Description:

After four years in prison for a particularly explosive breakup, Harper has reinvented herself—using an eidetic memory and a prison library full of chemistry and engineering texts to invent something no one else has: a working shrink suit. Voice-activated, reversible, and compact enough to carry in her hand, the suit lets her shrink to six inches and grow back on command. What starts as a scientific triumph quickly turns into a new career path as Harper discovers just how useful (and profitable) being a tiny, undetectable cat burglar can be. A clever, tech-driven size story of invention, crime, and the thrill of getting very, very small.

(shrink suit, progressive shrinking, size difference, cat burglar, tech fetish)

Excerpt:

Since the gas was recycled, moving from a liquid and back to gas again—it never ran out of charge, unless of course the formula leaked out. She’d built metal housings around the spots where the formula was liquidized, so hopefully that wouldn’t be a problem. Now, with the tiny dog yipping eagerly for its meal, she sat with her back to her workbench, the suit standing on a rack just in front of her. She slipped in the formula, heard the ding that it had been accepted and was now circulating through the suit, and sat back. Finally she calibrated her voice so that it recognized only her.

“Here goes nothing,” she said, sitting up straight. Then, in as clear a voice as possible, said, “Shrink.”

There was no delay for results. As if by magic, the suit rapidly began to dwindle away in front of her, snapping off the rack and starting to fall over just as Harper put a hand behind to catch it. When it was lying flat, it wasn’t on the ground. Now it was resting in her hand. From head to toe, the suit was only six inches tall. The thought of the possibilities made her heart race. But only if it were reversible. She put the suit on the ground and stood over it.

“Grow.”

And almost instantly it shot forward, legs coming toward her, head moving away. In the same amount of time it took to shrink, it had grown back. The test had been a success.

Now, with her heart pounding in her chest, she wanted to move on to the next one.

The suit was black and felt like leather, as if she were dressing up to cosplay as Catwoman. In truth, it was a leather substitute that was conducive to transferring the gas inside it. She made it as comfortable as possible, with treads on the shoes that could grip most surfaces. The gloves matched. She wasn’t sure why she’d designed the suit in such a way, not yet anyway, but that would come later. Even in the back of her mind she thought she needed a black hood, something to hide her face. But why? And from who?

Harper turned to the mirror, thinking she looked very much like a superhero. Or a cat burglar. Oddly enough, the latter seemed to be a much more thrilling idea. She made sure the gloves were tight, then took a step back. The mic was right by her lips, waiting for her to utter the magic word.

“Shrink.”

Other Info:

9,604 words Instant download • PDF & ePUB • Short story