“In the year 2054, after a major scientific breakthrough in size manipulation technology, Dr. Vincent Kurz created the first shrink ray. It subsequently caused ripples throughout not only the scientific community, but the entire world. Demand skyrocketed, and military use was widespread. Other military weapons such as rifles, tanks, and even nuclear bombs were scrapped or sold off to pay for the shrink rays, and battles raged across the Earth. The skirmishes between countries escalated, and by 2083, over 90% of the world militaries were equipped with shrinking technology. Eventually, the rays were distributed through the black market by ex-military weapons dealers, and they became common even in civilian life. As the former nations of the world battled each other into oblivion, common life wasn’t changed at all, and some even believed it improved. Because most owned and actively carried shrink rays, social interactions were tense, and would more often than not result in the shrinkage of someone, but life had otherwise stagnated because of the fear of shrinkage. By the year 2112, the worlds previous nations had all but vanished, and city-states led by factions of ray-wielding former citizens took their place. Their governments are often tyrannical, using their shrink technologies to impose rules and law over the peasants. And it is in this horrifying world that we find ourselves, in this horrifying city, living horrifying lives. It is now 2127, and we ‘mants,’ as they call us, live in hiding. The rest of our kind, those who live outside The Room, are slaves to their masters. The Giantesses. The Goddesses. During the Happening, they took all of our size, our dignity, our freedom. Now, they dominate the known world, and think of us as ants! The enormous beasts do as they please and our kind, we are but novelties to them! But they are no masters to us! Maybe it’s different somewhere else, in a different city. Maybe somewhere, a utopia exists. But until we find it, we will resist! We Roommates, we lucky few, defy the giantesses in the only way we know how: living freely!”
Jason Fitsimmons listened intently to his history teacher, Mr. Borela. He had to, as his aged but powerful voice penetrated the thoughts of his students, forcing them to focus on what he said. His ramblings often climaxed at the part where he glorified The Room, loudly shouting while he waved his fist at The Room’s ceiling miles above him. Mr. Borela checked the building-sized clock which loomed far above the entire mant settlement, ticking loudly within its ornate mahogany case. Mr. Borela halted his monologue, and looked up. The entire class held its breath as one last tick rung out before silence fell over the entire settlement. Everything stopped; the loud exchanges of the marketplace, the bustle of the park, and even the sounds of play within The Light. The last second seemed an hour to Jason, although he’d dare not blink during it. Finally, four ear-splitting chimes rang out, each one the same penetrating, mind-splitting note. Jason, along with the rest of his class, kept their gaze upward as the notes reverberated off the walls and buildings of The Room and everything inside it. The chimes stopped after some time, and, as if on cue, Jason and his fellow boys began to gather their stuff to leave. The ticks of the clock resumed as he exited his school building.
Jason began his long walk home, and began to think to himself. In times like this, Jason couldn’t help but be reminded of his status as a lesser being, reduced to three inches tall, living in a puny shantytown on the floor of a gigantic bedroom. Every shack he looked at depressed him further, made from used toothpicks, bottlecaps, and pen caps. Jason continued on his walk until he stumbled across The Light. It was heralded as a landmark in the settlement, and boys often played within it as their foster fathers prayed in its luminescence. To Jason, it was merely the light cast by sunlight coming through the window at the top of The Room. Large dust particles swam inside of the warm orange light beam. Jason sat on a bench on the edge of the illuminated area, made from a couple stacked paperclips and a ripped sliver of paper. He looked hopefully towards the window, and began to hatch a plan.
Later that night, as Jason curled into bed, he recalled this plan, and sprung back out. Hustling, he gathered essential items which lay upon his dresser: a fragment of a mirror, a sewing needle, a small bottle fashioned from scrap plastic, and a few spare food items. Quietly shutting his door, he set out for one of the great walls of The Room. He sprinted past other houses, guard towers, and even the park where The Light was cast. After the density of the town had faded into only a few houses every couple hundred feet, he had reached the wall. Gazing upward, Jason was met with the dizzying sight of the windowsill far above. He unlatched a pickaxe fashioned from a sharpened pen tip from his pack, and began his climb.
Farther upward, Jason again looked towards the window. It was closer than ever, and he could feel the cool night air blowing through it. He clambered onto the ledge and peered back down to the settlement. From up here, it looked like an ant village. Jason felt empowered, like he could rule the world, as the light cast by the tiny settlement dimly illuminated his face. There he stood, purveying the puny town which had been his home for so long. After a while, the light cast by the sun began to shine through the window, and as the lights of the settlement dimmed, people began to exit their shacks. Pointing upward, some keen observers noticed Jason’s silhouette, gasping in horror. Jason, hearing this, turned his back to everything he’s ever known, and jumped out of the open window.
He fell violently through the air, landing on an enormous, soft trash bag. He began his walk, looking back from the outside at the window. As he exited the cavernous alleyway formed by the two houses, he encountered a tall lawn, which stretched far until it met a grey sidewalk, followed by an asphalt street. Beginning his long trek through the grass, Jason unsheathed his sewing needle.
After an excruciating journey filled with hacking and slashing, Jason finally reached the sidewalk, its flat and featureless expanse unencouraging to say the least. Casting a gaze behind him, Jason saw the abandoned house which the colony was located in. It was missing panels, had a collapsed porch, and featured several broken windows. Jason’s long stare was interrupted, however, when a loud bark emanated from far to his right. He watched in horror as an enormous German shepherd, the size of a building to him, pointed its nose in his direction before turning to its owner and barking again. The owner, an enormous blonde in a red polka-dot sun dress, followed her dog’s point, and began to advance on Jason’s position farther down the block. Jason began to attempt to escape, sprinting to safety within the grass. As he reached the edge of the sidewalk, the thuds of footsteps began to fill his hearing, mixed with the even louder barks of the dog. He dove desperately into the dirt as the dog placed itself directly above him. Its neck bent down, sniffing all around and even directly above Jason. The force of the gusts caused by the dog’s breath disheveled him, but he remained in his position under the dirt. The dog’s head bent closer and closer to him, and it was clear to Jason that the dog knew he had found something. Its gaping jaw opened as streams of saliva fell from it, the hot air radiating downward. A titanic pink tongue slid out and licked the patch of dirt which Jason was wedged in, drawing him into the gargantuan abyss that was the dog’s mouth. It closed, and Jason felt around his hot, moist surroundings. The huge tongue tossed him about the mouth, bouncing the tiny man off the nearby teeth and dropping him into pools of sticky saliva. As he was jostled around, Jason heard the muffled commands that the dog’s owner was giving it.
“Daisy, give it! Spit it out! Spit it out NOW!”
As the last word was uttered, gravity within the mouth began to shift for Jason, and he fell out of the dank cave, only to land violently on the concrete, covered in saliva. Through closing eyes, his final view was that of a concerned blonde woman in her late 20s looking down at him from far above.