One night shortly after that, all of the Spindrift families were watching their television sets with keen interest. Giant Betty had told them of a well advertised Frye Network special television interview that would be on that night, concerning the Little People.

"This is Ria Portia, with our special interview with senator Tim of the Supreme Council," said the news girl, "Senator, I'm given to understand that you've been the driving force behind the legislation which the Supreme Council has just passed today concerning the Little People."

"That's correct, Ria," said Tim.

"Can you tell us how these new laws will affect the Little People, and indeed us, as well?"

"Many years ago, it became known to us that the Little People had indeed landed on our planet. As they seemed unwilling to leave it, despite being in constant danger of apprehension or worse, our government must have suspected that their space ship had been made inoperable. Now it should be said that our government did not have space travel technology, which implied that the Little People had advanced their scientific developments further than we had. This caused a paranoia to sweep through my father's generation on the Supreme Council. Little People were branded as enemy alien invaders and spies, despite their relatively harmless size. When we should have been seeking to help them to cope with life on our planet, we instead sought to capture and imprison and interrogate them, denying them the very civil rights available to people of our own size. This came at a time when our own concepts of civil liberties had already begun to erode among our own people anyway. Citizens were encouraged with both legalistic threats and offers of rewards, to hunt down Little People and hand them over to the S.I.D. Some citizens complied. Others, it has since become known to me, captured the Little People privately and tried to exploit them for their own ends. In extreme cases, there were citizens who almost make me ashamed to be a member of our people at all. These malfeasants actually attempted to murder the Little People for sport or amusement, or for the sake of a cheap string of movie stunts. Only a few years after their arrival on our planet, the Little People seemed to disappear. It was assumed that they returned to their own planet by means which had subsequently become available, perhaps a rescue. We have only recently learned that there are Little People sightings on our world again. I have spent a long time putting their case to the Supreme Council, which has mellowed in the new generation since the early days of Little People reports. It is my pleasure to announce the new laws," said Tim, "All Little People are to be granted the rights and privileges of permanent guests of our planet. It is against the law to manhandle a Little Person without their permission, or to jeopardise a Little Person's safety or freedom in any way. As of tomorrow, the S.I.D. are to enforce these new laws, acting, not as a threat to the Little People, but as their advocates and protectors. They are to release any Little People in their custody, and to arrest and imprison anyone who is caught abusing the Little People in any way. Animals are another factor. It is now the duty of any citizen witnessing an animal attack on the Little People, to drive the animal away and ensure the safety of the Little People…"

"Senator Tim, how do you think society will react to the blanket freedoms that your law offers these extra terrestrial outsiders?" asked Ria.

"I think that the very word 'outsiders' is indicative of the misconceptions that have plagued our society for too long, that these new laws are set up to overcome. Some of our society's people have cared for the Little People in the first place, having been the recipients of their benevolent acts of kindness. I've been meeting unofficially with them for some time. Others have been too easily led by paranoid propaganda and hostile legislation in the past. I can only appeal to them to embrace the new laws with compassion and decency," said Tim.

Elsewhere, SID Inspector Camilla Evers and her captive boyfriend Dolf were watching the show with as keen an interest as the Spindrift families.

"I think that means you're free to go," said Camilla.

"Oh no. Please don't send me away!" said Dolf, "I want to stay with you! I love you. This just makes it less complicated to enjoy it."

"Aren't you sweet?" exclaimed Camilla, and kissed him with more affection than ever before, "I often wondered how genuine your interest in me really was. Little People are known to try any trick to enable their freedom to be obtained."

Dolf recalled the ruse that Nick and Captain Burton had once used on the giant trapper, and wondered how much acting had gone into Nick's contribution to the staged physical fight between them. When the two parties had originally met, there had been a lot of distrust and animosity, even between the earth teams. Now things had come a long way, so that even giants were willing to trust and cooperate.

Nick himself was enjoying the broadcast with his giant wife as well.

"Darling!" she said, "We no longer have to hide our marriage. We can go public, and share it with my friends!"

Back at giant Betty's apartment, giant Betty came into the village room and sat down with Barry on her shoulder and called the Spindrift families out to talk about the broadcast.

"That senator seems to have opened a lot of giant doors for us," said Steve, "I wonder what made him so sympathetic to our needs.

"The timing is ironic," said Mark, "It's taken me decades of work, but I've re-invented Professor Kermus's teleporter. I was going to tell you all after a few more days of tests."

"You're joking!" said Marna Ericcson, "A teleporter."

"You weren't with us at the time we had our adventure with the original device," said Dan, "Steve made a heat-of-the-moment decision to destroy it after teleporting us all away from the giants. The professor said he'd never make another one. How did you build it without even a circuit diagram?"

"I just put my mind to work on the concept," said Mark, "Like I said, it took decades. It stood to reason that, if earth technology, particularly in my company, was far ahead of the giants' technology, then I must be able to re-engineer something which had been invented by one of the more intelligent and scientifically advanced giants."

"How much testing have you done?" asked earth Betty.

"He's sent me to earth and brought me back," said Valerie, "I've even seen how my investments have grown in my absence, well managed by Smithy."

"We can keep them secret from both the giants and our own people on earth, privately construct more there and in this apartment, and be able to enjoy the new freedoms from Tim's laws on this world and our old nostalgia locations on earth. There's no reason for any of our families to be broken up."

"Mark, you're something else," said Steve.

"I would like to see earth again," said Barry, "But I'm a forgotten orphan there. I would like to spend most of my time here with my wife. There's no way for her to be able to come to earth."

"Well the first teleporter moved giant objects and even the Professor himself when I used it," said Steve, "Maybe she could be sent to an isolated location on earth, where nobody but us could see her, if that's of any value to you both."

"It would be nice to see your world just briefly, or maybe at night when I wouldn't be noticed," said giant Betty.

"We just don't want to alert earth to a lot of concepts which would be unknown to them in 2010," said Mark.

"We'll be careful," said Steve, "And I can't speak as a leader as I did in the old days. This is your achievement, Mark, and I believe that you and Valerie should administer the regulations of its use and our small society's security. My leadership faded away as a concept when the Spindrift became obsolete. I wouldn't even desire to step on your territory now."

For a brief second, the two recalled their ancient disagreements, and even the occasional punch-up.

"It's very ancient history, but thanks," said Mark.

"It would be nice to meet this Senator and his friends though," said giant Betty, "I'm sure they must be very loyal to our cause."

"I was thinking that same thing," said earth Betty.

Barry laughed.

"I'm sure we can trust them to meet at one of their homes," said giant Betty, "I would like to keep this location secret from society at large, and not have other 'giants' intruding on the room here that's been your village home for so long. If word got out, you'd be as troubled for privacy as Igor Krul was in his day."

So it was that giant Betty contacted Senator Tim, and was invited to take the Spindrift families to meet his friends. They met in one of Dal's luxurious dining rooms, where Tim introduced them all to each other with a quick show of names, and a short summary of their initial meetings with the Little People in 1983 and 1984.

Garner and Toby, Teddy and Leeda Farrer, Senator Timothy, schoolteacher Alison Hunter, Dal, and giant Betty Lockeridge were all seated around the giant table, with tiny provisions and furniture placed on it for Dan & Marna & Danielle Ericcson, Steve and Betty & Eli Burton, Barry Lockeridge, and Mark & Valerie & Alan Wilson.

Toby and Leeda were obviously in love, giant Betty noticed.