2103 MA (2018 AD)

At the office of the Aenur Foundation, Tylum Mavoy sat behind the reception desk. Though she was only an intern, she felt it an honor to be part of such an important organization.

Just then, a bell jingled announcing someone entering through the front door of the office.

“Welcome to the Aenur Foundation.” Tylum smiled at the red haired woman walking through the door. “How can I help you?”

The woman shifted uncomfortably, appearing nervous. “I um, I’m looking for Gae Neutha. Is she in?”

Tylum hesitated. “Um… Hold on a moment, I’ll go see if she’s free.”

She left the woman and walked into the back where Gae’s office was. The foundation was small. At the moment, there was only one employee beside Gae herself, and Tylum was only an intern… but they were growing.

“Hey boss?” Tylum leaned into Gae’s office and knocked on the doorframe. “There’s some woman who wants to see you out front.”

Gae’s brow knitted in confusion. “I’m not expecting anyone…” She tapped a few keys on her pad and peered at the security camera feed. Her eyes narrowed as if trying to recall something, before they widened in sudden alarm.

“It can’t be.” She breathed. Suddenly she shot up from her desk and stormed out of her office, trailing a very confused Tylum in her wake.

“You got a lot of nerve showing your face here.” She yelled as she rounded the corner into the front entrance.

“Hello Gae.” Lenya swallowed nervously and folded her hands in front of her.

“What are you doing here, Leny?” Gae spat venomously. “Didn’t cause enough havoc when you kidnapped the tribe from Maris farm? Hoping to try and ‘liberate’ Yamma again?”

“It’s not like that.” Lenya said softly.

“Then what is it?” Gae growled. “Why are you here?”

“I want to help.”

There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever. Lenya’s words hung in the air awkwardly.

“Get out.” Gae snarled after regaining her composure. “Get out and don’t come back.”

With that she whirled around and stormed back into her office.

Lenya gaped at the retreating woman, before she rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Oh like that’s going to stop me.” She muttered, before squaring her shoulders resolutely and following after Gae.

“Hey wait.” Tylum cried. “You can’t…”

But Lenya wasn’t in the mood to listen. She pushed past the younger woman and followed in Gae’s wake right to the door of her office, which was still open. She walked right in and shut the door behind her.

“How dare you!” Gae cried, standing. “I told you to leave. You’re not welcome here!”

“I will not.” Lenya said, slamming her hands on the desk in front of Gae. “I’ve come too far to let your little grudge stop me.”

“I don’t need the kind of help you could give me.” Gae spat, rising to look Lenya in the eye.

“Like slag you don’t.” Lenya shot back. “I’ve been doing this almost as long as you’ve been alive.”

“Yes. And you’ve been doing it the wrong way!”

“I admit that. But I still have more contacts than you. I know more about media than you, about branding, ad campaigns, how to get people to stop and give a damn about what you’re saying. You might have the right ideas, but I know how to get them out there.”

“TETH was a joke.” Gae countered savagely.

“Yes it was. It is.” Lenya acknowledged. “But that’s only because we had the wrong ideas. People still knew who the frakk we were!”

Gae frowned and rubbed the back of her neck irritably. “We can get our message out just fine.”

“I’m sure you could. How much time are you willing to waste building the resources I already have?” Lenya asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Gae blinked and her expression softened. “I… I don’t…”

“There’s something else I can offer.” Lenya said. She reached into her bag and removed a distinctive ruby-red domino mask, which she dropped onto the desk between them. “A celebrity endorsement.”

Gae reached down and plucked the mask from the desk. She held it up and examined it curiously. “Dibilique? You?”

“Me.” Lenya confirmed.

“We already have a tol-bot player on our side.” Gae said, handing the mask back to her.

“You do.” Lenya acknowledged with a nod. “And she’s good. But she’s a rookie, still fresh from her first tournament. She hasn’t proved to the public whether she can stand the test of time or whether she’s just a flash bomb, another Gravedigger.”

“Who?”

“Exactly.”

Gae fingered the mask contemplatively “Well…”

“Besides… where one tournament finalist is good, two can only be better.” Lenya pressed. “I’m second in the league right now. Unless you have Iron Maiden on call, how are you going to do any better?”

A long silence stretched between them as Gae seemed to be considering all the angles. Finally, the young woman sighed and flopped back into her chair.

“All right Leny,” She shook her head. “You’ve convinced me that it might be worth taking you on. However, I don’t call the shots here.”

Lenya sighed and nodded. “I suspected as much. Makes sense really. So, do you think he’ll give me a chance?”

Gae smiled wistfully. “He gave me one, so I suppose anything is possible. But, I’m willing to vouch for you. If Yamma approves of your offer, then I will stand by his judgement. As long as you understand that you’re going to be on a very short leash until you prove yourself trustworthy. You step on microunit out of line, or you pull any stupid stunts and you are out of here. Got it?”

“Got it, boss.” Leny smiled, shouldering her bag again. “You won’t regret this.”

“I already do.” Gae muttered as Lenya left her office. With a sigh she pulled her pad close and dialed their home number. Yamma would never believe this.

*.*.*.*

A knock at the door interrupted Lezah Maris as she tried to get supper ready for herself and her sisters.

She was instantly suspicious. Despite their careful attempts to keep prying eyes away, rumors still circulated about the “obscene amount” of humans that were owned by the Maris sisters, so every so often someone came around looking to gawp at them.

The usual response was a string of invectives, which was often enough to send the busy-bodies packing.

Still, it wouldn’t due to be outright rude to someone when she didn’t know exactly why they were there. So, wiping the flour from her hands onto her apron, the eldest Maris sister went to answer the door, fully ready to slam it back in the face of whoever was on the other side.

When she opened the door, she found a young man, perhaps a few years older than Aezhay standing on the stoop, shifting nervously on his feet.

He was, in Lezah’s estimation, a rather good looking young man. Thick black hair, dark eyes and tanned skin. A nose that was just a tad overly-large being the only mar on his otherwise handsome face. And even that didn’t really change her estimation of him much.

Not that Lezah was ready to lower her guard just because of a pretty face. Eyes narrowed in suspicion, she opened the screen door and leaned against the frame, arms crossed over her chest.

“Yes?” She asked archly. “What can I do for you?”

“Uh, well… Is this the Maris residence?” The young man muttered nervously.

“It is.”

“Ah good, yes well…” He scratched the back of his neck. “My name is Kezin Lamblek, ma’am. I’ve uh… I’m here to see if you might have some work.”

Lezah’s brow arched. “Are you?” It took all her effort to keep her expression neutral. The truth was that, aside from the Royal berry production, they really could use some help on the rest of the farm. But… well, finding help was one thing, there were always young people looking for work. Finding help they could trust was another matter entirely.

Still… Lezah prided herself on being a good judge of character, and she had a feeling about this young man. So, she stepped away from the door and held it open for him. “Well, Mr. Lamblek. Why don’t you come in and we’ll discuss the matter.”

The pair of them sat at Lezah’s kitchen table, drinking cups of tea as Lezah probed into his agricultural knowledge. Kezin was a farm kid, born and bred, the same as Lezah was. The longer they talked the more apparent it became that the young man could be a big help to them.

Except for one thing…

“Kezin… I’ve just got one more question for you.” Lezah said, setting her cup aside. “What do you think about humans?”

Kezin blinked, but he didn’t look terribly surprised by the question. “Well, uh, I like ‘em well enough.”

“That all?”

The young man hesitated, before leaning forward as if to whisper a secret. “You ain’t gonna make fun of me, are you?”

“No.”

“Well, the truth is, ma’am… There seems to be a lot more to them than we give them credit for. We had a bunch around the farm when I was growing up and… They’re real smart, Ms. Maris. If I wasn’t afraid of being called crazy, I’d say they’re as smart as we are.”

Lezah nodded. “Good. I was hoping you’d say that. Come with me.”

She led the young man out of the kitchen and out into the yard in front of the farmhouse. Heedless of whether he was keeping up or not she strode onto a dirt path. They walked for many deciunits in silence. Soon, they’d come to a field.On the edge of that field were several rows of planters, stacked neatly on shelves. Lezah led him to the first one.

As he approached, Kezin was surprised to see a young human woman, tenderly working in the dirt, and pruning one of a dozen tiny plants which were arranged in neat rows. She had pale skin and vibrant red hair. In fact, if the contrary evidence wasn’t obvious from first glance, she and Lezah could have almost passed as sisters.

“Molly…” Lezah called to the woman, who put down her tool and walked to the edge of the planter. She looked a little nervous, but met the giants’ gaze nonetheless.

“It’s all right.” Lezah said with a smile. “He’s with me.”

“Uh… hello…” Kezin muttered, unsure of exactly what was going on.

“This is Molly Olson.” Lezah informed him. “She will be your new supervisor.”

*.*.*.*

2115 MA ( 2098 AD)

“So what’s on my schedule today, Neely?” Sam Rodriguez asked as he stepped out of the shower in his dressing room and into the larger trailer that the studio had commissioned for his use on this film. Of course, his assistant Neely ended up using the majority of the space, but that hardly mattered to Sam.

The aforementioned Titan woman was sitting in a nearby chair scrolling through his schedule on her data pad. “According to the latest message from Mr. Pell, they’re shooting the Earth scenes with the actress who plays Izzy Ibanez today.”

“Good.” Sam nodded, toweling off his hair. “That should be the last of the scenes set on Earth.”

“Come on.” Neely said as she lowered her hand to where Sam stood. “They have you slotted for some hair and makeup time. Then you can meet the actress playing Ibanez.”

“Who did they get for the part anyway?” Sam asked as he climbed into the palm of his assistant’s hand.

Neely’s brow creased as she looked down at her data pad again. “Um… someone named Charlotte…Cassano?”

“Charlotte?” Sam perked up. “Well, I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Do you know her?” Neely asked.

“Sure.” Sam shrugged. “She and I once spent a very memorable time in a hot tub together. I haven’t had a chance to work with her yet. Actually, I haven’t even seen her in years, come to think on it.”

“Well, you’ll have a chance to catch up soon.” Neely said as she stepped from the trailer and out into the sunlight of the studio lot.

Within minutes they were entering the hair and makeup department where a pair of holographically resized Titans were waiting to poke and prod at him.

In the chair next to his was a young (well, relatively speaking, it was hard to tell any) woman with long dark and curly hair.

“Sam!” Charlotte grinned as he plopped himself down into the chair. “I was so excited when I heard you were in this picture.”

“It’s great to finally be able to work with you.” Sam replied. “What have you been up to all these years?”

Charlotte grinned. “I’ll have to tell you all about it.”

*.*.*.*

“…So from there, I had a pretty similar career to yours, Sam. A bunch of goofy ‘human’ parts because that’s what the Titan society demanded, then some that were a little more serious. The studio even arranged for a bunch of human actors to make a ‘short’ movie all by ourselves, and then released it without anybody knowing we were human until it’d been out for a few months. Then the news got ‘leaked.’ “

“That’s brilliant!” Sam chuckled. “How come I wasn’t asked?”

Charlotte shrugged. “By that point you were easily recognized, even by Titans. It would have given the game away. Besides you were busy with some other movie.”

“I usually am.” Sam muttered.

“Excuse me, Miss Cassano?” They were interrupted by a knock and a young woman poking her head into the door. “I’m sorry, but…” Before the woman could finish her sentence, a little girl who looked to be about nine years old pushed past her legs and made a beeline for Charlotte, quickly climbing into her lap before anybody could say anything.

“It’s all right Sen.” Charlotte chuckled. “I don’t mind.” The woman nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

“Who is this then?” Sam smiled at the little girl.

“This is Anna.” Charlotte wrapped her arms around the child and pulled her close. “My daughter. This is Sam Rodriguez, can you say ‘hi’?”

“Hello.” The child mumbled.

“Well hello, Anna.” Sam looked up at Charlotte incredulously. “When did you find time to have a child?”

Charlotte laughed. “I have three, actually. Annabelle here is the oldest. My other two are currently staying with their father.”

Sam shook his head. “Amazing.”

His gaze turned to the girl again, and suddenly something seemed a little unusual about the girl. For one thing, she was staring intently at him in a way that no little girl her age should, like he was a puzzle she was three-fourths of the way to completing. It was a look Sam had seen on another little girl before…

And that’s when he took a closer look at Anna’s eyes. They were a deep blue, a blue no human eye had ever been. A blue so deep it was almost purple.

“Charlotte…” Sam muttered. “If you don’t mind me asking… who is her father?”

Charlotte laughed. “So you noticed. Let me introduce her again, this is Annabelle Nix.”

Sam’s looked over at Charlotte in shock. “You and Nix…?”

“Me and Nix, yes.” The young woman giggled, clearly enjoying the shocked look on Sam’s face. “What’s the matter, you never tried it with a Titan?”

“Well, sure…” Sam muttered. “There was me and Xventa, for a while there and… I mean, I know some humans and Titans have kids together. I’ve met a few. But…”

“Yeah.” Charlotte shrugged.

“So are you… are you and him still…?”

Charlotte shook her head. Her expression turned a little melancholy and she idly ran her fingers through her daughter’s hair. “No. Not anymore, anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I still care about Vanser a great deal, and he is a fantastic father to our children. But between my filming schedule and his duty assignments, plus all the usual pressures a ‘mixed-size’ relationship has… It got to be too much. By the end, we both knew it was coming. Fortunately we were able to part ways on good terms with each other. We’re still very close and we both work very hard to take care of our kids, together.”

She smiled wistfully. “But it’s okay. Vanser got to live out his teenage fantasy and married Lenya a few months ago.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “And you were okay with that?”

Charlotte laughed. “Of course I was okay with it. I helped to plan their wedding.”

There was a knock on the door and Sen poked her head back in.

“Mister Rodriguez, Neely just called.” The young woman said. “They want you back on the set to do some retakes.”

“Okay, thank you.” Sam shrugged and started towards the door. “Duty calls. Guess I’ll see you later Charlotte.”

“I’m sure you will.” Charlotte said with a smile.

“Bye Mister Rodriguez!” Annabelle called out as he left the room.