The next morning Ken woke up, feeling more energetic than he had in ages. He
immediately felt a desire to do some morning sit-ups and push-ups before heading out to
grab breakfast. He couldn’t help but notice that his stomach looked flatter than usual, that
his abs were beginning to show. In fact, it looked like he had gained some muscle tone all
over.
He stepped over to his mirror and checked himself out. As he was only wearing boxers, he
could see that indeed his entire torso was more defined, his arms and chest more
muscular. “Damn, I wonder if this is due to that stuff that doctor gave me last night,” he
said to himself.
He hopped over to a scale to check out his new weight. “166 pounds. I’ve lost 6 pounds.
That’s funny, I thought I would’ve gained some with these new muscles. But with my
flatter stomach, I guess I must have lost a bit of weight, too.”
The phone began to ring. Ken picked it up, and heard the voice of one of the nurses he
had seen yesterday. “The doctor was hoping you might be able to come to the lab this
afternoon instead of next week. A couple of the other text subjects have already
experienced effects, and he’d like to have you examined already.”
Ken quickly agreed. If this was some kind of enhanced exercise drug experiment, he’d be
curious on seeing if he could get some more of this stuff.
He hung up, and headed to his closet to grab some clothes. The jeans he put on were,
unsurprisingly, pretty loose around his waist, though he was surprised to see the cuffs
longer than usual. No problem, he’d just fold them up. He was a bit surprised to notice the
T-shirt he put on to be a bit roomier. He thought if anything they’d be tighter, especially
around the sleeves.
He headed over to the lab, and was soon shepherded into the examination room. Soon,
the doctor entered, and asked, “How are you doing, Ken?”
“Great, I haven’t felt this energetic in ages.”
“That’s good, that’s good. So you’ve noticed some changes.”
“Have I? This is fantastic.”
“Really, one of our test subjects was a little freaked out. Well, we might as well go ahead
and get you measured. Hop on the scale.”
Ken did as he was told. “166 pounds,” the doctor stated.
“It’s great to have lost this little bit of flab, doc. I even think my muscles have gotten a
little bigger.”
“Oh, they have, Ken, they have. We’re currently testing a muscle supplement, and it seems
to be working.”
“Awesome, when’s it going to be on the market?”
“Well, it may never reach the market. It turns out we’ve discovered an unexpected side
effect.”
Ken got nervous now, as he asked, “What?”
The doctor pulled out the ruler and measured Ken’s height. “5’10”.”
“That’s wrong, doc. I was just 5’11” just yesterday.”
“You were. You see we’ve noticed the formula also causes its users to shrink in height. A
sort of conservation of mass. Your muscles increase in size, while you shrink. It’s very
fascinating.”
Ken was in shock, realizing he was now an inch shorter. “Will I be able to grow back?”
“Unfortunately, we have no idea how to do that ourselves, or if you may revert back to
your old height with time.”
“So, I may remain this height the rest of my life.”
The doctor looked at him, and nodded. “Well yes, that is unless you opt to take more of
the formula.”
“And shrink more? Doc, you must be crazy!”
“Well, we’d increase the amount we’ll pay you of course, plus you’ll gain a better physique.
Who knows, maybe some day we’ll find a way to reverse the side effects. You’d be
surprised. A couple of our subjects have already agreed to continue.”