Deanna sat in the chair, watching his face for some hint of what he was thinking about. She was hopeful for a moment, but as he came back from wherever his mind had been, she could see that twisted smile returning. "No." she moaned. "You're not going to shrink me AGAIN, are you? PLEASE? I can't be any more serious about something...PLEASE change me back." The smile only spread wider.
"But Deanna, I'm not through testing. How am I supposed to finish the product's beta-test if I just wrap things up now?"
"I don't give a damn about your testing, just make me five-seven again!" She was bordering on hysteria...and worst of all, somewhere in her head, some part of her was actually enjoying this! Especially the increasingly powerful tingling sensations from the laser. But, she couldn't let him know that, or he might never return her to normal. And, whether any part of her was having fun or not, she didn't want to be stuck like this.
"Well! If it means THAT much to you." He typed on the keyboard, frowned, re-typed, and frowned again. "Hmm. I can't seem to remember my return command...so, in the meantime..." He keyed in something and reached for the red button again. He spoke to the note recorder. "Subject will now experience most significant reduction yet. Now testing two-foot shrinkage." He pressed the button.
She opened her mouth to scream at him again...and then the jolt hit her. This one was the strongest yet, and it coursed through her entire system like a sudden rise in temperature. In fact, this one DID cause her temperature to go up a few degrees for a moment before the effect subsided. Then a pins-and-needles feeling for a second as the shrinking started. The T-shirt finally gave up and slipped from her shoulders, with the bra falling simultaneously. She now stood naked on her own chair, slowly shrinking to the size of 20 inches tall.
When the process stopped, she looked up (she couldn't believe it--UP!) to her computer monitor. She was slightly mortified to see he was staring at her. She turned beet-red all over and grabbed her puddled shirt from the chair seat. The pool of pink fabric had barely fit her not half an hour ago, and now she could use it as a blanket. Fortunately, his vacant stare broke off when she covered herself. She glared up at him.
"Oh, sorry, I..." She couldn't believe it--it almost looked like HE was turning red. "I'm sorry for that. I tend to sometimes have a staring problem, and..." Yes, he was definitely red-faced. She almost laughed in spite of herself. He cleared his throat and spoke to the note-recorder again. "Subject is now 20 inches tall. I am unsure whether to proceed to final test or halt procedure. Subject--"
She had to interrupt him. "If you've GOT to make those notes...will you at LEAST stop referring to me as `Subject'? It's getting somewhat irritating."
He gave her an odd look before proceeding. "Subj--err, Deanna, does not seem to be reacting well to the testing, but I will have to find another subject if I abort the testing with Deanna." He clicked off the recorder.
"Damn right, I'm not reacting well. Don't you think that's a minor understatement? And when are you making me big again?" She started to cross her arms, but realized the T-shirt would drop again.
He looked slightly troubled. "You'll have to forgive me, but I need to finish the test. I SWEAR to you this will be the last shrinking I do to you, and then I'll explain about re-enlarging. Ok? But I HAVE to finish the test. I can't go this far and not wind it up."
She started to scream a few choice words at him, but instead leaned back against the chair back. "So you can, and WILL, make me big again?" He nodded quickly. She drew a deep breath and sighed. "Ok, you can finish. To tell the truth it doesn't feel all bad...but don't even THINK about it! This is NOT something I want done to me over and over!" He stifled a laugh as he typed in a few more commands and hit the button again.
She felt the familiar tingle--stronger each time, she supposed, because of her reduced stature. Then the quick pins-and-needles, then the shrinking. She felt the shirt get heavier and thicker in her hands. She shut her eyes for this one, and when she opened them again the monitor was even further up. She realized the camera was panned down as far as it would go just to keep her in sight. She started to ask how small she was when she saw him turn the recorder on again.
"Final test successful. Sub-DEANNA-is now one foot tall. Will make the necessary observations and commence restoration shortly." He paused a moment and turned back to the recorder. "No pun intended."
She looked around did a few comparisons. Wow, she thought, I really AM only a foot tall. Unbelievable! Everything looked colossal--not surprising--and if she had to live like this it would take a lot of getting used to. Standing in her chair, she wasn't quite as tall as the back was high! Her T-shirt was gigantic. It was like a quilt on her. She'd almost be able to use a sock as a sleeping bag. She would have to--the edge of the bed would be out of her reach from floor level. She heard a noise from the window on her screen. He had turned to face her.
"Ok, Deanna...are you ready?"
"Do I have to dignify that with an answer?" He cracked a smile at that remark, then turned his attention to the keyboard. He keyed in a new command and reached for the red button. "I hope this works!"
"Oh, don't worry," he said. "I designed a failsafe system. If the camera were to suddenly short out or break down, it's been designed so the effects aren't permanent unless they're specifically made to be so. In other words, unless I tell it to permanently reduce you, you would grow back within a certain time period anyway. I can vary the time period from an hour to a week. Currently, it's set at 3 hours. So, if it breaks down, you'll be back to normal in a few hours anyway."
"You know," she said with a mixture of amusement and aggravation, "if you had said that to begin with, I might have been a tad less--shall we say hyperactive--about the whole situation."
His mischievous grin returned as he settled his finger on the button. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" He depressed the button. "Oh yeah, you might want to step out of that T-shirt, unless you want to risk destroying it."
She felt a similar-but-different tingling, and a sort of pins-and-needles-in-reverse feeling. She could see the room slowly, slowly shrinking around her as she gradually returned to her normal size. Soon she could sit in the chair with her back against the chair back and her legs at the front of the seat. In a few minutes her head passed the top of the seat back, and a few minutes after that her feet brushed the floor. The process was slower than the shrinking, but it was working. In the space of ten minutes, she was back to five feet, seven inches tall. She saw him staring again. If possible, his eyes were even wider. She thought at first that he was amazed it had worked--then she remembered her clothes were under her butt and against the wall. She turned red again and quickly dressed herself.
As she sat back down in the chair (relieved to fill it properly) he said, "So, how was it?"
"Not very good..but it didn't hurt or anything, if that's what you mean."
He looked at her with an extremely amused expression. "How would you like to have a little more fun with the camera? WITHOUT," he added hastily, "shrinking you anymore."
"Just what do you have in mind?" she asked, intrigued.
"Well, I was thinking about testing this camera for portability-perhaps with a laptop computer..."
