Derek slammed the car trunk shut and walked around to the passenger side of the car. "Ready, wife?"

"Ready, husband," Amber replied.

The newlyweds held each other and took in the breathtaking view of the Teton Range, backlit by the evening sun.

"We better get going if we want to set up the tent before nightfall," he said.

"Don't complain if you don't. It wasn't me who left the condoms in Fort Collins."

Derek smiled. They'd lost an hour driving around western Wyoming, looking for a store that sold condoms. Eventually he found a little, rundown general store that had one half-empty box of condoms. He bought the box.

"I love to hear you say 'condoms.' It sounds so dirty."

She blushed. It was no secret she was a virgin, and had intended to remain so until her wedding day, this very day. Many men she could have loved vied for her heart, but they couldn't handle the strain of celibacy during courtship. In Derek, she had found a man who shared her values, and who had the inner fortitude to love her for who she was, before sex was an option.

She shouldered her pack and started down the trail. "Try and keep up."

Derek walked after her, staring at her long, athletic legs and firm butt as they wiggled with her every step. "I'd follow you to the ends of the earth, my love, as long as you're wearing those shorts."

She looked playfully over her shoulder and slapped her butt, rattling her cheeks in the nylon athletic shorts.

Derek released a primal roar and ran after her. She squealed and took off down the trail.

"I can't believe this," Derek said for the tenth time. He collapsed the tent to start over again.

They were at the campsite on Open Canyon Trail, 1.5 miles west of Phelps Lake. The day's last remaining light was fading behind the mountains.

"We can sleep in the open," Amber said. "The mosquitos aren't bad."

That wasn't Derek's worry. Tonight was their wedding night. He'd been planning it for months. But his plans couldn't go forward if he couldn't get the tent set up.

He stood up and breathed deeply to calm himself. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I've set this thing up a hundred times."

"Are all the pieces here?"

"Yes."

She reached through his arms from behind and rubbed his chest. He felt her soft breasts squish against his back. "It's okay. I don't mind sleeping in the open," she said.

He ran his fingers through her auburn hair. "I don't suppose you want to have sex tonight."

She chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't know, Derek. Someone could walk by and see us."

He nodded understandingly. It was worth a shot.

They unrolled their sleeping bags and dimmed the lanterns. The summer night was warm enough that they spooned on top of their sleeping bags, with Derek's crotch aligned with Amber's butt. Derek's eager penis responded to being so close to his gorgeous new wife, stretching his cargo pants, filling the space created by the curve of her lower back. Two years he'd been waiting for this night. Two years of masturbating to fantasies of what Amber looked like naked. He had lasted this long. He could wait one more day.

They awoke after dawn. While Amber started a fire to cook breakfast on, Derek attacked the task of setting up the tent in the full light of day. Within 20 minutes it was standing up, fully assembled.

"What'd you do different?" she asked.

"I dunno. It must have been my nerves."

"What nerves?"

"You know, wedding night jitters."

"That shouldn't be a problem tonight, right?"

He snickered. "Not a chance."

As they were readying their gear for a day hike, two college boys came up the trail and stopped to chat. They were juniors at Boise State, and they'd decided to skip 2 days of classes to extend their weekend in the Tetons.

"It's a good time to be out here. Not as many people since school just started," one of them, Matt, explained.

"We came in last night," Derek said. "We were married yesterday morning."

"No shit? Congratulations."

"Thanks. So where y'all headed today?" Derek asked.

"Mt. Hunt. You?"

"Prospectors."

"Looks like we'll be sharing part of the trail, then."

Derek followed Matt's eyes to his young wife, who was bending over to fill her Camelbak, her pert butt in a tight pair of bicycle shorts pointing high in the air.

He cleared his throat. "We might see you."

Amber approached them. "Ready to go, babe?"

"Uh, I gotta take care of a few things at the campsite first. You guys go ahead. Have a good hike."

"You, too," Matt said, sounding a touch disappointed. He and his friend set off up the trail.

"Why didn't you want to hike with those guys?" Amber said. "They could have told us what else there is to do around here."

"Did you see the way that guy Matt was looking at you?"

"No."

"Well, he was looking at you."

She put her hands on her hips. "Husband, are you jealous?"

"I understand college boys, Amber. I was one of them, not long ago. We were a bunch of lunatics. Trust me, we're better off hiking by ourselves."

It was mid-morning when they started heading west along Open Canyon Trail. At 9,000 feet they turned right into a rocky, wooded gully. They gained 1,600 feet over the next mile. They passed the treeline and shortly after that gained the ridge. Turning right again they headed along the ridge towards the summit of Prospectors Mountain. Hailing from Colorado, where 14ers were common, the newlyweds found the hiking relatively easy.

The views of the Snake River Valley to the east and the taller Teton mountains to the north were spectacular. Mt. Hunt rose up on the opposite side of the canyon they just hiked out of, less than a mile away as the crow flies.

"Hey, is that those two guys on the other summit?" Amber said.

Derek put the telephoto lens on his camera and trained it on the top of the pyramid of Mt. Hunt. He saw two small figures milling around among the rocks.

"I think so," he said.

She squinted and held her thumb and pointer finger a millimeter apart at arm's length in front her. "They look like little ants."

Derek looked to the north again. There was a small glacial lake situated in a cirque 1,300 feet below.

"Want to have lunch at that lake?"

"Sure."

The most direct route to the lake was too steep for both of them, but a shoulder from the summit, which curled around the west side of the lake, was shallower. The followed it and relieved themselves of their gear in the deep bowl of the cirque, the summit looming high above them.

Amber skipped across the stones next to the blue water. "Isn't it beautiful, Derek?"

He looked at her, and she looked at him. "We should have sex here."

She laughed. "Is that all you can think about?"

"Yes."

She threw his sandwich at him. They ate in silence, until they were interrupted by a loud roar that sounded like a fighter jet taking off, following by a thunderous crash. A tremor shook the ground underneath them.

"What was that?" Amber said.

"I have no idea."

They packed their food and hiked north out of the cirque. A thin plume of smoke rose out of the trees to their west, on the north face of Prospectors Mountain.

"Is that what caused that explosion?"

"We should check it out." They descended the rocky morraine towards the smoke to the west.

Thirty minutes of bushwhacking later, a sound like frying bacon reached their ears. Among a dense thicket of conifers they found a steaming, grayish purple boulder. The soil around the rock had been upturned recently, and several trees next to the rock had been snapped in half. They smelled charred wood and grass.

"I think it's an asteroid." Derek waded ankle-deep through the upturned soil and reached out to touch it.

"Careful, you'll burn yourself."

The surface of the rock was warm, but the remarkable thing about it was how soft it felt. Like a dry sponge.

"It's okay. It's cooled off, already."

"Then why is it making that noise?" she asked.

"Maybe it's still hot on the inside, and there's moisture in there boiling off," he speculated.

Amber drew up next to him and touched the back of her hand to the rock. When she realized it wouldn't burn her, she laid her palm against it.

"This thing must weigh 10 tons, Derek. An asteroid strike this big is rare. We should report it."

"That could take half the day."

"Then we'll do it in the morning. We were planning a zero day tomorrow, right? We can drive to the park headquarters and give them the coordinates."

He looked down at the Garmin on his belt loop and marked their location.

"Ready to go?" she asked. "This thing gives me the creeps."

Derek patted the asteroid one more time, then they turned north, continuing down the mountainside into Death Canyon.

At 7,850 feet they hit Death Canyon Trail and hiked east out of the canyon. By late afternoon they ended up back at Phelps Lake. They rounded part of the lake to a tall rock that rose above the shoreline.

"Wanna go for a swim?" she asked mischievously. She pulled off her bicycle shorts, revealing black cotton panties that hugged her flowing hips. Next her T-shirt came off. Derek gawked at her sports bra and the twin bulges they concealed. It was the most he'd seen of her in 2 years of dating. She hung her T-shirt on his head, kissed his mouth through the white fabric, and jumped off the rock, landing a few seconds later with a splash.

Derek removed her shirt from his head and looked down.

"Come on, the water's great!"

She knew he wasn't the greatest with heights. "I dunno. I think I'll walk down to you."

She waved her sports bra over her head. "Are you sure?"

Derek didn't need convincing after that. He stripped to his boxers and jumped off the rock, pointed his toes, and shot deep into the cold water.

When he surfaced, Amber swam to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her warm, naked breasts pressed against his chest. She felt his erection bouncing on her thighs as they both treaded water. She broke the embrace. "Let's go back to the campsite."

They swam to shore and got dressed. It was less than 2 miles to the campsite, but to Derek it felt like an eternity.

As they walked, he found himself breathing harder than normal. His pack felt heavy. He had to stop twice to rest.

"You're out of shape," she teased.

"Try hiking with an 8-inch boner, and see how you do," Derek retorted.

"Mmm, 8 inches. I can't wait."

Derek glanced at her suspiciously. He was used to the top of her head coming up to the bridge of his nose. Now she seemed to be just an inch shorter than him, barely having to raise her eyes to meet his. He looked at her feet. The trail they were standing on was level. Maybe his heavy pack was making his back slouch.

Or maybe she was taller than he thought. That was one of the things that initially attracted him to her. Her height of 5 feet, 9 inches put her in the 95th percentile of women. But now she looked 6 feet tall compared to his 6 feet, 1 inch, putting her in the 99th percentile of women.

When they got to the campsite, Amber made him wait a little longer. She spent 10 minutes in the tent getting ready, while he paced around outside.

Without further ado, she unzipped the tent. "Okay, Derek. You can come in now."

Derek walked through the tent flaps and gaped at his young wife. She was dressed in simple, forest green lingerie that complemented her figure, and seemed tailor-made for the natural setting they had chosen to honeymoon in. Slightly elevated in a racerback bra, her breasts looked even rounder and fuller than in his fantasies, at least a D cup. Her barely there lace panties drew his attention to her trim waist and long, lean legs. She looked like a sex goddess.

He stripped to his loose-fitting boxers and settled next to her. They proceeded to make out passionately. Foreplay proceeded. He sank one finger in her vagina, then two, while lapping her hard, pink nipples, salty with sweat, with his tongue. Amber's breasts were truly awesome. He had no idea she was this stacked. It must take a lot of effort to keep these sweater kittens under wraps, he thought.

When she was ready for him, he thrust slowly into her. He was gentle, as it was a snug fit. She climaxed with a whimper and asked him to pull out. Derek was disappointed. He hadn't come close to getting off. He pulled the empty condom off his wood and threw it aside. There would be more opportunities.

The next opportunity arrived just 2 hours later, after dinner. As they cooked dinner over the fire. Derek's clothes felt even bigger on him than before. He avoided standing next to Amber, as he was sure she was taller than him now, and he didn't want to alarm her.

She pulled him back into the tent. The foreplay was rougher than before. She was more assertive. She pushed him on his back and straddled his hips, riding his hard cock. It was a better fit this time. There was no holding back. She took in his whole length. He reached up to grab her big, perky breasts. They overflowed his hands. As he went over the edge, she leaned over him, grabbed the back of his neck, and stuffed his head between her heaving breasts. Derek's mind turned to slush as his cock exploded inside her.

They were both relieved the condom had survived the session.

"Amber… Wow," was all he could say.

"You're welcome." She lay on her side next to him and rubbed his belly. "I've been waiting a long time to give you that."

"It was worth the wait." He kissed her deeply. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Derek woke up first, and after reliving last night's lovemaking, his thoughts turned to his shrinking. Specifically, had he shrunk during the night?

Amber's half-naked body lay on top of her sleeping bag next to him. He would measure himself against her. Making sure they were eye to eye, he stretched his body beside her. He tilted his head up to see where his feet were. His body ended at the middle of her calves. 

Derek croaked in surprise. Amber lifted her head. "What's wrong?" she said sleepily.

There was no point in hiding it anymore. He had to tell her. "Babe, I think I'm shrinking."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm shorter than you."

She sat up. She couldn't believe it. She could see over his head. His eyes were even with her chin.

She looked at the bottom of the tent. It had to be uneven. "Come on." She took his hand and led him outside the tent. He had to hold his boxers up with one hand to keep them from sliding off his shrunken waist. They stood barefoot in the dirt facing each other. The top of his head came up to her chin.

"Derek! You're like 5 feet tall!"

He backed away from her, reeling. She was downright intimidating at his reduced size. If he looked 5 feet tall to her, she looked 7 feet tall to him. And it wasn't just her height. She appeared bigger in all directions. He felt nauseous. "God, it's gotten worse."

"What do you mean, 'worse'?" she said.

Derek sat on a log next to the fire pit, turning the wedding ring that was now too big for his finger. "I noticed I was getting shorter last night, but I waited to tell you. I couldn't believe what was happening."

She sat next to him. "You noticed before or after dinner?"

"Before," he admitted.

"You had sex with me when you knew you were sick?!"

He could see her face turn red in the pre-dawn light. What could he say, that the sex was totally worth it? "I'm sorry, babe. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me."

She sighed exasperatedly. "This is serious, Derek. You've lost like a foot of height in 12 hours."

"I know."

"Who knows what else could be going on with you that we can't see? We need to get you out of here."

Derek knew she was right. He needed immediate medical attention. "Okay. Let's go."

It took 20 minutes to break camp. They disassembled the tent and transferred as much weight out of his pack as they could, since his loss of stature resulted in a proportional loss of strength. He wore a pair of cargo shorts that ended at his calves, and it was still loose on him even though his belt was tightened to the last notch.

They hiked towards the trailhead. Amber had to walk slowly to match her husband's pace, his legs were that much shorter than hers. He tired quickly, and they stopped for a water break every quarter of a mile or so. In 2 hours, she could already tell he was shorter than earlier in the morning. He came up lower on her chest, his face even with the flat, upper part of her chest. He was literally shrinking before her eyes. Soon she wouldn't be able to stand close to him, as her bust would get in the way.

"We should be at the car by now. This is taking too long," she said.

"I can't go any faster," Derek said plaintively. 

They heard voices coming up the trail in front of them. "Oh, great," he said. He dreaded being seen like this. "Just pretend I'm your kid brother or something."

"Maybe it's a park ranger and they can help," Amber said. "Hey! Over here!"

Four women came around a bend in the trail. One was obviously a park ranger, in her 40s. The other three looked younger and were dressed casually in jeans and blouses. They stopped on the trail in front of them.

"How are y'all doing today?" the ranger said.

"Not good. My husband needs to get to a hospital."

The three casually dressed women looked at each other knowingly.

"This is your husband?" the ranger said. "He looks like my 10 year-old son."

"You're shrinking, aren't you?" one of the other women said.

"Yeah. Since last night," Derek said cautiously.

"Did you see anything interesting in the park yesterday?"

Derek and Amber looked at each other. "Yeah, some kind of asteroid fell near us," she said.

"How close did you get?"

"Really close. How did you know about that? Who are you?"

The lead woman took off her sunglasses. "We're FBI, Special Technologies and Applications Office. I'm Special Agent Perry. These are Agents Watson and Chandler."

Derek felt uneasy. Why were all three of them women?

"What you saw yesterday was an Iota-class meteorite, only the third of its kind to ever reach the earth's surface… that we know about. We were alerted yesterday that it landed in these mountains. Can you tell us where it is?"

Amber frowned. "We don't have time to help you, Agent Perry. Like I said, we need to get to a hospital ASAP."

"A hospital won't stop his shrinking," Perry said. "Only time can cure an acute case of shrinking. That and these vitamins." She held up a white bottle. Its contents rattled inside.

"Why are none of you men?" Derek asked finally.

Perry smirked. "What's your name, sir?"

"Derek."

"That's not a politically correct question, Derek. Don't you believe women are as capable as men?"

"I believe there's a reason all of you are women, and it has to do with why I'm shrinking, and she's not." He gestured to Amber.

"Pretty smart. With those instincts you'd do well at the Academy," Perry said. She eyed him for a moment, the way a predator eyes its prey. "The Iota meteorite emits an energy that only affects XY chromosomes. That's why you're wife isn't shrinking. I'd explain it to you in detail, but you wouldn't come up to my knee by the time I finished."

She rattled the bottle again. "These vitamins will prevent you from shrinking to an invisible speck." She passed the bottle to Agent Watson behind her. "Tell us where the meteorite is, and we'll give them to you, free of charge."

Derek and Amber looked at each other. Neither of them could believe what they were hearing. There was something untrustworthy about this woman. It wasn't that they didn't believe her. The fact of Derek's shrinking was beginning to expand the bounds of their credulity. She just seemed like someone who looks for ways to manipulate people.

"Can I see your badges?" Amber said.

"Sure." They pulled their wallets out of their pockets, showed them to Amber. She inspected each one.

"I guess we believe you," she said, satisfied they were who they said they were. "It's in Death Canyon, on the north slope of Prospectors Mountain."

"Elevation?"

"About 9,400 feet," Derek said, recalling the reading on the elevation meter on his Garmin. It occurred to him he could just give them the exact coordinates from his Garmin. But if he did that, would Perry uphold her end of the bargain?

Perry looked at the park ranger. "It's not far from here," the ranger said. "Four, six miles tops. Off trail the terrain is pretty rugged. Talus slopes and dense forests."

Amber reached for the vitamin bottle. Watson stepped back from her, holding the bottle out of her reach.

"Show us where the meteorite is, and we'll give them to you," Perry said.

"That's not what you said," Amber cried in anger.

"It's what I'm saying now."

Silence hung in the air. Amber looked at her husband. He was getting smaller, more helpless by the minute. She couldn't lose him, not the love of her life, not on their honeymoon, for God's sake.

"We'll do it. Follow me."

She spun around and walked back the way they just came. She took Derek's pack off his shoulders. "We don't have a moment to spare, so I need you to pick up the pace, okay?"

Derek whispered, "Even if we lead them straight to the meteorite, that bitch isn't going to give us those vitamins. We have to take them from her somehow."

She nodded, smirked. "You're right. We need a burglar. Are you up for a quest, Bilbo Baggins?"

His face darkened. "That's not funny, Amber."

"I'm sorry, babe. But look on the bright side. Now you're like your favorite character from your favorite book."

She walked briskly. Derek jogged after her, followed by the park ranger and the FBI agents.

The sun rose higher in the sky and the trail sloped steadily upwards into the mountains. Everyone in the group was fit, but the FBI agents weren't accustomed to the altitude. The air had half as much oxygen as it did at sea level, which meant the FBI agents, who split almost all their time between Quantico and D.C., were working a lot harder than they were used to.

Sweating and huffing, Special Agent Perry trained her focus on the young married couple 10 paces in front of her. She didn't like how they kept conferring under their breath and conspicuously NOT looking back at her. They were scheming something.

"Agent Watson, find out what they're talking about," she said.

"Yes, ma'am," the junior agent said. She ran ahead and matched pace alongside Amber.

Derek and Amber immediately clamped up at the intrusion.

"I still have the vitamins," Watson said, her voice low, barely above a whisper. She opened her palm in front of her chest, hiding the movement from Perry, and showed them the bottle.

"So you do," Amber replied contritely.

"Special Agent Perry isn't going to let you have them, though. Once she finds the meteorite, she's going to arrest both of you and run a bunch of tests on you, Derek. You'll be a lab rat for the rest of his life."

Derek and Amber looked at each other. "Why are you telling us this?" she asked.

"Let's just say I have a divided loyalty."

Derek scoffed, "You on the Russian payroll?"

"The Russians can't afford me," she said with a sly smile.

Amber was stone-faced. "You expect us to trust you?"

"I expect you to seize this chance. I can't give you these without blowing my cover. When I give you the signal, take them from me and push me to the ground. Then run for it."

"She's lying. Don't do it, Amber," Derek said.

She looked at him. She felt Perry's eyes boring into her. "Maybe this is how we get our hands on those vitamins."

"How do we know she didn't switch the bottle? How do we know they haven't been lying about the vitamins all along?"

"You know they're the real deal because of the lengths I'm going through to give them to you," Watson said evenly. She looked at Amber. "Do this for your husband."

That clinched it. "Okay."

"Em—"

"Shut up, Derek. This is my decision."

Derek found himself accepting Amber's diktat without protest. As he lost stature, his opinion mattered less and less.

They were getting close. They left the trail and headed up the slope. Watson fell back in line with Perry and Chandler as the group tightened up in the close quarters of the backcountry.

They heard a chipping sound, like a hatchet being struck on metal. Derek saw movement through the trees. Matt? he thought. He looked at Amber, then the park ranger. They hadn't seen. He kept his mouth shut.

The group rounded a thicket and the meteorite appeared 50 yards upslope. Matt and his friend were standing on top of the massive, purple rock.

"Hey!" Perry yelled.

The college juniors looked up, then dropped down the other side of the meteorite and tore ass up the mountain.

"Fuck. Watson, Chandler get after those boys!"

Watson put the pull bottle in Amber's hand. "NOW," she hissed.

Amber didn't hold back. She pushed Watson as hard as she could. She flew 10 feet downslope and tumbled to a stop in some tall grass.

Perry grabbed Amber's wrist. "Gimme that!"

Derek saw his young wife being abused by the FBI agent and lost it. He kicked Perry hard in the shin and swept his leg underneath her.

"Ow!" She fell, the back of her head striking a small stone.

Derek and Amber started moving. Only Chandler stood in their way. The park ranger stood off to the side. She didn't sign up for this.

Amber high-stepped through the brush past Chandler, whose outstretched arm missed grabbing her by the hair by inches. While she was off-balance, Derek ran straight at her and dropkicked her in the chest. She collapsed in a heap.

They were home free. Amber didn't stop until she reached the trail. Derek caught up to her less than a minute later and ran right past her.

They didn't take a break for 2 miles.

"Give me those vitamins," Derek said. They were catching their breath from running downhill nonstop for the last 30 minutes. They were certain the FBI wasn't tailing them.

Amber handed the bottle to him. "It's blank. There's no dosage instructions."

"I'll take two for now." The vitamins were purplish, the same shade as the meteorite, and chalky. He popped two of them in his mouth and coaxed them down his parched throat.

She set her Camelbak on the dirt so he could wash it down. He held up the water tube in a mock toast. "Here's to Agent Watson." He drank deeply.

"Double Agent Watson," Amber observed.

"Yeah. I wonder who she really works for."

She shouldered the pack. "I hope we never see her again. Come on. Let's get out of these mountains."

"I actually was thinking we should go back to the campsite."

His giant wife wheeled on him. "Are you nuts? After all that's happened? We need to get out of here." 

He trotted next to her. "Why? We got the vitamins. Agent Perry said all it takes is time for the shrinking to reverse itself. And…"

"And what?"

"I don't want everyone at home to see me like this."

"Derek, we can't stay out here 3 more days. Perry could still find us and arrest us. We assaulted FBI agents, after all. And we don't know how small you're going to get. It could be dangerous."

"You can protect me. And it's a big park. Finding us would be like finding a needle in a haystack."

She snorted. "That's what I fear will happen to YOU, that I'll lose you when you shrink to an inch tall."

An inch tall? he thought. No way. Perry would have said something if it was possible to shrink that much.

He took her hand, which was higher than his elbow. "Please, babe. Don't let this ruin our honeymoon."

She squeezed his hand and stopped walking. She went down to her knees in front of him, restoring their normal height relationship.

"If only you could see yourself, you'd understand." Tears welled up in her eyes. "You look like a little boy."

Derek smiled a roguish smile. "If only you could see yourself!"

She touched her face. "Why? Do I look bad?"

He shook his head. "On the contrary, you're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen. Even more beautiful from this perspective."

She pecked him on the mouth. "You're sweet. Okay, you convinced me."

"I did?" That was easy, he thought.

"Yeah. Let's go back to the campsite."

It was late afternoon when they arrived. They had hiked what amounted to 12 miles (16 miles for Derek) carrying their camping gear. This, on top of the stress of Derek's shrinking and the adrenaline of fleeing from the shady FBI agents, had very nearly tuckered them out.

But Derek learned Amber still had lots of energy after he finished setting up the tent in the same spot as before. His comment earlier had invigorated her imagination, and she wanted to see what she could do with her husband's boy-sized body.

Inside the tent, he straddled her hips, thrusting urgently into her. There was hardly any friction at all, as his solid boner was only 5.5 inches long, not the 8 inches he once proudly boasted. But what he lacked in size Amber more than compensated for. Her breasts were bigger than his head, and as heavy as bowling balls. She knocked him senseless with them, as he was too short to kiss her mouth while they made love.

Then she turned the tables, hugging him to her and flipping him onto his back, never breaking the connection with his cock. She dominated his shrunken frame easily. She matched his thrusts, and when he was close, she violently jerked her hips forward and held him down. Derek felt his testicles being squeezed like lemons under her heavy butt. He screamed like a little girl. His penis twitched, draining his pulped nuts.

His eyes refocused on her as she tightened her vaginal muscles and gently milked the last drops his cock had to offer. "Shit!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe you're new to this."

She smiled. "Now it's my turn." She lifted off him, freeing his penis. He was dismayed to see the condom had slipped off.

"I think the condom is still in there."

"Oh no." She probed her vagina with her fingers. "I can't find it."

"Let me try. I have smaller fingers."

She grunted as he roamed her vagina with his pointer and middle fingers. He felt something hard and realized it was the rolled up base of the condom. He pinched it in his fingers and pulled it out. It was empty.

"Oh, God, I was afraid this would happen," she said. "I knew your penis was too small for that condom."

Derek's face turned red at the perceived slight.

"I'm sorry. You know what I mean."

He nodded. "Where are you at in your cycle?"

"I'll hit peak fertility tomorrow. But sperm can survive 2 days in there."

"Is there a way to… Can't you, like, douche it out?"

She held her forehead in worry. "Studies have shown that doesn't work."

They lay next to each other in silence for awhile.

"Well, if we have a kid, we'll have one hell of a story to tell him! 'Timmy, did you know Daddy was 4 feet tall when you were conceived?'"

"We are NOT naming our son Timmy," Amber declared.

Derek crawled on top of her, kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

"I know we planned on not having a kid for a year, but it's not the worst thing in the world to happen, is it?"

"No. It's just… We're not ready. To be parents," she added.

"We'll never be truly ready," he said, reaching down across her flat belly, slipping two fingers inside her.

She shut her eyes and moaned. "Use three."

He slipped a third finger inside her, and used his thumb to stimulate her clit. He had her squirting within minutes. Her body convulsed, nearly bucking him off her. Derek continued to stimulate her as she came back down to earth. She writhed under him. He was in love with her energy, her feminine power.

"I'm glad we stayed," she said. "Your size is such a turn-on."

"Me too. I feel the same way. Are you hungry?" She nodded. "I'll start the fire."

It was getting dark. Derek and Amber sat around the fire, eating dried beef and granola. His shirt sleeves hung to the middle of his forearms, his shorts to the middle of his calves. At some point, it would be preferable to just go without clothes altogether. Derek didn't know when he would reach that point. Probably tomorrow, if he didn't stop shrinking by then. He popped two more vitamins and swallowed them with some water.

"How do you feel?" Amber asked.

"A little nauseous. I don't know if it's from the shrinking or these vitamins." He pondered the black plastic bottle in his hand.

"How many are left?"

"There were 20 to start with, so 16."

She nudged the fire with a stick. "Would you be mad at me if I wanted you to shrink some more?"

He looked at her. "How much more?"

"I dunno. A foot tall, maybe a little less."

"Why?"

She shrugged shyly. "I like the way you look at me."

"You mean how I have to look up at you?" he asked inquisitively.

"No, but that's part of it. I feel so… cherished, by the way you look at me. It's like the shrinking has made you fall deeper in love. And it shows in your face."

Derek considered her words. He was crazy about his wife. She was beautiful before. Now she was extraordinary, over 9 feet tall from his perspective. When she agreed to marry him, there was a sense of wholeness, of victory over his youth. He'd made it. He was a man. What he felt now was something more, a serenity despite the strange circumstances. Amber, in her sensual largesse, could make all his troubles go away.

"Like right now," she said. He was staring at her legs, so long and athletic, almost as long as his body and thicker than his chest. Shadows danced over her flawless, tan skin in the firelight.

She put a hand on his shrunken thigh. Her fingers encircled it. "Derek?"

"Huh? What?"

She smirked. He was the size of a small boy. Were his thought processes regressing as well?

"What were you thinking about?"

His eyes traveled up her body to her beautiful face. "I was just thinking how right you are. There's something about shrinking that makes you appear larger than life."

She ran her hand up to his groin and palmed his erection. "What do you want to do about it?"

He reached across his body and slipped his hand under her shirt to fondle her right breast. He stretched his thumb and pinky as far as he could and still he could not encompass her massive tit in his hand.

Her nipple hardened into his palm. "I want whatever you want, babe."

She reached around his narrow shoulders and smushed him into her big, soft body. "I was hoping you would say that."

Matt and Aaron trudged into their campsite, exhausted. They'd been hauling ass for 6 straight hours, bushwhacking up and down the Tetons in evasion of the authorities.

They started a fire and cooked a pot of beans. "You think they'll look for us during the night?" Aaron asked.

"I doubt it. It's too dark in these woods."

"What do you think those women want with us?"

"I dunno."

"Who do you think they are? And what was that newlywed couple doing with them?"

"I don't know!" They'd hashed out these questions a dozen times since they left the site of the meteorite landing.

"There's no point in worrying about it anymore. We're out of here first thing in the morning," Matt said.

Aaron pulled the fist-sized, purple-gray rock out of his pack. "On what grounds would they arrest us? Is taking a piece of an asteroid a federal crime?"

Matt shook his head. He didn't like all these questions, because they only led to more questions, uncertainty, and wild speculation. However, if it would make Aaron shut up…

"All I know is they looked pretty pissed off, and it does us no good sticking around to find out why."

He took the pot off the fire and scooped some beans into Aaron's tin food tray. "Eat up."

Aaron put the rock down and looked at his dinner. All of a sudden he wasn't hungry.

"You can have my share. I'm going to bed." He left his plate by the fire and ducked into the tent.

"Don't forget your space rock." Matt threw it underhand through the tent flaps.

"Ow!"

Matt chuckled and turned to look at the beans. He'd lost his appetite, too. In fact, he felt quite queasy. It must be the excitement, he thought.

He hung the bear bag, grabbed his spade out of his pack, and went downwind to quell nature's call.

"What are we doing here, ma'am?" the park ranger asked, as she unlocked the park headquarters building.

"I need to see the camping permits issued for the area around Prospectors Mountain. We have to track those boys down," Special Agent Perry said.

The park ranger turned on the lights in the large headquarters building and led the FBI agents to a file cabinet in a small office in the back.

"I'm not comfortable doing this," she said defiantly. "These permits contain private information."

Perry puffed up her chest. "The Forest Service said you would cooperate. Do you want me to call them?"

The woman glowered. "No." She unlocked the file cabinet and pulled out a manila folder. She dropped it on a desk. Perry started flipping through photocopied pages.

"Shouldn't we focus on securing the site?" Agent Watson said.

"Those boys took a piece of that meteorite. We can't risk it falling into the wrong hands. They're priority one right now," Perry said.

"Are we going to look for them in the dark?" she scoffed.

"We'll collect them at first light, if they're still there." Perry held up two camping permits to the light. "Derek and Amber Lakins of Ft. Collins, Colorado. And Matthew Blake and Aaron Procisse of Boise, Idaho."

She looked at Agent Chandler. "The makes of both cars matches two of the cars at the trailhead parking lot."

Chandler started dialing her cell phone. "I'll call the towing company to get a boot put on both cars."

The park ranger shook her head. "This should be illegal. You can't do this to those kids just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I have the FBI Director's authority to do whatever the hell I want to protect the national security of the United States," Perry snapped.

She passed the camping permits to Watson. "Call the Denver field office. I need full dossiers on these kids in 6 hours, tops. Think you can handle that?"

Perry had been suspicious of Watson ever since that girl Amber got the jump on her at the site of the meteorite landing.

Watson frowned sourly. "I can handle it."

"Good. Keep me abreast of their progress."

Aaron's eyes fluttered open. The top of the tent was spinning. He felt dizzy, nauseous. He was going to throw up.

He crawled across his sleeping bag towards the tent flaps. "I'll be back, dude."

Matt groaned something in response. His voice sounded distant.

Aaron stopped crawling. Why am I naked? he thought, looking down at himself. He didn't remember getting undressed.

He pulled back the tent flaps. They were really heavy. What the hell? he thought. He stepped onto the dirt. The cool night air gave him goosebumps.

The fire had dwindled to a barely visible glow, and the sky was overcast. He didn't have time to wait for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He was going to hurl any second.

He walked around the tent, tracing his hand over the nylon, towards the wooded area they had designated as the privy. The side of the tent went on for 10 or more paces. The observation didn't register in Aaron's mind. He just wanted to get to the privy as quickly as possible. He was going to vomit and he didn't want it to be anywhere near the tent.

He stumbled blindly into the brush, retching. Fallen leaves and branches scraped his knees. An owl hooted loudly.

That's far enough, he thought. He bent at the waist and put his head between his knees and let out a stream of vomit. He threw up mostly water, as he hadn't eaten in almost 24 hours.

He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, turned, and walked back the way he'd come, light-headed. His eyes were starting to adjust to the dark. He was dismayed to see the outline of the blue tent just a few feet away.

"Great," he said aloud. The campsite was going to smell like puke.

He approached the tent, and was surprised at how big it looked. Several stories tall, in fact. He rubbed his eyes. Am I dreaming? he started to wonder. Maybe yesterday's events were firing up his subconscious fears.

He walked towards the glow of the burned out fire, watching the tent suspiciously, fearing witchcraft or mirages might be playing with his mind. His leg banged into a metal barrel, like a trash can.

He hopped on one foot, holding his other in pain. "What is this?" he asked aloud. He pushed at the barrel and it toppled over. It rolled across the dirt, and the side of the barrel was illuminated by the fire. He could read the large letters on the convex surface: BUSH'S BAKED BEANS.

He shivered, and it wasn't from the cold. What nightmare was this? He was standing next to a 4-inch tall can of beans, and it came up to his waist. How tall did that make him? Seven, eight inches tall?

"Oh my god," he breathed. Either he was mad or thinking clearly for the first time. The space rock. It had made him shrink.

The owl hooted again. Aaron froze. When he was 5 feet, 11 inches tall, an owl was no big thing. The worst thing an owl could do to you was scratch you. But at 7 inches tall, he was small enough to be an owl's meal.

It was difficult to judge the distance to the tent. Fifty yards, maybe, for his short legs. He'd be safe inside inside the tent. He just had to get there. If it was the space rock that had done this to him, Matt would be shrunk, too. Either way, Matt would know what to do.

He ran across the open dirt towards the tent. He was so close, just a few feet away. But his legs felt heavy. He had trouble running in a straight line.

The owl's wings made no sound as it swooped down from the trees. Its talons came forward towards its prey as it pulled up to avoid contact with the ground. The point of one talon pierced Aaron in the side. He was no longer on his feet, but flying up, up into the air, the wind whipping through his hair.

He knew what was going to come next. The owl would land on a branch and its powerful jaws would begin to dismember him. With any luck, the beak would snap over his head first, sparing him the agony of being conscious while the owl ripped apart his body.

He screamed and beat his fists on the owl's legs. Remarkably, the owl released him. The talons were no longer holding him and quicker than he expected he hit the ground on his stomach.

The impact knocked the air out of him. He pulled his head out of the mucky dirt, gasping. The smell of human excrement filled his nose and mouth. He'd landed in the privy.

He rolled out of the pile of human waste. He had to get to the tent before the owl came back again. But where was the tent? He stood on his feet and turned in a complete circle. He had no idea which way to go.

He felt a tickling sensation on his arm. He raised it before his eyes to have a look. A red ant the size of his thumb crawled over the soft, inner part of his elbow. It stopped below his bicep and looked around, antennae twitching. Without preamble it sank its sharp stinger in his skin.

Needless to say, it hurt. Aaron flung his arm, sending the ant to the ground, which appeared to be moving. The ants were swarming towards him. He ran like hell through them, swatting them off his legs. In what direction he was headed, he didn't know.

At first light Special Agent Perry and Agents Watson and Chandler set off down the trail. The mountain air was cooler and thicker than yesterday. They were without their guide, as Perry had decided the park ranger was becoming more of a hindrance than a help to them. Watson had protested, saying they needed someone who knew the area to navigate, which wasn't altogether untrue, but she had an ulterior motive. She saw in the park ranger a potential ally when the shit hit the fan.

They rounded Phelps Lake and headed for the boys' camp first. The tent was set up, the fire was smoking, but the camp looked empty, abandoned.

"Watch your step," Perry said, walking carefully through the camp. "If they kept that rock, they should be only a couple of inches tall by now."

"I'll check the tent," Chandler said.

"I'll help you," Watson volunteered. She pulled back the tent flaps and crouched on her knees at the tent entrance. There were two sleeping bags, two day packs, and two men's outfits, as if they'd been laid out to dry.

"Where do you want to start?" Watson asked.

Chandler produce a pocket knife and ripped the top of tent open. In less than a minute, the tent lay in shreds.

Meanwhile, Perry picked up a discarded can of beans next to the fire. A trail of ants leading out of the woods stopped at the can. She turned it over and shook it. In her experience, you had to check everywhere for these shrunken men.

Watson and Chandler began rummaging through the clothes and sleeping bags. "Found the rock," Watson said. She tossed it to Perry.

"They slept with it? Idiots," Chandler spat contemptuously.

"To them, it's just a rock," Watson said. She froze when she saw movement underneath one of the boy's shirts. Making sure Chandler's back was to her, she lifted the shirt tail up.

It was an ant. She sighed, letting the shirt tail fall.

"Hold on, what's this?" Chandler announced. Watson held her breath. She wanted to get to the boys first.

Chandler reached deep into the sleeping back and brought her hand out in a closed fist.

Perry walked over. "Found 'em?"

"Just one." Chandler stood up and opened her palm. The three female FBI agents looked down at the naked, 2-inch tall man (at most) in Chandler's hand.

"Looks like Matthew Blake," Perry said, squinting at his tiny form. He was identifiable by his jet black hair. She leaned down so her eyes were level with Chandler's hand. "Where's your friend?"

Matt was on his hands and knees, overwhelmed with nausea and shock. These women looked 200 feet tall from his perspective. One of them was saying something to him. Her words boomed like thunder, but he couldn't process them.  

"Ew," Chandler said, as Matt threw up on her palm. She plucked him between the thumb and forefinger of her other hand, and wiped her soiled palm on her jeans.

"He's not going to be able to tell us anything. Here, take this," Perry said, handing Watson the rock. She took Matt and placed him in a capsule about 5 inches long, like a glasses case. The inside of the capsule was lined with cotton. She snapped it shut and put it in her pocket.

"You're not going to give him a vitamin dose?" Watson asked.

Perry rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Agent Watson, are you concerned about these people or our mission?"

Watson jutted her chin. "Both."

"You can't have both. One must come above the other. Let's go."

"What about the other boy?" Chandler asked.

Perry appropriated one of the day packs and slung it over her shoulder. "If you didn't find him in the tent, he's as good as dead. Come on, I don't want to miss collecting the newlyweds."

Chandler looked at Watson, shrugged, and followed her boss.

Watson looked at her feet dejectedly. An ant had crawled onto her sneaker. She was about to shake it off when she realized it wasn't a six-legged creature. It was four-legged. Two legs and two arms, to be precise.

"Help me!" Aaron cried.

She scooped up the young man. He was covered in dirt. No wonder he looked like an insect.

She quickly dropped him in her breast pocket. He was slightly bigger than his friend, by virtue of having marginally less direct contact with the Iota rock. Still, tiny enough to conceal in her pocket. 

She caught up with Perry and Chandler. She snuck a vitamin in her mouth, chewed it up, and fired a ball of spit and crumbled/liquified vitamin into her breast pocket, coating his tiny body. That should slow his shrinking, she thought.

They heard the sounds of lovemaking before the camp came into view.

Perry pulled back the tent flap, and was greeted by a remarkable sight. Derek, less than 3 feet tall, straddled Amber's abdomen, his arms spread wide to hold her big breasts together as he rammed his small penis between them. They were both naked.

Perry laughed, "This is a first, I must say!"

Derek didn't notice them until she spoke. He stopped humping his wife's E cup tits and jumped to his feet, ready to do battle, his erection bouncing ironically in front of him. Amber knew it was a lost cause. They were found.

She pulled her sleeping bag over herself and her husband. Her frantic eyes landed on Watson. They exchanged a fateful look.

"It amuses me to see you two exploring the benefits of Iota shrinkage," Perry said mirthfully. "What puzzles me, though, is why you couldn't wait until you left the park. Did you think the FBI wouldn't find you?"

"What do you want? Why won't you leave us alone?" Amber shot back.

"You committed battery on three law enforcement officers, Amber Lakins of Fort Collins, Colorado. Each count carries 5 years in federal prison."

"How do know my—"

"Get dressed," Perry interrupted. She slipped a pair of handcuffs off her belt. "You and your husband are coming with us."