“I have already sent the package. It should arrive tomorrow” The voice on the other end of the line spoke up as Charlotte continued taking in the evening atmosphere. With the summer air still warm, she could afford to sit out on a balcony with nothing but her shirt. “We have implemented your software into the design. Jacob says it works alright, but mentioned that you wouldn’t take his word for it.”

Charlotte smacked her lips. Was she really that predictable? Jacob was capable, sure. After all, he was the man who managed the engineering side of this collaborative effort. And it’s not like she distrusted him. She just trusted herself more. “Tell him that his consideration is appreciated.” She spoke in a sarcastic tone, her right leg beginning to bounce.

“Remember that once the nanobots are in, they are in. We have specifically made it so your body ignores the little guys and doesn’t even attempt removing them from your system. So if you want them out, we will have to do it back at the clinic.”

“Henry.” She rolled her eyes, although there was no way he could see it. “I have the project specifications.”

“Sue me for being considerate.” Henry chuckled on the other end. “Just be careful, alright?” With that, the call was over.

There was a sound at the door, with Charlotte’s jaw tightening at the prospect of having to interact with that huge clutz again. In the doorway, there was the 5 ft 8 form of Bea—her long black hair matching the color of her hoodie. She was huge, her curvy frame towering above Charlotte who barely reached past 5 ft. Bea waved at her roommate, bringing in a bag full of groceries—mostly junk food. “Sup shrimp.” She grinned, bending over to start putting all the stuff in the fridge.

Charlotte didn’t like to think that she had any kind of complex related to her height and size. In her mind, even thinking about stuff like this was above her. But despite this, she was jealous of how mature her roommate looked while she was tiny and underdeveloped.

“Obviously I could look like that if I wanted.” An unprompted thought entered her mind, staring at Charlotte’s ass as she rummaged through the fridge. “I mean, all it would take is focusing on my body. But I don’t really care about stuff like that. She isn’t even that hot. Could stand to lose some pounds. I am pretty much universally cute. Besides, that’s pretty much all she has—her appearance. Whereas I have my intelligence and wonderful personality and-”

“You all there, Charlie?” Bea waved her hand in front of the woman’s face, snapping her out of the internal monologue. “Geez, did all that science fry your brain or something?”

“You are the one with a fried brain.” She grumbled under her breath, storming off to her room.

“Wait, Charlie!” The woman quickly turned around, almost expecting Bea to apologize for being more attractive than her. “If you’re heading out to a store later, could you grab some chips? I forgot to buy some.”

“I am not your servant.” She quickly answered, almost tripping over Bea’s flip-flops. They were clearly well-worn, with ages of love and pressure imprinting themselves into a dark outline of Bea’s meaty Size 10s against the pink rubber. “And clean up after yourself, moron!”

Trying to calm down, Charlotte imagined all the fame and money that awaited her once their design was seen by investors. She could move out of this shabby house and never have to see that stupid woman again. If all went well, she would be living in a mansion—sipping piña colada somewhere on the Mediterranean.

The next day, the scientist could feel butterflies in her stomach as the package was finally in her grasp. Feeling like a kid on Christmas, she quickly opened the tiny box inside of her room. Inside, there was a tiny control chip that needed to be slid into a compatible biosuit. Next to it, a pill was secured inside of a medicinal container. Its shell was a dark green, the type you would see in a pharmacy. But instead of any medication, a swarm of dormant nanomachines whose job it was to bind to Charlotte's cells and give her complete control over them. She put the pill up to her lips. With a swig of water, it went down her throat. At first, she didn’t feel any different. It would take a moment for the machines to settle, and she liked to believe herself to be immune to the placebo effect—even if it felt exhilarating.

Next came the biosuit, its white polymer body glistening in the light. Putting it on, she found squeezing into the thing to be a struggle. The synthetic material pressed against her features from every direction, covering every inch except for the head, hand, and feet. It took her way longer than she would like to admit, but finally managed to get the darn thing on her. Pulling on the polymer, she winced as it smacked back into position, hugging against her thigh. “Hopefully the guys will come up with a more convenient design…”

It wasn’t only here to ensure modesty (her clothes weren’t shrinking down with her, after all) but also had a control panel attached just below the wrist. Detaching it and sliding the chip in, she saw the small digital display beginning to boot up. Setting up the profile took just a moment. All of her biological data was intricately displayed. Weight, height—it had everything. And everything here was for her to change. If she really wanted, she could even alter her blood type! This amount of control is exactly what Charlotte wanted. Now, even her body was subject to her whim.

“Let’s just…test it out.” She said while moving the height slider to the left. Immediately, a shiver washed over her body, followed by the sensation of an invisible force pressing against her from every direction. It was like going up an incredibly fast elevator. The biosuit itself felt tighter against her features, constantly shrinking a few milliseconds before she did, making the woman blush as the process continued.

Opening her clenched eyes, Charlotte took a moment to appreciate her surroundings. At only 1/2 inch, the room was the size of a military hangar, with a ceiling and walls that stretched for miles. Her bed had become a plateau out in the distance, with her barely reaching up to the sole of her old sneaker tucked underneath it. “This is amazing!” She exclaimed, stretching her hands. Charlotte didn’t understand why, but there was something mystical about being shrunken down. This new perspective made her monotone room appear like some unexplored land.

The ground shook. The shrunken woman wasn’t sure if she had felt it at first, but the sensation got closer and closer. It was like feeling an earthquake approaching, with her soon hearing the loud THUD THUD THUD in the distance. Something heavy was slapping against the apartment’s wooden floor, with it sounding like artillery was going off in the distance. And as the door opened, the terrifying realization had hit Charlotte.

“Bea!”

Bea was already a big gal, even at her normal size. Right now, she looked like some ancient depiction of a fertility goddess —a curvy unending statue. Charlotte could barely see her face, with it covered by her chest and her belly. In her hand was a new bag of chips, with each handful she consumed resulting in a loud crunching sound reverberating through the room. It was like hearing trees get thrown into the woodchipper, with the tiny having to dodge as the debris of salt and potato fell down on her.

“CHARLIE!” Her voice boomed, punctuated with a loud crunching sound. The overwhelming smell of rubber mixed with sweat dominated the shrunken woman’s nostrils as Bea got closer, placing her cheap flip-flops on either side of her miniature form. They creaked underneath her weight, adding to the overstimulation. “CHARLIE, WHERE AAARE YOU?”

Charlotte’s heart was pounding, her cheeks having turned a dark shade of red. It might have been her brain making the all-too-common confusion between fear and excitement, but why was she getting so flustered? It was just Bea standing there, eating chips. But despite it, there was something powerful about her form. Each movement could have ended her pathetic life, snuffing her out with just a twitch and a stomp of her huge feet.

Her self-preservation instinct took over as Bea moved her foot, almost sweeping the tiny scientist along. “I need to get big…now!” Looking at her wrist, the control panel was missing. She got so excited that the woman forgot to reattach it. It was still on her desk.

Before she could do anything about it, Bea was moving again, lifting her foot. A dark shadow was cast over Charlotte, with her tensing up in anticipation of it pummeling down on her as she ran for her life. It finally did, the pink size 10 monolith knocking the miniature woman off her feet and sending her flying across the room. Bea scrunched her little piggies, each larger than the woman’s entire body, with a loud yawn. She finally left, shutting the door behind her with yet another thud.

After getting up and massaging her aching shoulder, Charlotte spent a few minutes just breathing heavily. The thought of her almost dying because of her worthless roommate irked her. Her life was so much more valuable, yet it could have been ended by a flip-flop. And through it all, she hated how much the thought excited her.

Getting up to the desk and growing again took some time, with Charlotte taking the biosuit off so quickly that it almost ripped in half. Now naked, her hand began itching towards her trembling lips before she pulled it away, slapping herself on the face to calm down. “No!” She snapped at herself, looking at her angry expression in the mirror until the blush disappeared. Only then could she stand to be around Bea again.

“Hey Charlie, didn’t know you were home.” Bea lounged down on the couch, her long legs taking up both seats. From the armrest, the deadly pink flip flops now dangled off her feet—the divider squished between her toes. “Whatcha looking at?” She questioned with a sly smile, scrunching her toes as Charlotte's face turned away.

“Nothing.” She swallowed, gesturing for Bea to take her feet off as she sat on the couch next to her. They now landed on the coffee table—their heat beginning to steam up the glass. Once again, she couldn’t stop herself from staring. Their shape…the chubbiness of the sole…the beautiful blue shade of her pedicure…Being so tiny has awakened something in Charlotte, as much as she wanted to deny it. It was pathetic. She knew it was pathetic. And yet, she was powerless against them. For all her intellect, she was getting overpowered by her roommate’s stupid feet.

“Mind giving them a rub?” Bea stretched, now putting her feet on Charlotte’s lap.

“What? Why?” She questioned, putting on an exaggerated face of disgust.

“I am just tired. Come on, help a girl out.” Wiggling her toes, Charlotte had to close her mouth to stop herself from drooling.

“Alright, just this once…”

“Seriously?” Raising an eyebrow, Bea did not expect to get this far. All she wanted to do was tease her shrimpy roommate and maybe get a laugh out of it. “You are such a freak.”

“Listen, do you want the stupid massage or not?” Having blurted the last sentence out, Charlotte tried to give herself some plausible deniability.

Now holding onto the feet that threatened her life, Charlotte once again felt small. She rubbed them with the typical determination she put into anything the woman cared about. From her heel to the spaces between her toes, she found herself loving the subtle moans Bea gave out. Each time she let out a pleased yawn, it was a signal to Charlotte that she was doing a good job. Getting praise was something she adored. Even getting into science was just a way to get the approval of the people around her.

“Thanks, Charlie.” Bea ruffled her hand through her roommate's hair as she got up, retreating into her rooms. “You are a real pro at this.” She laughed, shutting the door behind her.

Charlotte was left behind, feeling a thin layer of the woman’s sweat and grime coating her hand. It was such an innocent thing—giving your friend a foot rub—yet she felt filthy; even after allowing the soap and water to scrub away the smell of Bea, the shame remained.

Slowly marching back to her room, Charlotte sat down on her bed, watching the discarded biosuit still on the floor. Lifting it up, she felt the fabric between her fingers. There was a strong urge within her chest to put it back on, with her hands trembling as she rubbed her fingers through the polymer.

No, she couldn’t. Charlotte was better than Bea in every way. Why should she be the one submitting to her huge feet? Still pent up from the experience of shrinking down, she angrily threw the suit into the closet.

Her phone rang, almost as if on command. Picking it up, Charlotte pressed the accept call button, slumping back in her bed.

“Hey, Henry here. Just calling to confirm if you’ve gotten the package.”

“Yeah.” She cleaned her throat, looking at the ceiling. “Yeah, I got it.”

“Nice! Did you have an opportunity to try it out?”

“Yeah.” She once again cleaned her throat, trying to hide her stutter. “Yeah, I did.”

The anticipation was killing him. “And?”

“What do you want, a full report? It was just a normal trial, okay?" Getting unreasonably defensive, Charlotte raised her voice. “The suit works.”

“I see. If you experience any side effects, please let me know, alright? Only go to a hospital with this tech if it’s absolutely necessary. We still haven’t registered it yet.”

“I thought that was your job.”

“I am working on it.” At least now, it was him who was defensive, taking some edge off Charlotte. “But anyways, take what I said seriously. If you are feeling unwell, let me know-”

Ending the call, the woman buried her face in the pillow, scolding herself for how stupid she was being.