Nestled deep within the sprawling complex of Generitech Headquarters, Lilliton was a city unlike any other. Designed exclusively for Littles, it was a self-contained metropolis filled with manicured parks, pastel storefronts, and scaled architecture tailored perfectly to its inhabitants. Life in Lilliton was carefully managed by Generitech Civil Protection and overseen by internal divisions of HydroGen, EcoGen, and EnerGen, ensuring the tiny city ran with immaculate efficiency. For some, it was a sanctuary. For others, a gilded cage. But to the outside world, Lilliton was a symbol of Generitech’s promise: order, control, and care, all in miniature.
Jordan and Kelli were unfortunately in no such place. They were Littles who lived in the outside world. The reality of being at Chloe’s party meant their freedom came with clearly defined borders. They stood in a cordoned-off area, specially constructed and sized for Littles, elevated on a platform like a miniature balcony. The space was surrounded by sleek metal guardrails that prevented any accidental falls. To the towering teens, it may have looked like a charming dollhouse display. To Jordan and Kelli, it was a cage with a scenic view.
Standing nearby like a silent sentinel was Jessie, a female officer from Generitech Civil Protection, assigned to oversee the safety of the Littles at the Gracewood estate. Dressed in a skirt and blazer, she was imposing yet calm, her eyes scanning the crowd with practiced focus. Her presence was a strange mix of comfort and unease, a reminder that in a room full of well-meaning teenagers, the only true protection for Littles came from people trained to intervene.
Jordan and Kelli made their way back to one of the tables inside the Little platform, each carrying a neatly portioned tray of food. It was the first time Jordan had seen something like this. Since being infected, he had mostly eaten what Sara provided, bites from her plate, pieces torn to size, or the occasional Little-formatted energy bar courtesy of Chloe. But now? Now he had an actual plate, perfectly sized, filled with a full meal tailored to Little physiology.
The aroma hit him first, roasted vegetables, seasoned chicken, and warm whole-grain bread. His stomach growled in anticipation. As each item had skillfully worked in little pellets to flawlessly accompany the food. It was expensive and almost unheard of outside of Generitech campuses.
Kelli, already seated and digging in, grinned. “Can you believe that? A whole city inside Generitech? I was stuck in a government facility for all of Kayla’s guardian training. It was sterile. Cold. No color. Just… waiting. This, though? This is something else. Imagine living somewhere where everything is your size. Where the world fits you again.”
Jordan sat down and took a slow bite, savoring it. “I try not to think about it too much. Things aren’t perfect here, but they’re not bad. I mean, getting to live a ‘normal’ life again in a Little city would be nice, but would you really trade seeing Kayla again for that? Would you give up your connection to the people who matter just to live in a place that fits you better?”
Kelli paused mid-bite, her expression sobering. “No, probably not. Not when you put it that way.” She looked around and smiled. “It’s just… nice to imagine sometimes.”
Jordan nodded. “Yeah. I get that.”
Kelli glanced around again. The Little platform was spacious, decorated with white and red linens, tiny tables and chairs arranged like an upscale terrace cafe. Miniature flower arrangements sat in vases the size of chess pieces. Chloe had gone all out. Every detail screamed intention and care.
“I have to admit,” Kelli said, grinning again, “Chloe really went out of her way for this. This little area is poppin’.”
As if on cue, a tall, broad-shouldered Black man in a sleek GCP uniform approached the edge of the platform. He exchanged a few words with Jessie, who nodded in acknowledgment. The man then set down two large, sealed containers at the gate.
A hiss escaped from the containers as they unlocked with a soft mechanical chime, like something straight out of a science fiction movie. The doors slid open, and from inside poured a stream of Littles, their eyes wide with curiosity and excitement. They looked around in awe, not just at the beautifully detailed Little area but also at the massive teen party happening around them.
Some of the newcomers waved at the teens. Others stood frozen, overwhelmed by the lights, music, and sheer scale of it all. But the atmosphere remained warm and welcoming. Chloe had thought of everything.
Kelli leaned in, whispering to Jordan, “I think those are Littles from Generitech. Chloe must’ve brought them in for the party.”
Jordan watched the scene unfold, marveling at how surreal this new normal had become. He wasn’t sure what the future held, but here, tonight, he felt something he hadn’t in a long time.
He felt seen.
Related Images:
I wonder if some of them will recognize Jordan and his celeb status will be seen in full. He’s probably be very uncomfortable. Also I’d love to see the convos between Jordan, Kelli and the Genritech littles. Must be some culture shock on both sides.
I doubt Jordan would have celebrity Status yet, but maybe he’d gain such notoriety in a year or so.
I’m also hoping for convos revealing the different lives and quality of life of these Littles.
I wouldn’t say he’s celebrity status at this point as Lethal pointedly down the road it would be possible once he was doing spokeslittle work with Sara being the little mart spokesperson.
I would say it’s more that he’s a VIP for this event.
1.1) “Life in Lilliton was carefully managed by Generitech Civil Protection and overseen by internal divisions of HydroGen, EcoGen, and EnerGen, ensuring the tiny city ran with immaculate efficiency.” sounds like a good place for Littles, thought it’d feel like big brother would be watching, especially once Collar mandates come in and they all start wearing cameras.
1.2) “For some, it was a sanctuary. For others, a gilded cage. But to the outside world, Lilliton was a symbol of Generitech’s promise: order, control, and care, all in miniature.” I could see why Littles would feel both those ways about it. It’d be safe but feel like a gaol at the same time.
2) “The reality of being at Chloe’s party meant their freedom came with clearly defined borders” Freedom’s never free, but Jordan and Kelli are paying more than others for it.
3) “Her presence was a strange mix of comfort and unease, a reminder that in a room full of well-meaning teenagers, the only true protection for Littles came from people trained to intervene “She would be true protection, at least from anyone but Sara, Chloe, Mal, Ellie or Kayla.
4.1) “Now he had an actual plate, perfectly sized, filled with a full meal tailored to Little physiology.” At least Lilliton doesn’t rum off Pellets like the City’s we learn about in Dayton: JGC.
4.2) “As each item had skillfully worked in little pellets to flawlessly accompany the food.” Damn it, spoke too soon
5) “This is something else. Imagine living somewhere where everything is your size. Where the world fits you again.” It wouldn’t fit Jordan right, though. Everything would still feel a bit too big for him, closer to his size, but still too big.
6.1) ““I try not to think about it too much. Things aren’t perfect here, but they’re not bad.” debatable; they’re bad enough that Jordan was willing to risk survival on New York Streets.
6.2) “I mean, getting to live a ‘normal’ life again in a Little city would be nice, but would you really trade seeing Kayla again for that?” Surely Littles would be given ways to connect with the humans that matter too them.
6.2) “No, probably not. Not when you put it that way.” I’m glad Kelli wouldn’t ditch Kayla
7) “I think those are Littles from Generitech. Chloe must’ve brought them in for the party.” Why is Chloe bringing them in? I assumed they were Littles of other party goers.
8) “Jordan watched the scene unfold, marveling at how surreal this new normal had become. He wasn’t sure what the future held, but here, tonight, he felt something he hadn’t in a long time. He felt seen” Good for Jordan, I guess, but feeling seen and being seen are entirely different matters.
A) I think the little cities have a good attentions but they are treating littles like animals that need constant training and control to ensure proper breeding of new stock to sell in their stores. Not giving them true freedom of expression to do as the feel like. B) Their surveillance state set up and punish makes the Commies of China envious. Socialism and communism has never worked and has killed millions of innocent people. I wonder do the littles in these city’s get a choice to leave or do they have to try to escape over a wall like most communist country’s and sometimes die trying ? I wounder if Chole is like many story’s villains, they do evil while in their mind is trying to do good based on the world they are in. But with the size of littles, it would not take a lot of land to allow them to have there own little areas to live by themselves and still have the little kids to through schools that prepare them for a job to serve a big some time. An acre of land would be bigger as the United states and hold a billion littles.
C) I think a good line for Jordan with Kelli would be after she helped him at the truck would be ” you may feel small but you are a giant to me”, and then hug her lol. We need to give Jordan tips on how to woo a woman lol. I love them as a couple and I hope they are able to have a cute little family and they live in a white picket fence house with Sara. lol.
D) Is the little band going to be playing for the big’s to dance to also and be up on a screen in front of them so they can see the band?
E) I wonder if Kelli and Jordan talking about the freedom of the outside world and being outside and smelling so many different smells will stir something rebellious inside the little youth that wants them to try to get outside the caged cites and see the world? Maybe I see things this way because I am a rebellious gun touting US citizen that freedom from oppression is a god given right we will fight to the death for lol.
A) Well the little cities are a bit more broken down in Madison’s world. But I wouldn’t say they are treated like animals as they have actual jobs some inside the little city and some outside the little city for generitech proper. You see another example of this in Dayton series where Thomas is a little who lives in the little city but has a job as a training little and he is working towards management.
So they do have careers and such.
The way the system works they aren’t really setup to be breeding stock. When they come of age they take a test. You actually have to be fairly skilled to get into the little city itself. As you need knowledge and skills to be able to work a function within the society.
the littles that don’t make it into the city are then either classified as store littles or research littles. Research littles live in basically dorms or apartment like structures that are built at research facilities.
Store littles depending on their aptitude are either sent to the store, or trained for additional skills to be sold as higher trained littles. Others are left untrained for guardians who want to train their littles with more advanced skillsets can do that if they want them to take specific little classes or certain skills before being rehomed into their forever home with their guardian.
The higher and more educated the little is the more valuable the little can be As Knowledge and skills are important.
However, a littles willingness and/or want to be better or learn the skills are important as well. Which is why they take the tests so they can put each little on a track for success and level of happiness.
obviously not all littles are placed with generitech when you look at all littles in the world. So littles who go to preematech lead a different life. Littles who are in third world countries live a different life. However, I wouldn’t classify them as animals or say that generitech thinks of them that way. As if they did they would just do what Preematech does as it would be drastically cheaper and create more profits. Much of what generitech does for littles isn’t always profitable, in other cases its not maximizing profits, other cases its breaking even sometimes it is very profitable. But because they have different branches and things they can balance losses and wins to overall be quite profitable while still paying their staff more then a fair wage and promote from within and teach staff new skills and allow them to get more education and move up the ladder as they generally believe in promoting from within and moving people up. As they want good people in positions and that generally also creates loyalty amongst staff and littles.
I wouldn’t say its surveillance state. As not all collars have camera’s. Jordan has a very expensive collar but they do have more basic collars. Also the collars aren’t a generitech rule they are a U.S. law. Generitech buys and sells collars that people want to buy because its a law. But they didn’t create the system. There was a need so they made a product. They further make products that people want to buy.
I wouldn’t say its communism as the littles are paid wages in generitech based currency for the work performed. They generitech currency has its own valuation to actual dollars. The wages and work performed are on a similar scale to standard employees.
I guess it depends what you mean by leave. Littles do get to choose their jobs and stuff. They obviously need the skills and abilities which they have to take a test to prove they have the aptitude to be able to do something. But they do have a degree of choice as to what they do within the little city.
They also get to study and prepare for the aptitude tests. So its up to each little on how hard they want to work. Nothing is stopping them from working hard to get the job or role they want. Certain jobs are done in certain places so they would be relocated based on what they wanted to do.
But if you are living in a little city that is where you live. You can’t just leave and decide to travel to Chicago. A little doesn’t have that right. Universally, that’s just not something a little can do. They wouldn’t even ask generally as its just not a plausible expectation for a little in the U.S.
Littles do own their home homes or apartments within the city. So they do have a degree of home ownership.
C) Jordan may also not want to woo Kelli. I am not saying he does or not. However your goal, vader’s goal and Jordan’s goal may not be the same. They also conversely could align. However, I wouldn’t inherently say he doesn’t know how as he did have a girlfriend before In Emily Brooks Sara’s teacher. So clearly he has skills and the knowhow to get a woman.
D) Everyone at the party will be able to hear the music. While the performance will be filmed for rebroadcast to littles. It won’t be broadcast to the tv’s or anything. If the people want to see the band they will just have to walk up and look without touching. If they try to touch or interfere with the band or any littles who aren’t there own they will be handled accordingly by the GCP.
E) well their world would be different from yours is you have different rights afforded to you then they do. Just like if you were born and lived in a different place then united states you would have different rights afforded to you. You would be held to a different standard and would probably have a different outlook.
The freedoms of even the United States in this world is not 1 to 1 with the real world united states. The people who live in it have some different experiences. So the responses that Jordan and Kelli have to something may not align with how you would. In other circumstances they could align perfectly.
However, a little could only be so rebellious and it would be looked at differently. A little being rebellious would be like a dog who is being rebellious. Its fundamentally just not looked at the same. As they aren’t viewed the same. In this world a little and a person just aren’t equal under the eyes of law. While not everyone in this world agrees with that and some go further then others to provide them as many rights as they can. The reality is they aren’t equal.
AA)thanks for the detailed info. I love chole and when I reread what a wrote I cringed lol.
BB) from what I have seen in other chapters, buying littles that are not adults are hard to buy. I am wondering if a big can go on the Generitech website and put in the type of little they want and will pay based on availability in the little cities. I think that would be a major money source because people are willing to pay crazy amounts of money to get what they want. They could also make people bid against each other for younger littles that are popular.
The littles in the city will never be for sale at any price. Same goes for research littles.
You qualify to be a store little and then go through training for that based on your test score.
There is a section on the non little version of the internet where guardians can look through a catalog of littles on the site and find one matched to them or a specific look.
But Generitech will generally try to match guardian and little with some recommended options for ideal pairing
I should clarify as it’s not ever for sale in the city. As littles born in the city would
Be raised there till testing day. Then on testing day they would be placed
Responding to point A. Does that include young littles (around Dayton’s age) as well?
1) Well there are always trade offs though. It would be the best situation they could create. It’s kind of like democracy in that its not the greatest form of government ever but its the best one we have come up with as a human society to date. The little cities are not perfect but they were created out of the intention to do good and are the best way idea Generitech has come up with to do it. Other generitech facilities will have little cities as well.
1.2) It would be the closet thing to what anyone infected would feel to the world they left so to speak. IT would still be different and ever changing. Especially as Smallborns got older. It would only feel odd to the people who were infected. It would just be normal to the smallborns.
2) I agree that freedom always has a price. Jordan and Kelly don’t run up against all that much in comparison to other littles.
3) yes, although Sara, Ellie, Chloe Kayla and Mal they need the least protection from as if they were going to do something to them. They have the access to it anywhere. They wouldn’t need a special event.
4) Well it still involves pellets but it also has non pellet food. The intent is more like little gourmet food where tehy intermix the offerings. Being its chloe she brought in the high end food, high class food options for littles.
4.2) Atleast your question got answered right away
5) Well yeah, Jordan would feel like a child in the little cities.
6.1) THat was more frustration than bad. As he was more running from not accepting the reality then from Sara specifically.
6.2) Not after they are given up to the system no. If they want to maintain contact then they should pay the fees and become a guardian. Once you are in the system if the waived guardian rights it would be risky to let someone on the outside know because a family member could track down a guardian and steal them or harm the guardian. So when you say your goodbyes before giving up your rights that’s it generally. If you contact is allowed its more through letters that are checked to ensure no location or personal information of anyone is provided.
6.3) SHe does care about sister. Even if things aren’t perfect its still new to them as well.
7) Well there are litltes who are from the guardians but they are also bringing a limited amount of people from the city as A. reward, B. To see Liv Dangerously. C. Because Chloe is being nice and wants to provide some littles with something nice. A night of good food, good music, socializing outside the city. It would be a unique experience that many may not get.
8) sometimes you take what victories you can get.
1) Indeed, best of the worst type deal.
1.2) Smallbornes wouldn’t feel the same, especially not after infected stop being a thing.
2) no, but a lot more than the Biggles do.
3) Very true, Sara and Mal have already pulled shit and their littles had no such protection.
4.1) Nice of Chloe.
4.2) Indeed
6.1) He was frustrated at how bad it and Sara is, preventing him from accepting due to her unacceptable behaviour
6.2) So even Little City’s have no contact with their loved ones. That’s fucked up of Genritech, I get store littles not being able to but thought City Littles would be different.
7) Chloe is so great in this arc.
8) indeed
OK here some of my thoughts, not just this chapter but the Smallara world in general:
First I want to address some of the comments on this chapter made by others.
Regarding the “acerage” for the Littles. Keep in mind that Littles are roughly 1/20th (0.05) the size of a human. I looked up the area of the continental USA and found it is 3,618,780 sq mi so since this is a 2 dimensional measurement we cant divide it by 20 and get 180,939 sq mi.
New York City cover about 470 sq mi, so a comparable Little city would be 23.5 sq mi.
So we see that properly sized eating utensils are available. Seems like this would be something Sara would provide Jordan and many other Guardians would as well.
Now that I have read about the Generitech cities, I feel a bit more optomistic for the Little society. As much as I love my family, if I were in Jordan’s shoes, I would much prefer to live in a Little city than in the world of Giants, given the restrictions imposed on Littles. It is a shame that they would have to cut off physical contact with family. Gilded cage or not, it beats the alternative, and as stated, for smallborns it would be normal.
I know that there is a methodology to determine if a Little ends up at LittleMart, but I have to wonder that as time goes on, and demand for Littles goes up (or will it?), will the bar be lowered? And once the “transformed” Little population starts to deplete. How will Preema Tech get more Littles?
A thought I keep having is that in Little society, you are still going to have geniuses born that will benefit both Little and Human kind. Now Generitech could keep the knowledge of Little technological advances to themselves, but I think that eventually Humans are going to know that Littles are more than lesser animals. And there is obviously art in Little society (music for one). These types of things just cannot be stifled forever.
Another sad thought is the Generitech seems to be family run and owned, with Chloe as “queen” to be (CEO?). What happens when some future generation (Chloe’s descendants) are not so magnanimous regarding Littles? Hopefully there are hard rules written into the company charter that would foresee this and nip it in the bud.
Sorry that I come off so morose about this. I do love this story and the the spin-offs that others have created. Looking forward to more of Smallara, Roni & Joey, Madison’s World and the rest of the stories!
I used the words “cant divide” early on when talking about the area of the US. I meant “can divide”
I didn’t do the math when I made the acre comment, I was being generalist in on the cuff writing lol. I still think giving little layered land options would be a great option for super successful littles.
I have a similar thought process but I have been in city’s all over the world and hate them so I am not a fan of little city’s and think they are a nightmare to me lol. I think living with a good guardian is much better then living in a little city.