Title: Lifelines
Chapter: 5
Author: squeezynz@free.net.nz
Universe: Land of the Giants
Rating: PG, Adventure
Archive: sure, just let me know
Spoilers: maybe, refer Golden Cage
Feedback: used to light up my life
Disclaimer: not mine, wish they were, boohoo, giving them back after I have some fun....thanks IA

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Betty needed a new pair of boots. Of course, she needed a whole lot of other things as well, but right at that moment a new pair of boots would be just fine.

" Steve, I need to stop for a moment." Betty saw a log and sat down heavily, lifting her foot to rest on her other knee, unzipping the worn leather and easing it off her bruised appendage.

" What's the problem." Steve knelt down, trying to see the injury.

" Nothing major, I just got something lodged inside, and it was digging into my instep." She started to massage the offending area when Steve took over and rubbed his warm fingers into the soft skin.

" Oh that's good, thank you Steve " Betty relaxed into the massage.

" Well we can't have you pulled up lame, if you'll pardon the expression." Steve smiled, letting go of her foot, taking the boot and shaking it before replacing it.

" That's okay, I don't want to hold us up any more than you do."

" How much further do you think the camp is ?" Dan asked, crouching down to take a breather.

All three had been on the trail since first light. This was the second day since Valerie and Mark had been captured, they were making slow progress. The direction left for them at the cage had proved difficult to stick to. The undergrowth didn't conform to straight lines and they had to constantly check the compass, getting themselves back on the right course as soon as it was practical. They had also had to keep alert to any sign of the return of the Giant. They had seen many of the traps left out for them and given them all a wide berth. Many had been avoided only at the last minute because they were so well disguised. Given the information they had to work with, Steve had calculated it would take them the best part of three days to reach the area with the camp. They had lost most of the first day, getting the gear necessary and retracing their steps. After finding Valerie and Mark gone when they reached the trap site, they had gone back to camp to return the buggy and repack their gear for a long haul. They had also hoped that Valerie or Mark would have been able to contact them and provide a clue to their whereabouts, but it had been late that evening before the call came through from Valerie. By then it was pointless to try and track the Giant or follow the arrow. They had set out early the next morning, leaving the buggy at camp and giving Fitzhugh strict instructions not to leave the radio unmanned for a second. Barry and Marna had watched with Fitzhugh as the rescue team set out in the faint dawn light.

Only Steve and Dan knew of Marna's betrayal, they had decided not to inform Barry or Fitzhugh before it became necessary in case Marna took flight. It was easier to let Marna believe she was undiscovered, she would then stay, unconcerned, with Fitzhugh and Barry at the ship.

They had gone back to where the trap had been and taken a compass heading from Marks' arrow. They had tramped steadily for most of the day, breaking only briefly for lunch. Avoiding the other traps and trip lines had taken them away from their course several times with detours, but they had reached a satisfactory distance by the time night fell. The next morning they had set off, slower than the previous day but still steady. Steve had hoped for another radio contact with Mark or Valerie but the radio stayed stubbornly silent. He was loath to call them in case he jeopardised their only contact by alerting the Giants to the existence of the radio.

Now they were here, with Dan and Betty looking to him for answers he didn't have.

" I'm not sure Dan, based on what Valerie said we shouldn't be too far from the general area, which means we need to be more cautious. Those Giants may be expecting us." Steve straightened up, readjusting the pack on his shoulders.

" Mark and Valerie wouldn't have said anything. Why would the Giant's think there are more than just them ?" Betty looked perplexed.

" They may not need to know, they may have more sophisticated sensing equipment. They may be able to detect us before we get there." Steve explained. Dan gave Betty a glance before focusing on Steve.

" We've been as cautious as we can, any more cautious and we won't get there for another week." Dan's exasperation made Steve smile again.

" I know its slow Dan, but we're no use to Mark or Valerie if we get caught too." Steve turned and started to walk down the track. Dan helped Betty up and they started to trudge after Steve.

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Mark rolled over onto his back and opened his eyes. He stared up at the wooden ceiling wondering why he didn't remember how he got to bed. He put a hand to his head, feeling the lump under his hair. He checked out his hands, realising that his watch was missing, and that he was wearing a t-shirt, not his usual business shirt. Sitting up he saw that he was wearing a completely different outfit. " What the hell ?"

The light above him started to glow, illuminating in response to his movement. Mark swung his legs over the edge of the bed, rubbing one hand down his arm, a slight ache in his right bicep made him raise the short sleeve and see a red mark surrounded by a bruise. " An injection, what goes on here?" He got up and turned slowly to take in the room. The light had become bright enough to shine on the other bed. " Valerie !!" Mark moved quickly over to the recumbent form, reaching out to touch the back of his hand to her cheek, her skin feeling warm and alive. Mark took in her altered appearance, the yellow tunic and coiled hair. " What the hell have they done." He muttered to himself.

" Valerie, wake up, come on.....its Mark, time to rise, sleeping beauty."

Valerie stirred, letting go a soft sigh. Mark smiled, dropping a kiss on her forehead.

" Come on Valerie, open those baby blues for me.." Mark spoke softly.

Valerie slowly opened her eyes, her lips curving into a smile.

" Hi....I like my new alarm clock."

" Hi yourself....come on, sit up, we need to take stock."

Valerie's smile faded when she took in Mark's new clothes, quickly looking down and letting out a cry of horror when she took in her own changed appearance.

" Oh no....what happened to us..." She put a hand up to her hair, feeling the pins holding her hair in its elaborate curls.

" Mark, what did they do to us.." Valerie's voice took on a note of panic.

" It's okay, we seem to be fine, they must have drugged our meal. They gave me an injection and changed our clothes, I feel better for the sleep, my heads stopped ringing at last." They traded looks, seeing the truth in Mark's words.

" I don't like the fact they took us without our knowledge, but they don't want us harmed, and you do look very attractive in that new getup." Mark lifted Valerie's chin with his finger, giving her a gentle kiss to reassure her.

Valerie smiled reluctantly, swinging her legs off the bed, Mark helping her to stand up. Together they went out of the room, finding themselves at the end of the corridor with light coming from the main living room.

" Lets go see what they have in store for us." Mark took Valerie's hand and drew her towards the living room. As they passed the first bedroom door Valerie tugged on Marks hand to stop him. She ducked into the room, seeing it unchanged with the radio still sitting on the bed where she'd left it after speaking to Steve. Scooping it up she held it behind her back to conceal it.

" We should try and contact Steve and the others, they could be here already." Valerie suggested. Mark leaned in to whisper in her ear, in case anyone was listening.

" We'll see what happens when we make an appearance, if all goes well you can distract them while I go make that call." Valerie nodded. She handed the radio to Mark, who tucked it into his waistband, under his new t-shirt. They linked hands and made their way into the brightly lit living room. The table was set with another platter of food and a jug of, what looked like, juice.

" Do you think it's drugged again ?" Valerie asked, looking warily at the enticing display.

" I shouldn't think so, but to be sure, I'll take a bite and we'll wait and see if there's any effect." Mark moved over to the table, leaving Valerie by the door where she wrapped her arms around her middle, trying to calm her nerves.

Mark took a decent bite of a piece of bread, chewing it thoughtfully. " If it is drugged, I can't taste or smell anything."

They waited for about fifteen minutes by Marks calculation. He showed no signs of drowsiness or dizziness, so they cautiously sat down and started to take small bites of the fruit and bread off the platter. Valerie found she was ravenous and very thirsty, Mark poured her a glass of the juice that proved to be cool and tasty. After a larger than usual breakfast they sat at the table, wondering what was to happen next. They didn't have long to wait, the monitor flashed into life and the image of Professor Rennet came into focus. This time he was alone.

" I hope you both slept well, no after-affects ?"

" Why did you drug us ?" Mark asked, accusingly.

" Because you would never have co-operated otherwise, we needed to perform tests and take measurements, plus those rags you wore weren't at all suitable." Valerie had gasped when the Professor had mentioned tests.

" It's horrible, not knowing what you did to us." Valerie cried out.

" Why I did nothing bad, if that's what's worrying you, just some basic gathering of samples, hair, blood that sort of thing." The Professor again seemed to be surprised at their protests.

" We won't eat your food if you're going to drug it." said Mark.

" We won't need to...we have everything we need from you for now." The Professor turned from the screen to pick up something from behind him. Valerie could see that it was a tiny bookcase, complete with books.

" We don't want you to be bored, we'll give you this to help pass the time, we brought it from Marna's old home." The image of Tan got up and left the view of the monitor. The roof of the living area suddenly lifted up, making Valerie twist around in surprise, Mark coming quickly to her side, standing defensively, wishing they had some weapons to defend themselves with. A hand appeared carrying the bookshelf, it reached in and dropped the shelf against one of the walls, between the benches. Just as suddenly the hand was retracted and the roof replaced.

Back on the television the image of the Professor seated himself once more infront of the viewscreen.

" You shouldn't have long to wait before your friends arrive to keep you company. Of course if you told us where your ship is, we could go and collect them right away. " Tan smiled blandly as them, expecting a reply that was quick to come.

" There's no-one coming, and we don't have a ship...we're all there is." Mark tried to sound convincing, but Tan just laughed as if he had expected no different.

" We shall see, enjoy your meal, and the books." The screen went blank.

Valerie let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

" They haven't mentioned about the radio, they can't know we have it."

" Either that or they know we do and want us to call Steve and get them here so they can be captured." Mark replied grimly. Valerie's face fell.

" We have to tell Steve to go back to the Windsifter and lift off... right now...without us ." Valerie sat down abruptly, despair lacing her voice.

" We not lost yet, lets go make that call...come on." Mark reached out and took Valerie by the hand, tugging her back to the bedroom they woke up in. Mark sat on the bed with Valerie beside him. Extending the radio's aerial to its fullest he thumbed the switch.

" Mark to Steve, come in Steve."

" Steve here Mark, we've been waiting for you to call, everything okay with you ?" Steve's voice came over the speaker, loud and clear.

" We're holding our own. How far away are you from the camp ?"

" Just at the outskirts, behind one of the tents. Do you know which one you and Val are in?"

" The biggest from what Val saw when we were carried here."

" We can see it from here, are the Giants around ?"

" We just spoke to Professor Rennet, so he's in the tent with us. We didn't see the other two." Mark gave Valerie a sideways glance. Mark continued.

" The assistant, Hoge is probably out checking the traps...what time of day is it Steve, we've lost all track of time here, my watch was taken."

" Just after midday. Its about forty-eight hours after your capture."

" We've been asleep for more than a day." Valerie gasped. Mark clutched the radio, fearful of the implications of being out cold, and at the Giants mercy for so long.

" We've only been awake a short time, they drugged us the first night and did some tests."

" Are you and Val okay, did they hurt you ?" Steve's voice sounded worried.

" They didn't hurt us, just disturbed our peace of mind." Mark replied cryptically.

" We're going to try and get into the big tent and see what's going on, sit tight." Steve's radio went dead, Mark thumbed his off, retracting the aerial and hiding it under the pillow.

" I hope Steve is careful, he's our only hope." Valerie slid her hand into Marks, squeezing gently.

" Come on....let's go see what those books have to offer." said Mark.

They left the bedroom and made their way back to the living room. The bookcase was stacked with leather-bound editions. Mark stood and scanned the titles, reading some and pulling the books out as he saw one that piqued his interest.

" These must have belonged to Marna's father, Charles Waylen. He always loved collecting first editions of anything, whether it was a technical manual or a collection of poems. This is certainly an eclectic selection."

" Why would he have had them on the spaceship ?" asked a puzzled Valerie.

" They were flying to Paris to live there. Charles had a passion for all things French. His wife, Lauren, had a French Grandmother, so he wanted to retire there. They would have had all their most precious personal effects with them, Charles never trusted movers to treat his collections with their due respect."

" You must have known him very well." Valerie said softly.

" Yes, I did...he had a profound influence on my life, he gave me my first real start." Mark gently returned the book to its place on the shelf.

Without warning the peace was shattered when the roof was suddenly lifted off. Mark and Valerie looked up in shock as a hand reached in and roughly pushed Mark out of the way. Valerie couldn't do more than scream as the hand wrapped itself around her, lifting her quickly off the ground and swinging her out of the box.

" Gently Hoge, please...your scaring the life out of our little specimens." Professor Tan chided his assistant, as Valerie was unceremoniously dropped into a glass beaker, her fall broken by some cloth placed in the bottom. Hoge then turned and went back to the box, lifting out a protesting Mark, who was also dropped with as little finesse into another glass beaker, next to the one Valerie was in.

" I'm off to check my trap lines, if there's nothing else you need me for Professor ?" Hoge said, looking bored.

" Fine, fine...Thank you Hoge, I can manage now."

Hoge turned and trudged out of the tent, letting the flap down, shutting off the draught blowing leaves inside.

Professor Tan peered at his captives who were now pressed against the glass, as close to each other as the beakers permitted. Both Little People looking apprehensively up at Tan.

" Now don't worry, we just want to do a little test on you." Tan busied himself, collecting various implements that made Valerie blanch in terror.

Mark was looking around trying to see any way out of their predicament.

Professor Tan fitted a cover to Valerie's beaker, a tube running out of the centre . Valerie tried to see what was going on, craning her neck to see what was covering her prison.

" What are you doing ?" Mark shouted, his voice muffled by the glass.

" Oh, nothing you need worry about, just a simple experiment." Tan continued to fiddle, attaching the hose to a gas cylinder.

The Professor turned the nozzle and a white gas started to come out of the rubber tubing into Valerie's container.

" Oh god...Valerie try to cover your nose and mouth." Mark shouted, banging on the glass wall.

Valerie had seen the gas and tried to use the edge of her tunic to cover her mouth. She started coughing as the gas filled the container, bending over double as the gas clouded the beaker, hiding her from Mark's view.

" Valerie...can you hear me...Valerie....dammit ." Mark pounded the glass in frustration, Valerie's beaker now opaque with the white vapour. Professor Tan watched impassively, counting off the seconds with his watch. When the allotted time was up, he turned the nozzle, shutting off the gas and took the lid off the beaker. Mark frantically tried to see through the rapidly dissipating mist. At first, he thought Valerie must have disappeared, but he finally saw a hand pressed against the glass, the arm thrown out in desperation as Valerie had succumbed to the gas. She now slumped motionless at the bottom of the glass.

" You bastard....what did you use on her ?" shouted Mark enraged.

Tan just ignored Mark as if he didn't exist, carrying on recording the results of the experiment. Tan then picked up the beaker and turned it on its side, sliding Valerie out onto his palm. She rolled bonelessly onto her side as he carried her to the end of the bench and laid her down on the surface. Mark watched helplessly as Tan used a magnifying glass to inspect her closely. Tan completed his inspection, laying down the magnifying glass and picking up what looked like a tiny hypodermic. He drew a sample of blood from Valerie's arm, taking it over to a microscope after preparing a slide. Mark kept his eyes on Valerie, trying to discern if she was even breathing. She remained completely unmoving. Tan finished making notes in his journal and turned back to the bench. He carefully rolled Valerie onto his palm and carried her back to where Mark waited. Tan didn't return Valerie to her beaker, instead he lowered her into Marks, dropping her the last few feet into Marks waiting arms. Mark lowered himself and Valerie to the bottom of the glass jar cradling her close.

Tan observed them for a moment then turned back to the microscope, intent on following up on his notes.

" Valerie, can you hear me....?" Mark whispered urgently.

Valerie's eyelids fluttered, her chest expanding as she took a deep breath. Mark moved her so she was more upright as her eye's flew open and she started to cough.

" Oh Mark...*cough*...what happened...*cough* ?"

" Take it easy, you've had a rough time....he knocked you out then took some blood. Do you remember what the gas smelt like or tasted like ?"

" I...*cough*..don't think it had either..*cough*...it's made my throat really..*cough*...dry." Valerie croaked. Mark held her as she tried to catch her breath. After a while she calmed enough to stop coughing.

" I hope Steve gets here soon, I can't bear this." Valerie tried to hide her trembling hands in the folds of her skirt. Mark saw and captured one in his warm hands.

" Steve will be here soon, just hang on."

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