Lauryna’s lips curved into an adoring smile as she watched the human she had learnt was named Izzy, leaping about the small glass center living room table. Lauryna had made a beeline straight to her quarters the moment she had taken possession of the small run away human. She took a moment to change into her night clothes and signed off early from her shift.
Izzy was leaping about to her heart’s content, enjoying the strange sensation of the Gyfjon’s lower gravity. She was running and jumping and landing, and taking off again only to repeat the process. A few times she stumbled but seemed to have a handle on it for the most part. A giggle or two escaped Lauryna as she watched, despite the great many thoughts plaguing her mind.
At first she had attempted to communicate with the human naturally, without the use of even her own mark 1 universal translator. Lauryna was a xenolinguistics major and had taken a semester in primitive earth languages. She found that none of the words she knew were getting through to the indigenous human, so she used her replicator rations to produce a human grade universal translator. After coaxing the human to put it in her ear, they were able to understand one another, and soon found they both had a lot to talk about.
They had spoken with one another for the better part of one standard Imperial cycle (Which was about 2 earth hours). In that time Izzy had told Lauryna all about Earth, its many nations and their various systems of government, her American culture, where she was born, and even a little bit about her childhood. They spoke about technology and the age of information, and spent a good portion of their time talking about their military careers among other things.
Lauryna had mentioned the Empire, touched upon Archavia and briefly mentioned some of the various races that belonged to the Empire. But for the most part she let Izzy do all the talking. Everything the tiny human had to say was of the utmost fascination and interest to Lauryna, even if a great deal of it shattered her own cultural lens with which she saw the human world. It didn’t bother her all that much, as her time serving under Captain Bass had taken her on the early stages of such a journey. But meeting Izzy, hearing what she had to say…it was not only shocking, but exciting.
“This is so fricken amazing!” Izzy’s eyes opened wide as she landed, she had just leapt higher than an NBA player, and she had been holding herself back significantly.
“It is a strange sensation to get used to, but be careful; a fall from a high place could still result in injury.” Lauryna giggled mildly as she tried not to reach out and protect Izzy when she came too close to the edge of the center table of her sitting room. It was a low table one would place drinks on, only as tall as the sofa seats.
“This is incredible! I’ve never felt so light before!” Izzy leapt, her legs flailing and kicking in the air, before landing perfectly.
“I thought the same thing on my first spacewalk.” Lauryna smiled gently, setting one of her hands on the glass table surface. “I envy you humans you know…you get to experience this all the time!” Crewmate Gwenn sighed wistfully.
“We do?” Izzy’s strides came to a stop as she looked over to the ginger haired giantess, taking a few steps towards her. Corporal Ibanez was mildly out of breath from all the physical exertion, she wiped her brow with her sleeve as she braced her hands against her sides to catch her breath.
“Oh…right…I didn’t go over that part did I?” Lauryna bit her lip, looking away. This was a conversation she had never wanted to have…ever.
“I can’t do this back home…so you must mean…” Izzy narrowed her eyes accusatively.
Lauryna sighed as she slowly pushed herself off the table to her full height; her back was turned to Izzy as she took a few steps away.
Izzy had to back up; as it was with Eyrn…she was always intimidated by the creatures when they were standing up straight.
“Look…I don’t know if this is a good thing to talk about right now…” Lauryna avoided Izzy’s question, keeping her back turned to the human.
Izzy rubbed the back of her neck, it was still a strange thing to be able to understand somebody who moments ago was talking another language. The blow had been softened a little by her knowledge of Eyrn. She had always figured there were more of them out there, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine a whole empire…an entire galactic civilization. That part had been relatively difficult to swallow.
Lauryna swung around quickly, lowering herself to a crouch; she grasped the side of the table with her hands and looked down to Izzy with a pained expression.
“Look, please don’t get mad…I’ve really enjoyed talking to you…and maybe I shouldn’t have just taken you from the room like that but I’d never have been given the chance to meet you otherwise…” Lauryna bit her lip; she almost looked ready to cry.
“You’re not making any sense…” Izzy crossed her arms. She had gone from a midnight war games in the Nevada Desert to the willing prisoner of a giantess aboard a space ship orbiting the earth…she had taken that well…but for some reason seeing Lauryna’s eyes well up with tears absolutely terrified her.
“You’re not the first human I’ve seen…in fact not by far…Izzy there is a lot I haven’t told you and I’m not sure how you are going to take this.” Lauryna took long slow breaths as she watched the tiny human back up a few steps.
“This is the part I was afraid of…is this where you tell me that you’re really flesh eating lobster monsters? Or that the earth has been blown up and I’m the last human alive? Because I am NOT repopulating the human race with EITHER of those two!” Izzy attempted to lighten up the mood, despite being terrified.
Lauryna tried to hold back her laugh, but through sorrow filled eyes she managed a little chuckle, wiping away a stray tear as she did. “You’re adorable…that’s one thing you haven’t totally managed to debunk little Izzy.” Lauryna sighed, deflating as she lowered even more sitting flat on her butt. “Oh I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a monster…” Lauryna’s composure was melting fast. She’d had no trouble owning humans in the past, she had never thought twice about it. She had owned many humans growing up, and even months before her acceptance into the Academy. But she had never been the one to explain it to them…they just knew, accepted it…enjoyed it even. This one had no idea what was to come, she had no idea what was in store.
Worse still, Lauryna felt conflicted. It had never felt wrong before, she had never even questioned it. She was Titan, they were humans. It was her roll to protect them…and they liked it that way. But Izzy clearly came from a different place. She was so much different than any human she’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was no pet, she hadn’t even considered herself less than Lauryna’s equal once during their conversation. How could she break something so monumentally world shattering?
Izzy gathered up her confidence and approached the side of the table, sitting down and allowing her legs to dangle off the edge. Looking down, it was quite a drop, looking down was a bad idea.
“Are you gonna tell me that you’re a war like race of conquers hell bent on the destruction of earth?” Izzy looked up to the giantess, trying to keep her sense of humor intact.
Lauryna reacted quickly, looking quite offended by the notion. “Goodness no! Oh Izzy that couldn’t be further from the truth!” Lauryna spoke quickly, almost desperate to wipe the very idea from Izzy’s mind.
“Well then out with it? I’m thick skinned I can handle it.” Izzy took a deep breath; she really hoped she could handle it.
“Ohhh…I don’t even know where to begin.” Lauryna smiled slightly, Izzy had sat so close to her, she was amazed with how quickly she was dealing with everything she was being hit with. It made her wonder how much of an impact the Titan they had discovered on earth had really had on them all.
“Ok…see…when I said you were not the first human I’d ever seen…well…” Lauryna furrowed her brow; she knew this would be hard, but not nearly this hard.
“You mentioned that…have you been to earth before?” Izzy asked, attempting to draw it out of her. The stalling was aggravating.
“No…this is my first visit. Here…let me show you something ok? Lauryna slowly stood, jostling the table a little, which caused Izzy to nearly stumble off, she caught herself and scrambled to her feet, following the Titaness along the table until she could walk no more.
Lauryna returned to the table holding a large black pad in her hand. To Izzy it was the size of a big screen T.V, but Lauryna held it in her hand like a mobile device. “Earth, and all the planets in your solar system are under Imperial protection.” As Lauryna spoke, an overview map of earth’s solar system appeared on the screen. Lauryna crouched down allowing Izzy to see.
“Define…protection?” Izzy spoke cautiously.
“Well…we own it…so to speak.” Lauryna smiled innocently, as if expecting a glass to fall suddenly.
“I see.” Izzy crossed her arms, sniffling gruffly.
“The Red Zone begins here….” Lauryna pointed to the asteroid belt which contained the inner and outer solar system. “Any ship that attempts to enter past THIS point without authorization is officially in criminal violation of the Terran Conservation act.” Lauryna spoke with excitement, she knew her stuff and was clearly proud of that.
“Why are we being conserved?” Izzy asked bluntly.
“Well for many reasons!” Lauryna set the pad down close to Izzy and leaned in forward, resting her chin on her crossed arms. “See, humanity is one of the only species in the known galaxy that can inhabit earth type planets.” Lauryna was about to go on, but was cut off.
“What do you mean?” Izzy asked, trying to keep up.
“High gravity planet normally found within a star’s inner ring…there are a bunch of specific requirements but I won’t get into that…” Lauryna smiled.
“Ok…so go on then….” Izzy grumbled.
“Izzy…you don’t realize this…but your species is unique! Very Unique!” Lauryna spoke with unbridled excitement.
“Don’t tell us that…we tend to get fat headed on the idea…” Izzy chuckled.
“No I mean it! In all the known universe there is not one species like you!” Lauryna sat back, allowing the human to digest what she had said.
“You look fairly similar.” Izzy motioned to Lauryna.
“Well we are…and that’s part of it, but well…what I –mean- is….” Lauryna winced.
“We are the smallest?” Izzy asked bluntly.
Lauryna nodded.
“So you protect us because we are small?” Izzy asked tilting her head.
“Well there is more…you are a developing species and should be left to grow in peace!” Lauryna spoke quickly, with passion.
“Well that’s not so bad I don’t know why you…” Izzy sighed. “there’s more…isn’t there?”
Lauryna nodded.
“Why is there always more.” Izzy ran her hand along her face and let out a short groan.
“Well this takes us back to the other humans I told you about.” Lauryna spoke carefully, as if she was handling a glass egg.
“Slaves?” Izzy spoke quickly, she was starting to not like where the conversation was going.
“No! Oh my no!” Lauryna cupped her hand over her mouth, the very idea was horrifying.
“Heh, don’t suppose we’d make very useful slaves eh?” Izzy chuckled.
“Not really…I mean I suppose…STOP distracting me this is hard enough as it is!” Lauryna sighed, showing the stress in her eyes.
“A long time ago…longer by your standards than my own…the Terran Conservation Act was put into place to….” Lauryna closed her eyes, speaking quickly. “…to stop the perversion of your culture caused by the removal of mass quantities of humans from earth.”
“That…doesn’t make any sense….” Izzy narrowed her eyes.
“Izzy…humans live on Archavia…not as slaves…not as food…not as citizens….” Lauryna was nearly crying, why was this so difficult.
“Then as what?” Izzy swallowed the lump in her throat.
“As Pets Izzy…humans live on Archavia as pets! The Terran Conservation Act was set up to prevent the entire population of Earth from ending up in a pet store window!”
***
Captain Bass’ pace was frenzied as he tore out of the turbo lift, to the point that Commander Lemm had to jog to keep up with him.
“Sir, what are your orders? Sir?” Lemm had to repeat herself, as Aertimus was quite focused on something else.
“Lemm, this is great! I knew this mission was going to be huge, but nowhere near this huge! “Aerti was no longer using his Captain’s voice; he was speaking to Lemm as he would a friend. “Lemm, do you know what we have back there…do you know what we may have just stumbled onto!?”
“A smuggler playing a trick on us…I don’t….”
“Oh Lemmer! Wake up! I could slap you right now ya know that!” Aertimus put the brakes on, he was half way to the Science bay, but felt the need to bring Lemm to the right page.
“Sir?” Lemm narrowed her eyes.
“Lemm! This isn’t a smuggler! This isn’t a Pirate…this isn’t even a criminal!” Aerti took hold of the taller woman’s shirt and pulled her down to his level; he put his forehead to hers and spoke low. “She is an indigenous! A Native!” Aerti let go and took off once more in the direction of the Science Bay.
“Sir…that doesn’t make any sense…s..Aertimus! Get back here!” Lemm jogged along after. “Where are you going!?” Lemm shouted after, disgruntled.
“I have to talk to those humans!” Aertimus spoke through hurried breaths.
“What good will that do sir?” Lemm questioned as Aertimus tore around a bend. For a moment he had to gather his bearings as he was hurried just enough to almost forget his own ship.
“I need to know how long she’s been there!” Was all Aerti said.
“How are they gonna know!?” Lemm was clearly frustrated.
“Oh Lemm come on! You can’t be this dense!” Aerti tilted his head, pointing one way, and then giving his head a shake, turning and going the other direction.
“Will you stop rambling and start making sense!” Lemm watched the Captain stumble over directions then chased after as he ran.
“Because!” Aerti responded as he nearly passed the door he was trying to get to. Sliding on his own feet he stumbled and back peddled a bit until he was at the Science bay. Commander Lemm however pushed him aside and blocked the enterence.
“Will you breathe for a moment and tell me what’s going on!” Lemm shouted.
“LEMM!” Aerti grinned; he could not contain his excitement. Lemm had not seen him this excited in years.
“WHAT!?” Lemm attempted to follow the Captain’s eager darting eyes as he mulled over the possibilities in his head.
“She grew up there! She wasn’t there to capture them…to take care of them…SHE didn’t find them…THEY found HER!” Captain Bass took hold of Lemm’s collar with both hands eagerly and pulled her close.
“How is that even…”
“I don’t know! But it’s the only thing that explains everything!” Aerti smiled ear to ear, patting Lemm’s shoulder roughly. “She is the bird in the gilded cage! She is the pet!”
“You really think it’s possible?” Lemm whispered.
“Gimmie your hand!” Aerti demanded.
Lemm lifted her hand carefully, eyeing the Captain warily.
“No the other one!” Aerti swatted her hand away, quickly pulling her injured hand up and showing it to her.
“Oww…be careful that still stings…”
“THIS! Look at THIS!” Aerti beamed.
“Yea…the little slag shot me…”
“EXACTLY!” Aerti let Lemm’s hand down. He narrowed his eyes. “Why would it shoot you? Why would it… he… EVEN have a weapon…and why doesn’t she?” Aerti grinned victoriously.
Lemm gaped for a moment, and then took a step away from the door, looking down to the Captain with amazement. “It can’t be…how did she even get there?”
“If you’d move faster and get your big arse out of the way I’ll go and find out!” Aerti impatiently waited for Lemm to move before punching the access code into the terminal at the side of the door.
“Why are you so excited about this Sir?” Lemm asked, still a little confused.
“Lemm…don’t you see what this means!?” Aerti turned to face Lemm as the door slid open.
“We have a lot of paper work to do?” Lemm answered, eyeing her own rear for a moment, she didn’t think it was that big at all!
“The avalanche is coming Lemmer…and this just may be the keystone!” Aerti slapped Lemm’s shoulder and entered the Science Bay.
Lemm paused as the doors closed…she grumbled to herself, crossing her arms. “My ass is not big!” she muttered as she punched the entrance code in and followed the Captain.