Stranded By Scott Davis Part 1

I never could get used to the constant rocking motion of the ship. As the well-equiped lab in the Sea Star swayed back and forth, the test tubes clinked softly against the sides of their holders. I fought back nausea for about the millionth time, trying to concentrate on labeling the new samples that we had collected that morning. Dr. Kozlowski was sitting in front of a console, typing in notes in preparation for the chromatography tests on the samples. She was the head marine biologist on the expedition and its oldest scientist. Her thin, gaunt frame, beak-like nose and piercing eyes gave her the appearance of great intelligence and scientific determination. I'd had an internship with her the previous summer, and respected her probably more than anyone else I had ever known. She demanded perfection from her graduate students, but she could be quite understanding when the situation required it. A splashing noise at the side of the ship signaled that the dive crew had returned with more samples. I glanced out the window as the dripping, black-suited divers were assisted over the side. Nets full of seaweed and animal specimens, along with plastic jars, carefully set in trays for transportation, followed the divers and were cautiously placed on the deck by the scientist crew. Amid the divers I picked out Paula. She was the youngest on the afternoon diving team, and one of two women on it. She filled out her suit nicely, and I watched, mesmerized, as she shimmied out of it. She was wearing an emerald green bikini under the suit, and she seemed more beautiful, more perfect, every time I saw her. She was tall, a couple of inches taller than I, and had a thin but athletic build. She had long, wonderfully tanned legs and a sexy smile that seemed to be made for flirting. Her eyes were bright and sparkled with youthful energy. She was also a graduate student, a few years younger than I. This was her first field internship, and she seemed to be having the time of her life. She playfully socked the shoulder of one of the older divers, and then sat down next to him, putting her arm around him. I couldn't make out what she was saying. I felt my heart sink a little. I knew, deep down, that she could never be mine. I was a loner, devoting my life to science. I didn't have the time nor the ability to treat her the way that I wanted to, the way that she deserved. I realized that I had really nothing to offer her and it was best if I could just clear my mind of her and get on with my work. "Sean," Dr. Kozlowski said sharply to get my attention. "How's the labeling coming along?" "Fine, fine," I sputtered, trying to bring my mind back to the business at hand. "I just have one more tray to go, then we can begin with the chromatography testing." "Excellent," she returned confidently. "I'm hoping we'll find some more traces of that unusual carbon molecule in this area as well. It seems to be limited to eastern side of this small chain of islands. I have no clue to what's producing it, though. It must be something native to this area that we haven't discovered yet." I nodded in agreement. "Perhaps in the next batch of specimens they just pulled up," I said half-heartedly as I gazed out the window to the deck where the samples were being put into laboratory containers by some of the scientists. Poul, one of the older divers, was swigging from a tin of brandy, a ceremony he swore by after every dive. My gaze shifted over to Paula, who was sitting on a crate with one knee up to her chest. I met her deep brown eyes as I suddenly realized that she was staring back at me. Out of surprise and a little shock, I immediately averted my eyes and jerked my head away from the window, muttering something intelligible to myself as I noticed that Dr. Kozlowski was grinning at me. "You like her, don't you?" she said in a motherly tone of voice, still grinning at me. "I was just checking to see what kind of specimens they brought up," I returned, half mumbling. I realized how stupid that sounded even as I spoke but was unable to come up with something better at the moment. "Oh, you don't have to pretend for me. I know you too well, Sean. I think the young lady has some pretty strong feelings for you, too. I can tell, I was a young woman once myself, you know." I tried to ignore her words the best I could, throwing myself back into labeling the containers. I felt terribly ashamed, being distracted from my work right in front of my mentor by a mere grade school infatuation. "You're young, Sean. Enjoy life a little. If you don't it will pass you by before you know it. If I could live my life over, there are many things I would have done differently when I was your age. Don't make the same mistakes I did, Sean." I looked up to meet her eyes, which appeared much more tired and weathered than I had remembered. I had always felt comfortable talking about our work with her, but this was the first time my personal life had ever come up in a discussion, and it was making me quite uneasy. "Science is a worthy cause to follow, Sean. I know, I've devoted most of my life to it. But it can't fill the void of love in your life. It will always be there, a great emptiness, eating away at you." I knew at that point that she was talking more about herself than me. As far as I knew she had never married. She had always seemed indomitable, always in complete control of herself and the situation. It was a little disturbing to find a chink in her otherwise inpenetratable armor. "Well, you don't need me to stand here and preach to you," she said quietly, looking back at the chromatography equipment. "I'm going out to take a look at the new specimens. I've been cooped up in this lab all day and I need a little fresh air. After you get done with the labeling, you might want to get out a little too." She stretched her thin frame and walked out the door. I returned to my labeling. Her words echoed in my mind. Maybe she was right. Maybe I did need something more in my life. But I couldn't just think of myself, though. I really had nothing to offer a woman. They would all be better off if I just left them alone. I was nearly done with sample containers when I heard a slight tapping on the laboratory door. Paula was standing there with the door half open. I had no idea how long she had been watching me. She smiled at me warmly. "Hi, Sean, what'cha working on?" "I'm..," I muttered while sweeping my hand in front of the sample containers, "uh, labeling the samples that we collected earlier today." I tried to hold an authoritative bearing to my voice but wound up with a weak stutter. "It's for the gas chromatography testing." "Cool," she said as she walked across the small lab, stepping behind my chair. "I had to do the same thing last night. By the time I was done I must have set up over two hundred slides. I thought I had lost all feeling in my fingers. But Dr. Faust did let me use the SEM on a few samples. It was pretty neat. You could see so much detail on the plankton." "Yeah, we've got one back at UCLA," I said, trying to hold back my stuttering. "As instruments go, they're pretty handy to have around." I was mentally kicking myself for not coming up with something more interesting than merely stating the obvious. She started gently massaging my back and I just sat there, feeling a little paralyzed. "You know, you've been working too much. Except for sleeping and eating, I don't think I've seen you ever leave this lab. You need to get out and get some sun every now and then. Everyone's been calling you the 'ghost' because your never seen outside." "I'm on the morning dive team ..um.. every morning," I said awkwardly. "Well, that's about the only time you come out of your little hole," she said, giggling. She suddenly twisted around to look at me. "I know, why don't you come down tonight. We're having a little party for Marty's birthday. It'll be fun." "I don't know, I've got a few tests I was wanting to get done tonight," I muttered. "Aw, come on. You could use a little fun. All work and no play, ya know" "Well, I could stop down in a little bit, I guess." I couldn't believe that I was saying this. "Great!" she said as she walked out of the lab. At the last moment she turned and gave me a flirtatious smile. "I'll save a dance for you." The next few hours went by all to quickly. I finished the labeling and started some of the preliminary chromatography tests. I had trouble concentrating on it though, and caught myself making a few too many stupid errors. I finally decided to shut it down and finish the testing tomorrow. I could hear the music and the voices of the celebration outside. Walking over to the window, I saw the starboard side of the Sea Star alit with torches and floodlights. Someone had a radio turned on full blast, and the majority of the crew were out sitting around on the crates. A few were dancing to the music, and most were half drunk. I scanned the area for Paula, but couldn't find her. I was filled both with excitement and dread as I walked down the staircase to the deck. I wasn't much of the partying type, but the thought of dancing with Paula was well worth the discomfort. As I turned the corner at the base of the stairs, I almost ran into her. She smiled at me with a surprised and elated look about her face. "I was just coming up to the lab to drag you out. I had about given up on you ever coming down." "I just had to get some stuff finished up," I mumbled. "Yeah, right! You just wanted to get out of dancing with me!" she said giggling. She grabbed my hand and dragged out onto the deck with her. Not that I had any reason not to follow her, but the her action rather surprised me and I stumbled along hesitantly behind her. She was stronger than I would have guessed from her thin, feminine build. As we came out upon the deck to join the five other couples dancing, we were met by whistles and cat calls from the crowd sitting around. Someone yelled out drunkenly "Hey! Paula's got her man!" I was a little embarrassed and I noticed that she was blushing a little, too. The radio was playing some new rock song that I didn't recognize. It had been a while since I had kept up on the current music. I had always found it hard to concentrate with background music playing and I didn't often listen to the radio. The song playing now was nice and slow, with a smooth guitar melody. It sounded like Pink Floyd, but I wasn't sure. I held her close as we slow danced together. She was wearing a tank top and I could feel the gentle warmth of her side and back through the thin cloth. I gazed into her deep brown eyes and neither of us said a word as we swayed to the soothing music. She smiled at me affectionately and let go of my right hand. She brought it around my neck, along with her other arm, and rested her head on my shoulder. I held her tightly, noticing how much taller she was than myself. I didn't mind, though. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes upon, and for this brief moment she was mine alone. The song ended long before I was ready for it to, and was immediately followed by an annoying used car commercial. We reluctantly separated, but she kept her arm around my shoulder as we walked together to the side and sat down on some crates with the others. Most were half drunk, laughing loudly with each other every time someone would make a stupid joke. Paula leaned back against the crate, staring up at the clear night sky. "It's beautiful out here tonight, isn't it, Sean? There's Orion," she said softly, pointing her arm up at the heavens. "Yeah, there's Antares," I said, pointing at the twinkling red star. "Antares? Where?" she said as she tried to see what I was pointing at. "Right on the back of Scorpio the scorpion. That bright red star." She shrugged her shoulders and looked at me with a smile. "Well, it's kind of hard to see with all these floodlights on. Maybe if we went over to port side we could see better. I think it's dark over there." She smiled warmly at me and took hold of my hand. "Sure, let's go." The deck gently rocked beneath our feet as we walked around the aft end of the Sea Star to her port side. Only the occasional deck light broke the darkness. The sky seemed so much brighter on this side once our eyes got used to it. We stood against the railing and looked up. She still held onto my hand like she possessed it. The starlight glittered across the calm sea as I again pointed out Antares. She found easily this time, and I wondered if she hadn't also seen it on the starboard side and was merely using it as an excuse to get away from the crowd. I started to point out a few other stars when I noticed that she was looking at me rather than what I was pointing at. I stopped in mid-sentence and glanced at her, waiting for her to say something. "You know I've had my eye on you since we left Santa Barbara," she said softly, breaking the silence. She placed one hand on the side of my face. "You're so shy. I really find that charming. I've always had a weakness for shy men. All the guys I work with are so full of themselves. They think they're God's gift to women, and it always irritates me how many women eat that stuff up. You've seen and done so much, yet you always seem dissatisfied with yourself, like you're a failure or something." I wanted to say something back to her, but my mind couldn't formulate any words. I was feeling very strongly for her out under the starlight. I didn't know if it was love, infatuation, lust, or some strange combination thereof. She stared at me and smiled again, running her beautiful fingers through my hair. I wanted to hold her, but I was afraid I'd do something stupid and destroy the moment. "You're so different from the others, so sweet-natured, so sincere. You're so handsome and charming, yet you don't realize it. I think that's what I like best about you," she said, still running her fingers through my hair. I gathered up my inhibitions and collectively ignored them. The moment felt right and it was now or never. I looked up into her warm, brown eyes. "Do you mind if I kiss you?" I said, half expecting to get slapped for my efforts. "Man, you take so long," she softly mumbled as she leaned towards me, wrapping her arms around my neck. Our lips met as I was backed against the railing. She curled one of her long, sexy legs around mine and held me firmly as we kissed. It had been years since the last time I had kissed a girl, but it had never been as wonderful as this. Her lips were warm and soft, and I could smell her incredible scent all around me. It lasted only a minute or so, but it seemed like a wonderful eternity. We parted, both trying to catch our breaths. We still held each other, rocking gently with the ship. "Hey, guys!" we heard someone yell from further down the deck, snapping us back to reality. I recognized the voice to be that of John Dacker, one of the divers. He had a bad tendency to be tactless, and sounded a little drunk to boot. His dark silhouette turned back towards the starboard side of the ship as he yelled out "I found them!" "Well, I guess we can't escape the party after all," I said to her with a smile. We slowly walked back around the Sea Star, my arm around her waist and hers around my shoulder. I knew it was too good to last. We returned with the party in full swing. The beer was flowing from a couple of kegs that someone had thoughtfully included with the cargo. We were handed plastic cups of the cheap brew and immediately were drug into various meaningless drunken conversations. The evening ran into morning before the party finally quieted down and people began to go to bed. I had never had much of a taste for beer, and had barely finished nursing one to death by the time I was tired enough to retire from the party. I didn't have the opportunity to talk to Paula much the rest of the night, and was rather surprised when she grabbed my arm as I was getting up. "Are you going to bed?" she said sleepily. She had drunk quite a bit and had trouble speaking clearly. "Ah, yeah. I think I'm going to go ahead and turn in. I've had enough partying for one night." "Me too. Um..do you think you could help me to my bunk? I don't know if I can make it up those stairs alone." "Sure, I'd be honored," I said, smiling as I helped her up. We slowly climbed the stairway. She stumbled a few times, but we finally made it to the top. She started to pass out, so I carried her to her quarters and laid her gently on her bunk. I was rather surprised how light she felt in my arms. I turned off the light and stood at the door for a moment, admiring her beautiful form under the pale deck light. I wondered if she would still have any interest in me tomorrow. Maybe this was just a short fling for her. Well, I thought, whatever happens, happens. I quietly shut the door and went back to my own bunk to crash out. My alarm went off at 7:00 am and I groggily hit its button. I felt completely worn out and didn't want to get out of bed, but I somehow did anyway. I grabbed my stuff and stumbled down to the men's lavatory. Usually I had to wait in line for a shower, but apparently I was the only one up yet. I imagined how everyone was going to be suffering from hangovers and I was glad that I had gotten up early enough to avoid the moaning and nausea. A quick, hot shower woke me up, and I dressed and shaved in silence. The deck was a mess from the party the night before, and I headed up the stairs for the lab. Dr. Kozlowski was seated in front of the chromatography equipment, her thin frame hunched over some samples. "You're up awful early," I said as she turned in her chair wearily. "Usually you're not in here till well after nine." "I've been up all night," she said as she ran her stiff fingers through her thin, gray hair, and rested her face on one hand with her elbow on the desk. "Were you at the party last night? I don't remember seeing you there, and after all you said the other day," I said jokingly. She didn't look in any mood to joke. "I was planning on going, but I was looking over yesterday's test results and something struck as odd. I've been over at the SEM examining samples all night." "What's up?" She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her bloodshot eyes. She pointed to some micrographs spread out on the desk. "Take a look." I quickly looked through them. Premature specimens of coral, sponges, and crustaceans, mixed with several miniature species of shrimp and plant life were shown in the black and white pictures from the electron microscope. I examined each one of them, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. "They look like normal plankton specimens to me. I don't understand." "Look at the magnification." I ran my finger along the data text at the bottom of one of the pictures. 500X! That couldn't be right. A coral polyp of that variety should be shown that size at 100X or so. I looked over the others, nearly all shown at 500X. They varied from 10 to 100 times smaller than they should have been. "This can't be right. I bet the SEM's computer is messed up again and is printing the wrong values. This salty air always plays havoc with the electronics." "No, I double checked it with the optical microscopes. The magnification is correct. This is the strangest phenomenon I've ever seen, Sean. What has happened to this plankton?" "Well, is there a radiation source in the area? I guess it could be some sort of mutation. I don't know how so many different species could mutate in such a similar way, though." "No, no. I tried examining them for traces of radiation, I've got nothing so far. It should be easy to detect in such concentrations. I've got a strange hunch that it may have something to do with the new carbon molecule we discovered." "A chemical reaction?" I asked doubtingly. "It must be. I've probed deeper but I can't find out at what point the structure of these creatures becomes more simplified than the normal ones. They must have all the same chemical reactions as the normal sized specimens in order to survive. They're mass is reduced appropriately, but I've noticed levels of certain chemicals concentrated in them at much higher levels than they're larger cousins. In fact, some chemicals occur in them in the same amounts as they do in the larger ones." "Where did you find these specimens?" "They were mixed in with the normal plankton in some samples, and totally absent in others. I think the carbon molecule is reacting with the cell membranes of the plankton, reducing them and removing water and many chemicals from the cells. The result is the macroreduction in the entire physical structure, both in mass and volume." "If that's true, wouldn't it tear apart the larger, more advanced shrimp, because the outer carapaces would remain roughly the same size and soft, inner body rip away from it as it reduced?" "Something's compensating. The shrimp were reduced as well, and they were doing just fine. I don't know, Sean. I just don't know." "What could be producing this strange chemical? It work's so well it almost has to be a product of evolution." "That's the second thing I found out last night." "The second thing?" "Yes. I was choreographing the specimens, trying to locate any concentrations of the carbon molecule in question. I think I found it's source." "You've found the source? Great! What is it?" "Well, the only specimens that seemed to have larger than background levels of the molecule were the reduced ones, and also a rather unusual jellyfish polyp. I dissected it and tested various organs for the molecule. I found that it had high concentrations in certain sacks within its body. I can't find any record of a jellyfish categorized with its markings. I think we may have stumbled onto a new species." "Wow, a new species. I wonder why it has this chemical, though. Can it consume the reduced plankton?" "No, but that's a good point, though. It can't see how the polyps can discharge the chemical, and I really don't think they use it until they become mature jellyfish. Perhaps the mature ones use it to reduce and then consume quantities of the plankton to get larger doses of the chemicals that get concentrated in the process." My head was reeling from the thought of an entirely new form of predation this represented. The implications to biology in general were enormous. I wondered if there were any medical treatments that could be brought about with this molecule. Perhaps tumor reductions or blood clot removal. "Have you told any of the others yet?" I asked as she stared at the console. "I don't think they're in any shape to listen to breakthroughs in marine biology after the drunken debauchery last night. Besides, there are a few more tests I'd like to make before I have to argue with their irrational skepticism." Two knocks sounded against the lab's door. "Yes," she said, sliding halfway around in her chair. The door opened a little and Captain Estridge stuck his head in. "Dr. Kozlowski, can I have a word with you?" "Certainly, Captain." I got up slowly but the captain waved his hand for me to remain seated as he entered the lab. "I thought you might want to know that we've just got a weather report from Tokyo and there's a storm moving just northwest of us. It's pretty big, but I think we'll only see the edge of it. We might have to cancel the afternoon dive, though." "Thank you captain. I'll keep that in mind." She motioned about the lab with her hands. "With all our modern technology, we're still at the whim of nature." "Yes, doctor. Just thought you'd want to know." He nodded to me and left the lab quietly. "I hope this doesn't get in the way of the research. We're right on the edge of discovering something big, I just know it," I said, staring at the micrographs. We went to work gathering data from what samples we had from yesterday's dive. Everything pointed to the jellyfish polyps as the source of the strange molecule, and we soon discovered that they were more common in this area than we had previously thought. All we needed now was an adult specimen to test. As nine o'clock rolled around, I was dead set on finding one on the morning dive. I breathed in deeply the brisk, morning sea air as I eagerly put on my diving suit. We were taking samples from a plankton spread about ten miles north of an island that was little more than a dot on our navigation maps. I was zipping up my suit and looking over the specimen containers that I would be carrying with me when I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Paula, smiling at me as she knelt down beside me. She whispered in my ear, "Thanks for doing what you did last night. It was really sweet of you." I raised one eyebrow, trying to figure out what I did the night before that she was talking about. She touched her finger to her lips and pressed it gently on mine. I just sat there on one knee as she walked back to her quarters. She was wearing sweat pants and a light shirt that was blowing softly in the breeze. She hadn't had a chance to fix up her hair or put on any make up, but she looked incredibly beautiful to me right then and it took me a few minutes to get back to my preparations. John, still putting on his suit, had a big grin on his face. "So, what were you two up to last night?" "Nothing, really," I said, still a little dazed. "Nothing? It sure didn't look like nothing when I interrupted you two when you snuck away from the party. Looked like you were doing a little making out" "It's really none of your business, John," I returned sharply, realizing that I still had a grudge against him. "Did you know that she graduated summa cum laude in biology at Florida State? Top honors. Double majored in physics. I know because we graduated together. She was always really cold back then. Always had her nose in a book. We could never get her to come to any of our Alpha Sigma Epsilon parties. She was just too stuck up. She's changed a lot since she's been on this trip, though. I was really starting warm up to her. I don't know why she's latched on to you. I'd think with looks and brains like that she could do a lot better. Maybe she's just trying to make the rest of us guys jealous." "Yeah, that's it, Jack," I said sarcastically. "She's just trying to make you guys jealous." What he said about her had impressed me, though, and I tried to picture Paula a bookworm, spending her days in the collage library. I had a hard time believing it. She just didn't seem the type. We finally got everything ready for the dive, and rode out to the site on a rubber outboard boat. One by one we dropped backwards off the side of the boat into the calm, blue water. I could barely make out the reddish-brown tint that the plankton gave the water around it. Schools of small fish were everywhere, feeding on the microscopic creatures. I began looking around for concentrations of plankton to take samples from. I saw a few adult jellyfish of various species gyrating amidst the spread of plankton, but they were all fairly common and their early stages of life were well documented. In the distance, a faint phosphorescent glow drew my attention. As I swam closer, I could see the outline of a large jellyfish of a type that I had never seen in any textbook. It was tiger striped, and seemed be leaving a black trail of smoky ink behind it as it floated through the plankton. I was mesmerized by its breathtaking beauty, and decided to take a closer look. I glanced back at the rest of the team before I proceeded. They were all heading back to the boat, and Dr. Chen, the team leader, was motioning me with his hand to return. I looked back longingly at the delicate mushroom shape of the jellyfish as it drifted down into the dark depths. Turning around I swam towards the boat. Suddenly a small fish passed in front of my goggles and disappeared into a school of sardines. It was only a few inches long, but it looked for all the world like an adult blue shark. The shape of the young blue sharks was completely different and easily recognizable. Besides, they were larger than that when first born. It couldn't have been, though. I must have been seeing things. Could the carbon molecule have affected a creature as large as a shark? I quickly joined the other divers and soon we were sitting back on the boat. It seemed that we had received a radio message from the Sea Star to abort the dive and return immediately. Everyone was curious and a little bit worried as we quickly sped back to the ship. We were drawn up the Sea Star's aft ramp, and the crew helping us said that a storm was coming. I had noticed that the sea was starting to swell quite a bit, but hadn't really thought about it much. The storm must have changed course suddenly during the morning. I peeled off my suit and headed for the lab. I knew it was in all probability a hallucination, but I had to tell Dr. Kozlowski about the jellyfish I had seen and the miniature blue shark. I met Paula as I was running up the stairs. She grabbed my arm and asked excitedly if I had heard about the incoming storm. By the look on her face, I could tell that she had never experienced the severity or unpredictability of a South Pacific storm. She looked more elated than frightened. I, on the other hand, was plenty frightened. I nodded yes and said that I was in a hurry to help secure the lab. She decided to go with me, and followed me into the lab. Dr. Kozlowski was packing some of the chemical testing equipment as we entered. She looked up with a tired, worried expression, and I knew that it was worse than I had feared. "Oh, good," she said wearily. "You made it back all right. Captain Estridge received a message about fifteen minutes ago that the storm suddenly turned south and is heading right for us. He's going to try to make a run for an island bay. Maybe we can avoid the brunt of it. Anyway, Sean, I need you to start packing the specimen containers. They're particularly valuable to us now, considering what we came across this morning. Paula, I'm sure Dr. Faust needs you to help pack up his lab." "Oh, we've already got it done, Dr. Kozlowski. All we had to box up was the microscope and a few trays of slides. I just came over to help you with this lab. You have most of the raw samples stored here, and I thought I could be of some assistance." "Well, that's very considerate of you. I'm sure we could use all the help we can get. You can help Sean get started with the sample jars. Stack the crates against the far wall there. I've managed to get some twine to tie it down." I started setting the sample jars in the crates with Paula's help. Working with her so closely, I had completely forgotten about the morning's dive until Dr. Kozlowski brought it up. "Uh, yeah," I said between jars. "I think I discovered our jellyfish." "You did? That's great!" Dr. Kozlowski exclaimed, her face brightening despite the impending storm. "What jellyfish?" Paula asked. "It's a new species I think we've come across. It was large, tiger striped, and certainly had phosphorescence at points around its body. I've never seen anything like it before. It's got to be the one. I was going for a closer look when we got called back early due to the storm." "You guys discovered a new species of jellyfish?" Paula asked with a certain amount of envy evident in her voice. "Hopefully so. I can't say that I've seen anything like what you've described either. Perhaps we can collect a specimen after the storm abates." "I hope so," I said, knowing that it was too much to ask from mother nature. "There was another thing I thought I saw during the dive. It was probably just a mistake on my part. Probably just my imagination getting the better of me." "Yes?" Dr. Kozlowski asked casually as she secured the spectroscopy equipment. "As I was coming back to the boat, I could have swore I saw a miniature blue shark pass in front of me." "It was probably just a young, immature shark," Paula said. Dr. Kozlowski turned and looked at me gravely. "How small was it?" I held one hand to show her the length with my thumb and forefinger. "It couldn't have been more than ten centimeters long. It appeared to be completely mature." Paula rolled her eyes like we were playing a practical joke on her. "Now wait a minute, that's just impossible. Blue sharks are larger than that when they're born. Maybe you saw a fish that just looked like a shark." Dr. Kozlowski ignored her. "This is incredible if it's true. To think that the carbon molecule could affect a creature that large and advanced, with all its intricate systems. And you say that this shark was alive?" "It swam right by me." "I don't understand," Paula stated as Dr. Kozlowski stared down at the floor, deep in thought. "The jellyfish produce a chemical that is capable of radically reducing the volume of microscopic lifeforms. If this shark exists, apparently the chemical can reduce lifeforms on the macroscopic level as well." "This is just too strange to be true," she said nervously. "I mean, I know I don't know everything about biology, certainly not as much as you or Dr. Kozlowski, but I think I know enough see that this is just impossible." "Yesterday, I would be inclined to agree with you on that," Dr. Kozlowski mumbled, still deep in thought, "but after last night, I just don't know anymore. We may be on the edge of something very important, Sean." I started to reply but was cut off by huge clap of thunder that shook the whole lab. I walked over to the window and unlatched the wooden shutters. Rain had started pouring down in sheets and the sky to the North was entirely black with storm clouds. The wind had picked up, and the sea around us was noticeably choppy. The Sea Star began to rise and fall with the increasingly higher storm swells.

Part 2

As I stared into the menacing edge of the storm, I finally grasped just how much danger we were in. The dark clouds spread out across the sky, lit every few seconds by cascading lightning. The thunderclaps were frequent and deafening. I quickly shut and latched the shutters. Dr. Kozlowski stared at me gravely. Paula was standing beside me with her hand on my shoulder. "So, do you think we're going to beat it?" she asked, but I could see from her worried expression that she already knew the answer. "I think we're already in it," Dr. Kozlowski quietly answered her. "We'll just have to hope that we can weather it out. The Sea Star is a sturdy vessel and she's been through storms before, although this one looks awfully nasty." The ship suddenly lurched up at an angle, sending Dr. Kozlowski back against a shelf. I caught my arm around Paula just in time, stopping her from sliding towards the fore wall. I had a firm hold on the window frame, and it was the only thing keeping me from sliding as well. The Sea Star swung back in the opposite direction, but I was ready for it. Dr. Kozlowski had grabbed hold of the bolted-down shelf. "Are you OK?" I shouted to her over the thunderclaps. "Yes, but you'd better get a good hold on something. It's liable to get much worse before it gets better." The ship lurched steeply again. With a violent gust of wind, the shutters burst open, smashing against my hand on the frame. I lost my grip with a jolt of pain and went sliding across the wood floor, barely managing to grab onto a table leg. Paula had a hold on a chest near the window, and was screaming something at me that I couldn't discern through the loud thunder and wind. My hand throbbed with pain and my fingers were numb. I tried to wiggle them, but they didn't respond. The ship swung back again and my view through the window dipped well below the horizon. I could barely see the huge white crests of the wind-swept waves around us. The Sea Star dropped nauseasly into a valley between two waves, and the top of the second wave crashed violently across the deck. The ship lurched to one side, but quickly righted herself a few agonizing moments later. The Sea Star rode up and down the massive storm waves, like some twisted amusement ride. I clambered my way across the bolted down furniture to where Paula was huddled, clinging for dear life as the rain battered down through open window beside her. "We'll make it through this," I said softly as I held her trembling body against me. I didn't know if I really believed it myself, but I felt better comforting her. "Sean!" Dr. Kozlowski shouted at me. I could barely hear her over the storm, although she was holding on less than ten feet from me. "If I don't make it through this, I want you to make sure to get this data to..." She broke off, her eyes frozen on the window beside me. "Don't worry!" I shouted back, trying to reassure her. "We'll all make it through this!" She looked as though she hadn't heard a word I'd said, still staring blankly out the window. I read her lips as she silently said "Dear God". Intrigued and a little confused, I sat up on one knee and climbed across Paula to see what she was looking at. We were cresting a wave and as we rocked back I looked out beyond it at a sheer, black wall where the stormy horizon should have been. I stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out what it was. Lightning flashed in the sky behind it, silhouetting its towering crest, more than thirty feet above our waterline at the top of this wave. It was of tsunami proportions, a massive, rolling body of watery hell. I gasped silently. Paula was trying to climb up beside me. "What's going on?" she yelled. I slid back down and grabbed her tightly next to me. "Big wave," I shouted, "hold on!" My stomach went into my throat as the Sea Star slid down into the wave's deep trough. She leveled off and was drawn up the steep incline of the wavefront. The angle increased until it felt as though we were sideways. The crest crashed into her, toppling her over on her side and she kept rolling. The hull creaked as Paula and I were thrown across the room. The ceiling suddenly became the floor, and we crashed into it hard, along with most of the crates who's twine had snapped. I was pretty bruised up, lying in a pile of equipment and specimen jars. The room was dimly lit by the few fluorescent lights that had survived unshattered. Paula was moaning, rubbing her head, but she looked all right other than that. The room was rapidly filling up with seawater, which was gushing in through the windows. My thoughts immediately turned to Dr. Kozlowski. Where she had been lying there was now a big pile of loose equipment. I didn't know how she could have survived the avalanche. I clawed my way through the partially submerged pile until I uncovered her upper torso. Her face was still fixed in that icy stare, but I could see blood streaming out of a large fracture in the side of her skull. She was dead. I gazed at her in horror as I felt Paula tugging on my arm. "C'mon! We've got to get out of here before it floods!" I snapped back to the present situation. The Sea Star was tipping over and the cabin was quickly filling up. Paula pulled me up the slope of equipment and debris to the one window that wasn't pouring in water. We climbed through, emerging out in the watery chaos of the storm. Paula dove determinedly into the sea as I stumbled into the water behind her. The cabin dropped beneath me as the Sea Star continued its slow roll and I tried to swim clear of it. The huge waves and the rain buffeted us, making it incredibly difficult to stay afloat. The aft end of the Sea Star rose up from the water and she quickly slid under the waves. I had to fight to get away from the powerful undertow, but I was able to watch as her keel submerged, knowing that it was the last that anyone would ever see of her and most, or all, of her crew. I looked around me for Paula, but couldn't see her anywhere. Panicked, I dove in the turmoilous surf after her. She must have been pulled down with the ship, and I knew there wasn't much chance that I would find her. I swam down as far as my aching lungs could hold out. I started to rise back to the surface when something struck against my leg. I reached down and grabbed a clammy wrist with my good hand and struggled to the surface with her. She seemed limp at first, but slowly came to life as we surfaced. She clung on to me and coughed up water. I had to fight to keep my head above water, but I finally managed to get behind her and do a back float for both of us. We were submerged a few times in the violent waves, but I was generally able to keep our heads above water. I had given up hope for survival in this mess when I caught a glimpse of a bright orange object floating amid the debris. It was quite a distance away, but it was the only hope I had if it was what I thought. I kicked madly through the water, turning slightly every now and then to try to get a bearing on the object. The waves submerged us regularly, and the object kept moving along with them. Paula was barely conscious, sputtering and coughing as she tightly clung to my tired arms. I lost sight of it as we closed in. I cried out "No!" at the top of my lungs in impotent anguish and frustration at the dark, rain splattered waves that pushed us around like helpless corks in the water. I was so damn close. As we crested yet another wave, an orange blur slipped by the corner of my eye. I reached out, and after a few tries, managed to grab its slick plastic surface. I hauled it in and inspected it during the frequent lightning flashes. It was what I'd hoped, a lifepreserver vest that must have floated up from the sinking ship. My hopes soared as I found all of the straps to be intact. I quickly struggled to get Paula's arms through its arm holes, as she was rapidly losing consciousness and I was getting weaker. The waves kept pulling us apart as I fought the straps, more by feel than by sight. I had to submerge my head to fasten the last strap, but finally it was done. As I broke the surface, we were going over a large wave. I tried to grab her, but we were ripped apart as the white crest passed through us. Another wave pushed me farther from her. I could see her limp form bobbing in the distance before I lost sight entirely. I struggle to tread water in the storm torn sea was quickly sapping my strength, and I knew I wasn't going to last much longer. At least Paula had a chance, though. With the vest on, she might at least weather the storm and tomorrow a rescue plane would spot her. I kept repeating that image over and over in my mind. I couldn't bear to think of anything bad happening to her, after all we had went through. It was almost funny. The biggest scientific discovery I could have ever hoped for in my lifetime, and it's all for nothing now. I first time I ever came close to falling in love with a woman, and it's all for nothing, too. The more I thought about it as the waves battered my tired body, the more I realized that I really was in love with her. Her eyes. Her smile. The way she laughed and flirted with me with a strange sincerity that no woman ever had before. I knew that I had only known Paula for a short time, but she felt right to me. I wanted to live the rest of my life with her. I looked around at the bleak, violent sea around me and laughed weakly at myself. What a stupid revelation for a dying man to have. It was the story of my pitiful life. I had always wanted to have what was just beyond my reach. My legs were numb and I couldn't tell if I was kicking or not. I relaxed. As I slowly slid under, my mind wandered to whether she would remember me or not. I don't know how long I was under before my survival instinct finally kicked in. I don't know how far down I went, either, but when I broke the surface in the torrent of rain, I was expelling water and phlegm from my twisted lungs. A wave dunked me as I was gasping for air and I came up coughing and spitting once again, my arms flailing around me like a mad man. Deep down I wanted this to end, but my body couldn't seem to accept it. My head hurt and I had trouble thinking straight. A vague white shape passed a few feet in front of my blurry eyes. The first thought that crossed my mind was that it was an angel sent down to see me off to the afterlife, and that I was dead and didn't even realize it. I had never been a religious man, but right then it seemed to make perfect sense to me. As it drifted closer, however, I could see that was the broken remains of a styrofoam cooler. It must have risen to the surface as the Sea Star sank. I reached out and grabbed a corner of it with my painfully weak arm, drawing it in slowly. I clutched it tightly to my chest, wrapping my right arm around it and bringing my waterlogged head and torso as far out of the water as I could. Its buoyancy allowed my tired muscles to rest for the first time since the ship sank. It felt incredibly good. As I began to lose consciousness, I wondered if it was all for nothing. If I were to let go while I was out, I would slide into the water and drown in spite of my good fortune. I wondered this as I peacefully drifted off amid the violent wind and waves. I raised my weary head and slowly gazed around. My eyes were blurry and burning from the saltwater, but I could see that the sea around me was calm. The cooler rocked gently in the water. The sky was black and I could barely make out a few stars. Apparently the storm had finally passed. I must have been out for at least nine hours for it to be night time already. My throbbing headache made it difficult for me to think straight. I tried to move my legs a little to see if they were still there. I could get some feeling from them, but they were terribly waterlogged and painfully stiff. My whole body was so sore that I could barely move. I laid my head back down on the soft styrofoam in hopes that I could go back to sleep and end this nightmare. A dim green glow permeated my eyelids. I slowly opened them and gazed half-asleep at the rippling, sinuous patterns of yellow-green photoluminescence that seemed to surrounded me. A strong, musky scent filled the air and drew me back to sleep. My last image of the lights around me before my eyes closed again was a strangely familiar tigerstripe pattern. I felt a distant lifting sensation, followed by a feeling falling and hitting something soft. Then there was nothing but darkness around me. I awoke to thunderous crashing sound. I had a pounding headache and felt like someone had run over my body with a truck. My stomach was twisted in a knot, and I was overcome by nausea as I started to raise up on my sore arms. I convulsively vomited all over ground, my stomach emptying itself quickly and trying vainly for more. I choked down a few breaths, and it was all I could do to roll over and avoid falling into it. It was finally daytime, and as I stared up at the soft white ceiling I wondered how I survived the night. I wondered if Paula was still alive, or if she died of exposure or pneumonia. I smiled to myself. Maybe she drifted to this same island and was stuck here with me. I could here the loud surf outside, pounding relentlessly against the sandy beach. Somehow I had made it. I could only hope that she had made it, too. Outside? Ceiling? My eyes suddenly popped open. Where exactly the hell was I? The stark white ceiling loomed overhead about forty or fifty feet up. It came to a right corner above where I was lying that connected two homogeneously white walls. The damp floor under me was made of the same material and was unusually soft, as if it were rubber or plastic. A pool of water filled one corner of the room, and was covered by a thick layer of sea foam. My eyes followed the precise, uniform walls of the room. It was incredibly long, almost a hundred feet. The far wall was open to the outside, as well as part of an adjacent wall that appeared to have been torn out, perhaps by the storm. A sandy gravel covered the floor near the gaping opening. I wondered what sort of eccentric nutcase would have built such a strange, imposing building on an island, if this were an island. Even worse, what the hell was I doing here? I tried to remember anything from the night before that might give me some clue to my current situation. All I could remember was a faint, distant dream about lights. My head was throbbing and I decided I had better get outside to see where I was. As I rolled over on my hands and knees, I noticed that I was completely naked. I couldn't see my clothes lying anywhere on the floor. Whoever put me here must have removed them and put them somewhere else. I started to rise to my feet, but immediately lost my balance and fell back down on one knee. I must have been really disorientated, as I hadn't noticed how much the floor sloped up towards the opening. I tried again, and managed to steady myself. The floor was wet and slippery, but I was able to half walk, half crawl towards the vast opening. The sun was painfully bright as I stumbled out beyond the wall. The yellow gravel hill that covered the edge of the floor stretched out as far as I could see, like a barren desert. I took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the glare of the sun, but when they did I couldn't believe them. The beach stretched out before me like a wasteland. On one side it met the sea, where impossibly huge waves crashed loudly into it, drawing great volumes of surf up hundreds of feet onto its wet surface. The waves seemed oddly distorted, and were many times larger than the monster that sank the Sea Star. The other edge of the beach was even more astonishing. An enormous green wall of foliage rose from the sand into the air. Above it a canopy of trees stretched up into the sky a good mile above me. I just stood there for a few moments staring in disbelief at the surrealistic Brobdingnagian landscape that surrounded me. Where the hell was I? The only thing I could think of was that I was dreaming. That this was only some strange, twisted dream and that I was still drifting hopelessly, clinging to the styrofoam cooler. "The cooler", I said softly to myself as glanced at my right hand that was supporting me against the broken white wall. I ran my fingers against its soft, giving surface. I could make our irregular round circles embossed all up and down its face. If it was on the same scale as everything else around me, the room would be just about right for the inside of the cooler. A loud scraping noise from the far side of the opposite wall suddenly drew my attention. I cautiously crept around the opening to see what was making it. Perhaps I wasn't the only survivor. It didn't matter, I kept telling myself. This was only a dream. I didn't get but five steps when a menacing form crawled out from behind the wall. It was a huge crab, easily the size of a truck. I froze as the beast edged its way around the corner, its spindly legs searching every crevice along the wall face for food. I froze in terror at the sight massive creature, and barely caught myself on one arm as I fell back in the sand. I had seen innumerable fiddler crabs in my studies, and had dissected more than my share, but up close with it looming over me, not twenty feet away, it was a totally different experience. I couldn't tell if it saw me or not. Its thin eyestalks were drawn to investigating what was in front of it, and I quickly back crawled to the edge of the wall behind me. When I finally reached it, I turned and sprinted around the corner, hoping that it didn't have a brother waiting there for me. This side of the cooler was clear and I ran its full length. I turned my head near the end to see if the crab was following me, but it apparently hadn't seen me. Being chased was a common experience in my nightmares, but this was beginning to feel less and less like a dream. My senses were too acute, and I could feel pain with every step I took. The massive, crashing surf a few hundred feet in front of me looked crystal clear. This felt real, no matter how twisted everything seemed. As I slowly came around the next corner of the cooler, I could see debris from the Sea Star washed up for many miles along the shoreline. It was mostly just broken wood boards, but scattered around were also the occasional crate or foam container, just about anything that could float and wasn't tied down, and some things that had been tied down, too. Apparently the Sea Star had capsized close to the island, and the debris field had found its way to shore without much dispersion. Everything seemed huge to me as I strolled through the wreckage, trying to keep a watchful eye out for more crabs or any other potential danger. Boards from the cabins came up to my waist, and I couldn't remember them as being more than an inch thick. A plastic chemical warning sign from one of the labs lay draped across a plank, looking for all the world like a billboard. Its letters stretched two feet high. "Warning, Highly Corrosive Chemicals." Below that a simple outline of a hand with drop of liquid falling on it was partially obscured by the sand. The hand was longer than I was tall. I sat down on the sign and stared out into the sea. I was looking at all this from the wrong point of view. I was the only twisted part of this scenario. Everything else was consistently on the same scale. The world hadn't suddenly expanded into a gigantic state. Somehow I had shrunk down to the size of a mere insect, while the rest of the world stayed the same. How did this happen? The only thing that I could think of was that this was all some absurd dream, and if I could only find some way of waking up from it, maybe everything would be back to normal again. A thought suddenly struck me like a sledgehammer and shattered my assumption that this was merely a dream with spark of plausibility. The experiments. The carbon molecule. The shark. The jellyfish. That last one struck a particular chord as I remembered back to my hazy dream of all the lights as I floated in the calm darkness. I wasn't dreaming. I saw the lights, the natural photoluminescence of the jellyfish. Everything started to fall into place in a way that scared the hell out of me. Whatever had happened to that shark and the plankton had happened to me as well. The prospect of an astounding scientific discovery didn't comfort me much as I sat there, naked and chilly in the cool morning sea air. I got up to walk some more amid the debris. My thoughts turned to immediate survival. I didn't have any food, shelter or clothing, and I was potential prey for nearly every living animal on the island with little in the way of defending myself. There wasn't any point to even think being rescued. Even if I could draw any spotter planes down, I couldn't imagine how the rescuers would react to a tiny creature with a human appearance. I would probably be stepped on for all my trouble. At least I could forage amid what was left from the Sea Star. Perhaps I could take some of the smaller pieces of wood build some sort of shelter. I would have to drag them pretty far up the shoreline so they wouldn't get washed away at high tide. I would have to find some way of protecting it from intruders as well. Perhaps a wide mote and some sharp wooden spikes jutting out from the top and sides. Well, I'd have to see what would work. I was walking around the side of a rather large cooler, thinking of making some sort of spear so that I could hunt insects in the undergrowth, when I came upon Paula's lifeless form. The magnitude of my change in size hadn't really hit me until I saw her body lying on the beach before me. She was easily two hundred feet long, stretching clear across my field of view. She still had her wrinkled, soggy lab coat on, along with the lifevest I had put on her. She was lying limply on her stomach with her head was facing away from me, her short, dark hair wet and matted down. I stared at the back of her lifevest to try to see if she was still breathing. I felt so useless standing next to her. I knew mouth to mouth resuscitation, but I couldn't do a damned thing if she needed it. I could barely make out a slight, rhythmic dip in the lifevest that indicated life. I gave out a sigh of relief. At least things had gone all right for her. She was tough. I was sure that she could survive here until a rescue plane came, if one ever did. I wished I could be of some help to her. I wanted to protect her and provide for her, but I could do neither at my present state. It felt so ironic. Here I was with the woman I would have most wanted to be stranded with on a deserted island, and this had to happen to me. Her body suddenly convulsed as she coughed loudly. I stepped back cautiously as her great arm slid back in the sand and she slowly rose to her hands and knees. Her head lowered as she coughed and gasped for air. She looked weak and tired, as if she had just been sleeping. She wearily looked up and squinted at the treeline beyond the beach. She whispered something to herself that I couldn't quite make out. I started to back up carefully in a wave of panic over confronting her like this. She started to look at the washed up debris around her when her eyes finally glanced over to where I was standing. She slowly shut her eyes and focused on me again as an expression of incredibility swept across her enormous face. "Sean?" her lips quietly formed my name. Not knowing what to do, I nervously waved at her and said "hi" in a rather meek tone of voice. I couldn't imagine what must have been going through her mind right then. She was still quite disoriented and my presence didn't help any. She hesitantly sat back on her knees, still staring at me as if I were the strangest thing she'd ever seen. I probably was. "What are you doing so small?" she asked slowly, as if she were trying to figure out if she were dreaming or not. Despite her enormous size from my point of view, she was still just as disarmingly beautiful as she had been before. My heart was racing, and I couldn't tell if it was from panic or infatuation. "It's a long story, Paula, and I don't think you'll believe me." "Oh, God," she said as she covered her face with her hands, "I must be dreaming." She slowly lied down on the beach as I stood there and watched her. She rested her head in her arms and closed her eyes. "All I need to do is go back to sleep," she whispered softly to herself, "and when I wake up this will all be gone and everything will be back to normal." She went back to sleep quickly, as far as I could tell from the regular intervals of her breathing. I stood there a few more minutes staring at her beautiful form. I had never had a chance to look at her so closely before for any length of time. Her angelic face looked so perfect, so innocent. I wanted to take her in my arms and hold her until she awoke. I looked down at myself. Yeah, right. The most I could hope to hold was her little finger. I was nothing to her. When she found out I was real, she would probably spend all her time worrying about me and taking care of me. What she needed to be worrying about would be trying to survive and get off this island. I could do nothing for her in my present state, and I would be nothing but dead weight to her. If I left now, she would think it was merely a weird dream and maybe do better without me. I knew it was stupid and risky, but I wanted to kiss her one last time before I left. Her massive arm blocked my path to her face, so I decided to climb across the shoulder of her vest. I doubted that she would feel my movement through the thick foam. The loose cloth that covered the vest was slick but I managed to grab handfuls of it and pull myself up. As I crawled across the back of her shoulder, I could feel her back rise and fall with her steady breathing. It felt wonderful to be so close to her. My hands slipped on the opposite side and I slid down, landing flat on my back only a few feet in front of her face. I lied still for a few moments, half expecting her to awake, but she remained sound asleep. Her nose, so perfectly sized in proportion to her face, loomed in front of me, casting a shadow across my body. She looked unreal, like a billboard poster on the side of a road. I carefully got up and walked slowly towards her beautiful lips. The were as wide as I was tall, but still looked as perfect and inviting as when I kissed her that last night on the Sea Star. They were slightly parted, and I could feel her sweet, warm breath blow over my body every time she exhaled. Careful not to touch her with my hands, I leaned forwards and kissed the middle of her lower lip as softly as I could. If I was expecting her to wake up after being kissed by her handsome prince, I was sorely wrong as she didn't even shudder. Some prince I was. I backed away slowly and whispered, "Goodbye my love," knowing full well that she couldn't hear me. I took one last look at her face, and then started back up the cloth covered padding on her lifevest. As I walked away along the beach, I looked back at her. At a distance, she looked normal sized to me, but it was only an illusion in perspective. "So close, and yet so far," I whispered. I nearly tripped over a splinter of wood as I turned around in the sand. It was about seven feet long, (about three inches long in real world scale, I guessed) and was dried and fairly light as I picked it up. It looked about as good a weapon as I was going to find out here. I headed for the towering treeline with the splinter over my shoulder. I was getting hungry, and I figured that Paula would be as well when she finally woke up. I thought I might be able to find some berries or a flower or something that I could sneak down to her while she was sleeping. She'd probably be confused as to where they came from, but I figured a few mysteries for her wouldn't hurt. If I kept alert, I might even be able to watch her every now and then from the foliage. The wide, dark leaves of the tropical plants blocked out the sun as I hiked through the endless tangle of roots and stems. The sound of the waves crashing in the distance was being replaced by loud bird calls and the incessant buzzing of flying insects all around me. I tried to remain watchful as I walked along, knowing full well that if I wasn't, I would be an easy meal for the first large spider or mantis that happened along. A large, blue orchid caught my eye. It was on a vine that twisted its way up the side of a tree trunk. I wasn't sure if I could make the climb, but I couldn't think of a better goodbye gift for Paula, so I had to try. I pictured in my mind her waking up and finding the orchid mysteriously next to her. Perhaps she would put it in her hair as I watched from a distance. It would look so beautiful in her short, brown hair. I sighed slowly. Deep down I knew it would be for the best if, after I set the flower next to her sleeping body, I just disappeared deep in the forest never to see her again. It would be too painful to watch her everyday from a distance, knowing that I could never touch or kiss her again. I could never tell her how I really felt about her, or help her out in any way that would matter. When I finally reached the roots of the vine, I was thoroughly depressed and determined to get that orchid. I figured I'd need my splinter of wood to saw through the flower's thick stem, so I looked around for something to tie it on with. I found a small leaf stem within reach and cut it off. After stripping it, I was able to tie it around some cracks in the splinter and loop it over my shoulder. I wasn't sure if it would hold or not, but I thought that it was worth a try. The vines were about as thick as my arm, and were tangled together as they wound around the tree. Although they were relatively smooth, I was able to wrap my fingers around them and had no trouble lifting myself up. I seemed lighter than usual, which, I assumed, was due to an increased strength to weight ratio due to my reduction. I climbed for several minutes, inching closer and closer to the flower. Although I wasn't normally afraid of heights, I was careful not to look down, I was only a few feet above the ground, but with my size, I didn't know if I could survive the fall. By the time I finally reached the orchid, my arms, already sore from all the swimming the night before, felt like they were about ready to fall off. I wrapped my legs around the base of the flower and unstrapped my splinter. The stem wasn't too tough, and it only took a few minutes to saw through its one foot thick stem. As the last layer of stem that held it to the vine was cut away, it dropped delicately to the jungle floor. I decided to rest for a moment before starting back down the vine. I was beginning to sympathize with Jack after he climbed up the beanstalk to the giant's castle. It really takes a lot out of a guy. My train of thought was broken by a sudden, loud flapping noise coming from above. I instinctively dove for a farther piece of the vine. The wind rushed around me as I barely caught it. The enormous bird flew by in a flurry of bright colors. As it circled around for another strike, I could see it was some sort of parrot-like island bird. It was smaller than most parrots, as far as I could judge, but to me it was the size of an elephant. It must have thought that I was nothing more than a tasty insect on the vine, and, as I thought about it, I guessed that's all I really was. It was gliding in for another strike as I started to panic, trying to think of a means of escape. I desperately unslung my splinter and waved it at the bird as menacingly is I could. I knew it was futile, as I doubted that I could even hurt the massive creature, but I hoped I could scare it off. It didn't work, of course, and the bird slammed into my like a freight train with its powerful talons outstretched. I instantly felt a sharp pain as one of its talons tore into my back. The next thing I knew, I was falling very rapidly away from it. The bird didn't manage to get a grip on me and had instead knocked my off the vine. The jungle blurred around me as I wondered if I would survive, and what the point would be if I did. It only took a couple of seconds before I hit the foliage of the jungle floor. Twigs and stems scraped against my body one after another until I finally, mercifully, came to a halt. I had landed hard on a stick, and I slowly slid across its rough surface to the soft ground. I laid there a few minutes in the perpetual shadow of the undergrowth. It felt like I had broken every bone in my body, and I couldn't believe I was still alive. I had to brush from my eye the blood that trickled down from a gash on my forehead. God, I was in pain! Suddenly a terrible vision met my eyes. The monstrous bird moved into view, not a hundred feet from me. Its head bobbed back and forth in a jerky fashion, searching the ground for its prey. I clenched my teeth against the pain and slid my body closer to the stick, hoping upon hope that the terrible creature wouldn't spot me. After what seemed to me like an eternity, the bird gave up the hunt and, in a bright flash of colors, took off for the treetops again. I let out a sigh of relief. I knew I couldn't stay here for long, but it hurt so much to move. I fought back the pain and rolled over to my hands and knees. It felt like my right leg was broken and wouldn't hold my weight if I tried to stand up. My body was covered with scrapes and bruises, and blood was running down my side from the gash on my back. Blood was also dripping from my forehead. As I began to crawl, I started to feel a little light-headed. I didn't know why I continued to crawl along in that painful manner, but I guessed that my survival instinct didn't know when to finally call it quits. I was leaving a speckled trail of blood behind me, and I knew that it wouldn't be long before some animal caught scent of it and started tracking me. That thought, for some reason, seemed to push me forwards out of desperate fear. I had heard that deer, shot by hunters, would sometimes run for hours before they finally dropped. I don't know how long I had crawled before I saw the sunlight break through the foliage. I was really dizzy and had trouble concentrating on any one thought at a time. As I dragged myself towards it, I could feel warm sand beneath my hands and I knew I had somehow made it back to the beach. A dark shadow blotted out the sun as I collapsed. Some animal had found me and it was all over. I could feel a slight pressure on my back as my mind drifted off into the darkness.

Part 3

My head was painfully throbbing as I slowly opened my eyes. Everything was pitch black, and it took me a moment to assure myself that I was really awake. My body ached all over and I had to urinate pretty badly. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I began to make out stars glittering in the sky. I realized that I must have slept all day and was rather surprised that I hadn't bled to death. Memories of the morning came flooding back to me as I reached up to touch the wound on my forehead. I could feel a thick piece of cloth covering it, as if someone had bandaged it. I ran my fingers down my face to feel for dried blood but couldn't find anything. Someone must have washed me off as well. "Paula?" I said quietly as I painfully sat up. I had been lying on a pile of wadded up cloth that felt rather nice after what I had been through. Tall styrofoam walls, pale white under the starlight, surrounded me as I realized that I was in a cooler again, but this one seemed to be entirely intact. Sores on my legs and the gash on my back were all securely wrapped in cloth bandages. A rough loincloth had been fashioned around my waist and crotch. With all these cloth wrappings, I felt like a half-dressed, miniature mummy. "Hey, you're awake!" Paula's voice boomed, causing the whole cooler to reverberate. I could see the silhouette of her head and shoulders over the top of the cooler. I could barely make out her beautiful features in the darkness. She was so large she didn't look like she could be real, but more like a billboard strung up against the sky. "I was afraid you might be in a coma or something. You were in pretty bad shape when I found you. I was so worried." Her voice was softer now, and I couldn't believe that she was really talking to me in the state I was in. She reached her hand into the cooler and gently massaged my stomach and chest with her thumb. I was surprised just how gentle she was, for, although her thumb was about as long as my body and twice as thick, I felt no pain nor heavy pressure as she rubbed me soothingly. "Sean, what happened? I remember drowning in the water after the Sea Star capsized. Then I remember waking up on this beach with a life vest on and seeing you standing in front of me so tiny. When I woke up again you weren't there and I assumed that it had just been a dream. But when I found you lying there, bleeding and unconscious at the edge of the beach, everything was back to being weird again. I want to know what's going on." "I wish I could tell you, but I really don't know for sure," I said as loudly as I could without resorting to shouting. She seemed to hear me all right. "Then I'm not going crazy? This is really happening?" "I have a hard time believing it, too, Paula. But somehow, while I was drifting here after the storm, I was shrunken down to the size of an insect. I'm sure it was the jellyfish we were talking about earlier." "I admit," she said, rolling her eyes upward a little, "that when you and Dr. Kozlowski were discussing that tiny blue shark, I thought that you were playing a joke at my expense.....Me being a green intern and all. But I have to say I really believe you now." She grinned at me a little as if she were unsure as to how I would react. I was rather surprised with her general concern and acceptance of me and my new stature. I had expected that she would be appalled and disgusted with my transformation and that she wouldn't respect me or even have normal human consideration for me any longer. The fact that she was so kind and level headed in such an unusual situation impressed me greatly. It seemed the more I got to know Paula, the more I appreciated her. All the other women I had known throughout my life paled in comparison to her. As I stared up into her huge brown eyes, I smiled back at her. I could see in her eyes that it must have been the acknowledgment she needed. She must have been as worried about how I would react to her as I had been about how she would react to me. She probably thought that she looked like some terrible monster the size of whale to me. How could she realize how beautiful was to me? Her comparable size, if anything, enhanced that beauty, but she had no way of knowing that. "What did you do then?" she asked. "How did you react when you discovered that you were so tiny? What did you think when you first saw me? I bet you thought your girlfriend really put on some serious weight." She giggled a little at the thought. Her expression suddenly turned somber as looked over the bandages that she had made for me. "How did you get so cut up? Were you attacked by some animal?" She winced, apparently thinking about what might have happened. I started to explain about the parrot that attacked me, when she suddenly cut me off in mid-sentence. "Sean," she said, looking away in the distance. "Sean, why did you leave me? I mean, you were right here by me. I...I saw you. I was really out of it, but I remember seeing you over by this cooler. When I woke up you were gone. Here you found me, unconscious on the beach, and you just left me? I don't understand. Something could have happened to you out there..I mean, something did happen to you. At least you were a little safe next to me. Were you that scared of me that you had to run away? Did you think I would freak out and stomp on you or something when I woke up or what?" I just stood there staring up at her for a moment. I didn't know how to put what I felt about her into words. I had assumed she'd just understand. She actually thought that I ran away because I was frightened of her? Tears welled in her large eyes as she tried to fight back crying. I shook my head. "No..no, Paula. I left you because I thought you'd be better off without me. And I was..well, a little ashamed of being so small. I didn't want you to see me like this. I figured you would have enough on your mind just trying to survive here. You didn't need all the extra complications involved with me." A smile of relief and warmth crossed her tear stained face. "Well," she said after sniffing a few times, "I've had guys abandon me before, but never to uncomplicate my life before." She grinned down at me and tapped me on the head with her forefinger. "Besides, you were always shorter than me. I obviously don't have a hang-up dating shorter guys. You're just a little more so now." As she broke out in a laughter, I yelled up, "Well I apparently don't have a hang-up dating taller women!" We laughed for a while together. So much tension was broken up between us. It was wonderful. She actually still seemed attracted to me despite the fact that I was the size of an action figure doll to her. I couldn't understand why, but it was too good to argue with. She lowered her hand into the cooler and laid it flat beside me. I took her que and climbed onto it, sitting down on her soft palm. I had remembered her hand looking so dainty and slender the day before, but now her fingers were enormous My stomach lurched a little as she quickly raised me to her face. We looked at each other in the pale moonlight. I couldn't recall ever seeing a more strikingly beautiful woman in my life, nor one who meant so much to me. She half-smiled and looked down humbly for a second before meeting my eyes again. "I bet you were really surprised when you woke up and your girlfriend had turned into a whale." "Hey! Stop it!" I said in a whispered shout. It startled me as much as it did her and I couldn't believe that I said it. "Look, Paula. You're just as beautiful, attractive, and sexy as you ever were before. It's me who's changed, not you. You don't look like a whale or a monster to me. I wish you could understand that." "I weighed one hundred forty pounds before. I must weigh a gazillion pounds compared to you now!" "You're perfect, Paula. You haven't changed in anyway. It's just me. I probably look like nothing more than an insect to you now." "Hey! Stop it!" she said, trying to mock my voice. She smirked. "Sean, haven't you ever heard the phrase 'Size doesn't matter'? You know, a lot of us girls still go by that. It's not the size anyway, it's what you do with it." "O.....K., whatever that means." My thoughts turned back to my bladder, which was becoming more and more demanding by the minute. "Umm, Paula. I feel a little awkward saying this, but I really need, you know, to use the facilities." "Oh, sure. Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't even think about that. If you'd like I could just carry you over to the edge of the beach here." She rose and gently carried me up to where the jungle met the sand. She sat down a placed me on the ground next to her. "Now don't go running off into the woods. I'm not about to lose you again." She pointed a finger at me and grinned. "Without you, nobody would believe my story!" She quickly turned her head away from me. "Oh, I'm sorry. I promise I won't look." I was a little uncomfortable peeing not two feet from my girlfriend. It was the first time I caught myself thinking of her as my girlfriend, rather than as an incredible woman who I never could really have a chance with. It was an odd and wonderful feeling. It was almost worth losing my height to get a chance to fall in love with her. It took the better part of a minute to relieve myself, and as I tied the loincloth that she had fashioned for me, I glanced back at her enormous body next to me. As I did so she snapped her head back away with a guilty look on her face. She had been watching me for God only knows how long. "Oops, sorry. I was just, umm, getting something out of my eye." She awkwardly started rubbing her right eye. "Uh, there we go. Just a piece of sand." I chuckled to myself. With a devilish look on her face, I could tell she knew that I could see right through her bluff. She sheepishly picked me back up and held me close to her face. "What am I going to do with you, Sean?" she whispered in a sultry tone of voice. "Well, it's late, and you're never going to heal if you don't get plenty of rest." She carried me back to the small collection of washed ashore debris she had made into our camp. She hadn't set up any overhead protection for her if it rained that night, but she didn't seem all too concerned. She laid me back in the cooler, and after saying goodnight, placed the lid back on it. I had a slight hope that she might have let me sleep with her that night, but I had to admit that it was probably safer for me in here in case she inadvertently rolled over and crushed me in her sleep. In my present condition, it wouldn't take much to injure me. I felt a slight vibration as she must have slid the cooler up next to her, and I could hear her lay her arm across the lid. I pictured her curled up around it. If only the cooler wasn't so well insulated, I could have felt her wonderful body heat through the side. Thinking about her, I had a hard time going to sleep. I had this terrible fear of waking up and finding that everything was back to normal and that she was gone. After a fitful night's sleep, I could finally see the light from the sunrise glowing through the thick, foam wall. I had to urinate pretty badly again, and I was ready to get out of this vast, white tomb. I couldn't tell if Paula was awake or not, and I didn't think I could wait very much longer. My body was still quite sore, but not as bad as it had been the night before. I stretched out and measured up the wall of the cooler. It was about fifty feet high, and the styrofoam was soft enough I could pry hand-holds in it. I didn't know if I could lift the lid at all, certainly not if she was still resting her arm on it. I figured it was worth a shot, and even if I fell, I doubted it would hurt me too much. My shoulders ached as I dug my fingers into the yielding foam and started to pull myself up. Using my feet to climb was a little harder, as I had to kick the styrofoam hard to get a good toe-hold. I reached the top after about five minutes of scaling, and I pressed my free hand up against the massive lid. Surprisingly enough, I was able to lift it slightly. Climbing up another step, I put my forearm and the side of my head against it, and lifted it up high enough that I could wedge myself through. I knew that if Paula happened to lay her arm across the lid at that moment, I would easily be smashed between the lid and the cooler. I wiggled through the crack as quickly as I could, and from haste and general clumsiness, I promptly lost my grip and dropped from the side of the cooler. I landed on Paula's labcoat. I could feel her warm, soft skin underneath it, and I froze immediately, wary that she might wake up and smack me, thinking that I was an irritating insect. As I raised my head slightly and looked across to her face, I realized that I had landed on one of her breasts. I was particularly surprised to see that it hadn't woken her. Although it was completely by accident, I felt like a perverted jerk, copping a feel while she was asleep. How would I explain this if she woke up? I was trying to figure out a means of getting across her side without waking her when she resolved it for me. Still asleep, she stretched her arms back and rolled over to her other side. I clung on for dear life, and when she was nearly over, I dropped to the sand and rolled away from her titanic body. The spot where I had been lying across her breast was now pressed firmly into the sand as she sighed sleepily, obviously in the middle of some dream. It was scary how close I was to being crushed. Although her breast was quite soft and pliant, a lot of her body weight was behind it, and even if I had survived, I would have probably suffocated under the labcoat. I quickly trotted up the beach to the edge of the jungle. I don't know why I hadn't chosen a closer location to relieve myself, perhaps just silly modesty. The jungle looked wild and foreboding, and with a shudder I recalled how close I was to being eaten the last time I had ventured into it. I could hear Paula yawning behind me. She had sat up and was stretching her arms. Although she still looked enormous from a distance, she was so beautiful in the morning sunlight. It was nice to be able to see all of her at once. She rubbed her hand across the lid of the cooler with a longing look on her face, but didn't open it. She stumbled to her feet and stretched her arms up again, arching her back. God, I wanted to just reach out and take her in my arms. I was fairly warm out already, and she must have been sweating all night in that tattered labcoat. She began to nonchalantly unbutton it, and after sliding it off, tossed it on top of the cooler. I didn't surprise me that she had been wearing her emerald green bikini underneath it the whole time. I had never told her, but of all her swimsuits, (and she had at least five), I liked this one the best. It was simple but it accentuated her figure so perfectly. She strolled towards the jungle, but not directly towards me. She headed for a spot a little further down the beach. I thought about yelling and waving, but I knew that she was too far away to hear me. She stopped and stared at the ground for moment, then got down on one knee and felt around in the sand. Still looking at the ground, she stood up and silently disappeared into the jungle. Curious, I ran as quickly as my sore body could take to the spot that she had looked at. There was a dark spot in the sand with a slight dark trail that led into the underbrush. It took me a moment to realize that this must have been the spot that I collapsed after I had crawled out of the jungle. The dark stain was the residue from my blood trail. Why Paula followed it into the foliage, I didn't know. I figured that it was dangerous for me to follow her or wait there, so I began to walk back to our little camp. I had pulled a muscle slightly on the last run, and I had to walk with a limp. There were some seabirds offshore, fluttering among the waves. At this distance I couldn't tell what species they were, and they looked too far away to spot me. I sat on dried piece of driftwood and stared out into the sea. I was trying to think of some way that she could survive out here. Fruit was plentiful from what I could see the jungle, and there might be some way we could rig up a fishing line or net. There was probably some wild game on the island, but I hated to think of her putting herself in a dangerous situation trying to hunt. It probably wasn't worth it. There were always shellfish and crabs offshore. I was so consumed in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the shadow passing over me. A sudden clatter next to me made me visibly jump in surprise. A sliver of wood, longer than I was, rolled to a stop a few feet from me. I recognized it from the vine tied around one end as the weapon I had picked up on the beach yesterday and lost in the jungle after the bird attack. My gaze drifted further past the piece of wood I was sitting on to Paula's bare foot. Although overall as slender and attractive as ever, it looked truly enormous close up. It was well over thirty feet long from toe to heel, about the size of a Greyhound bus. I followed up the sensuous contours of her ankle and her tan and perfectly sculptured legs, which rose above me like two towers, eventually meeting at her crotch. Paula was standing directly above me, her feet straddling the piece of driftwood that I was sitting on. With her hands on her hips, she looked down at me, giggling. "That little piece of wood look familiar? I found it next to this flower, which was obviously cut from its stem." I noticed the orchid in her short, dark hair. She was smiling, and I almost caught a hint of lustfulness in her sparkling brown eyes. I just sat there, staring at her with a loss of words. She slowly knelt down and carefully picked me up, placing me in her open palms. I was lifted up to her smiling face, her eyes gazing upon me dreamily. I noticed a tear rolling down her left cheek. "Sean, you went into the jungle, climbed that tall vine, and took all this incredible risk just to bring me back a flower? What were you thinking? You could have been killed so easily out there. You were damned lucky you weren't." She looked out over the ocean for a second in thought. "I don't know if I should kiss you or smack you for being so stupid!" She grinned again and raised her eyebrows a few times. Before I knew what was happening, she swept me up to her face and firmly pressed my upper body against her sensuous lips. She held me there for a good fifteen seconds before finally releasing me with a content sigh. I laid there in her warm hands just inches from her perfect face as we sized each other up, trying to read the other's innermost thoughts. "Well, you're still a great kisser," she said, finally breaking the silence. "It looks like your cuts and bruises are really starting to heal up good. I bet your back is still pretty sore." She braced herself with one hand and sat down cross-legged. "It's still a little sore, but it's getting better. I think the shrinking process somehow improved my body's natural healing ability. Not much of a consolation for having to spend the rest of my life two inches tall, though." "Hey, don't talk that way. Once we get back to the US. we'll be able to study it and who knows? Maybe we can find a way to reverse it. I mean, were two intelligent biologists. You never know." "This is such an unusual reaction. The chances of this happening in the first place were pretty much impossible, and the chances that any biological specimen could be returned to it's original state after undergoing this process are even less." "Well, even if we can never get you back to normal size, Sean, that doesn't mean you life is over. We could still do research together. You're a scientist, Sean. Lots of scientists are still able make valuable contributions after becoming physically handicapped. It's your brain that makes you valuable in our line of work, and I think you're just as smart as ever." "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just don't you to have to spend the rest of your life taking care of me and worrying over me. You deserve better, Paula." "Actually, that's exactly what I need right now in my life, Sean. I've been alone for so long. It seemed like every man I met was always the same. They'd be attracted to my body or personality or something, but after a while they would just lose interest in me. They would always have something or someone else on their minds. I never really meant that much to them. I was never really an important part of their lives." "But now I've got a guy I really like in the palm of my hand. I like being the center of your attention and having you depend on me. I like taking care of you. I like being needed." She smiled and placed her finger on my chest. "I like having a boyfriend I can put in my pocket and take with me wherever I go." "Paula, I don't know what to say. You were always on my mind even before this happened. After that night at the party, you were very much a part of my life." "Yeah, but you wouldn't have really needed me. You could have gotten along all right without me." She gently tapped me on the chest with her finger as she whispered in a sultry tone, "Now I get to take care of you, Sean." "What did I ever do to deserve you, Paula?" "Oh, you probably did something terrible when you were a kid and this is God's way of punishing you. Shrinking you down and stranding you on an island out in the middle of nowhere with some big, homely, love-sick girl to take care of you." She grinned down at me as she giggled. "Hey, look at all the fruit I picked up in the jungle. I got two coconuts, a couple of papayas, and this big, green fruit. I'm not sure what it is, but It looked edible anyway. I just thought it would be nice to have something for breakfast this morning." "I think it's a guava. I'm impressed, I didn't think you were out there long enough to find all this. The fruit must be pretty abundant out there." "Yeah, I saw a lot more than I could carry back with me. We shouldn't have any problem finding enough to eat." "As long as we don't get sick of coconuts and fruit," I muttered cynically. "How about fresh water? Did you see any streams or springs back in the jungle?" "No, but I wasn't really looking for it. Maybe, in a little bit, we could go take hike out there together and look around. I wouldn't be surprised if we could find a spring or something. I heard a lot of these islands have natural springs." "I hope so. If not we can always get enough water from what we eat until the next time it rains." "I bet the coconut has some milk in it. I wonder how I'm gonna get this darned thing open. I remember my dad always used to use a hammer. Maybe a big rock." She gently set me down on the sand in front of her and ran back to the edge of the jungle. Her lithe body was full of youthful energy, and I couldn't help but sit back and admire her beautiful form as she moved.. At this distance it was hard to tell just how truly vast she was, and I could imagine what it would feel like to hold her in my arms again. Regardless of size, it was hard for me to see what attraction this beautiful, incredible girl could possibly have for me. Standing there, looking all two hundred feet tall to me, she was truly magnificent. She disappeared into the jungle, returning a couple of minutes later, carrying a small slab of black rock. It was probably some sort of lava rock, a remnant of when the island was first formed. She smiled at me as she knelt down beside one of the coconuts. "I thought I saw it earlier when I was out looking to find out where you had gone. I think it'll work all right." With that she started pounding the coconut with the rock. The sound was deafening to my ears. After a minute or so the coconut gave with a sharp crack. She made the hole larger with a few more whacks with the rock, and sat back, panting in exhaustion "I didn't remember coconuts being so hard," she said, smiling down at me as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She raised it to her lips with both hands and drank deeply. Coconut milk splattered down the side of her face and neck, even splashing me a little. She lowered it again, gasping for air as she wiped her mouth with one hand. She slid it over to where I was sitting. "It's good, try some." She rolled it slightly so I could reach the hole. I noticed a devious grin flash across her face but didn't think anything of it. Placing my hands on the edge of the hole, I pulled myself up and leaned forward to try to get a drink. Unexpectedly, I could feel my body rising and tilting as the coconut rolled forwards, taking me with it. Before I knew what was happening, it stopped suddenly, causing me to slide about halfway into the hole. I still had a tenuous grip on the jagged edge, but I couldn't get the leverage to pull myself out. Outside I could hear Paula's laughter. Her voice echoed in the interior of the coconut as I realized that she was playing some sort of prank on me. "Oops!" I heard her say between giggles. I felt her huge finger lift my legs up, making me lose my grip a drop into the dark interior of the coconut. I fell about twenty feet before landing in the cool milk. It was only a few feet deep, and I clambered to a stand on the slick coconut. I looked up to see her smiling face framed my the rough edge of hole. "Take a drink, Sean. It's good, isn't it?" "Paula, what are doing?" I said, feeling completely embarrassed. "Oh, don't get so worked up, I'm just having a little fun." She raised her eyebrows and giggled again. She must have been holding the coconut up to her face, as I could feel it vibrate with her laughter. "You look so cute in there. Oh no! It looks like you're trapped in there, Sean. The walls are too slick to climb. How are you going to get out?" Her smile turned into a wide grin. I was nervous, trying to think of what was she was going to do next. I knew she wouldn't intentionally hurt me, but I was still uncomfortable. "Don't worry, Sean. I'll save you!" She giggled one last time and opened her mouth wide, almost completely covering the outside of the hole. I could feel the coconut tip, and I frantically tried to grab a handhold anywhere on the slick surface. I couldn't find any, and was carried along with the milk over the edge of the hole and dropped into her enormous mouth with a splash. I immediately felt her warm, wet tongue press me against the roof of her mouth as she swallowed the milk. Her powerful tongue relaxed and then began to wreathe about, twisting me and pressing me all around her mouth. Her warm saliva coated me and I had difficulty catching my breath. "Mmmmmmm," I could hear her murmur from the back of her throat. It felt incredibly strange, but also oddly erotic to be in Paula's mouth, and I almost didn't want it to end when she finally separated her lips and dropped me out into the palm of her hand. "You know, you don't taste half bad, Sean. I always wondered what a man tasted like." As out of sorts as I was, I still had to say it. "Kinda like chicken?" She snickered. "More like wet, wiggly toad." I wiped some of her sticky saliva from my face. "So what you're saying is that you know what a wet toad tastes like? Man, I don't know if I want to be your boyfriend after all!" "Well like it or not you're stuck with me, pal." She giggled and lifted the fabric of her bikini a little, sliding me in between the elastic and her hip. Her soft, tan skin felt incredible warm and alluring against my body. "And now I think we'll just go clean you up a little bit, my sexy little boyfriend." With that she turned and ran for the pounding surf, laughing all the way. I could feel the wall of muscle I was pressed against flex and move with each lengthy stride. As she bounded into the serf, salty water sprayed across my back, aggravating my wounds. I cried out in sudden pain, but I didn't think she could hear me over the crashing waves. She finally stopped with the water a little above her knees. The waves came up to her crotch, but she didn't seem to have any trouble keeping her balance. She took me from her waist band and held me in her open hands. "Ready to get wet?" she asked with a big grin on her face. Despite my precarious position I couldn't help but gaze up at the youthful glow about her face. She was so incredibly, wonderfully sexy. Innocent and seductive at the same time. At this point, she could have thrown me out into the sea and I wouldn't have had any bitter feelings towards her. "Don't worry, Sean. I'll keep a good hold of you. I won't let you get washed away." She held on to me with both hands as she lowered me into the water. The waves towered over me before they washed across my body, reminding me of the terrible night the Sea Star sank. I held back from crying out as the seawater burned against my bandaged wounds. I guessed that she didn't realize how painful it was, and I didn't want her to feel bad. I could see her bikini top directly above me and I tried to focus on it, ignoring the agony of the salty water. Her perfectly formed breasts were only average size as women go, but they appeared huge to me now. After a few long minutes of scrubbing me with her fingers, she finally lifted me out of the water and held me up to her face. "There that wasn't so bad now, was it? I'll just see if I can dry you off." She gently blew across my body. Her breath smelled sweet and inviting, making me forget about the lingering pain. "Be careful, Paula. You about drowned me there." "Yeah, right. I didn't see you exactly gasping for breath. Actually you seemed more interested in my breasts. Do you like them? I've always been a little self conscious about them, you know, being a bit on the small side. I guess to you they must seem pretty humongous. I'm just glad I'm not competing with Dolly Parton out here." "They look perfect, Paula. I wouldn't change a thing." "Well, if you like them so much..." She grinned at me flirtatiously and lifted me towards her chest, slipping my body gently between her bikini top and her left breast. She lowered me down until only my shoulders were above the cloth. Her skin was incredibly soft and supple, and I could feel her rapid heart beat through the gentle slope of her breast. She started walking seductively up the shore back to our little encampment. I could feel her massage my back with her fingers. "God, you feel so good against me, Sean," I heard her whisper. I could barely move my arms under the elastic, and I felt completely helpless and yet proud of being desired by her. When we reached the camp she set me down on the cooler lid and stepped back. Lifting her arms above her head, she began to dance. She swayed slowly back and forth with her eyes closed to some favorite song in her head. After a minute or so, she opened her eyes again and lustfully peered down at me. "Sean, I don't think it's fair that you've got to run around on this island naked and I have to wear these clothes. I mean, we're pretty far from civilization. It's not like anyone else is going to see." She slowly untied her top and casually dropped it at arm's length. Her breasts were firm and nicely shaped, much like I imagined they would be. All I could do was silently say "wow" as I stared at her. She took my reaction as a signal to continue, and slid her emerald bikini bottom down her shapely legs. She stepped out of them and kicked them over to where the top was lying in the sand. I had seen naked women many times before, but I had never seen a female body so perfectly shaped and strikingly beautiful. I stared, frozen, at the gorgeous titaness who stood before me in the morning sunlight. "Sean, I've wanted to make love to you since the first time I laid eyes on you back at Santa Barbara. You're the most handsome, charming man I've ever met, and I knew you were right for me from the start. I've been so horny since we've been stuck on this island. It's like some sort of fantasy, and I can't hold back my desires any longer. I want to take you, Sean. Every molecule in my body needs you. I want to make love to you. Softly....slowly....completely." I was both shocked and fascinated by her speech. I didn't realize just how strong her desire for me was. I guess there was a part of my mind that still couldn't accept that a woman could have any feelings for a man so absurdly small as I. Paula lowered down on her knees in front of me and leaned forwards with a sexy smile. She placed one open hand on the cooler before me, as if to make it my decision to continue. Could she still have doubts about my desire for her? I got up slowly and climbed onto her palm. She smiled sweetly and lifted me to her face. Her deep brown eyes gazed down at me as she gently kissed my body. "Sean, I want you so bad," she whispered as she lowered down to the nape of her lovely neck and rubbed me against her tan skin. I didn't know if she could feel me or not as I kissed her warm flesh, but from her moans I could tell that she was enjoying having me next to her. She rubbed me gently across her chest, circling each supple breast with my body. I could feel her lungs heaving as she slid me down to her stomach like a bar of soap. She arched her back as she rubbed me across her firm stomach and down to her crotch. Her scent was intoxicating as she closed her sexy thighs around me and her hand. I was pressed securely against her labia by her legs, but not hard enough to be painful. I could tell she was highly aroused by my presence next to her sexual organs. She spread her legs apart again, stretching her right leg out and bringing her left knee up. With one hand she opened her labia and with the other she took me between her thumb and forefinger, gently inserting me into her vaginal opening. It was incredibly hot and wet, as the passage contracted and expanded around my legs, allowing me to sink further in. I could hear her moan loudly as her body bucked and squirmed. I had sunk in up to my chest when she suddenly let go of me with her fingers. I easily slid in past my head as I frantically grabbed at the edges of her labia. As my body slid in farther I could no longer feel the outside of her body with my hands, only the moist, slick surface of her vagina. Her juices surrounded me as her muscular walls contracted around me, pressing me and twisting my body in the darkness. I had difficulty breathing and had no idea just how far I had gone into her body. A sudden and massive contraction pressed me almost painfully in every direction. She held this for a few seconds and I thought I could feel shudders run down her body. Her vagina then relaxed, leaving me floating in her juices, disoriented and near suffocation. A dim, fluctuating light appeared somewhere above me and I felt her wet fingers grasp my right leg, slowly pulling me out of her. When I reached the cool air outside she supported me with her other hand and brought me up to her face. She was breathing hard and covered with sweat, but she had a wonderfully satisfied smile as she gazed at me. "You all right?" she asked in a tone of voice that only lovers know. "I thought I about drowned you in there." "I'm fine," I reassured her, not wanting her to know how close she actually came to drowning me. "You were really wonderful, Sean. I didn't know it could feel that incredible." She lowered me to her chest and laid between her breasts. Her skin was hot and wet with sweat, and her body's scent was strong and seductive. Her chest heaved with each heavy breath she took. We laid together for almost an hour, slowly cooling off together and enjoying each other's presence. We washed off again in the sea, and this time it didn't seem to irritate my wounds as much. Paula put her bikini back on again and even managed to fashion me a better loincloth with material from her labcoat. I think this had less to do with worrying about my dignity as it had with her enjoyment of stripping it from me with her teeth before we made love. She also helped me redress my wounds, all of which were healing at an extremely rapid rate. The only one that still hurt was the large scar on my back, and even it was getting better. Placing me in her bikini top again, she decided to explore the island to see if there were any signs of civilization. It wasn't very large, and she was able to walk around its shore in a little over an hour. We found a small stream of fresh water along the other side of the island and followed it up to a natural spring. There didn't seem to be any fish in it, so Paula thought it would be safe for me to take a dip. The cool water felt wonderful as we skinny dipped together. She was quite playful and took every opportunity to dunk me under, one time even coming up from beneath me and capturing me entirely in her mouth. By the time we finally left the spring we were refreshed and in good spirits. At least now we had a fresh drinking supply, which was something I was worried about before. I talked her into building a rough shelter near our encampment. It was little more than a lean-to made of fallen branches and palm leaves, but it would offer some protection if it started to rain. She remembered that she had a small box of waterproof wooden matches in one of the pockets of her labcoat, but both of us were doubtful if the would still light after being submerged for so long. They were still damp, so she set them out in the sun to dry off before we gave them a try. We made love twice more that afternoon. I was better prepared these times and actually enjoyed being inside her. She let me explore her body as she lied back on the beach, concentrating on my every movement. We talked as we made love, and I learned a great deal about her. It sounded like she and I had gone through a lot of the same problems throughout our lives, and I grew more and more in love with her as I found out more about her. It was almost as if we were meant to be together. We were making love for a third time on the beach when we heard the distant sound of an airplane. Paula jumped up, nearly dropping me, and struggled to put her bathing suit back on. She set me in the sand and began to wave her white labcoat in the air as the plane approached in the distance. As it got closer, I could see that it was a search plane with Australian markings. They must have been searching for any survivors from the Sea Star after the Japanese lost contact with her. The plane circled around as Paula jumped up and down excitedly. "We're going to be rescued, Sean!" she shouted down at me, nearly breaking my eardrums. She put her labcoat on and knelt down to pick me up. "I'm almost going to miss being stuck out here with you, Sean. Don't worry, I'm not going to forget about you when we get back to civilization. I'm still going to take care of you, and maybe we might find a way to get you back to normal." She gently placed me in the breast pocket of her coat. The seaplane landed just offshore and Paula waded out to it. She had buttoned her pocket and all I could do was listen as the crewmen helped her in. She told them how the Sea Star sank and that she was the only survivor. Days later we were flying back to Santa Barbara on a 747 from Sidney. As I stuck my head out of the opening of Paula's dufflebag I could see a giant stewardess hand Paula a Coke and a small cup of ice. It was one thing to be around Paula, but to be such an oddity in a world of giants was intimidating to say the least. I looked around at all the massive shoes from where I was under the seat. Paula thanked her and poured some into the cup. After the stewardess left she dipped her head under the seat tray and smiled at me, giving me a slight wink. She slipped her right foot out of her sandal and gently rubbed her toes against my side. I kissed her big toe and she grinned down at me. I didn't know how things were going to be when we got back to her college. I didn't know if we would ever find a cure for my shrinking. Just knowing that I would be with her was enough for me.

The End