I awoke to day like any other, the early morning sun fluttering into my room, softly illuminating it. Rising out of bed I slipped into my cute pink jogging suit. My morning jog was quiet, uneventful. Upon returning home, I showered, and was ready for the day.

Now as I get ready for my job as the stunning laboratory assistant, I brandish a denim skirt which hangs lightly from my hips, and my light yellow blouse. Satisfied, I check my outfit in the mirror.

Damn I am looking good.

All this running is doing miracles for my figure! Then, to complete my look, I grab a wide black leather belt.

Wrapping it around my waist, I discover that there isn't a tight enough eyelet for me to clip the belt into.

"Well shit", I mutter, rolling my eyes. I guess all this running means I'm going to need a new belt! I use a nearby pair of scissors to slice a small hole in the belt to push the belt rod into. Fortunately, no one will ever notice. I smile at my solution and try to slip on my shiny black heels.

"My feet too?" I sigh, grabbing a couple pairs of no-show socks. Slipping them over my soft soles to make sure my heels fit snugly, because I don't want to trip on air and embarrass myself.

Sliding into the car I adjust my seat, because the stupid seat kept sliding farther from the steering wheel! No idea what that's about, I guess I'll have to take the car in for a check up. I don't need to have an accident because of something this stupid!

Unlocking the door to the office, I enter and proceed to my office.

This early in the morning the lab is quiet, the lighting dim. Until the others arrive, it remains that way.

I am always here first, I always get the forms ready, and I always schedule the experiments my coworkers plan to do.

As I tap out some forms into a neat pile, I laugh to myself, I'm the backbone of everything here... nothing would ever get done without me ordering the supplies and making sure the esteemed Doctor Taran has all the machinery he needs to make innovative ideas work.

I may not be a science genius, but I'm needed here. That's a damn good feeling.

Unlike my stomach, which feels kinda awful right now. Ugh.

I hear the click of the front door as Yvonne comes tapping into the office. Her flats somehow louder then my heels. She passes my office a happy smile on her face, "Morning Quorra!"

I wave as she passes hoping she'll stop so I don't have to run after her, "Yvonne, I've got your schedule!"

She reemerges from the door frame. "Already?"

I nod, "Of course, here you go!" I hold a manila folder out to her. She doesn't take it, instead she looks confused, approaching me cautiously.

"Quorra, do you feel okay?"

I follow her around, curious about what is bothering her. "Yeah? I feel fine!" I try to sound happy, but she's right, I do feel pretty strange right now. Then I looked up and made eye contact with her.

Since when am I eye-level with Yvonne?

What the fuck?

"Yvonne, you got taller!" I say, but her expression doesn't change as she backs up.

"No Quorra, you're smaller."

"What? Why? How?" Questions cloud my mind as I rapidly contemplate what is happening. My breathing accelerates, "Hel... me... vonne." All I can see is Yvonne watching me as the world fades to black and I pass out.

It's dark.

I cannot see, but I can hear a little. Something about a phone call.

"No, you can't shut us down, we're on to something!"

Then Taran's voice.

"...is Quorra on the floor?"

Then Alyx.

"Poor Quorra."

Then silence for a long time. I feel a nice cooling sensation on my head, and the weight of a soft hand.

I open my eyes and see Alyx hovering above me. Her hand holding a cool cloth to my head. I look around, and realize I'm in one of the examination rooms which line the back of the building. Alyx smiles, "Good morning."

I can't help but smile back despite the confusing situation, "What's happening Alyx?"

She sighs and tries to smile, "Taran would say science, I have an idea but, until Taran can finish running some scans I won't be sure."

"Then can you tell me who carried me in here?"

She leans toward me and smiles, "Do you really think Taran could move anything?"

I laugh, "You?"

She nods resting her hand on my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me, "You're pretty light now..."

"I'm... how light?"

Alyx smiles, gripping me lightly, "About forty-five kilos..."

"Damn. I lost twenty kilos?"

Alys simply nods as Taran slides into the room, bringing news I almost certainly won't like.

He breathes in deeply, "I'm sorry Quorra, you're only going to get lighter." Taran interjects handing Alyx a stack of papers, "What do you think?"

Her eyes scan the pages, she nods and seems more and more worried. "This isn't good."

I slam my hand down, "Dammit, talk to me! I may be stupid, but tell me what's happening!"

Alyx put her hands on mine, covering them and looking into my eyes. "That beam yesterday... was intended to scan and modify materials."

Taran activates a nearby monitor, "See these?" he pointed to the monitor, "This is normal matter."

He pulls a second screen in, "Now this is your matter..."

"It looks the same to me..."

Then Alyx pulls the monitors closer, "Quorra, your atoms are 85% the size of normal atoms, and they are still shrinking... and we don't know if we have time to fix it..."

"Or if we can fix it." Taran blurts out.

Alyx turns to Taran, her eyes like daggers, "Taran!"

The doctor leans against the door frame, looking at the floor, and I start to breath a little harder, "So, you're telling me I'm going to shrink out of existence?"

Taran makes eye contact with me, "Not how it works... but yeah basically."

That doesn't help, I stare at the floor and mutter, "Taran, for a doctor, your bedside manner sucks."

When I look up Taran is gone, and Alyx holds my hands again, "Quorra, this is bad, but I don't think it's as bad as you think it is."

I stare into Alyx's eyes, "I'm shrinking away Alyx! You don't think that's bad?"

Her face shifts, perhaps realizing just how afraid I truly am, "Quorra, we have time, it seems like you are only losing about twenty percent of your height each day. Which means we have several weeks to find a solution..."

I know enough math to realize what she's implying. I just feel blank, "So other then this shrinking... I'm fine?"

Alyx smiles, "Yes, you are okay, you aren't dying!"

"Well then I'm going to watch Taran... and hope he can figure this out today."

Alyx smiles and reaches out to me to help me up. I walk out into the main lab, and being smaller has certainly shifted my perspective. Of course, the lab looks exactly the same, just slightly bigger.

I walk past a familiar set of machines, and instead of being eye level with the monitors... I have to look up. It makes me feel like a child. Like I'm at take your child to work day.

Goddess, it's fucking weird.

Entering Taran's zone is interesting, since I rarely come in here...

The door to the room is labeled "Taran's Zone."

He is such a dork, but his room belies his intelligence. It is simply covered with whiteboards, math equations, drawings of various molecules, and chemical solutions cover the walls.

The lanky scientist is furiously scribbling out data on a blank set of whiteboards, copying from the forms I carefully filed every workday.

Alyx grabs a marker and a few papers and joins Taran, she starts sketching out a graph of the some kind of wave. I have no idea what the wave is or how it made my atoms shrink.

I sit in Taran's chair and watch as my incredibly intelligent coworkers work out the details of what happened yesterday.

Although I don't really want to sleep, this chair is comfortable and I am exhausted from my body shrinking. So, I slip in and out of consciousness, waking to adjust my position every once in awhile as the science flows around me.

I'm only startled when someone squeezes my shoulder. I wake up to Alyx, looking a little larger then before. "You should go home Quorra... you need some real rest."

I get up, "Are you going home too?"

She smiles, I might, depends when we get the field equations worked out." she gives another shy smile before continuing, "Don't worry about it, we are doing our best!"

As I leave the lab, I turn back to see these scientists, my friends, working furiously to help me.

I also notice Yvonne, sitting in her office on her phone. What the hell was she doing all day?

Goddess I need sleep.

When I get back in the car, my feet can't reach the pedals, until I adjust the seat drastically.

This drive is going to be fun.