Planet of the Titans

Chapter 1

On Saturday, January 13, 2029, a space plane was perched upon a launchpad at a spaceport in California's Mojave desert. A new Aerospace company called "Future Shock" was entering the commercial space arena with a top-of-the-line space plane affectionately known as the Thunderbolt. Four men and two women were going up on the Thunderbolt's maiden voyage from the Mojave desert to Oahu.

Captain Leo Tanner was retired from the United States Air Force, and he was the pilot. The co-pilot was Mason Lewis, an African-American pro race car driver who parlayed his wealth into learning to be a pilot. The four passengers were made up of a husband and wife and a man and his sister. Tyler Chen was a Chinese-American pro tennis player who became a multi-millionaire before the age of 30. His wife Carmen was Mexican-American and in her mid-20's. Nolan Ward was a part Native-American, part Mexican-American, and part white concert promoter who won two tickets to this maiden flight from a radio station he does business with. He got into an argument with his girlfriend, so he brought his half-sister Natalie Red Hawk. Natalie is half Native-American and half-white. Nolan and Natalie have the same mother, but different fathers.

Leo greeted the four passengers individually as they carried their luggage onto the space plane. There were overhead luggage cabinets, and Mason the co-pilot made sure the luggage was secured inside the cabinets. He also made sure the passengers were strapped in correctly. Before long, they were ready for takeoff and the countdown began. When they were cleared for takeoff, Leo activated the thrusters and the space plane took off into the sky. It was daytime, but as they gained enough altitude, the sky outside the windows appeared to grow dark as they reached sub-orbital space.

Meanwhile, a universe away, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed 21-year-old female college student named Darian Wagner was viewing the Thunderbolt on a scope. Beside her was her 18-year-old assistant Zima Zamora, a Latina with brown hair and brown eyes. Both women were dressed like schoolgirls, complete with white socks and Mary Janes. These were the standard uniforms for their all-female college known as Crestwood University.

"I found a suitable target, Zima!" said Darian.

Zima began rubbing her hands together with excitement. "How small are they?"

"From our perspective, a man from their reality who stands six feet tall would be exactly one inch tall! They're tiny enough to be easily handled, yet not too large that we couldn't swallow one of them to teach them discipline! They will be perfect subjects for my junior thesis!"

Darian pushed some buttons on the control console beneath the viewing scope, and pulled a lever.

"I'm initiating a space warp that should pull their space plane into our reality!" said Darian. "I will also control their vessel, to ensure that it lands where we want it to, so it can be easily retrieved!"

Back aboard the Thunderbolt, a hazy vortex of bright colors opened up in front of the space plane.

"I can't avoid it!" said Logan. "We're being pulled right into it!" Leo slammed his fists into the control panel and shouted, "The controls won't respond!"

The passengers saw all the colors of the rainbow outside their windows as the space plane lost altitude, plummeting downward toward the southern hemisphere of the planet below.

"You're coming in too steep!" said Mason.

"I can't help it!" Leo shouted. "It's like the space plane has a mind of its own!"

"It looks like we're heading for that wooded area!" said Mason as he pointed at a group of trees in the distance.

They came in for a landing, and the space plane glided to a stop in a clearing between some giant trees. Leo got on the intercom and said, "I don't understand what just happened, but everyone just stay seated while my co-pilot and I go outside to figure out where we are!"

Leo and Mason opened the door hatch and exited the Thunderbolt. What they saw astonished them. Trees stretched up into the sky, dozens of times taller than they should have been. The foliage and the rocks and debris on the ground were all on a more massive scale than normal.

"It looks like we've been shrunk down about an inch tall!" said Mason.

Meanwhile, back at Crestwood, the all-female University, Darian and Zima watched the Thunderbolt and her crew on the viewing scope.

"I'm going in my shuttle cruiser to go retrieve them!" said Darian, as she pulled a flash drive from the viewing console. "Stay here and watch the scope and keep me posted if any of them get away!"

Darian got into her shuttle cruiser and put it on autopilot. She instructed the navigation computer to fly to the coordinates on a flash drive she pulled from the viewing console where she left Zima. When the shuttle cruiser landed a few minutes later, Darian disembarked.

Leo and Mason looked up to see a giant Mary Jane fall from the sky, attached to a calf that was higher than a four story building. They looked up and saw Darian for the first time. Had she been normal size, she would have stood about five feet five inches tall, but because everything on this massive world was colossal, the young woman stood about 390 feet tall.

"Welcome to the planet Thanatar!" said Darian. "You must be the crew. I am Darian Wagner, and I will be your captress from this day forward!"

"Captress?" Leo asked.

"What's the meaning of this?" Mason asked. "Did you bring us here?"

"Yes, and all your questions will be answered shortly when we return to the University!" Darian activated a robotic assistant to lift the space plane and carry it to the shuttle cruiser, with the four passengers still inside. Darian collected Leo and Mason and carried them to her shuttle cruiser. She carried them snug in her fists, Leo in her left fist and Mason in her right fist. When she boarded the shuttle cruiser, she dropped Leo into a cup holder that was six inches deep on her scale, then dropped Mason into a second cup holder the same size.

Darian used autopilot and the shuttle cruiser was back at the University within minutes. The robotic assistant carried the space plane carefully into the lab where Zima was manning the viewing scope. The Thunderbolt was placed on a table, and Darian deposited Leo and Mason onto that same table.

"You can tell your passengers it is safe to disembark," said Darian.

The passengers heard this, and climbed out of the door hatch without being told. When all six of them were assembled, Darian and Zima stood over them excitedly.

"My family was never wealthy enough to own tiny people," said Zima, "but with the help of this University, I'm able to possess some of them!"

"They're not your tiny people, Zima!" Darian reminded her. "They belong to me! But if they are good on the game board on Arcadia, maybe we can win some other captives that you can own!"

"I hate to interrupt you," said Leo, "but can you tell me who the hell you people are and what the hell is going on?"

"Gladly!" said Darian. "I am Darian Wagner, and this is my assistant, Zima Zamora. You are on the planet Thanatar, in a universe that is parallel to your own. Everything here exists on a scale 72 times larger than anything in your universe. For instance, I stand five feet five inches tall by our standard of measurement, but to you, I tower over you at 390 feet tall!"

"How long are we going to be here?" Leo asked.

"Indefinitely!" said Darian. "I need to use the six of you for my junior thesis project here at Crestwood University."

"Do your laws allow that?" Leo asked. "To just imprison innocent people, without due cause?"

Darian tilted her head back and laughed. "There are no laws on our world that protect people your size! There are a nearly infinite number of alternate realities where we can acquire captives, and most of them are taken to Arcadia!"

"Arcadia?" Leo asked. "What is that?"

"It is a massive space station where tinies are taken to play games of skill. A lot of betting goes on there, our economy relies on the games! Any tiny person who loses a game is won by the owner of the winning tiny person."

"It would really help us if one of you had a skill that could help you win at the games!" said Zima.

"Do any of you possess special athletic skills?" Darian asked.

"No!" said Leo. "All of us are just regular average people! We're a waste of your time!"

"Leo's right!" said Mason. "You should just send us back to Earth!"

"Your little ruse won't work!" said Darian. "The process that brought you here was very expensive, the only way I was even able to do it was because I was using University equipment. You will play in the games, like it or not!"

"You're just game pieces to us!" said Zima. "You can be bought, sold, and traded like toys! And if you don't do as you're told, you might end up in someone's belly!" Zima rubbed her belly to emphasize her point. "Maybe you should do a mind scan and find out if they're lying about having athletic abilities!"

"I don't have time to rent out the mind scanning equipment right now," said Darian. "I'm just going to take them all to Arcadia right now and use the first captive who volunteers!"

Darian went and got a container and set it down on the massive table the captives from Earth were standing on. She activated the outer door, and it slid open. The door was on the same scale as the Earth people.

"Everybody into your habitation module!" said Darian.

"We may as well obey her," said Leo. "It would be futile to resist!"

All six of the captives marched into their habitation module. There were furnishings built into the walls, so the furniture wouldn't move around when the habitation module was moved.

"These couches look old and stained!" said Natalie Red Hawk.

"I agree!" said Carmen Chen.

Darian peeked through the transparent ceiling and said, "There is food to eat if you're hungry, but while you eat, everyone strap yourselves in! I'm taking you on my shuttle cruiser to Arcadia!"

The six captives did as they were told, and Darian carried the habitation module to her shuttle cruiser, with Zima following her. All six of them ate some of the food that was on their scale: protein bars in metallic wrappers with bottles of water.

Darian strapped herself in, and Zima strapped herself into the passenger seat. The habitation module was on a console between the two giant women. Darian piloted the shuttle cruiser up into space, and on the view screen, they could see a massive space station spinning in the distance. It had a central axis, while two spheres on either end of a long shaft spun around in circles to generate artificial gravity.

Darian parked her shuttle cruiser and walked into one of the arenas with Zima, as she carried the habitation module. The two women set themselves up in some seats where owners of game participants were meant to be seated, and Darian opened the top of the habitation module.

"Do I have any volunteers?" Darian asked. "They're having car races right now, are any of you skilled at racing? The loser will be executed in this game!"

"I'll volunteer!" said Mason. "I'm a pro race car driver back on Earth!"

Darian scooped Mason up and set him in a simulator to get him accustomed to the controls of the vehicle he would soon be driving. When he was ready, Darian set him in a race car next to another driver, and the two cars took off when the light turned green. Mason's car flew around the track, and it soon became obvious to Leo and the other captives that Mason's opponent didn't have any skills or experience with racing; at least, not as much training as Mason had.

Titans who were spectators in the audience placed bets, and the cars completed the necessary number of laps, and Mason was declared the winner.

When the loser was presented to Darian, she lifted him to her mouth, and swallowed him whole. She licked her lips and looked at her captives.

"That could easily be you if you dare to defy me! Understand?"

The captives nodded their ascent, and Darian commanded them to return to their habitation module, and after Darien collecting her winnings, she and Zima returned to the shuttle cruiser and flew back to Thanatar.

Once back at the University, Darian and Zima placed the habitation module on the massive table and said goodbye for the night.

When the giant women left, Leo looked at their surroundings. "I think we can escape!"

Leo pushed on the door. "Mason, Tyler, Nolan! Help me push this door open!"

The three men pushed on the door, and it slid open. All six captives exited the habitation module.

"That window is open!" said Leo. He pointed at a device that looked like a telescope, but it was actually the device that had opened the space warp that pulled them into this alternate reality.

It took the better part of an hour, but the captives were able to scale the equipment next to the wall and make their way up to the window, and they climbed out and used a power cord to climb down the outside of the building. Soon, they were on the ground on the planet Thanatar at night. They were on their own, but they were free!