Old Version Of Big Bend (Gt)

Coworkers

Dave

I was already awake when my alarm went off. I'd slept restlessly all night, tossing and turning for hours before resigning myself to staring up at the ceiling as the sun rose. Today was the day that I was supposed to go work with John and Easton. When the shrill screech of my alarm went off, it felt more like a bad omen than a wake up call. I reluctantly slid out of bed. My concerns over the upcoming shift didn't fade as I got ready, and at one point I found myself seriously considering calling in sick. I shook the thought from my head.

That's a little dramatic, don't you think? I asked myself silently. I had agreed to work with Easton. Besides, all calling in sick would do was delay the inevitable anyways.

Truth be told, I hadn't expected this much of an emotional reaction upon finally seeing another Aphirial. I'd spent so long trying to push memories of my past away that I'd tricked myself into thinking it worked. That the past was some cold, dead series of events. Not something apparently hot enough to still burn.

I finished buttoning my shirt, took a deep breath, and headed outside. John was leaning against the employee housing wall when I stepped outside.

"Morning. Sleep well?" John asked.

"Well enough," I said. "So, what exactly are we up to today?"

"A tour of the park," John replied. "I've only been here once, actually."

"And I would guess it's safe to assume Easton hasn't ever," I said.

John nodded.

"Well, I'm not sure how good of a tour guide I'll be."

John shrugged. "I think the goal is more team-bonding."

"Right," I replied. Team bonding with the giant alien. Perfect.

"Speaking of the team, we're going to meet Easton, go over basics, and then head out," John said. He gestured down the path before taking off in the same direction. I followed him, giving the employee housing building a quick glance back as anxiety built in his chest. Is it too late to fake being sick?

To say Easton's place was huge would be an understatement. It wasn't a surprise given his own size, but I still found myself staring up at the trailer in awe. If it was human-sized, it wouldn't have been anything notable. Probably small camper sized. Big enough for a bed, maybe a modified kitchen and a half bath. It had a distinctly angular, somehow foreign feel to it, and I guessed that the trailer had come from Easton's own realm as opposed to being built here. Though, that would have been a good guess even without the odd architecture, as building something of this scale would be a struggle for a human construction crew. John led me to the base of the structure, where a human-sized door sat to the side of some much larger steps.

He typed something into the keypad outside the door, and it slid open to reveal a modern looking elevator.

"Rangers first," John said jokingly. I stepped into the elevator, the IMA agent close behind me.

"I don't know why this," I gestured to the elevator. "Is a surprise to me. I mean, makes more sense to have a human-sized elevator than try to scale those steps. I guess I hadn't really given it any thought."

John gave a short chuckle. "It's our best attempt at accommodating both sizes. There's a series of pathways - human-sized pathways, that is - around the inside, so we can get around fairly easily. And this elevator takes us to the various levels on the pathways."

"Like hamster tunnels," I mused. John pushed one of the buttons in the elevator, and we began our ascent. The ride didn't feel like it took too long, despite my guess that we'd gone up at least a few hundred feet. There was a ding, and the doors behind us rolled open. I found myself frozen as I took in what was before them.

As I'd guessed, the interior of the trailer wouldn't have been notable if it had been human-sized. It had the same sleekly modern feel the outside did, from the polished white table directly in front of them to the circular, metal-framed windows across the room. What stopped me in my tracks, though, was the scale. It felt like staring up at a mountain, or into the sea on a dark night. The feeling of being incredibly, wholly, insignificant. Easton's presence only further exemplified that. In a room to his scale, it no longer seemed like he was the odd one out - I felt more like I was abnormally small instead of Easton being huge.

Easton broke into a soft, close-lipped smile when he saw us.

"Good morning!" John greeted him. "So, you both feeling ready?"

I nodded, my eyes still wide as I scanned the room.

"Yeah," Easton seconded.

"Alright. Now, I'm sure Gus and Dan will go over actual, y'know, ranger stuff. I only oversee the whole Aphiria-Earth liasion bit, and I won't be meaning to step on any toes this summer. Just wanted to get that out of the way," John said. "We were going to head over to the eastern part of the park, look around, and then I believe you'll be meeting Dan later this afternoon. Basically, we're just trying to get to know each other this morning."

"Sounds good," I said. My gaze drifted over to Easton again. I wondered what exactly he would do in the park, job duty-wise. What he could do, size limitations considered.

Probably plenty, actually, I realized after a moment. Easton was gigantic compared to humans, but not ridiculously so compared to natural features. I would bet the Rio Grande river alone was wider in parts than Easton was tall. He'd probably be able to help with upkeep, trail maintenance, and so on. And then, of course, the angle I suspected the higher ups were most interested in, which was income from tourists. Several public facing nonhumans had been hugely well-received in recent years. People tended to flock to the strange and unusual.

I recalled hearing about both a giant (of the smaller variety) and a vampire on Broadway recently. Both were met with wide praise and rocketing attendance numbers of their respective shows. There was even a whole niche of non-human micro influencers, something I'd discovered on one of my endless TikTok scrolls. The park service may not be as flashy as either of those examples, but justifying budgets did at least in some part depend on getting people to visit.

"Well, we should probably get going, then," John finished. I realized I'd zoned out, entirely missing part of what John had said. I hoped it wasn't anything important.

"So, we have a car outside. Two options, we could meet Easton there, or he could carry us." John glanced over at me.

"We can meet him there," I said quickly. If Easton was offended at the speed of my rejection, he didn't show it, instead simply nodding. John and I headed back outside after that, to his truck.

Easton appeared a few moments later, and I felt my stomach turn again as I looked out the truck window up at the giant. I'd at least been close to eye-level with Easton during previous meetings. Now, though, the truck barely came up to Easton's ankles, and I couldn't help but think how easily Easton could step on the truck without so much as a second thought. Easton crouched down, his attempt to be closer to us doing little to close the gap in our size difference.

"Readt to head out?" John asked.

Easton nodded.

"Great. Just make sure to stay a few car lengths away when you're walking okay?"

"Of course," Easton said. He was true to his word the entire trip, as the buildings faded away into the distance before finally being obscured around a bend. He also didn't take his eyes off the ground the entire time, gaze carefully checking each step. That put me at ease a little.

The truck pulled into a parking spot in a dirt parking lot. I wasn't sure exactly where there were, beyond one of the more remote parts of the park. Sensible, if John didn't want to draw a group with Easton just yet. Speaking of Easton, I noticed him hang back on the outside of the parking lot. John climbed out of the car. I was close behind, looking around at our surroundings. The Chisos mountains painted the backdrop in the distance, and trees cast shade over the parking lot.

"Beautiful day out!" John said. "We're going to head to the canyon down there. We have an approximate idea of where Easton can fit easily, but consider this our official mapping."

This was going to be a long day, I thought.