Description: 

Min built a shrinking serum that could change medicine forever--if it weren't for one fatal flaw: once it starts, it never stops. Alone in her lab after a humiliating meeting and one drink too many, a single spilled drop is all it takes.

With no cure, no way to call for help that would arrive in time, and only hours before she's gone entirely, Min has to decide how she wants to spend what's left of herself.

(Shrinking, body horror, sci-fi tragedy, solo character study, irreversible transformation--scientist shrinks from full height to nothing)

Excerpt: 

"Ow, fuck!" she said, and felt her feet twisted around in the shoes. Min rolled over onto her ass and looked at them—the left one was askew, as if there wasn't even a foot in there. But that's because there wasn't, as she'd nearly come out of it in her fall. She stood, fixed her shoes and smoothed her lab coat. The bracelets started to jingle again because each time she moved her arms up and down, they moved in the opposite direction.

And that's when Min started to piece things together.

She was shaking now, her mind suddenly clear of the spiderwebs that the alcohol had brought on earlier. Standing in the middle of the lab, she assessed her surroundings, as well as her own body. Eyes closed, she felt a tugging, gentle and just beneath the surface, but it was there. It was like a thousand tiny fishhooks in her scalp, subtly pulling her down. There were tingles all over, more fishhooks, and they each tugged inward. When she opened her eyes, she watched the wall-mounted computer monitor directly ahead, and if she concentrated hard enough, could see it sliding up.

Min was shrinking.

The girl pulled back her cuff and looked at her wrist, then scratched a pin-sized red spot with her gloved hand. It burned a little, but that was to be expected. A very toxic, very dangerous substance had just muscled its way through her epidermis, and by now it was floating all through her body, changing her cells, wrapping them with CTX formula, and compressing them. If she'd been quick, she could've sawed off her arm and perhaps saved herself. But that time had come and gone. Now, she was on a rollercoaster ride that wouldn't stop, wouldn't slow down. She had about four hours at best, but her mind wasn't ready to accept the inevitable.

"Shit, shit, shit!" she said, and ran her fingers through her hair. She pulled out her huge binders—the last year of data—and began thumbing through her original code, wondering if she could do anything to help herself. She'd been trying for weeks to find a regrowth agent, or at least something that would slow the shrinking.

The tears stinging her eyes told her that she didn't believe that one bit.

A cure? Probably not. But she had to try. She couldn't call for help—there was a night security guard downstairs at the desk, but what could he do? No, there was little hope. She could only pass the time, marching toward her fate. But she wouldn't go quietly—she would at least attempt to save herself.

Other Info:

6,033 words

Originally Published March 29th, 2021

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