“So what’s my situation?” Gary asked.

Gary was in a room in the county courthouse. Seated across from him was his public defender, Silas Hayes.

"It doesn’t look good, Gary!” said Hayes. “You were driving drunk, and someone got killed. That makes you eligible for the Stature Statute!”

“The Stature Statute?” said Gary. “I thought they only shrunk people serving life sentences!”

“You don’t watch the news much, do you? Last November they modified the Stature Statute to include anyone who committed a crime that resulted in someone’s death, regardless of the defendant’s intentions! It went into effect in January.”

Gary was visibly frightened. He had heard horror stories about college students putting shrunken captives in blenders, or lighting them on fire at parties. When the eighth amendment had been modified in 2136 through a bill called “The Stature Statute,” criminals serving life sentences were miniaturized and sold at auctions as toys. Now that the law had been modified, even Gary could end up on the auction block.

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Gary asked.

“I can give you some advice. When the amendment was modified last year, they made it legal for you to pick your captor. The county fair is going on right now, so why don’t you take the bus up there and watch some of the captor clubs in action. Some of those college girls are pretty cute, and if you agree to sign yourself over to one of them, you’d be better off than if you were sent to an auction house!”

“You mean, just agree to be some girl’s captive?” Gary asked. "Are you out of your mind?"

“Yes, I'm asking you to turn yourself over to one of them and no, I'm not out of my mind!!” said Hayes. “There must be half a dozen captor clubs that have exclusively female membership!”

Gary was still unconvinced. He felt sure that Silas Hayes could offer him an alternative. Gary’s parents were poor, so there was no way they could buy him at an auction. They had spent their life savings bailing Gary out of jail. That was why Gary had been forced to request the services of a public defender, because neither Gary nor his parents had any money left for a good lawyer.

“There’s got to be something you can do to help me!” said Gary.

Silas Hayes slammed his fist down hard on the table three times, accentuating each syllable as he said, “You’re getting shrunk!” Hayes was visibly upset, his cheeks grew pink as his breath grew deeper. “The best lawyer on Earth couldn’t get you off! You committed the crime after the amendment was modified, so it’s too late for me to use that strategy, and that would’ve been my only rational approach if you had committed the crime before January, when the law went into effect. But all the cards are on the table, and you’ll be miniaturized as soon as the jury finds you guilty! This isn’t the 21st century, when you could murder someone and get away with it by hiring a slick lawyer!”

“So that’s it?” said Gary. “I’m getting shrunk?”

“Yes! Now do yourself a favor, and go to the fair, and track down a girls-only captor club, and sign yourself over to some cute college girl! Pull out your cell phone, and I’ll transmit the paperwork to you. If you don't, you'll end up at an auction house and there's no way to predict who will end up purchasing you.”

On the bus ride up to the Paso Robles mid-state fair, Gary was frustrated. He had been driving hovercars since he was sixteen, and now he was reduced to taking public transportation. His driver's license had been suspended after the accident. He knew Hayes had told him the truth, but he felt that what was happening to him was unfair. He got off the bus, and bought a ticket and went into the fair. It wasn’t hard to find the captor club demonstrations; a crowd of people were gathered around watching a college girl of about eighteen or nineteen commanding ant-size captives to march astride her arm and return to her hand. Her demonstration ended, and another girl got up on the small stage.

She was eighteen or nineteen, with blonde hair and gray eyes. She was wearing what resembled a brown and orange cheerleader uniform, with a short pleated skirt, and it was sleeveless. There were about a dozen other girls wearing identical uniforms who must've been members of the same captor club. She was a portly young woman, not fat, but with massive arms. She introduced herself as Melissa Schroeder, and began explaining the theory of miniaturization before starting her demonstration.

“A lot of people know about miniaturization, but few people understand the theory behind it. Atoms are made up of protons and neutrons that form the nucleus, with electrons orbiting around them. Protons and neutrons are made up of quarks, which are held together by gluon particles. Neutrino dissimilation causes quarks and gluons to discharge matter in the form of neutrino particles, resulting in the protons and neutrons decreasing in size, weight, volume, and mass!”

“Get on with the demonstration!” said Gary. He was growing impatient. He had already decided to sign himself over to Melissa, and wanted her to hurry and complete her demonstration so he could talk to her about it.

Undeterred, Melissa continued: “Some people think neutrino dissimilation requires a powerful computer to keep track of the positions of each sub-atomic particle as they shrink. This isn’t true. Neutrino dissimilation is a chain reaction! As protons and electrons shrink, the repulsive effect of the protons on one another diminishes, and the repulsive force of the electrons acting on one another diminishes as well, forcing atoms to move closer together. This causes the atoms to maintain the same proportionate distance apart from one another in comparison to their distance apart at normal size.”

"You're leaving out the dimensional brane aspect of the theory!" said Gary, who had a detailed understanding of neutrino dissimilation theory from physics class in high school.

"I was getting to that!" said Melissa. "A shrunken person is surrounded by a dimensional membrane. This protects the miniaturized electrons of their body from interaction with normal-sized electrons in their environment. This dimensional membrane, or 'brane' also reduces air molecules that are breathed into the shrunken person's lungs; without this feature, shrunken people would need to be supplied with tanks of miniaturized oxygen to breathe. The dimensional brane also protects them from temperature extremes, and allows the shrunken captives to eat normal-sized food and process water molecules that they drink without the need for the food or water to be miniaturized."

When her explanation was over, Melissa stuck her left arm straight out in the air, and with her right hand, opened a container attached to a leather wristband on her left wrist.

“To my palm, I command you!” said Melissa to her ant-sized captives. Gary could see the tiny prisoners march onto the palm of their mistress, and decided that a life under Melissa’s command couldn’t be too bad.

“I belong to the Morro Bay chapter of the Thunder Goddesses captor club! If you want to find out more about the Thunder Goddesses, just go online to any search engine and type up ‘captor clubs’ and you’ll find us.” Melissa turned her attention back to her captives and said, “I command you to march astride my mighty arm!”

Gary figured he would have the rest of his life to get to know Melissa, so he didn’t watch the rest of her demonstration. He went to a snack bar and bought a drink. By the time he waited in line and purchased his drink, Melissa was done with her demonstration, and Gary spotted her and approached her.

“Hey, I killed someone while I was drunk driving, and my lawyer says it's a guarantee that I’m going to get shrunk. I’d like to sign myself over to you. I’ve got the paperwork downloaded onto my cell phone.”

“Are you sure you want to be a captive of a Thunder Goddess? Do you know the rules of our charter?”

“Sure, I know all about it!” Gary lied. He didn’t know anything about the Thunder Goddesses, but figured that since they gave public demonstrations, they must be safe.

"The Thunder Goddesses captor club sounds like a good fit for you!" said Melissa. She agreed to take him on as a captive, and he e-mailed her the paperwork from his cell phone. In less than five minutes, the transaction was complete. Gary said goodbye to Melissa and left.

Several weeks later Gary was found guilty by a jury. It was really an open-and-shut case; over the past fifty years, California had developed a zero tolerance policy for drunk drivers, and Gary’s case was no different than any other. He was led out of the courtroom and put in shackles.

Over the next several days, he lived in the county jail until he was transferred to the state prison. The day he was to be miniaturized, he sat in the dayroom playing cards with some other inmates. The discussion turned to captor clubs.

“I hope I don’t end up being owned by some college kid in a captor club!” said one inmate. “Most of them are vore clubs!”

“What are the worst captor clubs?” Gary asked.

“The Aryan Sisterhood, the Vore Girls, the Thunder Goddesses,”

Gary didn’t listen to the rest of the inmate’s sentence. He thrust his cards down, and asked, “What about the Thunder Goddesses?”

“They shrink you down to ant-size and force you to perform public spectacles. At the end of about a year, they swallow you and the other captives! They have to buy a new set of captives every year to replace the old ones who get vored!”

“I signed myself over to a Thunder Goddess!” said Gary, as he stood up to get the attention of a guard. Just then, an announcement came over a loudspeaker informing them that it was now time to report to the miniaturization chamber.

Gary walked with the other inmates toward a vehicle where the prisoners would be contained during the miniaturization process. Just before he boarded, a guard approached him and called out his name. When Gary responded, the guard said, “We have acquisition paperwork for you. You’re going to be miniaturized individually.”

As Gary was led toward a separate miniaturization chamber, Gary pleaded his case. “I signed myself over to some girl, and I’d like to back out of the agreement.”

“Too late!” said the guard. “If you wanted to do that, you would’ve had to have a lawyer process the paperwork weeks ago! Can you step into that chamber, please?”

Gary stepped into a chamber about four feet square. A minute later, he was instantly reduced to two inches tall. The chamber he was in shrank with him. A communication console built into a wall of the chamber sprang to life. The face of a guard appeared, and informed him he would be shipped that afternoon to San Luis Obispo, where Melissa Schroeder was happily waiting for him. Twenty minutes later, his chamber was loaded into a hovercar, and in less than ten minutes, they arrived on the coast.

Melissa was waiting for him at the facility in San Luis Obispo where his chamber was shipped. A guard unlocked the chamber, and Melissa collected Gary, but the chamber remained with the deputy. Gary found himself sitting on the left palm of Melissa’s hand.

“I don’t know why anyone would choose a Thunder Goddess for a captor, but you got your wish!”

Melissa carried Gary as she walked to her hovercar.

“That’s what I meant to talk to you about,” said Gary. “I didn’t know Thunder Goddesses was a vore club!”

“Well, now you know!” said Melissa, giggling. "Captor clubs make college life much more interesting!"

“I agreed to be your captive under false pretenses! Doesn’t it mean anything to you that I don’t want to get swallowed?”

“Let me give you a clue,” said Melissa, “I belong to a club where we swallow miniaturized captives. That’s how we have a good time. Do you really think I care about how you feel?”

Gary took this to mean the discussion was closed. Although he couldn’t accept his final destiny, he did accept that he couldn’t anger his new mistress. She was like an avenging goddess to him now. Gary felt fear when he considered that appeasing her would be something he would have to do not by choice, but by necessity.

When they got home, Melissa took Gary to her room, and set him on her desk. She went to a safe and unlocked it, then pulled out a Portasizer. Gary’s heart beat more rapidly when he realized he was about to be re-sized. Melissa didn’t have to type in a ratio into the sizing scope, because her Portasizer was already locked on a setting that would reduce a two-inch tall man down to ant-size. Gary wondered how many men had been shrunk down to ant-size by Melissa’s Portasizer. Dozens? Scores?

Melissa pulled the trigger, and Gary was instantly shrunk down to a height that was equivalent to the length of a small ant. Knowing Gary wasn’t going anywhere, Melissa turned her back to him and returned her Portasizer to the safe, and locked it. Melissa walked to the desk, and looked over her new captive.

“From this day forward, you will address me as thunder goddess! Is that understood?”

Melissa’s fist slammed down near Gary when he failed to respond in a timely manner, sending vibrations through his tiny body.

“I said, is that understood?”

“Yes, thunder goddess!” said Gary.

“Now, we might as well get to work straight-away. I want you trained in time for the fair this summer, so let’s get to work!”

Melissa lowered her arm until her left palm was on the desk. “I command you to surrender to my hand!”

Gary walked toward her fingers, and climbed up onto her pinky, then walked to the center of Melissa’s palm. Melissa lifted her left arm up until it was straight, then opened the container attached to her left wrist where the other captives were kept. Twenty captives the same size as Gary spilled out onto her palm.

“You have a new member!” Melissa informed the others. “He actually volunteered to be my slave!”

One of the men looked at Gary like he was crazy. Gary tried to explain his situation, but he was interrupted by Melissa.

“Silence, pawn! My strictest commandment is that you remain silent when you’re astride my palm! You can only speak to each other when you are in your containment chamber! Is that understood?”

“Yes, thunder goddess!” said Gary, as he noticed a sinister smile form on Melissa’s face. She appeared to be drunk with power, as if the control she had over her “pawns” gave her some sort of a natural high. She hadn’t had this maniacal look in her eyes when she was at the fair several weeks earlier; apparently, she was better able to control herself in public than when she was in the privacy of her bedroom.

Melissa commanded them to march to her forearm. Once there, Gary felt it was ridiculous to obey her orders. At first, they marched around in circles, but then Melissa’s orders became more elaborate. They were ordered to march in complicated maneuvers, forming star patterns that broke and reformed. Gary had a hard time keeping in position, because it was his first time.

“As punishment for failing me, you’re going to spend some time in my mouth, to learn some discipline!”

An instant later, Melissa’s massive tongue slammed down onto her forearm, and every single one of them got lapped up. Gary found himself sliding around on Melissa’s tongue, within her massive mouth. After closing her lips, the captives were swished around in the darkness. Gary was covered with saliva, and found the heat overbearing. There were twenty-one of them, and it would be child’s play for Melissa to swallow all of them in one gulp.

When Melissa spit them onto her palm, there were only nineteen of them left. After counting them, Melissa laughed when she realized she had accidentally swallowed two of them. Gary shuddered to think that it could’ve easily been him. How many more times would he find himself in the mouth of this sadistic college girl? Gary promised himself that he would memorize the maneuvers, so this form of discipline would be administered as infrequently as possible.

When it was time to enter the containment chamber attached to Melissa’s wristband, Gary was relieved. All nineteen of them piled in, and Gary found it habitable. He had seen containment units like this advertised when he was normal sized, but he had never paid much attention. There were bunk beds with straps to hold them in place while their mistress moved around, and there were toilets and sinks to get water to drink.

Gary got to know the other captives, and they taught him the moves he needed to learn to please Melissa. Over the months leading up to the fair, Gary tried to enjoy his new life, because he knew the day of the fair was Doomsday. If he had stayed longer on the day he had met Melissa, he would have seen that at the end of the demonstrations, all of the members of the Thunder Goddesses captor club lined up in their uniforms and swallowed their captives; it was an annual tradition. When Gary had agreed to sign himself over to Melissa, she was amazed, because he was agreeing to allow her to swallow him. It would’ve been just as easy for Gary to have signed himself over to a girl belonging to a club that practiced non-violence, and Gary would’ve been guaranteed a long life. His haste had been his undoing.

Gary quickly learned that Melissa’s discipline technique was the rule rather than the exception. They practiced seven days a week, but five or six days a week they were thrust into Melissa’s mouth for punishment. As the months dragged on, Gary estimated that one out of every ten times they were stuck in Melissa’s mouth, somebody accidentally got swallowed. New acquisitions always showed up to replace the vanquished captives. Shrunken captives were an expensive luxury, but they were an indulgence Melissa’s family could easily afford. That just made it harder for Gary and the other captives; if a new captive arrived and he wasn’t trained quickly, they would be punished by Melissa again, which could result in more experienced captives getting swallowed, which started the vicious cycle all over again.

The day of the fair finally arrived, and Melissa waited her turn to step onto the stage. When it was her turn, she gave a speech about neutrino dissimilation just as she had done the year before, then it was time to show off how well she had trained her captives. It was really more like a contest for Melissa and her club members; they wanted to see who had the most well-trained captives. Gary and the other captives did their routine, marching across her massive forearm in elaborate patterns.

After Melissa's demonstration, before Melissa and the other members of her captor club swallowed their captives, a man approached Melissa, and Gary could overhear the conversation.

"I'm going to be sentenced for involuntary manslaughter, and my lawyer says I'm going to end up getting shrunk, and he recommended that I talk to some members of a captor club here at the fair. Can you recommend a good captor club, so I can agree to be owned by a girl I can trust?"

"Sure! The Thunder Goddesses captor club sounds like a good fit for you!" said Melissa as she licked her lips.

As the spectators clapped, Gary tried to yell out to warn the man not to share the same fate that he had endured, but his tiny voice couldn't be heard. Gary knew he would be swallowed before the end of the day, and before long, Melissa would have a new captive to take his place.

The End