Randi MacPherson sighed as she stared out the minicopter's passenger window at the lights of the town far below. She remembered how, when she was a little girl, she'd taken her first plane flight. She'd thought the world was so tiny, the people just ants and the buildings like little dollhouses. They were all still the same size as before, of course, it was just a different point of view.
Well, things still looked small from far above, but the reality was far different now, wasn't it? The world was really a much bigger place than it appeared, since she was less than three inches high.
Even today, months after joining the NSA and after countless miniaturization exercises, it still felt weird being so tiny, Randi thought. You'd think, after going through so many obstacle course runs through vacant supermarkets or darkened city blocks, she wouldn't get so damn scared just at the thought of being small, but she did. At least she'd accepted the fact that she'd probably never get completely used to it.
Don was a big help, and every day Randi was with him she thanked her lucky stars that she'd been delivered into his gentle hands that day in the North Hollywood post office. He was the one who'd shown her being shrunk didn't have to be a bad thing. As long as she was with him, even if it was just to watch TV from his shoulder or go to the movies in his pocket, she felt like it was all right to be so small. And, of course, there were other reasons, too, things they'd done together that brought a smile to her face even now. After all, what other couple got to try the things she and Don could do?
It was too bad he couldn't come with her on this assignment, she thought, but that was a ridiculous idea. There was no way Don Kendall, an ordinary postal worker, would ever fit in at the NSA, and he was the first one to admit it. And Randi knew what would happen if she tried asking John to let Don accompany her at full size on a case, even just as an observer or escort.
Randi chuckled at that. She could just imagine the conversation that would take place if she showed up one day at John's desk with Don in tow. "Hey, boss, this is my boyfriend. He knows everything about SciTek, and wants to work with us on our next assignment, is that OK?" Well, it might be worth it just to see the look on John's face, but that was about all.
Actually, Randi was quite aware that John already knew, or at least suspected, Don's presence in her life. She'd left too many clues for someone as smart as Dr. Radcliffe to miss, and something as simple as a phone trace on Caitlin yesterday would've easily pinpointed where she'd been spending her weekend. So, she figured, John knew at least some of what was going on, but didn't care as long as they stayed quiet about it and Don didn't reveal her little secret to the world.
Well, Don would never do that, she was certain. Besides, who would believe he had a girlfriend who worked for a secret branch of the NSA that made her spend half the time shrunk down to three inches tall? The whole idea was ludicrous, so much so that she sometimes doubted it was all for real. She figured eventually she'd wake up from this odd dream, but as long as it continued, she was going to enjoy it.
After all, despite all her fears and worries, she was still having a hell of a time, wasn't she?
Tania came over and sat down on the seat next to Randi. "You all right?" asked the much taller woman. "Got the jitters?"
"A little," Randi admitted, tearing her eyes from the window. It was dark anyway, so all she could see was light from the occasional farmhouse or car several hundred feet below. "Mostly I was just thinking about Don, you know? He's got to be worried about me."
"Well," Tania replied, trying not to think about what Kevin might be up to at that moment, "Caitlin says we're only about ten minutes away from the town. Better come up to the front and help us on lookout."
Randi nodded in agreement, and both of them stepped out of the passenger segment of the minicopter and into its bubble-shaped cockpit. From here, the view was much more open, and up ahead Randi could see the glow from the town that was their destination. Unfortunately, in this compartment the din from the whirling blades overhead was much more pronounced, so much so she could barely hear herself think. She picked up a nearby helmet and put it on, making sure it was plugged into the intercom system.
"ETA about five minutes," said Caitlin's voice in her ear. "Have a seat and help us navigate, will you?"
"No problem," replied Randi, taking one of the two remaining unoccupied positions in the cockpit, directly behind Tania. With a snicker, she added, "I don't think we want to land and ask for directions, do we?"
Tania laughed. "That'd be great," she put in. "Can you see the look on some poor hick's face when we land in the back of his pickup truck? 'Excuse me, sir, can you point us to the secret miniaturization lab some evil genius has built in your town?' Oh, that's hilarious!"
"It'd almost be worth it," said Caitlin, "but John would have a conniption, wouldn't he? Ah, well, it doesn't matter, we're never going to get close enough to the ground for anyone to even know we're here."
The minicopter sped on, cutting easily through the air about a hundred feet over the treeline. The machine was quite the technological marvel, actually. It was one of the creations of which Tom Evans was the most proud. It was a hybrid of miniaturized and non-miniaturized parts, with the best attributes of both. At its core, the minicopter was similar to remote controlled model aircraft, with a simple engine and power plant built from normal sized equipment, thereby neatly sidestepping the various problems associated with electrical and chemical reactions in miniaturized space. All of this was, however, enclosed in a framework of reduced-scale metal and parts, so it possessed a strength and toughness that no thin-shelled RC-style toy could hope to match. Not only could it stand up to heavy winds and significant punishment, it had a range and speed rivaling the best normal-sized helicopters in the US inventory--proportionally speaking, of course.
Not only that, it had been engineered to appear, from the exterior, as a typical model helicopter. If some disaster struck and someone found it on the ground, they'd think it was just someone's lost toy. An expensive one, sure, but still just a toy, as far as anyone knew. Assuming, of course, that they didn't open it up and find the three tiny agents hiding inside.
After a few more minutes of flying, they crested a hill and saw the lights of the small town spread out below them. Now, for the first time, they had enough illumination to actually see details on the ground. The community below, really little more than a village, was nestled neatly in amidst the low hills and sparse trees of a typical New England tableau. The quaint design of the church and town hall gave it a distinctly colonial feel.
At any other time, Randi thought, she might like to visit a place like this, for it sort of reminded her of home, but not today. Besides, when you're three inches tall, the last thing you want to be is a tourist!
All at once Randi found herself thinking of her parents, who were probably, at that moment, sitting down to dinner at their palatial home in upstate New York. Since abruptly quitting school and moving to California almost a year ago, Randi had never bothered calling her family, nor had they made any attempt to contact her. As far as they knew, she had vanished off the face of the planet.
Not for the first time, Randi wondered just what they thought of her. Did they even worry about her any more? Did they actually care where she was, or what she was doing with her life? Did they still love her, or had they erased her from their lives completely?
When Randi agreed to join the NSA, mostly just to see what it was all about, she'd been convinced John Radcliffe was wrong about her, that she could never possibly prove she was worthy of the job. Much to her surprise, she'd been mistaken. True, she was not as athletic as Tania or as enthusiastic as Caitlin, but she brought talents to the team that neither of them possessed, skills she'd discovered during training that she'd never known she had. In addition to previously untapped abilities with computers, electronics, and explosives, as well as a surprising amount of general knowledge she'd never had a reason to access before, she also had an amazing accuracy with firearms and other ranged weapons. Using a minirifle, another of SciTek's hybrid miniaturized inventions, she could easily hit bullseyes on targets on the opposite side of a room, no small feat for someone her size, and something neither Tania nor Caitlin could come close to matching.
What was most incredible was how she'd gone from jobless and desperate to part of an elite team of secret agents virtually overnight. Her old life seemed to now be but a distant memory. In fact, any time she even thought of her parents and family, it was as if they were part of a cocoon she'd shed and left behind. Perhaps someday she might visit them, let them know she was all right, but not now, or any time soon.
Besides, what would they say if she told them her chosen career? How would they react if she informed them she was a secret agent whose job entailed being reduced to less than three inches high for covert missions in defense of the good ol' USA? They wouldn't believe her, that was for sure. Unless, of course, she showed up on their doorstep while miniaturized. Ha! The look on their faces would be priceless, wouldn't it?
With some effort, Randi forced her mind back to present events, staring ahead into the shadows far below. The minicopter sailed along well above the town's main street, high enough to be invisible and inaudible to those few pedestrians that were wandering around down there. Even if anyone had looked up and spotted the helicopter-like speck zipping past in the star-filled sky, they probably would've just thought it an odd-shaped insect, or a passing aircraft much further away than it really appeared. A chopper containing miniature secret agents was the last thing anyone would ever imagine.
Caitlin slowed the copter until it was merely hovering, then surveyed the scene below. "Anyone see it?" she asked.
"Nope," said Tania. "Not surprisingly, it's not lit up. Tell your worthless boyfriend we need night vision scopes in this thing, will you?"
Caitlin rolled her eyes. "Come on, like he doesn't have enough problems," she replied. "Besides, you know as well as I do they won't work at this distance."
"I think I see it," Randi interrupted, pointing. "Over there, see those two side streets?"
"What? I don't see anything," replied Tania.
"That's just it, there's nothing there," said Randi. "There's a building on every corner except there. It's the only place where there's no lights, so that must be it."
"Good call," said Caitlin, angling the minicopter towards the dark spot on the horizon. They knew from their final mission brief that Andrew Saul, or at least the company they believed was owned by Andrew Saul, had purchased an old building on the edge of this picturesque little town. A quick recon of the area had shown that it still seemed to be closed down on the outside, but it was known that trucks had been seen bringing shipments into its otherwise inactive loading dock in past weeks. Plus, thermal imaging scans from normal-sized agents already in the town had proven that something was going on in there, even if they hadn't been able to see much through the heavy walls. Whatever was happening must be going on in underground basement areas, but that was all anyone knew.
Randi smiled. It'd be hilarious, she thought, if they broke into this place, only to find it was the secret headquarters of some high school kids' club. More likely, it'd be a drug lab, bank robbers' hideout or some other crazy thing. In any such case, they'd stay hidden and simply leave, reporting their findings to anyone who needed to know, and that would be that. With any luck, no one would even know they'd ever been there.
They reached the building and Caitlin circled it a couple of times. "Yep, that's the place," she said as she compared its shape to a couple of recon photos she had on the dashboard.
"That's an affirmative," said Tania, trying not to chuckle at her over-the-top use of military lingo. "You want to risk the roof?"
Caitlin sighed. That had been the subject of much debate back at the office. No one knew if there were cameras or other devices on top of the building, and if there were, the copter would surely be spotted on landing. As she circled the place, though, she noticed a ventilation fan near the edge of the roof. "Got a better idea," she said, indicating the large, slowly rotating structure. "If I can slip us in next to that, no one will ever know we're there."
"Good luck," muttered Randi, for the available space was not very wide, perhaps no more than a couple of yards or so, and the blades of the minicopter were three feet across. A single gust of wind as they landed could send them smashing against the wall or the vent, and while the chopper's body would probably survive such an impact, there's no way the blades would. If that happened, they'd be on their own.
Nonetheless, Caitlin flew the toy-sized chopper forward, taking it slow and easy, holding the machine steady in the gusting wind. Randi found herself holding her breath and clenching her hands around the edges of her chair, and she had to suppress a scream as the ventilator grew so large in front of them that it filled the window. But then there was a soft bump, hardly noticeable, and then the whine of the engines began to soften as they shut down.
"We're here," said Caitlin proudly. "Let the fun begin!"