Marlo struggled not to gag as she watched her sister. No matter how many times she watched the scene, she couldn’t get over it. Actual humans were dropped into Lily’s mouth. Sometimes chewed, sometimes swallowed whole.
Lily savoured the tiny beings fighting for their lives. The attempted to pound her teeth and tongue. Their kicks and punches went unheeded as Lily simply took a sip of wine and washed the mouthful down. Her eyes settled on Marlo who was looking on with a noticeable disgust.
“Oh. Sorry, Mar. Did you want some?” Lily extended a bowl filled with hundreds of nano-sized people. Their bodies massed together in a writhing throng.
Marlo remained silent and tried not to puke while standing at attention with her hands behind her back.
Lily shrugged, “Suit yourself.”
Marlo watched as her sister grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and pumped a few squeezes into the bowl. She could swear she heard the screams of the hundreds of individuals as the sauce soaked into their bodies. After a few more minutes the bowl lay empty, and Lily licked her fingers and hands with satisfaction. Lily leaned back into her sofa. A large TV displayed images on the news, Lily’s own smiling face hung behind the anchorwoman on screen.
One benefit of being the absolute ruler of the world is that nobody questioned what she did with her time. If she wanted to stay inside and watch TV in her sweatpants while gorging herself on reduced, she could.
Relaxing in her compound back in Fountainbleu, Lily purred with satisfaction. She felt a small rumble in her stomach and opened her mouth. A gross belch spewed forth.
“They taste even better the second time.” Lily winked to her sister who was forced to endure the sight. “So. Anything you want to watch?” Lily looked at Marlo who knew by now to reply with a simple, “No Miss.”
Lily smiled and nestled into the sofa. She lied with her feet stretched out front of her. A pair of “slippers” secure in case she had to get up. The slippers, of course were the former leaders of China and India. After they nearly went to war in the wake of her initial takeover of the planet. Both blamed one another for the destruction of their governments. After disabling their nuclear arsenals, she found this the best way for them to make peace. To show the billions in both countries that there was no more warring with each other as they were all beneath her. She had each leader fit during broadcast across the two countries; the populations were forced to watch as their former leaders were reduced live and then stretched to cover soles of Lily’s feet. By the end of it, leaders of two of the world’s most powerful countries were Lily’s newest pair of flip-flops.
As Lily flipped through the channels, she finally came upon something that caught her interest. “OH I love this show! Marlo. Come sit with sis.” Lily patted the spot by her feet for Marlo to come sit.
Marlo sighed and walked over to the sofa. She worked hard to get her 2ft tall body onto the cushions and was soon next to Lily’s living footwear. She did her best to relax and watch.
The two women focused on the TV.
“They’re keepers of the peace. Lily’s best. Our Guardians. These are their stories.”
The Title Card of the show then popped-up “Enforcers”
“Ugh. How boring. I wish these execs were more creative. Maybe I’ll have them replaced.” Lily chimed in. Her and Marlo both went silent as the show began.
The screen then showed two purple-clad enforcers as they rode in a car, sirens blaring.
“So we’re on a way to a tip about a congregation of social disruptors. Protesting about freedom or something.” The enforcer in the passenger seat, a petite blonde woman with green eyes talked into the camera. “Enforcer Rodriguez and I are closest to the scene, so we’ll check it out.”
Rodriguez turned to her partner, “May want to get the big gun ready, Smith.” The blonde nodded in agreement.
The car soon arrived at its destination as a group of around 50 people stood protesting in park. Smith and Rodriguez quickly put the car in park and jumped from their respective sides. The camera shakily followed. The two walked carefully up group, guns unholstered.
“Hey! No unapproved congregations!” Smith yelled as they approached the crowd.
“FUCK YOU PIG!” A brunette yelled form the ground and hurled a brick toward Smith.
The camera focused on the brick as it flew toward Smith, but watched as it quickly shrunk into nothingness.
“Throw another and that’ll be you!” Rodriguez pointed at the brunette who shuffled back into the crowd.
“OH! That’s too lenient!” Lily yelled at the TV.
Back on the screen Smith radio’d for a helicopter while Rodriguez approached the apparent lead of the group. A tall, solidly built man with sunglasses and short hair. Smith soon joined behind Rodriguez’s back.
“What’s going on here?” Rodriguez stared up from the man who towered over her by a good 6 inches.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on. We’re tired of living like caged animals. You can only reduce so many of us! You pigs and your dictatress don’t outnumber the people, no matter how small we are….”
Rodriguez turned her head to the camera and rolled her eyes. The camera then zoomed in as she pulled a baton-like object form her side. Without a word, Rodriguez plunged the baton into the man’s stomach. He cried out in pain and attempted to shout, “That’s police bru-“ but grew silent (as did the crowd) as he began to shrink. He stopped shrinking at Rodriguez’s cleavage height.
“That’s a warning to the rest of you.” Rodriguez spoke to the rest of the crowd as Smith raised her rifle.
Lily clapped her hands and cheered, “Oh you go, Rodriguez!” She turned her face to Marlo, “Let’s get that girl a promotion.” Marlo simply nodded.
“Now. Just by being here, you are all in violation of code 4151. As such, by the power invested in me by Lily, I am to place you all under arrest and submit you for assigned reduction based upon your past records…”
The brunette from before stepped forward. Her long hair draped over her shoulders, “You and what army, pi-“ The crow scream as the brunette appeared to pop out of existed.
Smith smiled from behind her gun as the woman’s clothes lay steaming in the grass. Rodriguez pushed past the man in front of her and stooped down. The crowd watched silently as Rodriguez combed through the clothes and then stood back up. Holding out her hand, the brunette dangled from between her fingers by her hair. She sobbed and screamed.
“2 inches. This is what my partner and I are authorized to reduce to…” As Rodriguez spoke, a helicopter and other cruisers arrived “…if you do not comply, us and this army will be forced to do the same to all of you. I can guarantee Smith here is looking for new insoles.”
Almost anticlimactically, Smith and Rodriguez were back in their cruiser with the cameraman. “Yeah. Poor misguided college-kids. Ashamed they through their lives away for some useless protest. I’m sure one or two will be taken in as ‘sugar’ babies.”
The camera panned to Rodriguez’ crotch. A small outline pressed against the fabric of the jumpsuit as the show cut to commercial.
Lily smiled at how easily 2 of her enforcers quickly controlled 50 people. How ruthless they were. Exactly what she hoped Amanda would train them to be.
“Let’s see what else is on.” Lily flipped some more and stopped.
“Welcome back to ‘Reduced, Reused, Recycled’!” A male announcer spoke as a camera panned over a live audience and then settled on a group of 4 women gathered around a small table.
“Welcome back!” One of the women, a mid-20s black woman, welcomed viewers. “On today’s episode of R-Cubed – “ (cue audience laughter) “-we’ve been you entrepreneurs who have built wonderful businesses thanks to Lily’s economic incentives. Let’s welcome our next guest who developed a line of Athletic accessories to benefit herself and found out how popular it. She was recently featured in New York’s latest 30 under 30; Uma Sekh!”
The crowd cheered and clapped as a tall Indian girl came on stage and took a seat in the middle of the 4 hosts.
“Uma. Welcome!” An older Red-head welcomed the guest.
“Thank you very much.” Uma replied with a slight accent.
“So tell us about your story.” Another woman, a young brunette moved the conversation along.
Uma began, “Back in college, 3 years ago, I was on the female track team. As you all know athletes sweat tremendously and, often, no matter what deodorant or product you use, you cannot stop it or defeat the smell.”
All women and the audience looked at one another and nodded knowingly.
“That is when I decided to experiment. Before one particular hot day, I took two reduced classmates and placed them under my arms.” The screen behind the hosts showed an image of Uma standing on the cover of her university magazine with arms raised and two small people under each arm. “I discovered that at this size, a reduced individual is able to absorb, lick, and drink as surprising amount of sweat. And, if treated appropriately, can offset my body odor.”
The woman clapped as two of Uma’s products were passed around. Two small men, their bodies covered in an oily, but also sticky substance.
“What you are feeling,” continued Uma “is a dual purpose enhancement. This acts as an adhesive to sensitive areas while helping to offset odours.”
As they arrived at the black host, she held the men up to the light and examined them. “Theyre so soft. May I? These studio lights are kind of hot.” She asked.
This earned laughter and woos form the crowd.
“Please do. In fact, I brought you each a pair.” Uma snapped her fingers and a 2ft tall set assistant brought out the rest remaining figures.
“What do you call them?” The brunette asked as she stuck a similar woman under her left armpit.
“Sweat Suckers.” Uma stated matter of factly as she reached under the table.
“What’s their lifetime” The older red-head asked
“Anywhere from 1year to 4years depending on use. So they were perfect for my classmates and teammates.” Uma pulled some running shoes from under the table. “I have been wearing these for 4 years with the same reduced. Notice how they do not smell.”
“Wow. You’re right.” The black woman raised her eyebrows in surprise.
“And you have products for the bedroom as well, right?”
Uma nodded again, “Yes. Our Vaginal Products have been very popular lately.” More woos from the audience.
As she was handed her shoes back, the camera panned to Uma’s feet which had 4 Sweat Suckers between her toes. All mouths sucking on the webbing.
“And what allowed you to have the time and resources to make develop Sweat Suckers?” The brunet asked again as her arms closed on the two small woman under them.
“Former classmates.” Uma smiled, “All former classmates who were reduced for participating in protests. Thanks to a grant, they were given to me to do as I wished. My very first prototypes used to sit in-front of me in my Marketing class.”
“I assume you made them Co Chief Marketing Officers?” The black host quipped, earning laughter from the audience and Uma.
“Not quite, but they are still very involved in R&D.”Uma replied
As laughter erupted from the TV, Lily turned to Marlo, “She reminds me of a young me!”
Marlo rolled her eyes at her sister…