(***** MSC – 1 - Prologue *****)

(***** POV – Jennifer Mitchell *****)
It’s been three months since we first got the MSC together. MSC stands for the Miniaturized Spy Command, by the way. It’s a new government agency related to both the CIA and the FBI, and very few people even know it exists. Unfortunately, we seem to be in an evaluation phase, so we have very few staff. Eight to be exact. And the funding is rather limited for what we would have wanted. But I can’t complain too much. Well, maybe a little.

My boss, Harvey Pratt, is a former Marine, and I think he considers his transfer to command this agency a joke. He’s in his 50’s, and his treatment of me and the other two women here is right out of the stone-age. Most days he treats us with silent contempt, but some days he goes all the way to explosive hatred. I’m sure it’s because he hates to see men’s lives in the control of us Handlers.

Handlers, to make things a little clearer, are the female agents who transport the mini-spies. It turns out the technology we use to miniaturize the agents in this organization only works on males. So the “upper management” believes it would be safest to have woman handle them so that a shrinking accident wouldn’t occur at an inappropriate time (apparently this happened once). The scientists who developed this miniaturization technology originally had to have huge quantum generators and each subject had to wear a special collar. But developments since then have reduced it to a small implant at the base of the neck. And the electrical power needed to change size is very minimal. This is fortunate, since I had heard that the original team of three female scientists and all their subjects died from an overload of the generators at the university where this was being developed. It’s much safer now.

As I was saying, I am one of two Handlers here at the MSC. I feel they picked me more for my appearance than my skill, but it was definitely a promotion for me. And while my hair is reddish-brown, most of the guys treat me as if I was some blond bimbo. Even Kay Fitzgerald, our secretary, is treated better than me most of the time, and she is blond! But I figure the guys treat her a little better because they don’t have to be afraid of her accidentally stepping on them during mission practice. 

The other Handler is Lisa Weathers. She’s the only African-American in our group, and I think she has to handle some bias against her as well. We get along great, but one of our mini-spies, Billy Jenkins, seems to be fairly prejudiced against her. He’s similar to my boss, Mr. Pratt, when it comes to women in power, but it goes a step further since Mr. Jenkins is from the South and picked up some bad feelings towards African-Americans. Lisa and I have decided to try to break him of these detrimental feelings, so he is consistently placed in Lisa’s group.

The commander of our mini-spy team is Martin Tremil. He’s ex-CIA, and I think he sees this job as a demotion. He’s nice enough to everyone, but feels his influence and power have been “reduced” from what they used to be. The secondin command is Peter Kristov. He used to be a KGB double-agent who worked with the CIA. He’s very quiet and professional and does his job to the best of his ability. He’s tough to read, though. And finally, there is Greg Dracks. He was recruited right out of high school, since his father is on the committee which helped form the MSC. But he is extremely athletic, and has even begun EHM practice with me.

EHM is what we refer to as Extreme Hazardous Maneuvers. Most of the times, Lisa and I wear special shoes or boots with room in the heels for a mini-spy. But EHM involves actually going into the shoes or boots and making sure you aren’t crushed. It’s nice to be able to practice this with someone, but it is very odd feeling someone crawling around between my toes, inside my boot. I would think it can’t be too nice of a place in there, but Greg never complains and never says anything about the environment. Of course, EHM also applies to climbing around different parts of a giant moving body. Greg is a natural climber, and I think he especially likes the practice maneuvers done around my upper torso. The only other person doing EHM is Peter Kristov, and he is practicing with Lisa. She says some of it feels weird to her too, but we have to do our jobs. 

Everything is in place, and we continue to practice, but I can’t wait until we get an actual mission. I think everyone is getting a little tired of just carrying out drills…