Niall sat watching the door. He was feeling nervous being on his own and sitting on the table. He was vulnerable if anyone walked in. Naskia had only been gone two to three minutes at the most but he still felt very nervous.

Naskia returned feeling somewhat giddy from the conversation with her father. She couldn’t remember the last time they had a conversation like that. She found Niall sitting on the table working on his pad.

“I’ve messaged the reporter. We just need to wait for her reply.” Niall said shaking off his frayed nerves.

Naskia acknowledged him with a nod and sat down on the sofa looking a bit puzzled.

“So…you and my Dad had an interesting conversation then?” She was asking more about her and had totally forgotten about Niall’s equation.

“We did. It turns out he discovered the equation 30 years ago. He said it was too dangerous. It could be used to create undetectable antimatter explosives. He’s asked me not to release it; he’s offered to have my qualifications recognised here so I can work. It’s not quite citizenship but it’s a start. What do you think I should do?”

“Hang on. What?!” Naskia asked realising she’d totally forgotten about the equation.

“He had discovered the equation already, 30 years ago. No one else discovered it until I did. He said the decision is mine but he would like me to keep it hidden. He said he can convince The Titan Institute of Physics to recognise my doctorates. I could work! I could teach! We could work together when you qualify. But if I release the equation then it could send a ripple through Titan society. Change the way your people look at Humans forever. It would prove that Humans can operate on equal footing with your people.” Niall said pacing.

“That’s quite a decision….what’s your gut telling you?” Naskia said dropping from the chair to her knees to talk to Niall at eye level.

“There was a great physicist on Earth. He was pivotal in developing the first atomic bomb. It was eventually used to destroy 2 cities and killed hundreds of thousands of people. He’s famous for quoting an ancient text that said ‘I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.’ If this formula was ever used as a weapon…I’m not sure I could live with myself….”

Naskia sat agog at what Niall said. The thought of entire cities being wiped out in seconds was a terrifyingly alien concept to her. The Empire was easily capable of doing it but nothing like that had happened in millennia. The thought of that kind of power falling in to the hands of a small group of dissidents made her very nervous.

“So is that your decision?” Naskia asked.

“I think so…I’ll think about it some more but I don’t think I’ll change my mind.” Niall said. He stretched and yawned.

“Are you tired?” Naskia asked.

“Yeah I am….sore still too.”

“C’mon.” Naskia bent over and put her hand down beside him. “I’ll take you to bed and you can sleep.”

Niall hauled himself on to her soft hand and slumped down; he could have fallen asleep right there. Naskia smiled at him and carried him through and set him on her pillow. His bed needed a clean before he could use it. She gave him a sock to use as a blanket. She set his pad down beside him.

“I have to head out for a bit while you’re asleep. Kiri was kind enough to take all the food with her when she left. I’ll only be an hour or so.” Naskia said tucking him in.

Niall felt a shudder run up his spine. He hadn’t been alone since Naskia had saved him from Kiri. Kiri….what if she came back and found him alone!? She would kill him for sure. Niall felt panic building inside him.

“Nas…can I come with you?” He asked trying to hide his fear.

“But I thought you were sleepy?” Naskia said picking up her bag.

Niall sat up and pushed the sock off of him.

“I’m ok. I could stay up for a bit.”

“Oh…ok. Well I’ll stay in with you then. I’ll go out later when you’re asleep.” Naskia replied setting her bag back down and sitting down on the bed.

“No! Let’s just go out now. I’ll come with you.” Niall said. Panic was now seeping into his voice.

“Niall? Are you ok? You sound worried….” Naskia gently rolled herself on to her front and placed her chin on the bed. She wanted to keep him relaxed and looming over him would not help.

“No….yes….please take me with you?” He felt sick to his stomach. He hated feeling like this. It was pathetic but he couldn’t control himself. If he wasn’t with her he was vulnerable. He looked up at her. So was so beautiful and delicate looking. But she was far from delicate. She was monstrous. Her arms were strong enough to pry buildings from their foundations. Before the 1900s no army on Earth could have stood against her. He needed her protection.

“Niall….are you worried something will happen if I leave you alone?” Naskia asked softly. She knew he was proud and wouldn’t want to admit being afraid.

Niall didn’t answer. He just shifted uncomfortably. Naskia smiled sympathetically.

“I won’t think any less of you if you are…” she said.

Niall winced at her words, he felt humiliated. He already relied on her for his food, clothing and shelter he didn’t want to rely on her for his emotional security now as well. What was happening to him? He tried to tell himself to get it together. He didn’t he would turn himself from a strong willed man into a feeble minded pet.

“I’ll take you with me if you really want.” Naskia prompted trying to get a response.

“No…no…its ok. You go; I’ll try to get some sleep. I’ll be ok.” Niall said going back to his makeshift bed.

“Are you sure?” Naskia was worried. She had never seen him like this.

“Yeah…its ok. I’ll be fine.” Niall rolled to his side and closed his eyes trying to signal he was done talking.

Naskia leaned over and kissed his head gently.

“Sleep tight sweetie.”

Naskia gathered up her things. She locked her bedroom door and the front door on the way out. Kiri had left her access card but she wanted to be doubly sure.

Naskia walked downstairs and out the front of the building. It was a beautiful, sunny day but it was still bitterly cold. Naskia walked along the street towards the shopping district. She had been walking for 5 minutes when she stopped. Despite being stuffed into her coat pockets her hands were still freezing. She opened her bag and searched for a pair of gloves.

She couldn’t see any. She did see a light blinking on her pad. She picked it up and checked the notification. It was a message from Niall.

“Please come home.” It said.

Naskia sighed, more out of worry than frustration and turned on her heel and hurried back home. She got home a lot faster walking at full pelt. She quickly unlocked both doors and walked over to the bed and knelt down. She lifted the sock she had left for Niall and found him curled up in a foetal position. He was pale and shaking.

Naskia scooped him up in her hand and cupped him to her chest.

“Niall? Are you ok?”

He didn’t respond. She could feel him trembling in her palm. He was breathing quickly and shallowly. It looked like he was having a panic attack.

She stroked him softly. He was still conscious but was clearly too out of it to respond.

“It’s ok. I’m here. I’ve got you.” She said softly to him.

Naskia felt terrible. This was all her fault. The trauma of the beating she had given him combined with her letting him fall into the clutches of Kiri had clearly traumatised him. He had seemed mostly ok but a bit quieter. Obviously he wasn’t ok if he didn’t feel safe without her with him. This was going to take time to fix.

Niall’s breathing had got better after being stroked and reassured. Naskia remembered what he had said to her about her singing helping him before. She started to softly sing a nursery rhyme to him and kept stroking his back. After a few more minutes Niall stopped shaking and fell asleep. Naskia placed him on her tummy and lay down on the bed starting to read over notes from missed lectures on her pad.

Niall woke up on Naskia’s desk. The wooden surface was cold and he was naked. He pushed himself to standing and looked around. It was dark and hazy. The familiar sights of Naskia’s room felt strange and distant. He couldn’t quite make out objects in the distance he knew should be there. There was no sign of Naskia. He felt uncomfortable; he was being watched.

He could hear breathing coming from somewhere. Every hair on his body was standing to attention. Something really didn’t sit right with him. Every fibre of his being was telling him to get out of there. He controlled himself. “Where’s Naskia?” he thought.

“Looking for someone?” a voice said from the haze.

“Hello? Who’s there?” Niall called back.

A light appeared from nowhere and a familiar figure stepped into view. Niall looked up in horror; his knees where shaking, adrenaline rushed into his body. The tips of his fingers and toes started to tingle. He looked around for anywhere to run or hide but there was nowhere to go to on the exposed table top.

He knew who this was. He stared at the massive, bare stomach before him knowing full well just how close it had come to being his final resting place. He slowly looked up over the long thing torso, the modest breasts that each weighed 10 times his own weight, passed the thin neck and up to the tan face that held 2 deep, dark eyes that were pinning him to the table top.

“Kiri?! Where’s Naskia?” He demanded steadying himself.

“Oh…she’s around here somewhere.” Kiri grinned deliberately showing her teeth.

“What have you done with her?” Niall pressed.

Kiri feigned exaggerated shock “Why do you think I’ve done something with her? I’m just a little girl…”

Niall despised everything about her; her tone, her incessant mocking of him, her smug sense of superiority and entitlement. She was far from little. Her immense form dominated Niall’s view. She had stepped in front of the light and she had cast a huge shadow over Niall. The worst thing was the feeling she gave him. She made him feel worthless, like nothing, like he was fit to be nothing more than a morsel of food for her. To be swallowed, forgotten and broken down to provide nothing more than a few hours nourishment for her titanic form.

“Because you’re evil; you hate us.” Niall said refusing to give in to his fear.

“Ok. Ok. I’ll tell you what. Let’s play a game. If you win, you get Naskia, if I win I get her.” Kiri grinned menacingly.

“What the hell are you on about?” Niall said.

Kiri raised two clenched fists from her side and held them apart from each other in front of Niall. She turned them over and opened her palms face up. Niall looked down from her face. He had inadvertently been staring at her mouth terrified of ending up back in it. He examined each of the palms in front of him. The right hand was empty. The left held Naskia.

Naskia! She was tiny; human sized, naked and cowering in Kiri’s enormous hand. Her face was red from tears and her thick, dark hair was a mess from being scrunched into Kiri’s fist, otherwise she looked unharmed. Niall’s heart started to race when he saw her. It was bad enough he was in danger at the hands of this maniac but now the girl he loved who had saved him from Kiri’s stomach was now at her mercy.

“Niall!” she let out a blood curdling scream. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“Naskia!” he called back running towards the edge of the table.

“Ah ah.” Kiri said closing her fists and hiding them behind her back.

“You want her; you have to play my game.” Kiri beamed.

“Let her go!” Niall demanded. This was nothing but a simple game to her. To him it was life and death.

“Pick a hand squirt…left or right?” Kiri said ignoring him.

“Let her go Kiri!” Niall said defiant. “You can have me instead.”

“Pick a hand or I get both of you.” Kiri replied.

Niall’s brain whirred at a million miles per minute. He was trying to find a way out of this. A way he could save Naskia and escape the building sized lunatic. There had to be a way he thought but he quickly realised this was all down to chance. He had no choice. It was the only way he had any chance of saving her.

“Right…” Niall said begrudgingly.

Kiri smiled and paused for a few seconds. Niall couldn’t see her hands but he suspected she was passing Naskia to her left hand. She brought both fists around and held them out in front of her. She opened her right hand revealing an empty palm. She opened her left hand revealing Naskia’s huddled form. She had curled up into a ball and had wrapped her arms over her head.

“You lose.” Kiri said.

“No Kiri! Let her go! You cheated!” Niall shouted.

Naskia didn’t look up. She rocked back and forth curled up on the open palm.

“Oh I intend to let her go alright….” Kiri said displaying her teeth again.

“No!” Niall screamed back at her.

Kiri rolled Naskia down her palm to her fingers and pinched an arm between her thumb and forefinger before suspending her in the air.

“No Kiri! Take me instead!” Niall tried to plead with the giant woman.

Kiri raised the tiny, squirming figure of Naskia over her head. Naskia was looking down at the building sized face below her and screaming.

“Oh don’t worry. You’ll be seeing her again very shortly.” Kiri said opening her mouth wide.

She slowly lowered the kicking and flailing woman towards her mouth. Niall watched in horror, screaming at Kiri, begging her to spare Naskia in exchange for him. He couldn’t lose her, he loved her, and he needed her. Not because she cared for him or provided for him but because he was incomplete without her, he could never be happy again if he lost her.

Naskia’s legs were now no longer visible; they were obscured by Kiri’s cheeks. Kiri lowered herself to her knees to give Niall full view of the sickening display she was putting on for him. Kiri ran her tongue up the back of Naskia’s legs and gave her shapely rear a lick. Naskia kicked out against the slimy monster but it had no effect. She was screaming, pleading for Niall to save her. She had been there for him when he needed her the most but now he was unable to do the same for her.

Niall called out to Kiri. Begging and pleading to spare Naskia’s life but Kiri ignored him.

“Mmmmm” groaned Kiri for effect.

Naskia was still kicking and screaming. Kiri dropped Naskia and caught her with her tongue keeping her mouth open. Naskia tried to scramble out but Kiri kept control of her with her tongue, quickly cutting off every avenue of escape. Kiri rolled her over to the side of her mouth and stuffed Naskia into her cheek so she could talk.

“Say bobye Naskia.” Kiri said with the lump that was Naskia clearly visible in her cheek.

She flung Naskia on to her tongue. She landed on her stomach looking out over the table towards Niall. Naskia’s tear filled eyes locked with Niall’s. Those big blue eyes that Niall adored so much were screaming with terror. Naskia reached out an arm towards Niall begging him for help but Kiri’s jaws snapped shut before it went between her teeth. Kiri closed her lips, smiled at Niall and tilted her head back.

Niall slumped to his knees as Kiri made an exaggerated swallowing motion, she ran a hand down her neck and chest charting Naskia’s course into her belly. A smile drew across her lips and she opened her mouth. It was empty; Naskia was gone.

“Oh…I can feel her squirming.” Kiri laughed. “She tickles.”

Niall pounded the cold wooden table with his fists. Tears ran down his cheeks. He was consumed with rage. The beautiful, innocent, loving woman he adored was condemned to die a slow, painful death in the belly of this sick and twisted monster. He didn’t fear her anymore. He was passed the point of being afraid. He no longer cared about his life.

“You monster! You evil fucking bitch!” Niall screamed at her.

“Hmmm. You’re right. I have been a bit of a bitch haven’t I?” Kiri grinned some more. “I tell you what. If you say you’re sorry for yelling at me and kiss my finger I’ll let you go. Your life will be your own and I will never bother you again.”

Niall thought she was pure evil. He didn’t know what was worse. Dying in the pit of her stomach holding Naskia in his arms or saving himself knowing Naskia would die a horrible death alone. He would never leave Naskia like that and he would never kiss any part of Kiri. Kiri was deliberately toying with him. He was condemned to suffer either way. There was only one answer.

Niall spat at her.

“Fuck you.”

“Oh well. You can’t say you didn’t choose this. I can feel her moving around in there. It really is an odd feeling. You should try it some time. You two could have one last fuck for old time’s sake! I’d love to feel that happening inside of me.” Kiri grinned said licking her lips.

Niall stood up. He wasn’t going to go out on his knees. He stood his ground as Kiri’s massive fingers latched around his ankle and dragged him off the table. Niall was dangling upside down. He felt blood rush to his head as Kiri stood up. He looked down at the floor 130 feet below, it slowly shifted until he was hovering over Kiri’s maw. He didn’t scream or fight. He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction.

“Bye Niall. It was nice to know you. Say hello to your girlfriend for me!” Kiri smiled.

Niall managed one last “fuck you” before she dropped him. Kiri rolled him around on her tongue for a few seconds giving him a good coat of saliva. She obviously wanted him lubricated enough to get him down her esophagus without too much trouble. Niall tried to open his eyes but they were coated with saliva. He tried to wipe them but his arms were flailing with the violent motion of her tongue. The only sensation he had was the warm moisture of her saliva and the sound of liquids churning around him.

Niall found himself coming to a stop. He wiped the saliva from his face. He was staring straight down to the blackness of her throat. He felt the incline shift and he started to slowly slip forward. His pace picked up as the incline steepened. He was terrified. Shaking with fear he instinctively braced on whatever he could to stop himself from slipping into the abyss below. He felt her tongue pushing at him. His arms slipped and he fell into the darkness.

Muscles squeezed him from every side, it was pitch black, he was coated with goo, the acrid smell of digestion washed up from below him and the terrifying sounds of Kiri’s insides filled his ears. He could hear the low deep rumble of her heart as he was pulled further and further inside of her. His fear got the better of him and he started to scream. He didn’t want to die like this. He heard something between screams. He stopped and listened to it.

“Niall….Niall…” a voice called.

It was a voice. Naskia’s voice! She was calling out to him.

“Niall! Niall!” Naskia said stroking the little man on her stomach. He had screamed in his sleep. He stirred shortly after Naskia started calling his name and bolted upright and screamed again.

“It’s ok, it’s ok. I’m here. I’ve got you.” She said. He looked terrified.

She cupped him in her hand and held him to her chest. He was soaked through with sweat.

“Don’t worry sweetie. I’ll not let anything happen to you.” She said.

Niall slowly snapped out of his nightmare induced haze. Naskia felt him moving in her palm and brought him out from her chest.

“Hey there….are you ok?” She asked.

“Yeah…yeah….bad dream.” He said still half panting.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to worry now. It’s all over.” Naskia said sounding a little patronising.

She reached him up to her mouth and kissed him gently. She felt him shrink away from her kiss.

“Are you ok?” she asked getting concerned.

“The nightmare….was mouth related. Sorry I know you’re just trying to help.” Niall said trying to shake off his fuzzy head.

Naskia frowned down at him.

“What…did I do something wrong? Niall asked.

“You haven’t done anything sweetie. I was just thinking I didn’t hit Kiri anywhere near hard enough.” Naskia replied.