…up

You decide to ascend the ladder, the metal rungs cold and slightly slick beneath your gloved hands. The climb is strenuous in the bulky suit, but the promise of information or salvage above is stronger than the fear of what could be waiting for you. Each rung echoes faintly, sending shivers down your spine with every movement.

The ladder ends at an air lock and you listen. You hear nothing. You carefully turn the airlock wheel, the metal groaning with resistance. It opens to reveal a large dimly lit plant room filled with life support machinery and other equipment essential to filter and recycle air and maintain the stations temperature. You notice a trail of something sticky, like animal tracks on the floor.

You climb into the plant room and close the air lock, your boots sticking slightly to the floor. You follow the footprint trail with a sense of foreboding. They look like human tracks but… they’re tiny. A fraction of the size of a human. But human!?

You hear furtive scurrying and look to the corner of the room expecting to see a ray. Instead you see a perfectly formed human, six inches tall, naked, male, purple skinned holding what you first think is a spear but you realise is a nanite injector.

He throws the nanite injector at you and it sticks into your exposed neck. The world swims around you as your body starts to shrink rapidly, muscles contracting, bones crackling as they diminish in size. Your suit balloons hugely around your body as gelatinous fluid fills it - you are rapidly shedding mass!

Panic fills you as you watch the world around you grow vast and terrifying. The machinery towers over you, the floor recedes into the distance. You're now the size of a large rat, looking up at a world where danger looms from every shadow, covered in warm sticky residue from your former body. You look down at your purple skinned body and get another shock. Your body is female!

The micro-human darts towards you, his eyes wide with excitement. He speaks rapidly - "Welcome to your new life!" he squeaks. "You're going to be a breeder for the Micronaut Empire! You're perfect, so perfect!" He cackles with glee as you struggle to come to terms with your new form. Your brain races with confusion and fear as your body adjusts to the sudden changes. One thing that is of concern. The nanites have shrunk your body - and that means they have shrunk your brain.

“Breeder!?” You manage to croak out the word. The reality of the situation starts to sink in as your mind reels from the sudden transformation. The panic turns to horror as you realize what he’s saying. The nanites had not only shrunken you, but also altered your gender to serve some twisted purpose in this miniature empire.

The purple-skinned creature nods eagerly, his eyes gleaming with an unsettling hunger. “Yes, you will produce offspring that will continue the greatness of the Micronaut Empire!”

“Empire?!”

Your voice is now high-pitched and squeaky, a stark contrast to the deep bass you're accustomed to. The tiny man before you doesn’t seem to care about your bewilderment, his purple eyes alight with excitement. “Yes, our empire. We are the descendants of the original inhabitants, grown strong and adapted to the great cavern. We have our own rules, our own society. And now, you have been micronised and will be part of it!”