Post Script

The first few days of her brother’s restoration and return from his Scandinavian adventure had filled Tess with a high degree of anxiety. What if something went wrong or the procedure reversed itself again? Add to that, her mother’s incessant insistence on constant status updates on him. She felt like she was hopping from foot to foot while Janine and Tom were like a couple of horny bunnies, always sneaking off to somewhere less public to canoodle.

Fortunately, in the nearly three weeks since, Tom did not shrink and he settled back into a normalized routine at Sapperton Academy. Even he and Janine’s robust and enthusiastic extracurricular activities seemed to have plateaued as the pair settled into the role of the school’s reigning power couple. The panty passenger fad that had gripped the female student body disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. Funny how things work.

To stave off mind churning and mitigate her feelings of anxiety, Tess occupied herself with studying and examining the remnants of her grandfather’s device. Completely disassembling it and cataloging all of it components, she decided it might be interesting to try to reassemble it and get it functional. With all of the constituent components laid out on her desk and onto her bed, schematic in hand, she frowned. The design did not make any sense to her. Not that she could not grasp the technical aspect of the device, quite the opposite, she understood it just fine. It just seemed her grandfather had made the device more complicated than it necessarily had to be. The use of the extremely rare Berkelium to power it seemed rudimentary and somewhat clumsy. At first, she wondered if perhaps her grandfather had not been building something entirely different and stumbled across the shrinking capabilities.

Sitting at her desk, she stared at the jumble of parts. What if she used electromagnetism rather radioactivity to perform the task? Applying Maxwell’s microscopic equation coupled with Lorentz force law, she could extrapolate quantum field dynamics to challenge theoretical assertions made about subatomic particles and magnetic field resonance. In fact, she could use a magnetron as her primary engine and attune the radio waves by manipulating pitch and frequency. Could it work? Theoretically. She would have to explore frequency modulation in order for the radio waves to pass harmlessly through inorganic material. She would also need to be careful to ensure no agitation of water molecules, just compression of the quasiparticles as per Feynman’s Diagrams to redirect energy expenditure.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible the whole thing seemed to be. Nodding slowly, she glanced toward the door. She was going to need a magnetron, just like the one in the microwave kitchenette down the hall.

Slipping out into the hall, she propped open her door before walking down to the common area where the microwave was located. A quick double check for other girls or a teacher, she unplugged the microwave, carting it hastily to her room where she set it on her bed.

Grabbing her small tool kit, Tess started dismantling the small oven.

The door opened and Samira walked in, “Hey,” she greeted without looking over as she dropped her purse on her bed. Turning to Tess, she frowned. “Is that our microwave?”

Without bothering to look up, Tess nodded, tongue tucked into the corner of her mouth as she removed the external case holding the microwave together.

Coming over, “What are you doing?” Sam inquired, curious.

Smile on her face, “Just sort of tinkering,” Tess replied, removing the component she had been hunting for before getting up and walking over to the desk and taking a seat.

Following Tess, “With the shrink thing?” asked Sam, eyes on the assorted parts strewn across the desk.

“I don’t think my grandfather’s original intent was to construct a shrinking device, in fact, I think he might have been trying to unravel the concept teleportation,” Tess explained, connecting a few wires to devices existing motherboard.

“Teleportation? Like beam me up Scotty?”

Grinning, Tess nodded as she looked up at Sam, “Exactly.”

Eyes back to the remains of the oven on Tess’s bed, “Is that why you took the microwave apart? To make a teleporter?” she asked.

Making a handful of connections, Tess shook her head before plugging the thing she was building into her laptop computer via a cable. “I’m working on shrinking technology,” she shared.

Crossing her arms defensively across her chest, “Um, after everything your brother sort of went through, is that wise?” Sam inquired.

Looking at the jumble of connected parts on the desk, Tess smiled at Sam, “Should be safe enough I think,” she assured.

Skeptical expression, “Just make sure you design an unshrink button on it,” Sam suggested.

“While my grandfather tried to focus energy through a refracted laser, this should be able to direct radio waves. Tom accidentally engage the device while in the line of fire,” she paused, mumbling something under her breath as the device started hum and several of the light emitting diodes starting blinking.

Taking a couple of steps backward, “Is it supposed to do that?” asked Sam, an edge in her voice.

Tess chuckled, “I’m just running a diagnostic program to make sure everything is properly connected and functioning as it should,” she said.

Eyes widening, “I think you’re playing with fire by fooling around with that stuff,” Sam warned.

Laughing, Tess shook her head. All of the meter readings on the computer screen were in optimal ranges, shining green. Everything lined up. Would it work? What would she do if it did? Could she deliberately shrink a person? Maybe. The moral implications of doing such a thing put a sly smile on her pretty face.