Chapter 3

Next day, Jorien went to the place of the old man. It was a small three-chamber apartment, nothing out of the ordinary. Jorien was seated with a cup of coffee and the two chitchatted for a while. Then the old man asked if she really meant what she said yesterday.

"Yes. Is it so strange that I want to make career? Why should only men be allowed to...", she started. But the man interrupted her.

"No, no, no. I meant if you really think that you are up to handle power. Many people think they can, but once they are in a powerful position, they abuse it. Now, you should know yourself, before you think you should be in a position that gives you great influence. I'll help you with this, it's the least I can do for you in return for saving my life," he said.

The man took a weird-looking device out of a cupboard. It looked like a small radio with a radar dish as big as a large plate bolted on top of it. The centre of the dish was purple, then the color slowly turned into indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and the brim was red. The colors of the rainbow.

"This," the man said, "is a storage device for a type of energy known as cosmic radiation. This energy is common throughout the universe, but Earth's atmosphere blocks it. Recent experiments on space stations have shown its properties. It can increase mass for example, by bombarding the object you want to increase. It answers a burning question we scientists have asked for quite some time. How can it be that Earth's atmosphere hasn't disappeared yet into space? It should have, since gravity alone is not enough to keep it here. The answer is that the cosmic radiation increases the ozone, oxygen and nitrogen of Earth's atmosphere, so it continuously renews itself. Isn't that fascinating?"

"Yes," Jorien said, a bit unsure. She didn't really understand what the man meant, but he seemed to know what he was talking about. She had heard of cosmic radiation before, but neither knew nor cared much about it. The man continued:

"This device was invented by me. I sent it up into space in the sixties to collect cosmic energy. Three years, three long years was it aboard a space station and collected the energy. It is still stored in it. The batteries I used can store energy for a very long time. Let me tell you how it works on your body. The device will douse your body, as well as your clothes, with the cosmic radiation. It'll make you grow, as big as you want. You are so sure that power is something you can handle, so you being a giant will bring only benefit to mankind. Oh, and you can grow by will," he concluded.

Jorien looked at the man. Was he kidding? But his face was straight. Jorien was thinking about what he said. It sounded mad. She didn't like the thought of being bombarded with some weird radiation, but from the other side...that guy obviously wasn't sane. And if the radiation would have been dangerous, he would probably have died already. So...
Jorien smiled, more out of politeness than joy. "OK, then," she said. This guy was crazy, so the machine wouldn't work anyway, she thought. "Use your device on me." She would have a good laugh, something that was not common in her business life. And she would leave the old man after that, never to return.

He pointed the disk of the machine towards Jorien and pushed a button. The disk began to rotate, slow at first but soon very fast. "Look at the disk, see how it spins," he said.

Jorien did. The colors danced before her eyes. She kept staring at the disk, it made her head swim. But somehow she could not look away.

"That is good," the old man said. "Relax. Clear your mind and relax. You now feel...".

Jorien felt dizzy for a moment, but then she experienced something strange. She felt energy building up in her body. She shook all over. Jorien startled as she realized that the man had been telling the truth. His device was able to make her grow, clothes and all. She couldn't explain it, but she knew. She could grow by will. Jorien, without thinking, activated her new power. She started to grow.