Robotics Genius 

Chapter 8

Twists and Deceit

    My heart raced as I said,”Yes, let's test it out.” I stood on the platform. Yolanda started the sequence. When my eyes cleared, I guessed I was about two inches tall. 

    I heard Yolanda say,”Lie down.” I saw the bottom of her foot coming down on me. I fell on my back as the ball of her foot hit, I was pressed into the soft warm flesh. She put all of her weight on me. Her flesh gave enough that I was sealed to the hard floor. She twisted, it felt incredible. Her foot raised and me with it, I was stuck to the ball of her foot. She wiggled her toes to break me free. I landed on the cold floor and she asked,”Are you ok?”

    “Yeah, it feels like it’s working the same as the one at my house.”

    Yolanda returned to the control and was ready to return me to normal when a loud feminine voice said,”Executive order 1A, all bots stop. Yolanda, return to your station.” Yolanda did as instructed. Lily walked over to me and said,” I thought I could catch you shrunken. Time for you to disappear.” 

    “It was you, you were helping Chris. Why?” 

    Angrily she spat,” I almost had Mark falling in love with me until you showed up and got the big bitch working. Then he cut me off…

    “So you tried to kill us both.”

    Lily continued,”I wanted to kill you both when I had you under my feet, I didn’t know about the executive order then and your bots would’ve stopped me. This time you’re not going to be so lucky.”

    She snatched me from the floor, popped her heel out of her pump and dropped me in it. My head was toward the ball of her foot. She said,”If you survive the trip home, I have something special in mind for you.” She pushed her heel into the shoe. I pressed against her black nyloned arch. My head was taking the brunt of the punishment being so close to the ball of her foot. At this point it’s still on the pleasant side. 

    She walked around to all of the bots and erased a days worth of memory. Then shut them down. 

    It was growing hotter and sweatier by the minute in her shoe. Standing on me made it very hard to breathe. A few times I almost blacked out, pleasantness left at this point. After she finished the bots, she made a beeline to her car. 

    When we were at her house, she took off her pump and dumped me on the kitchen floor. She laughed,”Good you’re still alive, at least you didn’t deny me crushing you.” She took off her other pump and stood looking down at me. Her foot raised over me. She set the ball of her foot on me and pressed down with all her weight and twisted. I don’t think she realized we fixed the durability problem. 

    She took her foot off of me,”Tim, you’re teasing me. You should’ve squished for me. I guess I’ll have to put more effort into it.” She stomped on me with her heel. It felt like I was going to explode. Her foot left, I curled into the fetal position in pain. She said,”Damn it, crush already.” She stomped me several times. Bruised and battered, but still very much alive. I was definitely in a lot of pain. 

    She changed tactics, she put her pumps back on. She lined up the heel on my head. The rubber D shaped pad pressed on the side of my head. I felt my skull flex. This is it, she’s going to crush my head. She rocked back and the front of her pump was off the ground. The only thing between the floor and her was my head. She even bounced, still my head didn’t collapse. 

    She was getting frustrated,”Tough little fucker.” She stomped at me with her heels. First stomp barely missed my head. Second stomp hit my upper arm with her spiked heel, snapping my arm instantly. I doubled up in pain holding my arm as her heel came down a third time scraping the top of my head. Just missing crushing my head. 

    She waited a few seconds, lined up on my head again. I yelled,”NOOOO!” I closed my eyes waiting for the impact. Then a loud crash, I opened my eyes and she was gone. I was stunned, glass and pieces of wall were on the floor around me. There was a large hole above the kitchen sink, some pieces still dangling from the impact. 

   The door opened, Jenna crawled through the opening, her fifteen foot frame barely fit through the doorway even though she was on her hands and knees. I burst into tears. She gently picked me up and said,”We got you, you’re safe now.”

    “What happened to Lily?”

    “Steph has her, she’s taking her back to the lab for the police to pick her up.”

    Jenna took me to my house and brought me back to normal size while Julia called for an ambulance. I took quite a beating. I was in the hospital for five days. 

    Upon being released, Mark brought me to the lab first at my request. We walked into where Steph is. She lit up,”Tim, you look much better.”

    She picked me up and pressed me to those huge lips. I hugged her face and lips as best I could. “Thank you, you saved my life again.”

  Setting me down, she said,” I will always have your back and Mark’s.”

    “How did you know I was in trouble?”

    “Yolanda, she was in contact with Jenna, Julia and myself when it all happened. When we received notification that they were shut down, we figured there was something devious happening. We knew it was Lily by her voice until the executive order shut down communication.”

    “Didn’t she try the executive order on you?”

    “She did, the hierarchy of command revoked her ability to use it when she tried to kill you.” 

    “That’s right, you did make those changes. Thank you again. I’ll always have your back too.” She blew me a kiss and Mark took me home. 

    Mark said,” I guess it’s finally over. Lily? I never suspected her.”

    “Yeah, me either.”

    I walked into my house and was greeted with Julia scooping me up and hugged in between her and Jenna. Stupid cast on my arm keeps getting in the way. Still the hug and kisses felt incredible. 

    I rested at home for a few weeks. The cast was removed. Mark was waiting for me so we could reveal the shrinking machine to the world together. 

   Monday morning, five weeks after the incident, I was in Mark’s office. We were discussing the best way to market our new tech. 

    Ed burst into Mark’s office,”We have a serious problem, the NSA is here. They are taking the shrinking machine.” 

    Mark jumped to the window, several black tractor trailers and black suburbans were in the parking lot. Mark spat,”Damn it!” We quickly made our way to one guy who seemed to be in charge. 

    Mark said,”What the hell are you doing?”

    “This can’t be legal.”

    “By order of the President of the United States of America, all equipment and documents associated with the shrinking technology will be confiscated. They have been deemed too dangerous to national security to be left in the public. Any attempt to interfere will be met with force.” He turned away and ignored our presence after making his statement. 

    Steph came from the back building after bursting through the door. They shot her with what looked to be an oversized tazor. Her body locked and she fell to the ground with a loud thud. 

    Mark ran at them, Ed and I stopped him. Two of the men were pointing M4’s at us, which we definitely got the point. 

    Mark was practically a basket case as he watched them dismantle Steph and put her in the trucks along with the other bots and computers. I wanted to go home so bad, but I was afraid I would get shot out of a fit of anger because of my women being taken from me. 

    More than a full day after they arrived, they finished. Nothing was left, the entire contents of the lab was gone. It looked like an empty warehouse. Ed, Mark and I stayed the whole time, no sleep, no food, just in total shock. 

    Mark looked at me with severely bloodshot eyes,”What are we going to do?”

    “I have nothing, no direction at all. Right now, I’m going home to get some rest. I suggest both of you do the same. Tomorrow morning at eight, we’ll meet in Mark's office to hopefully get an idea of where to go from here.”

    Ed said,”Agreed, can’t even think straight right now.”

    Mark shook his head,”Ok, see you tomorrow.” We all took our leave. 

    I walked into my house. It’s too quiet. Everything that pertained to them is gone. Even their clothing. I fell to my knees with my head in my hands and sobbed. I promised Steph I would always have her back. My ladies are gone. What the hell am I going to do? I know this isn’t over, not by a long shot. I WILL get them back.

    I pulled myself together, ate something, took a shower and went to bed…alone.