Not A Toy 070

Sophie thought nothing of the woman's missing boots and socks. Let some kid find them and shove them up their nose, it didn't matter to the scientist. All that mattered was removing anything from this environment that would clearly demonstrate that her device had been here. For now, the most pertinent on that list were the two women - and they had been secured. Sophie wasn't a monster, or so she told herself, she had no intention of seriously harming or even killing the pair. She just needed time to make them understand the importance and severity of what was happening, and if the redhead had an opportunity to capture some additional data at the same time? 

Well, that was just a bonus.

Truth be told, Sophie couldn't deny the rising thrill of using her device. She stood over the already dwindled chair and fired, just as the dress and shoes had done, it rapidly shrunk almost out of sight. She hadn't created this device out of some ego-driven need for power over others, it had all been in the name of science, but she couldn't deny the quiet satisfaction she had felt in holding a reflection of her genius in the palm of her hand. What was more, those feisty women had been so much easier to manage than if they had been their normal size. If the situation had been different, and Sophie had come upon them with the device while they weren't shrunk - would the scientist had even considered that shrinking them was a viable option?

Almost certainly not!

The pair's fiddling with what was clearly too complicated for them had got them into this predicament, and Sophie would be the one to get them out of it - once they had finally got over themselves and actually listened.

She reached down and felt the positively tiny stool between her thumb and index finger, lifting it off the floor - it weighed barely anything. In her otherwise clenched palm, the chair joined the woman's red garment. The scientist stood, delighted at just how effective her precious device was, and found the other already dwindled chair. She puzzled at how it had become shrunk... 

Just what had those two been up to? The pair had been inventive at least, and had nearly succeeded in opening the door when Sophie burst into the room. By the scientist's reckoning, it was lucky she arrived when she did. What if those two had been spotted? The rest of the world wasn't exactly ready to know that a 'shrink ray' really existed. 

The device lit up, and soon the other stool was just as small as its partner. She strode over and lifted it to join her tiny collection of objects. Unable to resist, the woman opened her palm wide and simply basked in the sight. No destabilization, even at these smaller sizes! She had known her device was ready for wider-testing, but had they listened, no!

It was hard to believe that the stools that lay in her hand had sat fully sized children just hours ago, and that the dress had perfectly adorned an adult's figure! Despite her rush, the scientist relished in her thoughts longer than she should have...

A voice eventually rose in her mind though. She had to get moving, and at last - she was ready to leave.