Darren Avery sat with his head between his knees. He felt mildly nauseous, and his head was throbbing with the ferocity of the worst hangover he ever could have had.

“I knew it was friggen aliens…’ He muttered to himself in a low tone. The curious subject ‘studying’ him was too much to look at for the moment as his stomach was having trouble with perspectives at the moment. So he choose to keep his head low and his eyes closed while he adjusted.

“The gravity differential is likely making it uncomfortable.” A young brunette science officer spoke. She was a fair bit shorter than Dayun and appeared to be of lower rank.

“He.” Dayun spoke softly as he ran the medical scanner over Darren a few more times.

“Pardon?” The female titan spoke up, as she kept her eyes on Darren.

“This one is clearly male…so not ‘it.’ ‘He,’” Dayun said, directly.

“Ah…” The young science officer nodded.

“Christ do ya gotta speak s’damn loud…heavens’t’betsy ain’t ya never had a headache ya giant baboons….” Darren grumbled under his breath.

“Male, 2 years of age…approximately 39 microunits tall…weighs 180 microns,” Dayun spoke as he circled the table. The younger science officer followed carrying a data pad which was recording the data as Dayun spoke.

“Has the universal translation device been replicated in his size yet? I would like to be able to question him properly.” Dayun looked to the team working across the lab.

“Not yet. It will take a few more minutes, sir.” A young man spoke up, his face deep in his work.

“Specimen is healthy, traces of foreign pathogens are still present…he will need to be cleaned before being handled.” Danyun turned to face his female counterpart just as the doors to the lab opened. Both of them turned to face the door as Commander Lemm stepped into the lab

“What’s the status on the two indigenous?” asked Lemm, as she took long, purposeful strides toward the muttering specimen.

Sergeant Avery was sitting up now, his eyes calmly but alertly focused on the female scientist who was standing over him, donning a pair of blue skin tight gloves.

“We were just preparing the purification procedure…the other one hasn’t woken up yet,” Dayun said, looking back to his own data pad.

Lemm stopped at the table, looking down on Darren with a mixed look of fascination and reserve.

“Strange garments…those almost look….” Lemm trailed off as she brought her hand to her chin.

“Great…another one…jus’ what ah need. Heavens all this attention o’er lil’ole me. Enough’t make a man blush!” Darren grinned; he made the effort to stand, only to keel over onto his bottom. Grasping his throbbing head he muttered. “Gah…that wassn’t smart…”

“Commander, has your Mark II picked up on his dialect yet?” Dayun spoke while looking over to Lemm.

The female science officer gently reached down to ease Darren to a more dignified position. He didn’t give her any protest.

“It’s having trouble with the local colloquialisms I think…but I can understand him.” Lemm drew closer but kept her distance.

“That means he should be able to understand you shortly. That is how the prototype Mark II is designed,” Dayun informed them with renewed vigor

“Get it to say something else…that will speed up the assimilation process,” the female officer added eagerly, eyeing Darren with affection. As she handled him carefully, he watched her with a calm sense of curiosity.

“He Derna…he,” Dayun added. [Italicize “he” to emphasize. –DX]

“Sorry…he….” the female officer giggled, and poked Darren gently in the stomach.” Say something cutie.” She smiled.

“…ya’spect me’te laugh like the pilsburry dough boy’er something?” Darren narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t understand them, but so far they didn’t seem hostile.

“I’m getting it a little more clearly now…”

Darren’s eyes snapped towards the taller giantess. He had picked up about every other word she said. His head tilted to the side as he stood, stumbling and batting away Derna’s helping hand this time.

“Say that again…” Darren spoke in awe.

“I think it’s working…I can understand him clearly,” Lemm said, turning to Dayun.

“The device has adapted your speech, it seems…it would appear he can understand you.” Dayun spoke with a giddy sort of passion.

“Amazing.” Lem whispered.

Darren looked to Dayun and then back to Lemm. “How cum I can unner’san you but not them?” Darren asked, his tone inquisitive but confident.

“It’s…um…complicated.”Lemm looked down at Darren; she spoke slowly…unsure how to approach this or where to even begin.

“Ohh…what is he saying? Ask him what the tribal patterns on his garments mean…Commander…” Science officer Dayun was cut off by a particularly stirn look form Commander Lemm, who crossed her arms over her chest.

“Right…Sorry…” Dayun winced and turned to examine the information on his pod, running it through the data banks.

“Well doll’face, ah’m all ears!” Darren took three steps forward, looking up to the underside of the auburn-haired giantess. Her attention was still on the male, until Darren’s voice broke her concentration. Slowly she looked down, her eyes setting on Darren. She looked mildly taken aback. Carefully she crouched down until her eyes were even with the table. She looked at the small human carefully; her expression suggested she was not quite sure what to make of him.

“Yer eyes are a different color ya know…one’s darker than t’other.” Darren uncrossed his arms, he stood casually yet with confidence in his stance, his hand sat his side in light fists, one foot out further than the other and his body slightly on an angle. “Yea…see one’s darker’n the other…’n that one’s got a bit’ve’a star in it.” Darren narrowed his own eyes.

“That is very observant of you…Heterochromatic.…” Before Lemm could say another word Darren moved forward once more, a bit closer to her. This caught Lemm off guard who took a bit of a step back but remained at a crouch.

“Easy…I ain’t gonna bite’er nuffen. T’names’s Darren…Master Sergeant Darren Avery United States Armed Forces.” Darren quickly flashed a stiff armed salute, with pride, standing at attention for a moment, before relaxing.

Commander Lemm simply nodded, her eyes widening a little. “Commander Lemm Tam…Archavian Imperial Fleet…” Lemm spoke slowly, she had never expected him to sound so articulate, nor to be dressed so well.

“What is he saying…what did he just do…what is going on…Fltar is that translation device done yet!?” Dayun spoke quickly, pacing back and forth anxiously. It was terribly unfair that Commander Lemm was the one fortunate enough to make first contact, and to be left out of the loop was even worse.

“You said ‘Master Sergeant’…what does that mean? Is it a title? Like chief? Are you a leader of your tribe?” Lemm spoke with much more interest now, she was amazed at the brazen confidence this indigenous human showed. Likely broken in by his master, it was the only explanation she could come up with.

“What…Tribe? Lady I don’t think ya got’er ‘ead screwed on right…Master Sergeant is ma rank miss. United States Armed forces…don’t you got no army where yer from?” Darren kept his tone in check, he was highly amused.

Lemm kept quiet for quite some time. She then stood, looking down at Darren quickly before looking to Dayun. “This one is clearly used to Titan presence…one has to wonder in what other more serious ways his master has polluted their culture…” Lemm took a step towards Dayun, ignoring Darren’s attempts to get her attention.

“What is he saying…what is his name? Commander I….”

“Where is the other one?” Lemm spoke with authority.

“Over there…on the counter….Commander I really…” Dayun was cut off as Lemm turned sharply on her heal and walked with force over to table across the lab.

“These are uniforms,” she said with a thoughtful tone. “Military uniforms.”Lemm reached into the tank and gently pulled out the unconscious human. She brought her hand close to her face looking him over. “This one has the same uniform as the other. These are not simple animal hides, or even leather…this is advanced synthetic material.” Lemm turned her hand around to get a better look at Reese from the other side.

“Commander! Neither of them have been decontaminated yet I highly suggest you avoid personal contact!” Dayun spoke up, his voice quivering as he tried to assert himself.

“Hey! Ah’can answer all yer questions sweet-cheeks! No need’t bother the rookie!” Darren cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted across the distance, but neither the woman nor the man were paying any attention to him. A shadow fell over him and his eyes darted up to the source.

“Never mind what they’re doing cutie…I need your attention for a little while!” Science officer Derna’s lips curled into a warm but slightly devious smile as she held her two blue gloved hands up before her face.

“…whach’cha gonna do wit those?” Darren looked up at her, eyes narrowed. He hadn’t a clue what this one was saying, for some reason he could only understand the tall auburn-haired giantess.

“Now just hold still….” Derna reached out carefully with intention of grasping hold of the small human. Darren caught onto this, however, and quickly stepped back avoiding her grasp.

“Hey…’t’aint polite’t grab!” Darren grumbled looking the giantess over with a displeased glare. She was a brunette and seemed young with a chocolate complexion. She had confident and sharp features and appeared quite fit, as evidenced by her tight form fitting uniform.

“Shh, relax…I’m not going to hurt you,” She said in a much lower tone, slowly creeping her hand towards once more.

Darren kept his eyes on the encroaching hand and managed to avoid her grasp once more. He had taken notice of how easy and fluid his movements were, and just how much more mobility he had here than before. He was starting to figure out there was a gravity differential when he felt the dark skinned alien’s fingers begin to curl in on him. By the time he reacted it was too late, the ground was no longer under his feet and his arms were gently but firmly pinned to his side.

“Nat’ fair ya big bimbo!” Darren grumbled, but he didn’t struggle, he knew how futile it was and wished not to waste his strength on such. It was a lesson Eyrn had taught him many times before.

“There…see you’re still ok now arn’t you?” Derna asked with a soft and soothing tone to her voice, as one would talk to a small child or a pet. She knew very well he could not understand her, but hoped perhaps the tone of her voice would sooth him a little.

Darren’s neck tilted back as he looked up to science officer Derna. Her tone was quite off-putting even if he did have to guess what she was saying. The rubber gloves however did give him at least a little bit of a hint.

“Now look Princess I dun’know wut ya got planned but I’ve ‘eard stories’n ah jus wanna set the record now! Ah ain’t fine wit’no anal probing, experiment’taten ‘er any’uve that alien stuff!” Darren retained his confidence, even if he was a little put off by the fact that he was not in control of what was happening.

Derna resisted the urge to stroke the neatly shaven short hair atop Darren’s head as she carried him. It had always calmed her humans down in the past, but she was aware wild humans were a fair bit more independent and as such didn’t want to risk making him more on edge. He seemed calm enough, but the tone of his voice suggested he was mildly irate.

“This is just a simple bath…you’ve had a bath before right?” Derna smiled, setting Darren down on a table similar to the one he had just been standing on, only this time before him sat a small tub, which of course to him was longer and deeper than an Olympic sized swimming pool.

“Whacha gonna do wit that?” Darren asked in a guarded fashion.

“But I need you to take off this stuff ok?” Derna pointed with a gloved finger to his clothes, then stood back, her hands clasped together in front of her, hanging near her pelvis.

“Yer gonna give me a bath?” Darren narrowed his brow, looking at the dark skinned goddess, and then to the large tub beside him. “S’pose ya could go’bout it wit’out mah co-operation. Guess fighten ya’s no use eh?” He chuckled and began the long and strenuous process of taking off layers of military gear. “This might take a while princess.” He sighed as he undressed.

“Look at all the stuff he has on…have you ever seen a human with such an intricate and well-designed outfit? This is unreal.” Derna spoke to a science officer across the table from her. He was busy examining data that had been gathered from the planet’s surface during their decent.

“You should see this data Dern…they have radio broadcasts…a digital information super highway connection millions of different computers together….”

“An information super highway?” Derna peeked over to her male counterpart, leaving Darren on his own for a few moments.

“Yea…there well into the age of information. Planetary communication at the touch of a button…not as advanced as Archavia, but I mean it’s nothing to scoff at.” The young man looked up to Derna, his eyes were wide, his expression between terrified and amazed.

“I think that one is of a higher rank than this one….look at the insignia on this one’s lapel Dayun, the other has a much more detailed pattern…” Lemm carefully reached down and flipped Reese over onto his stomach, eyeing the small black mechanism at his side.

“What do you suppose this is Dayun?” Lemm asked, peeking her head in closely to look.

Science officer Dayun had calmed down a fair bit and was standing beside Lemm now peering over her shoulder. “Well you’re not going to believe this Commander, but I think that is a mechanical device…a weapon actually!” Dayun adjusted his glasses and crossed his arms, a smug smile across his thin lips.

“No kidden eh?” Lemm sounded quite surprised.

Private Reese Jones groaned as he began to come around. He could hear distant voices, loud voices which spoke in a strange language he couldn’t understand. His struggled to open his eyes, the first thing he saw upon opening was a soft peach colored surface. It was rippled and full of cracks, crevices and odd shaped lines.

The voices only got louder the more alert Reese became. His head was pounding him and he felt dizzy, like he had been spinning around in circles for a long time and then opened his eyes suddenly.

“I think he is waking up!” Dayun spoke eagerly pleased.

“Oh…w…what should I say…damn here take it!” Lemm motioned to Dayun with her hand hopeing to pawn Reese off to him.

“Oh no! Not until we get him sanitized! Do you know what sort of forign pathogen’s he may be carrying!” Dayun took three large steps back and held his hands out before him waving them in protest.

“Well what am I supposed to do!” Lemm sounded a little nervous, looking around her quickly before focusing down on the tiny human, who was starting to sit up.

“He’ll be able to understand you…just tell him he’s ok and you’re not gonna hurt him!” Dayun suggested with a shrug. “We need to get him cleaned up anyhow so just keep him busy until Derna is finished with the other one.”

“I..er…ok….” Lemm shrugged, looking back to Reese, the stress audible in her voice and visible in her eyes. “Hey…um…you…how are ya?” She winced, why of all things would she start with that? “We mean you no harm…er…everything is gonna be.…”

Reese turned slowly, the voice was so loud, the only one he knew who sounded that loud was Eyrn…but this was not Eyrn.

“Hey there ya go…Hi, my name….”

Reese’s eyes went buggy, and he immediately flipped onto his back, shimming back as far as he could. “Waahh!” Reese let out a loud panicked scream, the person before him, she was gigantic…and she was not Eyrn! There was nobody else this big, only Eyrn…his mind raced to make sense of what he was seeing, all he could do was scream, over and over again, as loud as he could.

“Woah….what did I do…why is it doing this…what did I do…Dayun!” Lemm looked up to Science officer Dayun with pleading panicked eyes. She was not used to humans; she had never owned one herself and had only occasionally handled then. “I thought humans were supposed to be calm and happy…why aren’t you happy!?” Lemm’s voice raised, which did Reese no good.

Reese let out another loud scream and backed up to the edge of her palm. By the time he realized the floor was no longer there he had slipped, falling a short distance into Lemm’s other hand, which she had placed nearby to catch him.

“Stop that…you’re going to hurt yourself…clam down!” Lemm spoke, using her demanding and forceful voice, which was entirely counterproductive to the cause.

“Commander, stop yelling at him!” Science officer Dayun spoke up, keeping his distance out of paranoia.

“The’ell’s going on’er there?” Darren spoke, as he was half out of his clothes, his pants down at his knees, and his shirt off.

“Oh geeze the other one’s awake!” Derna looked over, bounding across the lab to Lemm, who was struggling to keep hold of Reese who was franticly attempting to crawl away form her.

“This is inappropriate behavior…I insist you stop this at once!” Lemm spoke up once more, reaching out to grab hold of the panicked human with her two fingers around his waist.

“Let me go! Get your hands off me! Somebody help me!” Reese screamed out, as he felt two large digits around his waist, instinct kicked in and he reached for his side arm, pulling out his Beretta M9 he began to discharge it towards the monstrously gigantic figure’s palm, the very one he was standing in.

“Ow! Skata!!!” Lemm shouted, withdrawing her encroaching fingers and pulling her injured hand away instinctually.

“Careful, Commander!” Derna shouted and dove for the falling human, who had been displaced from the Commander’s hand when she pulled it back. Derna managed to catch Reese in her gloved hand and quickly closed her fingers around him pinning his arms at his side.

“The damn thing shot me! Skata that hurt!” Lemm waved her hand franticly and paced back and forth like an angry bull, her eyes narrowing on Reese.

“Calm down Commander…you need to get to med-bay…that has to be looked at…we’ve no idea what sort of bacteria may have been on whatever he shot you with.” Science Officer Dayun rushed over to Lemm, attempting to calm her down. “Get him out of sight now!” Dayun looked to Derna, who was in the process of taking the accused weapon away from Reese and pinning him back within her grasp.

“Reese? REESE! Wha’n the ‘ell Private! You do not have permission to discharge your fire arm! Reese!” The half-naked Darren screamed across the vast expanse of the room, but none of the giant beings seemed to pay attention to him.

“Let me at the damn thing! I’ll give him a reason to shoot something!” Lemm fumed, her expression livid.

“Commander! You have to go…now!” Dayun spoke, some authority to his voice.

“It could be poison…anything…you need to get that hand looked at!” Derna added, holding Reese close to her for protection.

“Private Jones! Immna kick yer gat’dang ass you idiot!” Darren shouted, again to deaf ears.

“Commander please…” Dayun pleased.

Lemm’s breathing was heavy as she eyed her hand, it stung like hell and there were tiny red marks forming where Reese had shot her multiple times. Lemm took a few deep breaths before storming out of the Science bay.

“That didn’t go well…” Derna sighed looking to Dayun.

“Take him to the other one…maybe the calm one can talk some sense into the frightened one.” Dayun sighed.

“I don’t think the naked one wants to do much talking…he looks livid.” Derna peeked over to Darren who was screaming up a storm, his face cherry red. Derna looked down to Reese, who was breathing quite quickly, his eyes darting around franticly. Unlike Darren, Reese was struggling for all he was worth against the Titaness’ unmovable grip.

“Let’s hope Dr. Geen is having more luck with the Titan than we are here, eh?” Dayun ran his hand over his brow to clear some perspiration. “I can’t see how things could be any worse than this!”