The Subject Pt. 02

Only the woman's haunting laughter lingered...

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Cassie woke sweating and gasping for air.

The problem with controlling her dreams was that sometimes they took her by surprise. She knew that there was meaning in dreams, and nightmares, but she didn't know if she wanted to know what this one meant. Already the dream was fading, leaving only the faint impression of her own scream, "I'm nothing like you" echoing in her head.

She heard a car pull up outside.

Boris and Rita were home at last. She buried the dream deep inside, ignoring it's possibility... but unable to ignore the voice in her head that told her that suppressing it was EXACTLY what Cassandra Willover would have done...

Chapter Sixteen

Earlier...

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"Rita, really, uh... Don't you think... we should wait until we're HOME?" Boris nervously protested as Rita shoved him backward into the small changing booth."

Rita shut the door, silently thankful that it was a full door, and not the more common saloon door that most changing rooms had these days. She turned and for a moment, gazed at him lustfully, then suddenly threw herself at him, her lips mashing against his, her hands roving all over his body. Instinct won out over common sense, and Boris gave in, putting everything he had into the kiss. Her lips were soft on his, her breath hot against his mouth.

"Oh Boris..." Rita sighed as she kissed him, her hands exploring his body. "I'm... falling SO in love with you..." She stopped, her mood becoming somber and looked up into his eyes, "...But there's no telling how much time I have left is there?" Boris didn't know how to answer, and then she smiled. "I don't care, though," Her hand caressed his chest, "I could disappear right now, and it wouldn't matter, just knowing that someone like you could love someone like me."

Boris pulled her closer, held her as if he would never let her go. She held him just as tightly. "I want this," She said. "I want it right now. Not later, not in a minute. NOW. I may not have a later..." She trailed off, then finished. "None of us do." Again, she looked into his eyes, her own burning with intensity. "Even when I'm normal again... there's no telling what might happen to us. You can't promise me tomorrow, and I can't either... all we have is right NOW."

"I love you." Boris said, simply, and though they were silly, stupid words, over used and watered down by greeting cards and television commercials, when she heard them from him, she swore he was sharing with her a secret of the universe. They kissed again, determined now to never waste another second.

Rita was in heaven. His hands on her, his lips on hers...

There was nothing more that she wanted in the entire world than for this moment to last for all eternity. She pulled his hands up inside her shirt, letting them trace the curves of her breasts, and she bit her lip to stifle a moan as he circled her nipples. She felt them harden, swell at his touch. Her heart pounded as his hands slid her shirt off over her head, leaving her bare from the waist up. Those strong hands then, ever so gently, slid down over her belly, slipping easily under the waistband of her jeans...

Boris' mind had shut down altogether. There was nothing beyond this woman. She was the depth, breadth and width of all existence. The sounds of her pleasure were the music of creation in his ears. All the loneliness, and desperation and emptiness inside him was gone, replaced a million fold by the passion, hope and light, brought to him by the woman before him. He had no life beyond her at this moment, no other purpose than to please her.

He kissed her cheek, her neck, and her collarbone, thrilled at the shudders his kisses brought out of her. The scent of her filled his nostrils, electrifying his senses. The taste of her skin was ambrosia on his tongue. He wanted to fill her with ecstasy, to take her to places that she didn't know existed, not out of male pride, but out of a desperate need to show her his love.

He helped her sit on the small bench against the wall of the tiny cubicle, slid her pants easily from her hips and down her legs. He discarded them atop the shopping bags in the corner, and parted her knees with gentle pressure.

"Boris...?" Rita asked, dreamily as he dropped to his knees in front of her, "What are you doing...?"

Boris didn't say a word and merely held a finger to his lips, motioning for her silence. His hands slid forward from her knees, along the soft under curve of her thighs, parting her wider. He bent forward, following the touch of his hands with a row of butterfly kisses. His fingers traced the edges of her pubic mound, then slid downward toward the warmth of her womanhood. She trembled as he gently stroked her, parting her sex with his fingertips. Anticipation led to surprised excitement as his mouth found that opening and his tongue began to flicker gently against her labia.

Rita gasped and started to squirm. His breath was hot on her opening, his tongue so warm and wonderful, tracing around the edges, sliding up and then down, slowly... her eyes fluttered shut as she grasped the back of his head in both tiny hands and moaned, feeling moist passion building inside her. Rita's hands found purchase in Boris' thick hair and she pressed against his head, invitingly, and commanding...

Boris felt her urging hands in his hair, coaxing him on and his excitement built as he let her guide him. The moistness of her pussy on his lips... The tangy, exotic taste of her on his tongue... Her fingers raking through his hair... His fingers opened her wider as his tongue drove ever deeper into her... Feeling her tighten around it...

Boris moaned.

The sudden vibrations sent Rita higher. She swung her legs over Boris' shoulders and thrust herself forward, pressing her womanhood firmly into his face. She already felt the building of her orgasm threatening her senses with it's coming onslaught. She pulled at his hair, commanding him, begging him to send her into ultimate bliss...

The man was insatiable. His tongue darted and dove about viciously inside her, urgently wanting to feel her pleasure, desperately wanting to taste her climax in his mouth, to thrill at her juices overflowing and running down his chin. Her feet pressed against his neck, pushing him deeper into her ever-tightening opening...

Boris was never sure what it was that caused him to evaluate what his senses were telling him. But he was glad that there was at least ONE synapse in his brain that wasn't occupied with raging hormones. He broke the extended kiss on Rita and looked at her. "Oh shit..." His brain allowed him to say.

Rita was four feet tall, and still shrinking...

"Boris... honey don't stop..." She sighed, her eyes fluttering open. She looked up at Boris...

And up, and UP! "OH MY GAAAWWD!!!" She screeched.

Boris didn't know what to do. Why NOW? What was causing this? Rita began to really panic, as his mind raced, itself in a state of anxiety. She seemed to be picking up speed in her race to microscopic size. "Boris! I'M SHRINKING! OH MY GOD...! I-I'M SHRINKING!"

"C-Calm down, Rita... please." Boris put his hands on her shoulders. She was so small now...

"-FUCK- CALMING DOWN!" Her voice was rising in pitch as she fell below two feet. "I'M fucking SHRINKING!!!" She pulled away and looked at him, incredulous. "CALM down..." She echoed, sarcastically.

A theory formed in his head, like a flash of lightning, "Rita..." Boris said, as calmly as he could, despite his burning terror, "You HAVE to calm down, please. You may be making it worse by panicking. Please... take a deep breath, or something. Just calm yourself."

Frantic, Rita tried to listen to his voice. She closed her eyes and did her best to focus on anything but what was happening to her. She needed a focal point, a place to escape the fear. "I love you, Boris." She said.

"I love you too, Rita." He answered softly.

She focused on that.

His love, his caring... the way he smiled at her. She pictured the two of them together, living a normal life together when this was all over...

It seemed to work, if Boris' theory was correct. As her breathing slowed, so did her dwindling. Silence and anticipation filled the air for an eternity as he observed her. Finally she had stopped shrinking. Noticeably, at least...

Rita slowly opened her eyes. "Oh fuck." And immediately closed them again, unable to handle the truth that they relayed to her mind. Boris was gigantic. He was at least 40 feet tall, and he STILL fit inside the tiny cubicle, which meant that it was huge, as well. She tried and tried to tell her brain that the world was bigger, but her mind wouldn't hear of it, and kept on with it's argument that she was now no bigger than a doll.

Boris chewed his lip. He wanted desperately to comfort Rita, but was afraid to touch her. She had stopped shrinking at a little over 10 inches and looked SO fragile, sitting on the edge of the small bench, naked and tiny... but he had to get her home.

Rita seemed to read his thoughts. She sighed as she reluctantly opened her eyes. The little woman cocked her head up, chin jutting proudly out in defiance of her situation, and looked him in the eye. "We need to get back to the lab, Boris."

"Yeah, we do." He thought for a moment. "But how do we get you out of here?" He thought long and hard. He had no pockets to carry her in, and a ten-inch tall woman on his shoulder would DEFINITELY attract attention, now wouldn't it?

Rita looked around and then back to him, "I have an idea."

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Boris thought that he was home free as he passed the checkout row at the front of the store. Perhaps it was the briskness of his pace, or the worried look on his face, but something made him suspicious enough to be stopped at the exit by one of the store's employees. A tall man with slicked down hair and an air of self-imposed authority that he must have thought came with the S-Mart vest.

" 'Scuse me, Sir...? Can I have a look in your bag?" He asked, and Boris considered running for it. But the guy spoke with such corny intensity... and had a strange look in his eye, as well.

Boris figured him for the kind of employee who would grab a shotgun out of sporting goods and start blasting if he tried to make a break for it. He tried to talk the guy down, instead. "Listen, ummm..." Boris looked at his nametag... What the hell kind of name was 'ASH,' he wondered, "Ash...? I REALLY don't have time for this..."

"It'll only take a second, sir... Please."

If Boris weren't in such a state of anxiety, he probably would have laughed aloud. Ash sounded like a bad movie actor, playing the part of 'hero'. Boris wanted to punch him in the jaw and run. Then futility realized...

"What the hell..."

He held the bag out and opened it.

Rita looked up from the nest of clothing she lay in. The face of a huge stranger filled her view of the opening. He stared at her, a puzzled look, furrowing his brow. As fear slowly crept over her, Rita did the only thing she could think of. She smiled meekly as she raised her hand, waggled her fingers at him, and said sweetly, "Hi there, big fella."

Boris closed the bag quickly and marched swiftly out the door. He figured that the overzealous employee was probably still standing at the entrance with that same look of shock on his face by the time he was peeling out of the parking lot with tiny Rita's bag in the passenger seat.

Chapter Seventeen

"SHIT!"

Boris wanted to punch something, ANYTHING, but settled for banging his fist on the doorframe. "How could I have BEEN so stupid?!" He paced the lab, all the time being watched carefully by not one, but now TWO tiny women atop the main workspace. Rita still retained 10.5 inches, and Cass seemed to still be leveled out at around 6.75.

They sat atop a biology textbook, BOTH wearing matching outfits, now. Wrapped in the remnants of a silk scarf, and other than hair color and style, they could have been sisters. They looked at Boris then to each other. Rita shrugged. She didn't know what to say that would make him feel better. He was too busy blaming himself for what had happened to her.

"I should have KNOWN that synaptic activity would aggravate the shrinking process! DAMN!" He scolded himself, "I mean, isn't that what I programmed your nanotechs to counteract?" He asked Cass, who opened her mouth but didn't get a chance to answer...

Boris was too busy beating himself up, "...But did I remember THAT?! NOOOO...! -I- was too busy getting..." He stopped and looked at Rita, who was waiting patiently with folded arms for him to finish his sentence. Her head was cocked sideways and a look of interested expectance was on her face.

Boris started to gush. "I'm sorry Rita... I didn't think... I should have..." He stopped in front of the two women and knelt down so that his face was eye level with them... sort of. "I wasn't thinking... I'm sorry."

Rita shook her head at her new lover. "You didn't do anything, Boris." Then she thought a moment and smiled as her cheeks took on a rosy hue, "Well... you DID do SOMETHING... but you certainly didn't anticipate what happened. Who could have?"

"Boris," Cassie spoke at last, "Tanya's shrink ray is a whole new technology. The fact that you didn't anticipate that Rita's..." She looked up at the larger woman and smiled, "'SYNAPTIC ACTIVITY', would cause her to shrink faster, could have happen to anyone. There was no way you could have known this. We don't even know how the damn thing works in the first place, let alone how it KEEPS working."

"Well," Boris sighed, letting his chin rest on his hands. "One thing we DO know is that excitement and stress can cause faster shrinking." He frowned. "But you haven't shrunk very fast, Cassie..."

Cassie nodded, "I took a lot of classes in transcendental meditation at the community college. It's helped me deal with what happened to Tanya, as well as everything else."

"Do you think... you could teach me that stuff?" Rita asked, meekly, "As you can see..." She looked herself over, "I'm pretty stressed out." She looked down at Cassie, trying to look as cheerful as possible, "I'd much rather spend my time sitting in a lotus position chanting 'OHM' than to suddenly stress myself out to the size of a flea."

Cassie put her hand on Rita's, "I wish it was that simple, but there's more to it than that... I'm afraid you need a more immediate cure for your anxiety."

"A sedative." Boris said suddenly, and jumped up. The ladies watched him cross the room to a large glass closet, reminiscent of an ancient pharmaceuticals cabinet and pull out a closed beaker of clear liquid.

Rita's eyes widened and she began to tremble, "Waittaminute. You... you aren't planning on shooting me up with that stuff...? Are you?"

"Oh no, no..." Boris allayed her fears quickly. He didn't know HOW stressed she had to be to start shrinking, but drugging her seemed to be the safest bet. "THIS is a topical anesthesia that Harry developed." He began to busy himself diluting the tincture in a test-tube, "It's instantaneously... absorbed... through the skin... into the blood stream," he looked the substance over, "It then blocks out certain synaptic receptors... causing a state of psuedo-nirvana." He found a Q-Tip swab and returned to the girls. "Problem is... it doesn't block nerve receptors. A patient would still feel pain... they just wouldn't have the presence of mind to care about it." He dipped the swab in the solution. "Harry scrapped the idea, but kept the last test model around in case he ever had a break through."

He instructed Rita to put out her hand, and dabbed the back of it with the moist swab. He then gathered up an alcohol swab and cleaned the excess off her skin. "There. I needed to wipe up any residue, since it's still active, even when dry. I wouldn't want Cassie brushing against it and knocking herself out, as well."

"SO, what's exactly supposed to happen?" Rita looked at the back of her hand where he'd applied the anesthetic.

"Well... You'll start feeling warmer, at first, then you'll get a little light-headed," Boris explained.

Rita opened her sarong a bit, the air around her suddenly becoming very heated, indeed. The book she was sitting on seemed to tilt, as if lifted suddenly by a giant hand. Cassie watched with more than a little concern as she swayed. She got up and held onto Rita to steady her, but found it difficult, considering that Rita was almost 10 feet tall to her...

And giggling...

Boris continued, paying attention to the task of removing his rubber gloves and putting away the utensils of his work. "In a second... you're going to find yourself--"

"You know WHAT...?!" Rita shouted drunkenly at the three and a half foot tall redhead struggling to hold her steady, "YOU shoulda let Boris lick that little pussy yours instead'a just... FUCKIN' him!" she stated looking serious, and then snickered and chuckled giddily. "I mean...that tongue of his..." She looked over and managed a drunken wink at Boris, "Hoooo BABY!!!" she laughed, almost falling over.

"...Losing your ability to control inhibitions." Boris finished. He sighed, listening to Rita give a very loud detailed account of their adventure in the S-Mart dressing room.

Then...

"Hey, BORIS!" Rita slurred looking a bit miffed, "HOW comes... every gal you gets BUSY with... ends up shrinkin' while you doin' em? HUH!?" Then she grinned slyly, dabbing an accusing finger, almost falling over again. "You SURE that thing in yer pants ain't a magic wand or somethin', BOY? Ha Haaa! WOOOLP!!!" This last verbal assault sent Rita reeling backwards off the book, as Cassie was laughing too hard to hold on to her.

Only Rita's tiny feet were visible, "Heeeeey...! WHERE'D everybody GO!?"

At that Cass completely lost it and was rolling about on the book consumed by the giggles. It was abated as she rolled off the back of the textbook with a tiny squeal.

Rita's feet waved about lazily, "Gee... you're kinda SHORT... Ain'tcha?"

This was followed by another fit of snickers and laughter by Cassie...

Boris just shook his head, and looked at his watch. Only six more hours before he could talk to Dr. Brennan, and then he would at least have a lead on how to put an end to this situation, and get back to a semi-normal life.

As he had no choice but to listen to Rita's high-pitched invitations to 'wave his WAND over her' and Cassie's uncontrollable laughter, he wondered if he would survive the next six hours...

Or die of embarrassment...

Chapter Eighteen

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Dr. Brennan."

Boris shook the hand of the short stodgy man as he approached his office. Dr. Brennan peered through the lenses of his thick horn-rimmed glasses at Boris, and pursed his lips, thinking. "You're Harry Wolper's assistant, aren't you?" He concentrated for a moment, and then with a smile, stabbed at a guess. "Bascome!"

Boris wanted to laugh, but suppressed it. The man had the voice of Winnie the Pooh, but was considered one of the most brilliant physicists in the world. He was such a dichotomy, but Boris knew that if there were an answer to Cassie and Rita's problem, he would have it.

The girls were safe at home in the lab, Rita probably still ranting insanely under the intoxicating affects of the anesthetic. Boris hated to leave them there, but didn't know what to do. Hiding the two of them in his sports coat would be easy, but explaining to Dr. Brennan why his pocket kept going on and on about the proficiency of his TONGUE during oral sex would have been a SLIGHT problem.

"Yes sir, I was Dr. Wolper's assistant," Boris answered the question as the aging man opened the door to his office and led him inside. "Until he retired, that is."