Missing (Part III)
Steve's story
The ascension is arduous but nothing as bad as he expected. To him the very grain of the wooden counter is covered in easy-to-grab notches. With his experience as a mountain climber, Steve has no problem gathering the proper rhythm for his movements and slow ascent. The fact that his arms and legs seem so much powerful at his current size, and that the pull of gravity is so reduced as to not be noticed makes this challenge much more feasible than anticipated. Steve is climbing the side of the kitchen counter as a fly climbs up a wall. He surely hopes the comparison stopped here.
In the kitchen, enormous shapes are moving around, and the main threat to him is not their huge mass, but the strong eddies of wind they create when passing by. As far as he can see two of them are from the Police. A man and a woman. Their massive frames totally dwarf the rest of the room, as their hands easily manipulate objects hundreds of times larger than him. They are talking to Anna in a near comic fashion, each one talking in his turn, in what seems to be a rehearsed script. Steve cannot understand properly everything that's been said, the voices being so both loud as to get lost in their own vibrations. Still he gets enough to understand they are asking the regular stuff for this type of inquiry.
They are in the kitchen taking a seat now, and the man is beginning to write some report while the woman speaks to Anna. They had disappeared for a while in the room next door, and a lot of slow walking was done apparently, judging from the vibrations on the floor. They even had called him in low whispers. Anna was with them, probably straining her ears to catch any sign from him. Steve was happy he was not in that room when they entered. Three pairs of huge feet going around the room was a bit much to contemplate and he was quite certain he would probably have ended as a small stain under a shoe, had he stayed there too long.
He has decided to stick to the plan, get a higher position, and a clearer spot to stand on. He knows they are looking for him. And that gives him courage to continue the climb. He feels grateful for their presence, even though they are so large as to be nearly outside his comprehension. Still, he reminded himself of the fact that he was also a human being. His size has altered everything in him, but surely not that. That fact makes everything possible, even communication with these walking mountains. Steve keeps climbing, using the good old three point method he has learned at the mountaineering club. He focuses on the approaching top, a frightening overhand of wood, half a mile above ground. He relies on one factor to pass it: his total absence of weight.
Anna 'story
They are walking around the room with cautious steps. At each step, I shuddered involuntarily. Thanks God, there's only two of them. If an army of policemen had arrived I would not have left them come in like this. Hey are nice and polite, obviously a well suited duo. When they speak to me, one always seems to complement the other's idea. They asked me the usual stuff. Where did I see him last. What was the last thing we said. Did we quarrel. Did he look upset.
I can see they're somewhat puzzled by the situation. Who wouldn't be? It's not their regular turf for sure. And I can feel a tint of thrill in the woman's voice. She's obviously quite happy of this strange assignment. Still, she's courteous and professional and her presence comforts me a bit. She's a trained investigator and far from the the image I have of them.
After a while when they have been around the room for one hour, touching object very cautiously with the tip of their pencils, we come back to the kitchen and sit around the table. Sophia (she tells me to call her Sophia, no doubt a typical psychological approach to a witness under duress) , Sophia tells me the locks of the door are untouched. At my surprise, she tells me that it would not be passed certain individuals to try and collect such a rare item as Steve, and that it may be that some criminal intent might explain the disappearance. I am unnerved now. I've never thought of that. The idea of someone walking into the room during our sleep and silently snatching Steve from our pillow is really horrific. Sophia sees my reaction and re-assures me that this is only an hypothesis, and that no breaking in is yet evident in the flat.
She asks me more questions. I answer as truthfully as I can, but find it hard to concentrate. Suddenly the man rises his eyes-brows and asks me a very strange question. How tall is your husband, Mrs Burton? I answer surprised that he's about 4 inch tall. Everyone knows that now, it was on TV. I understand, but how long has Steve been that size? I think about it, its' been a year nearly I'd say. Then it hits me. It's been a year since he did not shrink. No one told us ever that he could shrink further. The doctors had always been evasive about this. You don't mean to say... I begin to stammer.
Well, Mrs Burton, here again, its' only an hypothesis. But considering the history of your husband's disease, there is a small margin of a possibility that he has shrunk again. He looks into my eyes. Either to appraise the impact of his statement or to try and decipher any clue on my face that could lead him to believe I did not state the full truth about Steve's size. You mean... he could be in the room... even in the bed... but too small for us to see him? My voice is shaking, I know the idea must have come to me at some stage during my search, but I never let myself fully face the possibility.
This is correct, Sophia says, and we have already taken some steps regarding this ... hypothesis. I've contacted the Bernstein Science Institute on our way here, to let them know we need their input on this. They told me they are already contemplating some action to assist us.
My mouth is getting very dry all of a sudden. I've been walking and moving things around for half of the day in the room. If Steve is really that small, then... Sophia looks at me with a concerned look. I stand up and go for some water.
Steve's story
Steve stays laying on the flat counter plane. He's gasping like a drowning fish. His arms feels like they've been ripped from their sockets. Still, he's made it. He'd seen on TV these guys who climb overhangs by simply hanging by their fingers. They have 170 pounds or more of muscles to balance during their insane prowesses. He didn't have that problem. Even though he was sick with vertigo, his grip on the wood and his constant stretching between the notches was keeping his body stuck to the overhang. He felt very much like the fly indeed.
Above him the huge silos of water bottles are keeping the view blocked, and remind him he has nothing to drink to compensate the effort he's just done. A grumbling in his stomach is a sharp reminder also that he needs to get some food. At last Steve stands up, and starts walking around the bottles. The glass is much thicker than his entire body. He can't bring himself to think that not that long ago, he could hold one of those huge things in one hand. When he comes to the front of the edifices, a vast plain of polished wood stretches for what looks like miles, encumbered on one side by various towering objects. He walks towards the edge of the counter, facing the vast empty space of the kitchen, and watching intently the three giants that are sitting in the middle. Anna is back to him, but even with his distorted vision ,he can well recognize the fluffy woolen top she wears ,and the long blonds hair that flows over it. When he gets close to the abyss he can't help and start shooting in her direction, waving his arms like a man on a desert island calling the far way ship.
But the giants are talking and his infinitesimal voice is blown away by the strong wind that seems to rush around him on the open space. Suddenly he sees Anna standing up, her massive frame stretches high in the air. An horrifying screeching noise occurs , when she pulls the chair away. In a a split second Steve is covered by a stupendous shadow, as the enormous body seems to rush to him. He sees Anna's shorts becoming a wall of blue fabric in front of him, every button on it like a bronze roundabout flying right at him. He start running away, as the huge shape is touching the counter. Above him, an enormous ceiling of white fluffy stuff is slowly descending in his direction, as Anna is stretching to catch glass in the above compartment. Before he can do anything, the white fluff is all around him , its strands, lashing on his back and sticking to his body, curving around his legs and torso. When Anna pulls away from the counter, Steve feels himself lifted off the wooden surface. He's carried away by. The woolen strands that hang loose from the bottom of her angora knit top. Everything turns into motion. As he struggles to get free, he catches the sight of a large glass striking the surface he was standing on not a second ago. Two other glasses crash onto the wood. Steve yells as loud as he can. He just about realizes that Anna has swept him away on her top, like unwanted dirt. He struggles to get free from the white sticky threads. And succeeds...
Just as Anna is turning round to speak to the police, Steve is caught by the movement on the light brown strip of skin that separates the bottom of her knitter from her shorts. He screams as he glides along the smooth skin into the large crevasse between the hot wall and the blue fabric. The sky disappears as he enters the dark region, and suddenly his fall is halted by a complex ridge . He grabs it. It's made of complex pink threads with plenty of nooks and crannies. As he establishes his balance, he can see the wall of blue coarse fabric that threatens to crush him. Above him a brown wall of skin rises into the lit area, where white strands of wool are hanging. The heat around him is incredible,as if he was standing on hot plate. Sweat starts pouring down his face. This is not going according to plan, he thinks, in a panic.
More motion is happening. He can hear gallons of water splashing in the glasses , just on the other side of the blue fabric. When Anna walks back to her chair, Steve hangs on for dear life to the pink threads he's now sitting on. His left arms is pushing against the warm wall of flesh next to him. A downward motion, and the blue fabric of Anna's shorts is closing on him, shutting the light above. In his head a single sentence come back and back like a mentra. I'm still alive, I'm still alive.
Loud gurgling noises come from above for a few seconds, and then the boom of the conversation replaces them. Steve is still trying to make sense of the darkness when something big is inserting itself in the crevasse, partly lighting it, partly obscuring it. The enormous finger quickly glides in his direction, opening an other crevasse between the warm skin and the pink fabric. Steve just has time to scream when the elastic band of the panties detach itself from the skin and the finger touches him like a moving truck, sending him headfirst in another dark and moist abyss.
Anna' s story
There are five more people with us. I was stunned when I opened the door. A cosmonaut was standing there, clad in a white plasticky looking costume, his eyes covered by some sort of transparent dome. Some sort of oxygen bottle or what is strapped to his back. Behind him two other cosmonauts are looking at me. Two serious looking gentlemen are standing at the back and beckoning me to come out.
They are from the Bernstein institute. Dr Pleet and Dr Swanson are very soft speaking people, in spite of their grim look. I can see they're concerned , but their behavior is calm and ... methodical. They speak with the police people for a little while. And then explain the situation to me. I can see more people moving what looks like some science material into the hall. One of the contraption looks like a giant square of glass , supported in a square thin metallic frame on slender feet. When I look more closely, I realize it's a huge magnifying glass, through which I can see the carpet of the hall looking like a jungle of brownish trees.
Dr Pleet has asked me and the two policemen to leave the kitchen via the side door leading into the hall. His crew is replacing us, but is hardly moving moving at all. One guy is standing behind the magnifier glass for a long minute before he pushes it further into the room. He breathes through his domed helmet. Dr Swanson is talking to me, but I'm somewhat puzzled by all this and more than a little afraid. Behind us more police is stretching yellow ribbons to condemn the door. What looks like a little toy car is slowly entering the bedroom, with an elaborated camera attached to the top part.
Mrs Burton, you cannot stay in the house. There is a probability of 6 to 10 that your husband had shrunk to a size that makes it very dangerous for him to have anyone around. We were about to call you both this week to discuss the dramatic risk. One of our researchers, Dr Hopkins, has recently come up with a theory about your husband's disease, and its prediction had lead us to believe this might happen. This is the reason why we have all this material already at our disposal.
I must ask you to go in this room with the police officers, where the three of you will be examined.
My mind is getting muddy with panic. Could I have hurt Steve by simply being there? I do not discuss anything. The tone of the doctors and their quiet insistence is maddening, but also re-assuring. Some one is helping me, all these people are helping me. They will find him.
In the hall, some neighbors are watching us , filled with excitement.
When I enter the little room (a small maintenance room I realize , for the building), the two officers are already half naked. The woman still has her skirt on, while white-clad person is inspecting it with a weird looking magnifier. She turns round very slowly, as instructed. Her colleague is standing there with an annoyed look on his face, wearing nothing but his underwear and socks, while another lab assistant is scrutinizing his trousers. I can tell he's not too happy of the way things are turning out on this assignment.
A woman is now asking me to stay still, while she starts inspecting every inch of my body. After a few long minutes, she asks me to remove my top. A chill runs between my shoulder blade when I do so. After more minutes , she asks me to remove my shorts. I stand there now in my underwear, like the officers, getting cold and totally unnerved. I feel goosebumps on my skin. I look around for more privacy and with a peevish tone in my voice I hear myself asking if I should remove my pants. The lab assistant has a very fleeting smirk, but turns around to Dr Pleet who is waiting nearby. He seems to think about it for a second, then makes a negative gesture with his head. That won't be necessary tells me the assistant with a comforting smile Here, you can dress again, as she gives me back my clothes. I sigh with relief as I button my shorts back on.
Tbc
nostromo
Giantess World
