Of course, the two entomologists couldn't spend the rest of the day fooling around with enlarged bugs. They had meetings to attend and other projects they were working on. Nonetheless, Bambi found herself daydreaming about the machine more often than not, so much so that she couldn't get her regular work done. There was just so much to be learned, and sitting around in a lab with insects in bottles wasn't the way to learn it. She needed to be out there, in the field, seeing the bugs up close and personal!
For a while, it had looked like her career would go that way. She had spent a lot of time traveling around the country, performing experiments at various locations and enjoying her work immensely. But then she'd met Dr. Ivanov during the Miller's Grove operation, the same one where she'd been shown the little robotic cockroach by that weird FBI agent. What was his name again? Murker or Mulder or something like that, not that it was important. He'd been nice enough, and plenty handsome, but he didn't understand insects at all. He had, however, been the one who introduced her to the good doctor, a meeting that had changed her life.
The fact that Dr. Ivanov rode in a wheelchair and was a virtual cripple meant nothing to her. He was a fellow scientist, and a brilliant one at that, and that was all Bambi had cared about. They had shared a lot of ideas in the weeks that followed, and with his help she'd done some pretty advanced work on the side, including a few published papers that drew some attention her way. She was moving up in the scientific community, and some of the theories they'd shared had led her to come up with the concept of the enlarger.
Unfortunately, Dr. Ivanov had eventually done what he thought was a favor for her, using his pull to get her assigned to this facility. It was a huge promotion, but it took her out of the field, where she felt she truly belonged. Bambi was not the kind of scientist who liked to spend time in meetings or seminars, suggesting and conceptualizing, or evaluating data in some stuffy back room. She wanted to get her hands dirty, to perform experiments and observations in the real world. She was an empirical scientist, not a theoretical one, and that was why she'd built the enlarger. She wanted to see what these creatures really looked like, how they really moved, how they lived, from a completely different point of view.
When the last meeting of the day had finally ended, Bambi all but ran back to her laboratory, anxious to get started. She knew this would probably be another late night, but that hardly mattered to her. It wouldn't be the first time she'd stayed in the office well after normal business hours closed, and probably wouldn't be the last, either.
In one particular project aimed at eliminating cockroaches from homes, the concept was to find ways not to kill the little pests, but to make them want to leave. She and Nathan, along some other researchers in the facility, had some success with various chemicals and agents, but Bambi was convinced that if they knew more about how roaches lived their daily lives, she could figure out other ways to control their movements. The ability to enlarge one, then observe its actions directly for several minutes, would go a long way towards making progress towards their objectives.
After locking the doors to make sure she wouldn't be disturbed, she took off her coat and clothes and climbed into the black leather jumpsuit she'd brought along. It was form-fitting and not the sort of thing she'd normally be caught dead wearing, but its material would be tough enough to withstand bites from even an enlarged insect, or so she hoped. She also slipped on a pair of boots and gloves to make sure her extremities were protected, and pulled on a helmet with a face mask to keep her head safe.
As she tucked her hair into the back of the helmet, she wondered what Nathan would think if he saw her in this outfit. He'd probably have a coronary, she chuckled to herself.
Oh, she knew he liked to look at her body, make no mistake about that. He'd been nervous around her when they started working together, and it had taken her a while to figure out why. While Bambi knew she was good-looking, she tended to forget that fact when she had her mind on her work, and so she hadn't realized right away why her assistant sometimes stammered when he answered her questions, or pretended to be busy with something just when she walked past.
Of course, at first Bambi only had a vague idea of what was really going on with Nate. It had actually taken a couple of careful experiments to get to the bottom of things. Actually, it had been an interesting challenge, intentionally using her sensuality to test the male response. She started by purposely leaving an extra button unbuttoned on her blouse, stretching her shoulders provocatively when removing her lab coat, or brushing up against him ever so slightly with her bare legs when she strode past. Then, while he recovered from the stimulus, she'd fire off a technical question and watch him sputter for an answer. The results were quite illuminating, and she had to admit, sometimes rather humorous.
The final experiment had taken a full day to perform. On that particular day, she picked out something unusually sexy to wear, an incredibly short skirt and boots plus a top that didn't quite cover everything. She also wore a particularly intense brand of perfume, some stuff she had in a back corner that she hadn't used since her last date some months before. In any case, though she had an excuse about laundry problems prepared to explain her skimpy clothing, she volunteered no explanation, and Nate never asked. He was, however, supremely distracted all day long, so much so that he got virtually nothing done.
After that, Bambi had concluded her experiment and gone back to working normally. The whole thing had really been just a lark, a kind of joke that had fallen flat in the end. In fact, she rather regretted her actions, finally admitting to herself that she'd performed them primarily for her own amusement, not out of any special curiosity. After all, she knew she was good-looking already, but normally didn't feel the need to flaunt it, especially in the scientific community, where such things were frowned upon.
It was just that Nathan was so darn teasable! He was five years younger than herself, with short brown hair and a reasonably handsome, clean-cut face, but he always looked at everything with a kind of shy innocence that made her laugh inside. Though she had no real interest in him romantically, she liked him as a friend and fellow professional, and enjoyed working with him more than any other scientist in the facility.
Sometimes, she wondered what she'd do if he ever broke out of his shell and asked her out. At one time she'd almost expected that he eventually would, but now, after so many months of nothing, she figured that danger was past. If he somehow overcame his shyness and asked her now, she'd likely be too surprised to come up with a good answer.
Bambi sighed. She didn't really want an on-the-job relationship in any case. She had too much time and interest invested in her work, after all, and she suspected he knew that as well as she did. Even if he ever did manage to work up the courage to proposition her, she knew the answer would be no.
Once she was properly attired, she opened up the storage locker and pulled out the enlarging machine, taking care not to damage it as she set it up on the countertop. It only took a moment to prepare, as it was mostly self-contained except for the conduit tube and the little wire cage that directed the charge into the subject. The device didn't look much like a sophisticated instrument that had taken over a year of thought, research and design to create. In fact, it looked more like a school kid's science project than a real piece of scientific equipment. It worked, though. There was no doubt of that.
Once she was satisfied it was ready, she carefully removed a cockroach at random and placed it inside the cube. The inch-long brown and black creature, the bane of homeowners the world over, simply sat stock still in the bottom of the cage, its antennae waving back and forth cautiously. Neither it nor Bambi noticed the large black ant clinging to its abdomen, an escapee from another experiment that had managed to find its way to the roach container in its quest for food.
Excited about the experiment to come, Bambi took out a small video camera, about the size of a cassette recorder. She popped open its side door and inserted a fresh tape, then attached the device to the clip on the side of her helmet. Finally, she adjusted the microphone so it hung down over her mouth, then switched on the camera and began to speak.
"This is Dr. Berenbaum," she said into the microphone. "This is macro experiment number six. Tonight I will expand a cockroach to twenty-five times normal size and observe its behavior within the lab. I should note that I am wearing protective gear to keep myself safe from injury, as the insect will be approximately two feet long when the process is completed."
So saying she made a few adjustments to the computer controls. "I'm setting the parameters to 2500%. The slight zapping sound you hear will be the activation of the enlarging device, but it will have no visible discharge or similar effect." She clicked the "start" button, and after a couple of seconds faint popping sounded, just as predicted.
"As you can see, the subject is now growing steadily," she said into the microphone. "I'm going to take it out and place it on the ground so it can explore its new surroundings."
She did this, setting the five-inch-long insect on the floor, keeping a close eye on it so the camera could follow its movements. The growing cockroach immediately scuttled into the shadows beneath the nearest table. Meanwhile, the unseen ant, now only about an inch long, dropped off and began to crawl along the floor, out of Bambi's view. With her eyes focused on the roach, she had no idea the ant was even there.
"The subject is trying to hide, as is its nature," she continued on, kneeling down to watch the roach steadily grow. "When confronted with a potential predator, its response is to run for the nearest shadow, preferably a place where it can touch both the floor and whatever is above it. It's already about a foot long, as you can see. There, it's discovered it can't fit in its normal hiding places any more. It's moving out."
The cockroach darted out and ran to the far wall of the lab, where it meandered around, looking for a crack to slip through. It soon discovered there was nowhere to go, for it had reached its full size of just over two feet long by now. Instead, it climbed up onto a table and began flicking its antennae around as though nervous. Fortunately, as with the ladybug, its wings had been clipped so it couldn't start flying around the room.
"As you might note, it can sense my presence," said Bambi. "It's definitely aware of me. It can both smell me with its olfactory organs and feel the vibrations as I walk. My size seems to make no difference to it. When I move towards it, it retreats. It is not attempting to find food, only to escape."
She studied it for another couple of minutes, speaking into the microphone all the while. The roach did not alter its pattern of exploring its general vicinity, but kept its distance from Bambi whenever she approached. Despite its much larger size, it obviously did not like humans, and she said as much on the tape.
Finally, she checked her watch. "The insect should be returning to normal size at any time," she announced. "When it does, I will recover it and--what the hell?"
Even through the leather suit she was wearing, she could feel a sting of pain in her side as the accidentally enlarged ant bit down on her with its mandibles. In its explorations, it had climbed unnoticed up her leg, and when she absently swung her arm while taking a step forward, it responded by attacking. "Ow!" she exclaimed, focusing the camera on it. "Where did you come from?"
The bite was really just a pinch, as the mandibles weren't actually penetrating her clothing, but the ant's huge jaws were surprisingly powerful. She tried to separate them, but found she couldn't. The six-inch-long creature was really holding on tight!
Suddenly she remembered she'd been dictating her experiment. "Oh, sorry," she apologized to the camera. "It appears an ant was piggybacking on the roach when I enlarged it, and now it's biting me, as you can see. I'm not in any danger, really, but it's damned annoying. I can't seem to get it to let go. Well, in any case, this will be a good bonus experiment. I'll see what happens when it returns to normal size while holding onto me. Will it release me or will it hold on until its jaws are forced apart? The process could begin at any moment."
Bambi checked her watch again. In fact, it probably should have already happened, she thought. She watched the ant carefully, waiting for some sign that it was returning to its usual dimensions, somewhat awed by the little creature's tenacity. It was a soldier, and was obviously thinking of her as an enemy, so it probably wouldn't release her until it was dead.
She was observing it closely when she suddenly remembered the roach and looked up to see where it might be. She had lost track of it when the ant bit down, so it could have scuttled off just about anywhere by now. She didn't want to lose it when it went back to normal, after all.
That was when she got the shock of her life.
To her surprise, the room was larger now, the walls and ceiling much further away. She couldn't see the cockroach any more because her view of the rest of the room was obscured by the nearest table, which now rose above the level of her head. And while she watched, mouth dangling open in awe and stunned amazement, she saw the underside of the table gradually rising further and further into the air!
"Oh, no!" she blurted out, realizing at once what was going on. "I'm shrinking!"