Naskia sat nervously at a table in the corner of Niall’s restaurant. Niall was sitting at the bar drinking a large glass of fizzy, golden liquid. They were waiting on the reporter coming to interview him. Naskia had chosen a dark corner to sit out of sight where she could watch the proceedings and intervene if necessary. She doubted she would be needed given that in here Niall was much bigger and stronger than her but she wanted to be sure.

She stared at Niall. He was looking pale and had dark bags under his eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping well. It had been 3 days since Kiri left and Naskia could only think of 2 instances when Niall did not wake up screaming. Naskia hadn’t been to class since then either. Niall hated to be left on his own now the thought of him waking up from some Kiri related nightmare with no one to comfort him was just too much for her to bear. Naskia caught her own reflection in a small mirror with a golden border on the wall. She didn’t look her best either. Pale, red eyed and her hair was acceptable to most people but not its usual pristine self which bugged Naskia.

“Damn I’ve missed beer.” Niall thought to himself as he sat at the bar.

Niall took another big swig and looked at the clock on the wall out of habit; the clock had 12 numbers on it and was of no use for telling the time here. His own internal clock told him that the reporter was running behind.

“Another cosmological constant; women will always be late, not matter what the species.” He called over to Naskia.

She responded by throwing a coaster at him. Niall was surprised by the accuracy of the throw as the cardboard mat glanced off the side of his head. Naskia pumped her fist and mouthed “YES!” surprised at the accuracy of her aim. They both quickly looked round at the door as they heard it chime. Someone was requesting entry.

Naskia settled into her alcove with a book, she had chosen to read one of the books on display in the restaurant rather than risk being rumbled by the reporter by reading a book on advanced plasma manipulation. The title was the thing that had intrigued her about it; “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by a man called Nietzsche. According to the biography inside he had been born at roughly the same time as Naskia. She found it interesting that this Earth philosopher had published all his work and had long since died while she was still studying. Humans really did do things quickly. Niall had warned her she wouldn’t like the book but she decided to give it a try anyway.

Niall approached the door to the restaurant and opened it, this had the effect of opening the door to the holosuite and the reporter walked inside. Niall looked her up and down. She was tall and thin. Niall estimated that to him she looked about 5ft9; easily a half a foot taller than Naskia. She had a pretty heart shaped face, with high cheeks and big blue eyes. She wore her brown hair short in a pixie cut that swept her fringe across her forehead. She had long legs and a reasonably sized bust too. She was dressed quite professionally in long black trousers and a tight, striped shirt.

“Loona?” Niall asked.

“Ehhh…yes. I was expecting someone else.” Loona said confused.

Niall put his hand out to shake hers. “Niall Freeman. It’s nice to meet you.”

Loona limply shook his hand back and looked around the restaurant. “Yeah….I’m supposed to be meeting someone here. Someone else.”

“Someone the size of your finger?” Niall said grinning.

“Yeah….how did you know?” Loona asked getting nervous.

“I’m him. The human you’re supposed to meet.” Niall said still grinning.

Loona’s face went from confused to angry very quickly.

“I knew this was rubbish! All my colleagues laughed at me when they found out I was taking this seriously. No Human can be that smart, you’re so gullible Loona, stop wasting your time. Thanks, seriously thanks.” Loona said turning to leave.

“No! Wait!” Niall called after her. “I really am Human.”

Loona turned back around and crossed her arms across her chest while she searched her mind for the most situation appropriate tirade of abuse for him.

“This is a program I made so I can spend time with my companion and not feel tiny.” Niall explained.

Loona looked unimpressed. “Yeah, right…that’s exactly what it’s not.”

Niall moved to block the door. “Loona please, sit with me for an hour and do the interview. At the end I’ll prove to you I’m Human. It’s win/win for you. You either get an exclusive with the intelligent Human or you expose the blog as a fake.”

Loona mulled over what Niall had said. He was right, this was pretty much win/win for her. She could not go back without a story to write or she’d be in deep trouble. She also didn’t fancy trying to push her way passed Niall standing the doorway. He was a good bit taller and bigger than she was. Not Human like at all.

“Fine I’ll stay but if you’re screwing me I will use every article I write, every word, every sentence to make your life a misery. Understand?” she said.

“Perfectly, come on and join me at the bar. I’ll get you a drink.” Niall said leading the way.

“So you say you wrote this program yourself? If you are Human how did you make yourself this tall?” Loona asked sitting down at the bar.

“I built a dual matrix program. One Human sized and one Titan sized. So I’m in the same suite but treated differently. You get a Titan sized projection of me while I see a Human sized projection of you. But yeah I made it myself, your coding language wasn’t too difficult to learn and the interfaces are fairly straightforward.” Niall replied. He signalled the barman to bring over 2 more pints of beer.

“Interesting…” Loona said. She didn’t really understand what he was talking about and was busy examining the bar as she sat down on a high wooden stool.

It filled the entire wall at the back of the restaurant. Delicate hand carved wood with intricate patterns carved into it and highlighted in gold paint. Loona could make out faces with different expressions in the wood; some were laughing and some were crying. The glass was patterned in a manner that made it look like glass vine were growing through it and sparkled as light from the spot lights above hit it. The bar contained dozens of different coloured bottles of all shapes and sizes. They contained various different liquids from dark black to completely clear. The bar top itself was lit up with numerous gold handled nozzles protruding from it. It felt a lot warmer and more inviting than most of the bars and clubs around the university.

The barman came over and deposited two glasses of a golden fizzy liquid. Naskia looked up from her book feeling pangs of jealousy at the sight of her man tapping his glass against another woman’s. She knew he was on the charm offensive as he needed a positive interview from her but she hated it.

“She’s loads prettier than me, loads taller than me, her hair is lovely.” Naskia sighed to herself. “Maybe I should just keep him locked in the house so I have him all to myself?”

Loona took a sip from her glass. She had never tried beer before.

“Eugh!” she said half spitting the drink back into her glass.

She gawked at Niall who was chuckling away at her. “How can you drink this stuff? It’s vile.”

“I think Titans and Humans have slightly different tastes. Manuel!” Niall said calling the barman over. “Can you get my guest a glass of shiraz please?”

The barman rushed off and soon came back with a glass of red liquid which Loona carefully sniffed and then drank.

“Wow…that’s tasty. I was about to write off your whole species based on that one drink.” Loona said. She picked up a large bag she had brought with her and removed a larger pad and a smaller pad. She tapped the smaller pad and a light came on. She set it down on the bar top between herself and Niall.

“So Niall, tell me a bit about yourself.” Loona said. Her tone had changed slightly, she sounded slightly more nervous. Niall guessed the interview was beginning.

“Well I’m 26 Earth years old, so a bit more than 4 by your standards. I was raised by my mother, I never knew my father. I’m very intelligent by human standards. I was given special, focused education aimed at making me an energy generation specialist. Before I was taken I was working as part of a global team making mankind’s first viable nuclear fusion reactor.” Niall said stopping to the occasional sip.

“And how is your life here?” Loona asked seeming almost disinterested.

Naskia winced when she heard this question. Niall could really cause her problems here if he wanted to.

“It’s very good; apart from no freedom to go out and do what I please, the risk of being killed by accident and the complete lack of recognition for my rights from your society. When my companion and I first met she assumed I was just a brainless pet but she quickly recognised I was more. Luckily for me she is a conscientious young woman who does what is right no matter what so she had tried to make me as comfortable as I can be. The fact that I’m here speaking to you today is down to her generosity. She gave me a pad so I could communicate and learn, she brought me over here to meet with you and she really makes sure I don’t want for anything. I care greatly for her and one day I hope to be able to repay all her kindness.” Niall said trying not to shoot a smile over to Naskia.

Naskia smiled self-conscious. She knew what Niall was saying was mostly true but when he said it out loud and briefly made eye contact with her it made her knees turn to jelly.

“I was expecting your companion to be here with us as well. I had some questions for her too.” Loona said still not convinced by Niall’s story.

“She’s around….you could always ask me.”

“Well what would you say to people who called you a pet and want to prosecute your companion?”

Niall grinned. He wanted that question. “I’d say what laws has she broken? None! She can’t be prosecuted for anything. It’s just sabre rattling. They’re clearly more concerned about their own social group rather than the rights of the Humans in their care. I understand they get them to perform and do tricks. I would find that humiliating and degrading. It’s good to know that Titans can be just as irrational as Humans can be.”

Loona smiled a bit at the comparison. “And those who say you’re a pet?”

“I’d get them to ask you.”

“Me?” Loona asked poking herself in the chest.

“You still don’t believe that I’m Human. I’m using a trick of light, holographics, to appear as a Titan. That is it; nothing else. If we can have a conversation where you are actively annoyed because you think I’m Titan, not Human then I can do the same with anyone. If I met the Human Owners Society President in my current incarnation and had a conversation with them would they even realise they were talking with a Human? Essentially this is about size and control. You claim to be a superior species based on your advanced technology and reason, I’d hope you would act like it when confronted with the facts.” Niall said.

Niall had made a bold statement and he hoped she would seize the moment and challenge him. He wanted the debate. She paused and looked at her notes and moved on.

“So we know you’re at the high end of the intelligence scale by Titan standards, where do you think the average Human would score?” Loona asked tapping away at some notes and listening at the same time.

“Well there are two answers really. On your 1-100 scale test they aren’t going to excel. Humans aren’t exposed to the same concepts that Titans are on a day to day basis. Because of that they would struggle. But the average Human is just as intelligent as the average Titan, if you raised a Human baby as you would a Titan child you would find them scoring well on the intelligence tests. To put it in context; it took us less than 10 Titan years to go from learning to fly to getting into orbit. It took your species over 100.” Niall said.

“Hmmm….that’s quite impressive if it’s accurate. In your opinion, apart from size, what are the key differences between our two species?” Loona pressed on.

“Not a lot to be honest. We look identical, we are carbon based, and we have iron rich blood and our DNA is virtually identical. We have the same social structures; families, governments, councils even empires. We are born, grow up, fall in love, raise a family, grow old and then die. We do it faster than Titans do but it’s all no more than the blink of an eye in cosmological terms. I have yet to see my companion express a single emotion that I cannot. Our biggest differences appear to be cultural.” Niall said keen to show off now he had a captive audience.

“What do you mean by cultural?”

“Well if you take music for instance. A lot of your music is loud, complicated, brash and about demonstrating individual skill and is more about the person playing it than the person listening to it. Human music tends to be about conveying emotion or feeling; a way to speak to people without saying anything. Now don’t get me wrong, we have a lot of terrible music but I have yet to hear any Titan music I would like while any Titan who hears Human tends to like it. I can let you hear some if you like?”

“I’d rather press on with the interview but if you could give me some to take away with me I will listen to it and include an opinion?” Loona replied. She was now deeply focused on the interview.

“It’s not just music though. About 250 Earth years ago we struck upon the scientific method and as the decades have worn on we have developed faster and faster and faster. Titans seem to move a lot more cautiously than we do. We don’t have the same luxury of time as you do. We try to do things as quickly and as efficiently as possible. I’ve noticed the phrase ‘there just aren’t enough hours in the day’ doesn’t exist here. I think this drive, this impetus that we have to improve ourselves has become engrained in our culture. We always want the new, the fresh, the best; we get bored easily. It won’t be long until we are knocking at the door of Titan Station.” Niall said feeling like he was slightly bragging.

“Really? How long do you think until that happens?!” Loona was excited now. She hadn’t really considered that would ever happen.

“I’d say about 20 Titan years. Give or take.”

“Wow…that’s not really long at all.” Loona said looking up from her notes. Her professional demeanour had cracked a little. It seemed like there was more of a personal interest here.

“Exactly! This is why I made the blog, this is why I’m doing the interview. Within your lifetime you will see Humans take their first steps into the galaxy. Your Empire claims to own our world and own each Human that lives upon it. But what are you going to do when Humans start colonising our solar system or maybe trying to move to other solar systems? Will you use your military might to blow our ships out of the sky? Will you attempt to transition us to being a useful member of your Empire? Will you relinquish your claim to our world and allow us self-determination? Will pet Humans be emancipated? There’s a lot of different ways this could play out and your leaders need to start preparing for this now.”

Loona paused for a moment and looked towards the door. She looked uncomfortable. “I have to make a confession. I’ve had Humans all my life. My parents had 3 when I grew up. I have got one myself now I’m an adult. I’ve seen just how simple they are. It’s very hard for me to believe you’re the same as they are, that by the time I’m 40 Humans will be colonising other planets. I think you’re exaggerating a bit. I’m still not even sure if you’re really human. You could still be wasting my time. You are nothing like my pet Human.”

“I swear to you I’m not exaggerating. You can check the observation notes from Titan Station itself.” Niall replied. He wasn’t ready to reveal himself yet. They were only half an hour in to what he thought would be an hour long interview.

Loona reached down and lifted her bag up and placed it on the bar. Niall thought she was about to pack up to leave but she actually removed a small cardboard box from the bag. The box was about the length of Niall’s hand a few inches high and across.

“Well I think this will be a good way to test if you are who you say you are.” Loona said.

She held the box up to her face and opened the lid. Niall heard a rustling noise coming from the box.

“She didn’t….not a chance.” Niall thought to himself.

Loona put her finger in the box and slowly raised it out.

Loona watched the startled expression on Niall’s face. He was totally focused on her finger.

“Well that’s a good sign; he looks like he’s never seen a Human before.” She thought to herself.

Niall couldn’t move his eyes. He was in a state of shock. Clinging to Loona’s finger was a tiny little blonde girl.

“Niall this in Nonah, Nonah meet Niall.”

The little blonde girl turned to look at him. She had a giggly smile on her face and had been quizzically looking around her new surroundings.

She released one arm and waved at him.

Niall didn’t know what to do. He just slowly waved back with his jaw hanging open.