Logan sighed as he came back down the stairs. Those guys were such idiots sometimes. Was he really the only one here who knew how to use a computer? Fortunately, fixing the network only took a couple of minutes. One of the cables came loose in the back of one of the machines, that was all.
Shaking his head, he stepped back into the reception area and plopped down into the plush chair behind the desk. The clerk they usually had in here was out sick today, so someone had to man the phones, and that would have to be him. Well, he could think of worse chores, he thought to himself as he pulled out the paper, never noticing the two tiny figures cowering behind the telephone.
Taking a long sip of his refreshingly warm coffee, he leaned back and put his feet up, perusing the news slowly and deliberately. The radio in the garage was playing loudly, and he found himself whistling softly to the tune he could hear in the distance. He didn't feel at all guilty about slacking on the job, for that's what his position was like sometimes. Hours and hours with little to do, and then suddenly a rush of adrenaline as the bell sounded and they hurried off to save lives and property. He remembered his father telling him that firefighting was just like being on patrol in a war--hours of boredom wrapped around minutes of sheer terror. Yes, it was similar, but no longer truly terrifying. Logan was enough of a veteran now to recognize his own fears and control them, using the emotion to protect himself rather than create unnecessary risks.
Upstairs, the rest of the guys were playing cards or computer games, as usual, but Logan had no interest in that today. He actually preferred solitude most of the time. As soon as he was done with the paper, he planned to surf the Internet for a while, since he couldn't do that at the house. After all, he had no intention of giving his tiny pets any chance of figuring out how to send emails or anything like that. Instead, he did all his surfing on the job. Perhaps today he'd log back into that new online multiplayer game and try it again. The thing sure was addictive--but he didn't like the way he couldn't leave at the drop of a hat. If the bell went off, he knew he'd never have time to camp, especially if he was in the middle of a fight.
His mind was still drifting along those lines when his eyes skimmed over the headline. He almost didn't realize the impact of the words at first, but then suddenly he sat bolt upright as he read them again. "Scientists Shrunk For a Year" read the title. Logan just stared at it, open-mouthed, for about a minute as he gradually grasped the meaning behind those words.
Then, mouth hanging open, he started reading the article, heart fluttering as he devoured every sentence.
"Oh, God, it's Logan!" whispered Brooke, ducking back into the shadows behind the phone. "What do we do?"
"Sit still!" Abby commanded as strongly as she could while remaining as quiet as possible. "He doesn't know we're here! There's no way he'll ever guess! We just have to wait till he goes away, that's all."
Brooke was now visibly trembling and was struggling to control herself. "We can't chance it," she gasped through ragged breaths. "We have to--have to make a break for it, before he sees us!"
"You little whore!" snapped Abby. "If you give me away now, I'll strangle you myself!"
Brooke's fear made a sudden and drastic left turn into anger. "Shut up!" she whispered loudly. "Just shut up! Quit giving me orders, God damn it!"
At that Abby lunged forward and clapped her hand over Brooke's mouth, intending to silence her before Logan could hear any part of their conversation. Naturally, Brooke figured she was under attack, so she defended herself by grabbing Abby's arm and struggling against the pressure on her face. The two women went down in a heap, rolled over a couple of times, and were about to start pounding each other when the loud sound of Logan coming to his feet shocked them back to reality.
Their mutual hatred forgotten, they scuttled back into the shadows and cowered there, waiting to see what he would do next.
Logan's mind was awhirl as he read the article through for the third complete time. The revelations on the printed page were astonishing. There were others like Brooke and Abby! This in and of itself wasn't all that surprising--he always suspected there might be other survivors he never heard about in his haste to get home and play with his new toys for the first time. What was stunning was the news that the effects could be reversed. That changed everything!
For the first time, Logan had to face the possibility that his little pets could get back to normal size. Over all the long months with them in his charge, he managed to convince himself that such a thing would never be possible. Early on, he half expected the effects to wear off over time, but when it became clear that wouldn't happen, he decided the size change was permanent and irreversible. Now he knew that wasn't true at all, and he found himself feeling strangely awful about having kept them prisoner against their will. What was he supposed to do now?
He pushed that thought aside for the moment and started to consider other, more practical matters. What if his two captives knew about this already? They had no way to see the newspaper, but he knew they loved to watch television--that was one of the things that kept them from becoming bored out of their minds. What if they saw the announcement on the news? They never had any motivation to escape before, but now they sure did! Even now they could be trying to get out of the house, or they might already be out, braving their fear of the outside world in their attempt to get to safety. What if they got hurt? He couldn't bear the thought of some animal catching them, or worse yet, someone else picking them up and taking them home for himself.
Logan stood up, realizing suddenly that he had to get home and make sure Brooke and Abby were still there. If nothing else, he had to put them in a cage until he figured out what to do. Unless he completely removed the TV and radio, cutting them off completely from the outside world, there was no way he could keep them from learning about this. Even if he did that, what if they already did know? He'd never be able to tell for sure. One morning he could wake up and find them both gone!
He took two steps towards his coat and then stopped, staring at it. The coat! He hadn't really checked it all that well this morning, had he? What if they snuck inside, and came to work with him today? They could be in the building right now! The chances of that seemed pretty slim, but he knew better than to take any risks where his two little pets were concerned.
Now, he thought, if I were them and I wound up in here, what's the first thing I'd do? Go for the phone, he realized at once. Anxiously, he started to search around on his desk, not really expecting to find anyone, and was almost shocked when he looked behind the receiver and spotted the two tiny women hiding there.
"Well, well, well," he said with a smile, even as the two tiny girls stared up at him in horror. "Look what I found!"