(Author’s Note: The chapter’s are getting a bit longer as the story reaches the end. Also, thanks to D.X not only for editing, but for adding his signature “Coaches Corner” segments!”)

“I don’t understand him,” Eyrn said, taking a drink of the strange neon substance Bedra had suggested she try, “I mean after what happened in Rutger, he just goes gallivanting off with strange pink-haired nosy-nancys like that?” Eyrn took another drink, puckering her lips at the sour-sweet combination. Alcohol was not something Eyrn had very much experience with; as it was she was finishing up her second drink, and already had flushed red cheeks and hazy, slurred speech to show for it.

“Sweetie, that girl is about as much danger to Darren as a Tupp is to a shaz-shaar.” Bedra rolled her eyes. After having met Korye Tisla, Bedra seemed scarcely concerned. “Besides, Tapp and Degu are with him, they’ll be fine, and she is a demi-diaititi right? There fine!”

“How do you know? Do you know her, do you know if we can trust her! We all remember what happened last time you thought they’d all be okay! Remember!?” Eyrn narrowed her eyes.

“I didn’t see you insisting to go with her, I didn’t see you demanding a background check and references! She asked if you wanted to join them and you said no!” Bedra hissed back defensively. “They wanted to go with her, you didn’t, what was I supposed to do? Demand that they not?” Bedra huffed, sometimes she still struggled with this human liberation deal.

“I didn’t feel like talking to anyone alright! Geeze do I have to explain myself to everyone!?” Eyrn snapped, tapping her glass impatiently. “Why didn’t you go!?”

“I was going to, but I figured I’d stay behind and make sure you were all right, okay? Shaka, you’re difficult sometimes.” Bedra huffed. “Besides, she seems sweet enough, and taking into consideration what you told me, I hardly think she’s somebody we should be worried about hurting them.” Bedra made a wide motion with her arm to a table not three units away, where the three titans were sitting with Darren, Tapp and Degu. “Anyhow I can see them from here, hells I can practically hear Darren’s ‘yeehawww, gat’dangets’ from here!”

“I don’t care if she’s sweet or sour or chocolate covered, he should know better than to go off on his own with people he hardly knows.” Eyrn eyed the bottom of her glass with a displeased glare before setting the glass down on the bar top and hunting for the tender viciously.

“Come on, even Tapp seemed to like her, do you really think princess prissy-pants would have gone with her if she weren’t trustworthy?” Bedra grinned just a little.

Eyrn didn’t answer, but the sour, annoyed face she gave was sufficient enough to get her point across.

Bedra took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. “Alright, what’s really bothering you, huh?” Bedra swiveled her bar stool until she was facing Eyrn, and crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

“I already told you.” Eyrn slurred, then narrowed her brow. “Another…cotton candy…color…slushie…thinggie…” She mumbled trying to catch one of the busy bartenders’ attention.

“I call terg-dung, that’s not it. You and I both know Darren would never have gone with her if he didn’t trust her,” Bedra insisted. “It’s something else, it has to be. You’ve been acting strange ever since…well you know.” Bedra said, trying not to unwittingly give away Eyrn’s identity by accident.

“‘M fine.” Eyrn insisted and turned her chair away.

“You are not!” Bedra shot back and took hold of Eyrn’s stool, spinning it until they were looking eye to eye.

“He shouldn’t run off okay, it’s dangerous, this whole place is dangerous, everyone here is dangerous…” Eyrn struggled to overpower Bedra but gave up in a huff, waving her arms up in frustration. The look on Eyrn’s face said more than words could. Bedra obliged and backed up a little.

“Eyrn, what’s going on, what’s wrong?” Bedra’s voice lowered to a more tender volume

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it okay! It’s embarrassing,” slurred Eyrn. As she took a drink of the newly supplied beverage, the sweetness of the sugar and the potency of the alcohol were definitely not lost on her.

“Slow down, you shouldn’t drink those so fast.” Bedra exclaimed, mildly amused but more concerned. Eyrn was turning out to be a rather mean drunk, which was only mitigated by the fact that she was so teeny.

“I’m old enough to know what I can and can’t, should and shouldn’t do all right,” Eyrn turned to face Bedra, though she had to quickly take hold of the bar as she had grown quite dizzy from the sudden movement.

“Careful Eyrn.” Bedra chuckled.

“Is it b’cuse’m small? Little Twat can’t take care of herself.” Eyrn narrowed her eyes. “I know what that name means too! Means vagina! That’s right, see’m not dumb!” Eyrn took a longer drink, wincing from the sudden unexpected sour. “‘M not small! ‘M a goddam giant! ‘M bigger than a plane,’m bigger than all the bunkers and the tanks…’M bigger than everyone okay! I don’t need to be looked after! ‘M not small and he…he…helpless! People don’t grab me by the arm’n whip me around like’a ragdoll!” Eyrn grumbled, she went to take another drink but the glass slipped from her fingers, Bedra was a second too slow to catch it and the liquid slushy mix split all over Eyrn and the table, Eyrn didn’t seem to notice.

“Eyrn….”

“‘M a goddam giant ok! I’m not weak, ‘m not small, ‘n I don’t need to be protected! I don’t get thrown around by anyone Bedra, ‘n another thing, I don’t freeze up and panic when my friends need me, ‘b’cause I’m the damn giant…I protect people, I don’t freeze up, I don’t!” Eyrn took the drink in her hand and finished it, though she started coughing soon after due to how fast she had consumed the large titan drink.

“I’m not supposed to be the helpless one Bedra, I’m supposed to be able to protect everyone. I couldn’t protect Darren, I couldn’t even move, I was terrified of that man Bedra…me…afraid…I’ve never…” Eyrn stopped, and looked away in shame.

“Eyrn, it’s ok to be afraid, especially of somebody so much bigger than you, I mean…he was huge…at least triple your weight.” Bedra spoke softly.

“Not me, It’s not ok for me Bedra, I’ve never been smaller than anyone ok, I’ve never been afraid of anyone, because I haven’t needed to be. I was bigger, stronger and meaner than any monster in the dark, bully in the yard or big muscle-bound brute.” Eyrn spoke, the anger and passion drained form her voice, exhaustion in its wake.

Bedra sighed. “Well, you aren’t anymore, Eyrn. You’re gonna have to get used to it.”

“Don’t wanna,” Eyrn sighed, and pushed her drink away.

***

“The Mr. Indescribable controversy of 2034. The Vanity disqualification of 2047. The brawl between The Archetype and The Brawler back in 2004. Sure, we all remember these events. But perhaps no day of Tol-Bot competition since the murder of Lord General Fargat in 1743 has caused such controversy, such consternation, such…such…”

“Constellation?”

“Sure, Pap, let’s go with that. It’s time for Tol-Bot Recap.”

The show’s opening music began, and Vamvaki Neachtain shook his head. Perhaps it was time for Pap to go into rehab again. He took a deep breath as the autodirector signaled they were back.

“The semis are set. Iron Maiden beat the Hierophant handily, Dibilique handled The Magician, and Felltree looked very, very strong against The Executioner…and we aren’t going to talk about them tonight. I’m joined as always by Brother Rho, Papari Ryaki; also with us are Horot Chaete, triple-eight’s top announcer; and former programmer for Bellona and color analyst Chei Obom. And we’ll have some guests in studio as well – first, folks, what just happened? Did I just see what I saw?”

Papari blinked. “I dunno, what did you see?”

“Chei, is PuppetMaster’s puppet the puppeteer?”

Obom shook her head. “Honestly, Vam, if you’d suggested that to me before the playdowns, I would have laughed. If you’d suggested it after the match with The Pain, I would have laughed a bit less, but still found it amusing. I’m not laughing now. I’m not saying we just saw a human play his way into the semis…but Daemon sure as hells thought we did.”

Horot Chatae leaned forward. “Well, I’m saying it now: we did. If you watched that match, there’s no question that the Marionette was running the show. He was making the calls. And they were brilliant. Daemon is no easy out. He looked like the rookie out there.”

Papari Ryaki laughed. “Whoa, Daemon got beat by a human! No wonder he’s mad.”

“But what about the rules?” Vamvaki asked. “Only an Imperial citizen can register for a player name. Only an Imperial citizen can play.”

“Yes to the first part,” Obom said with a grin. “The last part? Well, the rules are fuzzy. There’s no rule against having a living creature as part of your costume, no rule against having that creature flip the switches on the board. If you can get a human or shaar or klipkaer to run the controls, you can. Of course, nobody who wrote those rules thought the human or shaar or klipkaer would be making decisions, but….”

“Exactly, and it’s a huge loophole,” said Chatae. “The one complaint Daemon had was collaboration between the human and PuppetMaster, but my sources say that the officials ruled that out based on play.”

“So they think PuppetMaster is really making the calls?”

Chatae smirked. “No, no…they didn’t think they were collaborating. They thought one of them was there for show, one was the true player. They didn’t make clear which was which.”

Vamvaki Neachtain grinned. “Keeping it mysterious, eh? I like it. Well, at this point, we’re honored to be joined by a very special guest, one who was planning to talk to us about Iron Maiden’s run to the semis and the chance that she may break the record she shares with him – live from an undisclosed location, five-time Grand Tourney Champion Lord Black. Lord Black, it’s wonderful to see you.”

Tol-Bot fans sat up straighter as they saw the masked figure on their screen. There was always that hope that he’d come back and challenge the Maiden. “Thank you, Mr. Neachtain. It is a pleasure as always,” he said genially.

“Lord Black, you saw the match – PuppetMaster’s puppet. Is he the PuppetMaster?”

You couldn’t see the broad smile on Lord Black’s face. “One can never be sure of anything, but I am sure of this: the player who beat Daemon today thoroughly outclassed him, both in skill and deportment. Now, was that player the Titan or the human? That I do not know. I only know that it was a pleasure watching the match, and I look forward to a truly marvelous semifinal between the PuppetMaster and Felltree.”

“Lord Black, this is Horot Chaete – Lord Black, what do you think of those who are arguing, like Daemon, that the rules have been violated?”

“Well, the AMBO officials know the rules better than anyone. And they have made their ruling that PuppetMaster may remain in the tournament. That settles the question to my satisfaction.”

“So you have no objection to a human bending the rules to play?”

Lord Black tilted his head. “I would say this: a true player understands that there is the letter of the rules, and the spirit of the rules, and in the end, Tol-Bot is about meeting a competitor, one-on-one, and may the best player win. The best player in the arena was PuppetMaster. And I would much rather share a drink with that competitor, be they human or titan, than with Daemon.”

Neachtain nodded. “Quickly, Iron Maiden – can she win a sixth tournament?”

Lord Black laughed. “Iron Maiden is always the favorite until she is defeated. She has comported herself with dignity as a champion, and she has performed brilliantly in the arena. She will have stiff competition from Dibilique, and the winner of Felltree-PuppetMaster will be a worthy opponent indeed. But should she win – well, someone will take my record from me. I would be honored for her to be the one.”

Vamvaki leaned back, and smiled. “One last question – are you ever going to admit, Lord Black, that you are Grand Navarchos Zyn?”

Black chuckled – a very familiar laugh to those who followed Tol-Bot. And a very familiar laugh to those who served under Teustus Zyn. “You know that I cannot answer that question. To truthfully answer yes is to resign from the game, to truthfully answer no is to narrow the list of candidates for my identity. And I will not lie to you. So the answer is, as always, perhaps, and perhaps not.”

Neachtain nodded. “Thank you, Lord Black, and we look forward to speaking with you before the final. All right, after the break, we’ll recap the four quarterfinal matches, but first, those of you visiting the triple-eight feed have been asked a few poll questions. First, is PuppetMaster really a prop for the puppet? Fifty-eight percent say yes, thirty-five percent no, and seven percent aren’t sure. If the human is the competitor, should he be allowed to play – and wow, that’s close, fifty-two percent yes, forty-three no, five unsure. Finally, should Daemon be sanctioned for his actions? Well, everyone agrees on that, eighty-six percent say yes, he should, and it’s good the federation –”

Papaki suddenly laughed. “Dude got his butt handed to him by a human! That is hilarious.”

Vamvaki sighed. “…and we’ll be back after this.”

***

Being allowed to advance to the semifinals against Felltree was reason enough for Darren to celebrate. He had infiltrated a sacred institution these people looked upon with great respect and reverence, and when called out for it in front of a live audience – nay the entire viewing Titan Empire – the accuser was dismissed as if he were nothing but a raving madman. Had this been as far as Darren were to ever go, it would be nearly enough. He would have proven that there was hardly anything a titan could do that a human, given enough time and ingenuity, could not also do.

This was reason enough to celebrate, but it was to the outraged and enraged look on Daemon’s face that Darren drank to tonight.

“I’d loved to have been a fly on the wall when he found out he was the laughingstock of the entire Empire!” Darren gloated, and took another drink of the amber colored lager he had given, he had to drink it out of the basin of a spoon, but he’d had enough by now that it no longer seemed to bother him.

“I’ll drink to that, even if I don’t really understand it!” Korye laughed lightly and took a drink of her green colored fizzy soda.

“I tell ya Punky, I’d a loved to go three rounds against that blow hard if I hadda got the chance!” Darren made a few faux boxing maneuvers, sloppy as they were due to his inebriation.

“You went four, and you won!” Korye reminded Darren, oblivious to his boxing reference.

“Noooo, that ain’t whad-I-mean! Damn hell you aliens don’t get shit, always gotta’xplain things!” Darren laughed, he was far too agreeable right now to be angry, and he casually dismissed the pink haired titan with a wave of his arm.

“On behalf of aliens everywhere, I humbly apologize for not understanding your obscure references.” Korye rolled her eyes and took another long drink.

“So, what’d you say this stuff was called?” Darren asked, eyeing the green bubbling drink in the pink haired titan’s hand.

“This one is called Fuzglo, it’s a sour Remis and Mossa berry flavored Soda, and it’s very much not for human consumption.” Korye said as she put a little more distance between her glass of Soda and the three curious humans.

Tapp had taken to one of Korye’s friends in conversation. A quiet Titan male with a slick bald head save for one long black braid down the back. He had a gruff and intimidating presence, but had been surprisingly open to the idea of three humans joining them as they drank and socialized. He was named Jorm; he jokingly added after introducing himself that his last name was not “The Mighty.”

Degu of course was where the ladies were, two ladies and a human female made three. The human was a pet named Keekee, who had crinkled dark brown hair and wore a cute yellow and black Tupp costume.

Loø, her owner, seemed friendly enough, though Degu had taken a brazen stance on human enslavement, and had even taken to arguing with Loø about it. Though he was not quite as eloquent as he would like to be, he managed to keep Loø’s attention, and slowly seemed to be gaining a smidgen of respectability with her.

Kel, her friend, was a quiet sort, with tightly braided hair like the male titan, Degu had learned through observation that Korye, Kel, and Jorm had been friends since their youth, and were on a sabbatical from their studies to volunteer at the Grand Tribute, which apparently was a thing students would fight for the privilidge to do, as to have direct involvement with a Grand Tribute on one’s list of qualifications was no small feat.

“Well, if I know most of the things you know, doesn’t that make me the same?” Degu asked, having drawn Loø into a corner with surprising tact.

“Well, maybe…but not really. There are still differences.” Loø said, readjusting slightly, which he believed she did when she felt uncomfortable; she had done so at multiple times during their conversation.

“Like what?” Degu asked, remaining still and comfortable looking.

“Well, titans are smarter, and larger, and have developed art and civilization, music and culture. There is so much that makes us different, I don’t think it’s just about knowledge.” Loø crossed her legs and folded her hands neatly over one another, with a satisfied look on her face.

“Loø that’s a load of dung and you know it, we’ve no evidence that any of those things are what defines sentence.” Korye spoke up from across the table, while placing a hand in between a very curious earthling and her soda.

“Well, even if they are, we’ve done most of those.” Degu shrugged.

“Oh? Have you now?” Loo asked, with an amused grin.

“Yup.” Degu nodded. “Tapp made the clothes we have, and they’re nice looking…you said so yourself! Even called the designs very artsy.” Degu motioned to Darren. “Darren’s people sing lots of songs, he knows a few good ones…ask him he can sing a few.” Degu motioned to himself. “Bedra tells me the humans I come from tell stories and share things from the past…that’s a culture…isn’t it?” Degu, while a teeny bit unsure of himself, had managed to silence Loø, whilst causing Kel, Jorm and Korye to grin.

“That is a half-truth.” Tapp interjected. “Darren knows songs, but he is a terrible singer.”

Degu had managed to corner Loø, while Kel, Jorm and Tapp listened in, occasionally offering up their own point of view on the matter. Jorm and Kel seemed of the same mindset as Korye, who as it were already had a fairly liberal mindset before having met Darren. It was almost difficult for Darren to accept at first, that there were actually titans out there who didn’t have to be argued with, brow-beaten, and pleaded with to view humanity as something close to equals.

“Arn’t you interested in what your friends are talking about?” Korye asked at last, as it seemed Darren was the only one at the table disinterested in the conversation at hand.

Darren shrugged and took another drink. “There’s time fer fight’n, and there’s time fer celebrating.” Darren shrugged.

“A sound philosophy.” The young titan nodded in agreement.

“I dunknow, its easy’t let that be all you ever do, ‘n don’t get me wrong its important’t talk’bout that stuff. Cuz yer’ all way out’n left field and needa be set straight!” Darren motioned lazily with his hand, then nearly stumbled, but caught himself. “But sometimes ya jus needa…I dunknow…enjoy the good times when they come, n’matter how seldom they do.” Darren nodded sharply.

“I’ll drink to that.” Korye smiled and lifted her impossibly large glass, tilted it a bit, then took a drink.

Darren drunk when she did, then say back on his hands, legs sprawled out before him. “Now, about that green slime yer’drinking…”

“Ok, I admit humans are unique and definitely not just animals. But, that’s why we have the Gomi Sentence scale; to differentiate between high sentence and new or developing sentence. It’s not just black and white; it’s a complicated topic.” Loø crossed her arms neatly over her chest and bore down on Degu with an academic look of superiority. She had picked up early on that while Degu was smart and witty, he was far from highly educated, thus her path to victory lay in the field of academia and her use of dressed up speech.

Degu was indeed struggling to play catch up; a lot of what she had just spouted off didn’t make any sense to him, in part because he knew it to be a load of crock, but also because he wasn’t quite sure what a lot of that really meant.

Loø uncrossed her arms and motioned over to Keekee, who had been quiet this whole time, but was watching the intrepid young human challenge her owner with wide doe eyes.

“Keekee is clever, she is capable of higher thought, she can express emotions, she can love and be loved. But can she survive on her own? Can she fabricate tools to adapt to this environment? Is Keekee, even in a large group, fitted to survive, or destined for extinction?” Loø smiled condescendingly, “that means to die out, it’s when an entire species no longer exists.”

The table had gone silent for a moment, Korye had thought about interrupting on Degu’s behalf, but had decided to keep quiet and allow the humans at the table to stand on their own, more out of confidence in their ability to outwit Loø than anything else.

Jorm and Kel were also quiet, though did seem more engaged in the conversation now, at least enough to pull them away from their conversation with Tapp, who was also now watching Degu and Loø with fascination.

“Actually, yeah they can!” Degu said with boost of confidence, after a long still quiet to gather his thoughts. “I know, ‘cuz my friend found a whole lotta humans living on her land who’ve been there for years. They built a home in a tree and hunted things and were able to live there without being seen, and they didn’t go extunk…”

Loø’s expression was doubtful at best, she clearly had gained the upper hand in the conversation. Her posture improved, as did the condescension in her voice.

“Yes, well even if that were true, I’m sure they couldn’t survive without titan aid on at least some level.” Loø motioned down to Keekee, who had a wide eyed look of curiosity, however had still not so much as offered a shred of her own opinion on the matter.

“What about that human who is really smart and has a job at the school? I bet he’s smarter than you, and could make you look dumb and not sentient,” Degu challenged, with what came close to a confident smile on his face.

“If it were anything more than a clever hoax, I might just be convinced, however everybody knows his owner set that whole thing up so she could scam the school out of money. At least that’s what everyone says.” Loø shrugged. “I don’t know, it’s an isolated case even if it is true, like that Shar’ that can play Dol-Okkte.” Almost absent mindedly Loø reached her hand out and gently scooped Keekee up, the tiny human went without so much as a second thought, and nestled into the titan’s hand as giant fingers began to stroke and caress her.

“That’s rude you know.” Degu commented, after a bit of an uncomfortable silence.

Loø nearly looked offended, but let off a sweet sugary smile and positioned Keekee to face her. “Does this make you uncomfortable Kee?” Loø asked, in a playful and chipper voice. The little human shook her head, but didn’t say anything.

“Of course she won’t tell you, but I bet she doesn’t like being grabbed,” Degu said with growing annoyance.

Loø shook her head and sighed heavily, gently transferring Keekee to her shoulder, then reaching out she took a hold of Degu, despite his loud and sudden protests.

“You’re so high-strung; I bet your owner would appreciate it if you calmed down.” Loø began to stroke Degu’s hair, her fingers were gently but firmly around him like a strait jacket, pinning his arms to his side. “Did she teach you all these clever things? It must have taken quite a long time, eh?” Loø had grown bored of her debate with Degu, and in an attempt to change the topic had decided to scoop him up, it was her hope that this would calm him down, or at least distract him from the uncomfortable issue of human rights.

Degu had wanted to scream and shout, however instantly he found old habits hard to break, apprehension tightened his lips, the feel of a titan hand around him like this was something rare indeed, even before his new-found independence, Bedra had rarely held him like this, she knew he didn’t like it. Inside Degu wanted to tell this stranger off, outside he was terrified, and just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Put him down!” A small but irate voice drilled into Loø, causing her to look down to find Princess Tapp, arms on her hips, staring the titan down like a bird of prey.

***

“…and we’re pleased to be joined, live from Tremarla, by The Pain. How are you doing today, Pain?”

“Great, Jonthis, thanks for having me,” said the hefty man, his smile peeking out below the mask that covered the top of his face.

“Now, you’re still on Vorsha, is that right?”

“Yeah, absolutely. I know some players take off once they’ve been eliminated, but the Tribute comes once a year, man. You’ve gotta enjoy it. Nobody wants to lose, but hey, it’s gonna happen to most of us. That’s no reason to storm off.”

“And that brings us to our question,” Jonthis Lodusaroeus said from her studio in New Trantor. “You lost to PuppetMaster. But who did you really lose to?”

The Pain chuckled. “Jonthis, does it matter? Either way, I got beat by a newbie. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a human or Titan newbie, whoever was running the controls was better than I was. Now, PuppetMaster, listen up – it isn’t gonna be that easy next time. So when we play next, you’d better be ready, ‘cause I will.”

“But if it was a human who beat you – humans aren’t people. They aren’t citizens. Should a human be allowed to play?”

The Pain shook his head. “That whole citizen thing…man, I dunno. I’ve said for a while, if there’s a Tusolan who wants to play Tol-Bot and they’re good, bring ‘em in. Same with the Drazari. Heck, if they weren’t so serious all the time I’d say the Insectoids should play. So humans? Why not?”

“Well, they aren’t people,” Jonthis said.

“Hey, all I know is that if a human was playing me, a human beat me. Don’t know if that makes him a person, but it makes the little guy better than me at Tol-Bot. So like I said, if someone can play, let ‘em play.”

Jonthis raised her eyebrows. “But you know, if the puppet is the player, you could challenge your loss in the opening round. And with Daemon disqualified….”

The Pain laughed. “Naw, man, not like that. Not like that. You play someone straight up. If you beat them, you shake their hand and wish ‘em better luck next time, if they beat you, you shake their hand and wish ‘em good luck with the next match. Wasn’t like there weren’t rumors before my match with PuppetMaster. If I cared, I coulda challenged – but why would I do that? Like I said, I don’t know if PuppetMaster’s a human, and I don’t care. Only reason I would challenge now is that I got beat and I’m a sour loser, and I’m not a sour loser. Only a putz stands in the arena, fights to a loss, and whines afterward that it wasn’t fair.”

“It sounds like you’re calling Daemon a putz.”

The Pain beamed. “This is where I’m supposed to say, ‘No, I respect my opponents,’ but seriously, that…well, I can’t say what I’d say exactly the way I was gonna, but let’s just say that any respect I had for Daemon? That’s gone, man. I mean…you lost, dude. Get over it. If you lost to a human, he’s better at Tol-Bot than you, and I mean, whether you’re talking the PuppetMaster or the Puppet, they aren’t whiners. Daemon’s a whiner. Take a human over a whiner any day.”

“All right, thank you, The Pain, and better luck next season.”

“Thanks, Jonthis.”

***

“Eyrn, you didn’t do anything wrong back there, How were you to know he would pull something like that? He was bigger, stronger, and you had,” Bedra looked around, then leaned in and whispered the next part into Eyrn’s ear, “you had a million eyes on you, nobody expected him to pull a stunt like that.”

“It doesn’t matter okay.” Eyrn slurred, slamming her glass a few times to signal that she wanted another. “I froze, I didn’t even try to do anything. I just froze, ok!” Eyrn sighed. “When I was on the gifflejopp….the Gyro…the Griffon….”

“The Gyfjon?” Bedra asked, surprising a smile.

“Whatever…when I was on that ship I broke the Captain’s nose, kicked the first officer in the stomach and knocked out two armed soldiers…but I freeze in front of one muscle bound jerk!” Eyrn ignored Bedra’s constant pleading for her to lower her voice, least she give away her and Darren’s identity.

“Eyrn, you’re not the biggest kid on campus anymore, you were bound to run into somebody who would use their size against you, it’s happened to everyone. It sucks, yea, and it’s not right, I understand that. But, it’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Bedra insisted, moving in to hail down the bar tender, who refilled Eyrn’s drink.

Eyrn wasted no time in taking a long drink, after shivering from the cold of the slush like drink, she made a sloppy hand gesture to Bedra, then braced herself off the bar for support. “I never shouldda’left Earth, m’kay! I never hadda worry about being…being…being spun around like…like a spinning top and bullied like…like some little kid!” Eyrn took a moment to locate her drink, then drank, setting it down. “This is really fucking tastey…”

Bedra shook her head, and then signaled to her glass for a refill. “Welcome to the Empire, hon, you’ve a lot to get used to.”

***

“I think the fact that she’s making a human run the controls is abominable, and we intend to get to the bottom of this.”

“But Ms. Prenn, do you really think he’s being made to run the controls? He doesn’t seem mistreated at all, and in fact, if he’s really the player….”

Lyroo shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. Ridiculous! Humans are sweet, they’re loving, they’re caring. They are not smart enough to play Tol-Bot.”

The man across the table folded his arms. “Look, there’s the physicist up in Tannhauser. Neill…Nell….”

“Niall Freeman.”

“Right, Dr. Freeman.”

“Niall Freeman,” Lyroo corrected.

“Well, he’s holding down a job as a professor. Clearly, he’s smart. I can’t do physics at that level, can you?”

“Now wait a minute, Gopra,” the female moderator said. “Are you saying that humans are as smart as Titans?”

“Clearly not, Eraso,” Gopra Aphalae harrumphed. “At least, on aggregate. We’d see some evidence of human civilization on Earth, and we all know that hasn’t happened to any significant degree. But clearly, once in a while, some of their more intelligent members might turn out to be savants – they might, in some limited fields, be able to match up with Titans. So in those rare cases, shouldn’t we let them?”

“Humans are not up to the rigors of Titan life. Look at their sleep schedules!” Lyroo said. “They’re dependent on us. If we start to think that they could go about their merry way, what happens? Lots of dead humans in Rutger would tell you if they could.”

“That reminds me,” said Eraso Gontemu, “you were rehabilitating that human after the Rutger incident. How did that turn out?”

Lyroo flashed a winning smile. “I’m happy to say that he’s fully rehabilitated, and that he’s been taken in by neighbors of mine, a farm family. He’s very smart, a bit persnickety, but he’s going to make an interesting pet for them.”

***

“Jealous? Don’t worry sweetie, you’ll get a turn too.” Loø laughed, showing she really didn’t take anything these adorable little things said serious.

“Loø….” Korye spoke up at last, but silenced herself at a stop gesture from Tapp.

“My turn? For what, exactly?” Tapp’s anger had seemingly sedated itself, though her eyes remained locked on the tan-skinned, titan hard and unbreaking.

“For cuddles? I don’t know, whatever you like. Are all three of you so high strung and serious? Honestly you must drive your owner simply up the wall.” Loø laughed, a polite and stuffy laugh that Tapp had heard only too often.

“You mean my chance to get molested? My chance to be manhandled, like some sort of object for your amusement?” Tapp only continued to move forward, away from Jorm and Kel, towards Loø and her now uncomfortable looking human.

“Loø, maybe you should….” Korye tried once more, only to receive a short stone-faced look from Tapp, which silenced her but left a bit of a smile on her face.

“Your friend’s a lot tougher than she looks Darren.” Korye whispered to Darren, who was attempting to climb her soda glass, despite her hand covering the mouth of the glass.

The resident Earthling had long passed the clear minded point in his drinking night, responded with a hearty laugh and a knee slap. “You don’t know’t half’a it Korkey!”

Korye rolled her eyes, then pulled her Soda out of his reach, as he had been slowly but drunkenly trying to inch his way towards it.

“Molested? I would never do such a thing!” Loø shot back with an indignant huff. “I’ve always been nothing but kind and loving to humans!”

Tapp slowly clapped, though her expression was as predatory as ever. “Whether with kindness or with malice, it doesn’t matter, you’re either really stupid, or you just don’t gorram care.” Tapp was now easily with in arms reach.

Jorm had turned in his chair to watch, and Kel had actually allowed a smile to form on her stone and stoic face.

“Why I’ve never…who trained you to speak like this!” Loø gasped, taken aback by the boldness of the spunky little human.

“I’ve always been a charmer, dear, now be a good bimbo and stop molesting my friend, he doesn’t like it, and is only not telling you because his base will to survive has crippled his sense of injustice and rage.” Tapp smiled, but it wasn’t one of pleasantly or even forced politeness, it was one of malice and spite.

“I’m not hurting you, am I sweetie?” Loø looked down to Degu, who was starting to adjust to the shock of being grabbed, and starting to feel a little confidence boost from Tapp’s presence.

“No.” Degu said. A sick feeling in his stomach nearly forced him to leave it at that. He felt defeated, how could he live on his own if he couldn’t stand against one titan? “But I really don’t like this.” Degu said, after some hesitation.

Tapp crossed her arms tightly over her chest and shifted her weight onto her other foot. The silence between them all felt awkward, save of course for Sergeant Avery, who seemed to reside in his own little world, even though Korye’s attention was fixed firmly on Loø and Tapp.

Loø seemed to ignore everything Degu said after ‘no’, and turned back to Tapp. “It’s clear, your master never tought you about respect!”

“I don’t have a master, actually.” Tapp said with firm assurance.

“Nonsense, you’re a human, you have a master. Who takes care of you? Feeds you and changes your litter box? Who buys things for you and keeps you safe, who are you registered to, who brought you here?” Loø spoke with crushing condescension, her lips curling into a proud grin.

Tapp was quiet for a second, which made her feel small, she could feel Loø’s eyes on her, she could feel the woman’s smug wide grin, and it made her angry. She had a point, Bedra did most of those things for her, and for the most part Bedra did everything. She was far from self-sufficient.

“That’s what I thought.” Loø rolled her eyes, her attention returning to Degu, who she once again began to stroke on the head. “Your friend could use a lesson in obedience, eh?” Loø said to Degu, though loud enough for Tapp to hear.

“Can you put me down now? Your fingers stink like bad perfume, and I don’t like you.” Degu said, his confidence returning.

Loø’s eyes widened and she gasped, to hear such a thing from a sweet little human.

The other titans at the table snickered and chuckled, though Tapp still seemed in deep thought.

“Loø, I think you’ve embarrassed yourself enough hmmm?” Korye spoke up at last, ever the diplomat of course.

“Naw, I bet’she can do better if she tried!” Darren spoke up, though drunk; it showed at least that he was at least half listening.

“It’s only like that because of people like you.” Tapp said at last and looked back to Loø with fierce determination.

Loø laughed and shifted positions, amused, but impressed that Tapp still had the gall to challenge her. “Well, can you do any of those things yourself?” Loø asked sweetly.

“Of course I can! I am not helpless!” Tapp scoffed.

“Aren’t you though?” Loø said, setting Degu down and folding her hands neatly together. This gave her a way to save face while at the same time acknowledging Degu’s discomfort with her. “If your master left you alone, how would you eat? Could you even reach the food on the shelf, or in the refrigerator? How would you dispose of your own waste? What would you do if an intruder entered your premise, or if a simple vermin like a Scilith or a Duvee decided to make a meal of you?”

“None of those are my fault; I never chose to live here, not like this. If things were to my own scale I would do just fine for myself!” Tapp shot back.

“Would you?” Loø answered, sounding more annoyed than amused now. “All this talk of human equality is just silly. Humans can’t be equal when they very much are not. The proof is right before us, humans are too small and helpless to survive on their own. Your whole species would have gone extinct generations ago had we not stepped in to protect you. You can’t make something an equal that just isn’t, not every species is born equal little girl, that’s just natural law.”

Tapp found it harder to maintain a calm front, and stomped her foot in frustration. “Saving somebody does not give you ownership of them! That is asinine! Do the peacekeepers own you, does the imperial fleet? Do the Tams run around dressing people in silly costumes and abducting people from their homes?” Tapp’s voice cracked a bit, which only happened when she was truly upset.

“It’s not just size sweetie, titans are also a lot more intelligent than humans, and it’s just a fact dear.” Loø said, with the same smug grin.

“Even if that were true, many think the Dunnermaac are smarter than the titans, would that make it all right for them to kidnap you from your homeworld and force you to live in an underwater terrarium? Hey, Loø, how would you eat hmmm? What would you do if some predatory fish tried to make a meal of you? Would you know what to do if your air tank ruptured? Could you even take care of yourself in the depth of the Great Ocean?” Tapp said, her confidence returning.

“Of course not, I am a mammal; I was not designed to live under water.” Loø laughed.

“And I’m a human, I wasn’t designed to live with giants!” Tapp shouted in reply.

“She’s got you there Loø.” Korye said, not even trying to mask her amusement. She felt bad for feeling the need to leap in and rescue Tapp, when the tiny fireball had more than proved she could handle herself

“Ya can’t teach a fish a new trick.” Darren said sagely, then furrowed his brow. “Or is it, ya can’t judge an old dog by its ability ta’ climb a tree?” Darren shrugged. “Eh, yall know what ah’mean.”

Loø shook her head and set her hands flat on the table. “That’s not even close to the same thing. Human beings were not equipped to survive in the universal community; they are not the same as everyone else. They need to be protected and looked after. How would humanity fare on their own?” Loø asked, her voice much less amused now, she even appeared to be taking this little conversation seriously now.

“I don’t know, we were never given the chance.” Tapp responded, then motioned over to Darren. “But from what I’ve head, we’ve managed to undo most of the damage you all caused.” Tapp then motioned to Degu. “Some of us have even managed to carve out something roughly resembling a life here on this giant death trap of a planet. You titans don’t give us the respect we deserve, you walk around flaunting your privilege like it’s a badge of honor, when in reality, the chains you’re all dragging are heavy enough to sink a ship! You shouldn’t be proud of yourselves, you should be ashamed, you should be begging the universe for a way to make amends for all the lives you’ve messed up, all the civilizations you’ve destroyed, all the people you’ve enslaved!” Tapp stepped forward, angrily flicking her platinum blond hair towards Loø. “All the perfect little dollies you’ve fucked over!”

The anger and frustration in Tapp’s voice seemed to legitimately cause Loø to shift her focus from that of a combative stance to a more concerned one. Her face dropped and her eyes softened. “Hey, no need to get so upset sweetie, its okay.”

The shift in behavior only seemed to set the little blond off even more, now she wasn’t being mocked, she was being talked down to! “It’s okay? How is everything okay? My entire species is a laughing-stock; even if I am free, everyone around me is a slave! You’re dragging that poor woman around whereever you go because she’s cute and she amuses you, how am I supposed to live with that?” Tapp asked, dangerously close to tears, which was rare indeed.

“Hey, I take good care of Keekee, she’s perfectly happy with me, aren’t you dear?” Loø looked to the table, where she had placed Keekee. The frightened little dark haired human was sitting next to Degu, who seemed to be attempting to reassure her and calm her down.

“Yes.” Keekee nodded. She was not used to Loø doing so much shouting and getting this worked up, it was evident she felt this was somehow her fault.

“See,” Loø looked back to Tapp assuring.

“What else is she going to say? You are her day and night, you lord your power over her like a god, you have the power to snuff her out on a whim, you are the hand of power, what else do you expect her to say?” Tapp shouted, motioning once more to Keekee.

“Hey, I listen to Keekee when she talks, I don’t lord anything over her. I do my best to take her feelings into consideration as best I can. I think she has it fairly good all things considering.” Loø said indignantly.

Tapp groaned in frustration and raised her hands in the air as she shouted. “It shouldn’t be you decision to make in the first place! She should be free to do what she wants, even if it’s not safe, even if you don’t like it!”

“When she wanted to wear clothes, after seeing that human in Tannhauser wearing clothes, I listened.” Loø motioned to Keekee, who was in fact wearing a Tupp suit.

“No, you and I are wearing clothes, that poor woman is wearing a costume!” Tapp barked.

Loø reached out and took ahold of Tapp, gently lifting her to face level.

***

“…and this just in, Iron Maiden – yes, Iron Maiden – has issued a statement, very terse, as you’d expect. ‘I will play Dibilique, and when she is defeated, I will face the winner of the other match. I will not challenge them. If they are foolish enough to play me, then let them.’ So that’s all three of PuppetMaster’s potential opponents, then, saying they won’t challenge her.”

“That’s right, Horot. Felltree was first, of course, in the post-match interview here on the triple-eight. She said flat out that she wants to face the toughest challenge, and that’s PuppetMaster. Then Dibilique issued a statement saying she did not see any reason to challenge, and calling out Daemon’s conduct. And so with Iron Maiden taking a stand, it’s clear that PuppetMaster doesn’t have to worry about being forced out of the tourney; she just has to worry about winning.”

“Right, Vamvaki. And at this point, we shouldn’t let this whole mess overshadow the fact that we are going to see history made in the Felltree-PuppetMaster match. No first-time Tribute qualifier has made it to the final in the AMBO Grand Tribute era, so whoever wins that match will be the best rookie of all time. And of course, no novice qualifier had ever made the round of eight, much less the semis, so PuppetMaster has already gone farther than any other novice in Tol-Bot history. Of course, you can see that match right here on the triple-eight….”

***

Tapp looked deeply concerned, but before she had a chance to speak, Korye stood up and spoke.

“Loø that’s enough!”

Jorm too spoke at last, his voice deep and billowing. “Lo-oh, stop acting like a child!”

Darren snickered a little and loudly whispered. “Now she’s gonna get it!”

“I am only going to say this one more time, for the last time, will you both please shut up!?” Tapp looked back, with surprising clarity and tact.

Korye’s eyes widened, and slowly she sat down, looking down to Darren in shock. Jorm too took a seat, eyeing Kel, who simply snickered.

“Ya’ll should see’er when she’s angry.” Darren grinned.

“Now what?” Tapp said, not giving Loø the satisfaction of feeling her struggle.

“I beg pardon?” Loø said, as she began to stroke Tapp’s hair.

“I said now what?” Tapp said once more. “Is this where you coddle me and assure me everything is going to be okay? Is this where you practice that moral and intellectual superiority you mentioned? Poor little human needs a hug?” Tapp’s eyes shot through Loø like daggers.

“I was just trying…you were getting upset…I thought….”

“You thought what? That I needed you to calm me down? That I wanted you to calm me down? That I was only saying all of this because I was cranky or sleepy or hungry? Maybe I needed my ‘binky’ or a nice back rub and a pat on the head?”

“I was just…I just wanted to calm you down, you look so upset and….”

“I am upset!” Tapp shouted. “We all are, on some level, we all are. Maybe some of us have had the fight taken out of us, maybe some of us don’t know any better or maybe we’ve just known nothing else for so long we don’t even know what the other side feels like, but deep down inside every single one of us has a little voice screaming, ‘this isn’t right’!” Tapp let out a sigh, just being confined like this sapped the energy out of her, it made her feel defeated and hopeless. Surrounded by flesh, unable to move, everything she had said with such passion, ignored. “There there, little human, everything will be alright.”

Loø didn’t say a word, she simply set Tapp down on the table and tucked her hands under onto her lap. “I…I’m sorry.”

Tapp scoffed. “No you’re not.”

Tapp laughed a cynical sort of laugh. “You know what the worst part is?” She said, looking up to Loø the anger and ire drained from her like a deflated balloon. “It’s not that we’re slaves, it’s not that we were abducted from our home and forced to live here, it’s not even that you don’t take us seriously.” Tapp sighed; her voice went low, as if she herself could hardly believe what she was saying. “It’s that, in light of all this, you all actually think you’re helping us, that this is all somehow for our own good. The most insulting part about all of this, is how proud of yourselves you all are, for how safe you think you’re keeping us.”

The group sat in silence for a while, Loø just looked down at her lap, while Degu continued talking to Keekee to distract her from what was happening. Kel and Jorm went back to talking amongst themselves, while Tapp just stood where she was, looking down at the table.

Korye took her hand off the top of her soda glass, and dipped the spoon Darren had been drinking from into the drink, then set it down on the counter.

“What’s this?” Darren said, looking up to her suspiciously.

“You asked for some, didn’t you?” Korye replied with a small apologetic smile.

“Whaddabout all that shit’ya said about not fer humans and shit?” Darren leaned over to smell the thick green substance.

“Yea, I know. But who am I to stop you?” Korye looked over to Tapp, who was now making her way back over to Jorm and Kel. “Just be ready for one hell of a hangover.”

NEXT TIME ON TITAN EXILE…