Adult-FanFiction.org : Books

.Movies	By : keithcompany Category: Titles in the Public Domain > Gulliver's Travels Views: 2234 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, based on Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift. Any resemblance to person(s) living or dead is purely coincidental.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Finally, they had all they could learn with the tools available. I did mention the Miller-Belter shrink ray. Emily was worried about how the two systems would work together. Debbie just sniffed, rubbing his beard, and calculated the worst case result as a 2.2 kiloton explosion. Mary's chin quivered and she got the hiccups. Spooky instantly put her in my hands and shrank back down to hold her in a tight hug. "Then we just won't do that," I said.
The girls looked up at me and I realized my hands were shaking. I stilled them and went to sit up front. The pros made their apologies, then departed. Secure Force guards escorted them to a sedan parked outside. It jerked its way onto the road and out of sight.
Glad pat me on the shoulder, indicating I should continue taking care of our guests. He broke down the camp, I braced myself and my passengers and we drove off. At the bus stop, I paused at the door. "I want a copy of the report," I said to Glad.
"At this point," he said, "I expect that we'll be giving you a copy to give the Lilliputians."
"Did you do this on purpose?" I asked. I'd been wondering why we were in the field, not at headquarters.   Why such important scientists were risked in traffic, why I never had to fight Secure Force for possession of my human. Why no one complained about Spooky being inside our security perimeter.
"I'll never tell," he smiled. I stepped down and watched him zoom and squeak down the road for a bit.
"Do you think he set the scientists up?" Spooky asked me when he was gone.
"I'd have had a harder time keeping you two in sight if we were down at the docks," I said with a shrug. "Then again, we can't shrink inert matter. All our buildings are of human materials, so they're fragile enough to rip apart, if I had to."
I walked along the road, up to the store. Fred was freaking out when I got there. He'd made two sales, and managed to make a suggestion for Sister Sarah, and then Barasano came in. The good one, not counting spoilers. He had a letter for us to convey to his sister-in-law, who he thought was living at a convent of some sort, somewhere.
That was bad-Barasano's idea, but a good one. He'd asked a couple of questions but had taken 'buzz off' for an answer. Now there was a letter. I relieved Fred, put the girls on the counter, then opened a cabinet under the counter. I tore open the envelope and placed the letter down, in one swift motion, without reading it.
Then I lifted Mary down to stand on the letter and closed the cabinet.
"Really?" Spooky asked.
"What's really?" I asked.
"I dunno. It's something people say. I think it translates to 'I will never forget your idiocy.'"
"You think I'm an idiot?"
"You could have just given me the sealed envelope. I could have shrunk with it in my pocket and she'd have it."
"And she'd have wanted to be alone to read it," I pointed out. "So if it's hurtful and/or threatening, she would be able to be alone with her thoughts."
"Ah," Spooky said. "And she can't possibly stay all night in the cabinet, she'll have to come out."
"Where we can see her emotional state," I said. "And then offer congratulations or cookies, depending on the situation."
"There are situations where cookies are contra-indicated?" she asked.
I thought for a while. "Only if there's a cookie uprising," I finally decided. She nodded.
Mary slapped the cabinet door and I opened it, lifting her in the canary hold to just over Spooky's head.
"I'm not suicidal," she started with a smile. "Bill just says he moved all my stuff to his house. He's got loads of room and Dick's started drinking. He's afraid that his brother will get drunk enough to do something that'll have Spooky setting his balls on fire."
"Yeah," Spooky said. "That was the whole point!"
"Anyway, if there's anything I want, I can call him and he'll drive it out here." She wriggled a bit and I loosened my grip. But instead of dropping to the counter, she slid down into my hand and hugged my thumb. "Thank you," she said. She raised an arm and brought Spooky's thumb into the embrace. "Both of you. For today. You are the weirdest knights, and you don't wear shining armor, but I wouldn't even take Lancelot over you guys."
"Who?" Spooky asked.
"He played the android, um, Bishop, in Aliens," I told her.
"That's Lance," Mary shouted. "Lance Henriksen! That's it. Tonight's movie is Excalibur."
"Then that's settled," I said. No one was in the store so I lifted them to the vent and went to find the movie and lock up.
----------
"So clearly," I said "Brobdingrag made first contact first."
"How do you figure?" Spooky asked.
"Arthur! How could a human have pulled that sword out?" I gathered up the popcorn bowls and took them to the kitchen. When I came back Spooky was spoiling for a fight.
"It was MAGIC!" she said. "What's-his-wizard's magic. NOT something subject to Brobdingragian strength."
"Everything is subject to Brobdingragian strength," I said.
"Except," Spooky started.
Mary grabbed her around the waist and shouted over her shoulder. "YES! Everything!" she agreed, naturally. "And Lilliputians have their own capabilities for detail that you can't match. Okay? Agree before you two come up with some sort of challenge that leads inevitably to farce, mayhem and discovery!"
I stared at her, Spooky worked herself free and turned to stare. We stared at each other. She stepped off the table and grew to my scale, her hand out as a peace offering. I took it. We smiled and Mary relaxed.
"Hey," I said, "help me get a couple of beers, okay?"
"Sure," she said. We walked into the kitchen. "So," she whispered, "think you can pull a ferry back to the dock if it's trying to leave?"
"Time and place," I whispered back. "Name the time and the place."
******
I had become the proud landlord of Human Infiltration Boot Camp. I don't know exactly when that happened. There was no opening ceremony, no dedication. It just…appeared. We were building a dollhouse for Mary and suddenly, we were putting the finishing touches on a hidden small-scale hotel.
Little people would show up, officially assigned to hang out in the dormitory until they had polished their use of English. I put a TV and a DVD player at the foot of the bed and that became a sort of open air theatre. Some Lillys picked up vernacular there, some just were entertained. Then they'd spend a while working at the store. Get some face time with the rare customers, practice English, learn to walk with the vastly increased inertia.
And then they'd filter through the city on Spooky's assignments, usually into the Downs, seeing how humanity lived there. Some helped maintain the video store.
I was running out of places to use the new employees, so when Leslie and Phil said they were selling the bakery, I bought it. I was learning the ropes when Glad walked in and bought a dozen muffins. I pocketed his cash, opened the register to give him a few bills, some coins, and off he went.
Jenny had been a baker back in Lilliput so I left her in charge. She looked at me funny when my control walked in and out without either of us mentioning our spying. Spooky was out on the street, somewhere, but Mary came out quickly enough. "What's up?" she asked. "The guys in the camera room got real excited when Glad walked into the store. What did he want?"
"He wanted to give me this," I said, holding out a $20 bill. She stared at it. I scraped and scratched at the corner for a while, finally asking her to separate the corner of the two sheets. She did, easily, and I pulled the bill apart. Inside was a letter printed on the front of the back side. I read through it quickly.
It started to steam while I was halfway through and the whole letter evaporated as I read the closing. "Bastards couldn't put THAT in the first sentence?" I muttered.
"What?" Mary asked. I picked her up and carried her to the kitchen. I gave her a large (for her) glass of water and ordered her to drink it. She did, eyes curious over the lip of the cup.
"The formula," I said, mimicking Debbie's tone when someone called it a potion or drug. She giggled despite the tension. Or maybe she giggled because of the tension. Anyway. "Has a half-life of about 40 days in your system."
"Half-life?" she asked. "It's radioactive?"
"Oh, no, not at all. It just means that your body will, um, get rid of…The Formula… a little bit at a time. Every time blood passes through your kidneys or gets sweated out. And every forty days, you'll have lost half of whatever remains."
"So, in forty days I'll be back to normal? Or, wait, I took three doses we think…" Mary looked down as she tried to do the math.
"Stop," I said. "You still have a heck of a lot of…The Formula… inside you. Some of it is lodged in fat cells or hiding in your lungs or muscle tissues. All this is saying is that the level will go down constantly as long as your body is cycling out water."
"Oh." She guzzled the rest of her cup and held it out for a refill. "Bottom line?" she asked as I put it under the tap.
"They don't know. They have a GUESS. They know about what level of concentration we have when it no longer affects us. And they've developed a test that Spooky's doctor can perform. As you approach that level, you need to be ready to pop up at any- Another refill? You're going to be up all night, peeing."
"Yep," she said happily. "It's going to be like trying to fit into my Lilliputian Bikini in time for Beach Season."
"You'll love our beaches," Spooky said as she appeared. "Did I hear we have an estimated date?"
"An estimated concentration level," I explained. Talking to her allowed me to ignore someone's request for another cup. So someone got up and leaned on the cold water handle. Then she tried to crawl up the faucet to get more water. "She said something about Lilliputian bikinis?"
"We don't have bikinis," she said. "We just go to the beach naked."
"Interesting," I said. I looked her up and down. There was a squeak of distress as someone had their cup yanked out of their hand by the pressure of the water.
"Your interest in a cultural exchange has been noted," Spooky told me formally.
"I am always open to an exchange," I replied.
"Does Brobdingrag have bikinis?" Spooky asked, leaning a hip on the counter. We both watched Mary out of the corner of our eyes. She slithered down the side of the sink, after her cup.
"No, no," I said. "We don't really have a tradition of swimming. Plus, no one wants to be naked, or that close to naked, when the tide goes out." She stood over the drain, filling and drinking rapidly.
"Tide?" Spooky asked.
I gestured at my torso. "The lymph system. Depending on the time of day, we can get a little distorted."
"I guess so," she mused. She looked me up and down. "Imagine the surfing," she muttered. Mary slipped on the wet porcelain and fell under the water. I picked her up carefully and Spooky found us a towel. Mary didn't want to do anything that night but drink water and run to the bathroom. But she assigned us homework.
I picked a bar at random, a couple of miles from the neighborhood we were familiar with and we went inside.
It looked like a typical example of the industry. A long counter, many tables and chairs sized for swinging, a juke box big enough to barricade the front door, just what you'd expect. The regulars were not especially welcoming, but they didn't drive us out immediately, either. Although four people besides the bartender asked for Spooky's ID, to verify her age.
We got a spot at the bar and waited for the robbery. There's always a robbery. After taking turns in the restroom we determined that there was a window in each bathroom, high enough that no one could use it to break in, but we could break out after climbing on a toilet. "I guess the only thing left to do is play some country song and cry into our beers," I said.
"Let's leave that for a bit," she told me, looking around. "Some of these patrons look surly enough as it is."
"Right," I nodded. We ordered the only drink either of us could remember by name, Mai Tais. The bartender asked for our car keys when he served them. "We took the bus," I said. Then he watched us knock them back in one swig each.
"Are we doing it wrong?" Spooky asked me as he continued to stare.
"I don't know. Are we doing something wrong?" I asked the bartender.
"Not at all," he said. "Not if you're trying to pass out on the floor."
"Alright then," I said. "Two more." He shook his head and went to make them.
Just then, Spooky yanked at my elbow. "Look!" I looked. Detective Bill (not the Dick) Barasano had walked in. He waved to a few people at the tables, then noticed us.
"Whoa. Mr. Peter," he said, shaking my hand. "What are you doing here?"
"We," I said, indicating my wingman, "are here on assignment. Evidently we 'watch too many movies,' and need to find out 'what really happens in bars.' So here we are."
"I'm sorry," he told Spooky. "I know I know you, but all I remember is that you hate my brother with a deep and abiding passion."
"Spooky," she said. They shook.
"No," he argued. "I'm not pretending to be a mind-reader, I distinctly remember you saying 'deep and abiding passion' when we-"
"Her name," I said, "is Spooky."
"Oh. OOoooh," he said. He looked back at me. "Wait, why are you here?"
"Right now, we're waiting for the robbery," Spooky said.
"You do watch too many movies," he said with a shake of his head. The bartender brought our drinks and gave Bill a beer. He was apparently known here.
"To Mary," he said, lifting his bottle.
"Okay," I said, taking it. "I'll give it to her when I see her again." We had a discussion about toasting customs and I gave it back. THEN we all appropriately toasted Mary and her cloistering. Then he sipped as Spooky and I knocked our drinks back.
At the sight of that, Bill wanted to see Spooky's ID. And he asked which of us drove. And we proved no one had car keys in their pockets.
"Friends of yours?" A gravelly voice came up behind me. It was attached to someone on a SWAT team, a big hulking brute of a human. I knew he was SWAT because his tee declared this to be true. Barasano introduced us. Officer Tony Brien told us he was SWAT and specialized in hostile openings. He welcomed us to the bar and said there was a tradition for guests. "New members have to try me at arm wrestling," he said.
"Oh. Well, sorry, I guess we'll be going, then."
"Don't let him intimidate you," Bill said. "He's undefeated, but that just means there's no shame."
"It's not that," Spooky giggled. "Peter just doesn't want to have to pay for the wall."
"What wall?" Tony asked.
"The one he'll probably throw you through," she said, then giggled for almost a full minute.
"I think she's at her tipping point," I said.
"Tipsy?" Bill suggested. I shrugged.
Tony couldn't let a challenge go by, of course, even from a drunk, so he kept saying I simply had to have a go at the title until I said yes. They cleared a table and set us down. I knew the rules, of course. If I was trying to gain control of this mini-society of drinkers, I had bend Tony's arm far enough and fast enough to break the table under his wrist. If I just wanted to dominate Tony, or get crucial information, I had to slowly push him down to the table and hold him there until he was humiliated.
No one ever told me how to lose gracefully, though. So I just held him there. I thought about summer days up on Arid Mesa. About digging a ditch in the hot autumn. About working a coal furnace. I concentrated on the sensations of heat, trying to work up a sweat.   Like I was holding my own, but only at great exertion.
We started to draw attention. People cheered, mostly for Tony, but a few for me, if only to take him down a peg.
"I didn't want to do this," I said. Sweat was starting to show on his forehead. I carefully and slowly moved my hand a half inch towards winning. No one could really see it, but Tony definitely felt it. And that there was nothing he was going to do to stop me if I wanted to. I relaxed and went back to neutral. And raised one eyebrow. Was he going to make me end this?
And suddenly he let go and stood. "A draw," he said. "We'll call it a draw." And then he bought us drinks. Since he retained the championship (he hadn't lost, I argued), I rejected the offer. I bought the drinks, including a round for the house.
It's well within my budget. Our gold coins are the size of human tires. I chisel off a tiny bit of one to go sell at the jeweler's whenever I need cash.
Spooky cheered as loudly as anyone, pounding the table for her next Mai Tai. She downed it and fell to the floor like a siege tower made of cornbread.
"I SAID," I said, "that was her tipping point." There were catcalls about lightweights, but not too many. Probably her size, made her look very young, so no one expected her to drink them under the table. I picked her up and threw her over a shoulder. I took my drink a little more slowly. Two sips.
"Okay," Bill said. "That was the excitement of the evening. Tony didn't win and Spooky drank herself into oblivion."
"No robbery?" I asked.
"This is a cop bar," he explained. I looked around the room. On closer inspection, the pictures were of cops in uniform, there were handcuffs hanging on the walls, lights from the top of a cruiser were mounted over the bar mirror.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. But really, this is pretty much what happens in any other bar. No nightly robberies, no nightly fights, no one shooting out the lights…."
"Huh. Alright. Very informative, Bill, thanks."
"Come on," he said. "I'll give you a ride home." People cheered as I left, toasting me with the drinks I'd bought them. I saluted and carried Spooky out to Bill's car.
-----------
There was an odd mood in the car when he pulled up in front of the store. I sat, waiting for him to talk. "Is she happy?" Bill finally asked.
I glanced into the back seat. "Well, she stopped giggling a couple blocks back."
"Mary," he clarified.
"Oh. From what I can tell, yes.
"If I'd known…."
"She knows that. She told me that she very nearly told you a few times."
"Why didn't she?"
"She told other cops. They sided with him. You weren't just a cop, you were also his brother." I shrugged. "She was worried you'd bros over hos." He denied it. I shrugged again. "She also didn't want to break you two up. She says you really loved your brother."
"I loved her, too!" he insisted.
"Hey, I believe you," I pointed out. "And I'm not sure she was dependably rational on the subject." He swore.
"When she's ready to talk," I said, "she'll write you a long letter."
"Yeah," he sighed.   I collected my wingman and carried her inside.
-----------
Mary was in my living room when I got up the stairs. There was a soup bowl full of water, a dipper and her little cardboard outhouse was set up on top of an empty butter tub.
"What's this?" I asked, lowering Spooky to the sofa.
"Oh, everyone in the dorm got tired of me flushing the toilet so they set me up out here."
"They did, did they? Have they forgotten that the whole purpose of the dorm is for YOUR comfort and safety, not theirs?" I started to rise, blood in my eyes.
"NO, no, no, no, no!" Mary shrieked. "It's okay! Really! I admit, I'm a little… You know?"
"No, I-" Spooky sneezed and disappeared. I knelt to poke through the cushions to find her. I lifted Mary over to pick her up and we gently deposited her on the table.
"What happened to her?" Mary asked, stroking her hair.
"She found her limit on Mai Tais," I said. "I suspect that whatever process makes her a giant, doesn't fully make her a giant. Leaves her susceptible to alcohol."
"What did she have?"
"Three Mai Tais, I think?"
"Peter, that's not susceptible. After two Mai Tais, I think I'm Spider Woman and try to cling to the ceiling." Spooky sneezed again, shooting up to full size. Her feet kicked the water bowl across the room and her head pinned Mary to the table. I rolled it gently to the side and Mary stood up.
She looked a little anxious at being nearly crushed. "Holy crap! I was nearly crushed!" she cried. I pointed out that a giant Spooky isn't nearly as dense as a normal human, much less a shrunken Brobdingragian.
"Now, if YOUR head was normal sized and you dropped it on Spooky when SHE was normal, you'd have broken her leg."
Mary walked around for a bit, shaking her limbs and making sure everything was okay. I carried the other spy back into the bedroom the dorm was in and tucked her into the bed. It's a really soft mattress, so bodies tend to sink to the depression at the center. I estimated that she'd start in the middle every time she was big and never throw her tiny self onto the floor.
Back in the living room, Mary was chugging water by the eyedropper-ful. Fascinating as it was to watch her drink and pee, I told her good night and headed for bed.
- 4
- 5
- 6
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

.Movies