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Episode 3: Camping

Once they were both familiar with the camera's capabilities, they went to the forest to practice using it.

Gessy stood on the folding camp table as Deckett adjusted the remote monitor.

"Is this Earthling technology?" she asked.

Even as absorbed as he was in the task he heard the discomfort in her voice. "Uh, yeah, probably," he said. "I mean, it's leaps and bounds ahead of anything we had last year. But it's just technology, you know? An idea. Once someone's thought of it, anyone can use it." He glanced up from the console to see her face. She didn't look any happier with his answer.

"What is it, Gessy?" he asked. The giant stopped his work and scooped up his domestic. He held her in front of his face but she wouldn't look him in the eye. "Gessy?"

"It's just... I wonder... Do you think that they hurt any Earthlings to get this technology?"

"Oh. Of course not," he assured her. "They wouldn't have to." He pet the top of her head gently with a finger. "It's not weapon technology. Just pictures." He gestured to the monitor and its current view of a rivet on the top of the table. "The Earthlings that were smart enough to know how to do this, they'd be smart enough to know it wasn't worth being hurt over."

"You think so?" she asked, finally looking up at him.

"I'm sure so," he said. "They probably offered the tech on their own, to get better food or maybe some ice cream." She smiled at that idea.

The finger on her hair ran down to her shoulders and back. She leaned forward to lay across his palm for the back rub. Nothing calmed Gessy down like a happy ending and a back rub.

When she was comforted enough to be limp, he lowered her to the table and resumed his adjustments. The rivet grew and shrank on the monitor, changed from shiny to flat and finally shifted to a heat outline of the metal.

"Deckett?"

"Yes, Gessy?" This time he looked at her as soon as she spoke.

"Do you think OUR Earthlings gave them the camera?"

He thought about that one for a second. "I doubt it, Gessy. They don't trust normal people any more than they absolutely have to. They wouldn't trade anything they...." His voice trailed off as he considered her real question. "You're just wondering if they're okay," he said.

"Yes," she replied softly.

He shrugged. "I can't really think of a safe way to find out," he said. "They don't trust me any farther than they can throw their spaceship, I don't trust them a whibbit, and you can't trust them not to kidnap you again."

"I could go see them?" she asked/suggested.

"With a camera on your back, showing them, their position, their camp, their-"

"Okay, okay," she said with a frown.

"Their sanitary facilities," he went on, "their spice rack, their laundry hamper, the place the dog buries bones. They'd go crazy at the thought that you were revealing their underwear and the holes they probably have by now. They would-"

"Okay, OKAY!" Gessy shouted, with a half smile.

"They'd have to hide their shoes, or pictures of the wear pattern would help SIB figure out if they were left handed or, I guess, right footed. You couldn't show-"

Gessy ran across the table and threw herself at her giant's wrist. He stopped talking and grabbed her around the waist. She giggled, but not as much as when he started to tickle her. He rolled her around on his palm for a minute or two, rubbing her ribcage until she threatened to pee on him.

She stood on the table where he set her down, hands on her knees and breathing deeply. He played with the controls of the monitor until she could speak again.

"We, hm, we've known where they are for months and haven't come to capture them," she pointed out. "Maybe they'll trust us now."

"Doubt it," he said. "If you show up, they'll think that we're finally setting our trap." She nodded at his words but still wondered if they were okay.

"We're pretty far from the general area of their camp," he went on, reaching towards her. She slung the camera and waited for his hand. "I think you'll be safe just wandering around this part of the forest for a while. A couple of hours now, a couple of hours after sunset, then come home."

She nodded at his statement. He habitually repeated the plans they'd spent days making. She couldn't get him to stop so she'd stopped trying.

Gessy stopped at the edge of the underbrush to wave, then stepped out of Deckett's sight. She was thinking about his comment. According to the stories Valerie had told her, there wasn't any part of the forest that the Little People might not turn up in.

She brushed her ear for luck and set off looking for a false-oak to photograph.




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