Claire slipped her gray t-shirt on, looking herself over in the mirror. “Not too bad.” She chuckled, running her hands over her hips. “Forty-One and still keeping it together.” 

At 5’6” and 130lbs, Claire kept herself in excellent shape. She exercised four times a week and kept a strong diet. 

One of her favorite activities, which had become quite common for her to practice in the last year were hikes. She would leave for days at a time, leaving her daughter, Isabel, or Izzy for short, at home while she did so. At sixteen, Izzy had proven herself time and again to be a responsible young woman. It certainly helped that she was a bit more introverted, only have a few close friends while maintaining solid grades in school and a quiet, but active social life. 

Heading to her den, Claire grabbed a pair of tennis shoes she had left in there after her workout the previous day. “I have got to get better about leaving these in here.” 

Before she was given a chance to put them on, a knock came from the front door. “You guys are early!” She called out. “Come on in!” 

The sound of the front door opens and closes. “Claire…where are you?” 

“In the living room. Come on in you two.” 

Jenny and her husband Tom walked into the room, bags in hand. “Hey girl!” Jenny gushed in her usual bubbly tone. “Ready to get your nature on?” 

Claire laughed, shaking her head as she slid her second shoe on. “Of course! How about you Tom, you excited to go?”

Tom shrugged. “Sure. I’m not huge on nature, but Jenny really seems excited to go, and she said you do it a lot so it can’t be too bad right?” 

Jenny waved her husband off. “Oh, don’t listen to him. He’s just grumpy that he won’t be able to play his videogames with his buddies.” 

Claire giggled, “It’s not so bad. When you’re out there, at the top of the hill basking in the sun, you forget about all the troubles of the world. It’s a great way to escape.” 

“Hey babe, would you take the bags to Claire’s car?” Jenny asked her husband, giving her best pouty face. 

“I thought we were taking an Uber?” He questioned. 

Claire spoke up. “That was the plan, but we figured it would be cheaper just to take my car. And if I’m being completely honest, I’ve kind of been dying to give it a real test. I only got it last week.” 

“Seventy miles is a real test?” Tom asked, chuckling. 

“Just take the bags outside hot shot.” Jenny winked. 

After doing as he was asked, Tom entered the beautiful home of his wife’s best friend once again, only to find himself standing alone in the living room. “Babe! Claire, where are you guys?” 

“Down in the basement sweetie!” Jenny called out. 

Tom made his way down into the basement, which appeared much cleaner and more organized than the rest of the house, almost hospital level sanitary. “Wow Claire, I didn’t know you had such a nice set-up.” 

Claire turned to Tom, smiling. “Thanks! This was Brad’s mancave initially. After he left us I figured I could turn it into my own personal lab so I didn’t have to go into the office as much.” 

“They let you do your work from home?” Jenny asked suspiciously. “Or is our little Claire being an evil scientist where nobody can see her?” 

Claire shook her head. “You’re ridiculous.” She chuckled. “I don’t really answer to anyone anymore. The work that I was contracted out to do I was able to finish last month. Now my only reason to go into the office is to use the lab for my own work until we get another contract. But since I’ve finished setting up here, it’s made needing to go downtown almost unnecessary.” 

“So, are we going to get to see this special invention or what?” Jenny asked anxiously. 

“Special invention huh?” Tom spoke up. “Hopefully nothing too crazy.” 

Claire shrugged. “I mean, it’s certainly going to be changing the world.” 

Turning around, she knelt on the ground and placed her hand flat on the center of one of the metal panels on the floor. Jenny and Tom’s eyes widened as the panel began to glow, then appear to scan Claire’s hand before flashing green. Standing up, Claire turned to her friends to see the looks on their faces. “Never gets old when people see that.” She laughed. 

The metal panel hissed as it released what sounded like an air lock, popping up from the floor so that the sides of the panel were now slightly elevated above the surrounding panels. It continued to lift, revealing a black safe. 

“No way!” Tom laughed in disbelief. “This is something like out of a sci-fi movie.” 

Jenny could only stare in fascination as Claire looked directly at a small camera on the face of the safe. After a scan, a small light directly above the combination dial began blinking green. 

“The light flashing means I have thirty seconds to enter the combination.” Claire stated as she began spinning the dial. 

“What happens if you don’t unlock it in thirty seconds?” Jenny chimed in. 

“The safe will automatically go back into the floor and the room will go into lockdown mode, sealing everything inside and cutting the air supply.” 

“WHAT?!” Jenny nearly screamed. 

“Relax.” Claire assured her friend as she spun the dial to the last number, unlocking the safe. “It’s a safety feature to ensure my work isn’t stolen. If that were to happen, we’d have an hour or so of air before we suffocated. But all I have to do is scan my eye and enter the password to turn the lockdown off.” 

“This must have cost you a fortune.” Tom said, still completely bewildered by the level of tech his wife’s friend had access to.

“Two fortunes actually.” Claire teased. “I knew I would need something that could properly protect my work. I was given a very high-end contract by the government. I have a very large expense account offered to me, which I declined, because the moment you accept the account, you’ve sold everything you make for the rest of your life. Well, I’m not interested in just giving up my work like that. So, I made them a deal. They give me a grant of seventy-five million, and I’d give them everything I made for the next ten years. I spent a huge chunk of it on this lab and have used most of my own money to continue inventing. I’m currently eight years into that contract, but this is the one invention I would never hand over.”

“Why not?” Jenny inquired. 

“Because in their hands, this would be the most dangerous weapon in the world. I have no desire to see anyone else have their hands on it. It has a million applications, but I can’t risk corrupt people getting their hands on something this powerful. And technically, it’s not finished yet, so I have been able to justify legally not handing it over.” 

“What is it?” Tom asked. 

Reaching into the safe, Claire pulled out a small, handheld device that appeared similar to a phone. “This is a matter condenser. In layman’s terms, it’s a shrink ray.” 

“Bullshit!” Tom laughed. “No such thing. You can’t shrink atoms.” 

“I could spend the next year explaining the math I’ve gone through in the last 20 years in order to achieve this, but I doubt you’d fully be able to understand it. And that’s not a diss against you Tom. The truth is, even I can’t keep it all in my head. I’ve been slowly building on this for so long that I have almost two-hundred hard drives storing all the data. Just for this one device.” 

Tom rolled his eyes in disbelief while Jenny stood there shaking her head. 

“I just can’t fully grab the idea that you found a way to literally break physics and the laws in order to do it.” Tom shrugged. “Not trying to crap on your work.” 

“Not at all.” Claire said cheerfully. I’d be happy to give you two a demonstration.” 

“Is it safe?” Jenny asked. 

“Of course.” Claire said as she shook her head. “You think I’d bring you guys down here, show it to you, offer a demonstration, and it not be safe? I’ve used it on myself 38 times so far.” 

Jenny looked puzzled. “You’re counting?” 

“Not so much counting, as logging data. I’ve used the device hundreds of times at this point, mostly on inanimate objects and mice. I moved up to cats two years ago and a chimp I borrowed from the lab last year.” 

“I hope none of them were hurt.” Jenny said with concern in her voice. 

“Sadly, a few of the mice in the early stages did die. The biopsy showed heart failure. It took a while, but I worked out the kinks.” 

Seeing her friend’s look, Claire reached out, placing a comforting hand on Jenny’s shoulder. “Hey, that was years ago. I have only had successes since then. Organic things are complex. Moving from simple items to living creatures was a big step. You know I’m really methodical. I only lost seven mice. In the hundreds I’ve used since then, every single one has been successfully grown back and taken back to the lab safely where they continued their work and died of old age. I’ve had no other losses. Remember Jen, I’ve shrunk myself dozens of times very successfully.” 

“Out of curiosity, which of us will you be testing this on?” Tom spoke up. 

“I thought it might be fun if we all did it. We can shrink down, explore the house a bit, grow back, and head on out to go camping.” 

“How will we get back to normal if we’re all small?” Jenny’s said with a slightly panicked tone. 

“Same way I grew back every time without someone here to operate it. Check this out.” Claire placed the device on her wrist and spoke a single word, “Abydos”. Tom and Jenny watched in utter amazement as the device began to transform like a miniature autoboot into a watch with a large face on it.

“No way!” Tom said as he took a step forward. “How does it work from here?” 

“We should go upstairs first. The stairs are going to be a bit much for us once we’re small.” 

Claire, Jenny, and an almost over-excited Tom made their way up the stairs and back into the living room. 

Standing together in a small circle, as instructed by Claire, Tom and Jenny look nervously to each other, reaching out and taking each other’s hands, they look to Claire, who’s excitement seems to be gushing out of her. “Ready?” 

“Ready!” The couple announces together. 

In a flash of light, the world shifts for the three, leaving them stranded on a wide, open floor surrounded by enormous furniture. 

Jenny’s legs begin to wobble. Quickly, Tom and Claire reach out, helping to steady her. “Sorry, I should have mentioned that the first time can be a bit disorienting.” Claire said apologetically. 

“No, it’s okay. I’m fine.” Jenny said, straightening herself up.

As the now tiny trio begin walking around the landscape that is Claire’s living room, Jenny has a thought that brings chills to her bones. “Claire, what about insects and rodents? Aren’t we in danger?” 

“Not at all.” Claire happily announced. “I have the entirety of the inner lining of the walls and roof covered in a special electromagnetic mesh that releases frequencies absolutely unbearable to anything smaller than a cat. I haven’t had a bug in my house in nearly six years.” 

“And why haven’t we heard of this fantastic invention and had it applied to our home?” Jenny teasingly whined. 

“Sorry Jen, it was one of the inventions I made for that I had to hand over to the government. Though, you should know, last I heard, the plan was to release it in the next few years on the public market. They plan to make a fortune on it, which they will.” 

“It doesn’t bother you that you won’t get any of it?” Tom asked. 

“Nah.” Claire shrugged. My contract with them stipulates I receive full credit for the invention. When it gets released, it will bring in a whole slew of grants. Companies will literally be begging me to take their millions as long as they get to sell the invention and keep most of the profits.”

“I guess I should have asked this before, but…how small are we?” Jenny nervously chuckled. 

“An inch tall.”

Jenny’s jaw dropped. “Why would you make us so small? Wouldn’t it have been better to make us a little bigger just in case we needed something? What about us getting hurt?” 

“You worry too much Jen. You know I have things under control. First, the device works fine, in about twenty minutes, it will have cooled down enough to grow us back if we want. In the meantime, the device alters our genetic make-up, making us significantly more durable. You could get stepped on by a fat woman in high heels and walk away with only a few bruises.”

“Now that’s an image I wanted.” Tom said, shaking his head. 

“Sorry, but she asked. I just wanted to make it clear that we’re very safe, even at this size.” 

“Still though, it’s pretty amazing. I must admit that. I can’t believe I’m actually tiny, in a house with giant furniture. We should have set up some stuff to explore. You keep your house too clean Claire.” Jenny teased. 

“Sorry, we can grow back here in just a bit though. Normally it only takes a few minutes to cool down, but with three of us, we need to give it a bit more time.” 

The three explored for a bit longer, never leaving the living room. Tom had managed to get himself onto the couch while Jenny and Claire had made their way towards the entry way. 

“So, shrinking is fun for you?” Jenny asked her friend.

Claire smiled. “Yeah, it kinda is. I mean, this is the first time I’ve done it with anyone else, and only the second time I’ve done it outside of the lab.” 

“Really? What did you do the last time you did it out here?”

“Not much really. I spent the day exploring the house. I wanted to check out my own room but had challenged myself to not grow any so I had to hitch a ride on Izzy’s jeans.” 

“Isabel was here when you were small? Did she know?” 

Claire shook her head. “I didn’t think it was necessary to tell her. This has been my escape, I guess. If I would have told her about the shrink ray, or my shrinking down, she would have had a ton of questions and it would have become a chore to keep her out of my lab and everything, so I thought it best to just not tell her.” 

“What was it like?” Jenny asked, her breathing increasing a bit.

“What was what like?” 

“Seeing Izzy like that? So…BIG!”

Claire remained quiet for a moment as the two women continued their walk. “It…uh…I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s terrifying for sure. But, it’s more than that, it’s…awe-inspiring.” 

Jenny nodded, as if to agree with Claire despite never having experienced a giant in person. As the two women began crossing the doorway between the living room and the entryway, there was a clicking at the door. 

Frozen, they watched the door swing open, and a monolithic Isabel step into the house, carrying a duffel bag. 

Jenny’s jaw dropped at the sight of the enormous teen. “Holy fuck!” She gasped, falling to her knees.