Surrender, Lilliput

Chapter 1: Galatcha of Brobdingnag

Chapter 1:

Five years after the departure of Lemuel Gulliver, it was the day before the Vernal Equinox. In a humble cottage on the outskirts of Lorbrulgrud, the capitol city of Brobdingnag, a 13-year-old girl with long blonde hair named Galatcha finished her porridge, and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"Mom, I'm so excited for today!" said Galatcha. "At the town hall, a young woman is going to give a presentation. She is the girl who took care of Grildrig, the tiny man from England!"

Galatcha's mother took the bowl and carried it to the sink in the kitchen.

"You've been planning this ever since you found out about it," said the woman as she returned from the kitchen. "Why are you so interested in tiny people?"

"If I can figure out a way to acquire more of them, I can sell them and get rich! Of course, I plan on keeping one of them for my own, I won't sell all of them."

Galatcha exited her home, and walked to the town meeting hall. The young woman arrived, and gave a speech about her experiences caring for Gulliver, the tiny man who came to be known as Grildrig. A couple of dozen other kids were in attendance. The young woman had been known as Glumdalclitch, though that wasn't her real name. It meant nursemaid in their native language.

When the event was concluded, Glumdalclitch answered questions from the children. Galatcha waited her turn and asked Glumdalclitch about getting to the land where Gulliver lived.

"You would have to ask a scientist," Glumdalclitch replied. "The old man who lives in the lighthouse on the coast would probably know."

Galatcha thanked Glumdalclitch and went straight to the light house on the edge of town, on a cliff overlooking the Ocean. She knocked on the door, and a boy a couple of years older than her answered.

"Can I help you?" the boy asked.

"I'm Galatcha, can you introduce me to the scientist who works here?"

"I'm Mendocino," said the boy, "I'm his apprentice. The scientist is named Mendigar. I'll take you to him."

Galatcha followed Mendocino up the spiral staircase, until they reached the top floor, where the light was located. Because it was daytime, the light was off.

"Professor, a girl is here to see you."

Mendigar was older, but still fit enough to see and move around easily.

"What brings you here?" Mendigar asked.

"I just met with Glumdalclitch, she was the girl who took care of the tiny man from another land. I would like to know how to acquire more of them. Where do tiny people come from?"

"There are three realms, Brobdingnag, Earth, and Lilliput. Brobdingnag and Lilliput were engineered by people a million years more scientifically advanced than we are. The designer left a book in each of the three realms. My job as the custodian of this knowledge is to train my apprentice Mendocino. I have a book left by the designer of this realm that explains the science of the three realms."

"Is Earth where Grildrig came from?" Galatcha asked.

"Yes," Mendigar replied. "And Lilliput is a land where even tinier people dwell. Grildrig was as big to them as we were to him. The people of our race were engineered, we couldn't exist by nature."

"Why not?" Galatcha asked.

"The square-cube law of mathematics states that mass increases eight times every time the size doubles. In order for people our size to exist, anti-gravitons are suspended in a sub-dimensional matrix within the atoms of everyone and everything on our world."

"If we don't exist naturally, who created us?" Galatcha asked.

"Our civilization was once only in the mind of an author from Earth named Jonathan Swift," Mendigar replied. "About a million years in the future, a scientist forged a new set of realities. Ours is a world of giants, and another is a land of tiny people. In the original novel, we spoke a different language than the people of Earth. When the scientist created this reality, he made it so that all of us speak English, including the tiny people."

"How would someone from Brobdingnag reach the tiny lands you mentioned?" Galatcha asked.

"Only during a solstice or an equinox," Mendigar replied. "And you would need this," Mendigar reached for a twenty-sided shape the size of a softball on the same scale of the Brobdingnagians.

"What is that?" Galatcha asked.

"It is known as the Icosahedron, it is a device that allows people to travel from one realm to another. Sometimes, people can pass into a different realm without one, as Grildrig was able to do."

"Why can we only travel during a solstice or an equinox?" Galatcha asked.

"The designers who created our world and the realm we dwell in did so in a way so that the three realms intercept each other four times a year. The world of Brobdingnag has a more elliptical orbit, and Earth and Lilliput have more circular orbits."

Mendigar went to a chalk board and drew an ellipse, with two circles superimposed on it. He made four X's at the points where the orbits of the three worlds converge.

"When is the next equinox?" Galatcha asked.

"Tomorrow morning, just after dawn," Mendigar replied.

"What would I need to journey to another realm?" Galatcha asked.

"You would need a small boat, a blanket, food, water, a knife and utensils, and several changes of clothes."

"If I left tonight to set out for Lilliput, would you allow me to borrow the Icosahedron?" Galatcha asked.

"I can allow you to use it, if you make contact with the scientist in that realm, my counterpart. He also has an Icosahedron, but it is smaller, on their scale. When you return to Brobdingnag, I want you to bring it with you and give it to me."

"I can do that," said Galatcha. "But why is the other Icosahedron so important to you?"

"With the other Icosahedron, I will be able to travel through time. I could journey to the future and return with technology that will make us powerful beyond all comprehension! Additionally, a second Icosahedron will allow me to harmonize the orbits around the suns of our world and Lilliput, so someone could journey there any day of the year!

Mendigar shifted some of the gears on the outside of the Icosahedron.

"The dimensional portal isn't big enough for a full sized adult as well as the boat from Brobdingnag to pass through. Even Mendocino would probably be too large. With the other Icoshedron, I would have more power and I could open portals large enough for someone my size to pass through. This is why the boat must be small, you are just the right size and mass to pass through the portal."

"I can retrieve the Icosahedron from Lilliput," said Galatcha, "But I need your help with the supplies and the boat."

"I have waited many years to find someone willing to embark on this journey. I can have Mendocino give you the supplies you need. Just get your clothing and menstrual supplies and be here this evening. You need to leave tonight so you will be out on the open Ocean when the sun rises tomorrow. Whatever you do, don't tell your parents that you are about to embark on this journey, or they might forbid you to go."

"I'll do as you instructed!" said Galatcha, and Mendocino took her downstairs and showed her to the door.

Later that afternoon, Galatcha had a knapsack with changes of clothing, a blanket, towels, and personal hygiene supplies. When she knocked on the light house door, Mendocino answered and took her down to the marina where Mendigar was waiting. There was a small boat with oars, and many ceramic jugs of water. There were baskets of food, as well as other supplies she might need when arriving in Lilliput.

Mendigar held the Icosahedron in his hands. "This is programmed to take you straight to Lilliput. Don't tamper with the settings. I wrote instructions on parchment showing you how to reverse the settings to bring you back here when you wish to return. Remember, you won't be able to come back until the day of the summer solstice, so you must leave the night before, just as you are doing now before the equinox."

Mendigar ushered Galatcha to a scale, and weighed her while she held her knapsack. "You're within the weight parameters. I've already weighed the boat and the supplies, you could probably bring about a hundred Lilliputians with you and not be over the weight limit. As far as your other supplies are concerned, when you return to Brobdingnag during the summer solstice, don't bring anything other than what you see in the boat."

Galatcha indicated that she understood, and departed. She used the oars to propel the small boat out into the harbor. Within twenty minutes, she was out at sea. She rowed well into nightfall, until she was too tired to row, and fell asleep.

She awakened early the next morning, and ate some food and drank some water, then began rowing again. The planet came into alignment at a specific time, and a dimensional confluence surrounded her. She was pulled into another realm, and soon spotted land.

She rowed toward the land, and came ashore. She got out and pulled her boat in, and pulled it up onto the beach until it was high up enough not to get pulled out when the tide rose. She took her supplies in two knapsacks, and carried them onto land.

She spotted a small cobblestone road with cobblestones the size of small pebbles. Two of the tiny inhabitants saw her. They stood about half an inch tall, by the system of measurement that Galatcha's people used.

"Ahoy!" said Galatcha, as she lifted her right foot up onto the hill where the tiny people stood. They ran off in fear, toward the nearby settlement.

A group of teenage boys were spying on her. One of them was Galatcha's age, a boy named Iota.

"I want to make first contact with the giantess!" said Iota.

"She could swallow a hundred people our size and come back for more!" said Iota's friend.

"She's already here," said Iota. "Maybe she's not here to conquer. If she's not a cannibal and I can make friends with her, I'll be hailed as a hero! We can use her to fight the Blefuscans!"

The other two boys ran back to town while Iota introduced himself to the giantess.

Galatcha looked down and saw the boy. She set her knapsacks down and collected him in her hands, and smiled down at him.

"I'm Galatcha, what is your name?"

"I'm known as Iota! What brings you to Lilliput?"

"I'm an explorer," Galatcha replied. "I need to find a scientist who posseses a device known as an Icosahedron."

"The king can track him down for you, but first you need shelter," said Iota. "I know of a large cave that will be just big enough for you to use. It's the biggest cave in all of Lilliput!"

"Can you direct me to the cave?" Galatcha asked.

The boy directed Galatcha to set him on her shoulder, then she picked up the two knapsacks and carried them. Within an hour they arrived at the cave, after trekking through the wilderness outside the city limits of Lilliput.

Galatcha entered the cave, and set her friend down on the floor of the cave. She emptied her knapsacks and began organizing her belongings.

"I'll have to go back to my boat to retrieve all of the water bottles," said Galatcha. "But I've got enough supplies with me to last me through the night."

Galatcha left Iota behind and went out to scour the countryside for rocks suitable for a table. She found three of them, two that could serve as supports, and a long horizontal rock that could serve as a table. She set them up inside the cave, and set a towel down on top to serve as a table cloth. She got out some of her food, and a goblet she filled with water. She lifted Iota up onto the table.

"Would you like to dine with me?" Galatcha asked.

The two teens ate and discussed their worlds, and the differences between the two.

"My friends were worried that you were going to eat us!" said Iota.

"You're certainly small enough," Galatcha replied. "But I don't want to hurt anyone."

"The king might want you to conquer our enemies, the Blefuscans!" said Iota.

"Who are they?" Galatcha asked.

"They have an armada of 300 ships," said Iota. "They are our mortal enemies!"

"I can capture them if that's what your king will want," said Galatcha. "But first I need to get the rest of the supplies from my boat and bring them here."

Iota remained behind while Galatcha returned to the boat. She made two trips, bringing her ceramic water jugs back to the cave. She set her blankets down and rested while Iota remained on the table.

"So tomorrow, can you take me to the king?" Galatcha asked.

Iota reassured her that he would. Galatcha lifted Iota and set him on the floor of the cave, at his request.

"I'll tell the royal family, and notify them that you are not hostile!" said Iota. "I'll come back tomorrow morning!"

Iota departed and returned to the royal city. He arrived two hours later at the front of the castle. The guards were uninterested in letting him inside.

"I've befriended the giantess!" Iota shouted to the guards. "She will be our most powerful ally!"

A count overheard what the boy was saying, and told the guards to let him through.

"So you've made friend's with the giantess, have you?" the count asked.

"Yes! Her name is Galatcha!"

The count brought Iota before the king in the royal court.

"This boy claims to have charmed the giantess who arrived recently."

"Bring her to me!" the king told Iota.

"I can have her here before night fall!" said Iota, and he ran out of the castle and headed back up into the hills to find Galatcha.

To Be Continued!