“Niall are you done with whatever you’re doing?” Naskia asked. She had expected him to try to climb her leg or something but she hadn’t felt him. There was no reply.

“Niall? This isn’t funny.” She said bending forward slightly and looking around the floor near her feet. She couldn’t see him.

“Niall seriously I don’t like this. I could step on you if I can’t see you.” She said starting to get anxious. She crouched down and the placed her hands on the floor and looked between her legs. She spotted Niall’s tiny form passed out on the floor.

“Niall!” she shouted dropping on to her side and scrambling up to Niall’s body.

She hoped for him to laugh or grumble or something at the sound of her voice calling for him but there was nothing. She poked him a few times, nothing. She lifted his leg up and dropped it, still nothing. She rolled him on to his side hoping for any sort of response but none came. She scooped Niall’s limp form into her hand and held him close to her chest while she ran through to the kitchen.

“KIRI!” she shouted as she set Niall down on a kitchen counter and grabbed the medkit from under the sink. She pulled the hand scanner from the kit and started to scan Niall up and down. The scanner was designed for Titans but worked well on humans too.

“Please be ok, please be ok, please be ok.” She repeated as she scanned Niall and waited for the results. The scanner took longer than it usually would as it adjusted for Niall’s small size.

Kiri walked out of her bedroom door and was surprised to see her roommate standing there topless. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“Seriously Nas? What’s up?” she said annoyed at being woke up.

Naskia didn’t reply. The results of the scan were coming through now. Pulse and breathing were ok. There was a lot of excess adrenaline in his system.

Kiri walked up beside Naskia and realised why she had called her sounding upset.

“Nas, what did you do to him?” she asked with a badly judged tone.

“Nothing! Actually Nothing!” she yelled tapping furiously on her pad looking for information on why a Human would pass out. “He asked me to put him on the floor while I stood up straight. When I looked down a couple of minutes later he had passed out.”

“Hmmm, that’s really odd. How come he wanted to go on the floor? Was he acting odd before that?” Kiri asked.

“We were just playing! I think he got a bit freaked out…” Naskia said.

“Ok Nas relax. If he was freaked out and then you put him on the floor he’s probably just passed out through panic. It’s fairly normal for new humans. Plenty of Titans pass out through fear too…..” Kiri said trying to reassure her.

“You think?” Naskia said sniffling a bit. “I shouldn’t call the vet or that?”

“No, I’m sure he’ll be fine. Why were you playing? I thought he wasn’t your pet.” Kiri said trying to move Naskia on.

“Yeah but….he’s still a man…he made his own choice.” Naskia said.

“Nas, you can’t have a physical relationship with a human you’re treating as an equal. If he’s yours then you can do what you want with him. But you say he’s an equal but not your species; it’s never going to go anywhere. If you’re worried about those needs then get him a girl human.” Kiri said.

“Don’t worry about it” Naskia said not really listening.

“He’s obviously not as strong as we thought he was. He may be smart but he clearly can’t cope with life here. I don’t think he’s ready to be independent Nas. I think you need to put your foot down and get him to accept his place as your pet. He’s just too weak. It’s best for him if you…”

“Can you just leave off for a minute Kiri? I’m really not in the mood for a lecture right now.” Naskia snapped at her.

“Yeah sure Nas…..I think we should both go back to bed anyway. You know how cranky I get if I don’t get my full 26 hours…g’night.” Kiri said going back to her room. She wasn’t used to Naskia snapping at her.

“Night.” Naskia said focusing on Niall. She was contemplating bringing him round with a splash of water but decided he could do with resting up properly.

Kiri’s words rang in her head. Should she put her foot down? He obviously did have a breaking point if he could pass out like that. She could have the caring little pet she had wanted in the first place rather than Niall’s often belligerent moods. She looked at him unsure and thought back to something he said about the 2500 foot alien. She was sure if that happened to her she would probably have been scared out of her own skin and probably handled it far worse than Niall had. She remembered how Niall had been nice to her and helped her resolve the problems with the equations and how he’d forgiven her for being so horrible to him. She wasn’t so sure if she could have done the same if their positions had been reversed. It was her decision now, treat him as an equal or revert him back to being a pet.

“No, Kiri’s wrong. Everyone can freak out once in a while. This doesn’t change anything.” She said out loud determined to make sure this event didn’t affect Niall’s future here.

Naskia plucked him from the counter and rolled him into her palm and went through to bed. She decided it would be best for Niall if he was kept warm and didn’t wake up on his own so she kept him in her hand curled up. She left a message on the screen for Niall asking him to wake her when he woke up.

She lay on her side almost cuddling in to him. Naskia normally slept on her back and found the new position odd at first but the feeling of knowing Niall was close and safe relaxed her. She sat watching the unconscious man in her hand. She felt conflicted feelings rising in her chest, a huge feeling of protectiveness combined with a feeling of failure. She cursed herself for letting this happen to him. Naskia kissed his chest and Niall shifted in her hand, she hoped he was about to wake up but he stayed unconscious. Naskia sang a lullaby her father sang to her as a child, she didn’t know if she was singing it for Niall’s sake or her own. She stroked him softly with her index finger as she sang and eventually drifted off to sleep herself.

Niall woke up after being unconscious for a full 9 hours. He woke up clutching his pounding head. “What in the hell happened to me?” he said sitting up. He was in Naskia’s left hand which was curled over above him. He followed her arm to her body, she was lying asleep on her back facing away from him. There was a light glowing in the distance; the wall screen was on at the end of the bed.

“Niall, please can you wake me up when you read this? Nas x” it read.

Niall thought back to the last thing he remembered. He was standing at Naskia’s feet having difficulty breathing. He must have passed out. “Shit!” he said out loud.

Niall had done his best to show he wasn’t intimidated by Naskia’s size. It hadn’t really bothered him before, even when she was being aggressive. Being that close to being eaten obviously set something off inside of him which caused him to have a panic attack. He couldn’t remember the last time he had one. Over 10 years ago at least, he used to get them when other children mocked him for being a “freak” or “weirdo”. It had taken a lot of hard work to conquer the panic attacks which used to creep up on him when he felt stressed and isolated when he was younger. He felt so weak, so stupid for allowing that to happen to himself in front of her.

Niall didn’t feel up to facing Naskia yet. He imagined he’d have a lot of explaining to do. She’d talk down to him and try to rein him in. As much as she promised him equality if he passed out at her feet like a scared little mouse it was going to cause her to reassess things. He slipped out of her hand and walked to the edge of the bed. He easily cleared the 12 foot jump to the bedside table thanks to the slightly lower gravity of Naskia’s world. He had read earlier that while this planet was several times larger than Earth, its molten core was nowhere near as dense and so the gravitational pull was weaker than Earths.

Niall checked the time on his pad. It was probably going to be another 18 or so hours before Naskia got up. He checked inside his terrarium. No food apart from the paste, there was some water at least.

“Damn, she forgot to leave me food.” Niall said “Suppose she probably had a lot more to worry about than that….”

Niall needed a plan for tomorrow. Something to he could show her to shift focus off his panic attack. He paced for nearly an hour trying to come up with something that would be momentous enough to get her attention but there was nothing he could do from here with just the pad he could show her in the morning. His best bet was to attempt humanise himself, or in this case Titanise himself so would look past the human frailty and perhaps to some overlapping medical condition. If Titans and Humans looked identical and had identical anatomy then there was a good chance that medical conditions were shared also.

Niall accessed the database of the University’s medical school and after researching the pattern of symptoms he found what he was looking for.

“Hyper Adrenal Phenomenon” he said out loud. “Triggered by varying stimuli in different patients, symptoms include shallow rapid breathing, terror, numbness, increased heart rate, loss of blood flow to the head, rapid heart rate and loss of consciousness. Usually caused by trauma, can be treated with medication and counselling. Bingo.”

Niall continued reading about the condition so he was fully armed when Naskia woke up. He took notes and copied information to his pad in case he needed to access it quickly.

He then went back to the University’s main directory; he wanted to learn more about his surroundings.

“Tannhauser Gate University, founded 600 years ago.” He read.

“Wow, this university is nearly 3600 years old?!” he said out loud.

Niall continued reading. The TGU was based in a small city on an island off the coast of a large continent in the northern hemisphere, home to 35,000 students and best known for its prestigious physics department and work in advancing the energy production of Titan society.

Niall was looking through the physics department’s extensive list of achievements which included the Titan’s first viable fusion reactor, the first micro fusion reactor for a starship and development of matter/antimatter reactors for starships. Niall was looking through the list of notable people when he spotted the name:

Dr Hussel Bass; Credited with resolving the problem of diminishing returns on micro antimatter reactors which made faster than light travel economical for the small craft, allowing people to travel to distant star systems in their own affordable craft.

“Naskia’s last name is Bass. Her father is a famous physicist, I wonder if that’s him?” He asked himself. It would be something else to distract from his panic attack.

Niall continued to read about the university and student life in particular. It didn’t seem a lot different from student life on Earth. Studying mixed with drinking, partying and general mucking around. Students spent much of their free time socialising in various cafes and bars, playing sports, studying in the library or taking part in their favourite shows in the Holosuite.

“Holosuite? What the hell is that?” Niall asked.

Niall spent much of his day researching the holosuite and doing some more digging on Naskia’s father’s research. He also went through his pad and checked each film and renamed the file correctly. He also went through his pictures and categorized them, he thought Kiri might be interested in seeing what Humans got up to.

As he flicked through pictures he stopped dead and stared at one picture. It was of him and his mother. With all the drama and adjustment to his new life he had totally forgotten about his Mother. She was the only person he really cared for. No good friends or girlfriends, just her. His eyes welled up thinking that she was sitting alone back on Earth thinking he had died on that mountain. He felt terrible inside, he would never see her again. Niall stared at the picture for a few minutes before turning off the pad and going to bed. When he closed his eyes all he could think of was his mother’s face. He tried to shake it off but he couldn’t. He lay there for an hour trying to shake the image from his mind but he couldn’t. He was shivering from the cold, he really wished Naskia had got him a thicker blanket.

“No, I can’t sleep here.” He said sitting up and getting out of bed. He jumped over to the bed, hoping to go back to sleep in Naskia’s hand but she had shifted in the night and it was no longer an option.

He climbed the covers and walked along her chest looking for the best place to sleep. It had to be warm and a place where he wouldn’t be hurt if she moved in the night. Niall spotted the indent at the base of Naskia’s neck where her collar bone ran. There was an indent about 7 feet long that was protected by her collar bone, if she moved in the night then he should be protected by it. The nook was also warm and soft and her hair ran over the top which helped to trap heat. Niall curled up into her and immediately felt much better. Her smell and the steady pounding of her heart put him at ease and he soon drifted off to sleep.

Naskia was woken by the sun piercing through her window and across her face. She blinked herself awake and read the message on her screen. Niall hadn’t woken her. She opened her hand to check on him and he wasn’t there. She turned her head and looked into the terrarium, he wasn’t there either. She felt there something wrong with her hair as she moved her head, it was being weighed down. She sat up slightly and looked down. Niall was lying in the nook of her clavicle and had wrapped himself up in her thick, dark hair.

“Awww” Naskia said in a manner Niall would have hated as her heart melted a bit. She liked that he was attached enough to her that he had gotten up during the night and then came back to her.

“Niall……Niall……” she said softly.

Naskia watched the mound of her slowly shift and Niall’s face appeared.

“What the hell?” he said realising he was wrapped up in hair. “Did you wrap me up?”

Naskia laughed “No, that wasn’t me, I just woke up.”

“Oh….must have been me then.” Niall said liberating himself and then walking down the covers so she didn’t have to arch her neck down to see him.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Naskia asked sitting up a bit.

“Yeah, I’m ok. I’m so sorry I passed out, I haven’t done that it years. I hope you weren’t too worried.” Niall said shifting on his feet. He was waiting for her to offer concern and then to use it against him.

“Yeah I was a bit worried but once the scanner said you were just passed out I chilled out a bit. I just wanted you to be ok. What happened?” She said smiling not trying to come across as patronising.

“I got panic attacks as a kid. I used to get bullied by other kids for being smart. I hadn’t had one in years until last night. Titans call it Hyper Adrenal Phenomenon” he said hoping that would cover it.

“Do you know what caused it?” Naskia asked hoping it wasn’t her.

“Well I think it was initially set off by some sort of primal fear of being eaten, then when I should have calmed myself down I stupidly decided to check out just how big you are. I hadn’t really grasped how small I am to you…..I hope you don’t think I’m stupid. I know you’d never eat me, but it’s some sort of unconscious thing inside me.” Niall was still shifting on his feet, he was still waiting for the inevitable judgement from Naskia.

“Niall I’m so sorry. I honestly didn’t mean to do that.” Naskia said feeling terrible.

“I know, I know, I didn’t know it was going to happen.” Niall replied.

“We don’t ever have to do that again.” Naskia said mildly disappointed, she still had an odd fascination with wanting him to be near her mouth “And I want you to know I won’t be treating you any differently. I’m surprised you haven’t been more freaked out.”

Niall perked up as Naskia spoke. “So you’re not going to ask me to reconsider my independence?”

“I know what it’s like to feel so much stress it affects you physically. I couldn’t judge you for it and not judge myself. “ Naskia said “Just promise me if you EVER feel anything like coming on again you will tell me so I can help you.”

“Yeah, I will. Hopefully it won’t happen again.” Niall said. He walked over to Naskia’s hand and lay down on top of it giving it a hug. “Seriously, I’m sorry.”

“You’ve nothing to be sorry for. Now c’mon, we have to get you ready for the vet. You can come shower with me if you like.” Naskia said scooping Niall up and getting out of bed.