A WORLD DOWN BELOW (GT)
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Somewhere in the distant future. Alice was never one to shy away from adventure. Throughout her life she always seemed to be getting into trouble. Be it alone or with her brother. Of course it was rather rare for her to actually get away with anything. It always seemed her parents were one step behind her. Though even when she got scolded, there was always an ever present smirk on her lips. One that seemed to cause even more problems. Alice was never one to shy away from adventure, no matter how many times she had been told to behave. That was the case in the past and it was darn well the case in the present. And knowing her it would be like that in the future as well. “It’s right up here! You are going to flip out when you see this.” Jared had a huge smile on his lips as he lead Alice down into the basement of their home. A place where the two were never supposed to go. “You say that about everything.” Alice rolled her emerald eyes and assumed her brother was just taking her on another wild goose chase. “I mean it Alice! If our parents knew we found this they would lose their mind!” Jared crept down the final stair and glanced up as he was now face to face with a door made of steel. He cleared his throat as his fingers began to wiggle. Within a moment he punched them into a small keypad that rested to the left of the door. “And how do you know the password” Alice huffed as she played with a tassel of her midnight hair. It didn’t take long before it was wrapped around her slender finger. “Are you kidding me” Jared barked a laugh as he watched the door slide open. “I spied on dad.” With a simple shrug he entered the room. “Oh man you weren’t kidding. What the heck is this” Alice found her eyes going wide as she entered the room. What she assumed was going to be a small space turned out to be rather wide and spacious. “No way is their lab!” Her skin began to tingle as she took it all in. Never in her life had she been allowed in here. Her parents made sure both of them had that locked in their head. If there was just one rule in the house it was that. No entering the lab. “It sure is. Check it out!” Jared was all smiled as his hazel eyes seemed to be glowing. All around him sat some of the latest technology the world had to offer. Machines and monitors were at every corner of the room. You couldn’t go a single step without running into something impressive. Of course the two of them had little to no idea what most of these machines were. They hardly knew what their parents did. Both of them were rather secretive about their line of work and tended to write off any questions Alice and Jared asked them. It was irksome in the beginning but after years of questions and no answers the two got use to it. But that was all about to change today. “This is why we’re here.” Jared motioned to his left. There resting upon on the ground was an object that looked like some sort of miniature jet. While it was small enough to fit in the room it didn’t make it any less impressive. With narrowed eyes Alice looked it over as she stepped towards the steel machine, her hand extending to rest upon it. “I don’t get it They’re working on mini-jets” She couldn’t help but notice it only held a single seat inside. “You could say that.” Jared found a grin forming on his lips. “Alright well fill me in. What am I missing” With a shrug Alice turned her gaze back to her brother. “What if I told you that thing could shrink.” “Shrink” “Yeah shrink! Like get really tiny.” Jared nodded his head in excitement. “Are you serious Why” Alice seemed more confused than anything as she took a step back from the sleek looking jet. “I think it’s for some sort of medical purposes.” “Huh Like shrink down and go in someone’s body to check them out” Alice tilted her head gingerly to the side. It made sense in practice, though it did sound a little trivial. “I don’t know, probably.” Jared kept smiling. “What do you mean you don’t know” Alice laughed as she kept her eyes fixated on the jet. “Look I just spied on Mom and Dad. I didn’t get a lot of good information.” He shrugged as he motioned to the jet in front of him. “Anyway, get in!” “Get in” Alice repeated his words as she turned her head to face her brother. “What you want me to go first” “You have got to be joking. You want one of us to get in this thing and shrink” Jared didn’t respond, he simply nodded his head. “Hmm” Alice let her eyes fall back to the jet. The offer was enticing. She was always one for misadventures and she could genuinely say she had never been shrunk before. She couldn’t help but think how the world would look. Everything would be expansive, like exploring an entire new realm! “Hey if you’re not going to do it I will!” Jared broke the silence as he took a step towards the jet. “No,. I’ll do it. As the older sibling I get first dibs!” “Oh can it with that” Jared scoffed and shook his head; auburn locks flickered over his eyes. “So how does this even work” Alice pushed her hands against the jet seeming to look for a hatch or a door. After numerous fumbling she heard a click and a side panel seemed to shift upwards. “Hey you got it!” Jared chuckled as he watched his sister hop into the single seat as she left the door open. “You have any idea how this works” Alice looked back to her brother hoping he would have something useful to say. “Um Isn’t there like a ‘shrink me’ button” “Oh why didn’t I check for that.” Alice rolled her eyes as her words dripped with sarcasm. She overlooked the panel in front of her only to see various buttons, a few switches, and even levers. Everything here was foreign to her. But one button did catch her eye. There was a single word written across it. “Buddy” “Huh” Jared found his ears flickering as he made out a whisper from his sister. He watched as she extended finger and went to press down on one of the buttons. “Hello and welcome to the NanoJet! I will be your guide, you may call me Buddy.” A voice rose from the very Jet itself. The voice inhuman as it had an almost metallic ring to it. Yet it was soothing all the same. “Um, hi. I’m Alice.” “A pleasure to meet you, Alice. How may I assist you today” “Holy cow that thing has an AI on board” Jared stretched his legs up as he attempted to peer into the cockpit. “Hey Buddy, I was hoping to shrink.” Jared blinked as he heard Alice speak. Very quickly he jumped backwards to put some space between himself and the jet. In the next moment the hatch closed and he found himself lost to the conversation that Buddy and Alice were having. “Beginning shrinking protocol. Engage!” Buddy’s voice rang in the jet as Alice found her eyes beginning to widen. Everything seemed to shimmer as the very Jet began to shake and pulse. She actually watched out the front window as the Jet began to reduce in scale, in turn shrinking her as well. “Uh Buddy, how small are we going to get!” “We will be entering the Nano Zone.” “The what!” Alice didn’t even understand what that meant. “That’s like an inch or something, right” She felt panic setting in for a brief moment. She truly didn’t think this through. “Incorrect, Alice. We will be far smaller than an inch. We will be in the Nano range.” As Buddy spoke the Jet continued to shrink. Alice couldn’t help but swallow hard as she watched the world expanding all around her. The once already large lab had become something else entirely. It was vast field, no that wasn’t right. It was larger than that. The lab might of well been its own country at this point. “Wow that was fast.” “We have finished shrinking, Alice. What shall we do next” Buddy’s voice came over the speakers as Alice was still in disbelief at what was happening. “We’re so small” “Correct. At this size it would take you a year to traverse the laboratory in full.” “Well good thing I have this jet.” Alice muttered as she continued to gaze out at the new world in front of her. Everything seemed to go on for miles and miles. Machines and monitors even began to blur out in the horizon. “Hey can we go up Can you fly or something” Alice looked at the control panel in front of her. It still was as foreign as ever. “Leave it to me, Alice.” Buddy seemed more than happy to engage the thrusters. With something of a kick the jet lurched to life as it began to rise into the air, seeming to hover in place. “Let’s go higher.” At her words the Jet simply listened as it continued to elevate. And that’s when she saw it. The titanic structure that was her brother. Not her whole brother. Just a single foot. --- One socked foot that dwarfed her in every way possible. “Is that Jared!” “It is, he can not hear you at this size.” “Well of course he can’t. I’m a speck.” --- “Shall we approach” “Couldn’t hurt.” Jared was in awe as he watched the Jet shrink down in front of him. He just remained silent as he watched it get smaller and smaller and smaller still. “How small are you planning to get Alice” He couldn’t help but mutter as the jet finally stopped shrinking. Though at its current size he could barely see it. It was nothing more than a tiny black dot. That was an overstatement. Jared knew if he took his eyes off that speck for a second it would be lost from his vision forever. “No way, you’re so tiny!” Disbelief painted Jared’s features as the Jet began to move. He could just scarcely make out the tiny plane lifting from the ground as it began to hover and fly about. It wasn’t seeming to make much progress as it idled around his left socked foot. “What the heck is she doing” Jared lifted a brow as he just watched the little speck hover in place. A sly grin overcame his face as he began to lift his leg into the air. It wasn’t long until his socked sole rested just above the jet. With a chuckle he slowly began to bring it down “Escape maneuver initiated!” --- Buddy’s voice rang throughout the jet as Alice watched her titan of her brother lift his gigantic leg up. She could barely make out what she was seeing. But now nothing but a sea of white cotton and fabric rested above them. --- If she hadn’t known better she would have sworn the sky was about to fall on her. “What the heck is he doing!” Alice let out a shout as the Jet seemed more than prepared to deal with this. Quickly the Jet veered to the left and shot backwards as the colossal foot slammed into the ground below. The shock-wave it made stretched out far and wide across the floor below. Alice leaned back in her chair and tried to catch her breath as her heart was moments from bursting. “Ha ha so funny.” She closed her eyes as she debated what her next course of action would be. “Buddy!” “Yes Alice” “Fly upwards, towards his face!” Jared couldn’t help but be all smiles as he slammed his foot into the ground. He figured Alice would move of the way. His stomp was all in good fun. With a smirk still on his lips he watched the Jet climb higher into the air until it was at face level with him. “Dang you’re small.” He wondered if his sister could even hear him properly, or if his words were just a jumbled mess. Jared had to go as far to squint his eyes just to keep the speck in sight. He tilted his head from side to side, trying to see just what his sister was wanting to accomplish. “Alright I get it, you’re mad. Okay unshrink so I can try it now.” He nodded his head and simply waited for a response of some sort. He got nothing. The Jet just remained near his face, seeming to scoot a bit closer over time. “Sis” Without thinking Jared felt his nostrils flare as he inhaled a sharp breath of air “Ugh what is he saying It’s like massive horns just burning my ears.” Alice shook her head as she assumed Jared was speaking. But the words were so chaotic and lost it sounded like nothing more than loud explosions. “I can not say, Alice. At our size communication is severely limited.” “Yeah I see that” Alice began to speak, only to pause a second later. She felt a chill going up her spine. Something was happening. There was a force on the Jet, something seeming to pull it forward. “Buddy! What’s happening!” “Your brother seems to be inhaling us.” “Say that more casually, will you!” Alice found panic taking her over as the Jet began to spin out of control. --- A suction of sorts had taken hold of it as the Jet began to spiral towards one of Jared’s nostrils. It wasn’t long before warning sirens began to sound off within the Jet. --- This only caused Alice more distress. --- She watched in terror as her Jet got caught in the whirlwind that was her brother inhaling. Closer and closer that nostril came like a massive dark cave. And in the next second the Jet was sucked right in. “Are we seriously in his nose” Alice couldn’t believe what had just happened. One moment she was resting in front of Jared’s face and the next a typhoon of wind had sucked her into his right nostril! --- “Turning on headlights.” Buddy spoke as Alice watched two bright beams of light flicker on from the outside of the Jet. “Holy Crap.” What she saw in front of her blew her mind. It was like she was in another world entirely. --- Massive tree like objects emerged from the ground. All around her she could make out what looked to be massive green stones that littered about the walls and floor. Of course in reality she knew what she was seeing. The trees being the nasal hair, and those rocks nothing more than boogers that had been stuck and caked within the cavity. “This is wild.” Slowly the Jet moved about as it explored the interior of Jared’s nose. --- She couldn’t help but compare this to some sort of deep dark cave that resided in the back of a forest. She had half a mind to hop out and explore on foot. Though she knew that probably wasn’t her best idea. “Alice I am sensing an influx of wind.” Alice snapped back into reality as she heard Buddy speak. “Huh” She could feel it too, even sense it. The wind around them began to pick up. Alice felt like she was in the eye of the storm. “Is he going to suck us in deeper!” “I believe the opposite, Alice.” “Where did she go” Jared sniffled as she took in a quick breath through his nostrils. A low sigh left his lips as he lost sight of the speck Jet. One moment it was in front of him and the next it was just gone. “Crap. What am I going to tell Mom and Dad!” Jared dug his fingers into his hair as he lurched forward and let out a groan. He had to think of something, and standing around here wasn’t going to get anything accomplished. “Crap,! Maybe she’ll show up again I’m sure she’s around here somewhere!” Jared declared rather loudly as he felt a tingle beginning to form within his nose. He wiggled it about before he reeled his head back, he felt a sneeze coming on. “A-A-AHCHOO!” With a sneeze that seemed to rock the very lab he blinked as he resumed his searching for Alice. “I suggest you hang on to something Alice!” Alice found herself and the Jet spinning as she braced anything and everything that was around her. “Just get control of the Jet, Buddy!” Alice let out a shout as the tiny plane continued to spiral out of control. Everything happened so fast and Alice had a hard time even understanding what was fully happening. One second she was in her brother’s nose, and the next there was a massive eruption as the Jet was expelled and shot right back out into lab. She had heard a noise so loud she swore it shattered her eardrums. “It seemed we have been sneezed out.” Buddy spoke as the Jet began to regain control. Slowly the twisting halted before it settled into a soft hover. “You don’t say!” The sarcasm was back as Alice huffed and pushed her hair from her eyes. “Alight it’s time to regrow. Grow us back to normal.” Alice fell back in her seat as she tried to catch her breath. Today had been one hell of a ride and she was ready for it to come to a close. Sure exploring at this size seemed to be a lot of fun. But with that fun came mass amounts of danger. “Buddy Unshrink us.” Alice spoke again as she looked out the window as she waited for the Jet to regain size. “Error.” Alice felt her heart sink. “Buddy what do you mean, error” “Charges are depleted.” Alice couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She felt her stomach sink as panic began to set in. “Buddy if this is your idea of a joke!” Alice hissed as she looked around the Jet, hoping she’d come across a button that said reverse. “NanoJet consumes mass amounts of energy when shrinking to such a minuscule size.” Buddy continued to speak as Alice groaned. At this point she just wanted proper answers. “Buddy just tell me why we can’t grow back!” “We need to recharge, this could take awhile.” “How long is awhile.” Alice groaned as she pinched her nose. At least she was getting somewhere. “Possibly one or two months.” “months! buddy are you kidding me!” Alice broke out into a fit as she slammed her hand down into the console. “NanoJet is still in the testing phase, correct protocols for growing have not been implemented.” “Well you know what That would have been great to know ahead of time!” Alice looked out the main window as she could barely make out the towering leg of her brother in the distance. She simply kept her eyes on him as she watched him seeming to move about. “What is he doing” She sighed as she watched the great titan going towards the door of the laboratory. “Nuh-uh! Buddy we are not getting trapped down here, follow him!” “As you wish, Alice.” With that the Jet sprang to life as it took off towards Jared and the door. Luckily for Alice the NanoJet was no slouch when it came to speed. It was disorienting for sure but in a matter of moments she was out the door and rocketing towards the upper floor. “There, Buddy in the distance! I think that’s my father If we can just get his attention.” The NanoJet kept it’s speed up as it hovered about the main floor of Alice’s home. Though due to its size it wouldn’t be seen anytime soon. “The chances of us being seen” “I don’t care, engage!” Alice was out of options as she cut the AI off. Far in the distance she could just make out her father. His form as tall as a mountain. She knew the closer they got that stature would become more and more impressive until he was as large as a country. “Geeze I can barely even make out his features.” As Alice got closer the world past her father began to blur into nothing but blobs of color. Soon the only thing she could make out was the navy shirt he was wearing. Its size rivaling that of a great ocean. And here she now was. Hovering right in front of his chest. “Higher Buddy. We need to get to his face. Once there fly around like crazy until he notices us!” “As you wish.” Buddy replied as the Jet took off higher. Alice watched as she climbed higher and higher. Minutes seemed to pass before they finally got to the shoulders, and then finally his face. A face so large it could be a landscape itself. Alice simply couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She couldn’t even take in all of her father’s features. --- All she could see right now was his lips. So wide and vast that they could be explored for days upon days. It was here Alice was coming to realize how small she truly was. A speck, possibly smaller. “Um Crap.” Alice hung her head a moment as she watched the massive gates that were her father’s lips beginning to open. --- He was taking in a breath. Alice began to panic, she knew what was about to happen next. That simple breath was too much for the NanoJet to handle as a wave of suction began to latch onto it. It wasn’t long until various beeps and sirens were blaring from the jet as it was pulled closer and closer to the deep dark maw. “BUDDY!” Alice shouted as she was powerless to do anything. She had to simply watch herself get eaten alive. “Engine is not strong enough to break the traction! I ask you to prepare yourself!” Buddy’s voice rang through the Jet as Alice watched herself get sucked right into the mouth. And with no fanfare, no nothing she was in her father’s maw. A mouth so large she swore a civilization could probably reside in here. To her left and right were teeth. --- Massive teeth so large they rivaled the size of islands. And then below her was the squishy pink surface of his tongue. At her size she could see everything. Every bump, every ridge. The tongue itself seemed to go on for a distance Alice couldn’t even comprehend. --- Alice was just in awe, to be so small and to see everyday mundane things at this new size was just jaw dropping. “Whoa.” She looked up and around as she watched massive strands of saliva breaking from the roof of the mouth before they crashed to the tongue below and broke into a splash that rivaled the size of a pond. “I can not believe what I am seeing.” Alice shook her head as she tried to come to her senses. More and more saliva seemed to pool about on the tongue below as it formed what seemed to be a small lake. “Alice.” Buddy spoke as Alice fluttered her eyes. “I ask you to hold on tight.” “For what” Alice barely had time to speak as she watched the tongue below her starting to stir and move. The saliva that had gathered began to push backwards towards the massive arched throat that Alice now found herself staring at. “Oh crap.” Those were Alice’s final words as her father began to swallow the saliva down, and at the same time, her. Alice let out one unheard scream as she was forced to watch the mouth she was in tip forward. Globs and globs of spit fell upon the jet and slathered it before the throat came all the closer. The engines were of no use as they the spit had caked the entire jet. With one last gasp Alice closed her eyes as her father swallowed her whole. Alice could hear herself groaning as she slowly came too. She remembered every detail that last happened. Even if she didn’t want to. She had been sucked into her father’s mouth and swallowed whole like a common piece of food. That was so far from the truth. She wasn’t a common piece of food at this point, she was something else entirely. She was a mite, a speck of dust that someone didn’t even notice. And now she was here. But where exactly was here There was noise The sound of talking all around her. She swore she could hear the roar of a dull crowd somewhere in the distance. “What in the world is going on” She hadn’t noticed it before but the hatch door to the NanoJet had been opened. The question was for how long And why “Buddy” She spoke the AI’s name hoping or a response. “Currently in emergency mode and recharging from the crash landing.” That wasn’t an answer Alice wanted to hear, but at least she wasn’t truly alone. Shaking her head she removed herself from the seat and hopped from the Jet as she looked out to where she was. She assumed her father’s stomach but something seemed very off. “I don’t understand what I’m seeing.” Her words hung in the air as she took in her surroundings. In the distance she could make out the high towering fleshy walls that made up the stomach lining. There was a slow pulse to them but Alice could make out their movements. Further out and seeming to surround her she spotted a great sea that was a soft emerald in color. The liquid hardly transparent as it seemed to remain calm. “Where in the” She spoke once more as she continued to hear the soft roar of people in the distance. The sound was something she was use to; honestly it sounded no different than regular city chatter. But that would mean To her left she saw it, a cityscape. She had to rub her eyes. That made no sense. How was there a functioning city in her father’s stomach! “This day keeps getting more weird.” She let her words trail from her lips as she took in the city that stood a relative few hundred feet away from her. At second glance she came to realize this was no city. It was the inner workings of her father. All sorts of different bacteria and enzymes stood tall and made the appearance of a city. They even had a slight wave to them. Their colors were something radiant. Like that of a rainbow as it seemed to shimmer and glow. It was truly beautiful in it’s own way. That was until Alice truly registered what she was looking at. But the bigger question was how was she not swimming in acid at the moment Upon looking down she answered that question. Herself and this city seemed to be floating upon a small island. Was it a piece of food or something else that had remained in the stomach Then again she was already so small. This platform she was on was probably wasn’t very big to begin with. She shook her head as she stepped forward. She wanted to see more of this strange happening in front of her. “A traveler!” She came to a halt as she reeled her head back. There standing directly in front of her, and a bit shorter than she was what looked to be some sort of humanoid creature. Slim in build and blue in color. It’s eye’s were wide set as long slender arms stretched out to the ground below. “What in the” Nothing made sense to Alice anymore. First she saw this odd inner city and now she was speaking to some sort of native to her father’s stomach “What are you” “I’m a microbe! Welcome to our home. But what is a human doing here” Alice just found herself slipping further into an abyss of confusion. For whatever reason this creature didn’t seem to mince words. A microbe Their home Had she entered some sort of alternate reality Was she so small that she truly entered another world entirely “I’m Alice And I shrunk.” She spoke in a soft tone as she motioned to the NanoJet behind her. “You may call me Pea! I am one of a few residents of this village” Pea nodded his head as his eyes swayed from side to side. “This village” “Yes there are many around here. Welcome to Gut Isle!” “A fitting name.” Alice shrugged as she looked back to the swaying city before her. She shook her head. She had to stop calling it a city. It was simply a collection of enzymes and other organisms of that state. All seeming to come together to work in some sort of harmony. “But to see a human so small! We have never had a human here!” Pea seemed more than enthralled as he hopped about. His long arm coming to try and reach for Alice’s own. “Come, come! Let me show you our village!” Alice shook her head and leaned back. “Look. I need to focus on getting big again. This has been interesting and stuff, but.” She looked back towards the village that resided on the floating platform in the middle of her father’s stomach. “I can’t get lost here, not right now.” With a shake of her head she pushed herself away from the microbe. Pea stood in place looking more disappointed than anything as Alice ran back to the Jet that had crash landed just outside the village. “Alice.” “Buddy!” Alice was so happy to hear the voice of her AI companion. “You have a call.” “A call” Alice arched a brow. “Connecting you now.” Alice couldn’t believe what she was hearing. A dial tone, then ringing. “Are you telling me this thing had a phone and you never told me!” Her rage would have to wait as someone on the other end picked up. “Alice’ She recognized the voice within a second. It was her father, Richard. “Dad” “Alice! Alice! Where are you Jared said you shrunk in the jet and lost you!” His voice seemed to be in a fit of panic. As his voice rose Alice swore she could hear the walls of the stomach beginning to pulse even more. Not only that but his entire body seemed to vibrate. “Closer than you think.” As Alice spoke she noticed she wasn’t alone. She turned her head and counted five microbes approaching her, standing around her as they just seemed to listen to the conversation that was happening. While normally she would shoo them away she didn’t care presently. “What do you mean Alice tell me where you are!” Richard’s voice remained on high alert as he spoke. “I’m in your stomach” Alice felt weird saying that. Never in her life did she think she would say something like that. There was silence on the other end. “Are you alright” “Yeah I’m fine. I swear. I’m just waiting for the jet to fully recharge and” “Once it’s up you fly up and out! Do you hear me” Her father’s voice was as stern as ever. Alice simply nodded. “I will! But Buddy said I couldn’t be unshrunk for like a month or something!” More silence on the other end. While Alice waited for a reply she looked back to the microbe people. Each of them seeming to vary in color. Some blue, others green or even red. Each of them seemed more than fascinated on what was occurring in front of them. “That is true.” Richard spoke as he let out a sigh. “Still we’ll figure something out. Just Call me when the Jet has power back. Until then I’ll be in the lab trying to figure this out.” There was a click and her father’s voice was gone. For whatever reason Alice couldn’t help but smile. The true silliness of everything was finally hitting her. She had shrunk so small. To a size where she probably couldn’t be seen. Her brother almost stepped on her and then inhaled her up his nose. Only for him to lose her a moment after that. After then it was down her father’s throat as she found a new race of people. The smirk never left her face and she found a slow giggle rising from her lips. Within a moment she broke out in a fit of laughter. Her hand covering her stomach as she had tears forming in her eyes. “Alice’ She recognized that high pitched voice. It was Pea, the blue Microbe had scurried past the others and stopped at her side. “You know what Pea And well, the rest of you” The microbes fell silent as they’re wide gazed up at Alice. Each of them seeming to stand on edge as they waited for her to speak. “Who knows how long I’ll be shrunken for. Might as well find a place to settle.” She lowered her voice as she spoke. With a brilliant smile she turned her head and looked to the village off in the near distance. “I would love to see your village.”
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