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

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

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

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

"What do you mean?"

"I'm shorter than you."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Before," he admitted.

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

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

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

"I know."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The three casually dressed women looked at each other knowingly.

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

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

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

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

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

"How close did you get?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Derek."

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

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

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

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

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

"Can I see your badges?" Amber said.

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

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

"Elevation?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We'll do it. Follow me."

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

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

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

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

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

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