Jenny bit her lip and tried ignoring the buzzing of her mobile phone.  C’mon, she thought.  Just five more minutes.  She took a deep breath and angled her Hitachi “massager”, grazing her clit, eliciting a moan.  The phone danced across the table as it buzzed again.

Frustrated at being interrupted, Jenny flicked the vibrator off and dropped it between her legs while her other hand grabbed her phone.  If it was Facebook, letting her know her grandmother had liked another one of her posts, she’d never manage to finish.  She decided to risk it and looked at her phone.

hey, all set for tomorrow?

Jenny’s other hand found its way to her nethers— not that it had strayed far— and she began to play with herself as she returned the text.

Hey Alex, I think so!

cool super excited the dean agreed so i want to make sure everything smooth

I’m excited too.  There’s been a lot of amazing research you guys have been working on.

yea he’s just touchy is all

Jenny smirked.  Right now, so am I, she thought.

Anything I can do to make things go as smooth as possible, you know me.  I will.

k cuz he invented the shrinker so he’s just kinda attached to it and is worried about your article  

Jenny sighed to nobody.  She was editor of the Science and Technology section of the student newspaper, pursuing a masters in Journalism, and in this day and age of shrinking newspaper budgets had managed to secure job offers at half a dozen major metropolitan news organizations with 18 months left in her degree.  She knew all about Dr. Barr’s research.  She had read the research papers.  She knew he was a lab tech at heart and saw any article that wasn’t published in a peer-reviewed journal as both a possible loss of funding and a waste of time.  It had taken her weeks, and the only reason she was going to receive the access she was promised— as repeatedly mentioned by Dr. Barr— was because her best friend Alex was a brilliant lab tech in her own right and had been de-facto shrink lab manager in the two years since Dr. Barr was made dean.  Jenny sighed again and deleted the message-turned-rant she had been typing and replaced it with a much shorter message.

Yeah, I know.

Jenny shuddered and moaned, breaking her concentration on her phone.  It dropped onto her D-cup breasts, then slid over her chest and came to rest on her stomach.  She had a six pack once, but schoolwork had caused the gym habit to slip a bit.  When she picked the phone back up, Alex’s latest reply was on-screen.

i know i know :) just be yourself and it’ll be ok  

Jenny wondered if she could go back to focusing on masturbating yet, and if it meant she could stop replying.  Before she could decide, her phone buzzed again.

just maybe dont wear too short of a skirt?  

Jenny cracked a smile.  So that’s what Alex was worried about.  It’s not like they let miniaturized people run around on the floor, right?  Alex was worried about modesty, of all things.  Breaking the rules of the universe was fine, but breaking the rules of common decency?  A step too far for Alex.

haha :) I’ll leave the bikini at home.  No room for a notepad anyway.  

Alex’s next few text messages arrived rapid-fire.

ok

hehe love u c u tomorrow

this is going to be so much fun hardly anyone gets to visit me at work these days  

Jenny quickly responded, eager to get back to her body’s desires.

See you tomorrow!  Bright and early!

She tossed the phone back on her nightstand and picked up the vibrator again.  She looked at it’s rubber head and grinned as she flicked it back on.  With her mind focused on the day to come, It took just a few deft motions of the vibrator to bring her to orgasm.  As she lay on her bed, twisting and moaning in the afterglow, Jenny flicked the vibrator back off.  She curled up, breathing, her eyes on the stick figure she had drawn in felt-tipped pen on the top of the rubber head.  Tomorrow was going to be a good day.

Jenny was already awake when her phone began playing her morning alarm.  She was up and out of bed before the second note.  By the time the clock said 6:02AM she had silenced the alarm and was stepping out of her bedroom and across the hallway into the bathroom.  It was an advantage to living in a studio apartment— quick to get around, and no room for anything extraneous.  Jenny turned the water on and looked around while it warmed up.  Mom’s right, I really should clean… eventually.  As she idly inspected the soap scum around the sink, the reflection of her blonde hair and blue eyes in the mirror faded into grey as the small bathroom steamed up from the shower.  I either need to date someone who’s good at cleaning or hire a maid.  I wonder which one’s cheaper? she thought.  Grabbing the least-gross razor off the countertop, Jenny stepped into the shower.  Today was a big day, and she wanted to look good for it.

Alex’s text message hung in the air as Jenny eyed her wardrobe.  Skirt?  Jeans?  How much cleavage?  She’d only met Dr. Barr once before in person just over two years ago, when rumors about him being made dean had started to swirl, and she wasn’t entirely sure he had noticed she was female.  Or even human.  Her editor’s headline for that interview— A Short Time with the Man Making Us Shorter— was considerably better than her sarcastic suggestion— Crazy Professor Changes World, Doesn’t Notice.  Jenny pulled an outfit together and slipped into her favorite pair of shoes, a pair of kitten heels that looked convincingly black so long as you didn’t look too closely at them.  It was time to get to the lab.

Alex heard Jenny before she turned the corner.  Her old Toyota Pickup with a rusty muffler pulled into the parking lot next to Lab 4’s entrance with a groaning of metal.  The vehicle seemed to sigh as the engine was turned off.

“Hey Alex!” Jenny practically shouted as she hopped out.  “G’morning!”

Alex smiled at seeing her friend.  “Hey there!”  The two briefly hugged.

Alex motioned to the truck.  “I thought you were going to donate this thing to the school’s auto shop class?”

“What, my truck?  Are you crazy?  This thing’s been great.  You can’t keep a good truck down!” Jenny shook her head at Alex’s suggestion.  “Besides, the shop teacher rejected it.”

Alex couldn’t help herself but laugh.  “Ah, c’mon.  Rejection?  Does the great Miss Jenny Davis-White know what that feeling is?  Need someone to help you understand— ow!”  Jenny jabbed Alex in the side.  “Yes, she does.  So much of it I’ve sought professional help.  I’ll give you the name of my therapist.  He’s a great guy, a Mr. Walker.  First name Johnny.  You’ll love him.”

“Maybe you could introduce us this evening?  Come inside and you can finally see what you’ve been pestering me about for the last five years.”

As they walked through the first set of automatic doors, Jenny wondered out loud.  “Five years? Wow, time flies… When are you going to finish your PhD?”  At Alex’s groan, she quickly answered her own question. “I know, I know.  When it’s done.”

They stepped up to the security desk.  Dr. Barr’s research had brought in a lot of funding for the university, and a good portion of it had been spent renovating Lab 4 to be a suitable— and secure— testing location.  The guard looked up from the CCTV display he had watched them enter on.  “Good morning, Dr. Alex.  This is our guest of honor for today?”

Alex nodded, and the guard turned around to grab some paperwork.  Jenny whispered to her, “Doctor?”  Alex whispered back, “It gives me more credibility among the staff.”

The guard placed a clipboard down on the desk.  “Go ahead and fill these forms out.  Can I see photo ID to make you a temp badge?”  Jenny reached into her well-worn black leather purse and pulled out her wallet.  Flicking it open, she pulled out her driver’s license and handed it over.  The guard took it from her and began typing on the computer.

Jenny quickly interrupted him.  “Excuse me, but this is a non-disclosure agreement.  I’m a reporter.  I can’t sign this.”  The guard opened his mouth, but Alex cut him off.  “This is a standard form.  It doesn’t prevent you from publishing your story like Dr. Barr agreed to, it’s just about some of the more sensitive aspects of our research and facility.”  Jenny looked at the paper again.

“Like what?”

“Well… we can’t just write down what’s sensitive, that’d defeat the purpose.”

“So you’re saying I can’t publish anything you don’t want me to, and I don’t know what you don’t want me to publish because you can’t tell me?”

Alex looked uncomfortable.  “Basically.”

Unexpectedly, Jenny broke into a smile.  “Sure thing!  I’m sure my signing this will make that pesky First Amendment thing go away!”

Alex sighed.  “It’s not even 8AM and I’m already beginning to feel regret.  Usually when we spend time together, I feel regret at 8AM the day after.”

Jenny laughed as she handed the clipboard back to the guard and retrieved her ID and temporary badge in exchange.  “You spend too much time in the labs.”

Alex waved her down the hallway.  “I spend time here so I can learn how to undo the damage you’re doing to your liver every day outside of these labs.”

Jenny practically bounded down the hallway, grabbed the taller woman’s arm, and leaned her head on Alex’s shoulder.  “And have I ever mentioned how much I love you for that?”

They went through another security check, a metal detector, and had their belongings X-rayed.  Jenny scribbled— “high security” in her notebook.  At Alex’s wordless reprimand about mentioning security, Jenny scribbled in “VERY” above it.  Alex shook her head and stepped into a body scanner.

“What, are we getting on an airplane next?” Jenny asked.

Alex stepped through and the guard waved Jenny in.  “It’s to get a baseline reading,” Alex said.  “You’ll go through one again at the end of the day.  That way, we know what you come in with and make sure you don’t leave with anything.”

Or anyone, Jenny thought as the scanner whirred around her.  Finally, the duo was standing in front of a door that simply said “Lab 4 Entrance”.  There were police-style height markings on the wall to the side of the door.  Jenny pointed them out as Alex waved her badge next to the door to unlock it.  Alex didn’t bother looking up.  “Intern joke.  Wait for the door to close, then you can badge in.”  Jenny nodded, scribbling notes to herself.  She looked at the markings, then did a double-take.  Quickly, she waved her badge at the door and stepped inside the lab.

“Alex, I know I’m not five foot ten.  Five eight, maybe nine on a good day.” Jenny said as she bursted through the door.  Alex just shrugged.  “I know.  Intern joke.  There’s a couple of them around, you can gain or lose a few inches depending on which one you stand next to.”  Alex looked around, then her voice dropped to a whisper.  “You can’t print this, but the President of the school board came through here.  He freaked out that we had shrunk him at some point on the tour.  We had to call in Facilities to bring a tape measure that he would trust so he could measure himself.  After that, we had to paint over all the ones that made people think they’d gotten smaller.”

Jenny laughed.  “Ah, he’s a jerk.  I’m the SciTech editor, so I’m not supposed to publish trashy gossip, but man do I wish…” her voice trailed off as the concrete walls of the corridor gave way to giant, floor-to-ceiling plexiglass windows, giving a view of the laboratory below.

Alex beamed.  “Welcome to Lab 4, better known as the Shrink Lab.  Please leave your current understanding of the universe at the door; you can collect it when you leave.  Now… keep your hands, arms, feet, and legs inside and away from the science going on all around you.  Don’t touch anything.  Don’t move too quickly or speak too loudly.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask, although you may not get an answer.”

Jenny looked down at the myriad of separate rooms visible from the hallway.  “What are all these places?”

Alex started to walk down the hallway again.  “On the left side, we have both near- and far- wave research.  That corner specializes in ultra-dense lenses we use to focus the waves.  The right side, close to us, is the staging area for volunteers and human studies; the actual shrinking rooms are down another level.  Past that is…”

Jenny tuned Alex out as they walked along the right side of the raised hall, keenly aware of one of the red-headed volunteers staring at her.  Enjoying the view of a woman taller than you? Jenny thought as she walked along.  Her skirt ended just above her knees— from the red-head’s perspective, he was probably just barely unable to see her panties.  Their eyes met for an instant and Jenny flashed him a toothy grin.  His face turned as red as his hair, and he quickly looked back to the front of the oversized cubicle where a young woman in a lab coat was standing.

Alex stopped at a door.  Through the plexi, Jenny could see stairs leading down to the floor they had just seen from above.  “I thought I’d give you a quick tour of the labs up here, a run through of how this stuff works, and just before lunchtime those volunteers should be ready if you want to watch.  Doctor Barr should drop by at some point, too.”

Jenny kept her voice cool.  “That sounds like a good plan to me.  Can I talk to anyone?”

Alex nodded.  “The researches and techs won’t give you much.  The volunteers are just undergrads who want to make quick cash for beer money.”

Jenny opened the door.  “Maybe they don’t respond to your charming personality, but they might just open up to me…”