Planet of the Titans

Chapter 17

"You know Tyler Chen?" Peter asked Logan.

"Yes! He was on the space plane I was piloting when we got pulled through a space warp to Thanatar."

"I'd hate to go up against him!" said Peter. "The only reason I'm good at the game I defeated you in is because I can balance on a hover-disk. In a regular tennis match, he would squash me!"

Leo was glad that Peter had told him that Morgan, their mistress, recorded what they said; Leo still had the device with him that he could communicate with the protester who helped him escape when he was on the run to Melina's. She had even warned Logan that Melina might not be trustworthy, but Leo was exhausted so he had chosen to work with Melina rather than walk the extra distance to a giantess who was guaranteed to be safe. Leo knew he had to be very careful about using the device or pulling it out, because Morgan might find out about it and take it away from him.

Soon, their containment unit was put into Morgan's shuttle cruiser and they headed back toward Thanatar. When they arrived at her house, the containment unit was put on the dining room table, and Morgan scooped them out. Logan was able to get a better look at her this time. From her feet to her head, she wore black leather mid-calf boots with lots of buckles, black fishnet stockings that disappeared into an ultra-short black leather miniskirt. She wore a tiger stripe tank top and a black vest, and she had on lots of bracelets. Her long blonde hair was spiked up in several places, and she wore gothic makeup and black lipstick. She looked like she would fit in at a typical heavy-metal concert back on Earth, had she been normal size.

"Are you done checking me out?" Morgan said to Leo with a smile on her face.

"What are you planning on doing with me?" Leo asked.

"I sort of work with the underground resistance," said Morgan. "In a round-about way. I'm sort of a bounty hunter. Any captive who came into contact with a resistance operative but gets captured has a bounty placed on them by the resistance. You were recently in the care of a resistance operative, am I right?"

"Yes!" said Leo, feeling that he had nothing to lose, since there was nothing he could do either way whether she was or wasn't being truthful about helping captives. "I was under the care of a giantess named Melina, but she double-crossed me!"

"Melina is a double agent?" Morgan asked.

"Yes!" said Leo. "She acts like she's working for the resistance, but she sells her captives out and reports them as being captured, so the resistance will trust her again! You should report her to the leaders of the resistance!"

"I'm not reporting anyone," said Morgan. "I'm going to continue letting her do what she's doing, it will mean more business for me. I don't actually work for the resistance, but I make money from them by selling them back captives who were under their care who have been captured. This is how I make my living, but I'm neither for nor against the resistance."

"What about Peter?" Leo asked.

"He is a recent conquest, he knows nothing of any of this. I keep him because he is a skilled game piece, and he can win back any captive I need to win."

"So you're not going to hurt either me or Peter?" Leo asked.

"No," said Morgan. "This is a business for me. Do you know that it's a felony for titans to be caught helping Earth people escape? We can be sent to prison for that."

"Then why do you take that chance?" Leo asked.

"For the thrill, I guess." said Morgan. "Life for us is boring. Medical science is such that we can theoretically live forever without aging; there are no diseases, no poverty, no wars. Without a risk in life, things wouldn't be as exciting!"

"How is the exchange going to take place?" Leo asked. "When you turn me over to the resistance?"

"I'm taking you to Arcadia in an hour. The resistance operative I'm in contact with will have a captive who is working for the resistance, and you'll play him in a game and lose. When your opponent wins, his mistress will own you and him, and she'll take you with her. Remember, your opponent works for the resistance, and you must lose in order for the exchange to take place as planned. Do you understand?"

"Loud and clear!" said Leo. "But what game will we be playing?"

"It's just a foot race!" said Morgan. "Just be sure to let your opponent win, I don't know how many times I should remind you of that! I don't get paid unless you fall into the hands of the resistance!"

"What about me?" said Peter. "Are you ever going to release me?"

"You're too talented!" said Morgan. "I need you to win more captives."

Peter hunched his shoulders and looked dejected. Leo felt sorry for him, but there was nothing he could do to help Peter. If he played his cards right, he could rescue the captives from the Thunderbolt who were trapped in Darian's lab, and with the help of the resistance, he could refuel the Thunderbolt and get everyone safely back to Earth.

Morgan took Leo and Peter back to Arcadia in their containment unit. After they arrived in one of the arenas, Morgan released them from their containment unit so they could take a look around. A racing match had just ended, and the winner of the race made a speech thanking his captress for the honor of serving her.

"The winner gets to make a speech?" Leo asked.

"The footraces are the only competition where the winner is allowed to make a speech," said Morgan. "The captive is expected to show veneration for his mistress, and to thank the spectators for the honor of competing." Morgan looked at the captives entering the game board. "That blonde captive is the one I told you about." Morgan was careful not to give away any more details, because if other titans found out she was allowing Logan to throw the race for the resistance, she could be arrested.

Leo thought about what Morgan said as he made his way through a tube that led to the game board. He knew he had to lose to the blonde guy, but he had some things to say to these titans if he won, and he wasn't sure if he could throw the race that easily. Could he say things that might sway the way these people thought about their way of life, and the concept of enslaving tiny people from other worlds? Leo thought it was worth a try.

When the race began, Leo was in the lead; the blonde guy he was supposed to lose to was right behind him in another lane of the track. Leo had a flashback to when he was a prisoner of war ten years earlier; he had been in a living situation not that unlike what he was experiencing on Thanatar. Not many people knew this, not even his close family members, but Leo suffered from a mild case of post-traumatic stress disorder. The war had exhilarated him, but at the same time it had damaged his psyche to the point that if he allowed himself to, he could let his PTSD completely take over, and that is what happened during the footrace. Instead of allowing the blonde guy to win, Leo made his way around the track faster than any of his opponents. Although Logan was in his mid-40s, the strict athletic conditioning requirements of the Air Force had left him in better shape than most men half his age.

Morgan sat in her seat and watched the results. Most people had bet on the blonde captive to win, word of mouth was a strong influence in the betting arenas on Arcadia. Morgan felt that Leo was a fool, but she also knew she wouldn't be getting paid until Leo was in the hands of the resistance.

Back on Thanatar, Zima was sitting on her bed when she got a phone call from Darian.

"Logan just won a footrace on Arcadia!" said Darian over the two-way video cell phone.

"I'll turn on the TV!" said Zima.

When she switched it on and turned it to the main Arcadia channel, she could see a close-up of Leo Tanner, Darian's former captive.

Most of the people on Thanatar were watching this event, simply because it was such a huge upset. Even the women of Arcadia were interested in sports, because of the fate of the captives who lost their lives the majority of the time to sadistic titanesses who swallowed the captives on the losing teams.

Leo stepped onto the winner's podium and spoke into the microphone.

"People of Thanatar, titans and titan-goddesses! I am Leo Tanner, and though I am much smaller than you, I am a man! To many of you, I am nothing more than a game piece to be won or lost on the game board, but where I come from, I was a man with a family, a life, and a soul! Try to imagine being ripped away from everything you know to be treated as nothing more than a possession by a ruthless race of tyrants! You may feel that your way of life is right, but all of you must at some point realize that this way of life is wrong! Taking a sentient being and enslaving them for entertainment is barbaric!"

Morgan made her way down to the game board, carrying the containment unit that had housed Leo and Peter. According to the rules of the game, she was the owner of both Logan and the captives who had lost the race, and was therefore held responsible for his misbehavior. She grabbed Logan before he could make any more inflammatory statements. Morgan took the bigger microphone that was built to her scale, and said: "I apologize for my captive! He just misses his home world!"

Morgan collected the captives she had won because of Leo's victory, and went back to her shuttle cruiser. Once inside and they were on their way back to Thanatar, Morgan took Leo out of the containment unit and set him on the console in front of her as she piloted her shuttle cruiser.

"Leo, what were you thinking back there?" said Morgan with frustration in her voice. "First, you defied my instructions when you won the race, then you spouted all of that political rhetoric! If they find out I'm working with the resistance, I could be sent to prison for a very long time!"

"I wanted to try to sway them to re-think the way this society operates!" said Leo.

"You didn't sway anyone back there, you endangered me and the resistance! If you want to be the first captive to ever make it back to Earth, that's fine, but don't do it at the expense of the people who are trying to help you!"

"I'm sorry!" said Leo. "I didn't mean to endanger you."

"One thing worked out good in all of this," said Morgan, "I'm going to send you in for a re-match, and it will look less suspicious if you won the first race and lost the second race. But you must do as I tell you this time and throw the second race, or I won't be able to help you!"

Meanwhile, back at Zima's dorm, Zima was still laughing after watching Leo's speech, while the miniaturized Nolan was next to her.

"That fool!" said Zima. "He can't convince titans to feel pity for their captives! That's like trying to convince a falcon or a hawk not to eat a mouse or a pigeon!" She looked down at Nolan. "Are you proud of your friend? He did something that has never been done before on Arcadia!"

"I hope Leo does okay," said Nolan. "Hey, didn't you promise me that we'd have sex while I was tiny-sized?"

"We will," said Zima, "but first Adonis is coming over, and he wants to talk to you about something."

"What does he want to talk to me about?" Nolan asked.

"He said it was guy stuff," said Zima, "so I have to enlarge you before he comes over. He's going to take you somewhere so the two of you can talk about life and stuff."

Zima placed Nolan on her dresser as she had several times before, and set her shrink-ray pistol to neutrino transfer protocol, and aimed it at Nolan. The instant she fired the pistol, Nolan was re-enlarged back to giant-size. Nolan jumped down, and Zima threw her arms around him and kissed him.

"I'm sorry I didn't have sex with you while you were shrunk, but I was swamped with homework!"

"No problem!" said Nolan. "But I'll take a rain-check!"

Zima smiled as she kissed him on the lips, then there was a knock at the door.

"That's Adonis!" said Zima. "Have fun, Nolan!"

Adonis waited at the door and didn't enter. Zima used body language to suggest that Nolan exit the dorm. Nolan wondered what Adonis wanted to talk about as he headed out the door and shook hands with Adonis.