Chapter One: Arrival in Hanseong

Ever since he was young, Adam had been a big dreamer and adventurous soul. By age 3, he wanted to become an astronaut and explore the vastness of space. By age 6, he had accepted that the technology didn’t exist for Littles to travel to space and decided it was his new goal to invent it. By 10, he wanted to be a scientist, engineer, or both. And by 18, he decided he didn’t need to risk going to college (aka a shopping mall for amazons looking to adopt) to achieve any of these goals.

Instead, he became a self-taught know-it-all (his words). The internet was a glorious resource where he could not only learn everything he needed, but hide that he was Little to those willing to give him advice online. He had learned how to build computers, how to speak several languages (poorly), how to cook a decent meal, and enough physics, mathematics, and chemistry to reasonably shift into rocket science. He hadn’t fully given up on his first dream of going to space, but had accepted his role in that might be supportive, rather than actionable. He could accept that he might help the first Little into space, even if it couldn’t be him.

He was easily excitable by new technology, and his wheels were always turning as to how to make it beneficial to the small folk of this world. Where his family grumbled about how Amazons were ‘at it again’, using technology to baby them, Adam wanted to use that same advancement for good. But once in a while, he was inspired to create as a destructive method towards Amazon cruelty. Two years before he schemed to become Joomi’s apprentice, he had spent 8 months creating a small enough contraption that could fit into a fake tooth to pierce an inflated pacifier. It took only 2 months to create the mechanism itself, having made a large version of it roughly baseball size, and then continued to perfect it down to size. The more difficult parts were making sure it could pierce every type of inflatable material (some were thicker than others) and how to activate the mechanism.

He had to order an inflatable pacifier to test, which had deeply upset his parents (he hadn’t caught the package in time, and they saw where he ordered from). This nearly got him expelled from the house for ordering such an offensive object to their home. But when he explained and laid out his plan, they reluctantly agreed under the arrangement that he would make them each one if he got it working. With the pacifier in hand, he quickly realized it pinned down his tongue, so a manual trigger wouldn’t work. Four months of testing sensors led him to realize the tooth would need to be removable to change the battery, and finally, he had an epiphany.

It wasn’t his favorite solution, but it was the most reliable: the tooth is inert until it is introduced to electricity, and the electricity would be supplied by a ring (or anything electric, if one was desperate enough). His rechargeable ring provided the minimal amount of voltage to activate the tooth, and needed only to touch the lips – which, yes, he conceded might be tricky with the wide guards of a pacifier, but Amazons often ignored Littles grabbing at the pacifier once inflated, so sticking a finger underneath wouldn’t draw unwanted attention. Regardless of the inflated material, the cheek would pass the voltage throughout the mouth, and the sensor on the outer edge of the tooth would activate the small spear and pierce the inflated teat. Of course, if you lost the ring or it was pulled off your hand, you were out of luck – but it was better than nothing.

He had spent most of the last year sharing these schematics very carefully online, doing his best not to get this on the wrong radar, and working with a local Little dentist to install said tooth. As promised, he, his parents, and his sister all sported the Anti-Gag Tooth.

Adam was certainly proud of this, but he yearned for an uplifting invention. He couldn’t keep up with Amazon technology without proper resources, nor would he find it very satisfying. So when he began his deep dive into the life of Joomi Ma (well, technically Ma Joomi in her culture, but all English translations swapped the name order), a celebrated Goryeoan inventor who shared a similar view, he became obsessed. None of what she had worked on or invented in her lifetime was aimed at infantilizing Littles, and in one of the public interview letters from her, she had admitted her favorite TV show was Star Trekking, which had inspired her love of technology and space.

She was brilliant, humble, and kind (or so Adam perceived from her writing), though perhaps a touch odd. She had never shown her face on camera before as an adult, and would only accept interviews by letter or email. There were wild speculations as to why, many suspecting her of being Little or a Tweener, but the prevailing theory was that she was scarred and disfigured by an accident from a backfired test. Whatever the case, when Adam read her latest interviews where she lamented about working alone, he had attempted to reach her by email multiple times, but never received a response.

So, naturally, he decided to go to her.

And that’s how Adam Sharpe found himself on his fourth plane, after 32 hours of traveling in complicated paths to avoid flying directly over Yamatoa, and learning Goryeoan from the PoliGlot app on his phone. He had spent the last two months assuring his family he knew what he was doing, researching cultural practices of Goryeo, his legal rights under his tourist visa, and the language to the best of his ability. He brought blueprints of past and future inventions and ideas of his, and his favorite Star Trekking episodes.

“Adam … Sharpie?” The tweener customs agent raised an eyebrow at the passport, proficient in English, but understandably found names difficult.

“Sharpe, sir,” Adam smiled politely to the customs agent and, after a brief moment, bowed his head. He winced as he tried to recall the proper word for ‘sir’, but there were many options that varied by context, and he thought it best to stick to the simple, foreign option rather than risk offending the agent in his native tongue.

The customs agent nodded to the correction and lifted up the passport to examine the photo against the live person before him, as well as the printed data:

Adam Sharpe

Little, Male

24 Years

5’10” (rounded up)

170 lbs (now more like 180)

Blonde Hair

Blue eyes

Mouth slightly shrugging and feeling satisfied, the agent scanned the passport, then the visa. He placed the passport on the counter wide open, but as Adam reached for it, the agent shook his head. A small cylindrical device mounted to the top of the divider between them booted up and emitted two lights: one blue that generated a small, nondescript figure and a green light that branded his passport.

“Hello, Mr. Adam Sharpe,” the small figure bowed, speaking in an artificial and slightly choppy manner. “Welcome to Goryeo. We are honored by your visit to Hanseong.”

Adam looked in awe at the figure, mouthing a ‘wow’ as he leaned in to watch, listening intently. When the figure stopped speaking, there was an awkward pause, and the customs agent raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, uh,” Adam cleared his throat, not realizing he needed to interact with the hologram. “Thank you?”

The agent nodded as he swapped the passport with the visa, and the green light once more began branding it.

“Before you enter the country, we must confirm full comprehension of the following:

As a foreign Little, you are protected by Goryeoan law from a diagnosis of Maturosis, excepting two conditions: - One: You acknowledge the condition of your own free will and request asylum and repatriation. - Two: You are a danger to yourself and/or others as a result of your condition.

You may ask any questions. Otherwise, to continue, you must state clearly your full name and acknowledge comprehension.”

There was another significant pause as Adam continued to marvel at the technological brilliance before him, and he couldn’t help but wonder if any of this was due to Joomi. But once again, the customs agent made impatient eye contact, and he grimaced in an apology.

“Right, uh, sorry,” he stammered as he looked down in thought. “What constitutes being a danger to myself or others?”

“An excellent question,” the figure complimented with a bow. “The primary definition of danger in this instance is physical, meaning if you were to cause, or attempt to cause, physical harm that would result in assault or battery, attempted murder, or murder charges. Emotional danger is more difficult to measure legally; although it is not impossible for a visiting Little to be considered an emotional danger to themselves or others, it has yet to occur, and is therefore improbable.”

“So, if I were to… trip down a flight of stairs?”

“A single instance of accidental harm would not be sufficient,” the figure explained calmly as the customs agent audibly sighed, leaning back in his chair and pulling out his phone, having heard these questions and answers hundreds of times before. “For your stay of ten days, you would have to fall ten flights of stairs to be considered for qualification.”

Adam nodded, gratified that his research on the protections of foreign Littles had not been for naught; too bad native Littles didn’t have the same protections. He took in a deep breath as he considered a lingering question… he swallowed, wondering if this would be suspicious, but he had to risk it.

“What happens if I overstay? Miss my flight or need to extend my visa?”

He was gratified that the customs agent had buried himself in his phone and either didn’t hear, didn’t care, or both. As usual, the figure bowed after complimenting his question.

“All airport personnel will assist in any circumstances in which a visa expires due to missed, cancelled, or otherwise terminated flights. If you find you must extend your stay, please visit your local embassy, and all protections will be awarded to you as they process your request. If, however, you remain in Goryeo beyond your entitled stay with no recorded attempts to remain here legally, you will be stripped of your protections and be subject to Goryeo‘s unlawful immigration laws.”

Adam kept his face as neutral as possible and nodded, forcing a polite smile.

“Thank you. I, Adam Sharpe, fully comprehend my legal protection as a foreign Little.”

“Very good, Mr. Sharpe,” the figure bowed again. “If you need to revisit your rights, you may visit any public terminal and scan the code printed on your visa. This entitles you to review and ask any questions of your protections, as well as answers to any questions regarding Goryeoan law. Welcome to Goryeo, Mr. Adam Sharpe. We hope you have a wonderful time.”

The figure bowed once more, and he mirrored it. After a beat, he looked up to see that the projection was gone and the customs agent had folded up the visa within the passport and was holding it out. He smiled and took it with both hands, as he had read somewhere to do so with anything handed to him, and he bowed his head in appreciation. The customs agent pointed him through the doorway, and as he passed through, he grinned; despite his exhaustion over the long journey, a surge of adrenaline spiked. He was thrilled to get started.