The sound of the music quickly drowned out Jenifer’s question and soon the memory of it dissipated as well when she saw the interior of the club. Dim light illuminated a large open dance area flanked by three upper-level balconies. The dark alcoves above contained several dozen people, sitting behind the railings on leather lounge furniture. Around the dance floor at ground level, there were a handful of people sitting in booths along the three walls. The fourth wall was dominated by the bar. Everything was copper pipes, concrete, red or black leather, and smartly dressed people enjoying conversation with each other. Strangely, the dance floor was empty, along with the empty DJ platform next to it. Music still pulsed through the overhead speakers but it was more like a constant slow crashing wave of bass than music.

Mel led Jennifer gently to an empty booth, motioning her to sit. She leaned in close so as not to raise her voice:

“I’m going to grab some drinks, make yourself comfortable”

Jennifer nodded, still looking around at the inside of the club. A pair were making out on the balcony. Another was texting alone with their back against the wall near the entrance. In the dim light, people seemed more like shapes than people. A well-dressed server emerged to deliver a platter of drinks to a group of women chatting loudly amongst themselves. Jenifer couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed, it seemed like a low-key version of any other club in the area. Her eyes drifted to the table, a small object was situated between two velvet-lined menus.

Jennifer leaned over to find a small metal cube, no more than three inches on a side. It was too dark to tell but there was some kind of movement on the upper face of the cube. Jennifer took hold of the glinting metal and lifted it to get a better look. Almost immediately the box shifted on its own, and a small shape spilled out of it. Jennifer immediately recognized the human form and realized it was a descaled human all too late. The figure tumbled out, landing several body lengths below onto the copper table.

“Oh, Shit! I’m sorry! Shit shit shit!”

Jennifer delicately took hold of the tiny figure, a woman, and found only warm skin against her fingers. The woman was naked, and still moving a bit but barely. Jennifer decided to leave her, not wanting to touch her inappropriately.

“Are you ok?!” She shouted over the music.

The woman was moving but seemed dazed. She writhed on the copper surface, unanswering. In the darkness, she seemed alright but Jennifer worriedly looked around. She found Mel holding two martini glasses, just arriving from the bar.

“Oop! Lost a dancer! What’s wrong?” Mel saw the woman on the table before she saw Jennifer’s worried look.

“She fell, I didn’t see-”

“Relax. Happens all the time.” Mel reassured, setting the drinks down before pinching the tiny figure between her fingers. She turned the woman over in her hands, getting a close look at her face. She then plopped the woman back onto the table near the corner.

“Should we do something? Call some-” Jennifer began

“Relax. Relaaaaax. All the tinies here are organic. Lab-grown.” Look.

Mel once again grabbed the tiny woman, limbs flailing about as Mel gripped her midsection. The woman was brought before Jennifer’s face, head lolling from her shoulders. The small woman was expressionless, still moving around slightly.

“Lab-grown? I think I heard about that but… jeez she looks so real… Did she hit her head?”

“Nope, they’re all like this. They come out of the vats not really able to think.”

“Weren’t they supposed to be used for… clearing unsafe buildings or… something?” Jennifer stared into the woman’s emotionless eyes.

“No these ones. They’re dancers. Cheap to make. Harder to train to dance, I bet” Mel shrugged.

Mel placed the small woman back on the table and moved her index finger in a circular motion, roughly fondling the woman’s breasts and torso as she looked around the room. Mel flagged down a server walking by the table, who approached wordlessly.

“We need another dancer, we broke ours” She smiled and winked at Jennifer.

The server reached into their apron pocket and with a practiced motion withdrew a metal pill-shaped canister the size of a fist. They briefly held the canister over the metal box on the table, and a puff of steam emitted from the bottom just as another small naked woman fell out of it into the box. As soon as she touched the table she began to dance in line with the ambient rhythm of the club. The server initiated a quick bow and departed.

Now that her eyes had adjusted, Jennifer could see the woman dancing her heart out inside the box, which she could now see had open sides like the slats of a cage. The miniature go-go girl wore the same blank expression, dancing naked as if she wasn’t being watched by two regular-sized women above her.

“How do they… I thought they had to clone people?”

“I dunno, pop a seed in the ground and cut them off the vine?” Mel shoved one of the martini glasses in front of Jennifer and took a sip from her own.

Jennifer had been rather sobered by the experience, and constantly looked between the two women on the table. One was dancing provocatively and the other was barely even there. She eagerly took a large gulp of her martini. Mel was still fondling the dazed one.

“What do we… do with her? Does someone..?” Jennifer asked mostly to herself.

“That’s why we’re here, actually.” Mel beamed, lifting the girl up once more before continuing, “They’re organic, high in protein, and they even-” Mel stopped talking, her tongue leaving her mouth to lick the tiny woman’s midsection from navel to collarbone, “- have a vanilla taste. Well, this one does.”

“Eat… them? Like, raw?”

“If you want, yeah. They digest just as easily.”

“You just… aren’t they… I don’t… Vanilla?” Jennifer stammered.

“They were made for this, cutie. Better for the environment or whatever too. Some add flavoring, yeah.” Mel punctuated her statement with another lick.

“This just.. Oh my god can you imagine Mr. Fritz from Descaled Studies hearing about this?”

“Ugh, or any of those tiny activists?” Mel rolled her eyes, and with both of her hands, she puppeteered the little woman across the table, mimicking a stilted walk. She spoke with a shrill voice, “We want silverware in the cafeteria! We want wider safety zones!” Jennifer and Mel both began to laugh.

“We want tiny clubs! We want Investigations into disappearances!” Mel sighed after a long laugh and stood up the woman with one finger on her shoulder to steady her. With her other hand, she lined up her fingers for a flick.

Mel’s finger released with a snap, colliding with the food-grade female and launching her several body lengths. Her body spun before landing, sliding face down, and leaving a bloody smear behind.

“Mel!”

“What? Haven't you wanted to blow off steam?” Mel flipped the injured figure over, revealing a destroyed clavicle and face. Her face was a jumbled mess of gore, wide white eyes contrasting the red pile of flesh. Mel pressed on the woman’s chest with her fingertip, and a dark red mist emitted from some hole in her destroyed face. The woman made no effort to move but was clearly still alive.

“Well, yeah, it’s just… why?”

“It feels good. Aren’t you sick of that hate mail you keep getting?”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.”

“It pisses me off. What upper-side business would even let them print that stuff?”

“I don’t know. I can only apologize so much, you know?”

“Apologize? It was an accident. He was outside the safe zone and after curfew. They should be apologizing for sending those hateful things. Or for staining your shoes. Ha!” Mel pressed down, hard, on the tiny woman’s ribcage. Her nail dug in deep, and as she lay there twitching Mel pushed all the way through to the cold metal on the other side. More gouts of red lifeblood spilled onto the table, but barely enough to form more than a drop or two.

“I guess so.” Jennifer shrugged, “Doesn’t it… feel weird?” Jennifer watched as Mel lifted the tiny form, barely alive, by the feet. She cupped her free hand underneath to catch droplets of blood draining freely from her wounds. She was brought up toward Mel’s face.

“Maybe at first. I think you’ll like it. Why don’t you order some?” Mel said and tilted her head back, her tongue once again leaving her mouth, this time to slide out along her chin. Flecks of crimson landed on the pink muscle, staining it like wine. Whatever was left of the dancer was lowered in, much to the curiosity of Jennifer.

“Vanilla, huh?” She said as she opened a menu.

“Mmmhmmmmmm~”

Jennifer’s hunger made itself known all at once, and as she scanned the menu she felt it seemed odd that only four food items were mentioned alongside the many drinks on the first page. She read aloud the first menu item as Mel closed her eyes and slowly rotated her head, sucking on the near-dead morsel in her mouth. Her jaw undulated, swallowing down whatever leaked out.

“Number one… Organic vanilla… Exquisitely calm… There’s no price?”

Mel swallowed, “No, it’s all-inclusive. Already paid.” She ran her tongue around her mouth, “With the membership.”

Jennifer continued, “Number two… Bold spice? Vigorous and full-bodied... Is this wine or?”

“No,” Mel giggled, “That’s what I usually get through. Unless they have a good special.”

“Number three, yeah. Weekly special?”

“I’ll ask”

Mel began flagging down another server while Jennifer finished reading the menu. The fourth and last entry simply included the phrase “Free Range” next to the number. Jennifer glanced back and forth between the two pages, letting the full options sink in. She took another sip of her drink as she contemplated the options. Her eyes drifted to the small wet spot on the table where Mel’s first bite had landed. She felt like it might be sort of fun, and she was starving either way. The little things were the product of some new tech, which piqued her curiosity. Perhaps the low cost of lab-grown food could finally give humanity the extra push needed for extended space travel. Those mars colonies were always in some state of food crisis…

“We’re ready, yes. What’s the special this week?” Mel asked the server.

“We have two specials this evening, as we’re testing a new formula. First, we’re offering Rapture throughout the week. Some light worship, sexual ecstasy, and rabid willingness.”

“Oooo! Love it. I had that one last month, they were maybe my new favorite.” Mel said as an aside to Jennifer as the server continued,

“In addition, we are offering the Dragon Slayer tower. Candied armor, medieval-inspired. Strength and dexterity for an interesting fight.”

“Oh, that’s new. I’ll take one of each special.”
“And for you, miss?” The server turned to Jennifer.

“Um… What’s the free range?” Jennifer asked while looking at the words on her menu.

“Yes, we offer several-” The server began, before Mel cut them off.

“Why don’t you just share with me, and maybe get a number one?”

“Oh, yeah, ok! That sounds good. Thank you.” Jennifer agreed, happy to not decide.

“Very well, one number one, one Dragon Slayer. And one Rapture. Additionally, we are nearly finished preparing your red room. We apologize for the delay, preparations are almost completed.”

“That’s fine, whatever.” Mel waved them away.

The server bowed and departed without another word. Jennifer followed them with her eyes as they disappeared behind the bar into a back room. She looked around at the other patrons and found many of them had glasses filled with squirming figures. These must be popular…

“I know it’s all a little weird, but it really helps to blow off some steam,” Mel said and leaned back into the soft leather, sipping her drink with a slight smile. “ … lord knows we both could use it.”

“It’s… exciting. At least a little bit. I mean it’s just sorta… wrong? But like, in the cheating at math sort of way.”

“Mmmmh.” Mel smiled, “Why should it be wrong?”

“The… appearances. What would people think if they knew…” Jennifer trailed off.

“Oh, people know. More and more are finding out. I couldn’t care less if people knew. When they find out, they usually love it too.”

“No, I mean the outrage, the activists… everyone”

“You’re such a cutie, you know that?” Mel continued without waiting for an answer, “It doesn’t matter how tinies feel about it. They’re lucky to have a place in society with us.”

“They do deserve some kind of place, you know.” Jennifer had grown tired of correcting her friends' language.

“Didn’t you sign the petition to move them to their own campus?”

“Well, I mean I just think it would be safer for them.”

“And you would be absolutely right. You know they have some of their own spaces? They’re holed up in the tech dumps outside the city.”

“Really? I thought they all had a place on the lower side?”

“I’ve read some of the reports from my dad’s desk. They decide to live on their own out there. I hear it gets violent between them.”

“I wonder why they leave…”

“Their best bet is what we give them. Then they just throw it all away. What a waste. They’d be better off in my stomach than tearing each other to pieces.”

“Mel!” Jennifer interjected but also laughed.

“You know I'm right! When has a tiny done something worthwhile? That one you crushed wasn’t going to do anything for society.”

“Can I tell you a secret?” Jennifer bit her lip.

“Of course.” Mel leaned in and reached for Jennifer’s hand.

“When I stepped on him, I was on my way to this little birthday thing. Nothing special, but I was late and walking fast and I didn’t see-”

“It was an accident, cutie”

“Well, yeah. At first. I mean, I crushed his little leg. He… Was just so upset. Swearing at me, screaming, I was late. I knew he was going to sue. I didn’t think, I just…”

“Oh you poor thing, that’s all?”

“What’s weird is I don’t really feel bad about it. Like, especially after everyone’s come after me.”

“Listen,” Mel squeezed Jennifer’s hand, “you were looking out for yourself. It’s OK?”

“You don’t think it’s so… fucked?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve accidentally… I dunno, squished like six?”

“What… seriously?”

“I’m clumsy. Can’t help it.”
“Don’t you feel… like bad or anything?”

“Cutie, the most important thing that could ever happen to them was dying underneath us.”

“I mean what about their little lives? Art, music, some of them can dance…”

“What, your tiny painter?”

“Well, sure. I think Xavi has some art to contribute to the world.”

“Until he can paint something actual-sized the best art he can offer to you is a red smear.”

“Mel!” Jennifer gasped but felt that it was hard to argue against that. She thought of all the little ones living outside the city and the awful environment they must endure. How things were safer for them here, even if they occasionally fell underfoot. Better to live in relative peace than not at all. Or, better yet, serve a higher purpose.

A different server arrived at the table with a tray balanced on one hand. Two tall glasses that resembled tumblers were placed on the table, each of them brimming with tiny forms. One glass was quite calm, with five little people standing upright facing the outside of the glass in an unmoving ring. The other glass was in constant movement, little bodies writhing and rolling over each other. Tiny screams and moans of pleasure emanated from the turbulent glass. Lastly, a small-scale model was gingerly placed on the table. It resembled a medieval tower, with stonework and arrow slats near the top. The top was open, and the inside was too dark to see.

“Ooooo, fun!” Mel said with a greedy glint in her eyes, “dig in!”