Mandy rang the bell at Kristine’s door in the early morning. It was still chilly at this hour and she wished she had put on something warmer than a black t-shirt and jean shorts. There was a heavy canvas bag hanging on her shoulder, in which she packed her notes and some tools she had gathered around the lab on her visit before getting here. She waited a few seconds before the door opened and a woman wearing a teal tunic and skin-tight blue pants appeared in it.

‘Mandy’ Kristine said with a surprised smile ‘What can I help you with?’

‘I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, I know it’s early…’

‘Oh, no, not at all. Come in’ she said and let her inside.

‘I think I’ve found a way to help the professor’ Mandy said when the door closed behind her. ‘Can we sit down? Preferably somewhere with a table. I’ve brought some stuff that will be useful to us’

Kristine nodded and led her inside the kitchen. As they both took a seat Mandy began to unload her bag, placing various objects on the table, soon covering it entirely in her stuff. A notebook, a pencil, a calculator, a rectangular, black and yellow coloured electronic device with a display and a tube on a cord sticking out of it, which in itself looked like a receiver that has been taken off a vintage phone. Finally, she pulled out the final object from her bag – a stainless steel box, about a foot in length and four inches in high, with a transparent glass panel on its front and a small display with several round, white buttons on its side. While the inside consisted of smooth walls adorned with thin light tubes and a flat, ceramic circle with a black dot (about half an inch in diameter) in the middle of it, looking almost like a plate. This thing was bigger and heavier than every other object currently lying on the table around it and looked almost out of place compared to the kitchen’s interior.

‘What’s this?’ Kristine asked, pointing towards the strange container ‘It looks almost like a microwave’

‘It… kind of is one’ Mandy said, hesitantly ‘It’s a particle dispenser. We stocked a few in our lab in case something goes wrong with the fuel rods when we are testing the device and we would have to clean ourselves from the… Oh, sorry. I’ve lost you, haven’t I?’

Mandy saw her host looking at her with a courteous smile of someone who didn’t understand a word she just said but was too polite, and embarrassed, to outright admit it. ‘A bit’.

‘Think of it as a… Uh… Air freshener. Yes, an air freshener for radiation’

Kristine’s eyes opened wide. ‘Radiation?’ she asked, giving Mandy a perplexed look.

‘You know what, it’s kind of a long story. I’ll better start at the beginning’

She told Kristine about her discoveries regarding the Huovi radiation particles and their effect on Sean’s current state or, more exactly, his state being the effect of said particles. She recounted her thoughts and analyses, trying not to confuse Kristine with the technobabble… too much. Several minutes have passed before she reached her conclusion.

‘So what you’re saying is that there’s a chance to fix him’ Kristine said and sighed immediately after ‘I’m sorry, that wasn’t the right thing for me to say. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with him that requires fixing’

‘Well, physically, maybe not’ Mandy said carefully ‘Dimensionally, though…’

‘I get your point. So, what’s the plan?’  

‘First of all, we need the professor. Let’s say right here’ Mandy pointed to a spot on the table ‘Where is he, by the way?’

‘Right here’ Kristine smiled and reached for her neck. It was only then that Mandy noticed a small, golden cage hanging on a necklace around it. She watched Kristine open it, hold a finger directly below it and finally Sean’s tiny frame emerging and taking his place on her nail, as she carefully placed the finger on the table allowing him to get down. Mandy couldn’t help but wonder whether Kristine saw him as a pet at his condition.

‘Okay’ she said, bringing a notepad closer and picking the pencil up, as she reached for the black and yellow device and turned it on with her other hand. ‘Don’t worry, this is a counter. I need to measure your radiation level, so please stand still for a moment’ she told Sean and brought the tube closer to where he was standing. The counter began to make cracking, barely audible noises and Mandy took several glances at its display, writing down the readings. ‘Done. Now I’ve got to run some numbers’ she said after a while, now reaching for a calculator. Another while passed as she did, the only sound breaking through the silence in the kitchen being her tapping the keys and the pencil scratching against the paper as she was jotting another string of digits down. She underscored a few, circled a formula, and put the pencil down. Her face was tense and serious as she turned her attention to Kristine. ‘Now it’s time for the most important step. And the most dangerous’.

‘How dangerous?’ Kristine asked, concerned. ‘What exactly are you planning to do?’

‘Remember when I said this thing is kind of like a microwave?’ Mandy asked, nodding in the steel box direction ‘That’s because it is. I’m convinced I can get rid of the Huovi particles by breaking them down with another type of radiation. One that has a half-life so short the human body barely even registers its effects before it’s gone altogether. Like getting rid of a bad smell by spraying it with a nice one that will, eventually, disperse too. But the problem is, we’ve never had a chance to test it, not on us, not on any other person. And I can’t be sure what effect it will have on his body, especially seeing how small it is now. I know the exact number of particles he’s contaminated with and exactly how many I need to use to break them down with, but still -  it’s a risk’.

‘If you want to hear my opinion’ Kristine said, her face seldom being this serious ‘I think that’s insane. And lethal’

Mandy remained silent for a moment, looking her in the eyes. Despite the severity of the rest of her face, she could see fear in them; she was worried about Sean’s well-being and rightly so. For all they knew, this could end very badly. But neither had even a shade of a better idea. Finally, Mandy spoke: ‘I appreciate your concern. But. The radiation in his body won’t disperse, at least not for the next three hundred years and I doubt he could wait that long. It’s either my shot in the dark or condemning him to spend the rest of his life the size of a bug’.

‘We should ask the one it concerns the most’ Kristine said softly, turning her head towards the little speck below them ‘What do you think, little one? Do you want to try?’

They saw him lift his right arm, slowly, as if he was in doubt and they couldn’t blame him. Mandy began to press various buttons on the device’s display, the necessary data for the process. When she was done she pressed one more button and the glass panel slid down, the box being open. She reached out towards Sean, offering her index finger and lifted him on it in the device’s direction, placing him on the black dot. ‘This might take some time, so try to relax. But whatever you do, do not leave the black area’ she instructed him and pulled her hand back, sliding the panel back up with the right button and finally pressing start. The machine began to hum almost immediately, a low, persisting noise and the inside of the box glowed neon blue. ‘I’ll be honest, I’m as worried about him as you are’ Mandy spoke after a while of watching Sean taking a seat inside, within the dot, which was on a circle that was now slowly, but surely, spinning. ‘But I’m sure this will work. It has to’.

She felt a hand on her shoulder – Kristine’s. She smiled at Mandy, a reassuring smile that said whatever happens it’ll be alright and Mandy smiled back, hers more reserved, as she lowered her head.

‘How about some tea while we wait?’ Kristine asked.

She boiled some chamomile tea and they drank it in silence, both women’s gaze focused on the eerie glow emanating from the machine and the tiny person within it. Mandy looked to the side, where the display is, and gestured Kristine to get closer. There were two numbers flashing on the screen, both consisting of several digits. One was getting lower every few seconds. The other, above it, was behaving erratically, spiking up every once a while only to fall below its previous value the next. ‘It appears to be working, and even better than I expected. At this rate he should be free from the Huovi particles in the next half an hour or so’.

‘Well, let’s make sure we take him out before he starts to grow in there’.

Mandy gave her a surprised look. ‘What? Oh, right, I forgot to mention. He won’t grow back the moment the radiation is gone. It might take a while, even if the only thing keeping him at this size will be gone’

‘How long then?’ Kristine asked, a concern appearing on her face once more.

‘Hours? Days? Weeks? It’s one thing I couldn’t estimate and believe me, I tried’ Mandy replied, turning her face back to the neon glow ‘There’s also the risk he won’t be able to-

‘Don’t finish that sentence’ Kristine said in a stern tone. There it is again, Mandy thought, the fear. Nevertheless, she kept quiet.

At one point as they sat and watched they heard a ringtone in the background. Kristine excused herself and left to pick her phone up, leaving Mandy alone in the kitchen, facing the machine. She slowly raised her hand and pressed one finger against the glass, keeping it there for a moment and smiling at Sean to comfort him, knowing the process must’ve been at least a bit stressful to the little man. Kristine returned soon after, letting her know that Nicole sends her regards. When Mandy asked if she knew what they were currently doing, Kristine did not answer, and she didn’t feel like pressing the matter. Eventually, the numbers on the display went down to zero, the glow vanished and the machine stopped. Surprisingly enough, there was no beeping sound to announce the end of the procedure. Mandy opened the box and Kristine wasted no time in picking Sean up and hiding him inside the cage.

‘Whether it works or not, we greatly appreciate what you’ve done for him today’ she said, looking at Mandy with gratitude.

‘Don’t mention it. I should be the one thanking you for keeping him safe’

‘It was my pleasure. Still is’ Kristine said with a kind smile.

Mandy nodded and picked up her canvas bag from the floor, placing it on the chair and packing her things. ‘I better go now, you guys probably want some time alone. Thanks for the tea’ she said and let Kristine walk her to the door. When she was already outside she turned to face her one more time ‘Can I ask you a favour? Could you call me if he gets even a bit bigger?’

‘Not if. When’ Kristine told her, smiling at her once again with kindness and reassurance. ‘And when it happens you’ll be the first person I’ll call, I promise’

Mandy nodded again, mumbled a goodbye and walked off, hoping Kristine would not notice her awkwardness as she did, situations like this always making her uneasy, unsure how to react. She heard the door close and exhaled in relief as she made her way to the nearest bus stop, wanting nothing more than to lie down and leave this whole mess behind.