"Dimension Airlines welcomes you to Flight 815 with service to Hawaii and Sydney, Australia. Please line up and have your boarding pass ready for the attendants who will assist you with the embarking procedures." The loudspeaker announcement broke with a short squeal from feedback. "Please form 

Cameron and his long-time girlfriend, Kate, shuffled into line with the roughly 2000 or so fellow passengers. The pre-boarding process for Dimension Airlines was a pain, sometimes taking over an hour to complete just from the sheer number of fliers, but at just $100 per round trip ticket to anywhere in the world they flew, there were rarely any complaints about the long wait. Or the special procedures they used to keep their costs so much lower than their competitors. 

Kate squeezed his hand tightly. 

"Hey, what's wrong? Nervous?" he smiled down at her, giving her hand a small pulse of reassurance. 

Her eyes shot up for a moment as she silently nodded. 

"It'll be okay. They go out of their way to make this seem just like a normal flight." 

She laughed. "I don't like normal flights either!" 

He suddenly looked alarmed and reached into his pocket. "Oh shit." 

"What's wrong? Did you forget something?" 

"Yeah, I forgot and left my iPod in my backpack. I'm not gonna be able to listen to it until after the flight now." 

She nudged him with her elbow. "Poor baby. I guess you'll have to talk to me the entire flight." 

Since they were in the back of the plane, theirs was the first group of 100 to enter the boarding chamber. Cameron had flown with Dimension before, so knew exactly what to expect. It still didn't alleviate his own nervousness. They were ushered into a large cyndrilical chamber with grey walls and multiple pairs of yellow footprints painted on the grey concrete floor. 

"Please move to the far side of the room and place your feet on top of a set of footprints," the gate attendant instructed. 

By the time the cylinder was filled, they were all packed in like sardines. The footprints were not very far apart, and there were an unusually high number of plus-sized passengers. It didn't take long for the temperature to rise in close quarters. The attendant shut the outside door with a large clang, and a humming noise immediately started up. 

Kate looked over at Cameron and squeezed his hand again, taking a deep breath as the pre-boarding began. 

To describe Dimension's pre-boarding process, is a bit like describing a free fall, such as when you go over a hill in a car or on the downside of a roller coaster ride. Except in slow motion. It's an intense feeling in the stomach, not entirely unpleasant, but definitely unnatural. 

Cameron felt Kate's hand start to pull away from his own, but not before he felt it grow slightly in his palm. So neither would have to unnaturally stretch, he gave her one last reassuring squeeze before having to let go. The room was feeling much roomier now. He looked around as everyone was spreading out further and further apart. 

The grey walls of the interior gave little indication as to any change, and the darkened ceiling didn't give any hint either, but when he looked down at the floor, he noticed that the yellow footprints were slowly enlarging beneath his feet. He lifted one of his shoes and placed it in the center of the painted outline and laughed at how the mark was now roughly twice the size of his own foot. This was his third time with Dimension air, and he never got tired of the feeling of butterflies in his stomach combined with the expanding footprint. Those were only two of the three signs that he would ever notice that anything had even changed. Dimension was good at keeping up the illusion of a regular flight. 

After a couple of moments, the humming came to a halt. The footprint below him was close to the length of his entire body, and the rounded grey walls now looked more like an aircraft hanger than a silo. He looked to his side about 20 feet and saw Kate staring around in awe of the giant footprint beneath her. He walked over to join her. 

"You weren't..." She let out a high pitched half-squeal, half-giggle as she clutched her throat. "Oh my God! I sound so weird! I want to hear what you sound like!' 

"I told you before..." Cameron started as she now doubled over in laughter. His own voice sounding like a chipmunk on helium. 

"...the vocal cords are so close together that it causes our voices to sound funny. This is the only part I don't ever get used to." 

She stood close to him and examined him carefully. "Hey! I'm as tall as you are!" 

"Actually, you're as short as I am." He corrected her. "They reduce everyone to exactly 12 inches tall. Everyone in here is the same height now. Although you'll hardly notice it the way they set everything up." 

"This is so cool!" she said excitedly, or maybe it just seemed excitedly because of her high-pitch chipmunk voice. "I like being as big as you. Maybe when we get to Hawaii I'll ask them to make me five-foot ten like you." She paused for a moment. "Or... maybe I'll ask them to only grow you back to 5 foot tall" 

"But you're 5 foot 2." 

She just grinned and said "Mmm-hmmm..." 

"They don't do that. It's printed in their brochure." He couldn't tell if she was serious or not, but wasn't finding humor in either scenario. 

Ending that conversation, he grabbed her hand and led her to the door on the other side of the cylinder, this door was much, much further away than the one they had entered. Another gate attendant, who was the same size as everyone else, ushered them into a very spacious lounge, that was perfectly normal looking despite everyone's reduced stature. 

"Everyone, please relax, have some complimentary drinks, and enjoy yourselves while we prepare the rest of our passengers for boarding. And thanks for choosing Dimension Airlines for all of your travel needs. Your plane will be ready to board in approximately 45 minutes."

Kate looked around the passenger lounge and marveled at the whole setup. The place looked just like a large party scene, and everything was top of the line, even if some of the other passengers milling around were in full fanny-pack and T-shirt tourist mode. Even the drinks weren't watered down like they usually were for an airport. 

"How come we're getting treated so first class when the tickets were so cheap?" she asked between sips of her martini. "I've probably had enough to drink to pay for a fourth of the trip." 

"You've got to think scale, honey. The amount of alcohol you've consumed probably isn't even enough to fill a fourth of one of those little travel bottles. They treat everyone like first class. Wait till you see our seats on the plane!" 

Almost on cue, a huge rumbling was felt all around. Everything stopped for a moment, and then several hundred went towards the huge windows looking out onto the runway. Cameron pulled Kate to one of the windows. "You've got to see this!" 

Even though she was a few rows of people back, she could stand on her tiptoes and clearly see through the window, which was something she wasn't normally used to. She liked being average height. 

The thought of being average height lasted for just a moment however, as a humongous ship passed by the lounge windows. It was as big as a cruise ship. Maybe even bigger. Hundreds of little windows dotted across the sides. 

"Whoa..." was all she could manage to whisper. Cameron chuckled to himself at how child-like her wonder sounded with her shrunken vocal cords. 

"Told ya you didn't want to miss this." He turned and kissed her, mentally noting how he didn't need to bend at all. 

"This is going to be the best vacation ever!" she said pulling away after a moment to stare open-mouthed as the aircraft (could it even be considered sky worthy at that scale? Could something that seemed to be the size of an oil tanker fly???) docked. 

"And then we get to Hawaii." Cam joked, putting his arm around her waist. 

She put her arm around his waist and then reached into his shorts pocket. 

"Hey!" he said while swatting her hand away. "You can wait a few more hours can't you?" 

"Funny." she reached again. "I just wanted to take another look at our luggage." 

She pulled out a keychain from his pocket, and dangling on it were several miniature suitcases, two bicycles, and a backpack. "So if we're only a foot tall, then these are..." 

"Now really, really small." he finished for her. 

She took her fingernail tips and carefully unzipped the teeny-tiny zipper on the backpack and reached inside, pulling out a very small white rectangle with a white string attached. "I've found your iPod." 

"Be careful with that! You'll drop it and break it!" 

She put it back into the backpack and zipped it back up. "Well, you always did wish you'd bought that iPod Mini instead." 

"Funny. iPod Mini. I get it." he flirted. 

"Maybe I should have just packed you into a suitcase? Then you could have been my carry-on." she joked back. 

"I wonder if anyone has ever tried that? Could save $100 bucks that way." 

"And you could've listened to your precious iPod." she smiled. 

A very large and wide door to the side of the windows opened up with a loud mechanical whine. An elderly gentleman in a uniform that looked to be a very classy composite of an old timey train conductor crossed with a modern airline pilot came out, looked at his pocket watch, and announced: 

"Dimension Airlines Flight 815 with service to Honolulu and Sydney! ALL ABOARD!!!"

"Wow!" was all she could say. 

Cameron was watching her reactions as she drank in the entire scene. As 2000 or so passengers filed very easily into the main lobby of the airship, the feeling of being in an aircraft quickly faded. This wasn't an airplane. This was like being in a ten story tall shopping mall. 

Several flight attendants stood in the open area directing passengers to the escalators that would take them to their cabins and seats. The pace was quick, but didn't feel rushed. Even though the process of getting from "Point A" to "Point B" in this manner took a few hours longer than a regular flight would, the actual experience was one to savor. It was top notch all the way, so there were rarely any quibbles over the amount of time needed. This was THE mode of travel for anyone wanting a relaxing vacation. Many passengers opted for the $1000 world tour, which permitted unlimited travel to anywhere Dimension flew within a calendar month. Many of the fliers already on board had come from destinations as remote as London, Paris, and Cleveland. A few had been on the ship for nearly a week. 

"Wow... this is unbelievable! I'm so glad you talked me into this." Kate reached over and gave Cameron a big hug, one so big that it surprised him with her strength. He could still take her in a tickle wrestling match, but she'd definitely be more of a contender right now! 

The attendant briefly looked at their ticket. "You'll be taking escalator 6-S" she motioned towards the side. 

"I've gotten the part about 6 being the 6th floor, but I've been curious about what the S stands for." Cameron asked the attendant who was a little over a head taller than everyone else. All of the attendants were slightly bigger in case of air rage incidents. On his first flight he saw two attendants easily subdue a drunken teamster. 

"The S is for Starboard." she replied in a friendly, but professional manner. 

"Ah..." Cameron turned to Kate. "Last time I was located on 9-P, so that was for Port, right?" 

"Correct" 

Kate interjected, "Which side is Starboard? I've never really known." 

The attendant pointed toward the cockpit door, which was about 8 stories high with a large window near the top. The pilots were full sized, but would only exit the cockpit in the case of an emergency. The entire open area down the middle of the plane was wide enough and tall enough for a regular sized human to navigate if needed. "When you face forward, Starboard is on your right..." She pointed to her right, "...and Port is on your left." 

"Oh, so like Stage Left and Stage right..." Kate's lightbulb went off. 

"Well, honey, like that except reversed." Cameron corrected. Katie's bulb dimmed a little. 

"No, actually, she's right." The attendant corrected Cam. "Stage Right is to my right when I'm facing forward." Cameron still thought she was wrong, but at approximately 7 feet tall proportionally to him, he didn't see the need to argue. 

"Yeah, okay, so 6-S." he said changing the subject quickly, and moving towards the escalator. 

"Oh, I have another question. This one is a bit silly, but do you ever have passengers try to stow onboard inside of shrunken luggage?" Kate said, tugging Cameron's arm to keep him from leaving, this time surprised by her own strength, because she thought she really did stop him. 

"It happens all of the time actually." The perky goliath said. "The Dimension Air officially does not condone it, but never really enforces the policy. With the large number of customers we serve, it's just not efficient to check bags for stowaways. We're so inexpensive, that if someone wants to travel for free THAT badly, then why stop them? And of course, we take no responsibility for anything that happens-they fly at their own risk that way." 

"So you don't check baggage at all? Not even for explosives? What if a terrorist...?" Cameron piped up, concerned for the first time about safety. He always assumed that they had checked luggage with some advanced scanning system as people walked through. 

"An explosive shrunk that small would have the impact of a firecracker. A few tried early on. It's not an issue. It's also why we require all luggage to be shrunk smaller than the passengers." 

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Welcome to Flight 815 aboard the Skyship Courage. We ask you to please find your seats as the plane will be departing in five minutes. You will be free to explore the ship shortly after take-off. If you are having problems finding your seats or cabins, please inform one of our attendants and they will assist you." A very deep voice called over the ship's intercom. 

"I'm going to have to move you along to your seats for now, but if you have any other questions, please ask for me after takeoff. My name is Connie. Have a great flight!" She smiled and waved as the pair got onto their escalator. 

The couple found their seats easily. To say they were seats was an understatement. Oversized leather recliners with a good 5 feet of legroom in front, with a large LCD movie monitor shared by each row of 4 seats. This was beyond even first class on many airlines. And Cameron had ordered the budget package! 

Another Amazon attendant quickly came by and reminded everyone to buckle their seatbelts. 

Kate looked over at one of the private cabin cars to her left, which were virtually airborne hotel rooms complete with beds, and, for the deluxe models, even a Jacuzzi . "We should get one of those next time." she nudged Cameron. 

"Hey, how hard to please are you???" he play-whined while motioning towards their already deluxe accommodations. "Besides, those are only for passengers taking trips longer than 12 hours. Ours is only 8." 

The engines fired up and a few minutes later the plane was taxiing down the runway.

****

After the flight was airborne, the fasten seatbelts sign was turned off, and the passengers were free to walk about the cabin. Of course, walking about the cabin took on a whole new meaning aboard Dimension Air! The eight hour flight was passing by very quickly. 

Kate and Cam did some shopping in the retail area below deck (and playfully known as "The Cargo Hold") to pass the time. The Barbie Store on the second floor was particularly fun since they were able to try on full size doll fashions that normally adorned Barbie and Ken! Kate bought a fancy evening gown for just $20-a bargain even though a large snap stuck out across the back of her neck, while Cam relaxed in the Dream Car, wondering why they hadn't thought of opening up a G.I. Joe store as well to appeal to a more macho demographic? Maybe Mattel had an exclusive deal...

After going for a swim in the Olympic-sized (well, okay, large bathtub-sized) pool, they changed and relaxed in the lounge, which as as fancy as the boarding lounge, but had more of an adult feel. 

As they sat and chatted at the bar, Kate nudged Cameron's shoulder and pointed to the woman 3 stools down who was playing with her martini. 

"Hey, look! The flight attendant was right!" she squeaked. 

"Huh?" 

"Look... look..." she pointed again, not seeming to care if the woman she was pointing at noticed or not. 

"What are you talking about?" he was confused. He just saw a very attractive brunette paying way too much attention to her drink. "Okay, I see her. Why am I looking at her?" 

"Not her... look in her drink..." her voice lowered to a whisper as if she was suddenly going to be discreet after nearly shouting. 

Cameron focused in on the woman's face-she was smiling down at her drink, but not actually drinking it. She had a luggage keychain to the side of her glass, with what would normally have been an oversized duffle zippered open. He looked back at her face and then followed her gaze down into the drink. That's when he saw it. 

"Holy shit! There's a guy floating around in there!" 

"Yeah! There is! Isn't that so cool! She brought a stowaway!" Kate beamed. "The attendant was right about that." 

"But she's dressed awfully nice. I don't think she needed to save money on the trip. Why would she do that to the poor guy?" Cameron said, taking a sip of his own drink, one eye taking a quick and careful glance to make sure there weren't any stowaways floating around in his Guinness. 

"Maybe she's just into that sort of thing?" she remarked with a bit of caution. 

"Yeah, right. Like he'd go for that." 

"Some people are..." she glanced down to hide her embarrassment then back up into his eyes. 

He didn't notice her unease. "Well, they're weirdos. That's what they are. But hey, as long as it doesn't affect me, let them do what they want... I'm open." He glanced back over to the attractive lady and thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I mean, that's what the internet is for, right?" 

Kate forced a laugh. "Exactly." 

Cameron's eyes got wide as he saw the lady put the glass to her mouth and swallow a mouthful and the little dude was gone! 

"Kate! She just ate him! I swear... she just ate him!" he yelled and everyone around him went silent, including the 7 foot tall redheaded barmaid and the dark haired beauty a few seats down. She looked wide eyed with her cheeks full and her lips in a pucker. She slowly bent down to her martini glass and let the liquid from her mouth pour back into it. A small man plopped down into the middle of the bluish liquid with a perfect swan dive. She then nonchalantly looked around as if nothing had happened. 

"C'mon Mrs. Barnevski." the barmaid sighed. "I told you yesterday you can't do that in here, or anywhere in the public areas for that matter. The airline frowns upon it. Now either you put him away or we'll have to press charges for aiding a stowaway. Just because we don't normally enforce the policy doesn't mean we can't." 

The woman mumbled something to herself in Russian, as she carefully lifted her tiny husband out of the pool of alcohol by his arm and set him gently near the duffle bag, where he zipped himself back inside. 

"You can do all of that stuff back in your cabin, just not out here. Okay? I know you're just playing, but you need to be careful. If you accidentally swallow a miniaturized human, even if it is consensual, it is considered a homicide in every state except Kentucky." 

The woman just glared at Cameron as she placed her luggage chain in her purse and stormed out of the lounge. 

"Definitely a weirdo..." Cam said as he focused his attention back on Kate. "You'd never do anything like that to me would you?" 

"Hmm... if you were tiny? No. I wouldn't have any interest in eating you. You probably would be too bony. I'd have to fillet you first." she smirked. 

"I probably wouldn't taste very good either." he returned. 

She thought for a moment and finally said, "I think you'd probably taste like chicken." 

"Oh really?" 

He started to say something more, but was interrupted. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are just 30 minutes from our arrival, so we'd like to ask all of our guests to finish with any activities and make your way back to your seats and cabins. Again, please return to your assigned area and fasten your seatbelts as soon as you are able. We will be landing shortly." 

Kate snorted. "I think he just called us all shorty." 

"No, he said we'd be landing shortly." 

"No... I'm sure he said 'shorty'" 

"And I'm sure you've had waaay too much to drink... Finish up while I take care of the tab and let's head back upstairs."

If the process for boarding was slow, the process for disembarking was even slower. The flight out just required everyone to be shrunken en masse to the same size. Getting off the plane, however, required queuing up in long lines to get re-enlarged one at a time. It was fairly efficient, with six stations going at once and groups lined up by alphabet according to their original height so the re-enlargement chambers only had to be re-calibrated a few times each. 

Cameron hated the long lines to get out of the terminal. He hated lines anywhere for that matter, whether it was the airport of at the bank on a Friday at 4:30. It was the only part of flying Dimension that he didn't enjoy. 

He waited with Kate near the bulkhead doors, ready to sprint towards the enlargement area as quickly as possible in order to get at the front of the line. 

"So what letters are we?" he asked Kate as she pulled out their tickets from her purse. 

"You're C..." she said as she passed him the stub with a large letter 'C' on the end. 

"Yes! First round!" he was already crouching slightly ready to sprint the second the door opened. "What about you?" 

"I'm K." she said holding her stub up with a frown, her thumb covering part of the information on the ticket. 

"Well... K is the 11th letter, so you'll be second round," he said slightly disappointed, but working out a plan. "Why don't you give me the luggage and I'll get that restored while you're waiting to go through?" 

She handed him the key ring with their luggage and bikes and smiled. "You sure that's okay?" 

"Just make sure you get to the front of your line. I want to get to the beach before sunset!" he put the luggage into his pocket just as the loud mechanical machinery started up, lifting the door open. 

"I'll see you at the baggage reclaim station," she waved as he ducked under the still opening door. 

"See you in a few!" Cameron ran towards the gateway clearly marked with a large letter 'C' and was first in line. If he had been in a little bit less of a hurry, he might have taken notice of the large number of women and young teens lining up behind him. He might also have noticed the mischievous grin on his girlfriend's face. 

He was first in line and happy as anything. The attendant motioned him forward through the dark curtain into a large circular chamber. Not quite as large as the one he was reduced in, but a good-sized room at the moment. He stepped forward and stood on top of the set of yellow footprints painted on the floor at the center of the room. A low humming sound started up and he felt a heaviness begin to form in his gut. The walls of the chamber slowly closed in on him, causing a slight claustrophobic feeling that he never got used to. But before the walls were anywhere near crushing him, a short electronic chime sounded and a pleasant, but obviously computer-generated female voice announced to "Please step through the doorway in front of you and thank you for flying Dimension Airlines. The baggage reclaim center will be immediately to your left." 

As he stepped forward to the doorway, he looked down at the tiny set of footprints on the floor. Pushing his way through another black curtain, he emerged back into full-sized world. Looking to his left he noticed that the line for luggage re-enlargement was already forming, but still very short, so he made a bee-line for the counter, pulling the key ring out of his pocket. 

He carefully removed all of the items from the ring. To his dismay, there was only one employee with a nametag that said simply "Roy", working the re-enlargement conveyor, and the giant oaf was moving incredibly slow. 

"Please place your items on the belt and move to the reclaim area" the employee said with little enthusiasm. The first and second travelers in line did so without a hitch. The items moved into a large metal chamber, there was a flash of lightning, and their full-sized luggage emerged on a conveyor on the other side. 

The third customer however, had some issues. She was a heavyset lady, fairly tall, and approaching elderly status. "Sir, I need some help here," she said feebly as she lifted a large metal hoop that had the handles to her luggage attached to it. "How do I get these off?" she asked. 

"Moron..." Cameron muttered to himself quietly. A few other passengers behind him sighed and groaned in anger and frustration as well. 

"Ma'am, you're supposed to remove the luggage from the ring before you place it on the conveyor," the Neanderthal employee said as he struggled with sliding the handles of the luggage around the foot wide thick hoop. As much as he struggled with the ring, he couldn't make much progress in getting it off. 

"Please, everyone, remove your items from the conveyor. I'm going to have to reverse for a moment," he said as he hit a button and the belt changed direction, with the same lightning within the box, and the now tiny luggage re-emerging on the other side. Roy gently removed the items from the ring, and handed it back to her. A moment and a flash later, the woman had her luggage sans giant metal hoop. 

Cameron put his items back on the conveyor and moved to the other side. One by one, his backpack, the two bikes, and 4 bags of luggage emerged from the other side. He removed them and set them to the side, grunting a bit with a couple of Kate's bags. "How much did she pack for this trip?" 

He leaned against his bike and noticed that the seat was a little higher than normal. He knelt down to examine adjustment and sure enough it was marked correctly. He looked at the bike again, holding it straight up, and measuring it against his body. "That's odd," he said putting his hand on top of the seat and moving it in a straight line horizontally to the middle of his chest. The seat normally rested at his abdomen. 

Worried, he quickly unzipped one of his own bags and pulled out a white T-shirt and held it up to his chest. It seemed a little large. It was hard to tell. He pulled off his own polo and quickly put the shirt on over his head. 

Yep, definitely baggy, he thought to himself, noticing that it hung lower and that the sleeves were not as tight as usual. He grabbed his bag, and while keeping a watchful eye on the rest of his and Kate's stuff, moved the ten feet back over to the luggage conveyor. 

"Excuse me..." he said to Roy. "I think my baggage got enlarged too much." 

Roy looked down on him for a moment and then back to the conveyor, smirking in a condescending manner. "No. We set the machines on a standard setting. Your luggage came out the right size." 

Cameron was incensed at being dismissed like a child. "Look, my bike is too big, and my shirt is too big..." he said motioning towards the T-shirt he was wearing. "The luggage came out too big. I know what I'm talking about." 

"No you don't. We set a standard size for all luggage. It was restored to the right size. Maybe you're the one that didn't get restored to the right size?" 

"What do you mean I'm the wrong size... I'm..." That's when it dawned on him. "Oh God..." He looked around, noticing for the first time that everything seemed off slightly. He pulled out the ticket from his pocket and saw the name on it printed near the giant 'C'. He looked back up and at all of the people around him, most of whom were taller. Even most of the women. Especially one that he recognized coming towards him. The same one that had her name printed on the ticket that he held in his hand. Kathryn Johnson. 

"Please don't be mad at me, Honey," Kate said, as she bent slightly to kiss him on the forehead.

Cameron just stared straight ahead as he waited at the Customer Service counter. He didn't look to the left, didn't look to the right. Just straight ahead at the upper back of the man in front of him. A man he normally would have been taller than. 

"Cam, come on... talk to me..." Kate said resting her hand upon his shoulder, which he shrugged off quickly. "This could be fun, you know?" 

He remained silent except for a deep angry sigh. 

One of the women at the desk called the couple forward. "Next!" 

Cameron approached the tall black woman working the counter. At least he thought she was tall. It was hard to tell whether she was enhanced by a foot like the flight attendants since everyone now seemed out of proportion to him. He hadn't felt this short since walking through the high school building on his way to French class while in 7th grade. 

"What's the problem, ma'am?" she addressed Kate, not even acknowledging her diminutive boyfriend. 

"We had a little mix-up with our tickets." Kate said, stretching the truth a little. 

"Yeah, a LITTLE mix-up," Cameron played along begrudgingly. Getting Kate into trouble would only delay his return to average height. 

The Customer service clerk chuckled. "So you're his height and he's yours, correct?" 

"Yes," they both said together. Kate continued alone. "I handed him the wrong ticket," she said sheepishly. 

The woman chuckled again. "Riiight... wrong ticket..." she entered the information into her computer. 

"Is there something funny about this?" Cameron asked, his opinion of Dimension's customer service was evaporating quickly. 

"No, sir. I'm sorry. We have this happen all the time actually. Usually the story is the same. I'm sorry, I should have been more professional. We'll get you both back to normal soon. Just fill out this paperwork for me," she handed them both a clipboard and a pen and they sat down to fill out the forms. 

Cameron struggled a bit with getting comfortable in the seat, his feet were just touching the ground, when normally his knees would be almost to his chest in the airport seating. 

"Honey, I'm sorry for tricking you like that. I just thought it would be fun to try." Kate said, putting a hand on his knee. 

Cameron looked up at her, sensing she was serious in her apology. "Okay, you're forgiven. Just don't surprise me like that. It's just humiliating." 

"Why is it humiliating? Because you're short?" her tone changed quickly. "I mean, you're my size right now. Should I be humiliated? Am I weak? Am I a midget?" 

"Alright, look," he countered, trying to head off a conflict. "Let's not have a fight. I could have worded that better, okay?" 

"Okay," she said, returning to her forms. 

After finishing up the paperwork, they were escorted into the large reducing chamber, this one looked a bit newer than the one they were in earlier in the day. Since they were the only two in the room, they had their pick of footprints to stand on. A few moments later, they were once again reduced to a foot tall. 

"I love that feeling!" Kate said enthusiastically as she held her boyfriend's hand. 

They were greeted outside the chamber by another tall (by their perspective) attendant and escorted back over to the re-enlargement chamber. 

"How tall?" she asked Kate as she manned the computer console near the entrance. 

"5 foot...8?" she said half-jokingly. The attendant rolled her eyes. "5 foot 2," Kate corrected as she stepped through the curtains. 

Even though she was already through the doorway, the attendant reminded "Step through to the center and place your feet on the footprints. After re-enlargement, step through the curtain directly in front of you." 

A humming sound emanated from the chamber and then the attendant turned to Cameron. "How tall sir?" 

"5 foot 10," he replied truthfully. 

She continued her rehearsed speech with all of the enthusiasm of a thrill-park ride operator at the end of August. "Step through to the center and place your feet on the footprints. After re-enlargement, step through the curtain directly in front of you." 

Cam stepped through the black curtain and found the spot in the center of the chamber. He braced himself for the weighted pressure that always accompanied re-enlargement. 

But nothing happened. 

He waited some more. 

Nothing. No hum. No pressure. Nothing. 

After a few minutes, the attendant poked her head through the curtain. "Sir, my computer system just crashed. I'm going to go and get our IT person to come and reboot. I apologize, but it shouldn't be more than a few minutes. Please just stay right there." 

Cameron took the break to look around the room. He paced a bit. Looked down at his watch. Paced some more. Then he heard a booming voice from above. 

"Cameron? What's taking you so long?" 

The giant curtain in front of him parted and he suddenly found himself standing face to shin with his girlfriend Kate! 

"Cam?" she bent down slowly to get a better look. 

"Oh my God! You're so cute!", her voice boomed as a hand reached around his torso.

"What are you doing???" Cameron squeaked as he fled the hand that was now a little bigger than his entire torso. He ran to the other side of the cylinder. In all of the times he had flown Dimension Air, he had marveled at how well they gave the illusion of scale. He always wondered why they were so careful to shield their customers from the full-sized world, even though everyone who flew with them knew that they had been small-ified. Now, as he stared at his girlfriend who was the size of a building to him, he understood why. Pure terror. 

"Get out of here!" he yelled at her, wishing his tiny munchkin voice sounded more commanding. 

"C'mon Cameron, relax, I'm not going to hurt you." She pulled her hand back and sat down in the middle of the chamber, looking down at him peacefully. "I'm just... well... really curious at seeing you so small," she shrugged her shoulders. "You really are cute like that, you know?" 

Cameron let down his guard a bit. It was enticing to see his beautiful girlfriend literally larger than life. "The computer crashed, but they're working on it. Just wait outside until they can get me back to normal." 

"Why can't I wait here with you?" she said sternly. 

He wasn't liking the direction this was going in. "Because I don't want you to see me like this. It's... intimidating." 

"You're intimidated by little old me?" she giggled. "But Cam, I'm only 5 foot 2. How could I be intimidating to anyone? I mean wasn't it humiliating to you to be as small as I am?" she said, the humor draining out of the sentence towards the end. 

"Just go. Okay?" 

"I'll go if you make me," Kate challenged with a grin. "Just throw me out. You're a big man." 

"Kate, c'mon. Stop this, okay?" he slumped against one of the curved metal walls and slid down to sit. "You're taking all of this the wrong way." 

"Cameron, why can't you have fun with this? I mean think about it, the love of your life is standing in front of you as a giant and you're not turned on by it even slightly?" 

"Not even slightly, Kate. I'm scared shitless of you right now," he hated when he got into circular arguments with her. Especially when she had the upper hand. Right now she had both upper and larger hand. 

"I think the sight of me is making you horny," she dared. 

"I'm not, okay, now go." Cameron hoped that his face was too small for her to notice how flushed he was. 

"Alright, I'll go..." she started to stand, but then her hand quickly swooped underneath his rear and scooped him up. "... but I want to see if my theory is correct." 

Cameron felt himself rise quickly into the air, up and up. He squirmed, but not too much for fear he might fall out and hit the ground from, what to him, was fifty feet up. "Let me go!" he swatted at her fingers with one hand and pushed against her thumb with the other, but her grip, while not applying any pressure, was strong. 

"In a moment," she moved her fist up his body, forcing his arms above his head and covering most of his head up to his eyes. His shirt pushed up slightly as well, exposing his belly. "First I want to see something..." 

Cameron felt the index finger from her free hand run along his abdomen, she paused a moment as he felt her slightly course skin linger on his belly button. "So tiny," she commented as her thumb and fingers reached down to his pants. She fumbled for a moment with the tiny zipper, but gave up, simply working the pants down his rear and thighs to his knees. It was a little difficult because her theory was correct. 

"What's this?" she laughed rubbing a fingertip on the tip of the tentpole that was nearly poking through his tiny boxer shorts. She moved it back and forth and around a bit, like a joystick on a videogame controller. 

"Kate, stop!" Cameron said as loud as he could, although he was still muffled a bit from her other hand. 

She grabbed the bottom of one of the legs of his boxers and pulled slightly downward, exposing him fully. "Little Cam isn't as little as he claimed, now is he? I knew you were getting off on this!" 

Cameron, totally humiliated at being exposed, in more than one way, and angry as anything, did what any tiny man would do in this situation-something stupid that would make the situation much worse. He bit her finger. 

"Ow! Why'd you do that?" she said, more hurt emotionally than she actually was physically. "I said I wouldn't hurt you." 

Suddenly, she heard tiny voices come from below. 

"Ma'am, you're not allowed in the re-enlargement chamber after you've already been processed." The tiny attendant said authoritatively. A nerdy looking tiny IT specialist was standing at her heels. 

"Mixing of sizes is strictly prohibited at Dimension Air," the nerd added. 

Kate, did what any normal sized woman with a tiny boyfriend would do in this situation-she panicked, quickly stuffed him in the backpack, and left the chamber in a huff. 

"Security! Security!" the tiny nerd started shouting. 

The attendant just looked at him like he was an idiot. "And just who is going to hear us right now?" 

"Oh yeah, right..." 

"Get the computer back on-line and I'll use it to buzz the front entrance security. How long will it take to reboot?" 

"About fifteen minutes." 

"Oh well... too bad for him," she shrugged her shoulders and they both got to work.

Kate sat in the back of the cab, staring down at the knapsack in her lap. It had been a good five minutes since she had seen any movement of the canvas. She never heard any tiny cries for help or for release. This worried her. Was he okay? 

She carefully opened the zipper just enough to peek inside. The light wasn't particularly good, but she spied him laying on the floor of the makeshift prison, the sleeve of one of her sweatshirts wrapped around his tiny body. He was sound asleep, laying in a slight fetal position. 

She opened the zipper more to get a better look. She gently took another fold of the sweatshirt and covered his legs up. He was so small, so cute, so helpless. For some reason that thrilled her, but she didn't know exactly why. 

She also didn't know why she had impulsively snatched him up like she did. Surely this would be the end of their relationship. Maybe she could convince him that this was the kind of adventure their relationship needed? 

He was always so self-assured. So right about everything. He never needed anyone to take care of him. As they had talked about possibly getting married, this was one area that concerned her greatly. The one area of doubt that she couldn't shake when contemplating a life together. She loved her strong man, but wished that he would allow her to take care of him some of the time. 

Now, he was nearly helpless as a baby. He would have to let her take care of him. Maybe this was the vacation that he REALLY needed? 

The cab hit a speed bump which caused the backpack to jump slightly in her lap, its precious cargo got a split second of air time. She thought for a moment that he was going to wake up, but he just grabbed the thick material with his tiny hands and pulled it back over his body, turning away from light, and returning to a deep sleep. 

Yes. This was the right decision. He needed this. THEY needed this. If it turned out to be the end of them as a couple, then so be it. That would have eventually been the outcome anyway. He was going to have to let her be the caretaker for a change, whether he liked it or not. 

She slowly pulled the zipper closed again, and leaned back in the back seat of the taxi and closed her eyes. 

****

Cam woke up to total darkness, groggy, and with much confusion. 

Where was he? Nothing was clear. He figured he had a slight hangover. 

He pulled himself out of the thick blankets that surrounded him-seemed to be underneath and above him as well. After untangling himself from the material, he felt around, trying to get a bearing as to his surroundings. 

To his right, he felt some silk-like material. His left hand ran along the side of a large object. At first it seemed to be made out of steel, but that was just along the edge. The to surface was very smooth plastic or vinyl, like a fast-food tabletop. 

He moved his hands further along the surface until he encountered a slight concave, round and a little larger than a steering wheel. As he put some weight on the disk, he felt it give slightly with a 'click'. Odd. 

He held his hand there, with his weight on it for a few seconds until suddenly the entire area was illuminated by a bright light. This sudden burst of light temporarily blinded him. It took a few moments for his pupils to adjust, but before he could focus, the light dissolved and faded. 

He pushed down on the wheel again in a slightly different location and loud but muffled music started to sound from all around. It sounded familiar... 

"Let me know that I've done wrong 
When I've known this all along 
I go around a time or two 
Just to waste my time with you 

Tell me all that you've thrown away 
Find out games you don't wanna play 
You are the only one that needs to know 

I'll keep you my dirty little secret 
(Dirty little secret) 
Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret 
(Just another regret, hope that you can keep it) 
My dirty little secret" 

He shook his head, causing it to clear a bit, and dreamlike memories started to become clear. 

"No..." 

He pushed down on the wheel in the original position for a few seconds and the blue illumination returned. A smallish computer-like screen was the source of the light. In large blocky letters "Dirty Little Secret" followed by "All-American Rejects". He knew the look of that screen well. He had just never seen it from this perspective before. 

It was his iPod. 

The light went out again, and after using his hand to manipulate the menu, he set the backlight to stay on to better see his surroundings. The room he was in looked like a small cave-the ceilings made out of some sort of thick cloth or canvas. A giant zipper pattern was to one side splitting the cloth in two. Underneath him was a red sweatshirt with giant white letters, all he could see were the letters "A", "B", "E", and "R", but he recognized it as Kate's Abercrombie hoodie. 

He had thought he dreamed being stuffed inside his own backpack, but obviously this was no dream. What was she thinking?? 

He awkwardly climbed over the cloth floor, up and over a thick volume of the latest Harry Potter (extra large type edition now, he thought to himself trying find humor in the situation before he went insane) and over to one edge of the zipper. 

He pulled on the metal device that was slightly larger than his own hands. It gave a little, but he would need more leverage to get it open. He got on his knees and stuffed one fist through the small opening he had made, and pulled his arm to the left and the metal teeth began to separate, letting light and fresh air in from the outside. It took some effort, but he managed to get both of his arms through the opening and then pushed apart the zipper, squeezing through to the other side, where he tumbled out and then over a ledge! 

Instinctively, he grabbed whatever he could before falling, wrapping his hands around a spiral vinyl cord. It gave for a foot, but then found its catch with a slight bell sound. He climbed up the lifeline, to a white surface, catching his breath after his near death experience. 

He blinked and looked around. The area he was in was enormous. Bigger than any warehouse he had ever visited. But it was very familiar looking. He got back on his feet and looked down at the wooden table beneath his feet. Behind him was the side of the backpack, about 6 times larger than he was. A coffee mug came nearly up to his waist. It had "Hilton Hotel" written on it in large stylish dark blue lettering. Many, many stories above was a white ceiling that might as well have been the sky. 

"Oh, you're awake finally!" Kate said walking into the room with one towel wrapped around her waist, and another draped over her wet hair. "Give me a minute to dry off. We need to have a talk..." 

Cameron paced back and forth on the tabletop as the loud irritating sound of a hairdryer emanated from the hotel bathroom. The whole situation made him really nervous. It was bad enough that he was stuck at doll-size, but to top it all off, it turned out that his girlfriend was a psychotic kidnapper. What was she going to do to him? Would she crush him with her giant foot? Would she try to eat him? Would she use him as a sexual tool? He had heard about these weirdos on the internet who get off on that sort of thing. Nothing good was going to come of this, he thought to himself as he sized up the giant telephone whose cord had saved his life just a few moments ago. Nothing good at all... 

Finally the noise stopped and he heard her step out into the main room again. It wasn't quite the huge thundering sound of a T-rex approaching, but her bare-footed steps were disconcertingly loud. 

"So..." she said while plopping down on the squeaky bed a few feet in front of him. She paused looking at him intently, her hair still slightly damp and the only thing she was wearing was one of his T-shirts, which he always had a weakness for seeing her tiny body in his large shirt, the way it was clinging to the outline of her breasts... her nipples... Of course, she was oversized as well now, which didn't help matters any. 

"So...?" Cam continued, motioning with his tiny arms for her to continue. 

She bit her lip slightly and took a deep breath, something she often did before saying something difficult. She did this that time earlier in their relationship when she told him about seeing her ex-boyfriend over lunch. 
"You think I'm crazy. Don't you?" she exhaled slowly as she spoke. 

"Yeah. Just a little bit," Cameron at first made a little gesture with his fingers, but, in a sarcastic flourish, separated his arms vertically as far as they would go. "A little." 

She bit her lip once again. She loved his sarcastic sense of humor most of the time, but it was irritating whenever she was trying to drive home a serious point. She felt it was unnecessary and demeaning. 

Another deep breath, but the exhale came before this abrupt and hurried question: "Cam, do you trust me?" 

"What?" 

She spoke slowly and clearly this time, "Do. You. Trust. Me?" 

"How could I not trust the girl who has me stuck the size of a-" 

"Stop," she cut him off. "Stop hiding behind the sarcasm." Another pause to gather her thoughts. "Forget the size thing right now. Do you trust me? Normally?" 

"Of course I do," he thought for a moment as well. "Normally." 

"But you don't. Not now and not before. You're scared shitless that I'm going to hurt you somehow." 

"Well, I'm only a foot tall. It would be easy to-" 

"Enough with the size thing!" She cut him off again, this time yelling slightly. She never raised her voice to him when he was his full stature. "That's not what I'm talking about," her tone softened again, "You're afraid I'm going to hurt you..." She pointed to her own heart. "...aren't you?" 

"C'mon Kate, this is ridiculous." Cameron climbed up on top of the backpack and sat indian style over a comfortable spot and found a reasonable, if helium-like, tone to take with her to get what he wanted. "You need to take me back to the airport and get me restored to normal size. Then we can talk about whatever insecurities you have about-" 

"I don't have any insecurities about this relationship. You do." 

"Me? I have insecurities? Who's the one who had to talk you into going skinny dipping for over an hour before you did it? And even then you kept looking around and never relaxed. And I couldn't even begin to get you on that roller coaster that one time. And remember when we ran into my ex-girlfriend at the mall that day? Just ran into her and talked for a moment, but you were so jealous you had to go and have a date with your ex just to even the score." 

"And there you go again. Always throwing up the past," she leaned forward, her face only inches away from him. "Because you are afraid of talking about what matters," she leaned back again and continued, "Why is this any different than the skinny dipping?" 

"This," Cam motioned to his tiny little body, "is not the same as skinny dipping." 

"It's exactly the same. I didn't want to do it. I thought it was risky, but you wanted it. So I went along. I did that not because I relished the thought of swimming naked in public, but I did that for you. I trusted you in an area that I would normally not trust anyone. And I did eventually enjoy myself" She leaned forward again, her hands cupped and moving towards him. "I want you to trust me in the same way I trusted you. I know you don't like this. I know this makes you uncomfortable, but do it for me." She put her open hands on the edge of the backpack and paused. 

Cameron looked at the set of ten fingers in front of him, all but her pinkies were bigger around than his arms, and close in size, if not length, to his legs. He stood up and took a step forward. "Alright, I'm going to trust you," he said, kneeling down slightly for balance and scooting forward into her palms on his rear. 

Kate used her thumb to push him down to hold him in a sitting position for safety as she moved him up towards her face. "Let me take care of you this weekend. Trust me to do that, okay? I promise I will make it the most incredible experience of your life. 

She moved over towards the bed and gently set him down. He felt the ground give in a slightly spongy way underneath him, using his arms to maintain his balance. He glanced over as Kate rose before him, up and up and up. His eyes were about level with her crotch right now, a truly awesome sight if it weren't for his T-shirt draped over her body. But as if she were suddenly psychic as a side effect from the change in perspective, her arms slowly reached over her head and she tugged the white cotton shirt off, playfully tossing it towards where he stood. 

He only had about a second to see her stunningly nude gigantic body before all went white around him and a soft but thick material knocked him over. Cameron crawled on his hands and knees in the direction he was already facing, coming across a foot wide square flag that had printed on it: "Old Navy" and "XL" and "Machine Wash Warm with like colors" printed as its emblem. 

Before he could find his way out completely, he felt the earth move underneath him, causing him to tumble a bit more, and gravity pulling him at a slant towards an unseen crater. 

The T-shirt was lifted off of him directly above, and just a few feet away from him was the most beautiful most amazing sight he had ever seen. 

He felt drawn to the tanned leg that now came up to his chest. He reached out and touched it gently with his palm, eliciting a giggle from above. 

"That tickles!" Kate said in a way that was part encouragement, part goading. 

That was all Cameron needed to launch an all-out attack. He used both hands to poke and knead her thigh, trying to gauge the spots that usually elicited the loudest squeals. After a few experimental pokes, he started to find the right spots. 

"Stop that!!!" Kate screamed out in laughter. 

Now normally, Cameron always won his tickle fights. He could always grab both of her wrists at the same time and use his legs to keep her from kicking, while he mercilessly prodded her in the thigh, inner thigh, and abdomen. It was torture, sure, but it was a pleasurable one, as she would always instigate the melees, but never won them. Until now that is. 

Before Cameron could inflict the normal level of goose bumps on her flesh (which looked really odd at this vantage point as they started popping up all over), he was snatched up into one of her hands. She closed her fingers around him in a way that kept his arms pinned to his sides. 

"Hmmm... seems like the tables have turned, huh?" She held him just a few inches from her face and Cameron gasped audibly. His brain finally registered how mammoth she really was in comparison with him now--how incredibly beautiful she was-magnified by her larger-than-life status. 

"C'mon Kate, let's not do anything rash..." he said, using her own tickle fight line to goad her into doing more. 

She complied by using her fingertip (fortunately she was the sort of girl who liked to keep her nails relatively short) to poke at his own abdomen. Cameron wriggled around and laughed a little, but she definitely wasn't getting the level of response she desired. 

She moved one of her free fingers up underneath his tiny shirt, and forced it up over his head, tossing it on the floor and releasing her grip slightly as this movement had the side effect of forcing his hands up as well. When the shirt cleared his body, she clamped down again, his arms stuck above his head. She left his belly exposed slightly in front, and went to work again, looking for that one spot that she had found in the past that drove him nuts, but she had only briefly been able to torture him with it before he turned the tables on her. There would be no turning of tables this evening! 

She poked lower. Poked higher. To the left. To the right. At an angle and... bingo! His whole body tensed up within her grip, his tiny hands balling up into tiny fists, and his little chipmunk voice wailing out "Nooooooooooo...!" surrounded by fits of uncontrollable laughter. 

She prodded that spot again, getting the same intense response. That was definitely the place to go! She gave him a few seconds to catch his breath and go limp, but then attacked the spot again. And again. And again. Relentlessly tickling him, she giggled at how helpless he was in her hands. Tiny little her, who couldn't free herself from his grip, now had the upper hand. She kept at him until it was clear he was at the brink of exhaustion. It was what he would have done for her. His little lungs heaving in between pained laughs. His tiny frame was mostly limp. Mostly. 

She leaned back on the pillow, and gently placed his body on her own stomach, staring down at him, smiling. "This is going to be a very interesting week," she bemused. 

"Week...end..." Cam corrected in between heavy breaths, finding a comfortable position to lie down in. 

"Right. Weekend..." she grinned again as he dozed off on her belly. 

A loud knock at the door, and Kate was scrambling to get dressed. 

"Room Service," a male voice called from the other side of the door. 

"Just leave the cart outside, I'm not dressed right now," she said truthfully, although there were other reasons for her to not want anyone inside the hotel room. Might be hard to explain her foot tall boyfriend laying asleep on the bed. Or at least he was. She noticed he was stirring from the noise. She smiled at how cute he was as he woke up and re-aligned himself with his lack of scale. 

"Ma'am, you need to sign the receipt." 

"Just slide it under the door." The plastic tray with small slips of paper came underneath the door. She quickly signed and slid it back. "Thank you!" she shouted through the door. 

"My pleasure ma'am. Enjoy your breakfast." 

Kate looked through the peep hole and waited a moment after the hotel employee left before quickly retrieving their meal, re-locking the double-bolt to ensure that a stray maid didn't wander in. 

Cameron smelled eggs, bacon and freshly baked biscuits as he sat up on the swimming pool sized bed underneath him. 

"It's all you can eat this morning, honey!" Kate giggled as she teased him. She pulled the tray near the bed and then plopped down hard, causing Cam to fly up in the air a little, flipping over and landing on his face. 

Before he could right himself, he felt her giant fingertip and thumb gently clasp around his wrist, pulling him up in the air and onto his feet. She then scooped him up under his rear and moved him three feet forward, on top of the cart. 

"Hey! Warn me when you're gonna do stuff like that!" he said, rubbing his wrist as if it hurt, but in reality it didn't. 

"Ooh... someone's a little grumpy this morning," she had tried not to emphasize the word 'little', but somehow it came out that way anyway. She continued on, not giving him the chance to complain about her little faux pas. "Let's get some food in your stomach so you'll be a little more pleasant to be around." Oops! She did it again! 

He glared at her for a moment, but then looked at the large silver dome that was nearly as tall as he was. Kate grabbed the handle on the top of it to reveal the breakfast that he already had predicted by smell. The pile of scrambled eggs would be ankle deep to him, the biscuits were the size of bean bag chairs, and the sausage looked like large duraflame logs. "How am I supposed to eat this?" 

"I've got that all figured out for you." She turned two of the four coffee cups upside down and draped a napkin over one of them, then gestured to the other. "Sit." 

He just stood there looking at her blankly with his arms crossed. 

"I said sit," she jerked him up by both of his hands and placed him directly in front of the mug with the napkin draped over it. "Remember, you said you'd trust me." 

He rubbed his wrists again. This time they did hurt a little, but not as bad as he milked it for. "Fine." He sat on top of the napkin and faced the other cup as if it were a small table. 

She peeled off a small chunk of the biscuit, and then used her knife to cut that piece into two, setting that in the indention in the middle of her makeshift table. She then used the knife to slice into the sausage link, creating a thin disc of meat that she placed on one side of the biscuit. Then Kate picked up her spoon and put a small piece of scrambled egg on the tip of it, transferring it to a spot on top of the sausage slice, and then, to top it all off, she put a tiny dab of strawberry preserves on the other side of the biscuit, putting it all together into a tiny sandwich. 

"See? It's just like you make at home!" She was very proud of her ingenuity. 

Cameron stared at the mess in front of him. To her it seemed nice, neat and tidy, but up close, it wasn't very appetizing. He looked back up at her smiling face as she motioned for him to eat. 

He picked up the monstrosity and wrapped his jaws around it, biting down. He pierced the biscuit and the eggs with his upper teeth, but his lower teeth weren't having much luck getting through the meat. 

"How is it?" Kate asked expectantly. 

"It's good... It's good... except, I don't think I can eat the sausage like this," he pulled the slice off the breakfast sandwich. "The fat and gristle is pretty thick and I can't seem to bite through it." He reassembled the sandwich sans meat, and then took a proper bite. "Okay, this works. The biscuit is a little dry, but the eggs are easy enough to eat and..." he paused for a moment, his tongue moving around his cheek. "Hang on a sec... got a seed..." he spit to the side, figuring there was no point in being polite at the moment. "Strawberry seed. It's like a freakin' watermelon seed." 

"I'm so sorry! I didn't realize it would be so hard for you to eat at that size," Kate said with great concern. 

"No problem. I'll just get used to eggs for a few days." 

Kate stared at him for several moments as he ate a handful of eggs, careful to pick strawberry seeds out before putting any into his mouth. "So... how are you enjoying it?" 

"The breakfast? It's okay. I just said that..." 

"No. I meant, how are you enjoying being small?" 

Cameron finished chewing and swallowed before answering. "Honestly, I'm not. I still can't believe that you did this to me without my permission." 

"You wouldn't have given your permission," she shot back. "You would have said no." 

"Of course I would have said no. What guy wants to be his girlfriend's pet?" 

"The one on the airplane seemed to be enjoying himself..." she smiled. 

Cameron thought and decided not to answer that. 

"And... what's so wrong with being my little pet for a few days?" 

Her fingers walked across the serving carts surface, almost like a pair of short legs, stopping in front of his sitting body. 

"You know me... I take really..." her index finger rubbed against his right leg up to his knee, "...good..." she lingered on his inner thigh "...care..." then moved across his abdomen "...of..." then up his chest, circling his right nipple "...my..." then his left nipple "...pets." 

He followed the flow of her arm up to her face, she was beaming, seeing that she had the desired reaction from him. 

"Don't I?" she asked, lowering her finger down between his crotch. 

Cameron leaned back and smiled.

Cameron squinted up at the sun, soaking in the rays--his hands behind his head. This had turned out to be the most relaxing vacation ever--despite the early stresses, everything seemed to work out just fine. 

"You're starting to get burned..." a voice said from above. It wasn't God speaking to him, it was his girlfriend Kate. A shadow eclipsed his sunshine right before he felt a firm, but gentle pressure around his left ankle. Gravity suddenly escaped him as he was lifted up, dangling upside down. 

He looked down below to the spot where he was laying, between the tan legs and below the striped bikini bottom was the section of towel that had previously been all his. 

At the beginning of the week, this would have disconcerted him quite a bit, and, he had to admit that there were still butterflies formed in his stomach whenever he rapidly rose into the air, but, like a pavlovian dog expecting dinner at a bell, he now knew that good things could be expected whenever he was plucked like this--the butterflies now more from anticipation than from fear. 

Being 12 inches tall turned out to have it's advantages.

Kate gently lowered her shrunken lover facedown onto the top of her chest, he arms stretched across the mound, a baseball-sized nipple poking through the bikini a bit into his abdomen. 

Many advantages.

He looked around at all of the other beachgoers. The other day when she first coaxed him into leaving the hotel, he had worried what others would think, but, except for a few kids pointing, there hadn't been any indication that people had paid much attention to his state. After all, a good percentage of the vacationers likely used Dimension Air to travel there in the first place, so size-changing technology was just a normal part of life. 

Kate shifted a bit as she reached to the side of the lounge chair, and he heard a giant slurping sound shortly before feeling the coolness of a large puddle of white goop land on his back.

"Oops, that's probably way too much..." she said as her fingertips scraped away the excess suntan lotion, wiping it on the towel. 

He relaxed as giant fingers massaged the substance into the skin on his back, legs, and arms, the pressure strong, but not painful at all. Then she nudged him on his side, flipping him over on his back, and repeated the same for his bare chest and face. A large white clump was missed around the waistband of his boxer shorts which he wiped off and onto the exposed area of her breast. 

As her chest heaved up and down from breathing, he gazed up into her enormous eyes and asked, "Can I just stay here?" After five days, he had gotten somewhat used to the high pitch of his shrunken vocal cords. 

She laughed. "And get a doll-shaped tan line on my chest? No thanks..." she said as she scooped him back up and placed him back on the towel in between her legs. That wasn't such a bad spot to be either. 

------

As Kate walked through the airport, struggling a bit with all of the luggage and the bikes, she thought about how fast the vacation had zoomed by. She glanced over her shoulder at the backpack and smiled. It was an impulsive decision, but it was also the right one. Although she was now ready for him to get back to normal size so he could help her get their belongings to the luggage check-in!

------

Inside the backpack, illuminated with the green hue of a glow stick, Cameron had one hand braced against the canvas sack to keep from shifting too much from the constant swaying, as he reached into his pants pockets with the other hand to pull out a small felt-covered box. 

He opened the lid to reveal the diamond ring inside. The original plan was to spring the question on her in Hawaii, and he had still considered doing it regardless of the ring's (and his own) diminished proportions, but decided to wait until the trip back when he was back to normal--or rather, she was shrunk down to join him. He had doubts about whether it was the right decision or not before the trip, but now, he was certain that she was the one, and he had to admit that she was right about the barrier in their relationship--his trusting her. He smiled as he thought about how she had taken care of him all week. She was right.

Almost on cue, there was a sudden swing of his environment, and then there was a bright light at the top of the bag as the zipper opened and his girlfriends face peered down. Cameron quickly closed and concealed the box.

"I'm going to check in the luggage now, and I'll ask about how we get you onto the plane without having to go through the reduction chamber, okay?" Kate said. He could tell she was worried about getting into trouble with the airline, but he was certain things would be okay and gave her the thumbs up signal as the outside light disappeared again with the sound of a zipper. 

-----

Kate set the backpack down gently against the side of the check-in counter  to separate it from the luggage she was having reduced. She used all of her strength to throw the bags and bikes up onto the conveyor belt for reduction. 

She walked a few feet to the other end of the conveyor to pick up her items, now all neatly hanging from a keychain and thought for a moment about making Cameron even smaller like the russian woman had done to her own mate... While the thought made her excited, she was looking forward to having full-sized Cam hold her in his arms. She smiled as she pocketed the bikes and luggage, but as she turned around, it quickly turned into a frown. 

And then full-on panic.

The backpack she had leaned against the counter a moment earlier was gone.

Kate frantically searched for the blue backpack with the white stripes, but it was nowhere to be seen.  She was on the verge of tears and after half an hour decide to ask for help. “Excuse me, sir...” she poked at the airline agent in the shoulder, “have you seen a blue bag? I left it right here just a moment ago.” Her voice was quivering with panic. 

He shook his head for a moment, “No ma’am, I didn’t. Give me a description and I’ll alert the crew to be on the lookout.” She quickly described the bag: blue with thick white stripes and a mesh pocket on the front. “Any valuables inside?” he asked, and while she described the portable electronics, she conveniently left out the part about the shrunken stowaway inside for the moment. 

He placed the two-way radio a few inches from his mouth and she could hear his message being echoed by the radios of other nearby agents, “Attention agents, please be on the lookout for a blue and white backpack with mesh front. Tags for a Ms Kathryn Johnson. Page agent Carson if found.” He put his hand on her shoulder to reassure her. “I’m sure they’ll find it any momen...” 

He paused to answer the chirping of his radio. “It is? Okay that’s great. Thanks so much. Our guest will be happy to hear that.” he turned to her. “Ms. Johnson, your bag is waiting for you in baggage check. 

“Oh, thank you so much!” she gave him a quick hug and then ran back to the luggage area which was now largely abandoned except for the bright smile of a young blond with a button on her lapel that said “Hi! I’m New!” next to her name tag which read “Jenny”.

“I’m Kathryn Johnson. I think you have my bag?”

The young trainee perked up. “Ms. Johnson! We sure do. It’s right here.” the girl opened up a drawer behind the counter and pulled out the missing treasure. “It’s been sitting here for half an hour. We were really worried.”  

Kate stared at the now pocket-sized backpack. “Oh god...” she sighed with part panic and part relief. “Um... can you re-enlarge this for me? I... um... left my iPod inside.”  

“I’m so sorry.” Jenny said, her smile turning into an extremely empathetic frown, “but I’m not trained in re-enlargement yet. My boss will be back from his break in half an hour if you can wait?”  

Kate bit her lower lip as the airport announcement came over the intercom: last call for boarding. “But the flight is about to leave... Ugh... Is there any way...?” but she trailed off as the girl shook her head firmly from side to side. 

 “Sorry Cam,” she whispered into the tiny backpack as she sprinted towards the doors of the reduction chamber, ticket in hand, barely making it through before they closed. 

“Bye bye now.” Jenny waved from across the hall as the doors closed on the last group of straggling passengers, her smile turning a bit mischievous. After the door sealed and the machinery of the reduction technology engaged, she looked around slyly before reaching into her jacket pocket for a pill bottle. She held it up to the light and admired the inch-and-a-half tall man pounding on the sides of his plastic amber prison. 

(ONE HOUR EARLIER)

After getting used to the swaying rhythm enough to take a short nap, Cameron was abruptly awakened by a jostling of his surroundings. He could hear talking from outside the bag, but only portions of the dialogue. 

“...lost bag...” a male voice could be heard fading in and out, 

“...I’ll check...” said the other female voice as a quick zipping sound was accompanied by a bright light from above, “...inside for ID...” she said much louder now. 

Cameron shielded his face as the sudden influx of brightness stung his eyes. From in-between his fingertips, he saw an enormous hand separate the cloth from above revealing the larger than life face of a young blond woman. As her eyes darted to various items within the backpack, they grew wide with surprise when his eyes met hers. He was certain she had spotted him, but the hand grabbed Kate's pocketbook instead and just as suddenly the bag zipped up again. 

“No, wait!” Cameron gasped out as he was once again enveloped in near darkness. 

A moment later he felt horizontal movement that would start and stop every few seconds, with a familiar humming sound in between. He knew that sound well. 

“Oh...” he started to say as he felt a tingling in his body and downward butterflies in his belly, “...shit...” he finished, his voice rising to an even more ridiculous helium pitch than it had been at before. 

He then felt the entire bag be lifted up once again, this time much much faster than before. There were smaller, but still disquieting movements up, down, side to side for several moments until the top of the bag opened once again. Two gigantic fingertips, each nearly as wide in circumference as his own torso, invaded the space and firmly secured his body between them, lifting him up and out. 

His vision was a blur he was moving so quickly, but he knew he was up high, very high. His legs dangled helplessly as he wasn’t sure whether he was more scared of the distance beneath his feet and the tiled floor far below or the vice-like pressure on his lungs as the fingers held him in their grip.

He could see pink paint peeling off of one of the oversized nails, and could actually see and feel the ridges of skin that swirled around his body into a fingerprint. A moment later, he was lowered most of the way down into a orangish clear cylindrical tube about the size of a small closet to his perspective. The grip released him to drop a few feet roughly to the translucent plastic floor.

As he carefully rose to a standing position, using his arms to steady himself against the smooth curved surfaces, he noticed that one of the sides had a white label the size of a large poster on the outside. He couldn’t make out much of the wording because the writing was backwards from this side, but one word did stand out because of it being a palindrome: Xanax. 

As a white lid sealed him inside with a click, Cameron pounded on the walls, creating a small ‘thump’ sound and yelled at the top of his tiny little voice demanding to be set free. He knew it was futile since all of this racket was louder to him than it was to the giant world outside

A moment later his small prison was engulfed in partial darkness from all but above.

As he lost energy from banging on the sides of his pill bottle prison, his eyes adjusted to the dim light and he could make out a common silver house key to the side of the bottle. The key was twice as tall as he was and as thick as his forearm. 

The entire enclosure lit up and vibrated for a brief moment as a giant screen, 30 feet tall, lit up with a text message from someone asking 'When do you get off work?' followed by a series of emojis including a pumpkin and an eggplant. It faded out almost as fast as it lit up, plunging Cam back into darkness. 

It lit back up and vibrated again. "Miss U!" 

Then faded again. 

Cam realized he was in that girl's front pocket. He had to figure out a way to get out of there and back to Kate ASAP!