MAZE By Scott Grildrig and Chelgi Part 2 Molly moved a bit more slowly after that. I think it was the first time she'd ever encountered anything designed to kill her that wasn't based on high explosives. We were also getting close to our target, that and the nervousness we both felt when we checked the skies made us both a bit antsy. Then, suddenly, Molly stopped. "Mike?" "Yah?" "I stepped on something." "Oh hell, "You mean a trap?" "The ground moved funny when I stepped down." "Okay. Okay. Fine, don't move." I unhitched myself from my chair, grabbed onto its arms and peered down. Unfortunately I couldn't see anything from the side, and Molly's breasts and ass prevented any clear view from the front or rear. "I didn't realize how voluptuous you look from up here," I said. "What?" she hissed. "Whoa, no movements, okay? I'm have to get down to the ground. Maybe I can defuse the trap, or find a way to jam it in place." "The term 'shot in the dark' springs to mind," said Molly. "I'm open to suggestions." "Just get going." And therein lay the little foil to my plan. I looked Molly over from every way I could, but failed to find a way down that I could handle. The thing that peeved me most was that I had left a piece of rope back at the ship, since Molly normally carried a better one. "I've got a problem," I said. "Wait in line," said Molly. "I can't climb down." Molly sighed deeply. "No, you can't climb down on the outside." "Sorry?" "Look, you just insert yourself under my collar and climb down, the tension of my clothing will keep you from falling." Ever have one of those moments when words fail you? I wracked my brain for something smart to say, fortunately common sense won out. "Um...okay," I said. /\__/\__/\ I had never been this...uh...'close' to Molly before. I mean, she held me in her hands often enough to be a given. She'd even kissed me once or twice, which was an experience not soon forgotten. But we valued each other's privacy, and I had never been this 'close' to her before. First, I divested myself of anything that might scratch her. Not a real big worry, since Molly is a lot tougher than she looks or feels, but I knew she'd appreciate the thought. So my utility belt, my portable computer, and my phase cannon flew far out into the air behind us, where I was sure they wouldn't hit anything. From there I pried open Molly's collar, and slipped under the black elastic. I started to sweat immediately. Molly generates a lot of heat, her uniform is designed to channel it away, but it wasn't doing me much good at the moment. I squirmed down under her collar and wormed my way to her breasts. Her uniform was taut against her skin, and movement was difficult, but I managed to keep moving. I was wondering what we were going to say to each other about this little escapade, when I bumped into something. It was her nipple. I swore violently to myself. I heard Molly 'Ahem', and I pushed myself past her teat, and down over the rondure of her generous breast. From there I crawled down across her ribs to her belly. It was like climbing boilerplate. I'd never really appreciated just what good condition Molly was in and how how hard her body was. On the other hand I think she was feeling more than a little tense which was probably a factor. I hesitated as I passed her navel. I had never seen it up close before. Wow. Then things became more difficult as I had to insert myself under the elastic of her pants. I worked my way down her right side, pausing one more time. Even in the half-light I could see that Molly was auburn down here. The heat was incredible, though, as was the scent of her, so I didn't need her soft rumbling admonition to 'Keep moving, buster' to send me on my way. From there things went well, until I ran into a bit of a problem. Molly likes to wear her pants tucked into her boots. That time I swore loudly enough that I'm sure she heard me, but she said nothing as I fumbled around in my pockets. Happily, I still had my survival knife. I poked and prodded at the tough material until I made enough of an opening that I could rip a hole. Pulling myself through, I tried to ignore the fact that I was still more than six meters off the ground. I grasped the frayed edges of the tear, and positioned myself over Molly's instep, and with a prayer to anybody listening, let go. I fell only two meters, I was stopped by her boot laces. From there it was a simple matter to climb down to the ground. Molly couldn't see me, so I took a moment to kiss the earth. After that, I dashed off to collect the equipment I had tossed off Molly's shoulder, and then ran back to investigate the trapping mechanism. First off, she was dead right. The ground had sunk a full meter under the weight of her foot. It was an amazingly clean fit between the trap and the ground, there was no way we could have seen it, there was also no way to jam it. I checked around the immediate area of Molly's foot, looking for any other clues as to what would happen if she took her foot off, but found nothing. >From there I moved my search to the walls, concentrating on the space below ten meters; Molly would have already spotted anything if it was higher. Bingo. Two long narrow slits marred the walls too either side of Molly, right around ten meters off the ground. "Got something," I said. No reply. I looked up, Molly was staring into the sky. I trotted over to her giant left foot and tapped her toes hard enough to get her attention. Actually, I took my cannon by the barrel and slammed it down, like I was driving a stake with a sledge hammer. She turned and looked down at me, and raised an eyebrow. "Glad you picked the right foot," she said. "The left foot," I corrected. "I'm glad I've got steel toed boots on, you hit me like you were driving nails. Whatever happened to conversation?" "You were supposed to be watching me. When I'm looking for traps or things, don't take your eyes off me unless you have to. If you loose track of me we might both be in trouble." "Sorry, I thought I saw something overhead." "Really?" and it was my turn to gape at the sky. "We'd better hurry." "You mean: 'you had better hurry'. I'm just observing right now." "Observing, oh yah. I found something," I said, and I pointed up towards the wall. "There are two openings on either side of you, right at the ten meter mark, a half-meter in height and...uh, forty in length." "Did you say ten?" "Yah." "Shit. I think I see another set around thirty meters." I turned and looked up at the opposite wall, "You're right, but I think you'll be okay." "What's the plan?" "Well, I want to you to crouch low and roll forward, but first I need to defuse the lower traps and secure the area ahead of you." "Can I help?." "I don't know how. Don't worry, I'll manage." /\__/\__/\ The first step was easy, but tedious. I used the phase cannon to strike holes into the wall, creating a makeshift ladder to the slit ten meters up. It was a pain, since the process took longer the more distant my target grew. I also took great pains to make sure that each hole was more than deep enough to accommodate my hands and feet. Obviously I took too long, because when I turned around Molly was squatting on her heels. "What the hell are you doing!" I exploded. "Helping," she said, "wanna make something of it?" "Warn me next time?" "Fair enough," and she reached out for me. I glared at her for a moment, then turned around, so when her fingers wrapped around me I was facing the wall. I cradled the cannon in my arms. "Ms. Cherry Picker, ready for duty, sir," she quipped. "I'm working on an idea, lets try the left side first." Her hand was rock steady as she lifted me into the air; still, I would have clutched for support if the cannon hadn't impeded me. At the last moment I fumbled at my belt and pulled out my flashlight, shining it deep into the narrow slit. Sharp metal glittered back at me. "It's some kind of a scythe," I reported. "Can you handle it?" Molly sounded worried. "Bring me in closer, and we'll see." Closer inspection confirmed my suspicions. The trap was set to sweep back against the forward motion of the victim. That placed the pivot point on the left side of the opening. I took up my cannon, braced myself on the top of Molly's index finger, and began pumping heat into the hinge. I stopped when I saw the metal begin to drip, then told Molly to move me to the right side. Molly changed hands and held me near the right wall. It was fortunate that the passageway had narrowed as much as it had, but it was still a stretch for her. I melted the tip of the blade, then gouged out some chunks of the low roof, hoping between the two, to jam the mechanism. After another ten minutes I declared the job done. Molly set me on the ground, and I scouted the area ahead of her, looking for any secondary traps. But the area looked clean. "We're ready," I said. "Speak for yourself." "You have to move sometime." "Yah, yah, I know. Why don't you move up against the wall. I don't want to roll over you." I bit back a retort and obediently trotted forward about ninety meters and backed against the wall, well out of harm's way." Molly crouched down, wrapped her hands around her ankles and buried her chin between her knees. She leaned forward a little, then sprang forward in a huge leap, tumbling into a forward somersault that made the ground shiver beneath me. The sunken trap sprang back up. I heard a whirring crunch, the two higher blades swept out with a whistling shriek that just missed Molly's back. The lower blade on the right swept out about two meters and jammed tight. The one on the left never showed. Molly completed her roll, looming over me like a wayward mountain. Before I saw it coming she snatched me up in her hands, and tossed me into the sky. I screamed like a banshee, but she caught me, lifted her hand to her face, and I rolled over just in time to see her huge thick red lips coming down on me. Molly smothered my curses with a warm, wet kiss. My entire upper torso was covered by Molly's enormous soft lips as she engulfed most of my body in a warm wet kiss. "Molly," I spluttered, "What are you doing?" "Kissing my hero..." and I was lifted up and engulfed in her huge, warm, soft lips again. "Molly...." "Well, you deserve it, that damn thing would have chopped me off at the ankles. Thank you, thank you, thank you..." and I was engulfed in the warm moist softness of her gigantic lips again. "Hey, maybe there some good things about having a female partner." I laughed, and I squirmed against the hot, wet, softness of her huge lips, kissing the plush gigantic lips back as she lifted me to her giant lips and kissed me again and again engulfing most of my body in the hot wetness of her enormous lips. "OK, Ok, that's enough." I said... I wasn't really sure it was though, even as gigantic as she was and as huge as her giant lips were, it was kinda nice to get a full body kiss from her warm soft lips. "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. There's a point where you throw up your arms and take your medicine. I did better, I (bravely? stupidly?) inserted my arm into her mouth and latched onto her lower lip, so when she finally lifted her head, she lifted me along with it. I gritted my teeth and hung on. "Wut ore you duing?" she slurred. "Making a point," I said. "Wuch is?" "Don't get carried away." Molly chuckled and tipped her head back. I squawked as I was upended, my legs flailing uselessly for purchase. I glanced down and found myself looking deep into Molly's throat. It was awesome, and I wondered when she had last eaten, all she had to do was to part those gigantic lips and I'd just disappear in her cavernous mouth. Let's face it, her tongue was several times as big as I was. One gulp and I'd be gone. But as she said earlier, I trust her with my life. Over and over again! "I 'aking a 'oint too." "What?" I said a bit too loudly. "'on't 'et 'outhy." "Huh?" Molly plucked me off her lip and held me up in front of her eyes. "Don't. Get. Mouthy." she repeated. "Oh, ha-ha. I was afraid you were going to give me a tongue lashing." Her eyes glittered. "That's against the rules." "So's this," I commented, tugging at my damp uniform. "You, madam, are a messy kisser." "Look at what little I have to work with." she bantered back. My coveralls were soaked from her huge wet lips when she put me up to her shoulder. But I loved not only the feeling of her huge hot lips kissing me, but the idea of her caring enough to kiss me. It felt kinda good that she felt that for once I had saved her. I jumped the narrow gap to her shoulder and climbing into my seat put my harness on. "OK, Mol, I'm ready.." and I continued to talk as Molly started forward, "It isn't like you haven't saved me a lot of times since we've been working together. That's what partners are for." The light flickered. Molly froze. My head snapped back, but I didn't see anything. We were back to serious instantly. "That's twice now," she murmured. "Our friend must be back in action, but he doesn't seem keen on getting too close." "We'd better hustle," I said. "Now would be a bad time to hit another trap." "Yah. Put me down. It's bug hunt time. Maybe between us we can get through this thing unscathed." "I hate this." "Me too." Molly set me down, and I trotted off ahead of her. We both hated this kind of thing, it smacked of the kind of weird drills the CTF thought up for us. Ever parade march with a giantess? They claimed that it was important that we both be capable of independent ground movement. We called it the 'bug hunt' because from both perspectives there was a certain amount of alarm at the consequences of a misstep. Still, there's something to be said for good training: we both knew where the other was going. I ranged forty meters ahead of Molly, zig-zagging across an area wide enough for her to pass. She followed me, walking as if across a balance beam, to stay within my covered area. We were both worried. Though the traps were gratifyingly rare, they were increasing in viciousness. The next one was going to be a doozy. We followed the passageway to a left turn. I darted out into it, staying near the middle of the maze, turned and stopped. "Mike?" I waved her towards me, and she stepped around the turn, her gargantuan right foot shaking the ground close behind me. But both of my eyes were looking forward. I stared into a widening corridor and across the entire corridor was a three hundred foot tall wall, and in the center of the wall was a wide gate. It was an old fashion gate of spears sticking from the ground to well over four hundred feet high at the top of the arc of spear points. Molly had stopped as soon as she had seen the gate. We looked and I couldn't decide whether it was a formidable barrier, or simply a decorative gate. The spears at the ends of the gate were level with the spear points on top of the wall. The wall was rounded on the top and had spear points, giant spear points, like everything else we had found in the maze, protruding from the top of the wall. The gate started with three hundred foot tall spears at the ends and arched up to over four hundred feet high at the middle of the gate. Between where we stood and the gate was a wide clear patio like an open courtyard with huge flagstones for a floor and gigantic benches set at various points around the wall as places for giant visitors to wait. And there were two fountains, one on either side of the gate, each with water falls dropping close to a hundred feet from the mouth of a face on the wall into the stone basins set in the wall. If it weren't for the spear points topping the wall and gate, and the vicious traps on the passage here, it would look like an inviting garden area for waiting visitors. Molly stood and stared, not moving toward the gate. "Right, Molly, don't move, till we're sure." I said. And we both stared at the patio area. The wall was decorated with friezes and sculptures in low relief all along the wall. The giant benches were of such a size that Molly would be very comfortable sitting on them, complete with back rests that would fit her gigantic size. The way the basins with falling water and the benches were set it was as if visitors were being invited to quench their thirst from a long journey. The only problem I could see was that in order to get here, one had to pass several deadly traps. It was an incongruous enigma, deadly traps leading to an invitation to quench your thirst and have a comfortable seat while waiting invitation to... what? We didn't know. The gate seemed to be one piece, with no way to part and admit anyone. Maybe the whole gate slid out of the way, or... what, again we didn't know, or hinged out from either side. "Molly, why don't you stand here and don't even set foot on any of those nice smooth inviting patio stones. Just let me simply walk through the gate and see what this is all about. None of the traps we have seen are for normal people, but for giants or giantesses. I wouldn't have set off any of the traps. I'm not heavy enough to spring the traps and I could have walked under the big steel bars without even knowing they were there, and even the lower blades would have gone thirty feet over my head, even if I had set them off." Molly looked about for several more seconds, then said, "Well, what you say makes sense. I don't see anything threatening, but then all kinds of traps or triggers could be set in those ornate walls, or in the patio stones or where ever, and no one could ever see them. I'll wait here, in fact, I'll be a little further back. Back to where I can just see the waiting room, or courtyard, or what ever it is. Just be sure not to get in trouble, and come back for me." "Molly, you know I'd never leave you." I trotted down the widening pathway and out onto the patio, or courtyard. The stones looked solid and felt solid to me. Which of course didn't mean that Molly's tremendous two thousand tons wouldn't push them down and set off a trigger, that I wouldn't affect. I looked all around and walked over to the base of the towering walls and walked around the perimeter watching for any indication of traps or any signs of 'something not right' There was nothing. I looked up at the tremendously tall figures in the low relief, they looked like any other normal relief figures, women pouring water, people working in fields, nothing unusual, if you don't consider that the figures were a hundred fifty feet tall. Of course there was no way of knowing whether these were oversized figures for the huge sculptur ed mural, or life sized figures. At the "fountains and basins, I stopped and looked, but there was no way for me to climb up to them. It was a sheer wall fifty feet high to the seats of the stone benches and the basin's were another fifty feet above them. Molly was going to have to examine them. I turned and walked toward the gate, everything seemed normal. I didn't find any signs of any traps or anything but a perfectly normal courtyard for visitors to wait for admittance to.... I still didn't know what. When I got to the towering gate, is seemed to me to be silly. A person could merely walk between yard thick iron bars set fifteen feet apart. Of course Molly couldn't get through them, and from the height and spear points on them, nor over them either. When I walked past the gate I was in another patio, or courtyard much like the outer one. For the first half the same three hundred foot walls with the huge spear points surrounding the courtyard, the back half was fitted into a canyon, or carved room in the side of the mountain. Cliffs towered hundreds of feet above me. They were so high it was impossible for me to even gage their height. I'd guess a thousand feet or more straight up. There was a sort of garden in the courtyard, rounded walls fifty feet high were placed in several places around the courtyard. I walked around the walls and wandered around, checking for any suspicious looseness or any signs of traps in the courtyard. I found nothing till I got almost a quarter of a mile from the gate, back very close to the cliff. There was a roofed area, the roof a couple hundred feet above the floor with a section with walls that were smooth and only about a hundred feet tall. Standing back I could see what appeared to be a counter, or shelf at the top of the hundred foot smooth sheer walls around the back portion of the roofed area. I wanted up on the "counter." It was a sheer wall, slick with no hand holds or any way I could see to get up to it, for a guy my size. It would be nothing more than a low counter for Molly, but she couldn't get past that towering gate of spears. I wandered from end to end of the "counter" without finding a way to get up. I still had my rope and stickys in my pack and wondered if I could use them to climb the slick sheer wall. I got out some stickys and rope, then reaching as high as I could stuck a sticky to the wall. Getting another ready, I pulled myself as high as I could and slapped another one against the wall. They stuck. I laughed at myself, that's what they were supposed to do. I dropped back down to the floor and looked up at the hundred foot wall, I only had ten stickys I didn't have enough to make a ladder, then I thought, if I could pull them loose after I used them, maybe I could climb to the top on them. Damn it, why wasn't Molly here, she could just pick me up and set me on the counter.. Save me a lot of work. I remembered one class that had supposedly taught us how to use the stickys to clim b a smooth sheer wall, using them with ropes to pull them loose after we were above them. I tied them into the rope like the instructors had shown us and remembering to not reach too high began setting them and climbing. It was hard work, but after a few minutes I was more than twenty feet up the wall. It took me almost forty five minutes to climb the cliff to the counter, but I finally reached over the ledge with a sticky and pulled myself up to the top. I lay breathing heavily for a few moments exhausted and winded. Then pulled up the remaining stickys, I sure didn't want to loose them. I sat up and looked around. I was on a bar! The ledge I had worked so hard to get onto looked like somebody's patio bar cemented to the higher wall. The other wall, to which the bar was cemented, towered on up to the roof another hundred feet over me. The ledge was a smooth, an almost slick ledge about fifty feet wide and extending almost from one side of the roofed area to the other, looking like nothing so much as someone's patio bar. Molly'd have a good laugh at this. I worked for forty five minutes to climb to nothing, but what was a bar built for her scale. I walked along the bar, that's what I was going to call it, I don't care what it really was, to the side closest to the gate. There set in the back wall was a panel, looking like nothing as much as a control or communications panel. I walked over to it and sure enough there were huge "switches" or buttons set in the panel. There were even symbols below each button. Now all I had to do was to figure out what the symbols meant and I could run the place, or maybe talk to someone somewhere. I didn't even know what I was looking at, and I wasn't sure that I could even push the huge buttons. I raised one hand and pushed the end button. It didn't move. I pushed with both hands. Still nothing. I took two steps back and jumping into it, rammed it as hard as I could with my shoulder. It moved in a few inches, stopped and bounced back to where it was. I stepped back and looked at it for a moment, then I heard something behind me. I whirled around and saw the huge towering gate sliding open. I had hit the right button the first time, who said I wasn't lucky? I watched as the gate simply slid wide open. Molly was still standing out where I had left her. I screamed for her to come on in. Then getting wiser, I turned my link back on. "Molly, come on in. Everything looks good. I'll be waiting at the bar for you." A few seconds later my link said in Molly's slow voice, "What?" "I said, come on in, I'll be waiting for you at the bar, first drink's on me." "Mike, have you lost your mind?" "Try me, you'll like me." and I laughed. I could see Molly standing at the far end of the outer courtyard looking in at the now open gate. "Come on in Molly, I found the controls and opened the gate for you. Ain't I great?" It had been quite a while since I had been this far from Molly, and as I looked at her I realized again what a beautiful woman she really was. I always pictured her as a hulking giantess, and not as a woman, but from this distance standing on the hundred foot high bar I could see that she really was a beautiful woman, her long dark hair shimmered in the sun, and her lovely shape could be seen under the tight coveralls. Too bad she was such an enormous giantess, I could learn to like someone like her. I watched as she cautiously walked through the now open gate and stopped, looking around at what I could see from my new height was a lovely patio garden. What I had seen from the ground as fifty foot walls were the sides of a broad open pool of clear water, with wide benches on the top for peop le to sit by the rippling water. A lovely patio garden built on Molly's scale. It looked very inviting, but why the dangerous traps in the maze leading here? I had no idea, nor any idea of what this whole thing was about. As far as we knew this was an uninhabited planet. Maybe something built years in the past? Or even longer, thousands of years in the past? I couldn't even hazard a guess. Molly looked toward me and then ran toward where I was standing on the bar. She looked absolutely beautiful as I stared at her from my position on the bar, but as she came nearer she seemed to change from a beautiful normal sized woman into the towering giantess I knew, growing with each enormous long step she took. She came right up to the bar where I was standing and looked down at me. "Hi, Babe, want a drink?" I asked, joking with her, raising my hand as though I had a drink in my hand. "You sure look nice tonight." "Mike!" her booming voice rolled over me, "You've lost your mind!" "Just over you, gorgeous." But I was looking up from around her waist at her towering gargantuan figure. I had always known that she was a good looking woman, but seeing her coming across a patio that was scaled to her gigantic size instead of always seeing her as a giant in a normal world brought home to me just how beautiful she really was. Even as I stared up from waist high at her massive towering body, she still looked gorgeous as I stared up in fascination at my giantess. "Miikeee...! What's wrong with you?" "I think I've just seen you for the first time, and I'm in love." "Mike!" and she reached out toward me, with one huge hand. "Are you drunk? Just seen me for the first time, we've been working together for six months, and training together for almost a year before that. And if you got any more acquainted with me, I'd have to have you arrested for rape." "Molly, look around you. What do you see?" "A lovely garden patio, completely out of place on a strange planet forty light years from Earth." "But Molly, can't you see, its built on your scale. You look like a normal sized woman here in this place, and Damn it, you're beautiful! Not like the towering giantess everybody knows you to be. I've always seen you as a gargantuan giantess, never seen you as a lovely lady in a normal setting. Somehow or other even though I knew that you were a good looking woman, I've never looked on you as a "woman" but as my giantess partner. Here in a setting, that's to your scale, you look lovely, a really gorgeous young lady. That's an aspect of you I've never seen before. I've always seen you as a giantess, like when you were ripping up that big fifty foot tree a little while ago, like it was nothing more than an annoying little weed. You're gorgeous, that way too, but in a different way. I've never seen this side of you. I think I'm in love." "Mike, what have you been drinking? Are you drunk?" "Molly, you don't understand. I haven't had anything to drink, just a different look at a beautiful lady that's my partner." "Mike, come back to your senses. How did you get up here?" "Climbed, for forty five minutes, don't that sound silly when its barely as high as your waist. You could have picked me up in one hand and put me up here in a second without even thinking about it" "Climbed?" "Yeah it looks a little higher to me when I'm standing on the floor, than it does to you." I looked at the bar and the pool with the giant benches, and the huge patio with giant fountains. "God, I feel like the midget here, instead of you being a giantess. Enjoy it while you can, you'll be back to being my gigantic partner taking care of me again, before you know it." "Sounds like you've been taking care of me, climbing for forty five minutes to open the gate so I could just walk in." "That's what partners are for, taking care of one another. How about taking care of both of us and seeing if you can get that barrel changed." "Now, that sounds more like the Mike I know. Now see that nice big swimming pool, or whatever kind of pool it is?" "Yeah, so..." "Well, see those benches around the edge where I could sit and soak my feet in the nice cool water and lean back in that nice bench." "Yeah..." "Well, I'm going to take off my boots, sit on that bench over there in the shade and dangle my feet in the water while I change the barrel." "Can you change it there?" "Sure, its not hard, just takes a little time." "What about dropping it in the water?" "I'm not going to do that, and besides its made as a service gun and all I'd have to do is take it out, dry it off and put dry ammo in." "Well. if its that easy, and you want to soak your feet why are we standing here talking, let's get those nice little boots off and soak your poor weary little feet. Poor little baby." "Don't get carried away, 'little'... man." And she grinned down at me. I watched as Molly turned away and walked over to one of the huge concrete benches by the water, in the shade of the only tree I had seen on this planet that was taller than Molly's waist. Molly said, "This one looks nice, I think I'll try it." and she sat on the wall while I watched as she unlaced her huge boots. Pulling them off she set them on the patio floor and pulling her pants up above her knees she turned and lowered her feet into the pool. "Ahhhaaa.... Oh, God, that feels good.... I may retire here, the water's so nice and cool..." and she leaned back against the back rest of the bench. "OOhhoooo.... that feels so good, do you have any idea how long its been since I've sat in a chair that fits me and has a back I can lean back on?" "Hey, Molly, don't get too comfortable, we've still got a job to do, and you've got that gun to fix." She glared at me from the bench as she wiggled her feet in the pool. "Come on, slave driver, let me relax for a couple of minutes." and she lay her head back on the back of the bench and wiggled her feet in the water. The Dabesi ship picked this time to fly over. I just caught a glimpse of movement and looking up, saw the ship high above the valley, I could just barely see him under the edge of the roof. I wondered if he had seen Molly, she was wearing a camouflage jump suit sitting quietly under the biggest tree I had ever seen, but I didn't know if the Dabby could see her. I was sure that he hadn't seen me. I was not only too small for him to see from his altitude, but well back under the roof. "Molly, the Dabs, don't move." I shouted. I watched the ship until he passed on by us, then yelled at Molly, "Get in here under the roof." I shouted. Molly, looked up, "You bastards, you've got the worlds worst timing, that's the first time I've been comfortable in I don't know how long. Wanna' come back and give me a good shot?" and she grabbed her boots and ran into the bar area. I laughed, "I didn't know you could move that fast. Think its time to fix the gun yet?" She was still standing barefoot with floods of water running off her giant feet, but the gun was lying on the bar with the old barrel out and she was fishing in her pocket for the spare. She came out of her pocket with a yard thick package twenty feet long. Unwrapping the heavy greasy paper, she dropped a twenty foot steel shaft nearly a yard thick on the bar by me, and I watched in amazement as she picked it up in her fingers and shoved it into place in the gun. She pulled back she slide, made some adjustments and in moments had the gun back together, and was putting the magazine back in. She looked just like any other shooter as she racked the slide back to load a shell into the chamber and flipped the gun back and forth in her hands to make sure it felt right. "OK, fixed." she said. "Wait, a damn minute, I thought you said it'd take a little while to fix it." "Well, wasn't that a little while?" "I mean, I thought you meant it'd take you a good while to get it changed." "Well, maybe I exaggerated a bit. It actually changes out pretty fast, if things go right, it can be a real bastard if it doesn't fit just right, but that one went in just right first try." she chuckled. "Oh...." and I watched as she slid the gun back into her holster, wrapped the old barrel in the greasy paper and put it back into her pocket. "That's it? You're ready to shoot again?" "Yeah, but we better hope it doesn't crack again, 'cause that's the only spare I've got. "You saw that Dabesi ship a minute ago when he went by?" I ask. "Yeah, he just flew over going in the same direction that we were traveling, but he was real high. I don't know if he saw us or not." she said, "You were under the roof and I was sitting under the tree with my camouflage jump suit on. I don't know if he saw me or not." "Well, if he did he'll be back in a minute." "Yeah, I guess he will be." "Why don't you stay here under the roof and let me go out and have a look around and see if I can see him again." "But, he'll see you." "I don't think so, I think he's looking for a fifty meter giantess, not a six foot guy standing real still alongside a wall in camouflage." "Yeah, but if he does see you, he'll home in on you and get you." "If he starts toward me, you can run out and shoot him like you did the other one." "Mike, that was luck. I'm not that good of a shot with this gun." "Tell that to that guy you blew out of the air. Or to this 'Dab' with the hole in the back of his ship that you hit too. You're plenty good with that gun, just take careful aim at him and squeeze off a good shot, like you did before." I saw the ship a second before Molly did, but she sure was quick on the draw. The Dabby was coming in toward us through a pass in the mountains. I don't think he had seen us, just the patio area we were in and was coming back to check it out. He wasn't dodging or zig zagging, just coming straight in at the patio area. Drawing her gun like a marshal in one of the old western videos, Molly dropped to one knee as she turned to face the approaching ship. I heard Molly talking quietly to herself again, if you can call rolling summer thunder quiet. "Come on, come on in sucker, just like your buddy did." Then she laughed lightly and said to me, "I don't think the sucker even sees us. He's coming in to check this place out, and he don't even know we're here. Its a little dark in here under the shelter of the roof and he's out in the sun looking into the sun too. Boy is he going to get a surprise." She was down on one knee, with her left hand supporting her gun hand as she aimed carefully at the ship. "That's right, come on.... I know he don't see me, he's slowing as he gets closer. That's it, a little higher, Mmm.... that looks good." I had my hands over my ears, but in the confined space of the courtyard and under the roof it sounded like the entire world had exploded around me. Again and again Molly shot. At the third shot, the lower part of the ship exploded in a ball of fire the entire length of the ship. Flames shot from Dabesi ship and a thunderous boom sounded as the Dabesi ship lurched like a wounded duck, pitched forward and accelerated into the floor right where the floor met the wall at the far end of the bar, a lot closer to us than either of us would have liked. Molly yanked me off the bar and turned away just before the shockwave and a wall of flame blew past. Thank God for the thick insulation of her giant hand surrounding me. "Molly, you all right?" I yelled from inside her huge hand. I wasn't sure she could hear me, but in a moment she answered. "Yeah, I'm all right, but next time I hope I can get them a little further away. I don't think I was hit by anything, but you might try a little fire patrol on my back." She laughed, "A little sun burn maybe... it was a little hot for a second when he blew. I'm sure glad that they made these coveralls for me fireproof." Molly dropped to her knees and bent over lifting me to her shoulder so that I could walk out onto her back. It was still a lot higher than I liked, but it was Molly and I felt fairly comfortable as I walked across her back. Then I looked back up at her head. "Uhh... I think you got that nice hair singed a bit. Look up." Molly raised her head and the long black hair dropped to her back. I walked over and there was singing all along the back side of her already jet black hair. "Yep, its nothing but a little singeing, I think it'll all be all right in a day or two. Look down, I want to check the back of your neck." She dropped her head and raising one huge hand swept the black hair away from her neck. "Its OK, Molly, no damage here. Apparently your hair protected your neck from the flames. Hang on just a second and I'll be back in my chair." and I ran over to her shoulder and grabbed the chair and held on for dear life, as she stood up again. I'll never get used to the way her shoulder rises so fast when she stands up. My knees almost buckled with the terrific acceleration of her rising shoulder as she stood up. I swung into the chair and quickly snapped my seat belt on. "OK, Mike, you ready?" "Yeah, but next time, let me know before you stand up when I'm not in my chair. Please..." "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were back in it." "OK, no problem. It's just that you move pretty quickly for someone as big as you are, and you'd never believe how fast your shoulder moves up." "Well, that takes care of both the Dabesi ships, think we'll have any more problem from them?" "I guess not, except that I'm not real sure that that's the ship I saw go over while you were at the pool. I couldn't swear to anything, but the other ship looked a lot bigger than this one, quite a bit fatter, not as sleek and trim, but it was hard to tell how high he was. They do have radios, and may have called in some help. Although they may have felt that the two of them could handle two people stranded on foot on a planet, with two armed space ships." Molly laughed, "Maybe they didn't want to sound crazy and neglected to tell their headquarters how big I am." I laughed along with her, "That could be true too. I'd have had trouble believing it if someone told me that there was a two hundred foot tall giantess shooting at a space ship with a pistol. Much less blowing one of them out of the air." "Make that, blowing two of them out of the air." she laughed. "Will this bring my shooting score up at the academy?" "I don't really think he had time to mention that you now had two Dabesi ships to your credit. The way he exploded I think your shot went right in the lower part of his bow before it exploded inside." Molly walked over and we looked down at the black hole where the Dabesi ship had crashed after she shot him. There was nothing left of the Dabesi ship, but small pieces of debris scattered around a hole in the floor, but the exploding ship had blown a huge hole at the base of the wall just a little ways from the end of the bar. Molly peered into the gaping hole, and I leaned back and closed my eyes as her shoulder tipped me nearly perpendicular to the ground. "Will you look at that?" she murmured. "Is it worth it?" I asked. "You tell me, hero." I opened my eyes, and for a moment forgot about my acrophobia. I was looking down into a starlit sky; distant lights glittered and flashed, twinkled and changed colors, and I realized that it was artificial. "Looks important," said Molly. "Get me down. Get me down!" I hissed. "Oh, sorry, I shouldn't have leaned out so far." "Screw that, we just hit the jackpot," I fumbled at my belt, pulled it off, then yelped as Molly stood up, nearly unseating me. "So, what is it?"