She realized, as she took a last glance back at the dimly lit sub behind her, that she hadn't quite thought this entirely through. She was used to having food and water anytime she wanted it, simply by reaching into a cabinet or visiting the nearest cafeteria. There would be nothing like that here. What would she do for sustenance?
Nathan, she told herself, must've known she would find something to eat. He hadn't told her everything, but merely hinted that the answers she sought would be found here somewhere. She should've questioned him more thoroughly, but didn't really have the chance, being too terrified to think clearly up until this point.
In fact, Tess realized, she should've been terrified beyond measure right now. She could see nothing in the darkness, except the barest notion of a cracked slate-gray floor beneath her feet. If the sub were to leave now, the light coming from the cabin would go out, leaving her completely blind. She should've been wracked with fear at this point, but instead felt only excitement.
She was beyond the Dome! She was in the real world, the world of the Giants! What would she find here? What secrets would she uncover? The sheer magnitude of what she was doing made her giddy, and she pressed on, walking slowly forward, hands extended in the dark, waiting for that first contact with something alien and unknown.
Then, she heard a sound, off to her right. For an instant she thought it might be an echo of a noise from the sub, but then she discounted the idea. The click was clearly ahead of her, and slightly to the right. As her eyes searched the darkness, she suddenly realized there was a glow ahead, a faint light shining from the direction of the sound.
She moved forward cautiously. There was definitely something there--a source of light that was covered up by something, like a glowing bulb beneath a blanket. She thought perhaps it was fairly small, but as she grew nearer, she realized it wasn't.
Tess still wasn't even anywhere near the light source when suddenly a loud grinding sound startled her. Then, in a rush of air and motion, something big dropped down from above, landing with a crash. The light was partially blotted out by a vertical bar of some kind, and rushing forward, Tess realized with a shock that there was more than one such bar. In fact, they were all around, extending in rows to surround her in a box-like prison.
She was in a cage!
For a few anxious moments she ran from side to side, searching in the faint light for some way out, but the bars were too narrowly spaced. They were thick and made of metal, so bending or lifting them was out of the question. Worse still, there was no gate or other means of getting out, and the roof overhead was covered with an equally thick lining of wire mesh. She was completely trapped.
There was only one chance, she thought to herself. "Nathan!" she yelled as loudly as she could, cupping her hands about her mouth and aiming her voice in the direction of the distant sub. "Nathan, help! I'm trapped!"
She waited for several heartbeats, waiting for some kind of reply, but there was none. How could she ever think there would be? He'd be inside, with the hatch shut, waiting for the vehicle's automatic pilot to take it home. He would never leave the protection of that strange machine.
She yelled again anyway, willing herself not to cry. Until the sub left, she would refuse to give up hope. "Nathan!" she screamed. "Nathan, please! Help me!"
She never expected him to reply, and certainly didn't expect him to be so close when he did. "You don't have to yell," said Nathan, his silhouette suddenly appearing between her and the distant craft. "I'm right here."
"Nathan! Oh, thank the Giants!" she gasped. "Please! You have to help me out of this thing! Please, do something!"
He shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Tess, but I can't do that."
"What?" She just stared at him for a moment in shock. "You...you can't? Why not? Please, you can't just leave me like this!"
"I have to," he said resignedly. "I'm sorry, Tess, but you wanted to learn the truth about the Giants, and this is the only way."
"W-what do you mean? This was all some kind of--of trick? Why, Nathan? Why?"
He put his hands on the bars, staring at her glimmering blue eyes, just barely visible in the faint light. For a moment she saw the pain and regret on his shadowed face, and then he let his head hang down. "Almost everything in the Book is true," he explained slowly. "At least, as far as the basics go. The Giants were dying. There was a plague, and it was destroying them. They turned to genetics for a solution. Do you know what genetics is, Tess?"
"N-no," she managed to reply. She was struggling to focus. Her life was over, or so it seemed, and yet here was Nathan giving her a history lesson. Why? What purpose would it serve to tell her this now?
"It's a way to manipulate the structure of an organism," he went on. "A human body is made up of tiny things called cells that you can't even see, they're so small. And those cells are themselves made up of even tinier parts. Sort of like if you look at a painting close enough you can see the tiny bits of paint, and then the paint itself is made up of many colors mixed together. Do you understand?"
"I--I think so." Where was he going with all this...?
"So the Giants tried to change the way they were made, in order to defeat this terrible disease. Eventually, they found one possibility--they could make people small enough the plague wouldn't affect them. That's how our ancestors came into being. For a long time we little people were the last hope of humanity. That's why we were protected so well, under the Dome. That's why we exist as we are. We were Mankind's legacy."
"So they did create us! The Book didn't lie about that."
"No. Almost everything in the Book is true, as far as it goes, if a little misleading in some places. However, it does suffer from the sin of omission. There are many things the Book doesn't tell us. Some very important truths, including the most important one of all."
"What?" asked Tess, only barely breathing the word.
"You'll see soon enough," he answered cryptically. "I know you have so very many questions, Tess, but I won't have time to answer them, I'm afraid. The sub is leaving soon and I have to be on it." He started to step away.
"Wait!" Tess cried out, reaching through the bars to grab his arm. "Please, don't go! What's going to happen to me now, Nathan? Why am I here? You must've brought me here for a reason, and it wasn't just to satisfy my curiosity, was it?"
"I have to go now," said Nathan, slipping out of her grip. "The sub's leaving. I'm sorry Tess. I'm sorry it had to be you. I really liked you. I'm glad you volunteered of your own free will. I always hate when I have to force someone to go."
"Nathan, please!" she yelled into the darkness. "Please, what do you mean? What's going to happen to me?"
In the distance, she saw a light appear near the sub. The hatch was opening again. For a moment she saw him silhouetted there, and then only the circle of light remained. His voice called out one last time, thick with sadness and regret.
"Whatever happens, always remember," his distant voice whispered, "your sacrifice is for the good of us all. Goodbye, Tess. I won't forget you. Never...forget...you..."
There was a muffled slam, and the submarine churned to life. Its lights vanished under the water and in a moment it was gone, leaving Tess alone and shivering in the chill, dark air.
The vast, seemingly empty room around her was now completely dark. Even the faint light from the floor, the one that attracted her to the trap, was gone. Tess could see nothing at all, and yet she wasn't afraid. Instead, she was angry--angry at herself, for getting into this situation, and at Nathan for putting her here.
He did this on purpose! He led her here, to this very spot, where he knew she'd be caught in an ancient Giant cage, from which she already knew there would be no escape. He knew this trap was here, and he let her walk right into it. In fact, from the things he said, he must have done this before. He'd even suggested that he sometimes had to force people into going.
What did that mean, anyway? Why would he have to force people into anything? What was the point of bringing them here? What did he mean when he talked about a sacrifice...?
Tess held her breath and shivered as the sudden meaning of that term came lancing through her. The still air suddenly seemed even colder. Nathan spoke of a price to be paid, but she'd expected this to be something spiritual, or perhaps metaphysical. She didn't imagine that the price would be herself.
Was that the great secret the Giants held? That they required a human sacrifice...?
Thinking back on things now, Tess could remember a few other people from the Isle who once shared her curious nature. Together, they formed an exploration club when she was younger, a few years after leaving the Nursery. Once they'd seen the entire Isle, though, most seemed to lose interest and stopped coming to meetings. They drifted apart, and she hadn't seen most of them for years. What if some of them had met this very same fate? What if they, too, had fallen victim to someone like Nathan's hints and suggestions, questioning their very existence, until finally they begged him, as she had done, to bring them here?
But why? Why bring them here at all? Was she going to be killed? Tess couldn't imagine why the Giants, deities or not, would demand such a gruesome sacrifice. What purpose would it serve for a long-dead race of Giants to carefully preserve their far smaller creations, only to kill them off one by one? No, she couldn't believe that. They would want them for something else. Some other purpose.
Tess shivered again. She had wanted to find a new purpose in life, hadn't she? Well, now one was about to be forced upon her.
She tried to control her trembling. Harboring fear or anger wouldn't do her any good. There was nothing to do but accept her fate. This was what she wanted, she reminded herself, even if she hadn't expected it to turn out quite like this. After all, Nathan told her things could never be the same. He warned her, and yet she came anyway. There was no sense blaming him for her own bad choices.
Nathan...she thought back for a moment on his actions as he turned to leave her behind. He had apologized, and seemed genuinely sorry for putting her in this position. He hadn't wanted to do it, had he? No, he hadn't. He was just serving the Giants' will, for whatever unfathomable purpose they had in mind. He probably had no choice in the matter. He knew the truth all along, and still had to do this terrible thing to her, and all the others that came before.
She lowered her head. "It wasn't your fault, Nathan," she said quietly. "I see that now. I forgive you. May your soul be at peace."
There was a moment of silence, as her words faded into the black gloom about her. For a moment she could hear her own heart beating in the darkness.
Then, without warning, the lights came on.
For several long seconds Tess could only blink and rub her eyes, and then she became aware that the floor itself was trembling. There were loud thumping noises coming closer and closer, and something massive stamped into view.
She blinked again and her vision cleared. Tess gasped as she focused on the incredible vision before her, something she never in her life expected to see. And yet, even as she realized what it was, its full meaning struck her like a physical blow.
She was looking at a gigantic shoe. She recognized it instantly, for she'd often studied the massive sneaker in the museum back home. Only this time, the shoe was occupied by an equally gigantic foot.
She looked up. And up, and up, and up into the sky. She gawked upwards at the tremendous Giant who was now staring down at her, smiling, moving the fingers on his massive hand in a tremendous wave.
Tess was paralyzed, completely unable to move. There could be no doubt that what she was seeing was real. This was a Giant! An actual, live Giant! He was gazing down at her like some god ascended into Heaven. He was unbelievable, incredible, a towering colossus so awe-inspiring she could barely breathe.
Now she knew. In that frozen instant everything became clear. That was the great truth the Book hid from her people. That was the reason she was brought here, and all the others before her.
The Giants didn't die. They survived whatever disaster it was that threatened them, all those years ago. The rest of the world was still theirs.
No wonder no one ever left the Isle, except those few who Nathan took away on his hidden sub beneath the Dome! There would be no place in that world for humans as small as Tess. The Giants only created her people because they thought it was the only way to survive. They must have found another way.
But if that were true--why keep the Isle at all? What would they still need tiny people for...?
Her thoughts got no farther than that before the Giant moved again. In a single smooth stroke, he reached down and lifted up the huge cage that trapped her, setting it atop a great table nearby that she didn't even notice until that moment. Then he kneeled down, moved his face closer, and stared appreciatively at her through thick glasses larger than herself. As he took her in, the corners of his massive mouth drew upwards in a smile.
Tess felt a kind of choking sensation in her throat. All she could do was fall on the concrete floor, face down, arms forward in supplication. There was never any thought of fleeing or resisting him. He was beyond all of that. She was his to do with as he willed. Her destiny was in his giant hands.
Nathan called it a sacrifice, Tess reminded herself. That's what this was all about. That was why the Giants kept the Dome intact, and let her people live. Every now and then, Nathan would lead someone away, someone who wouldn't be noticed, for whatever unknown purpose the Giants had in store for them. That sacrifice would be for the good of everyone.
That's my purpose now, thought Tess as she prostrated herself before the Giant. That's my reason for existing.
Nathan even said as much, in his final parting words. She would be that sacrifice.
Everything he told her was true. She would never be the same. There was no going back. What was more, and this surprised even her, was that she truly didn't mind. There was no reason to be afraid. She was exactly where she needed to be.
Tess raised her head, opened her eyes, and smiled. The Giant's grin widened and he reached out his hand. Tess didn't cry out as he gently lifted her into the air, cradling her carefully in the folds of his palm, and took her away.
The vidphone beeped twice. Senator Vincent R. Mulgrew III, duly elected representative of the state of Chicagoland, raised his weary eyes and glanced at the machine. The call, he noted from the indictor, was secure. He toggled a switch for verification, and drank a long draught from his coffee as he waited for the indicator to give the all-clear. When it did, he put his cup down and accepted the transmission.
The image that appeared was grayed out, not that it surprised him. The Senator already suspected who was calling. Black market dealers didn't want their images to be recognizable, after all.
"Senator Mulgrew," said a mechanically altered voice, "am I correct in assuming you're alone in your office?"
"Yes, of course," replied the Senator. "I've been expecting your call. Hoping, I suppose, is a better way of putting it."
A strained chuckle emerged from the speakers. "Yes, I suppose you would be. Most of my customers usually are. In any event, I have good news for you, Senator."
"You have what I ordered, then?" He caught himself fidgeting and forced himself to stop. He'd taken the risk and placed this particular order some weeks ago, despite the danger to his career. Keeping exotic pets was one thing, but keeping a minihuman was something else again. Yet he couldn't stop himself from trying. The very thought that he might one day own a real mini, hold her in his hands, and keep her in his home...well, it was worth all the risks in this broken world.
There was a time, not so long ago, when humanity was in its darkest hour, with people dying by the millions. The creation of minis was a desperate attempt to escape the destruction of the human race. When the cure for the plague was found, minihumans became obsolete. They should've been destroyed, but then, there are a lot of things that should have happened in those days, but didn't. A few minicities were still around, hidden underground, their locations carefully kept secret through subterfuge and bribery. Of course, since a great number of powerful people in the new world order owned minis of their own, no real efforts were made to root out these illegal facilities. As long as minis remained the property of only a select few, who were careful to hide their illicit possessions from the public, the continued existence of minihumans was assured.
"Yes, I have your order right here," answered the anonymous voice. "She will be delivered to you with the greatest of care, as I explained earlier. I hope you're ready for this, Senator Mulgrew. Caring for a minihuman is a daunting task. I do think, however, you'll enjoy this one quite well. She is a fine specimen, and seems quite compliant."
"Good, I'm looking forward to meeting her," he replied eagerly. "When can I expect the delivery?"
"This very evening, in fact." The man paused for a moment before continuing. "There are some things you should know, of course, and preparations you should make. Keeping in mind that ownership of a mini is still illegal, we will take the greatest of care to ensure your security."
"I should hope so," replied the Senator. "I'm paying enough for this, don't you think? You take care of your end, and I'll take care of mine. I've been prepared for quite a long time, thank you very much. Now, let's get down to the more important details. What can you tell me about her?"
"Well," came the reply, "for starters, her name is Tess..."