This is built around an alternate ending to "Graveyard of Fools", and revisits characters from "Rescue" , "Genius at Work" and "Every Dog needs a Boy."
The original story so far:
Steve, Dan, Fitzhugh & Valerie have travelled in a giant model aeroplane to the far side of the giant planet, largely by using the mental teleportation capabilities of a device called the cervo-actuator. Having discovered they could make the cervo-actuator work for them, the four escaped their giant captor and were flying back to meet their comrades, using the same combination of flight and teleportation.
But what if the use of the machine had had further unforseen side effects?
Now pick up the action of this new plot.
"We should try to use that device again, when we get back," said Fitzhugh, "Think what we could do with it."
"I'm thinking what the giants could do with it," said Steve, "We have to destroy that thing once and for all."
"Captain, we destroyed everything that could have helped us: Kermus's teleporter, Oles & Fielder's time ship, Franzen's guidance system. Your answer to everything is to push the button on it and run back to our fugitive existence."
Two things were in play in Dan's mind at that point. There was loyalty to his oldest friend and captain; and there was also the fact that Dan had the most insightful understanding of Fitzhugh's self-involved disrespect for everyone. After all they had just been through, Steve certainly didn't need this. Fitzhugh's main contribution had been to crack up in the Graveyard of Fools, babbling nonsense about seeing a giant version of himself. In any event, Dan was fed up.
"Fitzhugh, either shut up your constant digs at Steve's leadership, or start pulling your weight in this team!" yelled Dan, "I've had two years of your stirring the pot, and we could all do with a break from it!"
Valerie had never seen Dan explode like that before. Their two years had enabled some relational growth and character development between them, but it had also worn out their tolerance of each other's limited company. The same seven people had been together under the most draining of conditions for two years.
Valerie wished with all her heart that Betty had been on the plane with them. The sweet natured stewardess had almost always been able to mediate the conflict between the team members. Yet without her, the men's tempers were on the brink of a full blown domestic donnybrook. It was ironic that Mark, the one with the shortest fuse of all, was not here with them, but back with Barry and Betty. If only Betty could be here, Valerie thought.
And then she was.
Betty simply appeared in the plane.
"What the-?" said Steve.
"It must be the cervo-actuator," said Fitzhugh, "Nothing else we know can do that."
"But Betty, were you thinking about joining us?" asked Dan.
"No," said Betty.
"It was me," said Valerie.
"And you wished for me, not Mark. Surely an engineer would have been more useful to have aboard. I don't know the first thing about that machine."
"In this case, I don't think Mark does either," said Valerie, "But you know everything about morale, and we were one step short of Fitz's first official punch up."
"I'm sorry Fitzhugh. I guess I can see your point of view in what you said. I just …"
"I know, Dan. This old dog seems to rely on the same tricks, both verbally and otherwise."
The two men shook hands.
Inspector Kobick was in his office, frustrated. He had not been involved in any significant SID activity since the attempt by Dr Greer aka North to blow up the city. All of his recent searches for the Little People had not led to one sighting. They had become too defensive, too aware of the SID's presence.
All he could think of was to look over old files documenting SID cases. They had all been typed up in meticulous detail by Cindy, his secretary. He read through the cases that he had been personally involved in, and those where others had submitted reports, when other SID senior operatives had been in charge. There had been Dr Marad and Lieutenant Grayson, for example.
Marad had died, when a teleporter had exploded. His agent Mrs Evers had submitted the report.
Lieutenant Grayson's had been curiously ambiguous. There had been a serious hunt for the Little People, instigated by a journalist, after the murder of Acting Inspector Swan. Yet Grayson had gained a confession from a jealous SID Sergeant of all people. The accused earthling Mark Wilson appeared to be innocent. Yet in the whole affair, Grayson had not managed to capture any of the Little People.
Cindy's accounts seemed to have been flavoured by her own personal power of expression. It was as if she had a soft personal fascination for the earthlings. She had taken pages and pages of point form notes from himself, Mrs Evers and Lieutenant Grayson, and produced narrative reports which read with the entertainment value of well scripted novels.
"Why do all my plans to capture them fail?" Kobick thought, "And why have I only encountered them three times in this last year? When I first started here, I seemed to be involved in Little People cases all the time. Yet in the last 12 months, I've only been active on the toadstool dust case, the Dr Berger case and the Dr Greer case. I wish I knew why all the times I had them cold have left me with egg on my face."
The intercom beeped on his desk.
"There's a Mrs Farrer asking to see you," said his secretary.
"Alright Cindy. Send her in," said Inspector Kobick, recalling the time Steve Burton and his co-pilot had rescued her children from a cave-in.
Steve, Betty, Dan, Fitzhugh and Valerie wondered how close they were to their regular giant city environment.
Suddenly it happened again. Betty and Valerie disappeared.
"Could Mark have been thinking of Valerie?" Dan thought.
He'd noticed Mark staring at Valerie a lot lately. For the engineer, it was the closest Mark had become to romanticizing their time on this world, since his brief interlude with Marna Whalan had ended so sourly.
"What were you all thinking, just now?" said Steve, the most level-headed of the team, and the first to respond in a crisis, "We have to guess where it's taken them."
Each of the men admitted that they hadn't been thinking of Betty or Valerie at that stage in the journey.
"Maybe Mark or Barry were thinking something, or maybe Betty and Valerie were wishing they were somewhere else and forgot about the machine's power," said Fitzhugh.
"That's the most likely scenario, when I think about it," said Steve, "All we can do for now is land this thing and destroy that device. If Betty and Valerie went willingly, they'll find their way back to us willingly. If they didn't, then pity help our chances of finding them and effecting a rescue."
Betty and Valerie found themselves on a bedroom table in a dormitory, looking up at a 14 year old giant boy.
"Little People!" he said, "Are you friends of Captain Burton and Mr Fitzhugh and the boy with the dog? I'm Jodar."
"You're the boy that turned three of them into giants," said Valerie.
"Yes, although it was an accident. I didn't know that Mr Fitzhugh would use my formula after the dog did," said Jodar, "But how did you get to my science university dormitory?"
Valerie explained about the cervo-actuator.
"The only thing is that we weren't thinking of going anywhere," said Betty, "What were you thinking about?"
"I was wishing I had some older female friends to look up to for advice," said Jodar.
Valerie thought of the irony of his phrase 'look up to', and laughed.
Jodar realized the pun he'd made and continued hypothesizing.
"Could I have channelled into the latent cervo-actuator energy you told me about, just as your plane was flying over my town of Elops, and brought you here?"
"Well you are a genius, to have invented two size altering formulae at your age," said Betty, "Maybe your mind had more ability to unwittingly tap into the cervo-actuator energy from below our plane. You thought us down here."
"I guess so. I can take you back to your regular location, if you like."
"Tell us why you needed some older female friends," said Betty, "Maybe we can still help after all."
"I started at the university at the age of 14, when I got the scholarship around the time I first met your Captain Burton," said Jodar, "All of the girls are aged 18 and over, and they think of me as nothing more than a child, too embarrassing to be seen with. Because of my 'genius' mind, I was skipped all of high school, but visually I'm still a boy on the outskirts of adolescence. The girl I really like is not interested in going to the university ball with me."
"I think I have an idea," said Valerie, "You're talking to a high society girl from earth, you know. There's nothing I can't teach you about getting the girls' attention."
Mrs Farrer sat in the chair opposite Inspector Kobick's desk.
"Thank you for agreeing to see me, Inspector," she said.
"It's a courtesy, nothing more, though I can't imagine why you would want to talk with me. I did have your husband sent to jail for aiding in the escape of the Little People."
"That's why I need your help. He was distraught with worry about our children, as I was."
"You're lucky you have dependant children. From where I stood, you could have been considered involved in the escape too. You crouched down over them and told them to run, having made your intentions clear to Sergeant Gido. I risked our captives to save your children, and look what you did."
"But my husband has served a year in the SID prison. He has two years left, and the children miss their father."
"He should have thought of that, before he stood in the path of Sergeant Gido. He's very lucky I chose to have him charged instead of letting the Sergeant shoot him. There are no favours afforded to anyone who aids Little People."
"But couldn't you exercise some discretion, put in a word to have his sentence reduced. He's been a model prisoner."
"He was sentenced by the council. I made the arrest and the charge. There's nothing I can do now."
Mrs Farrer thought back to the incident.
"Inspector, those two little women approached me, and suggested the deal which led to all this, and I wish we'd found another way to save my children, without involving those little aliens now. If I could find them, catch at least some of them for you, would you forego the reward in lieu of letting my husband out early?"
"Reward? You forfeited that in advance, when you two stopped us from recapturing them!" said Kobick, "You rolled your dice, Mrs Farrer."
"You could at least have some mercy, Inspector."
"Do you have any idea what I've just been doing? I've been looking through report after report on Little People incidents, and asking myself why, against all odds, they have repeatedly escaped us, even when we had several of them in custody. In your case, the answer was obvious. As traitors to your own government, you and your husband obstructed SID activity, with me as a witness. Stop wasting my time, Mrs Farrer, and be glad I don't bring charges against you too."
Mrs Farrer left, furious with Kobick, and now equally resentful of the fact that those tiny people had ever come into her family's lives. Her gratitude for the rescue was gone, and she reminded herself that the children wouldn't have fallen down that cavity in the first place, if the two earth men in red and grey hadn't been on the scene.
There would be no reprieves for the Farrers, and no easy opportunities to recapture the Little People for the S.I.D.
Steve and the other male earthlings made sure that the cervo-actuator was destroyed. They returned to their base camp and waited for any news concerning the women.
Jodar walked into the university function hall on the night of the ball. He was holding hands with a beautiful older woman. Several girls looked up from their punch glasses and biscuits in surprise, when they saw the two approach. Jodar poured some punch for the lady, and ran into one of the girls he had tried to associate with, who was in his class.
"This is my date for tonight, Betty Hamilton," said Jodar.
After brief introductions, they walked around, eating and talking, and then the dancing began. First there was fast disco music not dissimilar to the style which had begun to make its way into nightclubs on earth in the 1960s.
"Oh well, I guess our music is only less than 20 years ahead of their world's, unlike our technology," Betty thought, missing the fact that she had just used a giant's invention to mimic his size.
Valerie had suggested that the first obvious strategy was to dignify the idea of Jodar being seen dating an older woman. The secondary effect would be to try to make the university girls jealous. To that end, Jodar had agreed to make more of his growth formula, along with antidote supplies.
After much freestyle disco dancing had been enjoyed, the disc jockey played a long bracket of slow dance music.
"Show these girls you can be a mature romantic," said Betty quietly, "Hold me close. Put your cheek against mine."
Jodar took her advice, and found himself very grateful to Valerie for suggesting this approach. Even if he never made any further progress with his older peers, he could enjoy this interlude on its own merits.
They danced, cheek to cheek for several minutes.
"I think we should bring this little floor show home," said Betty.
"How do I do that?" asked Jodar.
"It's nice to know more than a genius on occasion," giggled Betty, "You kiss me, of course."
"Properly?" he asked.
"Those girls won't be that envious of a peck on the cheek," said Betty, "I've given you a learning scholarship too, only on the subject of dating. It's time you earned it, with a bit more student participation."
Jodar tilted his head a little, and kissed Betty for nearly a minute. She clearly wasn't pulling away.
"Thank you, Jodar," she said, when he released her at last.
She made sure to look ecstatic for their audience.
"Thank you for helping me," said Jodar.
"I need to go to the bathroom," said Betty, "I'll be back soon."
Their captive audience soon saw Betty disappear into the ladies room. To their further surprise, an even older woman came over to Jodar. The first had been 25. This woman was 33. She had long red hair, and really looked ravishing to the boys on the brink of manhood in the giant university.
Valerie Scott, now also enlarged per her own plan, put her arms around Jodar and brazenly pulled him towards her. They had choreographed their upcoming scenes in Jodar's dormitory earlier. Jodar gave a visual display of reluctance to respond, on account of Betty.
Valerie planted one, right on Jodar's lips, and kept it going for over a minute, until a voice beside them called: "Excuse me! Take your hands off him, you predatory hussy!"
Betty had emerged on cue from the bathroom.
Valerie released her lip lock on Jodar and turned to look at Betty with contempt.
"I don't see him complaining," she said, "Maybe it's time you took your own advice."
Betty slapped Valerie on the cheek, doing her best to pull it at the last second. The music would make an assessment of the level of realism in the sound of the slap a MUTE point anyway.
Valerie released Jodar and flung herself at Betty. The two women were soon on the floor, engaged in what seemed a furious cat fight. When both of their clothes had become a little torn, a member of staff broke up the fight.
"You two ladies aren't students here, are you?" he asked.
"No. I'm his date for the night," said Betty.
"Well you're setting an appalling example of violence to our students. I'll have to ask you to leave, and Jodar, please remember this. You were admitted to this university at your age, because of your academic abilities. Your work has been exceptional, and your grades an encouragement to everyone who teaches you. However, if you are going to date older women, who are not members of the student body, I would ask that you do it off campus. Another incident like this may cause the academic board to reconsider your scholarship."
"Sorry Sir. We'll all leave," said Jodar.
He and Betty left together, and Valerie, making sure that the university staff didn't see her movements, met them both back at Jodar's dormitory.
"What a convincing act," said the boy, "Valerie's idea fooled everyone."
"I think we stole the show," said Valerie.
"Now you'll have a number of the girls competing for you. I saw the looks we were getting."
"You were both so believable in our routine, that everyone must be thinking that you genuinely enjoyed kissing me," said Jodar.
"I can't speak for Betty, but I did," said Valerie.
Betty looked at Jodar and shrugged.
"Me too," she said.
"I always wanted a toy boy, ever since my husband divorced me two years ago," said Valerie, "Although I don't think I'll start with a teenager. It was fun though."
"You were married!" said Betty.
"Well I had to go back to MISS Scott. It's flirting rule #1 in the jet set. I guess it doesn't matter if the others find out now. The competition is a little light on in a group of seven."
"Can we still stay the night, Jodar?" asked Betty, "We don't want to get you in trouble with the dean?"
"We got kicked out of the ball early. We can go to bed early and sneak you both out of here in the morning. I'll give you travel money to get back to the city you knew well at your Little People size, and there's an antidote pill for each of you too. You can take it, when you're close enough to your camp site."
"Thanks Jodar," said Valerie, as he went to fetch a spare mattress from the supply room.
He soon dragged it in, and put it on the carpet. Betty and Valerie shared it, and were shown to the Elops railway station the next morning.
Back at the Spindrift, several days went by, and the team were becoming demoralized by their anxiety over the women's location and physical state.
"This time I just don't know what to do," said Steve.
"Maybe I could modify the ship's radio," said Mark, "We can already listen in on a lot of broadcasts, but I might be able to extend the range, in case they are in another city."
"It's worth a try," said Steve.
"Well fancy that, dear! I think we've found ourselves a few Little People!" came a voice.
Mark was the first to wonder where he'd heard it before. Then they looked up, and saw Betty and Valerie towering in front of the space ship. Betty had used the same voice that she had used when singing as a makeshift marionette for Goalby.
"Sorry folks, we couldn't resist the prank!" said Valerie.
"Have you taken Jodar's formula?" asked Mark.
"Yes. It was his formidable mind subconsciously working on the cervo-actuator energy to bring us to his university, as we flew over it. He had girl troubles and enlarged us to give him a helping hand," said Valerie.
"Thank goodness you're OK," said Steve, "You did get the antidote as well?"
"Yes. One for each of us," said Betty.
"You'd better take it before someone takes a walk in the forest and sees you and finds us," said Dan.
"That's the thing," said Valerie, "Betty and I have done a lot of thinking and a lot of talking."
"There'll be plenty of time to tell us about it, once you've gone back to your normal sizes," said Steve.
"We've decided that we don't want to," said Betty, "We looked up Inidu, who's very successful and well off, now that he's been cleared and resumed his magic shows without his former assistant Enog in the picture. He said we could live at his old place on the outskirts of the forest, where we hid out from that storm with him. We can get jobs and settle here now."
"Are you two out of your minds?" asked Mark, "Look what happened when Fitzhugh tried to settle here: trouble within a few hours, the SID after us, and –"
"Fitzhugh picked a fight with a giant in the middle of a city street," said Valerie, "We won't make ourselves nearly so noticeable."
"You're both crazy!" yelled Mark, erupting right on cue, forgetting how ineffective that approach had been with Fitzhugh, after he had first enlarged himself.
"Crazy not to have thought of it before," said Valerie.
"It's out of the question," said Steve, "Betty, you're one of my crew members. You'll do as I ask, resume your normal size and help us get the ship ready and we'll get home one day."
"Oh I like that!" said Betty, "We've been trying that for two years. You two piloted us into this mess. Fitzhugh brought a giant cat down on us the same night and effectively incapacitated the ship, and Mark was prepared to leave us for the first blond his own size he met on this world, knowing full well we'd never repair the ship without him."
"That's as may be, but for now you take your orders from me, and take the antidote," said Steve.
He was thinking of a larger picture than the mere clandestine advantages of tiny size. The women, even Valerie were needed for the group's morale. He was losing them, and couldn't see how to sway them. His 'orders' were merely a desperate clutch at straws. Valerie had always been a self serving rebel, but Betty had only become more adventurous, after she'd shed her more reserved outfits and worn what Steve inwardly called her 'cleavage costume', the revealing pink outfit, which had left little to the imagination.
Since she'd put that outfit on, she'd been in Fitzhugh's company on the Professor Kermus teleporter incident, and the Dr North 'doomsday' incident, and the marionettes caper. For three of the few major adventures she'd had since changing wardrobe, Betty had come out of her shell, and made a pattern of associating with the most troublesome rebellious member of the team: Fitzhugh.
Valerie had been Fitzhugh's most willing partner in disobedience in the past, but had lately shown more maturity, counselling Barry into breaking his 'promise' to Fitzhugh for the good of the team, when Fitzhugh and Dan had discovered Fielder's time ship; and showing her knowledge of human psychology to diagnose Steve's drugged state and persecution complex, when he had been under the influence of toadstool dust. She had persevered in keeping Mark from being killed by the internal mechanisms of a mannequin in the museum, when Jolo had wanted to recover a stolen diamond. She had even discouraged Barry from sacrificing himself as an SID reward, when the boy had desperately needed help for Chipper from a giant Vet's assistant.
Now her traditional side was making a comeback, but it was Betty who really surprised Steve.
"And to think we were still going to get you the things you needed for the ship!" said Betty, "I'm off to move into my new house, Captain Burton!"
Betty stormed away.
"Did you put this lunacy in her mind?" called Mark.
"I've listened to enough of this. You're as unreasonable as my ex husband," said Valerie, and walked off. Barry ran after her, unnoticed by the men, who set about the next task in the repair of the ship.
"Valerie, wait!" he called, exhausting himself to keep up with the now giant woman.
She heard him, and turned around and sat down beside him.
"I noticed you didn't have anything to say back there," she said.
"I'm sorry about them," said Barry, "The Captain and Mark are just worried. I don't think it's a bad idea for you to be giants. I understand that you and Betty would like to settle here."
"You've been so much nicer and more accepting of it than the others. How do you do it, Barry? How does a kid get to be so sweet?"
Barry went silent.
"Barry, I really want to know. Most kids your age are rude and selfish. You're a considerate gentleman."
"It's a bit hard to explain, Valerie."
"You can tell me anything."
"Well I liked you for a long time in our second year here. In a way, it started, when we were near the house of those two giants who stole the ruby. You said I was quite a kid. I think you look even more beautiful as a giant. Steve and Mark might be angry, but I wish I could go with you to Inidu's house."
"You are such a sweet kid, and cute too!"
There was nearly 20 years and a lot of size between them, but both were feeling a chemistry that had remained dormant, over the last 18 months of running from giants.
She kissed the lad.
"You've given me an idea," she said at last.
She carried Barry back to the ship.
"We're going, whether you like it or not, Captain," said Valerie.
"And I'm going with her," said Barry.
"You're what?" asked Mark.
"We like each other," said Valerie, to everyone's amazement, "And you'd all be much safer if I took the ship to the house and we got the things we needed to repair it faster."
"What if someone comes in the house?" said Mark.
"We'll hide you well," said Valerie.
"No wait. Mark might have a point," said Steve.
"You're forgetting the most obvious point of all, Steve," said Valerie.
"What point is that?" asked Dan.
"You don't make the decisions any more."
Valerie quickly gathered up all of the earthlings, and the lean-to equipment an bundled them all into the Spindrift. Then she picked it up, with Barry riding on her shoulder, and carried it to the house.
"I think I've made them see reason," she said to Betty.
"She did nothing of the kind, just abducted us!" yelled Mark, "And you always acted like Barry's mother! How do you feel to know that Valerie's just designated him her toy boy?"
If anything, Betty didn't feel like his mother. She felt like she could almost have been something else. Yet it seemed that Barry had chosen Valerie. So she responded to Mark with the most caustic answer she could manage.
"I don't know, Mark. I was wondering if you and your toolkit would make me the bridesmaid at your wedding."
"We should still help them repair the ship and leave," said Valerie, "Apart from Barry, we'd be better off without any Little People around, who could spill the beans about us, if captured."
"Listen to yourself," said Mark, "You're even calling us Little People. Suppose you just remember where you came from."
"Suppose you just remember what we are now," said Betty.
So they hid the Spindrift in the house. The two women began applying for jobs, and fetching items to repair the Spindrift. Betty secured a vacancy as a secretary within a week. Valerie had to struggle a little longer. Finally she saw an opening, which surprised her.
VETERANARIAN'S ASSISTANT REQUIRED.
MUST LOVE ANIMALS
The contact number was that of the Doctor, who had prevented a vicious teenaged thug from further terrorizing Valerie, and had allowed all of the earthlings to stay at his surgery, until Chipper's wounds had completely healed. He had sent the benevolent assistant Ben Car off to complete his studies, with the promise of a more lucrative career at the end, and put the sadistic Carl to work as his full time assistant.
Valerie went for the interview, was not recognised by either Carl or the Vet, who explained at the interview, that he had given Carl two weeks notice, after Carl had continued to cause trouble and aggravate the animals. Valerie had an idea that would make use of the two weeks when Carl would be showing her the ropes.
The brat was repugnant to her. Yet she could not help remembering the way he had positioned her cage almost within reach of a vicious giant dog and started cutting through its chain, attempting to force her to reveal the location of the space ship. No SID officer had been as bloodthirsty as an errant teenager with the added advantage of giant size. Valerie would make sure he could never do it to another earthling again.
She put effort into charming Carl, asked him to meet in the park for drinks one day, and then spiked his drink with her antidote pill, that Jodar had intended should restore her to her earthling size.
Carl enjoyed the drink and soon found himself dwindling to tiny size. Within seconds, it was all over. Valerie lifted him out of his clothes and offered him her own yellow shirt and dress.
"So this is how Little People are made," she said, pretending ignorance to avoid any suspicion on her later, if Carl should ever have the chance to tell his story.
"I can't wear that. I'll look like a drag queen!" he yelled.
"Naked is fine with me too," said Valerie, "Since I won't have to look at you much longer."
Valerie took a walk deep into the forest, much further than she'd been for a long time, and thought of the one other sadistic child they'd met suitable to be given custody of Carl. She found Ackman's tiny village, and his grand daughter at play. With no more Little People, Ackman had let her use the village for a dolls play centre. The man of advanced years had no understanding of children's relative ages, and that she had grown out of dolls. The girl would use the place to sit and read.
"What a lovely little village!" said Valerie, "Do you know what it needs, young Lady?"
"What?" asked the girl.
"A Little Person," said Valerie, opening her purse, "And I just happen to have one right here. You look like a suitable girl to keep him company. He's all yours."
"Thank you," said the girl, with nasty thoughts of tormenting another Little Person re-entering her mind.
"That's poetic justice," thought Valerie, and left the man dressed in her clothes at the mercy of the spiteful girl, "I would have given him to Kobick, but he'd inevitably tell the inspector about the shrinking drug, and that could give Kobick enough clues to deduce who I really am."
Betty and Valerie regularly brought Mark whatever he needed, and occasionally lent their giant strength to the tasks at hand. Several more months went by, and then Ben Car completed his studies, and accepted the Vet's offer to work for him in a much more significant capacity.
He got to know Valerie well, and then it happened.
Ben asked Valerie out on a date.
She thought of Barry, but she liked this man. Barry had been fun. They would regularly lie together, and she would kiss the lad and let him enjoy her upper body as the manifestation of his first relationship. Yet the novelty was wearing off for Valerie, and she wanted to enjoy giant society with the same privileges she'd had on earth. Ben was over 6 years younger than her, but this was the sort of older woman / younger man relationship that had lifelong potential.
Valerie decided to keep her options open, until she had explored the possibilities with Ben and made up her mind about Barry.
She accepted Ben's invitation, and went out to dinner with him. They enjoyed dining, dancing and walking through the city. Valerie recalled all of the times she had been hiding in the city's drains, its vents, and even amongst its garbage. Now one of the kindest and most benevolent giants she'd ever met was romancing her, and she wanted to stay with him forever.
She kept putting off telling Barry that she had been two-timing him. She would never tell that to Ben. She had mentioned her divorce, but not that she was originally one of the Little People he had helped. She was so grateful for the way his influence had ultimately saved her from Carl's horrific behaviour.
One night, Ben took her to the theatre. They enjoyed the show. Valerie was still in euphoria, not only at being with a handsome younger man, but also at the chance to sit in a theatre and watch a show, with a giant's arm around her equally giant sized body. The peace, the lack of fear, the normalcy of it all exhilarated her for the first time since she had left earth nearly three years earlier.
After the show concluded, Ben asked her to a late night café. The street was lit up, reminding her in a strange way of Paris, as she sat at the outdoor table, and finished a strawberry puff pastry and an apricot juice.
Ben put his hand into his pocket, took out a small casket, and revealed an engagement ring.
"Valerie, will you marry me?" he asked.
"Well I'll have to tell Barry now," she thought.
She had avoided telling Ben where she lived. All of their nights in had been spent at his apartment.
Valerie came in late that night, and found Barry reading a giant book, exerting himself regularly to turn the pages.
"I think we have to talk," said Valerie, "I started seeing Ben, the giant who helped you and Chipper at the Vet's last year. He asked me out. I wasn't sure about leaving you. So I saw both of you at once for a time. Tonight he proposed to me, and I've accepted. I think you'd better stay with the others in the Spindrift room from tonight onwards."
"But I love you!" said Barry, "I would marry you too."
"In a few years you could, but be realistic."
"If it's my size, you could ask Jodar to give me some of the formula too, although I prefer being smaller than you."
"It's not that. It's your age. A 15 year old toy boy is good for a fling; but I can't make love to a minor, Barry. Ben is younger than me, but he's ready for that. I want a honeymoon, and a marriage, like I once had before things went bad with my ex husband. I don't want an affair with a kid. You'll get over it."
Barry walked out of the room. He had no desire to be near any of the others now. He went into an empty room and slept on the carpet.
The next morning Betty found him crying alone. He told her everything, glad that she still cared for him as a foster son of sorts. She let him stay in her room from then on, and did her best to keep his mind off the heartbreak, which had devastated him.
Ben and his fiancé enjoyed several weeks of further courtship. One day they went to a carnival together. Valerie recognised it as the one which had been on, when they had flown to Titus's overseas kingdom in a balloon, which had been seized by an unknown force and pulled over the Sea of Storms. Valerie loved being there as a giant, free to enjoy the shows without any danger.
At one point, the Ferris wheel stopped, giving Valerie and Ben a high view of the rest of the carnival.
Ben snuggled close to her.
"It's not as high off the ground as you're used to, I guess," he said, "I never thought I'd become engaged to one of the Little People."
"You recognized me?" she exclaimed, "How long have you known?"
"Since our first meeting, I have thought you looked like one of the Little People who came to our surgery. I followed you home from work one day and stood outside your house. I overheard you talking to Betty and the others. There was some heated argument going on about them trying to persuade you to take an antidote and go back to earth with them when the ship was ready."
"There have been a lot of those," said Valerie.
"I could hardly believe what I'd deduced. Where did you get the size changing chemicals?"
"A friend," she said, "I hope you don't mind, darling. I think it's best if nobody knows all the details. The government doesn't take kindly to anyone aiding Little People."
"Do you mind my deception?" asked Ben.
"It's not in the race with mine," said Valerie, "Which yours uncovered, by the way. I think you were the sweetest giant we encountered. I was so grateful to you for saving us that day. Carl was the meanest of all the ones we'd met."
She thought of Dr Berger's assistant Andre, who'd given them the Delta Device and fooled both Berger and Kobick at various stages in the adventure. She might almost have fallen for him too, but Ben was the one for her. She was sure. She had no regrets about dating Ben. Nor did she regret what she had done to Carl. With the possible exception of the psychotic chess fanatic Kronig, who had added a homicidal angle to the game, Carl had been the most dangerously evil giant they had met, although Carl's new custodian had come close on that score too.
"I wanted to come clean with you, and check that you still wanted to marry me," said Ben.
"Of course I do," said Valerie.
"I'll make sure nobody learns your secret," said Ben.
Valerie announced the wedding date to the other six former passengers and crew of Spindrift, and moved out on the morning of the wedding, as she would now move in with Ben. Betty went as her bridesmaid. The others had no interest in attending, not even in seclusion. Steve didn't want to risk being spotted by giants at the wedding. Valerie had no family to invite, claiming that they'd all split from her after her divorce. Ben's family would be the main attendees.
As well as that, Barry simply couldn't have brought himself to go, and the other men had not felt endeared to their former friend lately. The space ship was within weeks of being fully ready for the journey not only into space but through the rigours of the warp which led to earth.
The day after the wedding, Betty asked Barry how he was feeling.
"I did love her, Betty, but there are other girls."
"I know you had your sights set on Valerie, but there will be other girls. I always liked you myself, but didn't want to spoil things for you and Valerie, once I found out."
"I always liked both of you," said Barry, "Although I thought you were the nicer person. Since you said you wanted to adopt me, I didn't think you'd be interested in me that way. So I went with Valerie."
"Oh Barry, do you mean it?"
"Yes. I've been strangely happier with you as a friend looking after me, than I was while dating Valerie."
Betty kissed him.
They dated for the next few weeks, and when the ship was repaired, a date was set for the launch. Steve wanted to give at least Betty and Barry the chance to think over their decision to stay there with Betty as a giant. The group had all accepted that nobody would be able to talk Valerie into coming with them.
One Sunday afternoon, Barry and Betty went out on a date in seclusion in the forest. The Spindrift team were all amusing themselves in the Spindrift room of Betty's house, when Valerie walked in, using the key she had retained since living there herself.
"How are you?" asked Steve.
"Married life as a giantess is very pleasurable," said Valerie, "But I find myself wishing for the material extras I had on earth. Ben's apartment is nice, but I miss having a mansion on a large estate. I was wealthy enough never to need Fitzhugh's stolen million on earth."
"Are you thinking of shrinking Ben and yourself and coming with us after all?" asked Steve, "The offer's there."
"Ben wouldn't come, and I wouldn't leave him," said Valerie, "So I need a way to finance my former lifestyle. As far as Ben need know, I can say I won a huge bet at that race track where Chief Rivers had us once. In reality, I think Kobick owes me a lot of money, given all he put me through."
"Put US through," said Dan, "But how are you planning to extort money from the S.I.D.?"
"I wouldn't resort to extortion," said Valerie, smiling with contentment, "I'm sure he'd pay a fortune for an earth space ship and four little people."
"You can't be serious," said Mark.
Valerie's giant hand reached for him first, and pushed him into the ship. She lifted if off the ground and rested it on a high table, while the others realised she was serious and scattered.
Valerie crawled around the room, chasing each of them in turn and catching them with relatively simple gestures, and placing them in the ship. After Mark, she went for the nearest two targets: Steve and Fitzhugh.
Steve had thought of an idea, which depended on getting captured earlier, rather than after the others, since he knew Valerie would get them all eventually.
"Get under the TV!" yelled Steve, "I'll lead her away from you."
He knew Fitzhugh wouldn't be safe there, but he had to be caught first.
Valerie closed in on him.
"Got you, Skipper!" she said, and put him into the ship with Mark.
Steve raced to the cockpit, opened a compartment and took out an old code schedule. He tore off the first sheet, turned it over, grabbed a pen, and wrote on the back:
"Barry and Betty,
Valerie is capturing all of us,
and intends to turn us into the
SID to claim the rewards from
Kobick. Pretend you don't
know about it, and then Betty
can bring Barry to Kobick's
office in the middle of tonight
to have Barry pick the lock,
as he did in the museum for
the ruby thieves. Then Betty
can free us. I know we've had
our bad moments lately, but we
really need your help.
Steve."
"Where are you going to leave it?" asked Steve, "You heard her. She's taking the ship too."
Steve showed Mark something only Steve and Dan had known about.
There's an emergency ejection door at the base of the ship, just here. I'll open it, drop the letter through, and it'll be on the table top. So long as Valerie doesn't see it, when she picks up the ship and leaves, we'll be right."
"The ship is big enough to block her view of the table, even when lifted off the ground," said Mark, "Let's keep engaging her in dialogue, when she's got us all, so she's distracted."
Valerie had seen Fitzhugh go under the TV, and decided that Steve was an easier first target. Now she went back and reached under with her smooth slender fingers.
"What does the false naval commander's manual say to do in this situation?" she mocked, and grabbed Fitzhugh.
Valerie put him into the Spindrift, and performed a more exhaustive search of the room, until she found and caught Dan.
"What now?" asked Dan.
"I've got it covered. Just keep her talking," said Steve.
Dan kept the port door open and shouted out at Valerie.
"Let us go, Val! You were one of us."
"You said the operative word: 'were'," said Valerie.
"But Valerie, if we tell Kobick about you, he'll arrest you too, enlarged or not," said Fitzhugh.
"But you won't will you? Or Betty and Barry will be in the same predicament. I've seen your chivalry before, even yours where Barry is concerned, Fitzhugh."
Steve fired up the ship's engines.
"That won't break her giant grip," said Mark.
"It doesn't need to. She knows I'm always attempting escapes. This will let her think that I'm attempting one with the ship. It'll make extra certain she doesn't look back and spot the letter I dropped for Barry to find when Betty brings him back."
"Turn it off Captain, or I'll have to reach in and discipline you," said Valerie.
Steve left the ship running.
Valerie's hand reached in through the door.
"Alright! We'll stop. Leave us alone!" yelled Mark.
Steve stopped the engines. Valerie took them through the forest and all the way to SID headquarters.
She turned them over to Inspector Kobick.
"Their ship as well! How did you do it, Madam? I've been after them for years. You'll get the biggest reward we've ever considered for this."
"I found their camp in the forest while picnicking. Just don't tell my husband. He's very sympathetic to Little People."
"I assure you I'll authorize for you to be paid discretely," said Kobick, "But how will you explain your sudden wealth?"
"I'm going to the race track now, to collect some discarded tickets from the rubbish, and claim I got a big win, by betting all my savings," said Valerie, giving her new married name and calling her first name Ames, the name she had adopted since applying for the job at the Vet's.
"On behalf of the Supreme Council, and everyone who's pursued these little nuisances for the last 2 or more years, I appreciate your patriotism," said Kobick.
"Did I get all of them?" asked Valerie.
"Not quite. There are two women, a boy and a dog as well. But you captured their physically strongest members, including their leader, and you've got the ship. I'm used to interrogating one or two of them in vain to learn its location. You've done more than every Sergeant I've employed to date combined."
Valerie would never see the team again. Kobick instructed Cindy to organise the transfer of funds into her account immediately. He then went to gloat at his captives.
"You'll never learn the location of the others from us," said Mark.
"I don't really need anything from you," said Kobick, "I've got your ship, your leader, your pilots and you. It's about time this cage had some occupants."
Kobick put them all in the cage, and left it on his table. He then went over to the property cage, and locked the Spindrift inside it, and put the key back in his pocket.
Valerie had already set her sights on a mansion, before putting her plan into action. The large estate (which had belonged to Kronig before his second breakdown) was now on the market. Valerie would purchase it the next morning and surprise Ben.
Betty and Barry returned to the house late in the day, and found the Spindrift gone.
"Surely they wouldn't have left early," she said, "And they couldn't have gotten the ship out of the house anyway."
She put Barry down on the table, and walked around, calling for the others.
Barry found Steve's note and read it to her.
"Why that selfish vixen! She really is a hussy. I'm having the locks changed tomorrow. But first we have to get them out of SID headquarters."
Betty knew from past experience as a Little Person, that Kobick usually left his office early in the evening, unless a specific Little People case called for his attendance and night shift supervision.
She waited until 10:30 and then took Barry to the building. It was deserted. Betty's lovely fingers held Barry, while he opened each lock, until they reached Kobick's office. Betty opened the cage which held the Spindrift men.
"What about the ship?" she asked.
"It's locked in the property cage. You'll need Barry again."
Barry was unable to manipulate the far stronger lock of the property cage. Kobick had taken no chances, not even on another renegade SID officer like Sergeant Barker stealing the ship for his own purposes.
"The laser might do it," said Mark.
"It's in the ship," said Fitzhugh.
"We need the thinnest of us to squeeze through the bars and get it," said Steve, "Looks like it's up to you again, Barry."
Betty carried Barry over to the cage. The boy slipped between the bars, went into the ship and came back with the laser.
Mark and Dan held the lock steady, while Steve began cutting. It took them half an hour to sever the lock. Then Betty was able to open the cage and retrieve the Spindrift. She took them back to the house.
"Captain, I'm definitely not coming with you," she said, "But you really shouldn't wait any longer for me to prove that. Kobick will be on the war path tomorrow morning. I don't want him finding the ship here one day, and learning about Barry and me."
"I'm staying too," said Barry.
"We can't just go without the boy," said Steve.
"You'll have to. I won't have you risking our happiness," said Betty, "Now either you four blast off, leaving me to hide Barry and Chipper here for our lives together, or I turn you into the SID myself and find a better place to live with the second batch of money."
Betty was bluffing. She didn't have Valerie's selfish ruthlessness. She counted on Steve having been too shocked by all he'd seen latetly to consider that she didn't intend to carry out her threat.
"We'll go," said Steve, "But Barry, are you sure?"
"Since long before Betty became a giant," said Barry.
"Then all the best for both of you," said Steve.
"Good luck, boy," said Fitzhugh.
The others said their goodbyes, and then Betty took the Spindrift out into a clearing, and held Barry gently, as they watched the ship firing up.
"If anyone told me even a year ago, that those three would do anything like the things they've done lately … " said Steve.
"My money would have been on Fitzhugh," said Dan, relieved to be in the cockpit of the ship, with the two remaining passengers back in their seats after all this time.
"All pre-flight checks done. Prepare for lift off," said Steve.
Spindrift left the ground, and climbed higher and higher. The city came into view, reminding Steve and Dan of the time that they had first approached and mistaken it for London.
Higher they climbed, and headed into space. Sure enough the warp was there. By giant standards it was so small, that no ship they might ever perfect in the future would ever get through it. Even if they had earth technology, they might never be able to invade the planet.
Steve recalled the time he and Fitzhugh had passed through it in Fielder's time ship, unaware that they were about to make a Visit to a Hostile Planet, namely their own, around 80 years in their past.
Many times Fitzhugh had daydreamed with fantasies of having eluded Steve on that day, and remained in the past with all of the money he had stolen when time had been frozen. Now at least he was on his way home
"It's funny," said Mark, "Of all the people I could find myself talking to, I didn't think the only one would be you."
"About what, Mark?" asked Fitzhugh, discarding his latest mental odyssey of life in the early 1900s on earth.
"About Valerie. I can't believe that she'd do that to us. Even you didn't think of turning us in, when you became a giant."
"Well you did all save me at various times, and I was one of you."
"But Valerie was too."
"She was with us, Mark. I don't think she ever really wanted to consider herself as one of us. She just needed us to survive, until she found a better option."
"I guess I have to unload on someone," said Mark, "I'd often hoped I might be that better option. Now I wouldn't want to know her."
"You liked her?" said Fitzhugh.
"I can really pick them, can't I? First Marna Whalan, more of a puppet to giants than you and Betty once pretended to be. Now Valerie, keener than the real giants to turn us in for profit, and willing to do it, knowing we were her own people."
"Take it from an old cynic, Mark. When I first saw Marna, I said she was beautiful, and Valerie certainly didn't go unnoticed either. But what standing does an overweight middle aged larcenist have with such impressionable young women? You'd have been a good man to either one of them, and they just didn't appreciate you."
Mark acknowledged that this was one of Fitzhugh's rare moments of caring for the feelings of others more than himself. Perhaps it came with the con man's optimism at their imminent return to earth. No, the man did have a conscience, and did care, particularly for children. He had helped the orphans who had mistaken him for Thrombeldinbar as surely as he'd helped Barry by translating some of the German book to Dr Bruhl. He just had a habit of putting himself first, when it came down to making a choice. When he'd tried to buy the first ticket on the time ship, by conning Dan, he'd momentarily forgotten his friendship with Barry.
"Thanks, Alexander, not just for the chat, but for the times you helped me: getting the ship's rods from O'Reilly, coming to Franzen's lab with me against Steve's recommendation, and being prepared to blow up the hydrogen fuel cell at the 11th hour to save the girls."
"I'm sorry about the time I doubted you and shot my mouth off too," said Fitzhugh.
Both knew he was referring to the time he'd accused Mark of killing Inspector Swan with curare darts.
"Forget it. That planet brought out the worst in all of us. Now we're out of it."
"I'm going to miss Barry though."
"Just think of his happiness with Betty. It's what he wants."
Steve and Dan finally heaved a sigh of relief, as they emerged from the warp.
"Do you think they'll ever believe us?" asked Dan.
"We were gone for three years, and we've only got to show them the warp from a safe distance," said Steve.
"What then? The giants know we exist. Earth knows the giants exist. Where do things go after that?"
"Who knows?" said Steve.
"I liked her, you know?" said Dan.
"After what she did to us?" asked Steve.
"Not Valerie," said Dan.
"Oh. Yes, I liked Betty too," said Steve.
"I guess we both waited too long," said Dan.
"She chose Barry. She could have chosen us, even later. I suspected Mark was blowing his top at Valerie's giant size for personal reasons. I had to keep checking myself from reacting the same way to Betty. I couldn't pretend to myself, that it was all for the good of the group."
"It doesn't really matter now," said Dan.
"I guess neither of us will ever forget her," said Steve, "Let's see if we can set her down easy."
Betty walked back to the house with Barry and the two snuggled up together in her giant bed.
The next morning, Valerie was quick to approach the real estate agents and sign a purchase contract on Kronig's old house. Kobick couldn't reclaim the money anyway. Rewards for Little People were based on the number of Little People turned over to the SID. A substantial bonus was included, for the space ship, and the subsequent escape didn't factor into it.
"How the blazes did they do it?" yelled Kobick, losing his composure even in front of Cindy, "Do I have to sleep every night in this blasted place, from the moment we capture any of them?"
"They must have had help, Sir. You said yourself we didn't get the lot of them. Every time we've caught some of them, at least one of the others has been free to sneak in and rescue them. They have those radios to communicate with too."
"The radios! That's it, Cindy! From now on, we probe every little person we catch from top to bottom and confiscate any of their radios. We stop them cueing up rescues from their friends, and we post a guard on duty whenever Little People are in custody. I'll be darned if I'll lose them again! I even had the ship this time. They must have more advanced little weapons than we thought, to have cut through that lock and flown the ship out of here."
"But how did they get out of here in the ship, Sir?"
He had been in too much pent up fury to consider that.
"They must have had help from someone in this unit this time. Pull everyone off their duties one at a time to be interviewed by me. If there is a traitor in this organization, who is secretly aiding the Little People, it would explain a lot."
It was just as well the team had gone back to earth. Betty and Valerie were the right size to pass for native giants. Valerie had decided to dye her hair blond, in case Kobick ever got thinking that she looked familiar. For the two enlarged women, the small boy and his dog, a new chapter of life was beginning.
25