Life-changing Powers of Science

Chapter 1 - Preparing to Revisit

I took a look down at my notes for my speech and took a deep breath.  

“Today is the day,” I told Joanna, my personal agent I had hired to help me spread awareness, “time to expose the negative side of scientific progress.”

Joanna had set me up with a speech at a Ted Talk in Boston.  It was a little bit of a car ride from my home in Northern Virginia, but it was worth it to spread awareness to my condition.

“I believe in you Mr. Morganson,” Joanna said in her Swedish accent, “get ready to break your legs.”

“Please Joanna,” I chuckled, “call me ‘Steve.’  I also believe you meant to say, ‘break a leg.’”

“Sorry Steve,” Joanna responded as she hung her head in disappointment, “I have been working hard on learning English better, but you understand that it is very hard to learn new languages.”

“Don’t apologize,” I worked to console her, “you are beautiful and talented and I believe that you getting this far is quite the achievement in itself.”

When I told Joanna she was beautiful I meant it.  She was about 5’7” with natural platinum-blonde hair that fell just passed her well-postured shoulders, however she usually tied it up in a neat bun, as she had done today.  Joanna also had a knockout body due to her Swedish heritage.  I would be lying if I said I did not have strong feelings for her.

 Just then a backstage hand poked his head into the Dressing Room and stated, “Mr. Morganson, you’re onstage in three minutes, the staff is preparing your set for you now.”

“Thank you, Pablo,” I said reading the name tag that hung around his neck.  I cranked my head back to where Joanna was sitting, “That is our queue.  I think it is time to change the world,” I said confidently, not showing how truly nervous I was underneath.

Joanna stood up from the white leather couch.  She absolutely towered over the coffee table where I sat upon a small black pillow with the red ‘Ted Talks’ logo printed across it.  I had gotten used to having rather small seating arrangements.

She took two steps toward me and leaned down with her hands outreached.

“Up we go,” Joanna said as she placed her strong, manicured feminine hands under my arms and hoisted me upwards.

Joanna placed my frame atop her hip and braced my back with her right hand.  She carried me out the doorway into the backstage area where we followed the signs that directed us toward the stage.

“One minute,” I heard somebody say.

I turned my head from where I had unconsciously looked upwards at the underside of Joanna’s D-cup breasts.  I saw Pablo waiting behind a curtain as if to open it.  Joanna set me down on the floor and knelt down on a knee to get closer to my level.

“Break a leg,” she said with a wink and a smirk.

I felt a strong hand turn my body to face the stage and give me a slight push.  I walked through the curtain and out toward my special podium as I heard a hush come over the crowd, followed by applause when they realised I was the speaker.

I reached the edge of my four-foot tall podium and climbed the six steps going up the back.  When I reached the top I turned to face the audience.

I looked up at my countdown clock as it counted down the last six seconds until the start of my speech and took a deep breath.  Then I began my speech.

“Hello, my name is Stephen Morganson, but I prefer to go by, ‘Steve,’” I opened my speech I had prepared in the weeks leading up to the event, “If you believe that I was born this way you are sorely mistaken and some form of science is to blame for this change.  I understand that most of you in this room are some form of scientists or have a scientific interest, but I am still not afraid to revisit my story to you, so let’s begin.”

Chapter 2 - The Chemistry Lab Accident

I was an average college freshman at CNU.  I was the normal guy in every sense of the word.  I stood at around 5’10” with a full-head of medium-length chestnut brown hair, with a slightly freckled face.  I was even a member of the cymbal line in the university’s world-renowned marching band.

I had survived my first semester of college and was ready to go home if it wasn’t for my last exam being on Friday afternoon.  I knew I could easily pass the exam as it was my best class, Music Theory 200.  I was a music composition major and was very successful at it thus far, putting in hours everyday to practice as well as writing original music.

I was looking around in the Forbes Math and Science Center on campus trying to find a free room that I could sit down and review my Music Theory notes in solitude.  I knew I would pass the exam but I wanted to look over the material anyway to ensure my success.

The Forbes Math and Science Center was a very large building.  It was built most recently due to the need of more academic space on the main campus, and because of this fact, many of the rooms were still unnumbered, especially in the back corridors of the second and top floors, where I found myself searching.

As I weaved through the maze of hallways on the second floor I couldn’t help but notice that virtually every classroom was occupied, despite the fact it was nearing 7:30pm.  I opened different doors and found that I was looking into labs for various sciences Biology, Physics, Ecology, and Chemistry to be more specific and found that there were one or two people studying in each.

I turned down a long, straight hallway that ran along the back end of the building and spotted a friend of mine named Megan.  She was a Junior at CNU and a fairly good-looking girl standing at about 5’3” with long chestnut colored hair that curled slightly at the ends and sun-kissed skin.  She was a former member of the drum line, where she had earned the nickname ‘Newton,’ and we hug out fairly often because she was friends with my girlfriend Steph.

“Hey half-brother,” she engaged me.  She called me half-brother because we shared the same last name.

“What’s up half-sister,” I responded, exasperated from my search.

“I am assuming you are looking for a study spot,” she inquired.

“How’d you know,” I joked dryly.

“Lucky guess,” she said with a smile, “if you are quick I just got out of a chemistry lab down the hall on the right about six doors down.”

“Thanks Megan,” I said with a relieved tone, “I am so lucky I ran into you.”

“No problem,” she responded, “I have to get going to do some lab work for my Ecology final tomorrow, but I will see you later.”

With that, we broke off and went our separate ways.  I found myself walking fairly quickly making a b-line toward the door she had described.  When I reached the door I reached out and grabbed the knob hoping I would not find anybody inside.  I turned the knob and pushed the door open and immediately noticed a smell resembling rotten eggs.

Looking around I saw nobody.  I mentally thanked Megan for being so helpful to me as I made my way to a table in the center-left of the room.

My binder seemed to feel as if they were getting slightly heavier as I reached out over the table and set them down.  I slid a blue hard-plastic seat out from the right side of the table and sat down.  Opening the binder, I began to turn to the section of notes for music theory, then everything started to swirl around me as my head fell toward the desk as everything turned black.

I woke up on a cold tile floor, not knowing exactly where I was or how I had gotten there.  The only observation I could actively make was everything was really big.  

Directly above me was a large, rough wooden surface that stretched about 15’ in either direction left-to-right.  This surface stood atop two large metal columns and a wooden wall that ran the length of the opposing side.

Beside me was a tall metal pillar that was slightly slanted with a large base.  It ran up to the underside of a blue plastic platform where it met with other metal structures.

As I pushed myself up to a standing position my head scraped slightly on the bottom to the wooden platform.  I came out from underneath and realised just where I was.  It all came flooding back to me.

“I must’ve shrunk when I passed out,” I thought to myself.

I walked over to the chair and stood next to it.  The platform now stood just underneath the level of my ribs.  I guessed that I was about 2’6”.  I braced my hands on the top of the chair and hoisted my body on top of it.

My binder was still on the table top, opened to a section of my notes for a class studying Greek myth.  I exhaled deeply as the gravity of the situation began to set in further.

That’s when I had a troubling thought, “how am I going to get out of here.”

Chapter 3 - Finding a Way Out of the Lab

Thoughts rushed through my head.  My mind began swirling with ideas and plans to escape from the lab I found myself trapped in.  I had to take this situation into my own hands if I wanted to stay existent.

I sprang into action without a thorough plan of how to escape I just knew that I needed to do something ASAP.  I sprinted across the white tile floor to the door as fast as I could.  Looking upward at the knob I attempted to jump and reach it, however, I was mere fingertips away from freedom even with my highest jump.  

This event sparked my survival instincts, “I can drag a chair next to the door and use it to escape,” I thought to myself.

I jogged to the closest lab desk and made my way around, something about it looked different.  The table almost looked as if it had increased in size.

I had to check this for myself.  I approached the blue plastic chair closest to me, which was already pushed out, there were even notes that I had noticed that had been left at the table, somebody must’ve forgotten them when they closed up shop after studying.  I squared up next to the towering plastic structure and noticed it now rose to my shoulders.  I had shrunken about four inches just in the time I had tried to escape.

I wrapped my arms the metal leg supporting the back-right side of the chair, comparatively the size of a tree trunk to my diminutive size, and pulled with all my might.  The chair moved about two inches toward me before my hands released throwing me back onto my backside due to the smoothness of the metal structure.

I couldn’t give up on my probable only chance of survival.  I stood back up, visibly shorter than I was just seconds before, and attempted to pull again.  This time the chair would not budge.

I was distraught, “What can I do,” I thought in despair as I sank against the wall.

I hung my head on my legs in defeat and began to sob.  I couldn’t tell you how long I cried before the I heard  doorknob turn and the door swing open.

I looked up to see a towering feminine figure approach the table I had been attempting to move a chair from underneath.  I was awestruck by her huge size.  She had crossed a distance that had taken me several bounding steps to traverse in three casually walking steps.

I stood to my feet and looked up at the face of the woman who still had not noticed me.  That is when I recognised that I was staring at the huge frame of Megan.  I spoke up to get her attention.

“Uh, hey half-sister,” I said awkwardly.

“Hey Ste-,” she dropped her notes she had just retrieved, as she looked in the direction my voice had come from and laid eyes upon my miniscule form.

“I know,” I replied, “this is ver-.”

“Oh my god,” She shouted interrupting me mid-sentence, “what happened to you?”

“I came into the lab after you told me it was occupied,” I explained, “as soon as I came in I smelled what I thought was rotten eggs.  I passed out on top of my notes, then I woke up, well, like this.”

“I can get my notes later,” she said concerned, “I need to get you out of here.”

With that she approached me with outstretched arms.  Her huge hands wrapped under my underarms and encompassed my entire torso to my hips.  I was in disbelief that she was once several inches smaller than me, and with that a small girl in her own right.

She hoisted my body up off the ground with great ease and I realised my sheer helplessness.  Megan rested me upon her large hip.  My stomach churned upsetly as my feminine currier turned to face the door and proceeded to exit through the open door.

Chapter 4 - Measurements

I watched from Megan’s massive arms as the door to the chemistry labs closed behind us as I was carried down the long hallway toward the Ecology labs I had passed before.  How I wished at that moment that I had chosen one of those labs instead of taking the advice of my, now, much larger carrier.  We reached the end of the hallway in which I had first run into Megan and took a left causing my body to lean to the side do to the inertia of my female companion.

My body was tossed around and bounced with each step that Megan took.  I had always been prone to seasickness and I began to get a familiar feeling; I began to feel queasy.  My stomach turned and began to ache.

“Hey half-sister,” I quietly asked up to Megan trying not to be overheard by others that may be in the hallway, “I am beginning to feel a little sick from the rocking of your walking.”

“What do you mean rocking,” Megan responded keeping her eyes down the hallway as she walked.

“With each step you take my body bounces,” I explained.

“I have a solution,” she said as her strong arms hoisted me up and pinned me against her plump bosom.

My head naturally fell to a rest on her right shoulder.  Her short-sleeve on her periwinkle v-neck was very soft under my chin.  I felt as if a child being held by his mother’s protecting arms and the feeling of turmoil in my stomach began to cease.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice muffled by her shirt.

“No problem,” she responded.  I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was smiling, clearly enjoying her maternal-like power in our current situation, “we are almost to the lab.”

Seconds later I felt her left arm reach across her body and heard a door squeak open.  We must have made it too the lab.  We entered and she set me on top of the counter at the front of the room where the professor most likely performed demonstrations.  I looked up at her face as she smiled kindly down at me.

“Welcome to Ecology Lab 2037 where I spend most of my time during the day,” Megan said cheerfully, “you are lucky my lab partner left while I was gone, she would be very interested in you.”

“Well good thing,” I said timidly.

“Anyway, you may want to get acquainted here,” she started, “I am going to call Steph to come get you but you still may be here for a while.”

“Good to know,” I returned.

Megan turned and walked to the far end of the counter, which, from my point-of-view, was about 40’ away.  I heard her rummaging around inside a drawer as I hesitantly began to move toward her.  She stood up and I saw something in her hand.

“What is that,” I asked hesitantly.

“It is a sample measurement set,” she explained, “it has a measuring tape and a scale.  I figured we could get your measurements while you are here.”

“Do I have a choice,” I asked, “I would rather not.”

“You’re not even a little bit curious little guy,” she questioned with a smile, “because I am pretty curious.”

She tugged both ends of the measuring tape playfully to try to encourage me.  With a large smirk she set the scale on the counter with a small audible thump.  Then she reached out with both arms and hoisted me up by my underarms.

“What are you doing,” I asked as I kicked and squirmed.

“I am not going to hurt you Steve,” Megan assured me, “I am just curious.”

She then set me down atop the scale.  The digital numbers triggered and her face lit up.

“16lbs,” she said with a huge smile spreading across the corners of her mouth, “we are halfway there Steve.  Was it really that hard.”

“I guess not,” I sulked.  

My situation was getting very real faster than I could comprehend my brain was still swirling with denial.  Megan held out the measuring tape.

“Stand up nice and tall,” she teased.

“Already done,” I said, dismayed.

She looked at the numbers and her face lit up again.

“22 inches,” Megan said excited, “how big were you before this happened.”

“5’10”, 145lbs,” I said with my head hung low.

“That means you shrank proportionally,” Megan cheered.