The Saxons

Ferris Farwell was a 32 year old college educated Latino who reported to a detention center, along with other non-whites from his area on the central coast of California. He was fitted with a uniform that had a communication device on his left wrist. He sat alone in an orientation pod, where a television explained what was happening.

A woman appeared on the screen and introduced herself. She was dressed very scantily, like a princess in a Boris Vallejo painting. She said she was the princess of another reality where the Vikings conquered the entire Earth. She said after ten thousand years they developed the technology to journey to parallel realities, so now they conquer alternate versions of humanity. Anyone without Northern European DNA will be miniaturized and placed in a community that exists within a containment jar, and that jar will be owned by someone with Scandinavian ancestry.

The miniaturization process will be painless, they will be reduced to ant size and they will be fitted with a size inhibitor that will prevent them from being enlarged greater than an inch tall. Her people are known as the Saxons, and they have a greater sense of honor than the primitive people of the Earth of this reality. She explained that it is in the nature of slaves to serve their owners, and it should be considered a great honor to be enslaved by people of Viking ancestry.

When Ferris was miniaturized, his jar was selected to be owned by a member of the royal family from the alternate reality. The girl was 18, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was happy with the jar of shrunken people, and asked for volunteers. Ferris volunteered, hoping to use his political science degree to talk sense into these people, and convince them to restore everyone back to normal size.

One of the other captives tried to grab Ferris and keep him back. “Are you crazy?” he asked. “She might kill you!”

“If I don’t volunteer, she might kill me any way!” Ferris replied, and walked toward the sizing pad at the top of the container.

The princess enlarged him to an inch tall. He stood in her hand, and told her about himself when asked to do so.

“I’m a 32 year old bachelor with a masters degree in political science. When the Saxons came to Earth, I was eager to have them share their technology. I was disappointed when I realized that by being half Latino, I would be sentenced to be miniaturized. There was anarchy in the days leading up to the time when we would have to report to the detention center. Stores were burned down, and all the food on the shelves of most stores were purchased.”

“My cousin Nora Ness is an electrical engineer and she is Scandinavian, so she remained normal size. She thinks she can reverse engineer Saxon technology, and also convince them to let me be given to a member of the royal family. She instructed me to use my knowledge of political science to talk sense into the Saxons.”

Ferris now stood at an inch tall in the hand of his new mistress, Princess Wilhelmina Magnus.

“What did your cousin want you to explain to us?” Princess Wilhelmina asked.

“Democracy and equality are the foundations of our government,” Ferris explained. “A monarchy or Empire can lead to tyranny.”

The princess explained, “My people have conquered a thousand worlds such as yours, and they are all similar. On your world, the rich commit crimes and are exonerated, while the poor are falsely accused and convicted, so what is the difference between your world, and ours? What is the definition of tyranny?”

Before Ferris could respond, Wilhelmina wanted to swallow Ferris. He tried to plead with her.

“You should consider it an honor to surrender to a Saxon!”

“I believe all life is sacred,” said Ferris.

“I believe shrunken people are toys, to do with as I please!” said the princess.

Ferris continued to try to reason with the princess: “For a thousand generations the people of our world have developed agriculture and harnessed electricity, yet most of the young people of our world use entertainment devices with no clue or appreciation as to the scientific basis on which they were constructed.

“Your people are no different, having fantastic science to bridge the gap between parallel realities, yet you use that technology to conquer worlds like ours, and to treat people like toys. We are flesh and blood just like you are! Your people should give up slavery and embrace democracy, and set everyone free!”

“The powerless are in no position to bargain,” the princess replied.

Wilhelmina decided to flip a coin to decide. If Ferris won, she would swallow him and vomit him up, but if he lost the coin toss, she would swallow him permanently. Ferris had no choice but to agree, but when she tossed the coin, she hid the result from Ferris.

Ferris got swallowed by the princess, and received a phone call on his wrist device as he plummeted down her gullet. It was his cousin Natalie, and she informed him that she had the schematics to some of the Saxon technology.

Wilhelmina looked at her belly and laughed. Ferris was somewhere within her stomach, and this amused her. The mother of Princess Wilhelmina arrived, and the princess explained that she swallowed Ferris because of a coin toss. He won, but she decided to keep him in her belly indefinitely despite this. They both laughed at this.

The mother explained, “Our word is law, but as Saxons we are bound by honor and must stick to an agreement. This is what makes us different than the people who dwell under our dominion. I leave this decision up to you.”

The mother of the princess got up and departed.

Princess Wilhelmina decided to vomit Ferris back up, so she used a neural stimulator to induce vomiting. Ferris survived the experience.

Princess Wilhelmina agreed to listen to Ferris and his political discourse, but will have him speak to her at a later time. Ferris was reduced back to ant size and placed back in his habitation module. He called his cousin Nora and told her he was okay.

To Be Continued!