MAZE
By  Scott Grildrig and Chelgi 
Part 4


"Miiikkeee....! What..... in.... He....." 
  "Well you sent me down here to make it work didn't you?" 
  "Butttt...." 
  "You don't have any confidence in me? Little lady, when you send Mike 
to do something, it gets done! Now bring me that sandwich." and I 
laughed as I looked up and saw Molly standing at the open door looking 
down the stairs into the huge basement. 
  "I... I... I don't have any sandwiches, will an MRE do?" 
  "One of the new ones that are almost edible?" 
  "Well, I can't promise you steak and apple pie, but at least it'll 
fill your empty belly." 
  "And you?" 
  "I've got a couple of mine left. But you know, just like the little 
ones for you, they're not very good. But they make..." 
  "Never mind, I've heard it. Lets eat." 
  "Can you get the lights on?" 
  "What's the matter, afraid of the dark, little girl?" 
  "OK, I'll admit its my turn. I don't have any problem tossing you up 
into the air, since that's not my problem. But down in a basement.....?" 
  "Well, there ain't no way I can just pick you up and toss you down 
here, so its entirely your problem. All I can say is that this whole 
place is under the garden above and there's enough room under here for 
all of you gals to have a giantess reunion under here." 
   "But the controls, are they Dabesi?" 
  "No, apparently they're very old, and the Dabs stumbled on them some 
time ago. They've got a bastard rig connected to the original system, 
but it won't work very much. I can open a couple of doors, and with any 
luck I'll get some more of it working in a little while. The dabs 
couldn't work them, but then that may be because they were trying to use 
their codes, instead of learning the original codes, and it doesn't look 
like the original ones are that hard to learn, but that may be because 
they resemble our systems closer than they  resemble the Dab's. I think 
that this is why the Dabesi were so concerned when we showed up. They 
didn't want us to find this."  
  Molly laughed, "Yeah, and the funny part is, that if they had left us 
alone we'd have probably flown over, taken some pictures and left, and 
never have known that this was here. Instead they shoot us down and run 
us right in here. That's funny. Can we do anything with it? What is it?" 
   "I don't have the answer to either of your questions. Right now, I 
can barely make a little bit of sense out of the system. I have no idea 
what it is, or what we can do with it. I do know that FTC would really 
like to learn about it and send a team of scientist to study it." 
  "And just how are we gonna tell them about it?" 
  "Molly, I don't even know if we can ever get home, much less tell the 
command about this." 
  Molly laughed, "You mean I shouldn't have wiped out the entire Dabesi 
army?" 
  "Well, we might have been able to surrender and let them trade us 
home." 
  "With the Dabs, not likely. More like a shot in the back and left to 
rot." 
  "Oh, you've dealt with them too?" and I laughed.                                     
Part 4 
  Standing at the foot of the stairs Molly looked all around the huge 
room, "What kind of power do they have here?" 
  "I don't know, but it must be pretty damn good, it still works. The 
gate opened when I pushed the button, an when I got the right signal I 
got the door to open too." 
  "Got any lights you can turn on?" 
  "I don't know, let me try." and I walked over and picked my computer 
up again and started fiddling with it. Studying the weird hieroglyphics 
on the screen I looked up at Molly and said, "Let's try this, its either 
the lights or the whole place will blow sky high, if I've figured their 
hieroglyphics right. I pushed a couple of keys, then enter. Instantly 
the entire room was bright as day. "Eureka it works!" 
  "God, this place is huge..." 
  "Now that's a big place, when Molly says something like that." I 
laughed, "Like my little basement shop?" 
  "What is this place?" 
  "Molly, I've been in here less than an hour, I couldn't even tell you 
what all the machines were, if I knew what all of them were, and all I 
had to do was to name them. And I haven't the slightest idea what any of 
them are." 
   "What's that big platform over there?" 
  "Molly, give me a break. I just told you I haven't the slightest idea 
what any of them are. Look they're made for giants, you can see that. 
The garden and patio are your size, and just look at all these machines, 
they're your size too. Why don't you take a walk around the place and 
see if you can make any sense out of the machines by just looking. But, 
don't touch anything, particularly buttons or switches. After those 
booby traps on the way in here, there's no telling what's here. Don't 
blow us up, playing with switches." 
  Molly looked down at me for a minute or two, "Now, you know, talking 
about the booby traps on the way in here, there's something weird." 
  "What's that Mol?" 
  "Well, think about it. The first one we encountered was just a 
tangler. Now a tangler is little more than an artificially enhanced vine 
made to wrap people or animals up and hold them. The next one, the trap 
was just spring loaded metal bars with a mechanical trip and a couple of 
tanglers. The last one was just spring loaded scythes with again a 
mechanical trip. And the gate here was just iron spear points sticking 
up, but it had an electric, I guess, opener. Other than that, nothing 
electrical, or electronic. Then down here is a basement, a huge basement 
filled with electronic machinery. And unless someone opened it for you, 
you'd never know it was here, just a nice comfortable garden patio. The 
only reason we even found it was that the Dabesi ship blew a hole in the 
floor when he hit. If h e hadn't we'd have never known it was here. But 
notice all the traps were just mechanical, nothing electronic. Why?"  
  "OK, its your question, you tell me." 
  "Yeah, sure. I'm just the muscle, you're supposed to be the genius. 
Figure it out." 
  "Yeah, nice muscle too." 
  "Mike, get serious." 
  "Molly, I can't tell you anything, lets get the computer working on it 
and see if it can tell us." 
  "Well.....?" 
  "OK, Ok," and I started punching buttons and watching the screen. 
Letting the computer work on the problem as I took one of the MREs that 
Molly handed me opened it and started eating. "Molly.. Molly!" I yelled 
excitedly. 
  "What, Mike?" 
  I held up the package of rations she had handed me, and made a 
terrible face. "This damn stuff tastes as bad as ever, carrying it 
around in your pocket for three days hasn't helped it a bit." and I 
laughed as Molly looked down at me with a shocked expression on her huge 
face that slowly turned into a grin. "Damn it Mike, someday you're going 
to get serious and I won't believe you. Maybe I should just have a 
little accident and enjoy you for the last time as I step on you." 
  "OK, Molly, I'll be good. Don't step on me." and we both laughed. 
  She stuck out her tremendous tongue and wiggled it as she too made a 
face, "Mine isn't any better, but it'll take care of being hungry." 
  "Yeah, it'll take care of being hungry all right, the taste would ruin 
anybody's appetite." and just like any soldier from any war, I stuffed 
another bite into my mouth. At one time, what now seems ages ago, I had 
been a history buff and folk song collector, and as we grumbled about 
the food, a line from a song from America's ancient civil war popped 
into my mind and I sang it to Molly. "We rode our worn out horses and 
ate on dry corn meal.' Soldiers have always complained about the food. 
I'll bet even the Roman and Egyptian soldiers complained about the 
food." And I laughed, "Yeah, and just like us, I'll bet, they were lucky 
to even have any." 
  I finished my meal, and took a swig of water. Molly finished hers and 
looked down at me. "You think that water out there's all right to 
drink?" 
  "After that meal, most anything would be all right to drink." 
  "Mike, I'm serious, I need something to drink." 
  "Well, its not in the computer, but as near as I can see from what's 
here, that really is a waiting area for people that are using this 
machine. The water in the fountains is probably piped in from the 
mountains and all it is, is just water from the mountains. If it was 
from the original owners it'd be awfully old, and it looks all right." 
  "What about the traps?" 
  "Good question, could it be a trap? Yeah, it could be. But once we got 
in here, I think we're past all the traps. From what I've found in the 
computer, its just exactly what it appears to be, a waiting area with 
fresh water from the mountains for the visitors." 
  "You sure?" 
  "No, but how long can you go without water?" 
   "OK, but if its not, you gotta carry me home." and she laughed. 
  "Sure Molly, I'll just toss you over my shoulder and carry you home. 
And I'll walk every step of the way in penitence, just to show how sorry 
I am." 
  Molly got up and walked up the stairs to the bench where she had been 
sitting before and looked at the bubbling basin of what appeared to be 
nice fresh water. Then she reached in her pocket, pulled out a 
collapsible cup and swishing it in the water as she opened it, rinsed it 
a moment, then lifted a cup of water to her lips and sipped slowly. 
"MMmmm... its good. Nice and cold, and tastes a little like some water 
I've had from springs up in the High Sierras." 
  "Slow acting poison I guess." 
  I immediately received a thumping shower of ice cold water over my 
entire body, drenching me completely, as Molly dumped her huge cup with 
the water from the basin over me. "Thanks for your reassurance." she 
said. 
  "OH, God, that's cold." 
  "Serves you right." and we both laughed. 
  As Molly walked back down the stairs into the huge basement she 
stopped just before she got to the bottom. "Mike, look at this. These 
stairs seem to lead to that 'stage' or what ever it is over there. See 
the stairs lead down from the patio, and there's a clear area that leads 
right over to that little elevated area there, a stage or something like 
that." 
  "Put me back on your shoulder and walk around here a bit. I want to 
get the feel for what it looks like to a giant like you, since it was 
obviously made for giants." 
  Her hand came down and closed around me, "You're all wet." and she 
laughed. 
  "Geeze, I wonder how that happened?" and as  I strapped myself into my 
chair I wrung some water out of my jump suit and let it drip down onto 
Molly's shoulder. It was a mistake, she jerked her shoulder up as the 
cold water hit her and I bounced roughly around in my chair. I was glad 
I had already fastened the straps as she would have tossed me out of the 
chair if I hadn't.  
  She giggled, "OK, even. Don't this look like these stairs lead right 
directly to that platform?" 
  "Yep, sure do." and I looked around a bit. "And look there at that, 
console, or what ever it is, it faces right at the stage with controls 
all over it, and a big screen near the top, but set in such a way that 
it wouldn't block the vision of a person your size, sitting there, from 
seeing the stage.  Go sit in the chair, Molly." 
  Molly walked over and looked down at the chair. "It hasn't been used 
in a long time. What ever cushions were here are long gone." She reached 
down and brushed the crumbled remains of the cushion from the chair 
seat. "It looks strong enough." and she very cautiously sat in the 
chair. She wiggled as she tested the strength of the chair, and after a 
moment she was satisfied and looked out at the stage and the panel in 
front of her. Fairly familiar looking knobs, and switches set just above 
what could have been a computer key board, but it was a completely 
different pattern than I had ever seen before. 
  "I've never seen a key board like this." 
  Molly laughed, "What'd you expect, an IBM qwerty key board?" 
  "Uuhuh.... right!" and from Molly's shoulder I stared down at the desk 
or table, then back at the 'stage'. "Well, I don't have any idea what it 
does, but do you have any question that this is the control console for 
what ever it is?" 
  Molly leaned back and forth a couple of times, then put her hands up 
on the 'control board'. 
  "Molly, don't touch anything!" 
  "I won't, just seeing what the board feels like. Who ever sat here was 
a little smaller than I am. The keys, and switches are a bit too small, 
and too close together for me, and I wouldn't need the cabinet quite 
this low. I can see the stage, or whatever, real good and the screen 
doesn't need to be this low." and she giggled, "and that's without a 
cushion." 
   "Well, we can be sure it wasn't for the Dabesi then, they're my size 
and don't have any giants," I paused for a moment, "Or giantesses." 
   "Uhhuu... yeh.. Look at this, Mike." and she reached up to the top 
area of the control panel, and pointed to what appeared to be a cover. 
What's that?" 
  "How the hell would I know.... then I looked for a moment, a cover for 
a switch?" 
  "Yeah, Should I?" and she put her fingers at the lower edge of the 
panel. 
  "Just looks like a cover," I said, "The switch would be under it. Go 
ahead, I've opened doors and turned on lights, why not? Your turn to try 
and blow us up." 
  She flipped the cover up. Just like we had speculated, nothing, just a 
big blue switch under it. Molly laughed, "See, this is what turns it 
on."  and she put her fingers on the switch. 
  "NO! Molly don't!" I shouted in panic. 
  "Oh, Mike, you don't have any confidence in me. I know better. We'll 
wait till we know exactly what it does before I flip it on. Right?" 
  "Right!" Then I realized that she had caught me. We'd never know what 
it does until we flipped the switch. "OK, you got me, but don't flip it 
yet, lets talk about it a minute first." 
  She laughed, "Fine explorers, we don't even want to flip a switch till 
we know what it does." 
  "Explorers that might live a little longer if we don't go too fast. 
Remember that little trap with the scythes? Should have just walked 
right on through, nothing could hurt my great big giant Molly. Right?" 
  "OK, point for you." 
  "Remember, this place is built for your size, I'm the little bug here 
that has to look out for insect traps. You have to watch for problems 
your size. So what does the switch do?" 
  "Turns it on." 
  "Turns what on?" 
  "This machine." 
  "What machine?" 
  "This one." 
  "And what does it do?" 
  "UUhhhaaa.... I don't know." 
  "Right, don't... flip... the switch!" 
  "God, I hate a little bug like you, being right so often." 
  "Well, Molly don't feel too bad, I spent five years as an officer in 
the navy, then ten years as a cop on the street and two more years on 
the force before I joined this elite scouting arm, then six months of 
training with you, and if you got some weird idea that I didn't screw up 
plenty, you're wrong." 
  "Mike, we'll never know what it does if we don't turn it on." 
  "OK, go ahead, it was nice knowing you." 
  Molly turned her head and looked down at me sitting on the chair on 
her shoulder with my hands over my ears. "You nut!" and she flipped the 
switch. The console in front of us clicked, then clicked again, then 
buzzed. The buzz kept up for several long moments, then a light came on, 
on the screen, and expanded until we were looking at a bright white 
screen. It flickered, and changed colors, then a pattern came up and 
stayed for several seconds, then changed to symbols all over the screen. 
  "Looks just like a computer coming on." Molly said. 
  "Well, since I'm not floating around on a cloud with wings on, I guess 
you're right." Then the stage lit up. I couldn't see where the light was 
coming from, but there was plenty of area for hidden lights all around 
the 'stage'. 
  "Look, the platform is all lit up." 
  "And what's it doing?" 
  "Nothing, just sitting there with the lights on." 
  "And your control panel?" 
  "Same as it was, same pattern" 
  "Well, if you could read the screen, it probably tells you exactly 
what the condition of the stage is." I said. 
  "Right! And I suppose you can read the screen since you're such a 
computer expert." 
  "Well, not exactly, but let me check." and I opened my computer and 
turned it on, then started entering inquiries. "MMmmm, says the lights 
are all on and I left the door open." 
  "You can tell that from the screen?" 
  "No, silly, by looking around." 
  "Mike, I'm going to make you into.... Uunhhuh..." The screen had 
changed. 
  "OK, Molly, its your turn, you turned the machine on, now figure out 
what it does." 
  "Sure," and she reached down to the board and turned one of the bigger 
knobs. 
  "MOoooll...." and I stopped, there was a scene of a pasture on the 
screen with strange buildings in the background. "What's that?" 
  The lighted area at the back of the stage had changed too. It looked 
almost like the screen. A wide pasture area with strange buildings in 
the back. and flickering light all over the stage area. Suddenly there 
was a strange odor, a clean outdoor smell like woods after a rain, and 
there seemed to be a slight, very gentle breeze blowing , actually more 
drifting rather than blowing, from the stage area. 
  Molly laughed, "I guess that's the channel knob, I think I changed 
channels." 
  "Maybe, but do you notice that the 'stage' has the same program on, 
complete with wind and smell." 
  "Yeah, but its a kinda dull program, wanna try another channel?" and 
she reached down and turned the knob again, this time very slowly. The 
screen flickered, and the scene changed as she moved the knob, just like 
flipping past channels on the visor. It would be blank for a few seconds 
then another picture would pop up. Molly stopped on another picture. 
This one looked almost like the lobby of a hotel, but you could see out 
an open door and see some more buildings across a clear area. Again a 
very few moments after Molly stopped moving the knob, the same picture 
appeared on the 'stage'. This time there was a very definite chill 
breeze blowing from the 'stage' and instead of the clean air of the 
previous "picture" there was an odor of city streets. I was on the 
streets long enough as a cop to know a city street odor when I smell it. 
  "Wait a minute, Molly, change it again, this one's making it cold in 
here." 
  "Yeah, kinda nice isn't it?" 
  But she reached down and slowly twisted the knob again. Pictures 
appeared and then disappeared on the computer screen, but the 'stage' 
was just blank until Molly stopped again. This time we were looking at a 
broad view of towering mountains in the background, but there was no 
odor or feeling of breeze from the 'stage'. Then we realized that the 
breeze was going from us toward the 'stage'. 
  "Can you get the first one back again?" 
  "Dunno, I'll try." and she turned the knob back to where she had 
stopped it the first time. The screen was blank, then she moved it back 
and forth very slowly until there was the pasture and the strange 
buildings in the background again, and she stopped. A moment later the 
same scene came up on the 'stage'. 
  "Molly, don't move anything till we figure out what's happening." 
  Molly laughed lightly, "We may be here a while, if I wait that long." 
  Sure enough there was the slight, "fresh" breeze drifting from the 
'stage'. 
  Suddenly something appeared in the middle of the 'stage' dropping and 
fluttering as it fell. It looked almost like a leaf, then it drifted off 
the stage, with the slight breeze still falling until there was a leaf 
lying on the floor a few feet this side of the 'stage'. 
  "Molly, what's that?" 
  "Looks like a leaf." 
  "Get it." 
  "Suddenly, I'm your slave?" 
  "Molly...." 
  "OK,  Lil'  bug,  I'll get it. Just hang on." She got up and walked 
over almost to the stage and bending over picked up the leaf. I almost 
panicked as she bent over. Her shoulders bent forward and I was hanging 
from my seat straps staring straight at the floor almost a hundred feet 
down. 
  "Molly....!" I screamed in panic. 
  "Sorry, Mike, I forgot. Look at this, it really is a green leaf, 
almost like the ones from the tree outside, but its different. Look." 
and she held the leaf up in front of me for my inspection as she 
straightened up again. 
  My heart was almost in fibrillation, I couldn't let go of the seat my 
hands were clenched so tightly on the arms and my MRE meal was just 
about to return. I had been so interested in what was happening I had 
almost forgoten about my little problem with heights. But looking 
straight down at the floor from Molly's shoulder when she bent over, 
sure brought it back in a hurry. It took me several minutes to even 
focus on the leaf that Molly was holding up in front of me in her 
fingers, and a couple of more to get my mind back functioning. It was 
nothing more than a tree leaf, but it was almost a yard across. A leaf 
on Molly's size scale. 
  I took several deep breaths and swallowed my MRE again, before I could 
even think of talking. "Molly, does the tree outside in the patio have 
leaves like this?" 
  "Well, they're not exactly like this. They're a different shape." 
  "Molly, I mean this size." 
  "Yeah, I think so." 
  "Huge leaves on your scale?" 
  "Yeah, I think so, I didn't really notice. It was just a big tree. I 
really didn't notice how big the leaves were." 
  "Go look." 
  "What?" 
  "Let's look,  I need to know?" 
  "You need to know how big the leaves are on the tree in the patio?" 
  "Yes." 
  "Then run up and look." 
  "Molly...." 
  "I know, you're too little to run up the stairs. Poor little thing. 
OK, I'll go." Molly got out of the chair and started up the stairs. I 
clung to my chair for dear life. I had thought it was bad when Molly 
jogged? I had never felt her run up a flight of stairs before. 
  I screamed, "Molly... please... stop... please.." 
  She stopped. "What's the matter?" 
  "You're killing me." 
  "What the matter, are you all right." 
  "No, don't run up the stairs with me. Every time you take a step its 
like I fell off a two story building." 
  "Oops sorry, I didn't mean to be so rough. I'm sorry. But look, here's 
one of the leaves from the tree in the patio. See its about the same 
size, but look, the leaf is a different pattern." and she held up 
another giant leaf for my inspection. 
  Molly walked back to the control panel and put the leaf from the patio 
on the console panel beside the one from the 'stage'. The one from the 
'stage' was very roughly shaped with three main lobes with points all 
around, slightly smaller than the one from the patio. The one from the 
patio was a long smooth oval with the upper side dark and shiny. 
Definitely two different type trees, but both with leaves in Molly's 
scale. 
  "Molly, you know where that Dabesi ship blew the hole in the floor?" 
  "Yeah..." 
  "Lets go over there and get some little rocks for you to throw." 
  "Little rocks for me to throw?" 
  "Yeah, well little to you, I know, boulders to me." 
  "OK, why?" 
  "We're gonna try something with that 'stage'." 
  "What's that?" 
  "You're gonna throw rocks at it." 
  "I'm gonna throw rocks at it?" 
  "Well across it." 
  "What do you mean?" 
  "You saw the leaf come drifting off the stage, didn't you?" 
  "Yeah, so." 
  "I want to see what happens to something when we throw it onto the 
'stage'." 
  "Whatever." 
  Molly walked over to the floor under where the Dabesi had exploded and 
picked up a bunch of rocks, boulders to me. Then walked back to the 
'stage'. 
  "Don't step on the 'stage', Molly, just stand out here and toss a rock 
onto the stage." 
  Molly tossed a rock onto the stage. It fell to the stage with a clunk 
and lay there. We watched it for a few moments and nothing happened. 
"Throw the next one at the back of the stage." 
  "What do you mean at the 'back' of the stage?" 
  "Well see where it looks almost like a screen with the same picture as 
is on the computer?" 
  "Yeah," 
  "Well try to throw the rock into the screen." 
  Molly pitched a little rock across the stage, it sailed in a long arc 
toward the back of the 'stage' and about half way across it disappeared. 
A second later it reappeared at the back of the 'stage' and sailed out 
toward the pasture, falling out of our sight. We heard a definite clunk 
as it hit the ground, then another little bump then what sounded like a 
rock rolling across a hard floor. 
  "Try it again, Molly. A little harder this time." 
  This time Molly picked a little bigger rock and gave it a real heave 
across the 'stage' at the screen. Again half way across it simply 
disappeared, and then it came flying out of the back area and flew out a 
way before falling out of sight, again the sound of a rock hitting on a 
hard ground and rolling. 
  Molly said, "That's weird. Maybe we just don't have good lighting and 
can't see it part way till it gets to the other side." 
  "Well, let's walk around and look at the other side." 
  Molly turned and walked around the 'stage' when we got to the other 
side there was no sign of the rocks and when we looked at the 'stage' 
the scene had changed to look almost like the same room we were in, but 
the desk console and the furniture looked like it was reasonably new and 
in good shape instead of old and neglected. Molly took another rock and 
threw it through the 'stage' again from this side. Again it sailed 
across the stage, but this time instead of disappearing it merely 
flickered and then we could see it hit the floor on the other side and 
bounce right up to the control console where we had been sitting. 
  "OK, lets go look." and Molly walked back around the 'stage' again. 
When we got to the console it looked old and neglected again and there 
was no sign of the rock where it had landed. 
  "This weird." Molly looked from the console to the 'stage' and back at 
the console. "Wait a minute, let's set something up here so that we 
could see it from the back and then go back and look." 
   "Sounds reasonable, what have we got?" 
  "Let me get a big rock from over there where the Dab blew up." 
  "OK, Let's try it." 
  Molly walked over to the hole in the roof and found a chunk of the 
wall almost twenty feet across. "Here's something we can sure see from 
the back." 
  "Molly that's too big, its gotta weigh fifty tons." 
  "To you maybe, its a six inch rock that weighs maybe ten pounds to me, 
and that's giving it a lot of leeway. Probably closer to five pounds." 
and she picked the rock up in one hand as easily as I'd pick up a shoe. 
I took a deep whistling breath; as I said before, even though I've been 
with her a year and a half, her tremendous strength never fails to amaze 
me and it sends shivers down my back when I watch her pick up several 
tons as though it was nothing.  
  She walked over to the console and put the rock on top of the console, 
setting it so that it would be visible from the other end of the 
'stage'. Then we walked around to the other end. Just before we went 
behind the 'stage' she stopped and turned so that we could both look 
back and see the rock. It was sitting just where Molly had left it. She 
stepped behind the stage and looked, there was the newer console with no 
rock. She stepped back to the corner of the 'stage'. The rock was right 
where she had set it. She turned her head very slowly and looked down at 
me sitting on her shoulder and looking at her the same way she was 
looking at me. Totally shocked, what was happening? 
  Two steps back, new console, no rock. After four or five tries it was 
always the same. Through the 'stage' new console, no rock, around the 
'stage' old console, with rock on top. 
  "OK, Hero, lets hear you explain this one." 
  "Do you read?" 
  "Naw, I'm just an ignorant girl. They don't teach girls to read." 
  "Right, and they don't have space ships and women two hundred foot 
tall either. How much science fiction have you read?" 
  "I don't read that garbage. That's for kids and dreamers." 
  "Well, you better start dreaming, cause what we're seeing can't be 
happening." 
  Molly giggled, "I'll bet that's what that Dabesi tank commander said 
when I stepped on his tank, too." and she laughed, "Well, what are we 
seeing, Mr. Science Fiction Genius? And this better be good too." 
  "Time travel? Teleport station? Interstellar gateway? I don't know, 
but those are all old Sci Fi ideas, or gadgets, that nobody has ever 
been able to build." I said. 
  Molly looked pointedly back at the 'stage'. "You're sure no body has 
ever built any of them?" 
  "Tell you what, Molly, I'll wait here on the console while you run 
jump on the 'stage' and take a look and see what's happening. Then you 
can come back and tell me." 
  "Little man, if I get on that stage, you're gonna be with me, you can 
bet your life on that one. In fact I've got an even better idea, how 
about if I just throw you like I did the rocks." 
  "Uh-Uh, they didn't come back. And I don't like being thrown anyway." 
  "Well then, you can take a running jump..." 
  "Molly, be nice... be nice. Act like a lady." 
  "Look, Mike, that rock I tossed onto the 'stage' is still there. 
Nothing has happened to it. Maybe nothing happens till you get to a 
certain point. You know that's where all the rocks have disappeared, 
about half way across before they get to the back screen." 
  "Good point, Molly, have we got a long stick?" 
  "I can get one from that tree up in the patio." 
  "Got any string left?" 
  "Oh, Yeah, I get you, I'll try tossing the limb and then try pulling 
it back, right?" 
  "Right," I said, "After all we're supposed to be explorers. We have to 
take a few chances now and again." 
   "Like just being here isn't taking chances?" 
  "Molly, I don't remember making any choices, except dodging them 
Dabesi ships." 
  "I'll get the limb." and Molly went up the stairs again as I sat on 
top of the console and stared at the controls. 
  Molly came back in a couple of seconds with a long broken off limb in 
her hand, ripping off the leaves as she walked. When she had all the 
leaves off she broke off the secondary limbs and reaching in her 
voluminous pocket and came out with the length of rope, (she calls it 
string) that she had used to lower me into the hole. Tying it around the 
limb at about the middle she stretched it back and tied it again on the 
thin limb so that she could pull it back toward us in a line, more or 
less. 
  "Yeah, Mol, that looks good give it a toss onto the 'stage' just on 
the stage, don't try for a long shot yet, then pull it back. Let's see 
if your idea works." 
   She stepped up to the edge of the 'stage' and tossed it easily out 
toward the rock that was lying inertly on the floor. The limb hit with a 
crash, and then just lay there like the rock had. Then Molly pulled. The 
limb twisted slightly as it lined up with the 'string/rope' then started 
back toward us. Molly pulled and the limb came back and fell off the 
stage. She picked it up and looked it up and down. "Looks all right." 
  "OK, a little further this time. Right next to that "place where the 
rocks disappear." 
  "OK, I'll try." and she rolled the string up and holding it in one 
hand tossed the limb to where the base just barely hit the "disappearing 
point" on the 'stage'. "Mike, look, can you see that?"  
  "What's that Molly?" 
  "The end is gone." 
  "What?" 
  "The end is gone, look, the limb stops, the end is gone. Look!" and 
she reached back to her shoulder and pinched me between her huge 
fingers. I reached down as fast as I could and unsnapped my belts. I 
knew that if Molly pulled with my belts on, either they would break, or 
she'd rip me in half. Molly was going to lift me, and something was 
going to give, and it wouldn't be her. Holding me in her fingers, she 
lifted me and reached out and up with her arm so that I could see the 
limb better. I could see the limb lying on the floor of the 'stage'. She 
was right, the end of the limb stopped sharply at the edge of the "half 
way point". 
  "I see it, you're right, it looks like its been sliced off with a 
really sharp knife." 
  "Yeah, that's what I wanted you to see." 
  "Pull it, Molly, pull it." 
  "What?" 
  "Pull the string, let's see what happens." 
  Molly pulled, the end of the limb reappeared. She put me back onto her 
shoulder and pulled the limb all the way back to us. She picked the limb 
up and held it up so that we could both see it. "Look, right there is 
where it was cut off, but there's nothing there. It doesn't look like 
anything ever happened to it. No sign of a cut or anything." She ran her 
fingers across the end of the limb several times. "Uh-uh, nothing." 
  "Try it again, Molly, a little further this time." 
  "OK," and the limb flew out into the 'stage'  to where the 
"disappearing point" was, this time more than half of the long limb 
disappeared. And then I saw it. At the back edge of the 'stage' at the 
bottom of the "Screen" was the other end of the limb. 
  "Molly, look right at the bottom of edge of the "screen" the rest of 
the limb." We just stood there looking at the severed limb lying inertly 
on the stage where Molly had thrown it, and at the other end ten, make 
that a couple hundred feet away, maybe ten of Molly's feet. In this 
giant place, I was starting to even think in her terms and sizes.   
  "Pull it back." 
  Molly pulled, the other end of the limb disappeared and our end of the 
limb reappeared. It was just like before, no sign of having been cut, no 
scars, no seams nothing. This time Molly just took the limb and holding 
it by the thin end pushed it out onto the 'stage' while she held it. 
Nothing! She stepped up till her legs were right against the edge of the 
'stage' and shoved the limb out. Nothing! 
  "Molly, do you realize that half your arm was on the stage?" 
  "I didn't notice. I didn't feel anything." 
  "Well, we've got to see sometime, hold me in your hand and reach out 
on the 'stage' again." 
  "You're sure its safe?" 
  "Absolutely.....  not! But we've got to try it sometime, we can only 
find out so much by waving this limb around and playing with it." 
  "But, Mike..." 
  "Molly, either it'll be all right or it won't." Then I laughed, 
"Besides if I'm in your hand and disappear, they'll be calling you 
'lefty'." 
  "Mike, don't! I don't even want to think of things like that." 
  "Come on, lets try it, hold the limb in your hand too so that if 
something starts to happen to the limb you can let go of the limb and 
jerk your hand back, and hopefully me with it." 
    Molly reached down and picked up the limb then reached up by her 
shoulder and I jumped into her waiting hand. This high in the air, my 
brain was still screaming every time I moved around up here so high, but 
with what were doing, I sure as hell wasn't going to let Molly see that 
I was scared..." 
  I started to sit on the limb where Molly held it in her hand, then 
thought better of it, if she had to let go of the limb, I could stay 
with her hand and let the limb go too. If I was sitting on it I was 
going with the limb. Then I had an even better idea. I reached into my 
pocket and pulled out a sticky and a short length of rope, I reached 
around and stuck the sticky on the back of her index finger, then tied 
myself to it. If something happened I'd be with Molly's hand no matter 
what, like I said, if I disappeared, they'd be calling her 'lefty'. 
  "OK, Mol, go for it." 
  She reached out and pushed her hand up onto the 'stage' with the limb 
out in front of me. Nothing happened, I looked down and I was well out 
over the 'stage' and nothing had changed I was still in the room, I 
could see everything like I had a minute ago. 
  "OK, Molly, its fine, a little further." and Molly leaned in and 
pushed her hand further out, nothing changed. "seems fine, Molly, want 
to try stepping up on the 'stage' floor." 
  I could feel the slight breeze blowing from the "screen" but it seemed 
the same as always. Molly stepped up onto the 'stage' floor. Nothing, 
she stood all the way onto the 'stage' still waving the limb out in 
front of her, with me in her extended hand. 
  "Still fine, Molly," She turned around and looked out at the room, it 
was exactly as we had left it. In fact we could still see the huge 
bolder that Molly had put on the console. 
  "Mike, I'm worried." 
  "Mol, you think you're worried, I'm scared S...ss but move on nearer 
the screen and stick the end of the limb into the screen." 
  "You sure, Mike?" 
  "Molly, I haven't been sure of anything since I got into training a 
year and a half ago. In fact with all those elaborate exercises they put 
us through, are you sure this isn't one of their weird scenarios?" 
   Molly laughed for the first time in what seemed like hours, it broke 
the tension, I felt better just hearing her booming laugh. I hadn't 
realized how much I missed her thunderous laugh. And that she was always 
laughing at something or the other. I really hadn't realized how much 
she laughed, until I realized how much I missed it, when she hadn't for 
a while. She stepped up to the screen and deliberately stuck the end of 
the limb into the screen. It disappeared. And there two hundred feet 
away was the cut off missing end. She waved the end back and forth 
across the screen. It disappeared and reappeared as she waved it, it was 
just like she was stirring water, where the stick stuck into the screen 
it disappeared, where she pulled it out it reappeared. And exactly the 
same thing happened in re verse at the other end, the chopped off end 
appeared and disappeared exactly opposite as it did here. 
  "Molly, put the stick down on the floor and push it in real slowly." 
  She did and as she did I came closer and closer to the "screen". I 
yelled "Close enough Mol." and she stopped pushing. I was close enough 
that the "screen" was only a couple of yards from me. I waved my hand in 
front of the screen. Everything felt as normal as it ever had. I could 
still feel the gentle breeze from the "screen" but nothing else. 
  "Be real careful Molly, but push me a little closer." She pushed and 
the screen moved closer, it was now close enough I could reach out and 
touch it. I leaned up on the limb and reached out with my hand. A foot 
from the sliced off end of the limb all I could see was the distant 
scene of the pasture and the odd buildings in the back, and the other 
end of the limb two hundred feet away. There wasn't any cold, heat, no 
electrical charge feeling, nothing. I reached within a couple of inches, 
nothing. An inch, nothing. I held my breath and touched the screen with 
the tip of one finger. Nothing. The tip of my finger was cut off as 
clean as the end of the limb, but I felt nothing. I pulled my hand back 
and my finger was the same as ever. No cut, no scar nothing, just like 
the limb. I heard a noise that startled me, then I realized that it was 
Molly exhaling, she had been holding her breath as I put my hand against 
the screen. I turned around and showed her my hand, "As good as new, 
well, its not that good, it was kinda scared up before we got this far." 
and I laughed. 
  I turned around and slowly pushed more of my finger into the screen. 
Nothing! I pulled it back and it looked the same as it had before I 
pushed it in. I felt it with the other hand, nothing. I turned and 
shoved my whole hand into the screen. Again, nothing, but there two 
hundred feet away was my hand. Only this time it was chopped off at this 
end, and I could see my bones, and the meat of my severed hand. It was 
too far away to see many details, but the white bones showed vividly. 
When I pulled it out, nothing. It was the same as it had always been. 
Again I leaned forward and put my hand out toward the "screen" but this 
time I slid my hand along the limb. My hand disappeared at the same 
point that the limb did, but I could still feel the limb in my hand, 
which I could only see at the far edg e of the screen with my hand 
rubbing the limb just as I was doing. I moved my hand, if I closed my 
eyes I couldn't tell anything was different than it had ever been. I 
could feel the rough limb, the shape of it, everything felt normal. I 
reached in with my other hand and reached down and grabbed my hand on 
the limb. Normal, nothing was unusual, except that both my hands were 
sliced off cleanly half way from the wrist to the elbow, but there they 
were two hundred feet distant.  
  I pulled my hands out and turned around and looked up at Molly, "OK, 
Molly, I'm going in, remember I love you." and I stood up along side the 
limb and walked into the screen. I could see everything. I stood on a 
platform that looked out through an open door and there was another room 
much like the one I had left all around the 'stage' I looked back and 
there was the platform I had just left, except there was Molly, with her 
end of the limb, and beyond the 'stage' was the old chair and the 
console with the rock on top. I walked back to the screen and stepped 
through. Molly was staring at me. She gasp and reached for me. 
  "Mike!" thundered over me, almost shattering my ear drums. I was 
snatched up in her giant hand and whirled up to her face. I was pressed 
against her cheek, then kissed with her tremendous wet lips again and 
again. "OH, Mike, you're all right. Oh, God, I'm so glad." and I got 
drenched again in another of her huge wet, slurppy  kisses. 
  "Molly.... Molly... Stop it! We're supposed to be professionals. 
Don't..." 
  Her voice almost shattered my eardrums from so close, "Who says that 
professionals can't feel for one another?" and I got another big sloppy 
kiss. 
  "I sure am glad that this jump suit don't shrink, between your little 
dousing in cold water, and your messy kisses, I been wet all day." 
  "Oh, you, little.... " and her gargantuan tongue came out and she 
licked me from head to toe. If I hadn't been wet before I sure was now. 
"Mike I worry about you. And when you went into that..... that.... what 
is it?" 
  "I don't know." 
  "But you've been through it, or what ever." 
  "Well, when I stepped through where the limb was cut off, I was at the 
other end looking back at you standing here." 
  "But where were you?" 
  "There", and I pointed at the scene on the 'stage'. 
  "But where is it?" 
  "I don't have any idea. I don't know if its another planet, this one 
years ago, or this one in the future, I have no idea. Or, hell, maybe 
somebody's imagination, just a realistic screen play. I mean we've come 
from paintings on a cave wall, to moving pictures, and to our present 
holographic visions. Maybe someone else has invented a screen play you 
can just walk into and it all feels real. I don't have any idea." 
  "Did you see anybody?" 
  "No.. I was all alone, just standing there on the edge of the room 
looking down on the valley we can see from here." 
  "But....?" 
  "Want to try it, it don't hurt, you're just there, you can still come 
back here." 
  "But what would happen if you couldn't?" 
  "Would we be any worse off? Our ship is all wrecked, we have no radio, 
only the Dabs know where we are, and I'd just as soon not let them catch 
us. They might be a little irritated at you. Lets see your score card,  
you shot down two of their ships, ripped their troop ship to pieces and 
stomped it into scrap, flattened three tanks and three weapons carriers, 
and stomped several hundred of their men into paste. Naw... I can't see 
any reason why they wouldn't just give us a lift home." 
   "Well, our ships could come and rescue us." 
  "Molly, unless the Dabesi tell them where we are, which isn't real 
likely, they have no idea where we are. All they know is that we went in 
the general direction of what they thought might be the Dabesi home 
world. There's a lot of area and planets out in this direction from the 
last time we had contact with our base. Hell, for all we know that place 
there," and I pointed to the open pasture showing on the screen, "Is a 
lot closer to home than we are here, and they might even know our people 
and give us that little ride home." 
  "But you said it might be time travel and still be here." 
  "Molly, I don't have any faintest idea what it is. But it looks like 
the best bet we have right now. I can't believe that the Dabesi won't 
try to come back and do us in." 
  "But I got them all, even their troop ship. I didn't leave any of them 
to tell anyone we were here." 
  "Good, that means that 'NO BODY' has any idea where we are." 
  "But.... Uhhh...." and she just looked down at me, "What are we gonna 
do?" 
  I couldn't believe it, there was my giant Molly, looking lost. My 
giantess who had shot two Dabesi ships down with her pistol, torn up 
their troop ship with her bare hands, had a ball crushing their entire 
army under her feet, and ripped the steel bars of a giant cage apart 
with her bare hands. Now she was looking at me like a lost little girl, 
looking at me for help, as I sat like a little bug in her giant hand. 
What had happened to my 'Unsinkable Molly Brown'? 
  "Molly, I went through and came back without any problems, and its 
certainly big enough for you. It looks like it was built for people of 
your size in the first place. Want to try it. We sure as hell wouldn't 
be any worse off. I mean how long can you live on the few cans of MREs 
that you have left, and do you really want to?" 
  "Mike, could we go through, find out what's out there, and come back 
here?" 
  "I did... I'll admit I didn't go very far from where I was when I got 
there, but it looks like we could just walk back to here any time we 
wanted to. Lets try it. I don't know if its a time machine, or teleport 
gateway, or what, but what difference does it make?" 
  Molly took a deep breath, and looked down at me, "Sure, why not? Hell 
we're supposed to be explorers anyway." Then she grinned down at me and 
said, "Lets go." and I had my 'unstoppable' Molly back again. 
  She started to lift me to her shoulder, then stopped and brought me up 
to her vast beautiful face again and gave another big sloppy wet kiss, 
all over my body with her giant lips, drenching me again. "Good luck, 
Mike." and she stepped up on the 'stage' and walked toward the "screen"  
as I strapped into my seat on her shoulder. 
  "Good luck to you too, Molly. I love you! Let's go join your giant 
people."