale but… well anything is possible.”

“If I ever get back, then you’ll see.” Elena muttered, though there was a small smile on her face when she said it.

“Just make sure you bring me with you.” Andimem replied.

“No way.” Elena laughed. “I’ll get you home and all the girls will see how guapo you are and you’ll never look twice at me again.”

“What did you call me?”

“Guapo” Elena repeated slowly, then realized she didn’t know the proper translation in his language. “It means… you know, like ‘pretty’ but for men.”

“Ah.” Andimem laughed. “I don’t think you’d need to worry about me looking at other girls. Not after everything I’ve seen you do.”

Elena didn’t respond, and she turned away so Andimem couldn’t see the color rising on her cheeks. “Looks like we’re just about done here.” Elena said, looking around as the crowd dispersed from sorting the day’s haul. “Got any plans for the next few hours?”

Andimem’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe.” He replied slyly. “What did you have in mind?”

Elena’s smile widened into a grin as she slowly ran a finger up Andimem’s arm. “I was thinking maybe you and I could find somewhere a little more private to spend some time.

The young man’s eyes lit up as he caught her meaning. “Oh… I think I can find us a nice place to spend some time. If you’re interested.”

Elena didn’t respond. Instead, she grabbed Andimem’s wrist and pulled him towards the opening in the vents they used to leave Essni’s office.

*.*.*.*

The next morning, Elena and Mihiya were moving through the high beams in the ceiling above the main concourse of the spaceport.

“Do you ever think this is all there is for us?”

Elena turned to face Mihiya, and found the redheaded woman staring at the ground far below, with her face clouded over pensively.

“I don’t know.” Elena admitted after a long moment to consider the implications of the question. “Obviously, I’d like to return home to my family, someday…. but the longer I’m here and the more I learn about this place, the less likely that’s becoming.”

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Mihiya’s sad but supportive smile.

“Still,” Elena continued in a more upbeat tone. “I can’t say life with Essni’s gang has been boring. And at least I’m not in a cage on someone’s desk.”

“True.” Mihiya sighed wistfully. “I suppose I should be grateful. There isn’t much in the way of options when you’re a human. At least we’re indoors.”

As if to underscore the point, a loud boom of thunder reverberated through the rafters of the spaceport. Instinctively, the two human women ducked away from the sound before looking up at a skylight above them, which was being pelted with water.

“I mean, just imagine being out in that.” Mihiya muttered.

“No, thank you.” Elena sighed, pulling herself to her feet. She couldn’t imagine how bad a torrential downpour was when you were the size of a mouse, and she wasn’t terribly interested in finding out either. “Come on, we got more scrounging to do.”

“Right.” Mihiya agreed. She hauled herself into a standing position and cracked her neck. “I think we should check out the Allied Spacelanes terminal. From what Andimem told me, they’re a luxury line. Maybe we’ll find some nice shiny things for Essni.”

“Hm.” Elena grunted noncommittally.

Mihiya stopped short. “What’s that about?”

“What?”

“‘Hm.’” Mihiya grunted, in mocking imitation. “You don’t like Essni?”

“She’s fine.” Elena muttered. “I guess. I don’t know.”

“Uh huh.” Mihiya smirked before squeezing her body between two slats of a ventilation grate. “You just don’t like the way she treats Andimem like her special favorite.”

Elena blinked, waving a dust cloud away from her face. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

“Oh come on.” Mihiya tossed a grin over her shoulder, though it was hard for Elena to see it in the gloom of the vent’s interior. “I’ve seen the looks you give him.”

“Oh. That.” Elena shrugged. “Essni’s a Titan. It would be pretty pointless to be jealous of her.”

Mihiya stopped short. “Wait, what do you mean ‘oh that’?”

Now it was Elena’s turn to grin mischievously. “I just mean that Andimem and I are a bit beyond the ‘awkward touching and casting glances at each other’ phase.” Without missing a beat, she breezed past a stunned looking Mihiya and into the ventilation shaft in front of her.

Mihiya stopped short, and her eyes widened as she came to fully understand what Elena was saying. “Wait a second, you can’t just drop that and walk away! Hey, get back here!”

Elena paused to wait for the other woman to catch up again.

“When did this start?” Mihiya asked, gasping as she tried to catch her breath.

“Not long,” Elena admitted. “Only a few days, really”

“And when were you going to tell me?” Mihiya asked in a mock offended tone.

“I just told you right now.” elena replied. “It wasn’t like we were trying to keep it a secret, it just hadn’t come up yet. That’s all.”

Mihiya sighed wistfully. “It’s okay. I’m only a little jealous.”

“We’ll find you someone.” Elena promised. “How about that guy?”

Mihiya looked down to the floor where elena was pointing, to see a Titan man with curly blonde hair hurrying through the crowd, presumably towards the terminal where his spaceship was due to take off.

“He’s a little tall for me, don’t you think?”

“Right. Sorry.” Elena laughed. “Come on, let’s go check out those rich person spaceships you mentioned.”

*.*.*.*

Essni pressed her thumb to the lock reader on the door to her apartment. After a moment to verify her identity, the locked clicked and Essni was able to push her door open. A split second after her entyr, the lights turned on and the environmental controls flipped over to the ‘occupied’ setting.

Of course none of this covered up the fact she was coming home to empty rooms. With a long suffering sigh, Essni threw her bag onto the couch in her living room and stepped into her kitchen.

What she needed was another living thing in the house with her. Like a pet. She chuckled drily as she tried to imagine what life would be like if she brought one of her little humans home with her. Her mind immediately put Andimem into the scenario. She dismissed the thought. He’d probably make a terrible pet, too wild.

Then again… she mused, perhaps he’d get used to the idea. Maybe he’d enjoy a life of not having to scrounge for survival. And really, what difference was there in having her take care of him here or having her take care of him at the spaceport. Doing it here would just be more direct.

Her mind wandered and she began to picture Andimem greeting her as she came home from work, excited to see her. She’d pick him up and nuzzle his little body with her nose.

Other thoughts began to intrude. Andimem was Titan sized, taller than her even. His handsome face having become all the more so from the increase in scale.

Essni shook her head. Where had that come from? Sure, she’d heard strange rumors of people becoming involved in humans… but certainly she wasn’t one of those people! Humans were pets. They were cute pets, smart pets even… but that was all.

Still, she decided that maybe bringing one home with her was a good idea. And why not bring home her very favorite?

Essni’s mood lightened considerably once she’d made the decision. Humming idly to herself she moved into the kitchen to fix herself a drink.

*.*.*.*

While sitting in her desk chair and idly sipping on a cup of hot tea, Kiri looked like she was idly reading an article from the latest issue of a psychology journal. In reality, she was doing her best to eavesdrop on the conversation of the two humans in their enclosure on the other side of her office.

Both Oteo and Lishda had taken to her challenge with gusto, each vigorously attempted to bring the other around to their point of view; all the while knowing that realization of their own life goals lied in convincing the other to follow their path.

A small tug at the corner of her mouth was the only change of expression on Kiri’s face as she listened to the two of them. Hash it out.

At that particular moment, Lishda was having her say.

“I do not understand why you desire to be set loose in the world, Oteo.” Lishda sighed regretfully. “The world is too big for humans to be out on our own. We can’t survive without Titan help. And, I don’t understand why anybody would want to. Here we are safe and fed and no shaars will attack us.”

“Yes and meanwhile, you go where they tell you; you eat what they tell you, you sleep when they tell you. By the goddess, you can’t even decide when to have your own children!”

“If we weren’t meant to be protected by them, then why were we created so small?” Lishda shot back.

“Because we weren’t meant to live on the same worlds as them!” Oteo snapped. “There are worlds meant for us. Worlds that are the right size for us. Lishda, I don’t know anymore what created us, but I do know that if they intended us to be dumb coddled beasts, or mere amusements then they wouldn’t have given us a functioning brain as well. I know you’re no more an imbecile than I am. Kiri’s tests prove it. Why give us that if we’re supposed to sit in cages all day?”

“You’ve seen what the world out there is like!” Lishda sighed. “It’s too big for us. Please just stay here where it’s safe. Kiri says she’s done testing us. All we need to do now is keep her happy. No worrying about food, or… or having a job… just safety. Is that so bad?”

“The price is too high.” Oteo sighed.