Never trust a scientist

It was a very stormy night in the state of Illinois. The rain was coming down very hard and for people of the roads it was a nightmare. It was rather cold autumn’s night as well with the temperature being a couple of degrees above freezing .A few roads had been closed because they were being flooded. Most motorists had known better then drive out in this weather. But there was a young couple still out on the roads.
This couple was Bobby Hampton and Julie Drake. Bobby was 5’8 with blonde hair with brown eyes. He was wearing a red sweat shirt with black pants and sneakers. Julie was 5’6 with brown hair and hazel wyes. She wore a brown top with blue jeans and black flip flops. The couple were both in their early 20’s and had been going out with each other for a number of years. They were on their way to Julie’s family reunion.
But with the weather in the rural part of the state they couldn’t travel very far. It was almost impossible to see out of the windows. There was no way that anyone could drive in those conditions.
The couple were also lost. They hadn’t known where they were going for miles. They were hoping that they would find their way eventually. But they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.
“I knew we should have taken that turning,” said Julie.
“I know I know,” replied Bobby. “But I don’t think we’re going anywhere tonight. I can’t see a thing.”
Julie looked out of the window and she saw the outline of a building. She could see lights inside so she knew that someone was there. She quickly pointed it out to Bobby who was driving.
“Look a house,” said Julie. “Maybe they’ll be nice enough to let us stay for the night. Or at least until the weather improves”
“I don’t know,” replied Bobby.
“I’ll let you have some fun later.” She then winked at him.
This was all Bobby needed and he drove to the house. But when they got there they saw that it was a lot larger then they had expected. It was a very old house but there was definitely somebody in there.
Julie walked up to the door and knocked it. They both waited there for a minute. They didn’t think anyone was coming. But then the door creaked open. They saw a very tall thin man wearing a butler’s outfit. He had long black hair and a moustache. He stared at them for a moment.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Yes you can,” replied Julie. “I know this might sound rude of us but we desperately need to find a place to stay for the night. We have money to pay for anything. Please help us.”
“I’ll consult the master of the house. Come in for the time being.”
Bobby and Julie were led into a large sitting room. It seemed huge and they thought that they could fit their entire apartment into this one room. There was a stag’s head on the wall. This disgusted Julie since she had taken part in a couple of protests to promote animal rights. But Bobby seemed to like the room.
“This place doesn’t look too bad,” said Bobby.
“I guess so,” replied Julie. “Well besides the stag trophy.”
“Maybe it’s artificial. You can pick them up on EBay.”
“Looks real enough to me.”
Just then she noticed a strange man wearing rags. He was crouching a lot and he seemed to have a humped back. The pair could smell him from there and it wasn’t a particularly nice smell. He grinned at them and they saw his yellow teeth. He walked over to the pair still grinning.
“Hello you are very handsome,” said the man to Bobby.
“Thank you I guess,” replied Bobby.
“And you.” He then turned to Julie. “Are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Your boyfriend here is a very lucky man. May I kiss your hand?”
“Mortimer!” shouted a voice.
Just then Bobby and Julie saw a man standing in a doorway. He was 6’2 with silver hair and grey eyes. He wore an professor’s suit and he was glaring at Mortimer. Mortimer himself cowered in fear from him.
“What have I told you about treating guests?” he asked.
“I’m sorry sir,” replied Mortimer.
“You will be sorry.”
He then walked towards Bobby and Julie. Mortimer moved away from them. But his master’s frown turned into a smile.
“I must apologise for my assistant,” he said. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Erik Eisenhardt I’m the master of this house. My butler Mr. Wyngarde told me of your unexpected arrival.”
“Yes we’re sorry to burst in on you Erik,” replied Julie. “But the weather is too bad for us to keep travelling. We were wondering if you were generous enough to let us stay for the night.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t want anyone being out in weather like this. I haven’t seen weather like this for years.”
“Thank you very much and if you’re wondering my name is Julie and this is my boyfriend Bobby. And I must say you have a beautiful home.”
“It’s been in my family for generations. Now just before Mr. Wyngarde takes you to your rooms I would like to show you something.”
“Sure.”
Both Bobby and Julie got up and they followed Erik. They were also followed by Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde. Erik took them down a long corridor and down into a basement. There they saw several odd contraptions around the place. There were metal parts on the ground and there was a large ray gun in the middle of the room.
“What is all this,” said Bobby.
“I am an inventor,” replied Erik. “What you see around you is the fruits of my research.” He then pointed to the large ray gun. “That over there is the gem of my years of work.”
“What is it?”
“I’m glad you asked. It’s a special ray I invented that’s able to change the size of almost anything. Now if I may have your friend here I’d like to demonstrate.”
Julie was a little unsure whether she should let him. But she was curious and she agreed. Erik made her stand in front of the ray gun. He went to the control panel and he pushed a couple of buttons and pulled a lever or two.
Then a beam came out of the ray gun and hit Julie. She felt a tingly feeling throughout her. But then she saw something strange. It seemed that everything around her was growing. She looked at Bobby and Mortimer.
“Hey why are you guys growing?” she asked.
“We’re not growing,” replied Bobby. “You’re shrinking babes.”
“What?”
It was true Julie was getting smaller. The beam had stopped hitting her but she was still shrinking. She was terrified and she looked up as everything continued to grow. But to her delight she stopped shrinking at 3 inches tall. She felt like she was in some kind of sci-fi movie.
“That’s amazing,” said Bobby. “You shrunk my girlfriend.”
“Yes but with living beings for some reason my ray only works on the female of the species. It works regardless with inanimate objects hence Julie’s clothes shrinking with her.”
“So can it only make things smaller?”
“No it can make things bigger as well. But in early tests I accidentally put the settings too high and this caused the test subjects to shrink to oblivion.”
“Hey guys,” said Julie from the ground. They all looked at her. “I know what you’re talking about is very interesting but you wouldn’t mind making me my normal size again?”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” replied Erik.
“What do you mean you won’t?”
By now Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde were holding onto Bobby. He was trying to get to Julie but the pair of them combined were too much for him. Erik squatted down and picked up Julie. She had tried to avoid this but it had been impossible.
“You see I’ve been meaning to use human test subjects for some time. Now I have you two I won’t need it.”
“W-what are you going to do with us?” replied Julie.
“There’s an experiment young Bobby would be ideal for. But for you I want to see what happens when I keep a human in a shrunken state.” He then looked at Bobby. He was still being held by Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde. “Take him his chambers. I’ll show Julie here her new home.”
Bobby was quickly taken to a room where he was strapped onto a table. He struggled as much as he could but the restraints were too much. He stared at Mortimer and tried to spit at him but his saliva missed.
“Let me go!” demanded Bobby.
“Not without the master’s consent,” replied Mr. Wyngarde. “And I wouldn’t struggle those bonds hurt if you keep struggling.”
“You’re kidding of course I’m going to struggle. I’m going to get the hell away from you at that whack job.”
“And leave your beloved here. I seriously doubt it. The Master will be with you shortly. He’s just showing Julie her new accommodations.”
Meanwhile in the next room Erik was putting Julie in a parrot cage. She was struggling but she didn’t have enough energy in her body to put up that good of a fight. She was gently thrown into the cage and the door was immediately.
The cage itself was hanging from the ceiling. The door was on a hinge and she thought that she would easily be able to open the door and attempt an escape.
“My dear I really wouldn’t try and escape if I was you,” said Erik. You maybe able to open the door. But you couldn’t survive a fall like this. Its four and a half feet to the bottom. A fall like that would easily kill someone of your diminutive stature. So I expect you to stay put.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not going to try,” replied Julie.
“You can try nonetheless. It’ll prove useless.”
He then walked out of the room and Julie used the latch of the door to open it. But that was the easy part. She hated to admit it but Erik was right. There was no way she could get down by herself. If she had a parachute she could just float down. But since she didn’t have one of those she’d have to do something else.
But when she had come into the room she had noticed that the cage had been on a hook. She had an idea in her mind. She knew that it would be a long shot but right now it was all she had.
She began to run from one end of the cage to the other. This was a small trek for her. But she was doing it faster and it caused the cage to swing. The more she ran the more the cage swung. She could feel it about to come off its hook. She had to be careful at this moment. When the cage would fall she had to make sure the impact didn’t kill her. This would prove difficult.
But when the cage came off its hook she tried to keep away from the part that was going to hit the ground first. But this was difficult since gravity was working against. But thankfully for her she was able to get into the right position just before the cage hit the ground. She survived the impact relatively uninjured.
But Julie was face with another problem. The door was now facing the ground and she could get out. She had to sue the last of her strength to roll the cage so that she could get out through the door. But after her escape Julie was very tired. She hadn’t done anything like that before and she was very tired.
But unfortunately Julie didn’t have time to sit around and catch her breath. She needed to help Bobby and restore herself to normal size. She just hoped that she wasn’t going to be in for anymore nasty surprises.
Back in the other room Bobby was still struggling. But his wrists and ankles were starting to ache. He was constantly watched by Mortimer while Mr. Wyngarde had gone away to fulfil other duties.
“Stop staring at me already,” said Bobby.
“I can’t help it you’re so beautiful,” replied Mortimer.
“Weirdo.”
“Hey!”
“And get a bath.”
“Had one last year.”
Just then Erik entered the room. He had been hearing what had happened and he agreed with Bobby.
“I’m afraid he’s right,” said Erik. “You really do need a bath.”
“But master bathing distracts me from helping you,” replied Mortimer.
“I do not require your help for a while. Bathe yourself thoroughly.”
“As you wish.”
Mortimer then went away leaving Erik and Bobby alone in the room. He went over to where Bobby was lying. He then checked tat the restraints were tight enough. They were up to standard.
“You freak why are you doing this?” asked Bobby.
“Please don’t take any of this personally,” replied Erik. “This is all for the name of science.”
“People know enough already. There’s no need to know anymore.” Bobby was beginning to get nervous.
“You say that but there’s still a lot more that the human race needs to know. Consider yourself honoured. You’re going to help me develop new things that can practically make the human race immortal.”
“No one wants to live forever.”
“Would you be saying the same if someone had a gun to your head? No you’d beg for your life. Now be a good boy and just relax.”
In the other room Mr. Wyngarde was just going into check on Julie. But he was greatly surprised to see that her cage had fallen to the ground. But when he looked inside he saw that it was empty. He knew then that she had escaped. But he figured that she couldn’t have gotten far.
He was right Julie wasn’t far. There was a table near the door and the tiny Julie was hiding behind one of the legs. She peeped out to see when it was a good time to run out of the door.
She waited for Mr. Wyngarde to turn his back before running. He couldn’t hear her and she used this to her advantage. But as she ran down the corridor she could hear Bobby not too far. She walked to the other room and she could see Bobby on the table. Again she stayed out of sight. She saw Erik about to inject him with a strange serum. But then Mr. Wyngarde came into the room.
“What is it?” asked Erik.
“Julie has escaped sir,” replied Mr. Wyngarde.
“How could this have happened?” He then growled a little. “Never mind we must find her quickly. She’s essential to my studies.”
“What about Bobby.”
“Leave him for now. He’s not going anywhere.”
Both Erik and Mr. Wyngarde both left the room. Bobby was relieved that he wasn’t injected with anything. But when they were gone Julie came out of hiding and Bobby saw her on the ground.
“Julie,” said Bobby.
“Shush,” replied Julie. “Do you want them to hear us?”
“Sorry.”
“Never mind. I’ve gotta get you out.”
“Can you actually do that?”
“I’ve gotta try at least.”
Julie used then climbed up the leg of the table that Bobby was lying on. It took her several minutes to reach the top. She was lucky that she didn’t fall. If she had of done she would have surely been killed.
But when she reached the top of the table she went to the restraints on bobby’s right hand. There was a screw keeping it in place and using all of her strength she unscrewed it. This freed Bobby’s right hand and he was able to release himself from the other restraints.
“Thanks for that Julie,” he said.
“You’re welcome,” replied Julie. “Now take me down to the basement so I can be big again.”
“Right.”
Bobby quickly picked up Julie and he left the room. But down the corridor he could see Mortimer so he quickly hid. Unfortunately for them Mortimer was right by the basement door. There didn’t seem to be anyway around him. He also knew that it wouldn’t be long until Erik and Mr. Wyngarde returned.
“How do we get past him?” asked Julie.
“I have a cunning plan,” replied Bobby.
There was a small stone by Bobby’s feet and he picked it up. He threw it down corridor right past Mortimer. He then chased after the stone and Bobby and Julie went down into the basement. Mortimer was none the wiser to what had happened and he returned to his post.
In the basement Bobby and Julie quickly went back to the ray gun. Julie seemed to be quite happy.
“Make me big again,” said Julie. “I don’t think we have much time.”
But then a pair of huge arms came around Bobby. He tried to break free but he wasn’t strong enough. He was able to turn around and he saw a man. This man was not like any man Bobby had ever seen before. He was 8 feet tall and had rolls of fat all over his body. But his strength was superhuman. He also looked like a zombie due to the lack of pupils in his eyes.
But no sooner had this large man caught them Erik, Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde came down into the basement. Erik seemed to be annoyed with what had happened but he was glad that they had been caught.
“Good work Fred,” said Erik.
“What is this thing?” replied Bobby.
“This is an experiment of mine. As you can see he’s become more powerful then even I could have imagined.”
“He’s a monster.”
“He’s perfect. Now bring them to me Fred.”
Fred then passed Bobby and Julie over to Erik, Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde. Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde kept a hold on Bobby and Erik took Julie out of his hand. She was scared at this moment in time.
“Now my dear you’ve proved to be too risky for me,” said Erik. “You’ve become a major nuisance.”
“What are you going to do?” replied Julie.
“You’ll be joining the sheep and the box.”
“Where are they?”
“In oblivion.”
Julie was a little confused right now. But then she remembered Erik saying that he had accidentally shrunk a couple of things so small that they couldn’t seen anymore. She knew that was what Erik was going to do.
“No you can’t,” she begged.
“I can and I will,” replied Erik.
He then put her down in front of the ray gun. Julie tried to run away but he quickly activated the ray once again. The beam hit her with great accuracy. She then saw everything around her grow once again.
“Help me!” she squeaked.
But there was nothing Bobby could do to save her. All he could do was watch as Julie shrank out of sight. He could hear her screaming but when she disappeared there was nothing left.
“You monster you killed her!” shouted Bobby.
“She’s experiencing something that no other human being has ever experienced,” replied Erik. “Let’s hope she survives the experience.”
“You won’t get away with this.”
“Take him away.”
Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde were just about to take Bobby out of the basement. But Fred put his arm out and stopped them. The pair weren’t sure what was happening here. Fred had never done anything like this.
“What do you think you’re doing Fred,” said Erik.
“Hurt,” replied Fred.
“What was that?”
“You hurt me.”
Fred now began to get angry. Erik took a couple of steps back. He knew that he was in trouble.
“Now Fred you know that I only did it to benefit you,” said Erik.
“You hurt me,” replied Fred.
“Stop him!”
Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde quickly let go of Bobby and they tried to restrain Fred. But he easily overpowered them and threw them to one side. He then turned his attentions back to Erik.
“Use the weapons you fools,” demanded Erik.
Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde then grabbed a pair of electrical prods and they began to prod at Fred. But during the confusion no one noticed that Bobby was at the ray gun. He switched it to grow and turned the dial to max. He then activated the ray.
It was then that Erik noticed him and he grabbed him. Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde were still preoccupied with Fred.
But everyone had failed to notice a tiny speck where the beam had hit. It was Julie growing slowly. But as the seconds went by she was growing faster and faster. But all she could see around her was carnage.
But not too far from her Erik was still wrestling with Bobby. But Bobby seemed to be a little stronger and he seemed to be over powering them.
“Guys,” said a quiet voice. Everyone ignored the voice. “Guys.” This time the voice was louder. But still it was ignored. “GUYS!”
This time the voice was almost booming and this got everyone’s attention. They all looked over to Julie. She had grown past her normal size and was up to 7 feet tall. But she was still growing and fast.
“I’m still growing,” she said. Her head then hit the ceiling and she was being forced to crouch.
All the men could do was watch as she grew bigger. But when she began to take up all the room in the basement they all soon realised that she would be bursting out. From the rate she was growing it wouldn’t be long.
“Every man for himself!” shouted Mortimer.
All the men ran out of the basement. No sooner had they done this Julie’s giant hand burst through the door. They had to run out of the building and they just looked from the outside. But after a minute there was no sign of Julie.
“Maybe she stopped growing,” said Mortimer.
Then they heard a cracking sound. They saw a giant hand come through one of the windows. But then Julie stood up and she went through the ceiling. She burst out of the house and she still grew. At first Erik thought that she wasn’t going to stop. But eventually she did stop at well over 200 feet.
“Oh this isn’t good,” said Mr. Wyngarde.
Julie glared down at them before bending over to pick Erik, Mortimer and Mr. Wyngarde up. She had all three of them in her one hand. She was very angry at all three of them.
“Looks like the Incredible Shrinking Julie just became the Amazing Colossal,” said Julie. She then bent over once again and picked up Bobby. Her expression went from angry to being worried. “You alright?”
“Yeah I’m fine thanks,” replied Bobby.
“That’s good.” She then looked down at Fred. “And you!”
“No Julie he helped me.”
“Helped you?”
“I don’t think he intended to but he still helped me. Now let’s restrain those guys and get you back to normal size.”
“Well actually…” She then looked down and saw that her foot was on top of the ray gun. It was completely destroyed. “I think I just stepped on the ray.”
“Crap we can’t make you small again.”
“I’ll deal with that later. But in the meantime let’s take our hosts to the local authorities.” She then looked down at Fred. “Stay here.”
“O-Ok,” replied Fred.
She then began to walk away. But Bobby was still worried about what they were going to do with the now giant Julie.
“Maybe there’s a way to cure you,” said Bobby.
“Maybe there is and maybe there isn’t,” replied Julie. “And besides I’ve always wondered what it be like to be a giant.”

The End.