LAND OF THE GIANTS

The Delta Effect: The Other Nightmares

Part One-Barry's Nightmare

A twisted, distorted version of the giant forest confused a running Barry. He began by chasing Chipper into the now dark landscape. As he lost his way--and Chipper, his dog--he looked all around him and upward. The giant trees seemed even larger and bulkier than before. He couldn't understand what was happening, especially when he turned around to look for Valerie. She was gone. Or was he?

Barry stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do. Crackling sounds caused him to look up again, toward the massive trees, the top of which blocked the sky with their foliage. He realized the cracking sounds were those of wood when it bends. Five of those trees were tipping straight at him. He ran but the toppling trunks blocked him, squeezing. How could he outrun five falling trees? Any one of them could equal ten Empire State Buildings. It was a waste of energy to push on one of the trunks to try to divert its course but doing so, gave him ample time to spot a space between trees. Scurrying into near total darkness, Barry fell. He started to catch his breath when he felt the presence of many somethings all around him. He dared to peer about him. Dimly lit were strange, oddly shaped bushes which suggested the forest again. But it wasn't the forest--only some far-out imagined child's version of what a forest should be. Above each cardboard like bush there popped in, odd round shaped lights. Most had a partner, two together, but some had three or four in the same vicinity. In the growing quiet, Barry tensed and moved forward to investigate. Before he could get close to one of the odd lights which hovered above the bushes as a street light over a road, the loud sound of an oncoming car startled him. The car was not seen but its head lights shone from an invisible point onto the owner of the two lights in front of Barry. Above him, in the shadowy glare, he saw a very still and unmoving giant grasshopper. The lights were its eyes. Again, it was more a caricature of what a grasshopper should be, rather than what a grasshopper actually looked like.

Horror filled him as he realized--all those odd lights also belonged to some giant insect. Or something worse. Their croaking, creaking, whistling, chirping, chomping, singing sounds only now reverberated around this mock-forest, deafening Barry's thoughts. He covered his ears and saw that the other lights began to move--awkward, stilted jerks--but they were converging toward him. As the trees before them, the insect-animals were trying to surround him. He ran, avoiding the hop of the grasshopper. Other forms became clear to him in the dimness: a spider, a preying mantis, a gila monster, a red ant, and a caterpillar. All foaming at the mouth, and all gigantic. Bigger than they should have been, even for the land of the giants.

Barry ran on as he never ran before. "Valerie? Valerie! Where are you? Val !" He relaxed as her familiar voice echoed in the blackness, "Oh Valerie, it's you. I thought...oh, never mind."

"Yes, Barry," the voice intoned, "I told you that taking a risk like this was just plain stupid! Don't you ever listen to anyone?"

He whirled around and faced the area where the voice came from. From the blackness came Valerie. But her face was stretched, contorted, widening. It also swooped out of the sky toward him. Val's horrible face was that of a giant. As he body became more visible to him, Barry could see that she was a Giant. "No! How?"

A huge, usually friendly face, lowered toward him, "No Barry, we're just big like a giant."

"Dan!" Barry whispered, "You too? No!" He turned to run but a black boot blocked his path.

"You are going to do what I say," Steve, a giant, gleamed angrily, "Do you understand!"

Another giant yelled, "You should have stayed back there with the others, Barry."

"Mark," Barry felt defeated. Nevertheless, he ran but fell as he hit a large wall, colored black. He stood as quickly as possible, "What is this?" High above him, high above the weird smiling versions of Dan, Mark, Val, Steve, and Fitzhugh, a face appeared. "Inspector Kobick?"

"You see," Kobick laughed, "They're not giants. I am." He went on, putting his glasses higher up on his nose, "But you, you are a little person even among little people!" Kobick broke out into an exaggerated, shriek of laughter. "They treat you the way I treat them. Less than little." Only at this, Barry realized this black wall was the base of Kobick's own shoe. Kobick was so impossibly huge, Barry wondered how he could move at all.

Barry dashed behind Kobick, away from his former companions and tripped. He fell over a dozen soda bottle caps, all giant, and he kept falling. He landed finally. Barry opened his eyes to a blurry world. Images were unclear but he saw four adults standing over him. As he focused, he could make out Betty and Steve to one side, Val and Mark to the other. Betty's voice was heard, "Oh, yes, here they are."

"Doctor, I'm not doing it right," Steve said but it sounded harsh, almost a command as if Steve didn't want to do it correctly. At least he and the others were all normal size. But... something was wrong. Mark, Betty, and Valerie all wore clothes they hadn't worn since last year. The clothes were the same ones they had crashed here in. Time was backed up. Their faces became more clear.

"Let me do it. I am qualified," Betty remarked. Or did she? "Give that to me!"

Betty and Steve arguing? Barry, groggy, couldn't recall the last time that happened, if it ever did. He managed to pick his sedated head up and saw Betty trying to wrest a scalpel away from Steve. Then the boy noticed his own clothes. The trousers he wore were the ones he first came here in, like the others he had on clothes he hadn't worn for a year at least. The shirt sleeve seemed to be his old shirt. He then noted the shirt was pulled up, his trousers opened slightly at the waist. He panicked. He was not supposed to be awake during the operation. He must have been sedated because, tensely, he noticed he couldn't move much.

The scalpel ended up buried in his abdomen. He knew he was not sedated now because of the pain it caused. Betty and Steve forgot their fight and Barry knew this because both were wearing overly pleased, sadistic grins. Whichever of them was stabbing him, they both were deriving satisfaction from it. Perhaps they were both doing this--now moving the blade around his lower stomach. Barry closed his eyes in pain. He had to reject this.

"NO!" He sprang up, tearing the robe and shirt off of himself. For a moment, he seemed naked from the waist up but then his normal, present day clothes appeared on him. Avoiding the crushing foot of old Dr. Brule, Barry kept moving.

Betty snatched the scalpel back from Steve, "But wait, we're not finished yet."

Barry's running made him remember his original goal, "Chipper." He had to find his little dog. He once more stopped in his tracks. For towering over him was the dog he sought. Chipper wasn't playful anymore. His tail did not wag but his teeth were bared, ready to strike. Barry noticed the dog's eyes which seemed evil and intent on harm--how human the canine's eyes now were. Chipper, the giant dog, leapt to pounce on Barry. The boy, no longer stunned by anything in this nightmare world, was ready. He raced under Chipper's body, toward the dog's posterior. This enabled him to make a break away. Had Chipper been a giant cat, a back paw could have stopped the boy but the dog missed Barry entirely.

Barry ran until he saw complete blackness--absolute nothingness. Nothing stood where he ended up. He sank to his knees, defeated mentally rather than physically. He put his hands over his face in an effort to cry. The release wouldn't come. Not yet. Two human size hands touched him from behind. One rested on each shoulder. Barry, removed his own hands, daring not to turn around. He saw, directly in front of him, a simple little dirt walkway surrounded by perfectly laid rows of stones. To either side of the walkway lay multi colored flowers in a wonderful garden. The walkway ended in a step up to a cabin house, small but quaint, neatly built. Barry saw behind it a rod iron fence, other smaller homes built similar to army barracks. None were as nice as the closest to him. A masculine voice said, "We have to leave now, Barry."

Wide eyed with a mixture of shock and joy, Barry quickly stood and turned, all in one move. The red haired woman attired in a formal blue evening gown, smiled down, "But we'll be back. Your father is a good driver."

"NO!" Barry pulled his father's arm, "NO!"

"He's right--I'm not," his dark haired, blue eyed father laughed. "Just because I can handle sea going vehicles all the time doesn't mean I can't drive."

Barry's eyes began to well up as he hugged his father, "No! I mean there will be an accident. You'll die."

"How morbid," Mrs. Lockridge patted his head as if he were still eleven.

Mr. Lockridge scuffed Barry's hair, "We'll be back. Then we'll all take that long trip I've promised. I have some vacation time coming my way now that I'm higher up in rank. So we can visit those third cousins of yours in England. You should get to know them, stay with them."

As Mr. Lockridge talked, he and his wife began walking, hand in hand, toward an opening in the fence. Funny, the gate didn't seem to be there before. Barry, crying, pulled on their combined hands. "I don't want to go live with them. I want to be with both of you!"

"You will be," his mother said, sounding cold.

"Oh, this is how they are when they're little. So little. He'll get over it and when we leave him in the future, he'll be used to it." They kept walking and Barry's grip on them loosened. He didn't loosen it but some outside force made it loosen and was intent on making him let go--to allow him to suffer--to make him think he didn't do anything to save them. Barry was doubly intent on holding on. But before his eyes and within his hands appeared different couples. His father became Steve Burton, walking with his mother who became Valerie Scott. The two peered at him, coldly. Then a small smile. A drizzle effect passed over his eyes. The couple became Mark Wilson and Betty Hamilton. They were at the gate now. Barry's drip loosened and he fell back. Mark let go of Betty's hand, "I told you to stay back there."

His tears watered his eyes and cheeks. Then Mark became Dan; Betty became Mr. Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh waved, "Good bye, my boy."

"No, not all of you, too. You're all going to die," Barry gasped out, "...leave me like they did...I can't...go through it all over again," Barry wiped his tears.

Betty's former words echoed, "I'll take you home with me and you'll never be an orphan again."

Dan became Mr. Lockridge; Fitzhugh, Mrs. Lockridge. Barry's father opened the limo door, "Nice car but no driver, so I must be your chauffeur."

Barry yelled, "It won't be your fault. That truck, it'll go out of control. You won't have a chance!"

His mother closed the door. His father waved and slid into the seat from the other side of the limo. She asked, "What's he saying now?"

Barry heard their talk through the limo window even though it was rolled up. "Oh, you know him. Good imagination. He's a little boy. Next thing you know he'll be imagining he's stuck on a planet filled with giants."

"Oh you, stop," Mrs. Lockridge playfully said and slapped her husband's shoulder.

"Yeah, giant people, giant animals, humongous insects, big bottles of soda..."

"You're such a kidder." The limo drove off under its own power as the father kissed the mother's cheek. Barry ran out of the gate but the car became transparent, then vanished completely. Overly exhausted, he let the grief overtake him. He fell forward this time. He landed onto his hands and knees.

Night turned into day. Something warm and familiar licked Barry's hand. "Chipper?" Barry stood up, now surrounded by the well lit forest. It looked normal. So did Chipper--he found this out by cuddling the happy dog. As he put the dog down, he realized that his mother died in a car accident two weeks before Spindrift took off from LA Airport. His father died years before that. Barry dried the last of his tears. "Hey, boy." Barry sat there for a few minutes, playing with the dog, forgetting his outlandish nightmare. Finally, he stood up, "Come on, Chipper, we've got to find the others."

Purposefully, Barry headed for the Spindrift camp with Chipper following in a loyal strut. His friends had to be around somewhere and the ship was the best place to search. It was after all the only safe place on this land of giants.