21

CHAMBER STATUS: RED

PLEASE ENTER NUMBER: 21

Lois released a breath she didn't know she was holding as she tapped in the two-number code—and as the room suddenly took on a crimson glow, and she felt a tingle sweep through her body, her heart sank into her stomach. This didn't seem like it could be any good...

The reporter turned and looked at what was casting the light: a great red jewel, like the eye of an idol in a classic roleplaying game supplement, hung suspended from a small arm that descended through a hole in the ceiling. Lois had seen red rocks like that before...

"Kryptonite," she whispered, and suddenly relaxed. Kryptonite, of course, only affected Kryptonians. As a human, she should be fine.

But the tingling didn't stop.

Lois ran her hands over her arms and began to pace the room, suddenly filled with nervous energy. The room was smaller than she thought—she found she could cross the length of it in four strides—and turned around to pace back and forth. It almost felt like the walls were closing in, and Lois wondered if it was just the kryptonite making her paranoid, or something else... Her shoulders itched, and she shrugged and stretched as she walked. One step, two, three—

The reporter came up short before the wall, and frowned. It was four strides to cross the room. She'd measured it out, and knew her own pace. Lois turned around and realized that the room looked...wrong. Everything was where it had been, everything was present, but the perspective had changed. She looked up at the ceiling. The bright crimson stone was still there...but was it closer? Lois shook her head, and started pacing again.

One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two... Lois stopped half a step short. When she had come in, the top of the door frame had been at least six inches above the top of her head...and now, she'd have to duck to get through it. Lois looked down at herself, and everything seemed present...unchanged...and yet...

"Either the room is shrinking..." she said out loud. "...or I'm growing."

The ceiling of the room was only ten feet off the ground. Lois, now aware of her expansion, could see herself grow—she held up one hand in front of her, and as she watched it slowly eclipsed the screen behind it. Her heart beat faster as she grew, feeling the first twinge of claustrophobia. She reached up and her fingertips scraped against the ceiling. Lois figured she must be on par with a basketball player at this point...but she wasn't long and thin. None of her proportions had changed. She hated to think of what she must weigh, to have suddenly grown two and a half feet, with no end in sight...

Idly, Lois considered grabbing the chunk of kryptonite. She could easily reach it now, but she wasn't sure what good that would do her...or if it might even make things worse...though she wasn't sure how much worse it could get. Lois was already eye-level with the chunk of old Krypton, and in a moment she knew she'd feel her head scrape against the ceiling...and when that happened she'd either had to sit or lie down...

Tentatively, Lois pressed her hands against the ceiling and pushed, exerting her strength. The cube-square law suggested that if she was still standing, she must be a lot stronger than a normal human at this point...but whether or not that was the case the ceiling wasn't giving...and when she gave up, she found her head was scraping the ceiling. Lois had to figure out what to do...and fast.