ADVENTURES IN MINIATURIZATION
By Minimizer
Chapter 81
"First let me begin by explaining something of miniaturization technology," the director started. "The ability to fold space was discovered three years ago in experiments with superconductors. It was not until early last year that we stabilized a field and learned it could be used for miniaturization. An object, constrained in a section of folded space, could be caused to alter its dimensions to approximately four point five percent of its original height. This is a fixed ratio; it is the only point at which we have been able to maintain a stable field for anything more than a few seconds."
"Will you speak in English, please?" interrupted Tania.
"Sorry, I am explaining in as few technical terms as possible," he told them. "Suffice to say, we reduce things by collapsing space in their vicinity. The actual atoms and molecules, all the way down to the subatomic level, are all miniaturized. While the object can then exist in normal space, certain chemical and electromagnetic phenomena do not function correctly in the folded region."
"Yeah, we know all about that," Randi told him with a little shrug. "What's your point?"
"You--know that?" He looked stunned. “But how could you?”
"We were in the ceiling during your board meeting," Caitlin replied, unable to stifle a grin of satisfaction.
He looked at them with a new sense of wonder. "Of course," he said happily, as though he had just made some kind of amazing discovery. "Of course you were! This is wonderful. Even better than I thought. This proves my hypothesis beyond any doubt. Everything has come together perfectly! Ah, but I get ahead of myself."
He seemed to stop and gather his thoughts for a moment, then continued. "In any case, suffice to say, we are not the only ones who have discovered this exciting new technology. Other governments are also working on it, though I believe we are well ahead of them. In any case, we are very concerned about what can potentially be done against this country if miniaturization can be developed as a weapon. Tiny nuclear devices can destroy city blocks, miniature viruses can be easily delivered to targets, enemy assassins can slip through even the tightest security networks--you can see my point, I'm sure."
"Who do you mean, we?" Randi asked curiously. "Are you with the NSA?"
He looked over at her in surprise. "Why, yes, we are," he answered. "How did you know that?"
"I just suspected," she answered proudly.
"Good, I was afraid I had given that away, too," he said, sounding relieved. "I'm getting to old to be keeping secrets, I'm afraid. It's why I had to use those notes you saw me carrying."
"I was wondering about that," Caitlin told him. "I almost got a chance to look at them, you know."
"Oh, really?" He gave her a curious glance.
"I went out the first night, and saw them on the desk, but you took them before I could read anything."
"You were there, in the room, that first night?" he was incredulous. "If only we had installed cameras--but you would have found them, and it would have ruined everything!" He sighed for a moment. "I was right about you all along, wasn't I? Even back then. Ah, if we had only known!"
"What do you mean by that?" Caitlin demanded.
"Before I tell you, let me finish the rest." He paused to gather himself, then went on. "What we have right now amounts to a miniaturization race. We, and several other governments we know of, are secretly rushing to develop this technology. We have already discovered how to reduce people and keep them small virtually indefinitely. The problems of managing air intake as well as food and water have been long solved, at least by our side, but we still have not mastered fold-space electricity and the like. Neither have the others, so far as we know."
"So what does this have to do with you pretending to make a movie with us?" Tania demanded.
"Oh, that was just one of many similar experiments," he explained. "Not everyone can be miniaturized, you see. Perhaps no more than one percent of the population can survive for long in that state. It has to do with the way the human body's electrical impulses function. The body is extremely adaptable and can survive in many electronic environments, but being reduced to one-twenty-second normal size wreaks enough havoc that most people simply cannot stand it. I know I could not, and neither could virtually anyone else in the NSA.
"Therefore, lacking any other alternatives, we were forced to draw volunteers from the general population. Obviously, for secrecy's sake, we cannot simply announce that we need volunteers for a miniaturization project! Instead, a group is surreptitiously recruited in a variety of different ways. The movie was only one of them. In general, those who can be miniaturized meet certain profiles, including athleticism, strong passions, sharp minds, and extreme adaptability. Actors and actresses, particularly those who are physically fit, such as those with a dancing or theatrical background, seem to have an abnormally high success ratio."
Caitlin nodded in understanding. The initial interview and the application form had all been just a test to see if they were compatible with the shrinking process! She imagined the chair she'd sat in way back then probably had sensors all over it. "And you've done this lots of times?" she asked.
"Your experiment was the twelfth so far this year," he told her. "Not all were movies, of course. Sometimes we tried other tactics, like sports tryouts and the like. However, we had never before found three potentials in the same group. Usually we were lucky to find just one. The fact that you all met the requirements--not just physically, but psychologically and socially as well--was a happy coincidence, nothing more. We had only one experiment designed, but fortunately, the scripts had been prepared for up to four."
"But why all the sexy outfits?" Tania asked him, plucking derisively at her skintight white bodysuit. "What did they have to do with it?"
"Not my idea!" insisted the director, putting his hands up defensively. "It was part of the psychology of the test. Besides which, we did not know your clothing sizes in advance. It was easier to just provide garments that stretched to fit many body shapes, which is why so much of what you had to wear was Spandex."
Though she secretly doubted that was all there was to it, Caitlin could understand what he was saying. Without knowing their sizes until the applicants showed up for interviews, the scientists would have had to provide an entire wardrobe full of blue jeans in the hopes that just one pair would fit properly. Instead, a few stretchy catsuits had covered all the bases.
"And Ron?" Randi asked. "Why did you have Ron there?"
"He was part of the experiment," the director answered. "We needed some idea of the reactions of ordinary people to those who had been miniaturized."
"I'll tell you what the reaction was," Tania said angrily. "He brutalized us!"
"I know, and I apologize for that," he replied, sounding truly remorseful. "We had contingency plans for various reactions by him, but they all assumed he would have to enter the building to get to you. No one imagined it was possible to escape as easily as you accomplished it. In that, you surprised everyone." He sighed for a moment, looking at them with something akin to pride. "In the back of my mind, I suppose I believed you could escape again just as easily, but I managed to convince myself you would not try it for fear of a similar encounter. I was wrong. You proved me wrong, and for that I thank you."
"Why? What do you mean by that?" asked Caitlin. "Are you going to get to the point of this or not?"
"Yes, yes, just bear with me," he went on. "As I said, there are only a small percentage of people who can be miniaturized safely. And, as I also said, our government is terribly concerned about the threat of miniaturization technology being used against us. Therefore, it has been proposed that we field a cadre of miniaturized agents to act against this threat. To fight fire with fire, as it were. That is why we have been testing people in so many different experiments, and is in fact the ultimate goal of our project."
They just looked at him for several moments, letting that sink in. It was the answer they had been looking for. It explained everything that had happened since this whole adventure began. As they thought about it, the pieces of the puzzle fell neatly and silently into place.
"Now that I've told you all of our plans," he said after a moment, "I have a few more words for you. You have succeeded in doing something none of us, myself included, ever dreamed was possible. By yourselves, without any assistance from us whatsoever, you have crossed a city and managed to restore yourselves to normal size. What you have done is incredible, truly incredible. You are to be congratulated!"
He gave them a smile, lifting up on his glasses as if to acknowledge their feat. Then he went on, and they had the sense that he was at last driving towards some inevitable, inexplicable conclusion. "If you wish," he said, "you can now go back to your homes, secure in the knowledge that you have accomplished the impossible. Or, you can at least consider what I have to say."
And then the director did the one thing none of them had ever expected.
"I want you to come to work for us," he told them in complete seriousness. "You will form the core of our team of miniaturized agents. I'm offering you a job!"