Rowan watched with bated breath from the ditch at the edge of the path, her white dress hitched up in her hands to keep it out of the dirt. Crouched behind the dry shrubs, she heard the sound of jogging footsteps drawing closer, multiple pairs of boots moving at once. Her heart skipped as she saw the trainees appear over the ridge, running in unison as their commanding officer set the pace. Ducking down a little further to keep herself hidden, she peered through the gaps in the desert foliage, scanning the faces of the young men as they jogged past.

There he was: William Hill. School captain, star football player, first class recruit in the local military and all-round dreamboat. A fine layer of sweat beaded on his handsome features where the rest of his squad were drenched in the stuff, and to the young lady hiding in the ditch, it looked like he was holding himself back. She had to suppress a longing sigh as she once again wished she were special enough to earn his attention. But she knew better; what could such a magnificent young man ever see in the smallest girl in school? She wasn’t the cleverest, she wasn’t the fastest, she wasn’t the funniest and, in her eyes at least, she certainly wasn’t the prettiest.

“Oh to be worthy of William Hill,” she whispered under her breath, “I couldn’t wish for more.”

While leaning forward to get a better look at William, Rowan’s feet slipped ever so slightly. A yelp escaped her throat as she rebalanced herself, her eyes wide and her hands clasped over her mouth. A few of the recruits glanced over in the direction the noise had come from, though not one broke formation. Rowan crouched down as low as she could without actually sitting down, pulling her wavy black hair over her face like a curtain and hoping against hope nobody would stop.

A few seconds later, the trainees passed by, the clunk of their boots gradually receding as they made their way back towards the town. The young lady breathed a sigh of relief, tottering awkwardly out of the ditch and dusting down her dress to make sure there were no signs of dirt on it. Despite it being well into the night by this point, both she and the surrounding arid landscape were lit up reasonably brightly by the full moon above. She watched the squad jogging into the distance as a single pair of stumbling footsteps slowly approached behind her.

She glanced back and watched the scrawny, bespectacled young man run up beside her before grinding to a halt. Leaning forwards with his hands on his knees, the brown haired weed of a man heaved great gulps of breath as he struggled to remain standing.

“Still followin’ the bigger boys Sprout?” Rowan asked pleasantly, smiling as the young man nodded between wheezes.

“You… bet… Ro… Jus’ you watch; one day… I’ll be… good ‘nuf… to be a hero!”

“Hehe, you’re already a hero t’me Sprout. Those army folks would have to have their neckties done up too tight if’n they don’t accept you when you’re old ‘nuf.”

“Thanks… Ro… gosh, I’d best… keep runnin’.”

“Go get ‘em Sprout!”

The weedy young man let out a growl of determination which would have rivalled a yawning puppy on the intimidation scale. A moment later, he set off with an undignified trot, running as fast as his legs could carry him after the recruits. Rowan smiled in amusement; Sprout was a lovely, clever boy, but he wasn’t cut out for a soldier’s life. Still, she hoped he could find somewhere in the military that he could be useful.

Turning in the direction of her house, Rowan decided to forego the usual routine of taking the road home in favour of just cutting straight across country. She knew the terrain so well after eighteen years of living here that she was confident she could run the entire way in the dark, if she had better shoes.

Even at a walk though, it was a perfectly pleasant trip home. The desert landscape may not have been terribly populated, but there was a distinct serenity to it all; you could see everything coming from a mile away, so there was nothing to surprise you.

Well… normally there was nothing to surprise you.

Rowan’s attention was drawn to a bright light high above her which appeared to be growing rapidly larger. At first it was little more than a circle of spinning light in the starry sky, but as the seconds passed, a dull whirring noise reached the young woman’s ears. She stood like a rabbit in headlights, mouth slightly agape as the object became more distinct.

The disc seemed to be made of some sort of metal, emitting licking tendrils of pure light from great gashes in the hull. It spiraled down towards Rowan at an alarming rate, zigzagging through the air before attempting to pull up at the last second. A great gust of air whipped around the young woman’s ankles and she squealed in terror, tumbling over onto her back as the flaming object shot over her head. A deafening explosion from behind Rowan told her the flying disc had struck the ground, and she scrambled quickly to her feet, heart hammering in her chest as she stared at the smoldering wreckage.

Step by step, her curiosity overcame her fear as she edged nearer and nearer to the crash site. A faint green glow emanated from the heart of the blaze, and for whatever reason, she simply couldn’t take her eyes off it. The sensible, logical part of her mind told her she should stay away from the thing, that she should report it to the authorities and then run off home. But something about the green light enraptured her.

A slow, quiet hiss of steam filled the air as the disc at the heart of the blaze cracked open like an egg. Rowan halted only a dozen feet away from the edge of the burning wreckage, watching with undisguised awe as a shape emerged from the silver disc.

Though its shape was more or less humanoid, there was no doubt in the young woman’s mind that the tall, green creature wasn’t of her world. There was an unusual beauty in the aesthetic of its form that somehow calmed the fear that might otherwise have consumed her. The creature stood easily ten feet tall and appeared to be made of pure, green light, with great white saucers for eyes. Notably, Rowan saw that the creature appeared to be fading rapidly, the glow diminishing with each awkward step it took.

Immediately, her impulse to help drowned out her impulse to run.

“A-are you okay? Can I help you in some way?”

If the creature understood her, it made no sign. It held out a long, four-fingered hand towards the little lady, its entire body visibly trembling. Cautiously, Rowan reached out and took the creature gently by the hand.

Immediately, her entire body erupted with raw energy, adrenaline surging in her veins as the creature blazed with life. Its saucer-eyes widened in response, the light within growing brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding… and a moment later, with a sound like a whip-crack, the creature was gone.

Rowan’s entire body tingled with heat, her fingertips glowing green as she stared at her palms, mouth hanging open in shock. Before long however, whatever spell had kept her hanging around as long as she did faded from her mind. Common sense at last took over, and without a moment’s thought she turned on her heel and headed for home. Whatever else happened after that, Rowan knew whole-heartedly that 1947 was a year she would never forget.

To say that Rowan had strange dreams that night would be a grievous understatement. In the past she had experienced the surreal caress of her subconscious dragging her through a gauntlet of fuzzy images and sensations, but nothing had ever felt this real.

In her mind’s eye, she saw herself running towards her house as hard as she could, desperate to reach the safety of her bed as soon as possible. Reaching out for the distant shape, her arms stretched away before her impossibly. Indeed, her entire body seemed to swell outwards, her strides growing wider and wider as she grew ever larger. She could subconsciously feel her clothes beginning to tear from her figure as she expanded, littering the desert behind her as her feet left craters in the dirt.

An intense heat started to spread through Rowan’s body, starting at her hips but surging out in all directions. She could hear herself gasping, her breasts bulging on her chest, buttocks plumping outwards as her belly rounded considerably. Desires she typically only felt in the presence of William overtook her mind as she neared her house. But something was wrong.

Wind whipped around her shoulders as she towered in the night sky, her beloved home barely reaching up to her knees.

“Oh golly… how am I supposed to crawl into bed now? Shoot.” The lusty impulses she’d felt died down as she felt the frustration of wanting to be indoors. She saw herself dwindling gradually back to a more reasonable size. Eventually, when she was short enough to fit through the front door, she ducked under the doorway and trotted through as quietly as she could. Hoping and praying that she could avoid waking her father, she crept into her room, curled up in bed and pulled the covers over her head.

There, just as dream-Rowan felt herself drifting off…

… real-life-Rowan’s eyes snapped open.

“My my… that was… no more late nights for you young lady.” Rowan reprimanded herself, tugging the blankets of her bed down a few feet. A chill breeze bristled against her skin. Glancing down expecting to see a gap in her beloved purple nightgown, Rowan found herself gazing at her own naked flesh.

Her mind went blank for a moment.

“N-no… b-but… it can’t have been… r… no… that’s just silly Ro; don’t be so foolish! Just take a look out the window and see for yourself.”

Hopping out of bed and throwing a spare gown hastily around her shoulders, she strolling briskly to the window of her room. Throwing open the shutters, Rowan gazed down into the front yard. Her hand leapt to her mouth.

There, sprawling out before her was a colossal footprint in the soil. Her father and several neighbors were gathered around the imprint, gesticulating wildly and talking at great volume. Beyond it, a trail of receding prints led away over the rolling desert hills and scrubland.

Rowan slammed the window shut and slid down onto the floor, arms wrapped around her knees and a look of total dismay on her face. She rocked back and forth in confusion, tears springing to her eyes as she remembered the dream.

“Oh my Gosh… oh no… what have I done?”

Outside, Rowan heard the distinct sound of cars pulling up. Not just one, but several; at least half a dozen judging by the cacophony of tires on gravel. Propping herself up on her knees, the dark haired young lady peered suspiciously over the windowsill.

Just over the fence of her father’s property, a number of vehicles bearing the logo of the military had arrived. They had arranged the cars in such a way that all the obvious exits to the area were being covered, but the soldiers themselves didn’t appear to be here to pick a fight. A weather-beaten man in his mid-forties stepped out of the man vehicle, bedecked in the uniform of some sort of high ranking officer.

Marching briskly over to Rowan’s father, the man shook hands with the assembled parties and began asking questions that the young woman couldn’t quite make out. However, while she might not be able to fully understand the conversation taking place, she could easily understand when her father pointed in the direction of her room, a quizzical expression on his face as the men started to walk towards the front door.

Rowan was off before they’d taken more than a couple of steps. She dashed across her bedroom to the closet, throwing on the first dress she could lay her hands on and seizing a pair of shoes. The front door swung open with a distinct ‘thud’ as she crept out into the upstairs hallway, bare feet padding in total silence down to the end of the corridor. Although she trusted her father and didn’t even entertain the notion that he might sell her out to the army, she had no such faith in the military. After all, it was their job to protect America from bad guys and monsters; she was certainly no bad guy, but a monster?

She didn’t really know.

Dropping down onto all fours, Rowan crawled rapidly along the balcony overlooking the staircase, pressing herself fully against the wall in case the men beneath her decided to look up prematurely. She could hear them on the stairs as she scuttled out of sight into the upstairs bathroom. Slipping behind the door, Rowan decided to attempt something she hadn’t done since she was eight: jumping down the laundry chute.

Though she wasn’t nearly as scrawny as she had been in those days, she believed she could still make the trip. Holding her breath to keep as still and steady as possible, Rowan gradually lifted the sliding door of the chute, listening out for the progress of the men. They had reached the top of the stairs and turned towards her room; the moment they went inside would be her cue to drop. Swinging both legs into the gap, she sat with her bottom teetering on the edge of the chute, hands gripping the sides so hard her knuckles were white.

“Ro?” There was a distant ‘thud’ as her father opened the door to her room.

She had to fight not to shriek with adrenaline as she tipped herself forwards, plummeting down into the colossal pile of dirty pillows she’d thrown down just the night prior; small miracles. Bouncing herself to a standing position, Rowan made immediately for the back door. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she wondered what would happen to her if she was caught. What if they took her away from her father? What if they punished her for spying on training exercises? What if they tried to experiment on her? What if they locked her away in a dark room for the rest of her life?

All these thoughts and fears built in her mind as she approached the back door. As she seized the handle however, all of that trepidation melted away in favour of anxious optimism. She was a clever girl after all; if things got to be more than she could handle, maybe she could just run away? Run away and catch a bus across the country? The army couldn’t find her if she was hiding out as a baker boy in New York.

“Rowan?” Her father called again, the sound of footsteps descending the stairs causing the young woman to snap out of her reverie.

Darting out the door, the dinky dark-haired dame rushed off out to the rear of the property, away from the army soldiers and their mysterious motives. Dashing up the trodden path towards the laneway behind, Rowan glanced back over her shoulder to make sure she wasn’t being followed before she ducked around behind one of the tall fences that bordered her neighbor’s property.

She squatted down only long enough to pull on the shoes she’d carried out of the house before she set off for the center of town, hoping against hope that if she could just hide out until the excitement blew over, everything would go back to normal.

By the time Rowan reached the center of town, almost twenty minutes had passed and she was starting to feel a bit calmer. There had been no sign of the military and everything seemed more or less as it had been the day before; birds were singing, flowers were in bloom and the community was going about its usual bustle. 

On an ordinary day Rowan would have had no trouble blending in to the crowd; most of the folks around town knew who she was of course, but few ever noticed her unless she made a point of saying hello. It was a blessing as much as a curse on some days, but on those days the young woman typically had nothing to bother her. Today however she was quite on edge. Every subconscious glance in her direction became a glare of suspicion; every unexpected noise was the sound of someone springing out to grab her. 

Trotting briskly along with her shoulders trembling and her head tilted firmly towards the ground, Rowan became uncomfortably aware that she was attracting more attention than usual. Instinctually she ducked into the nearest diner; its walls were glass from floor-to-ceiling, but they had the advantage of being rather grubby this morning. Slinking inside and over to a corner booth, the little lady huddled down behind one of the enormous menus, her raven hair poking over the brim. She glanced furtively at the door while pretending to skim the menu.

“What can I get for you this mornin’ young Rowan?” The pleasantly plump blonde waitress asked in a friendly tone, twirling her pen between two manicured fingers. Rowan’s back stiffened as she forced a smile onto her face.

“Hello! I would like to have a milkshake please. Chocolate.” She blurted out the word as an afterthought, her toothy smile hardening as the waitress cocked an eyebrow.

“Sure thing hun.” The waitress took the menu with a sideways glance at the little lady in the booth. Rowan slid right up into the corner and sank down in the chair, thoughts dancing about in her mind with reckless abandon. Everything from the previous night was a blur; she remembered indistinct details and vague memories, but she wasn’t entirely sure what was real and what was a dream concocted by her brain. 

Cautiously, Rowan peered down at her chest. It seemed unchanged, yet she could vividly recall the sensation of feeling it swell, the sudden increase in weight and mass. She recalled the pressure of constricting clothes digging into her flesh for a few tense moments before they were torn asunder by the pressure, tumbling away in the wind as she grew larger and larger. It couldn’t simply be her imagination; the feeling was like nothing else she had ever experienced… it was indescribable. 

Yet here she was, plain as day and ordinary as ever. 

If indeed she had grown larger, she had also subsequently shrunk back to her normal size. She let the notion swill about in her mind for a while; what if she actually could make herself bigger? What if she had the power to enlarge herself to be as tall as a mighty oak tree, or beyond? Certainly she would never again be picked on for being small, that’s for sure. William would have to pay attention to her if she were that tall! Her cheeks flushed as she closed her eyes and imagined it.

She saw William walking down the road, arm in arm with May or Alice or one of the other pretty girls from around town. She saw them walk around the corner, only to bump directly into one of her knees; towering above the pair of them in her favorite white dress – which obviously would be as big as she was. She would stand there with her hands on her hips, the tallest and by extension the prettiest girl around. A grin spread along Rowan’s face as she imagined the dismayed look of total jealousy on May or Alice’s face as William gaped longingly up at Rowan. 

“Gosh Ro,” he would say, “you’re looking particularly swell today!”

“Why thank you William,” she mouthed quietly, “you’re looking pretty handsome yourself. Would you like to come for a walk with me?” 

Her chin sank into her palms as her elbows rested on the table, a look of serene happiness on her face as she sighed contentedly. Almost imperceptibly, she became conscious of a weight on her chest.

“Here’s your shake hun.”

Rowan snapped back to reality as a cold drop of moisture from the frosty milkshake dripped onto her arm. Jerking back in her seat, Rowan quickly fixed the disappointed expression on her face and thanked the waitress kindly. 

The moment she walked away though, a dejected look crept back into her features. She slipped the straw between her lips and drank slowly, steadily gulping down the sweet liquid as she let the fantasy slip away. After all, not even being a hundred feet tall would make her any more attractive to William she thought; people would probably just think she was a freak. Maybe she’d be better off using those powers to help around town; lifting cars, carrying heavy loads, helping kittens out of trees or that sort of thing. 

Heck, maybe she should just make herself as tall as possible and walk away for good to start a new life in the big city. 

“Although,” she muttered out loud, “it wouldn’t exactly be the ‘big’ city with me around.”

Pausing in mid drink to give her throat a rest, Rowan’s focus snapped suddenly to the weight she’d felt on her bust. Peering down at her shirt, she narrowed her eyes as she tried to work out if the unusual way her shirt was sitting on her bosom was just her imagination, or if it was an honest to goodness change.

She let the idea stew in her mind for a few minutes as she gradually consumed the milkshake, the comforting feeling of a full belly calming her considerably as she carefully watched her chest. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind now; by the time the last dregs of froth were being hoovered up from the bottom of the cup, her breasts had visibly increased in size. She didn’t know if it was the drink itself or the result of some outside influence, but the change was undeniable. In a moment of alarm, she realized that there was no possible way she could explain this if someone started asking questions.

Rising from her seat in the booth, she reached into the pockets of her dress only to realize with a lurch of dismay that she had quite neglected to pick up any money during her exodus from her house. Her heart promptly started racing again, eyes darting around to see if anyone she knew happened to be seated nearby. 

One or two familiar faces stood out amongst the patrons, but nobody that Rowan would classify as a close friend or anything. The waitress was busy delivering a drink to one of the far tables and nobody behind the counter was looking in the young lady’s direction. Adrenaline surged in her veins as she took a stiff step towards the door. Then another, and another until she was moving at a brisk trot in the direction of the exit, her arms clasped firmly over her breasts to stop them bouncing around and popping open her shirt. At the far end of the diner, the blonde waitress turned her head slightly towards the raven haired young woman. 

“Hey hun, you gonna pay for that shake?” 

Blushing with a mixture of fear and embarrassment, Rowan leaned forward and seized the doorknob, dragging the glass pane open. 

“HEY! COME BACK HERE!” 

The waitress gave chase after Rowan, but before the young thing could take even a single stride out the door she found herself colliding with a tall, broad chested figure blocking her path. A firm, strong hand clamped down gently on Rowan’s shoulder and her eyes went wide as she recognized the military insignia on the man’s chest. Her eyes crept upwards over the torso of the behemoth, taking in the perfectly pressed uniform of the officer, his impressively thick frame and the look of calm authority on his features. 

He was a man on the far side of middle-aged, clean shaven with more than his fair share of grey in his hair. Though his face was nothing to write home about, he wasn’t what Rowan would call an unpleasant looking man; stern features but the spitting image of totally average. In spite of all that, his very demeanor conveyed an aura of strength and confidence that punched right through to the young woman’s soul and froze her in place. Her first subconscious impulse was a desire to be taller, to challenge his overbearing physical stature. But the thought melted away the moment he started talking.

“Good morning; Rowan isn’t it?” He said in a gravelly rumble. His gaze turned to the waitress as she stumbled up beside them. “Ma’am. Apologies for the young lady; she was coming to find me as she had forgotten that she left her purse at home. How much does she owe you?”

“One quarter, sir.” The waitress replied in a slightly less ruffled tone. Without hesitation the officer produced a full dollar from his pocket and placed it on the blonde woman’s serving tray. That satisfied her and she sauntered away, leaving Rowan and the mystery man standing in the doorway.

“Would you care to come for a walk with me Rowan? I’d like to ask you a few questions.” Removing his hand from her shoulder, the man stepped aside to allow the young lady out the door into the street. Although Rowan’s already unsettled state was in no way helped by the sudden appearance of the colossus, he didn’t appear to be directly threatening her; there was no hint of malice in his voice and he wasn’t attempting to arrest her. She felt her bust recede mildly, dwindling back to its original state. It was safe to say she’d never felt anything like it in her entire life, and for a brief moment she struggled to focus on the military man.

“Sorry sir,” she replied as she shuffled past, keeping an eye on the towering man, “my father says I’m not supposed to speak to strangers, even from the army.”

“Sensible advice; Damien is a good man. Rest assured I mean you no harm and I shan’t ask you to do anything against your will. Our walk will be strictly in public for your security and,” he removed the peaked cap from his head and bowed respectfully, “my name is Colonel Blanchard, commander of the Roswell Army Air Field. I’d like to speak to you about a flying disc.”

By the time the walk was over, Rowan had told the Colonel as much as she dared about her encounter the night before. She omitted the fact that she’d been spying on his cadets, choosing instead to claim she was merely out for a stroll beneath the stars. Something about the Colonel made her feel awkward about flat out lying to him; he never questioned the validity of her statements or accused her of uttering a falsehood, but she got the niggling feeling that he could see her fabrications as easily as the clothes on her body. 

“And that’s all you remember from last night?”

“Yes sir; I ran straight home and went to bed.”

“You didn’t wake your father?” Blanchard inquired in a casual tone.

“No… I didn’t think he’d want to be disturbed for something he’d probably write off as overactive imagination.”

The Colonel nodded in response, arms folded behind his back as they arrived back at the end of the street from whence they’d come. 

“I don’t suppose you happen to know what caused those footprints leading to your house do you? They appear to have come from the direction of the disc, but the prints are much too large to belong to a normal sized human.”

“Gosh no,” Rowan lied through her teeth, “I woke up this morning and saw Daddy and his friends looking at them in the dirt outside the house; it was all very unsettling. What could have made prints that big but left behind no other clues?”

“What indeed.” Colonel Blanchard inclined his head respectfully to Rowan to signal the end of their conversation. “Well, I must be back to work young lady; it was a pleasure talking to you. You’ve been a great help.” 

Rowan smiled and curtseyed in response, a feeling of relief washing over her as the Colonel opened the door to his car to step inside. As she turned to leave however, she heard the Colonel clear their throat. Glancing back at him she found the man looking at her in a matter of fact way.

“By the way Miss Rowan, when you feel like telling me how exactly you managed to make those prints, please come visit me at my office. We have a lot to discuss in less public settings than these, but it has to be your decision whether you come or not.” He wasn’t threatening her, even if it felt a bit like he was. Rowan’s entire body blanched visibly as he said the words as calmly as if she’d admitted it herself. “If you decide to keep the secret to yourself though, I beseech you not to repeat the process in a public or visible place. If the public catches wind of what’s going on or you’re able to be identified, I’m afraid I’ll have no choice but to take you by force. Since I don’t want to do such a thing, please,” he paused, “come see me soon… or at the very least, don’t get caught.”

The car door closed with a hefty ‘thud’ and the vehicle drove away, leaving the petite little lady to stew in her juices, embarrassed and confused. She wandered about the town for the rest of the morning quite plainly, feeling no more compulsion to hide; what more could be done after all? In spite of her best efforts she had been found out, and yet she wasn’t entirely repulsed by Blanchard’s offer. The man had seemed quite reasonable, at least to her. Surely it couldn’t hurt to go and have a word with him in private?

She paused in mid stride and realized with dull certainty that she didn’t actually have a clue where Colonel Blanchard’s office was. He had said he was in command of the local air force base, but it was hidden away behind miles upon miles of tall fencing patrolled by men in cars. She’d never even seen the air force base, let alone been to it. 

Still, he wouldn’t have made the offer if he didn’t think that she could get easy access to him, right? Perhaps if she went to the gates of the base immediately, she would be allowed to just walk right in and talk to him. Turning on her heel, Rowan plowed face first into the second masculine chest of the morning, though this was one she knew very well; William Hill.

“Whoa! Watch your step there little lady,” he said with a smile as Rowan stumbled backwards, a blush shooting across her cheeks, “y’almost knocked me clean over.” 

Rowan opened her mouth to respond, but upon seeing the gaggle of young women either side of the military study, could only muster a faint mumble of apology. 

“Hey, don’t sweat it; just make sure you don’t walk into a tree or something, alright?” The women either side of William giggled at the comment. Rowan couldn’t quite tell if he was making fun of her or not, but the doubt was enough to make her quickly push her way through the crowd with her head down, trotting briskly off across town in the direction of the airfield. 

“Stupid, stupid, stupid idiot.” She chided herself in a quiet, mortified tone of voice as she rounded the nearest corner. “You just ran headfirst into the most handsome boy in school and squeaked like a darn mouse. Assertive, assertive, assertive, that’s what mother always said.” Her fists clenched until her knuckles were white and she drew in a deep breath, exhaling gradually in an attempt to calm herself. 

“Okay,” she continued in a one-woman conversation with herself, “so, we’ve already decided that being bigger might help, and that’s a start; he’ll definitely see you if you’re bigger. But you don’t want to be too big, otherwise he might run away from you, and making William Hill run away from you is certainly the worst outcome.” A brief image flashed across Rowan’s mind of herself in black and white, stomping around town and breathing fire as the citizens ran for their lives. She shuddered and pushed the thought away to make room for more positive thoughts. 

“What if?” She pondered to herself. “Well? What if?” The voice in her head repeated the question. “If this colonel tries to lock you up, maybe you could just… grow. If they tried to punish you, you could just… grow. If they tried to experiment on you against your will, you could just… grow.” 

Her mind’s eye filled with that same image of herself towering over the rest of her little home, little toy-sized army trucks scattered around her feet with a handful of soldiers dangling between her fingertips. That same heat appeared once again in her belly as she imagined William Hill in the palm of her hand. Her teeth gnawed on her lower lip, a pink tinge in her cheeks as the rest of the fantasy melted away until only the two of them remained. Her fingers closed around him greedily, the smile on her face growing wider and wider as she imagined herself bringing dear Will closer and closer to her legs and… and… 

A tightness in her clothes brought about just enough discomfort to bring her crashing back to reality.

“No no; no time for that now. Let’s think about this though; William is training for the military. He wants to get a job in the armed forces. So if you get in the good books of this Colonel fellow, that will absolutely make you look better in Mr. Dreamboat’s eyes, right?” She let the idea waft about in her brain for a few seconds in search of potential flaws, though she couldn’t locate any obvious errors in logic. “So the first step is to go straight to the air force base and sign up for whatever it is the Colonel wants to talk to you about.”

Driven pleasantly along on her feet by blind optimism, Rowan found herself quickly traversing the streets of Roswell until she’d arrived outside the main road gates of what she assumed was the air force base; the sign was a bit of a giveaway after all. 

The fellow standing guard just outside the gates raised a hand gently towards her and held it palm up.

“Halt there young Miss; what business brings you here?”

Already her heart had leaped into her throat; perhaps this wasn’t a good idea after all. She froze on the spot, resisting the urge to simply turn tail and run as fast as she could until she was back home. 

“Uhh… I… I’m… uh…” She paused, gathering her resolve before pressing on, “I’m here to see Colonel Blanchard. He’s expecting me.”

“Is he now?” The young man asked with an amused smile, as though he didn’t quite believe what he was being told. “You’ll have to excuse me a moment; I have to radio in. What was your name little Miss?”

“Rowan.” 

“Got a surname there Miss Rowan?”

“Sure do.”

There was an awkward pause before the soldier chuckled to break the tension.

“Well fair enough; none of my business really.” He marched over to the booth built into the gate, stepping inside and setting about the process of contacting the rest of the base. Rowan stood in the middle of the open ground, nervously scuffing her shoes on the dusty road. She glanced back over her shoulder at the rest of Roswell, trying to sift through the multitude of conflicting notions in her mind. 

After what felt like considerably longer than the thirty seconds it took, the guard returned from his post and informed Rowan that a car would be along to pick her up shortly. Doubt immediately flooded her thoughts; she hadn’t told anyone where she was going, so what if they locked her up? What if they did worse than lock her up? Not that her father could do much against the entire armed forces, but he would at least be not worrying about her constantly. The tension must have been showing on her face, as the guard cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Everything alright there Miss?” 

“What? Oh, um, yeah, I just… my papa might be a mite worried about me is all.”

“Well shoot, would it make you feel better if you could call him? Does he have a phone?”

“No, he doesn’t. We did, but it got broken a while back and we haven’t got a new one yet.”

“You could write him a note? You leave it here with me, and next time a patrol goes out I’ll see to it that it reaches him.” The guard smiled pleasantly as he awaited Rowan’s response.

“That would be swell, thank you!” She followed him over to the booth, gladly accepting the note pad and pencil she was offered. Scrawling a quick message as to her whereabouts, she folded the paper and left it behind the counter. A brief instinct reminded her that she didn’t know whether or not she could actually trust this guard, but she was a good soul at heart and decided she would give him the benefit of the doubt. 

Almost as soon as she’d stepped outside the booth she heard the sound of a car approaching along the long, dusty road. The crunch of tires on gravel filled her ears as the vehicle she’d seen earlier that day pulled up beside her. The passenger side door was opened from the inside, revealing a rather handsome young man in sunglasses and a driver’s cap. 

“Miss Rowan? Please take a seat; the Colonel is waiting.”

Whatever Rowan had been expecting when she had been asked to come to Colonel Blanchard’s ‘office’, it hadn’t been what she was presented with; a vast, enclosed warehouse complex whose superficial purpose of housing aircraft appeared to be little more than a façade to conceal far more curious projects.

She could hear her own tiny footsteps echoing amidst the rest of the boots as she was escorted across the warehouse floor by two security guards. Ahead of her, elevated on a plinth surrounded by floodlights and men in long white coats, was the remains of the flying craft she’d seen the night before. Every inch of its charred, scattered remains were being furiously documented by the cluster of researchers. For a brief moment, Rowan wondered if that was going to be her experience from now on; strapped to a table to be relentlessly examined by a group of strangers.

Amidst the sea of unfamiliar faces however, there was at least one that Rowan recognized. Colonel Blanchard stood just off to the side of the goings-on, conversing quietly with a gentleman with a bushy brown mustache and a pair of thick-rimmed spectacles. Upon noticing Rowan’s approach, Blanchard excused himself and strode over to meet her, extending his hand formally. Rowan accepted the shake before taking a step back, not feeling entirely comfortable around the military commander just yet.

“Good day to you young Miss. I’m glad you decided to come; my colleagues and I would be quite curious to know what you can tell us. Or better yet, show us.” There was a pause as the men around the wreckage paused in their examination, peering over at Rowan through bulbous black goggles. Her skin crawled at the sight of them, like overgrown insects gawking at something they were debating whether or not to eat.

“W-well,” she stammered, pushing past her nervousness as she recalled the sensation of the night prior, “it wasn’t r-really somethin’ I had a whole lot of control over, y’know? It was more of a… a feeling. My heart was poundin’ and I just wanted to go home and…” Her eyes unfocused slightly as she remembered the feeling of sprinting through the open desert, watching as the ground gradually receded around her. “Fact is, I don’t really know how much of it was really me. It felt… like… nothin’ I’ve ever felt before; it tingled something fierce deep in my belly and…”

Rowan’s cheeks went bright red as she became quite acutely aware that her clothes were considerably tighter than they had been a moment earlier. The buttons on her chest were straining against the immense bulge building beneath them, her mouth agape as her body slowly swelled. Her hips pushed the elastic hem of her dress to its limits as the buckles of her shoes burst open. Her mind railed in despair against the reality of the situation; if she got any bigger her clothes will be absolutely shredded, and she didn’t want to be nude in front of all these strange men.

But on the other hand, that feeling of superficial discomfort was rapidly overwhelmed by the sheer joy of feeling bigger. It wasn’t the sluggish, lethargic feeling of being ordinarily chubby or unfit; this was a sensation of delicious power. Nude or not, she wanted to keep growing!

The dress split apart with a sound of shredding fabric, the seams torn asunder as the buttons snapped free and spat across the open room. One of the discs was launched like a bullet, colliding with a staff member’s forehead with such force that he was knocked off his feet. A reactive gasp left the young woman’s throat as her growth spurt doubled in the space of a moment, articles of clothing tumbling left and right as her perspective of the situation shifted higher and higher.

Her arms lifted impulsively to embrace her ever swelling bosom, the touch of her fingers sending shivers of delight down her spine far greater than the action would ordinarily induce. The scientists scattered back away from her, trying to maintain their distance while still keeping their eyes on the unprecedented sight unfolding before them. For his part, Colonel Blanchard maintained his composure beautifully, not shifting from his spot as the little lady shot up taller with each passing moment. He muttered a few disbelieving words, but was otherwise silent.

After almost fifteen straight seconds of growth, Rowan’s head bumped into the ceiling and she dropped to her knees automatically, reaching up to rub her scalp. A feeling of unyielding heat was building rapidly in her stomach.

“Okay young lady, I think we’ve seen enough for now.” The Colonel said loudly, though not angrily or forcefully. Rowan’s eyes drifted to him lazily, looking at him as though through a haze. Several voices in her mind wrestled for control of her conscious actions. Some told her to do unspeakable things, others growled in a language she didn’t understand, and still others told her to give in to the impulses that clawed at her body. Her fingers tensed up and curled as though to reach down and snatch the Colonel off the ground like a doll.

But before she could make the movement, Rowan’s trump card played itself; her good heart. A long, drawn-out exhale of breath left her lungs as she slouched back on her heels, the sensation of immense bulk gradually fading as she shrank back down to her normal size. It took considerably longer than the growth had, perhaps because she was far more reluctant to let it happen this time.

Rowan’s eyes closed as she felt the process end, a feeling of intense embarrassment overtaking her as she wondered how her observers would react to her little display. She could hear the sound of footsteps quietly approaching her, and a moment later, the unfamiliar warmth of a jacket being slung around her shoulders. Opening her eyes to look up, she found Colonel Blanchard covering her up with his uniform, turning to the assembled company of lab-coats and clearing his throat.

“Get the young lady some new clothes; we’ll need plenty of them so make sure you’ve got spares.”

A murmur of acknowledgement rippled through the room as a few of the men set off, leaving their colleagues behind to whisper excitedly. As they did so, the Colonel knelt down beside Rowan and spoke in hushed tones.

“Young lady, you’ve got quite the gift there. As commander of this base, I’d like to offer you a job as a resident here. We would very much like to study your unique case, if you’ll permit us; I promise that as long as I’m around, no harm will come to you and you’ll be free to have whatever objects your heart desires… within reason.” He paused to let the words sink in. “Of course, you’ll have to stay within the confines of our base if you agree; this… incredible discovery can’t be seen by the world until we fully understand it.”

Rowan’s mind was a mess of conflicting thoughts: what about her father? What about her home? What about… wait…

“Can I make a request?”

“Of course.”

The young lady’s pleasant face lit up with a grin.

“I want you to give a job to a boy I know… WAIT… two boys.”

The Colonel smiled.

“I’m sure something can be arranged.”

“Well then, sir… I accept.” Rowan extended her hand to Colonel Blanchard, who took it respectfully and gave it a firm shake.

“I’m delighted to hear it Miss Rowan. I look forward immensely to working with you.”

The word ‘immensely’ lingered in the young woman’s mind…

Perhaps dear reader you are now expecting me to describe in great length and detail the nature of the experiments conducted at the Roswell airfield? You would perhaps believe given the intricate focus I’ve conducted for the opening of this piece that I wouldn’t let a single day of dear Rowan’s life slip by without constant surveillance or scrutiny?

Certainly it is my natural impulse; I am a stickler for information and have a great deal of fondness for focusing on the little things that help to shape the characters I chronicle. However, at the end of the day these are their stories and theirs alone, and it is ultimately their decision whether or not to share those experiences. As it so happens, I am pleased to say that our dear Rowan took it upon herself to start writing a journal the very first day she was given a room in the facility.

Like so many people who start off strong with the creation of a journal, her opening few chapters were spaced quite close together, but grew further and further apart as she grew accustomed to her surroundings. Her sunny disposition effortlessly won over the staff and crew in the labs, and her boundless enthusiasm to help out wherever she could lead to her becoming a favourite of both soldier and scientist alike.

As it so happened, the girl’s demands were considerably easier than even she had expected.

‘Day 3,

Colonel Blanchard came and spoke to me today while I was having lunch with Mr. Berkley. He told me that he’d made some inquiries into hiring William and Sprout. Turns out that William had already been short-listed for a position as soon as his training was finished – big surprise there – and although Sprout was failing miserably in just about every physical field, his aptitude for anything involving writing is far above those of his peers. Colonel says that even though there’s no chance of him getting a job as a soldier, in a year or two he can have him brought on as an intern for the science team!

I’m so happy; everyone here is way nicer than I was expecting. Might be because I can make myself tall as a tree, might not. Either way, I’m glad I’m here.’

‘Day 4,

I got to talk to one of the construction team members – a fellow called Paul - about having a special room made just for me! It won’t even be a house like we’d build on the surface; it’ll be a huge underground room! They’ll dig it out of the soil and make it so big that I’ll be comfy inside it no matter how big I get. They even said they’ll see about making me bigger furniture, just in case I get too tall and it sticks!

He was a real sweet bean he was, told me his young lady friend used to have dreams just like this. I hope the two of them are real happy together! And hey, if she ever winds up crashing into a flying saucer falling out of the sky, maybe her can build her a big ol’ bed as well!

…

I should also say, to be completely honest, I did also have a slight accident in the lunch room earlier. I was having a bite to eat, and I started daydreaming about young William. I, uh… well… I got a little carried away. They said it won’t be too hard to replace the chairs or the tables, but the crater in the floor shaped like my backside is going to be a little more difficult to repair.

I’m gonna need to be real careful about these powers in the future; gotta be ‘mindful’ the colonel says. I think he means I need to think about it a lot? No worries about that though, it’s not like I can forget!

Anyway, I’d best get off to bed, got a big day ahead of me tomorrow. Colonel says we’re gonna go out as far into the desert as we can so we won’t be interrupted, then he says I’m to make myself as big as I possibly can! I’m excited to find out, but I’m also a bit nervous about it too. I hope I don’t do something stupid.’

‘Day 5,

Wow. Well. Colonel says that we’ll have to run some more tests in the future, but today’s test was wild! There was nothing around to really compare myself to besides the jeep and the people, but, I can make myself real big. Like, real real big. Like, so big that I’m pretty sure I could hold my old house in the palm of my hand big!

So, here’s how it all went down.

I got up first thing and had a big, hearty breakfast. Cook’s name was Sylvia; she seems like a nice lady, and she made me a whole bunch of bacon and eggs! Haven’t had any of those since my birthday last year, and boy was it something, let me tell you! Anyway, after that I put on some of the new clothes the team bought me, hopped in a car with the Colonel and a few of the scientists and drove out for about an hour into the desert.

The fellas asked me if I needed a hat or something, but I told them I was used to the heat, which is true I suppose, but I just didn’t want to cause them any trouble honestly. We’d already been driving for ten minutes after all. When we finally got to the spot, I decided it would be a good idea to take off the clothes before the experiment began instead of during. Colonel asked if I’d like a screen to undress behind, but I just told him he was being silly. It’s not like anyone wasn’t gonna see everything anyway, and I didn’t mind really. I knew none of them meant me any harm.

So, I took off my kit and put it in the car ‘til later. Colonel asked me to go for it, but also insisted that I take my time if I needed to. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to get started! I know young ladies are supposed to be modest and demure and such, but something about this gift is more than a little intoxicating. It’s like a nice home cooked meal, or a tall, cool glass of strawberry milk; you just want more of it as soon as possible!

As soon as I’d been given the go ahead, I let loose. It was slow at first, but the longer I kept that little mental squeeze going, the faster I grew! I could feel the sand under my feet compacting and sinking in on itself, feel the sun covering more and more of my skin as I swelled and swelled and swelled… Golly, I’ve become really fond of that word all of a sudden! I admit I’m blushing just a little as I write this, but I didn’t just make myself taller during the experiment.

Once I got past a few dozen feet or so, I started to get this impulse deep in my belly, like I wasn’t getting ‘big’ enough, if you understand me? It was a hunger I guess, like the feeling you get when you’ve not eaten all day… only I wasn’t hungry for food, I was hungry for… bulk? Size? Curves? I don’t quite know really, all I know was I just couldn’t let it go. I started making my, uh… lady parts bigger. My bosom, my backside, my hips, my legs, even my tummy; I just blew them all up! I could feel the extra weight being added on, but it never felt too much for me to handle. I felt strong! I felt really strong! Not just strong though, I felt… something else. I got the same feeling I felt whenever I watched William during training, the little flutter in my stomach like I wanted something… sinful.

I’m glad nobody else will ever read this diary, because let me tell you, I got a little flustered looking down at those little folks down below. The longer I looked at the jeep and the bigger I got, the more I wanted to… I don’t know, play with it? Does that make sense? I wanted… Uh… maybe I should think about this a while longer before I try to explain it. I don’t think I can tell the Colonel or the science folks about this though; they might get the wrong idea. They might have already guessed, but none of them have said anything. They are clever clods after all.

Oh! Before I forget; my clothes didn’t fit properly when I put them back on after the experiment was over! When I brought myself down to my normal size again, I could squeeze into my dress and my under-garments, but they felt like they were just a bit too tight for me. I knew they fit earlier in the day, and I couldn’t make myself any smaller, so… maybe they shrank in the heat? Is that a thing that can happen? I guess I’ll find out…’

‘Day 82,

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later; I broke one of the cars today. The Colonel and I were out in the desert working on some balance tests, trying to see if my level of acrobatic skill is the same when I’m small as when I’m big. I like to think I’m a pretty good gymnast most of the time, but we all make mistakes… Just so happens that my mistake today ended with a trip, a stumble, and a twisted pile of rubber and metal that used to be a jeep stuck to my rear-end.

I was scared beyond belief, let me tell you – but if I was scared, I can only imagine how the science team was feeling! They had to run like the dickens to get clear when I fell; a few seconds either way and I might have had more than a car under my caboose. It definitely didn’t help that my backside was considerably larger than normal during the test; that was kind of the point of course, but still. The good news is the Colonel assured me that it’ll be easy to replace, but I still feel mighty bad about wrecking the thing.

Since we were still miles out into the desert, I insisted on carrying everyone back to the base. There was a bit of apprehension from some of the gents who were worried about winding up like the jeep, but I managed to convince them to give me a second chance when they remembered how many hours it would take to walk back on their own.

The Colonel accepted, though he insisted that I make myself smaller once we got in sight of the base; didn’t want to risk anyone in town seeing me… or thinking that my footsteps were an earthquake, haha!

‘Day 282,

I tried out something a little different for sleeping last night; it was definitely an unusual evening for sure, but I can’t say I didn’t really enjoy it! Been thinking for a while now about why it is that getting bigger feels so… good. It can’t just be a power rush otherwise it probably would’ve worn off by now, right? I didn’t know if it was just getting taller, or getting wider, or getting more… womanly. Is that how you’d describe it? Darned if I know.

Anyhow, I sat in my room before bed and tried to work out what it was that I was aching for each time I got bigger. I mean, there’s the… uh… ‘human urges’ that I suspect most folks get, but obviously it’s a little different in my case. I tried focusing on just growing one bit of me at a time, though it takes a heck of a lot of concentration. Most of the time I just wind up making all of me bigger; not that I’m complaining of course!

But after a long while of practicing, I managed to get some small amount of a handle on growing just a single body part… more or less. Still got bigger overall, but some parts grew faster than others. Feels like getting ‘rounder’ is just about the bee’s knees as far as what feels positively Heavenly! My backside, my bosom and especially my belly just give me this immense feeling of blissful comfort when they get bigger. Though it’s a little different for each one.

My backside getting more bulbous tends to make me feel a whole lot more comfy when I’m sitting around. My breasts swelling up like balloons makes me feel more than a little… flustered, particularly when I’m thinking about dear William. But when my belly bulges, I can’t help but feel a deep down satisfaction; the same kind of feeling you get after a hearty breakfast, only way bigger! I feel absolutely stuffed, but not in a sickly way… Like it’s just the right amount to make you feel like you could just lay down and sleep for hours.

With that exact idea in mind, I chose to try not sleeping in my own bed. I sprawled out on the middle of the floor and just sort of… let myself go. Not too big! Not so big that I broke the room or cracked the floor or anything; just big enough to sleep on myself.

It was the most comfortable night of rest I’d ever had, but I also don’t feel like I can do it on the regular. Had a knock on my door first thing this morning and had to scramble to get back to my regular size; wouldn’t be very dignified to be found sleeping on a mattress of your own backside, let me tell you!

Still, it’s an amazing feeling. Took a fair amount of focus to not just keep on getting bigger… To be honest, I’m almost afraid of that feeling. I’m worried that someday I won’t be able to control it, and I really don’t want to hurt anyone by accident.

Anyhow, got some chores that need doing, more tomorrow!

‘Day 402,

I had a slight accident earlier today. Lucky for me, nobody was hurt, but it was still a tad embarrassing. I was in my room toying around with making myself bigger and smaller, and I decided to do something that was, in retrospect, maybe a little bit of a bad idea.

See, I’d noticed that the water heating tank in the far corner of the room would start to rattle and shake whenever I had a shower for more than a couple of minutes. I suppose that’s a normal thing for pipes and metal and such to do when you put a lot of pressure on them, but whenever I made myself bigger, I would notice that the top half of the water heater is… uh… Gosh, I feel red in the face writing this down. It’s a really nice shape. And I’d been thinking about it on and off for a week or so now, but today I decided to go through with my impulses.

Starting off at my regular height, I stepped into my shower, took off my clothes and switched on the hot water as far as it would go. Tempered it with a bit of cold of course; no need to waste the opportunity to have a good shower after all! But when I heard the heater beginning to jostle about, I stepped out, made myself bigger and…

It was an awkward position to put myself in; even with how big my room is and how high the ceiling goes, the heater is still nestled right in the corner and there’s a couple of safety fences in front of it. Well, were in front of it; my thighs might have flattened them just a little. But boy, it felt so worth it! The metal was really hot, and I reckon if I’d been my regular height when I touched it I probably would’ve burned myself, but the tests have shown time and time again that my bigness comes with comparable toughness… and sure enough, I could handle the heat just fine! Better than fine even, it was incredible! The shaking, bouncing vibrations of the hot metal between my legs felt indescribably good. My hands are trembling just remembering it; if I hadn’t gotten a bit too… enthusiastic with my motions, I’d probably do it again!

As it so happens, I’ve already had to apologize to Paul and the plumbers for bending all the pipes out of shape. He was curious at first what I’d done to them to leave the shapes I had, but when he saw the look on my face, he told me not to worry about it – said he’d fix it all just fine. He did make me promise not to do ‘whatever I did’ again though, which is fair I guess.

I feel bad for making trouble for the team, I really do… but… truthfully I think I’d do it again. Like, I don’t want to break the heater, I don’t want to make extra work for anyone, but the urges I get when I’m bigger are getting more and more intense as the months pass. I’m a little bit worried about what I might do if I lose control again…

… but I’m also real keen to feel that rush one more time. It’s a real shame that I’m not allowed to grow myself within the grounds of the main airport surface; the control tower looks really, really comfortable.’

Day after day, week after week, month after month and eventually year after year, dear Rowan kept up her diary entries. She detailed the arrival of her dreamboat William to the base, though she never quite got past the starry eyed feeling she got when she saw him face to face. Much jubilation was recorded on the page when Sprout made his debut on the science team, as well as the giggling descriptions of his face when he first saw Rowan shed her clothes.

It was no secret among the troops deployed at Roswell that Rowan was by far and away the most beloved person on the entire base, and not for purely base reasons. Even during her free time, Rowan took a great deal of pleasure exploring the grounds of the facility and conversing with anyone who gave her the opportunity. Officers, scientists, guards, cooks, even the janitors were at some point on the receiving end of her attentions. Where possible she would offer to help them out with whatever task they were assigned to, learning basic skills at the same time as she bonded with her colleagues.

It was also no secret that Rowan’s abilities were having a permanent effect on her. It was a gradual effect, so gradual that it took the science team several months to properly notice, but one it had been located it was undeniable. Every time Rowan used her powers to grow more than twice her own height, her ‘normal’ size would increase as a result. If it was only minor growth, then the increase might only be a few millimeters. But if her growth was more pronounced, scaling up to the height of the clouds, her ‘normal’ figure would be boosted by centimeters or inches in response.

By the time her twenty-fifth birthday rolled around, Rowan’s smallest height had been expanded to fifteen feet, three inches. This made her understandably a bit too conspicuous to the casual observer, and the Colonel had long ago forbidden her from visiting the local town. It was an unfortunate security requirement, but she was happy enough to not defy him on the matter. Anyone she genuinely cared about from her old life had already been quietly introduced into the fold of the Roswell operations, so the loss of a dozen casual acquaintances was an acceptable price to pay.

Today though, there wouldn’t be a soul on the planet, let alone in Roswell, who wouldn’t be aware of Rowan’s powers.

“Hiya sprout!” Rowan said with a huge, toothy smile as she peered in the second-story window of the lab complex, her feet firmly planted down on the pavement far below. She never failed to get a kick of amusement out of the startled look on the young man’s face when she arrived unannounced; that look of bewildered alarm followed by a lopsided grin of pleasant realization. He straightened his spectacles and rose from his chair, walking briskly over to the window to greet her properly.

“Hello Rowan, how are you today?”

“I’m just wonderful Sprout,” she replied, her cheerfulness bubbling over as she rested her elbows on the sill and propped her chin up in her palms, “do you know what today is?”

“I sure do!” The perilously scrawny fellow turned on the spot and shot a quick glance around his office space, the tails of his lab coat fluttering about with each motion. After a few seconds, he darted over to his work bench and scooped up a fist-sized parcel in a brown paper bag. Trotting back to the window, he thrust the package towards Rowan’s arms with a sheepish smile on his face. “Happy Birthday Ro!” 

She tilted her head a little to the size and wrinkled her nose at the young man, cocking an eyebrow expectantly. Chuckling awkwardly, Sprout planted one hand on the window sill before leaning out and planting a kiss on the large lady’s cheek. Her expression beamed in response as she accepted the present, hooking a single finger beneath the paper and ripping it open with one motion. 

“Thank you Sprout!” She paused, examining the trinket in her palm. “What is it exactly? It’s very pretty.”

“Glad you like it!” He replied, a pink hue to his cheeks as he scratched the back of his neck. “It’s just a necklace I made out of some of the spare parts from the last test. The symbol is from one of those books you were telling me about; it’s the mark of the Goddess in the… second one I think?”

“Oh Gosh, so it is! Aww, thank you so much Sprout, it’s wonderful!”

“Heh, I was going to make you a ring, but I realized that you’d probably outgrow it before long. At least with the necklace, you’ll be able to just keep replacing the string each time you get taller.”

“Good thinking!” Rowan gazed at the necklace, ideas brewing slowly in the back of her head. Symbol of a Goddess huh? Wouldn’t that be something. Snapping back to reality, she leaned in the window and wrapped her arms around the young man, pulling him into an affectionate hug before releasing him. “Okay! I’d better let you get back to work; I’ll see you later on?”

“Absolutely! I’m sure the fellows probably have some sort of birthday bash planned for you.” Rowan chuckled at the notion.

“I wouldn’t put it past them… later Sprout!”

As she turned away from the window, a flush of intense heat pulsed down Rowan’s body from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She clutched impulsively at the side of the lab building, her mouth opening in response as she gasped. Her thighs squeezed together, a pink hue to her cheeks while the feeling ran its course. Chewing on her lip momentarily, she clenched her fists as the urge to grow herself flooded through her veins. 

Surely it would be okay if she did it just for a minute, right? I mean, she’d been so good for so many years, and she’d never once broken the rule about growing too big on the airstrip itself. The tarmac supported the weight of jet planes! It could absolutely carry a few extra feet of Rowan.

Just as she was about to let herself rise into the sky, her eyes settled in the distant form of the Colonel conversing with a few of the guards on duty. Her heartrate slowed as she took in the sight of him, her pulse receding and the heat gradually dying down until she was more or less back to normal. Golly, what was that all about?!

Trotting briskly away from Sprout’s lab in case she accidentally knocked in a wall, Rowan found herself being intercepted by a pair of young men in uniform, doffing their hats to her as they approached and flashing a warm smile at their colossal colleague. 

“Mornin’ Miss Rowan!”

“And good morning to you too Mr. Nordon, Mr. Slattery.” Rowan curtsied politely, looking back and forth between the two men. 

“Happy Birthday to you young Miss, how’s the day treatin’ you?”

“Just splendid in fact! I just saw Spro- uh, Mr. Tyler. He gave me a lovely present.”

“That’s swell Miss! Have you seen Mr. Hill this morning?”

Rowan’s heart leapt into her throat, her cheeks flaring red as her fingers entwined curiously. A dopey, excited smile spread across her face as she practically bounced on the tips of her feet. 

“M-Mr. Hill? Will- I mean… Mr. H-Hill was looking f-for me?”

The guards feigned ignorance to the young lady’s obvious reaction, suppressing a slight smirk on their part as they nodded. 

“He sure was Miss; he’s not on patrol for another half hour, so I’d wager you’ll find him in the barracks. Said he went to visit your room but you were out.”

“Well thank you kindly boys! I’d better not keep him waitin’ if he’s lookin’ for me; could be important business!”

“That it could Miss; take care!”

As the pair marched off, Rowan had to fight not to squeal in delight. William had asked to see her! He was seeking her out specifically! He had always been as polite to her as everyone else had been of course, but he only ever spoke to her if they ran into each-other; he’d never actually made a point of coming to find her! Practically jogging on the spot, Rowan blew off a few seconds of steam before setting off at a brisk trot for the barracks. 

She looked her outfit up and down, brushing down the crinkles and straightening every last bow, ribbon and strand of cloth. Her eyes came to rest of her bust, bringing her to a screeching halt just outside the main doors. Would it be more enticing for dear William if she were more… womanly? In all the time she’d known him, she’d never been brave enough to broach the question of what exactly he looked for in a woman. Did he prefer slender women? Voluptuous women? It would be extremely unfortunate if he preferred short women. In the end however, Rowan decided to just go as she was. Deep down inside, she knew that it was the right thing to do. 

It had been years since she could actually fit inside the dinky little structure, but that didn’t mean the folks inside couldn’t come out to speak with her. Bending down and reaching out to rap her knuckles on the door, Rowan did her best to avoid last week’s performance and not dent the metalwork. 

After a few seconds, the door swung open… and there he was. Rowan practically saw stars as she let her gaze linger on his unbearable handsome face. 

“Well howdy there young Miss Rowan.” Golly, she never got sick of listening to him talk. “Happy Birthday!” 

“Thank you Wi-, uh, Mr. Hill.”

“C’mon now, I’m off duty, you can call me Will.”

The blush that consumed Rowan’s face also manifested in her throat in the form of an uncontrollable giggle of happiness.

“Of course, Will!” She paused for a moment, wondering if she should curtsy or if it was too late in the conversation for that. “So… you wanted to see me?”

“That I did! It is your birthday after all; I’ve got a very special present for you.”

“O-oh?” Rowan’s anticipation grew, partially in response to the sudden pulse of nervous energy that tingled inside her, “what is it?” She could practically feel her insides straining to unleash her growth, but she held onto the reigns so as not to ruin the moment.

“Well, I’m afraid I need your help with it,” William replied with a winning smile, “if you’d be so kind, could I ask you to crouch down and hold out your hands about here?” He gestured to his belly button. Rowan gladly obliged, bunching her dress up around her knees and bending until she was balanced in the position the young man had requested. 

“Like that?”

“Perfect; now close your eyes.” Rowan’s heart hammered against her ribcage, squeezing her eyes tight shut and all but holding her breath as she waited. After a couple of seconds, she felt the weight of one fuzzy, sock-clad foot pressing on the palm of her hand. A moment later, the other sock pressed down beside it; the full weight of William Hill amounting to little more than a large doll at this point. 

Her skin prickled and burned blissfully as she felt his palms against her shoulders, balancing himself before… 

The world slowed to a crawl as her mind made the connection a fraction of a second before it happened. A small wave of breath washed over her cheek, followed by his lips. The soft, warm peck was over and done with in an instant, but in her head it lasted for an eternity.

There was a pause as Rowan’s eyes drifted open, turning to gaze at the young man standing on her hands. He was smiling at her with all the raw charisma and appeal she’d known since the first time she clapped eyes on him... and that was all she could take.

“I liked that present very much.” She replied, her voice trembling as she sank onto her knees. “As it so happens, I also have a present for you; two actually. The first is a gift I’ve wanted to give you for quite a few years now…” Bending forwards at the hips, Rowan planted a kiss on William’s lips that strayed quickly from an affectionate peck into a long, lusty smooch. When she pulled away, any self-doubt that she might have had about William not enjoying the moment evaporated when she saw the stunned, lopsided grin on his face. 

“Wow… Ro… that was-”

“The other…” Rowan interrupted, her voice little more than a breathy whisper at this point, “is one that I’ve only just decided to give you.”

The large lady’s focus turned to the floodgates in her subconscious that had been valiantly straining up to this point to keep her urges in check. They alone were all that stood between her and the flood of growth that was aching to be unleashed. With a shuddering sigh she flipped her mental latch… and let it all out.

Shouts of surprise went up all around the airfield as the personnel saw the familiar shape of Rowan gradually expanding in the midst of the compound. Scraps of fabric hung from her hips and shoulders as her figure quickly dominated the landscape, womanly features on full display as she focused on something in the palm of her hand. 

The sound of her giggling rippled through the air, well beyond the limits of the base and into the nearby town. 

“I hope you like this gift as much as I do; the best kind of gift is one that everyone can enjoy after all.” Her spurt of growth was interrupted by a sudden groan of twisting metal, followed by a metallic ‘crunch’. Rowan jolted on the spot, sending a small rumble through the ground as she glanced down behind her. Her already massive backside had evidently decided to swell up just as little faster than the rest of her, and had steamrolled over one of the nearby cargo containers. The receptacle and all it contained had become quite two-dimensional beneath the immense bulk of Rowan’s bottom, causing her to reflexively plant her free hand over her lips. 

“Oops!” She chuckled awkwardly, flashing an apologetic smile towards the control tower, “sorry about that! I’ll try to be a little more careful… But at the same time,” she added as an afterthought, “it is my birthday, so I’m also going to have a bit of fun. Sorry in advance if anything gets broken!” 

Her gaze returned to the thumb-sized man in her hand. 

“So, Will… how about we have a little fun with the planes! I’ve never had the pleasure of flying in one myself, which I guess is hardly surprising, but I’d love to watch you zipping around in one! I mean golly; you’d be the only person in the world as high up as me!”

“That sounds swell and all Ro,” Will called up at her, a cautious excitement in his tone, “but I’m still in training for that sort of thing, and I can’t just take one of the planes without the colonel’s permission.”

“Oh… Well, I’m sure he won’t mind if we just borrow one for a while,” Rowan said dismissively, twisting on the spot and leaving an enormous, rump-shaped dent in the tarmac, “plus if we don’t actually use any of the fuel, it shan’t cost the colonel a dime!”

“How will-” He started to ask before the breath was ripped from his lungs by the sudden rush of motion. Shuffling forwards on her knees, Rowan reached out with her free hand for one of the parked aircraft pulled up on the runway. Several pilots who had been watching her unexpected growth spurt now scattered like bugs away from her approaching palm.

“No need to worry boys!” Rowan announced cheerfully, her fingers grasping the fuselage of the plane and hoisting it effortlessly off the ground. “Here we go Will; time for take-off!” 

Even if he’d wanted to protest, the budding pilot was too winded to object as Rowan pinched the cockpit and pulled it open, permitting entry for the tiny trooper in her hand. Tipping her palm up carefully, she deposited dear William in the pilot’s seat and waited patiently for him to strap in. Her bright, bubbly expression only grew more delighted as he finally clasped together the final buckle. As soon as he was secure, Rowan’s thumb clicked the open cockpit shut.

“Here we go!”

Rising to her feet, Rowan felt the warmth of the sun on her flesh tempered by the cool breeze on her skin. She took just a moment to bask in that feeling before she set off down the runway, each massive footfall cracking the tarmac beneath her.

“Up, UP, UP AND AWAY!” Her arm gradually elevated the aircraft, launching from ankle height to all the way above her head by the time she’d reached the limit of the landing strip. With all the shameless glee of a woman who’d never quite let go of her imagination, Rowan’s lips vibrated rapidly in imitation of the plane’s propeller. For his part, Will was well aware that no plane built was designed for the kind of turns and momentum that the bubbly birthday girl was putting it through, but he was strangely confident that he was in no immediate danger. 

With a tremendous bound, Rowan vaulted over the hanger at the edge of the base, her breasts having grown to such a colossal size that they almost smacked her in the chin as a result. It was a feeling of freedom the likes of which she hadn’t experienced in years; though she had never felt trapped in the base, she knew perfectly well that her freedom was kept under careful scrutiny. Now though, to be able to let loose both physically, mentally and emotionally, she was overflowing with the purest type of joy. Her feet dug into the sand, leaving two great furrows in the ground before setting off into the desert. 

Once she was outside the limits of the air-strip, Rowan sucked in a great gulp of breath and indulged in another growth spurt. She could feel her limbs getting longer, her curves swelling outwards and her head raising yet higher towards the clouds. Even as her fingers carefully kept their grip on the plane, she could feel the thing getting tinier and tinier until it was no larger than a matchbox. The clouds parted as they drifted over her skin, the ground trembled beneath her tread and the sway of her body felt so utterly exquisite that she almost wished she could trade places with dear William just to get a look at herself. 

In the plane, Will’s focus was mostly being spent on not throwing up, but every chance he got he shot a look out the cockpit window to the veritable Goddess whisking him about like her own personal toy. To describe the sensation as thrilling would have been an understatement almost as massive as Rowan; the terror of being so completely powerless was thoroughly drowned out by the sheer spectacle of it all. He had grown up a lad believing that the world was a more or less rational place, a place where anything truly extraordinary had already been discovered, and that all we could do at this point was improve what we already knew. Rowan though? Rowan was utterly unique.

Never before in his life had he ever seen anything remotely like her, and watching her just being herself was quite intoxicating. Of course, her personality wasn’t the only appeal as any red-blooded male would tell you. Even when she was at her ‘normal’ height, she was uncommonly attractive. Any semblance of the plain young girl she’d been a few years ago had been worn away by intimate familiarity, and there wasn’t a soul in Roswell who couldn’t see her undeniable beauty. And when she grew, the sensual allure of her feminine figure quite literally exploded. Nobody in the world had seen curves like that, and the sight of them alone was enough to leave an onlooker utterly lost for words.

As Rowan curved around and trotted back towards Roswell, she closed her eyes for a few moments and drank it all in. This was it; this was the happiest she had ever been.

The shouts of alarm and warning reached her ears a half-second too late as she felt something crunch and flatten beneath her foot. Her heart skipped a beat in alarm as she skidded to a halt, glancing down and remembering suddenly that her growth spurt meant she’d returned far quicker than she’d departed. By the looks of it, her heel had gone straight through the roof of the munitions warehouse. A chill went up her spine as she imagined all the explosives and crates of bullets contained within, but by some divine stroke of luck she had managed to reduce the entire payload to dust without setting off so much as a hand grenade. Her mind raced as she tried to remember if anyone worked in the munitions hut; she didn’t think there was, but it was best to check all the same. 

“Sorry! Is… was… that empty?”

Incoherent shouts of affirmation echoed up to her, and nobody was screaming in horror… so that was something. After a moment, a tingle of delight wound its way up through her legs. Searching for the source, Rowan realized that the ball of her foot was slowly twisting back and forth on the rubble, grinding the rubble into powder as she became acutely aware of her own strength. 

“Rowan!” The voice echoed through the megaphone, drawing her attention to the roof of the command center. At first she thought that it had come from the control tower, but a cursory glance revealed the miniscule figure of Colonel Blanchard, accompanied by a few stunned members of the science team, addressing their towering charge. She gulped nervously, her cheeks a tad pink. “Can you hear me properly?”

She nodded her head sheepishly, swinging her hands behind her back and bringing them to rest just above her ample posterior, fingers curled protectively around William’s plane. Within the cockpit, Will just gaped in open mouthed awe at the seemingly endless field of rump stretching out beneath him. 

“Rowan, I need you to bring yourself back down to us. You are already in full view of the town, but we can still potentially control this situation if it isn’t made any worse.” The young woman’s eyes widened as she glanced out over the town she grew up in. The buildings, familiar even after all these years, seemed like models arrayed on the floor of a great playground. Her spirit wavered as she noted the dozens upon dozens of tiny dots lining the streets, pointing up at her and shouting in surprise and confusion.

But the longer she looked, the more she felt the heat in her belly burning brighter. Trepidation gave way to excitement, alarm melted quickly into lust. She bit her lip, chest heaving as she felt the decision being made for her.

“I’m so sorry Colonel, really I am… but I think the jig is up.” 

“Rowan, this isn’t a joke.” The man said in a calm, stern voice. In spite of the apparent severity of the situation, his tone remained remarkably unaggressive. “Please do as I say and reduce yourself; we can discuss this later.”

“Colonel,” Rowan replied, her voice trembling as she turned to face the command center directly, “I promise that I’ll bring myself back down real soon… but right now, if everyone already knows, there ‘aint no point pretending anymore. I’ll do what you want in a while; right now I want to do something for myself. Please forgive me.” Her gaze switched from the Colonel’s office to the dozens of troops dotting the airstrip. “Alright boys; move aside! I need a bit of room for this.”

The instruction didn’t need to be repeated. Men and women scattered in all directions as she stepped into the middle of the runway, her foot leaving a vast crater in its wake as she lowered herself down as carefully as possible. When it became apparent that there simply wasn’t room for her in the middle of the base, she glanced down over her shoulder at the half-cylinder of the hanger beneath. 

“Anyone inside the plane-house would do well to make tracks! I’m a patient girl, but I’m sittin’ down in fifteen seconds. Please don’t drag your feet!”

Doors sprang open as office workers and pilots fled the structure, getting to a safe distance before turning to watch the events unfolding. Once she was sure it was safe, Rowan let her titanic behind crash down like twin boulders of buttocks, the flesh expanding outwards to accommodate her weight. The pancake remnants of the hangar were entirely engulfed beneath her, and though all logical reason said that it would be both dangerous and awkward to use as a cushion, Rowan’s rump found the whole thing bewilderingly comfortable. 

“Okay… so… I’m just going to put this out there…” Rowan announced in a paradoxically forceful tone of hesitation, “I really want to put… uh… things inside myself.” She could scarcely believe the words coming out of her mouth, but the more she spoke, the more confident she felt in her requests. “So if anyone could bring me cars, or planes, or trucks or… themselves, I would greatly appreciate it.”

Before her eyes, the myriad of pint-sized people scattered around the base sprang into motion. Some seemed to be doing little more than running for the hills, but the majority appeared to be trying to locate any and all vehicles within the confines of the base. As she watched, giddy happiness building in her heart, the people she’d worked with over all these years set about bringing her exactly what she had asked for. She couldn’t honestly tell if it was out of fear or love, but she preferred to think that they were doing it all for her.

As the fleet assembled before her, Rowan shifted in place to get into a more comfortable position, her thick, luscious thighs spreading apart to accommodate the stretch of her legs. Planting her free palm behind her for balance, she brought the plane containing dear Will back around in front of her face. The whites of her eyes glinted in the sun as she stared intently at the handsome speck in the pilot’s chair. 

“Well my dear, darling William…” Her voice had lost all trace of sheepish awkwardness as she spoke to her crush, undisguised lust oozing like saliva from her tongue as she asked her question, “before anything else… I want you to be my first. And since this will also be yours in its own, uh, ‘distinct’ way,” she giggled, her fingers brushing between her thighs and across the lips of her waiting womanhood, “I want you to choose… front, or…” the hand slid behind her, clasping a mighty handful of her bulging butt-flesh, “… back?”

Within the cockpit, Will shouted his response several times, but it was entirely inaudible to the titillating titan. Rowan cocked an eyebrow at him. 

“Will, I can’t actually hear you. Nod once if you want the front; press your hands against the cockpit if you want the back.” She tilted the plane down a little so she could more easily gauge his reaction. Jolting in the seat, Will reached forward and planted both palms against the glass, leaning against it as his gaze met hers. Rowan grinned. “I’m glad we both agree.”

The anticipation that had been building over the past half hour reached a fever pitch as Rowan bent forwards, her immense bosom hanging like mountains of flesh over the vehicles on the airfield. Her free hand dug between her unfathomable buttocks, pulling one of them aside with a grunt of exertion while the hand containing her precious cargo was lowered into place. Breath fluttered in her throat, spine tingling as she felt the press of the little capsule against the innermost skin of her bottom. She closed her eyes, fuselage squeezed against her as her thumb in turn squeezed the fuselage…

… and with a thrust of her hand, she felt it plunge inside her. A short, sharp yelp left her throat as the sensation shot through her body. 

“Ohhh…. Myyy…. Yes…. Oh….” Her cheeks burned red, nerves ablaze as her eyes opened wide. Raking the fleet of ships on the ground, Rowan’s fingers reached down hungrily into their midst. Contrary to the care and elegance she had used to push the plane into her posterior, she grabbed up handfuls of doll-sized machines like food at a buffet. Her subconscious perception told her that there were definitely still people in one or two of the vehicles in her fist, but at the same time she believed that she’d given them ample time to leave if they wanted; they wanted to be there as much as she did.

Gently parting the lips of her womanhood, Rowan maneuvered each vehicle in turn from the palm of her hand to the pinch of her fingers before inserting them into herself. One by one, without pomp or ceremony, the transportation of Roswell’s air base disappeared into the gigantic Goddess towering over it. She was their sole focus; she was their end of the line. With each new object, Rowan’s hips began to grind harder and harder into the ground. Sexual pleasure of a kind she’d only dreamed of during her quiet, nervous sessions in her room was now flooding her body. 

She got the dull impression that someone was trying to talk to her, that there was a voice trying to pierce through the veil of delight that had draped across her senses, but it was far too late for that. Her perception of the world had shifted to something entirely unique. The words and names she had used to identify objects since she was young had been boiled down and simplified; there was no longer jeep, car, plane, office or lab… there was just big toy, little toy, long toy, concrete seat. 

It also seemed that her request for more playthings had reached further than just the air strip. From the neighboring town, cars, bicycles and even solitary people had started trickling into the base. Rowan could feel her insides getting full; the sacred space between her thighs stuffed so tight that she felt like a mistimed clench would crush the lot into scrap. Closing her eyes once again and tapping into the alien power that had bonded with her all those years ago, a faint glow rippled from Rowan’s skin to signal her imminent spurt of growth. Her hips surged out either side, her stomach swelled to support the sheer size of her breasts which had taken it upon themselves to inflate a tad quicker than the rest of her. This was no longer a case of logical proportions; the young Goddess was closer to a statue of the feminine figure crafted by some ancient civilization. 

Regardless, it had the intended effect. 

More room was freed up inside her womanhood, granting space to the pilgrimage of people filtering onto the runway, gathering before the lusting young lady like the faithful before an altar... or a temple. Her free palm rubbed greedily over the almighty expanse of her breasts as her other kept up its almost rhythmic pursuit of scooping up more and more toys to tease herself with. Her head lolled back with a long, rumbling moan as Rowan’s eyes snapped back to the control tower. Ignoring the highly animated little dot on the nearby rooftop, the colossus reached out slowly and wrapped her fingers around the base of the tower. With scarcely a flex of muscle, she wrenched the structure free of the ground and looked it up and down, gauging its suitability. Fortunately for the occupants of the inferno between her legs, she didn’t intend to stuff the structure into herself… at least not into her crotch. 

Licking her lips and lifting the softly curved dome towards her mouth, Rowan opened wide to reveal the dripping maw beyond her teeth. The control tower may have been designed with smooth aesthetic and aerodynamics in mind, but right now the only meaning the shape had for the thoroughly aroused Rowan was the satisfaction she would glean from sliding it into her throat. 

Inch by inch, meter by meter, the tower was pushed between her luscious red lips. Her jaw opened wider invitingly as she fed the thing inside, dimly aware of the shouts of surprise from within the structure. Under normal circumstances her impulse might have been to abandon the scheme right there and then, but she was confident that nobody would be hurt by her little luxuries. Thunderous sounds of sensual ecstasy hummed forth from her chest, echoing up her throat and into the structure within her mouth. 

Gripping it firmly in one hand, she set about sliding it back and forth across her tongue, tracing circles about the tip as she bobbed it up and down. Rowan let herself fall like a felled tree, her impossible bulk crashing to Earth with enough force to send a quake pounding through the entire state. Houses shook, windows shattered and some flimsy structures crumbled to the ground, all while the titan slurped happily on the steel lollipop in her mouth. 

Feeling like she had finally reached the point where her ladyship was as full as it needed to be, Rowan’s fingers ceased trying to find further fodder to feed within. Instead, they slid languidly over to stroke to and fro across the lips of her labia, pushing the feeling of pleasure deeper and deeper into her brain.

There was nothing left now. Nothing in the world; not a country, not a base, not a birthday and not even a name. There was only the singular climax that was building inside, absorbing every ounce of energy she had like the surge of water that draws away from the shore to form a tidal wave. 

And then… with an echoing howl of unbridled, passionate desire… Rowan erupted.

Her hips bucked furiously on the spot, juices flowing freely from her with each passing moment. Every time she bucked, her entire body swelled significantly; every shake and shudder accompanied by overwhelming inflation. Before the shuddering spasms of satisfaction had finished, the bulk of her breasts had thrust above the clouds, her figure sprawled across the landscape of New Mexico.

Panting and grunting softly, her senses slowly returned, uncontrollable sexual thrill gradually replaced with comprehension of the past few minutes. Glancing down towards her legs, Rowan could see absolutely nothing beyond the vast, jiggling mountains of flesh that were her breasts. She got the impression that her stomach was also barely visible, a mighty spherical mass poking up just beyond her cleavage, but other than that she was blind.

Beneath her leg, she felt a rough, bumpy texture that might have been rubble, or might have been her home town… or possibly both.

“It’s… possible that I might’ve gone a bit overboard. Darn it.”

Attempting to push herself up, Rowan found that in spite of her positively divine strength, she lacked the ability to do so much as sit up.

“Yeah… might be time to go back down; Colonel’s probably furious with me.”

She tapped into that familiar pool of energy, searching for the plug that kept all that size and power in place… only to find that it was gone. Squeezing her fists together and willing herself to shrink again, Rowan felt absolutely no change in her mass. Confusion lanced through her subconscious as she tried to grow again, wondering if the power had simply shut itself off entirely. A surge of flesh swelled all around her, stopping abruptly as she squeezed on the valve. Her eyes darted about as she tried to roll herself onto her side to get a better look around, but after a few seconds of wobbling back and forth, she dug her elbows in and steadied herself; if Roswell hadn’t already been squashed into powder by her miles of ass, it would definitely be flattened if she started rolling around.

“Okay Ro, think… think think think think think…” Her fingertips tapped against her temple as she tried to concoct a solution. “… Maybe… if I make m’self even bigger, like, just my arms ‘n’ legs ‘n’ such, I’ll be strong enough to sit up and look around!”

Condensing all her attention to the core elements of her body, Rowan opened up the floodgates of her growth once more, pouring size into her limbs, her torso and her muscles. Unfortunately, her enthusiastic attempt to prevent the growth from also pouring into her curves proved entirely unsuccessful, as her breasts, belly and buttocks promptly ballooned in all directions, filling up her vision with skin and flesh. Worse still, when she attempted to close the valves and halt the growth, she found herself entirely unable to do so. Struggle as she might, Rowan quickly realized that her expansion was now totally beyond her control.

As seconds stretched into minutes, her body rippled out over the rest of the state and into the neighboring ones. As single minutes became a dozen, her stomach began to dominate her body’s growth, the semi-spherical shape becoming almost a perfect globe as her intoxicating bulk stretched beyond the atmosphere of the Earth itself. By the time a quarter of an hour had passed, Rowan felt a dizzy sensation of perplexing weightlessness as her body drifted free of the planet.

Rotating gently on the spot, she glanced back over her shoulder and saw the Earth beside her. She never thought that she would see it from such an angle - and certainly not the same size as her. Rowan would’ve been lying if she said she’d ever spent much time studying geography, but she felt it was safe to assume that the vast, buttock-shaped pair of craters in the side of the planet were probably all that was left of her home country of America.

The sight of it filled her with an intense sense of longing, and more than a little regret. It was undeniable that she had relished every last second of that power and growth, and at the time she didn’t consider the quite likely obliteration of the town around her to be that big of a deal. But as the mists of passion receded and her sight was clear once more, she understood that at this point, there was no going back. Her lip trembled as she wished against all reason, against all logic, that she could take it all back. She didn’t want to destroy it all; she didn’t want everyone to be gone… She just wanted everyone to be happy, including herself.

…

As if in response to that wish, and perhaps as a result of the sheer force of will behind it, Rowan felt the familiar tingle of her powers kicking in. But unlike before, they didn’t appear to be changing her physical characteristics… they were changing something else, something undefinable. The power grew and grew, electrifying every last mile of her body until it was no longer an altered state of being – it was her only state of being. The energy didn’t inhabit Rowan, she was the energy.

Gazing down on the slowly spinning planetoid with a feeling of blind hope in her heart, Rowan held out her fingers towards the crushed landscape and exerted her will upon the ground, mentally commanding it to pull itself back together…

… but it refused.

She could feel the energy in her fingertips trying to manifest on the planet below, but there simply wasn’t enough of it within her. Whether it was something in her own subconscious, or some left over relic of information from the being that had bonded with her all those years ago, Rowan felt compelled to reach out into the cosmos and draw more of that tingling energy into herself.

The light of the sun, the glow of other planets, the distant twinkling of galaxies beyond the reach of mankind; Rowan drank it all like a sponge, her form spreading exponentially outwards as she opened every internal receptor to absorb the unfathomable power. Her will spread forth across the void of space, flooding into every corner of the universe at a rate that strained the very fabric of possibility.

Information flooded into Rowan’s mind and soul, wisdom and knowledge greater than the sum total of human history filing her conscious thoughts without so much as a twinge of pain. She was ready for it, and the more it filled her, the more she filled all of creation with herself.

At long last, it no longer felt to Rowan as though she possessed anything like a physical body, not in the sense a human might use. Her conscious mind could transcend the laws of time and space, darting about all that she had consumed a mere pulse of thought. A rush of determination burned in her soul as she turned her cosmic gaze back to the shattered remains of the world she loved, demanding that it reject the damage she had done…

… and after a few seconds of stillness, the Earth obeyed.

Mountains rose from the blasted soil, rivers sprang forth from nothingness, forests pierced the surface and great monuments of mankind’s ambition assembled in mere heartbeats. People stumbled back into existence, glancing about them in mild confusion as though they’d been struck with an unexpected thought.

Rowan didn’t let the last few minutes of their lives back into their memories; they didn’t need that after all. Her gaze fell upon the small, unassuming town of Roswell, dragging it up from the pits of her memory and spreading it back across the landscape. She put them all back one by one; William Hill and his gorgeous face, young Sprout and his lopsided spectacles, Colonel Blanchard and his stern, caring heart.

When all was said and done, there was only one piece missing from the puzzle: Rowan.

So many things on the base only existed because she existed. Her room, her personal labs, her test results… everyone down there still remembered her, still loved her. But she couldn’t undo this transformation; she was up here for good. Perhaps she could simply erase all memory of herself from their minds, but she didn’t want to leave them with that feeling… that feeling of loss that could never be reconciled.

With a sigh, her soul drifted through the universe of herself, wondering what to do.

After a minute’s thought that felt like an eternity, she returned her focus to the landscape and summoned a swell of spirit. Amidst the sands of the desert, a solitary shape rose from nothing, clad in a billowing white dress and bearing a face framed by hair of raven. Rowan gazed at herself with a soft, adoring smile.

“At least I can keep an eye on everyone from up here.” She whispered to herself, watching with loving affection as she strolled back onto the tarmac, ready to start her party anew. Her smile grew as she saw the looks of delight on the faces of her friends and colleagues as they greeted her, heard their softly whispered commends of admiration as she walked out of ear-shot. “They’re happy. They’re all happy…”

Down on the ground, she saw her fingers entwine with those of darling William, gazing into his eyes just as he gazed into hers.

“… I couldn’t wish for more.”

...

EPILOGUE: A Bit of Fun

One might reasonably assume that the process of transforming into something akin to a literal Goddess would result in the kind of infinite wisdom that would make existing in and around the endless expanse of reality an absolute playground of intellectual and spiritual joy.

One might also reasonably assume that total omnipotence is extraordinarily boring.

With no obstacle whatsoever left to overcome and no challenge even remotely big enough for her to surmount, Rowan discovered that her only true enemy was one of the most universal villains in all of history: boredom.

She could transform barren rocks in the depths of space into sprawling, vibrant landscapes of surreal life. She could drag forth light from nothingness and let it bathe the frozen tundra of a dead world with the glow of creation. And yet in spite of all these grand abilities and divine designs, she often found her attention slipping back to that planet that had spawned her, that little blue ball that seemed so tiny and fragile and insignificant in the grand scheme of things…

… just as she had been.

She’d been determined not to interfere too much, not to toy with the lives of the people she loved and cared about. But as time went on, she found herself thinking increasingly of just how much she could do to throw a spanner in the cogs of history.

After all, she could just undo anything that went horribly wrong, right? Where was the harm in a little cosmic tomfoolery?

As she reached out to see through the eyes of her separate self, she saw that handsome, spectacular face of her darling William as he lay sprawled on the grass of a hilly paddock, her own pale palms planted either side of his head.

“You know, whenever I look in your eyes,” he said with a low, loving whisper, “I feel like I can see the twinkle of your very soul looking back at me little lady.”

The universe glowed at the thought, and Rowan couldn’t help but hijack her thoughts for just a moment.

“Little lady? Oh dear Will, I’m so much bigger than you.”

“You’ll always be my sweet little lady to me darlin’.”

Rowan’s soul grinned as she fully inhabited herself, the two separate bodies merging together as they bonded over a singular desire for a bit of fun.

“That sounds like a challenge to me mister…”

She felt that joyful sensation of growth filling every inch of her body…

… and she smiled.

Fin