Tony Newman and Doug Philips were still tumbling helplessly through time and space. At first, the time tunnel had mainly taken them into earth's past or more immediate future. Their adventures had been more like history lessons than science fiction experiences. Later, at least from the point of view of Ray, Ann and Woody, the Time Tunnel was able to take them practically anywhere in time and space. Futuristic beings and aliens were regularly encountered by the two time travellers. On one occasion, Ann herself was kidnapped by beings with time technology of their own.
On their latest and greatest adventure, Tony and Doug appeared in a lush growth of plant life.
"I wonder where we are this time," said Tony.
"I wonder WHEN," said Doug.
"It could be very early in earth's period, if the jungle is this dense," said Tony.
"More little people!" said a woman's voice.
Tony and Doug looked up to see a giant woman staring into the undergrowth at them, with a very familiar face.
"Ann!" said Doug.
"Ann?" said the woman, "My name is Ann, but how did you know that?"
"It's us, Tony and Doug. The Time Tunnel must have shrunken us," said Tony.
"Time Tunnel. What's that?" asked Ann.
"Why on earth don't you remember?" asked Doug, "I thought we had something between us."
"I've never met you before, only some other little people from earth," said Ann, "You haven't been shrunken, at least as far as I know. The other little people seemed to think that they had their natural size. This isn't earth. You do realise that, don't you?"
"We must have come to a parallel world," said Tony, "We're on a planet like earth, where everything is giant sized, including parallel versions of people we know, like Ann Macgregor."
She picked them up.
"Other people from your world helped save the lives of my children," she said, "And all they got in return was a narrow escape from a bureaucratic SID Inspector and a trigger happy Sergeant. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"We never know how long we're going to be here," said Doug, "We've had over 30 adventures already, and I haven't had a chance to wash my suit."
"And this turtle neck sweater is itching my neck so badly," said Tony, "Would you be able to wash and dry our clothes and lend us some strips of cloth to use as gowns in the mean time?"
"Sure," said Ann, "I'm Mrs Ann Farrer. Macgregor must be an earth name. I never used it. I'll take you guys into the laundry and get you some cloth to use as robes. Then I'll let you change in privacy before I start hand washing your clothes."
Once Tony and Doug had removed their sweaty garments and wrapped themselves in makeshift towels, Mrs Ann Farrer returned and took Tony to the kitchen.
"You can help yourself to any food on the bench, while I talk to your friend," said Mrs Farrer, and returned to Doug.
"So you have children?" asked Doug.
"Yes. I thought you might like to talk about your Ann in privacy. Do you love her?"
"Yes."
"Does she know?"
"I'm not sure. We didn't have much chance to explore it, before Tony and I ended up tumbling helplessly through time and space. She did hug me, when the three of us ended up on an adventure together since then. Then we got separated again."
"And she really looks exactly like me?" asked Mrs Farrer.
"Exactly, except for her size. I never thought I'd see her … I mean, you , like this."
"It's alright. I understand."
"So who's this Inspector you don't like?" asked Doug.
"You need to watch out for him, while you're in this town. He leads a government hunt for little people. I'll show you his picture."
She led him to Tony and took both of them to a room with a dart board hanging on the wall, with Inspector Kobick's photograph stuck around the bullseye.
"My husband uses it for target practice," said Mrs Farrer, "He's head of the Special Investigation Department, which has nothing better to do with its time than try to trap people from your world."
"He reminds me of three people we met in our historical romps on earth," said Tony.
"He must just have that kind of face," said Doug.
"Where's this Time Tunnel device you mentioned?" asked Ann
"It's on our world," said Tony, "But its effects reach us, wherever we go, and keep a fix on us, until our Ann and the others are ready to send us to another part of time and space. They have little control over where we're going, and we have none at all."
"Well at least they can send you to another time, if Kobick gets hold of you," said Mrs Farrer.
Doug was so excited at meeting a giant version of his beloved Ann Macgregor, that he had forgotten that the people at Tick Tock complex could see and hear them on the Time Tunnel viewer. He just remembered it, when Tony had explained the working of the Time Tunnel to Mrs Farrer.
"He does love me. Doug loves me!" said Ann.
"It's incredible," said Woody, "A parallel planet of giants."
"I just hope he was paying attention when that giant version of me told him she was married with children," said Ann, "I don't want to be traded in for the deluxe sized model. We've got to find a way to get them back, Ray."
"I'm working on that every day, Ann. We all are," said Ray.
"We can't leave them on a world of giants, no matter how much Doug is enjoying confiding in your doppelganger," said Woody, "How soon can we switch them, Ann?"
"This is the first chance they've had to launder their wardrobe," said Ray, "Wait until their clothes dry."
"And until they've got them on," said Ann, laughing for the first time since Tony and Doug had gone missing in time.
Tony and Doug continued talking to Mrs Farrer, until she had washed and dried their clothes. She gave them more cloth strips to use as clean towels, and filled a washing bowl with warm water and left them to bathe and change.
She returned later to find them dressed in their original clothes.
"Thanks for this," said Tony, "It's the first clean up we've had."
"You're welcome."
Tony and Doug suddenly vanished before her eyes, and moved only weeks in time, but appeared in another part of the giant world, on the desk of a giant police chief.
"You're a giant version of me!" said Doug.
"I'm ex-chief Bulga. Thanks to your little friends, I've lost a lot of credibility with the senate. But I can still make you pay for it!"
"Switch them now!" said Woody, back at Tick Tock.
"I can't," said Ann, "It needs a little time between transfers."
"But that sadistic parallel of Doug is going to hurt them!" said the General.
"You know she doesn't want that," said Ray, "Be patient, General. It's nerve wracking, but it's all we can do."
Meanwhile, in Bulga's office.
"Don't you wonder about my appearance?" said Doug.
"I've seen little people before," said Bulga.
"No, I mean my facial appearance. Look closely at me," said Doug.
Bulga held Doug right in front of his eyes and gaped.
"You're a tiny version of me!" said Bulga.
"You said your name was Bulga," said Doug, "Are you Ann Farrer's husband?"
"Ann Farrer? I've never heard of her," said Bulga.
Meanwhile, back at Tick Tock on earth.
"I guess the dating permutations are different among our giant counterparts," said Ann.
From here on in the story, it is assumed that the readers know that Ann and Ray and Woody are having their dialog back at Tick Tock, complex on earth, but are able to see and hear Tony and Doug on the viewer.
"It doesn't matter," said Doug, "But you and I are connected somehow?"
"When I discover the answer to that, I'll have a new angle on little people," said Bulga, "And you'll tell me soon enough, if you want to live!"
Ann saw that the Tunnel was ready to be operated again, and switched Tony and Doug in time. They appeared in a doctor's office this time, and waited for the doctor to come in. He looked exactly like Ray.
"The Time Tunnel must be scientifically tuned in on some scientific relationship between Time Tunnel personnel and their giant counterparts," said Tony.
"I won't hurt you, and Kronig's no problem anymore," said the giant, "I'm Dr Laler."
"Laler?" asked Tony, "Ray Laler?"
"Yes. How did you know that?" asked the doctor.
"Let's just say you remind us of someone back home, an exact duplicate of your facial features, but our size. Who's Kronig?" asked Doug.
"A psychotic mental case former patient of mine. He tried to use a rigged chess game to fatally burn other people from your world. I had to work with them to help them escape him. I consider him my worst failure. When I was trying to stop him from killing them, I told him that you little people were fellow beings from our universe. Just how right I was has only become clear to me after your last statement," said Dr Laler.
"The other giants we've met have mentioned other little people. We haven't come across them yet," said Doug, "Can you tell us who they were?"
"I met three white faced men and a white faced woman and boy, and a black faced man. They all seemed benevolent, and the boy was an excellent chess player. I think I remember their names, having heard them talking with each other. It was only a few days ago. They were called Steve, Mark, Fitzhugh, Valerie, Barry and Dan."
"The tunnel seems to be stuck on that world of giants," said Woody, "Isn't there anything we can do to get them back to some time on earth?"
"They're oscillating around the years 1983 and 1984 every time we switch them," said Ray, "Maybe there's something about that giant world that holds the Tunnel's focus there like a magnet. At any rate that giant counterpart of me seems highly benevolent."
"Like you," said Ann.
"Mrs Farrer seemed as trustworthy as you too," said Ray.
"Let's not generalize, when it comes to trusting these giants," said Woody, "Doug's double was the most dangerous person they've met since they started time travelling."
"We might as well try another switch as soon as it's possible," said Ann, "We have to get them back to earth 1968 some time."
Dr Laler and Tony and Doug continued making conversation, until Ann and Ray were ready to operate the Time Tunnel again. They were switched to a small cave, where there were seven people their own size.
Tony remembered Laler's description.
"You must be Steve, Mark, Dan, Fitzhugh, Valerie, and Barry," said Tony.
"Sure, but how did you know that?" asked Steve.
"Dr Laler told us about you," said Doug.
"The man who helped us beat the giant chess fanatic?" asked Mark, "Is he here?"
"No. We're time travellers from earth 1968," said Tony.
"More of them?" asked Dan.
"You've met some before then," said Doug.
"They were from 5477," said Steve, "Fitzhugh and I used their ship to fly to earth in 1910, but the primitive superstitious people there drove us away."
Tony's eyes fell on Betty, the only member of the team of earthlings who had not been in Dr Laler's litany of little people.
"Laler didn't meet you then?" asked Tony.
"I was back at the ship at the time," said Betty, "I was having a lot of nausea, which made me unfit for strenuous excursions through this giant world. We had limited medical supplies and knowledge. I had all the symptoms of pregnancy, but I couldn't have been, since I hadn't engaged in the necessary cause of pregnancy. I'm the stewardess of the ship that brought us here."
"Just how did that happen exactly?" asked Doug.
"We went through some sort of space warp, while flying a sub orbital path in our airliner the Spindrift," said Dan, "I guess it wouldn't have been discovered in 1968."
"What about your time travel? Where's your ship?" asked Steve.
"We don't use one. The Time Tunnel sends us from one time to another at random, every time they move us," said Tony, and explained the whole predicament to Steve.
"Are you saying that we could get back to earth, simply by staying near you, when this Time Tunnel gets activated again from your complex on earth?" asked Mark, "It's amazing. I never heard any mention of it in all my engineering studies at M.I.T."
"You wouldn't have," said Doug, "Tick Tock was top secret. But you'd be exchanging one unsafe environment for another. We can't control where we travel to, or when. You could end up in one time after another, and face all kinds of perils."
"We keep facing the same kinds here," said Valerie, "It's always the giants."
"I know. Some of them look like us," said Doug, "Exactly like us."
"Well maybe they're future versions of you that you haven't met yet, with their sizes altered by Jodar's enlargement pills," said Mark, glad to have met two other scientists his own size at last.
"No," said Doug, "Chief Bulga was vicious, and he'd met you before. They all had."
"Bulga?" asked Steve, "The police chief who tried to frame us for blowing up a depot?"
"He looked exactly like me, and Mrs Farrer looked exactly like one of the Time Tunnel personnel Ann Macgregor," said Doug.
"Astounding," said Mark, "I'd heard of parallel universes in theory, but I hadn't any data to test the ideas. I guess we haven't met any doubles of ourselves yet, except for Inidu's images. But you say you're from 1968. It's 1984 here. Maybe the doubles don't all live in the corresponding time periods. That's why we haven't met our doubles here yet."
"Not all of us," said Steve, "But do you remember Captain Hasham, who died when we blew up that underground complex? Now that I think of it, he looked exactly like one of those visitors from 5477 called Oles."
"That's why Oles looked strangely familiar to me too," said Mark, "In that case the duplication of appearances happened over thousands of years."
"I don't think we should risk going with the Time Tunnel," said Steve, "Fitzhugh and I have already had our fill of ending up on earth in the wrong time period. We know how you two feel."
"You should have let me stay there," said Fitzhugh, "I'd robbed that bank blind, while you'd frozen time."
"You mean you weren't content with the million you stole from the Los Angeles bank in September 1983, just before we lifted off in the Spindrift?" asked Barry, who had woken up to his friend's criminal foibles in the last 18 months of being stranded on a giant world with him.
Tony and Doug both became wary of Fitzhugh. He was clearly an example of what could happen if criminals ever got access to the Time Tunnel. He had already shamelessly confessed to using time travel to loot a bank in 1910.
"How would it work anyway?" asked Mark.
"Ann and Ray and Woody can see and hear us on the Time Tunnel viewer now, just as I could see Tony before I followed him back to the Titanic," said Doug, "When they think it's best, they'll switch us in time and space, and hope it eventually gets us back to earth. We seem to keep moving to various places on this world, and all apparently within the time frame of your stay here. If they listen in on your choices, they'll be able to operate the tunnel when the ones who want to come with us are right beside us."
"Where are we now?" asked Tony.
"Just above an underground city," said Mark, "The leader has just closed off the teleportation platform, to prevent us from going down there again. There are two archaeologists preparing to leave outside, since we rigged their test to ruin their mineral search. It was the only way to protect the secret city. Let's see if they've gone yet."
Tony and Doug and the Spindrift team went to the cave entrance and looked out. They saw two giants in the distance.
"Figures," said Tony, "That older one's an exact double of Woody, the General in charge of Tick Tock. Enjoy the view, Woody, if you can hear me, and let us have more time to talk things over with this lot before you switch us."
Steve and Dan led the other seven back to the Spindrift base camp.
"You could stay with us, if you like," said Betty to Tony, when she had a chance to talk to him alone, "Our ship can take two more passengers, if Mark gets it going again."
"But we'd end up on earth in 1984," said Tony, "That's 16 years out of our right time. You could come with us though. It's a gamble as to whether we'll get back to the right time, and a gamble as to whether you'll get back to earth 1984."
"It could be more of a gamble for me, if I came with you," said Betty, "You've been crossing all over our time line on this planet. If I met my slightly older or younger self, it could really complicate things."
"I guess you're right, although maybe 1968 isn't such a great time to be in, after all," said Tony, "I've suddenly realised what it's missing."
"Giants?" asked Betty.
"No," said Tony, "The right stewardess for a very weary and very lonely traveller. Ann's probably waiting for Doug back in 1968."
Betty's eyes sparkled with appreciation, her face clearly inviting him to take his compliment to the next step: action.
Tony kissed her. Betty met his affection with enthusiasm and got lost in the moment, which for a time traveller like Tony could have extra significance.
"Maybe I could do without 1984 too," she said at last, "Would your scientists be able to hear, if I wanted to come with you after all?"
"I think so," said Tony.
"Wait a minute," said Betty, "From what you said on our way here from the cave, they must be able to see and hear everything you do."
"Yes," said Tony.
"Including our kiss!" said Betty, in a sudden huff, "My most romantic moment in two years on show for all your complex's personnel to see."
"I can't do anything to avoid that," said Tony.
"I won't ask what happens when you need to go," said Betty.
"I'm sorry. It's just the way it is with the Time Tunnel. I guess you'd have to consider that, if you came with me."
"It's alright," said Betty, "It's actually a marked improvement on standing in a cage with giants gawking at me."
She put her hands on his face and kissed Tony again.
"He's fallen in love again," said Woody, "This time on another planet."
"But with a woman from earth, only 16 years out of his time," said Ray.
"So what do we do?" asked Ann, "It brings up all the same questions we asked when he fell for that woman in earth's history."
"The dangers of leaving him with her on the giant world are all too apparent," said Woody.
"But what about the dangers of subjecting her to uncontrollable time travel?" asked Ray.
"Don't you men have a romantic bone in your bodies?" asked Ann.
"Look who's talking," thought Jiggs, another Tick Tock operative, "She's been the most humourless wooden woman I've ever met. That giant counterpart of her seemed much more romantic. Pity she was married though, or I might have been tempted to jump into the Tunnel and join her while we still had that fix on her laundry."
"You're both forgetting the danger that that young lady pointed out to Tony," said Woody, "While the Time Tunnel keeps sending them around the giant world in 1983 and 1984, she could meet herself."
"That's no danger," said Ann, "Tony met his child self at Pearl Harbour."
"And think of all the problems we had to face to keep them both safe and avoid a time paradox," said Woody, "I won't risk it. I'll have to overrule you both on this one. That girl stays there."
"Well they've both declared their desire to follow each other's life styles," said Ann, "Do we leave Tony on the giant world and send Doug on alone?"
"I don't know," said Woody, "I'm still getting over the fact that I'm an archaeologist on that world."
As the Tick Tock staff watched the viewer and continued to ponder the romantic moral dilemma which faced them, Betty and Fitzhugh took Tony and Doug on a reconnaissance mission to find parts still needed for the space ship. Betty had just changed out of the green and pale brown outfit into a revealing pale pink short dress, which gave Tony a generous view of her legs.
They came to a pole their own height in the gardens of a giant building.
Fitzhugh began mumbling about its function.
"You don't know what it is, do you?" asked Betty, in a far more giggly and jovial mood since the commencement of her temporal romance with Tony Newman.
Suddenly the device paralysed Betty and Fitzhugh, and a giant uniformed man approached with a huge leashed dog.
"Switch them now!" said Woody.
"What if we move the Spindrift people too?" asked Ray.
"We'd be doing them a favour," said Ann, and activated the controls.
Tony and Doug vanished from the scene. A few seconds later, so did Betty and Fitzhugh.
Betty and Fitzhugh appeared in Professor Kermis's room, and their timeline resumed its normal course.
The giant SID officer assumed that the same phenomenon had been responsible for all four disappearances.
Tony and Doug tumbled helplessly into Los Angeles in earth 1983. As their helpless tumbling concluded, as luck would have it, Tony tumbled helplessly onto Fitzhugh, who was fleeing the bank in a Naval outfit, having just robbed it.
Fitzhugh's portly form cushioned Tony's fall, while Doug did one of his famous forward rolls and came out unscathed yet again. He helped Tony to his feet and recognised Los Angeles, which had not changed that much in the last 15 years.
"We're back on earth, in the immediate past of the Spindrift team," said Doug, "And look who broke your fall."
"Fitzhugh. He won't know us when he comes to. He hasn't met us yet," said Tony.
"This may be the safest moment in history we've come to," said Doug, "Let's hand him over to the bank security staff."
Tony and Doug were given a huge cash reward, which would be useful in any time period after the currency had been printed, and a sack to carry it in.
From what they knew of Fitzhugh, they knew that they were in 1983.
Tony and Doug ran out to a deserted park and called out into thin air.
"I hope you can hear us as usual, General!" said Doug, "When we went to 1978 on our very second time trip, we were on a rocket to the moon. You had to switch us in time. If it weren't for the location, it would have been the closest time to our own."
"Don't try to get us back. Don't switch us again!" called Tony, "Abandon the project, unless you want to go on experimenting without us. We'll go to the complex soon enough and see if your older selves are still there and recognise us. Don't move us, Ann! Just wait for me. I'll still love you just as much, regardless of any age difference it creates. If you love me back, then you'll accept that."
Suddenly two men came running towards them. They were the 1983 Ray and Woody!
"We heard the message you've just shouted out, and waited 15 years and came here to meet you," said Ray, "You wouldn't have found us at Tick Tock. After what happened to you two, we decided the project was too unsafe to continue, and shut down the Time Tunnel. We'd been about to lose our funding just before you two got lost in time anyway, as you remember," said Ray.
"What about Ann?" asked Doug, "I meant what I just said about still loving her. Did she not feel the same way about me?"
"She heard what you said to her giant double, and she does love you," said Woody.
"Then why didn't you bring her with you? Can't she face me? I'm sure she'll still be lovely in my eyes, regardless of her age," said Doug.
"She's not here to face you, but just wait and see," said Ray.
Suddenly Ann Macgregor tumbled helplessly into the 1983 park scene. It was the 1968 Ann Macgregor.
"Oh Doug," she said, throwing her arms around him, "You were so sweet to say that, but I had better ideas than waiting 15 years, after all we'd already been through."
"You jumped into the Time Tunnel only minutes after my declaration of affection," said Doug.
"They'll perfect time travel one day, but it's too erratic our way," said Woody.
"Now I understand why they do it with time ships in 5477," said Doug.
"Wait a minute!" said Tony, "You two have just given me an idea! I've got to be quick though! Give me half of that money!"
Tony stuff wads of the reward money into his trouser pockets, ran for the nearest public transport, and paid for all the tickets he needed to get to Los Angeles Airport.
He ran for the main terminal and caught Betty, just as she was on her way out of the VIP room.
"Don't work today!" said Tony, "You don't know what you'd be flying into!"
"Betty, what's keeping you?" called Dan Ericcson.
Like Fitzhugh, none of these September 1983 people had met Tony Newman yet.
"I heard enough," said Steve Burton, rounding a different corner, "What do you think you're doing, trying to alarm my stewardess."
"Your flight will never make it to London," said Tony, "You won't believe my reasons. Just trust me and don't fly five passengers to a space warp which leads to a land full of giant terrors."
"We're running late," said Dan, "Now move out of the way and let her go, Mister!"
Dan pushed Tony away from Betty. Tony fought back, and the two of them hit the ground, severely injuring Dan's shoulder. He'd be out of action for weeks, before he fully recovered.
Steve flew to his oldest friend's assistance, and attacked Tony.
"Steve, stop! He was only defending himself. Let him go!" said Betty, her feelings for Tony beginning true to form in her 1984 self's past as well.
Steve turned Tony loose.
"I don't know what your game is, but I can't get another co-pilot. So you'd better hope that nothing happens to my passengers on that flight. Let's go, Betty."
"Please, Betty, trust me. I'm from the future," said Tony, looking affectionately.
"The future? Oh come on. I've got a flight to make," said Steve.
"I'm not coming with you," said Betty, "I believe in him somehow."
"Then I'm putting you on a charge. Go to Miss Collyer's office and sign a Formal Refusal To Obey Reasonable Orders form," said Steve, "The report on Commander Fitzhugh is that he was a fraud, who was arrested before he could get to our VIP room, but I've still got three other passengers and a dog on my schedule."
"Of course he's a fraud. He stole money from a bank. I tumbled helplessly in from the future and fell on him," said Tony.
"You're seriously trying to tell me you're from the future," said Steve.
"Well from the past actually, but I've just spent a while in various points in your immediate future," said Tony.
"I really haven't got time for this," said Steve, "Go sign that form, Betty. I'll have to do this without a stewardess."
Steve left them to it.
"I'll go with you," said Tony, as Steve stormed off, "And don't worry. My warning will become clear soon enough. Captain Burton is too athletic for me. I'm a scientist who's been thrown into a lot of fights in the course of time, but he really gave me a hiding. I can't stop him from taking off with the others, but at least you, Dan and Fitzhugh are better off here on earth."
"You talk of things I can't possibly fathom, and yet there's something so sincere and gentle in your eyes," said Betty.
Steve went to the VIP room and ordered the remaining passengers: Barry, Mark and Valerie aboard the Spindrift. Barry brought his dog Chipper as well, and the ship took off.
Betty and Tony were still trying to explain things to Miss Collier (who incidentally had her giant doppelganger as well, by the name of Nurse Helg in the giant hospital), when she received an emergency call from the tower, to say that the Spindrift had vanished from the radar.
"The space warp I've been trying to tell you about," said Tony, "Now ground all sub orbital flights, and drop Captain Burton's ridiculous charge against Betty."
"I guess the top brass will decide that we have to," said Miss Collier, "You can go, Miss Hamilton."
"You did quite a job of making time with my giant double," said Ann.
"I wasn't making time with her, not even before I knew she was married," said Doug.
"You weren't even tempted to stay there and propose to her?" Ann teased.
"Well maybe just a little bit," said Doug, "She was cast from the same mould as you."
"Which is more than can be said for your giant twin," said Ann.
"Speaking of proposals, do you remember when we parted at the shopping centre?" asked Doug, producing a casket from his pocket, with an engagement ring.
"You must have spent most of the reward money on it," said Ann.
"Not quite, but we were casually dating for months in 1968, and you know I love you now. It wasn't quite the way I planned for you to find out, but you know."
"You must have known I'd be listening in and watching," said Ann.
"I actually forgot, while I was face to face with the giant spitting image of you. Besides, the only time I was making time with her was when I still believed that Tony and I had been shrunken. At that point I thought I was making time with you."
"You have my verdict. You're innocent of giant-timing me," said Ann.
"So will you marry me?"
"I will."
"Let's hope Woody and Ray spent the last 15 years giving suitable explanations to our friends and relatives," said Doug, and they kissed.
Betty had invited Tony back to her apartment.
"You really are from my future. You knew what would happen," said Betty.
"Yes," said Tony, "I'd already met you on the giant world in 1984."
He had taken time to fill her in on the way.
"But you went straight for me, not the passengers. You warned the stewardess first," said Betty, "…. Did we kiss in my previous future?"
Tony nodded his head in embarrassment.
"It must have been good," Betty giggled.
"It surely was," said Tony.
"And just think. That me will never know that particular kiss," said Betty.
"It happened in my own relative past. So I remember it though," said Tony.
"Don't you think I should have the chance to catch up?" asked Betty.
Tony leaned slightly closer to her and kissed her.
"Do you think we'll ever see Steve and the others again?" she asked at last.
"Well the Time Tunnel can't help them anymore, but maybe a rescue party can go after them, now that they know more about the warps."
"But they don't know enough about you. Your involvement will raise a few questions," said Betty.
"Woody's a General, and was in charge of the Time Tunnel project until Tick Tock was shut down," said Tony, "He'll make sure that things are kept quiet, and only inform the upper echelons of the United States Government of what they need to know, based on Doug's and my discoveries of the giant world in its immediate future. Time is a curious thing. By preventing three of you from boarding the Spindrift, I've already started a butterfly effect. Who knows what's happening to Steve and Mark and Barry and Valerie and Chipper now."
"It's completely out of control," thought Steve, until the Spindrift finally reached the other side of the warp.
By waiting for Fitzhugh, until they got the report of his arrest, and being further delayed by Tony's interference, they had left the airport a little later in the evening than they had done in the previous timeline.
Steve looked through the cockpit window.
"There's a city down there, but I didn't think we'd been in the air long enough to have reached London," he thought, and landed the ship on a large strip of concrete. He kept the landing lights on, and looked out the cockpit window. Suddenly he noticed a woman walking towards the ship. She had long dark brown hair and a long dark green dress. As she quickly drew closer, he felt something odd about his vision.
"The angle seems all wrong," he thought, "Why do I have to look upward to see her face?"
The woman reached the ship in a few quick strides, and Steve stared in disbelief. The woman was so big, that the Spindrift only came halfway up to her knees!
"No wonder this city didn't look familiar!" he thought, "It's a land of giants!" Three other women followed the beautiful giantess and surrounded the ship.
"It's the thing we saw from the apartment window alright," said the first woman.
"Let's take it inside and open it up and have a look," said another.
Steve saw the beautiful woman's hands reach down to pick up the ship.
Steve quickly lifted off. The women were too startled to react. The beautiful giantess gaped in surprise, as Steve took the ship up past her knees, then past her thighs, past her stomach.
"We're up 50 feet, and there are still women all around us!" he thought, "It just can't be!"
Had Spindrift arrived earlier, the giant boy from the original timeline would still have been out walking the streets, and grabbed the ship (making the first contribution to its incapacitated state). The giant cat encounter would have finished the damage.
The women were too startled to react. Steve flew past their shoulders and saw the beautiful giantess staring in at him. The look in her eyes (as she saw a live and relatively tiny man piloting what she had mistaken for a model) was one of sweet surprise.
Spindrift rose past the ground floor ceilings, and gradually began to ascend past each of the windows of the giant apartment block. Some of the rooms were lit up. Others were in darkness. Some had blinds or curtains drawn. Others had their interiors visible to Steve.
Steve looked at the ship's instruments. All of his attempts to resist the pull of the space warp had severely drained the batteries. He would have to set down somewhere and recharge, without the reserve power to reach escape velocity.
He had reached such a height, when he'd escaped the giant women, that he couldn't land safely. There was so little power left to manoeuvre the ship, that he'd crash for sure. He had to go through the first open window he found, and hope the giant occupant of the room would be friendly.
Steve saw an open window and a lit room. He gunned the Spindrift straight for it, and flew into the window. There was a beautiful young giant woman around Steve's age, with blond hair in a ringlet. She was sitting on the bed reading a book.
"The bed!" thought Steve, "I can land on a soft giant mattress without damaging the ship!"
He guided Spindrift in and made a soft harmless crash landing on the bed beside her.
He switched off everything, including the superfluous landing lights, put the ship on recharge, and ran out to the passengers.
"You think I'm telling fairytales, if I say what we've just been through," said Steve, "So if you'll just step outside, what happens next will be almost as much news to me as it will to you."
"That was very cryptic, Captain. Are we in London yet or not?"
Steve went back into the corridor and opened the door to the blanket on which the ship was resting. The others followed him out and soon became dumbstruck.
"I'm sorry about the sudden entrance, Miss," said Steve, "I'm Captain Burton. Our ship passed through some sort of anomaly in space and ended up severely drained of power in this place, where everyone seems so much bigger than us. If I hadn't found your open window and made an emergency landing on your bed, we could all have been seriously injured."
"It's alright, Captain. I'm Linda," said the woman.
She was wearing a medium length white skirt and a short sleeved white shirt, which had blue stars on every part except the collar, although the collar was still tied with a matching blue ladies cravat. Steve thought she looked lovely. Yet he had his passengers to consider.
He suddenly remembered the incident with Dan, Betty and the stranger near the VIP room back at Los Angeles Airport.
"He was trying to warn me this would happen. He really was from the future," said Steve, "I was rather unfair to him. Still, if I'd gone back in time and tried to dissuade the others from making this flight, I wonder if any of them would have believed me."
"Captain Burton, that turbulence we experienced … Did it coincide with the time you saw us in the anomaly?" asked Mark Wilson.
"Yes, Mr Wilson, it did. You're an engineer, aren't you?" asked Steve, recalling something he'd read on the passenger manifest.
"Yes I am," said Mark, "I think we went through a space warp."
"I had an altercation with a man at the airport, just before we took off," said Steve, "He tried to warn me that something like that would happen. There was a fight, and that's why the co-pilot and stewardess couldn't make the flight."
"I can't get us back in the air until the ship recharges," said Steve, "Do you think that anomaly will work in both directions?"
"Theoretically," said Mark.
"You're all welcome to stay here until your ship's ready to go," said Linda, "But do you mind if I put you on the carpet in another room, when I'm ready to go to sleep?"
"Not at all," said Steve, "It just might be best if you don't tell the other residents in this building about us. I had to avoid four giant women who tried to grab the ship before."
"I won't tell a soul," said Linda, who was glad to have her own secret group of tiny friends. They all fascinated her, especially Steve.
"I thought we went down a long way and then up again," said Valerie.
"We landed on the giant pavement below," said Steve.
Linda carried the ship to the next room. The earthlings followed her and watched her put it down.
"I think I'll be comfortable on this giant carpet," said Barry, "It's as thick as a mattress to me."
"Your dog's very cute, little boy," said Linda.
"Thank you, Miss. I'm Barry."
"We'll spread out and sleep in here," said Mark, "I designed the batteries the ship uses. I'll let you know when it's recharged, Captain."
"Captain Burton," said Linda, "You look exhausted from piloting your ship through what must have been very demanding circumstances. Would you like a supper snack first?"
"I thank you," said Steve, "I am pretty drained at that. The rest of you turn in. I'll be back later."
"Let me save you the walk," said Linda, and carried Steve out of the room, and closed the door.
"Now you can all sleep without the huge light from my bedroom coming in and keeping you awake!" she called, and took Steve to the kitchen. She sat by the bench and prepared some food, and they both talked and ate.
"Captain, may I ask you something?"
"Sure," said Steve, admiring her beauty immensely, as well as her sweetness.
"If you get back to your little world, will I ever see you again?"
"I think sub orbital passenger flights would be grounded already, if that guy at the airport and my stewardess have explained our disappearance from their radar with that guy's uncanny future knowledge," said Steve.
"Oh," said Linda sadly.
She seemed very fond of him. Steve had felt the same way, from the moment he had stepped out of the ship and begun to relax.
"But I guess I could take one up privately and come here and visit you if you like," he said.
"Oh Captain Burton, I think that would be very nice," said Linda.
"Do you have any boyfriends?" asked Steve.
"I've been waiting so many years for the right man," she said, "Would you feel threatened if I picked you up and kissed you?"
"No. I'd like it very much."
Linda took Steve gently in her fingers and gave him a gentle affectionate but enveloping kiss.
"Was that alright?" she said.
"It was strictly wonderful," said Steve, "What about for you?"
"I think I'm finally falling in love," said Linda, "Would you like to sleep beside me tonight?"
"I think I've got a giant crush," said Steve.
"I wouldn't crush you. I promise," she said, "I'll keep you near my neck. No matter which way I pivot around in my sleep, you'll always be snuggled against the softest part of me."
"I'm sorry," said Steve, "On my world, the word crush has another meaning. It can refer to a strong feeling of amorous affection for someone."
"And that's how you feel about me."
"Yes, very much so. The only thing is that I might well be out of a job on my world, once the sub orbital flight paths are closed. I'll sink my entire savings into purchasing the Spindrift, which will probably become obsolete, but I won't be able to help you earn a living on this world."
"Don't feel bad about your size. I like you that way," said Linda, "And I'll look after you whenever you're here."
Valerie had come out and eavesdropped on them.
"I guess I'll have to try my luck with Mark then," she thought, and returned to bed.
The following morning, Steve and Mark confirmed that the ship was ready for take-off.
"Those women might have seen us fly in here last night," said Steve, "I think we should wait until dark before we take off through the window and back to earth."
He did not tell the others about his plans to revisit Linda, although Valerie would soon end up sharing it with Mark back on earth.
They waited until it was dark enough to take off in seclusion of nightfall, and Linda set the Spindrift down on her dining table, and opened the window once more.
They boarded, and strapped in. Steve flew them out the window and back up into the atmosphere. He located the nearby anomaly and flew through it and landed back at Los Angeles. They were all debriefed, and the airline made plans to go back to more traditional flights.
Mark put his arm on Steve's shoulder.
"Valerie told me about you and Linda in almost the same breath as she asked me out. Her reasoning was that if a giantess could be fast and forward with you, then why not Valerie with me. You've gotten us through several harrowing situations and helped me meet the girl I'd like to marry one day. I could easily buy you the Spindrift with my spare change. I could even make it a hidden item in the technical budget of one of my corporations, if I had to, but I'll do it out of my own pocket. I wish you all the best. Linda's as nice as they come."
"Thank you Mark. I haven't known you for long, but I don't know what to say."
"I'd like to study that giant world more, now that we know that Spindrift can cope with the anomaly in both directions. Take me and Valerie with you sometimes. Barry's interested too. To him it's all one big sci-fi adventure."
"I'd be happy to," said Steve, "The trick is to just understand that the warp pulls you into it from either side, adding enough velocity to the ship to shoot it out the other side and send it on its way. All I have to do is not fight it, and the ship has plenty of power for the return trip, although recharge times won't hurt."
"I think I could adapt connections from giant department store batteries, if the ship ever lost all power and got stranded in Linda's apartment," said Mark.
"She'd buy them for me," said Steve. What adventures we're all going to have, so long as the other giants don't find out about us. Hopefully what those four women saw will be dismissed as some kid playing with a remote control toy after hours. Only one of them actually saw me. We'll have to make all trips in and out at night time."
Eventually Steve married Linda and still used Spindrift to keep in contact with his old friends on earth. Linda set up a large dolls house with many guest rooms for the others, who sometimes accompanied Steve on his return trips to his new giant wife's apartment. They had had to bring in an earth parson to perform the wedding ceremony, in order to keep the existence of the earth people secret from the other giants. Linda wasn't even able to tell her family that she'd married, as her mother was on the supreme council. She was not sure how the government of her world would react to a tiny space ship whose travellers flew in and out of her world at will.
Steve's future was LOOKING UP.