The feeling of vibrations woke me from my sleep as the magnitude of them increases second by second. The smell of pure oxygen and the feel of swirling warm water made my daily routine hard to start. That and the fact that it usually takes ten to fifteen minutes to fully regain full motor control does not help the matter. After struggling to open my eyes I see the blurry enormous figure of my sister starting the wake up process on my pod.

Before I go further I would believe that it would be a great idea to explain how all of this came around. Around the year 2187 a giant asteroid has crashed into the earth. Unknown at the time was that a special type of bacteria had spread from the crash site. The bacteria itself was extremely persistent and would bond and multiply with the nitrogen in the air. This made eliminating the bacteria impossible. The bacteria only worked on males of all groups of primates. Over the next couple of years the male population would eventually degrade in population and health. Medication at first had slowed down the process but wasn’t a cure. The male population would eventually die out in all primates making all primates go extinct. Fortunately the human race was partially able to combat this. Over time the size of the male population shrank in size and more medication was needed.

By the year 2321, there was one male for every one hundred females on the planet and the average size would ranged from four to eight inches tall. Medicine had advanced to combat the bacteria so every time a male was born, the government would give the family a special pod that would regenerate all cells inside of the body. The average body could survive for sixteen hours outside of the pod before any negative effects could start to happen. Once inside the pod, all unnecessary muscles would shut down and you would start to lose consciousness as the machine started to do its job. Waking up from the pod felt like waking up from an operation.
“So how are you this morning?” I say through my respirator.

“Pretty good so far but I wish that it wasn’t Monday.” Sarah said as she waited for the pod to drain so that she could get her brother ready for the day.

“Me neither but we still have to go to school.”

“Anyway, how are you doing right now?”

“I’m awake but still tired.”

“Don’t worry I’ll take care of everything until you’re ready.

As the pod finished draining, John fought to take off the respirator until he finally gave up from exhaustion. Opening the clear covering of the pod, Sarah gently took off the respirator and lifted her brother out of his chamber. Still having a full ten to fifteen minutes till he could move on his own, Sarah carried John to the bathroom to clean him up. Once inside of the bathroom she laid her brother on top of a wash cloth while she made sure that the water in the sink was the right temperature. Once she was satisfied she gently lifted him between her thumb and index finger and lowered him into the sink. She continued to clean him off delicately, making sure to get rid of the entire residue from the pod. Once John was clean she wrapped him in the wash cloth and carried him back into his room.

The entire time that Sarah was washing him, John started to get a feel of what he could and could not move. In John’s opinion, Sarah was the best out of all of his sister’s to wake him because her fingers were heaven. John enjoyed the fact that Sarah would massage most of his body while she bathed him. As he was lifted out of the water and placed in the towel he had regained most of his control and was finally able to open his eyes. He was greeted to the site of Sarah entering the code to his door. As the Nano phase door opened she carried him towards his wardrobe on the table and gently laid him down.

Once John felt Sarah’s fingers lose contact, he started to roll over and stand up. Upon standing straight up, John felt his balance start to tilt to the right as he started to fall down. Before he could completely fall down, John was caught by his sister who helped him back to his feet.
“Hey, are you okay?” she said as she kept him up until he was able to stand by himself before retracting her hand.
“Yeah, I just didn’t have my balance back.”
“Okay, I’ll give you some privacy while you change.” Sarah said as she turned around so that John could change into some regular clothes.

After Sarah turned around, John went to his wardrobe and selected his outfit for the day. Taking off his pod shorts, John finished drying off before getting dressed. Upon finishing he looked himself over in the mirror before telling his sister that he was done. John had short dark black hair with blue eyes and stood at five inches tall.

“Hey, I’m ready and has mom made breakfast yet?” John said as his stomach started to rumble.

“She should be done by now but we might want to hurry so that we don’t miss the bus.”

Laying her hand down, John quickly jumped on top and sat down as he was lifted into the air. Leaning back against Sarah’s fingers like a recliner, John started to ponder what this semester would hold in store for him. As Sarah walked into the kitchen, they were greeted by all five of John’s other siblings all wanting to see how there brother was this morning. Before Sarah made it to the table, He was lifted out of Sarah’s hand gently by a soft hand. He was soon pressed into a pair of huge lips as his mother kissed him.

“Good morning John, how are you feeling today?” John’s mother said while smiling down at her only son in the palm of her hands.

“Alright considering that it is a Monday mom.” John said as he brushed aside his mother’s prodding index finger.
“But are you sure you are ready for school to start so soon?” John’s mom said with concern.
“Mom, we go through this every year. Trust me, nothing is going to happen. But I would like to eat breakfast here though because I’m famished.” John said as a small rumble is heard from his stomach.
“Fine, I shall admit defeat but I want you to be extra careful this year.” said John’s mother as she handed him back to Sarah.
As John was set at the table, his mother sat a plate full of sausage, eggs, a bit of toast, and a glass of orange juice. John wasted no time digging into his food as he was about to be barraged with questions from his youngest sister.
“Why are you always so hunger in the morning?” asked Katelyn the youngest of the family at 10 years old. Katelyn was different from the rest of the family because she had blonde hair with blue eyes, and was the most curious out of all of them.
“Well to put it simple. Every night that I go to sleep, every part of my body is basically rebuilt from the ground up. This of course takes a toll on the body so it’s only natural that I get hungry.” John answered while stuffing another piece of sausage in his mouth.
“Okay, but my next question is why can I hear you even though you are so small.”
“That’s probably the easiest question. Have you ever wondered what that little metal disk the size of a match head is behind your ear is?”
“What is it?” Katelyn said as she started to feel the all too common disk behind her ear.
“Well typically when you reach the age of three that is implanted there so that it corresponds with my transmitter. It’s basically like a walkie talkie, as long as you are in range you are able to hear what I say.”
“But where is your transmitter?”
“That would be right here.” John said as he tilled his head back to show a tiny spec above and to the right of his Adam’s apple.
“Okay then, now I want to know how mom knew she was pregnant with you?”
At this John started to choke on his sausage as his sister started to ask questions that she should not be asking. Finally regaining his composer, John set down his food and thought of how to answer this question.
“Okay, this is the last question of the day.” John said trying to fend off any more personal questions.
“Okay.” Katelyn said with disappointment.
“Actually mom never knew. You see because of our small size boys cannot survive by themselves when women are pregnant. The only way that a woman can have a boy is if he has a twin sister. I won’t go into any more detail, but with the larger body, women will know that they are pregnant and will be more careful along with several other things. Also that is one reason why there are not many boys.”
“So is that why Sarah is the same age as you.”
“I wouldn’t say the same age, she is my baby sister after all.”
After John had finished explaining a sudden thud made him turn around has he saw his sister loom over him.
“And who is the baby?” Sarah said jokingly while glaring at her brother.
“And how long have you been there?”
“Since the start of it.” Sarah said while picking her brother up from the table.
“If so then I regret to inform you but I am all out of answers for today. Now if you would like to leave a message or a complaint please leave that with your mom.”
“Well we better get off to school before we miss the bus.” Sarah said as she started to giggle as she gently lowered John into the palm of her other hand.
“Okay mom we’re off.” John shouted as he and Sarah made their way out the door to the bus stop.
After saying good bye to all of his siblings, John was excited to start of yet another semester of high school.