MicroMove
“Thanks for coming over, Marty.  You’re a life-saver.  As always.”

“No worries, Nancy.  I’m always glad to help my prettiest neighbour.”  

“Bah.  Now that I’m thirty, I don’t get those looks any more.”

Marty shook his head, it was an old argument.  He looked around Nancy’s bare apartment.  “Where is everything?”  Instead of the furniture that was usually in her living room, all he could see was a set of four silver poles arranged in a large square about where the couch used to be.

Nancy gestured toward a small pile of white cubes next to one of the poles.  “There.  I need your hand bringing more boxes over to the cargo converter.  We’ll need to move it later to do the bed, but it’s fiddly to align just right.”

“Okay.”  Marty looked into the kitchen, saw several boxes there, and brought one out.  “Where do you need it?”

“Anywhere inside the poles will do.”

Marty put the box down, then stepped back.  Once he was clear, Nancy touched a glowing green gem set into one of the poles, and the space between them silvered into opacity.  For a heartbeat, there was a giant silver cube in her living room, then the effect vanished like a popping soap bubble.  Where the box of dishes had been was a simple white cube, three inches on a side.  Nance picked it up and wrote ‘Dishes’ on the side with a marker.  She added it to the pile of cubes.

Marty stared at her in amazement.  “What on earth?”

“MicroMove was running a special on their new system.  Renting it for a day is way cheaper than renting a locker, and I might be couch-surfing for months.”

“Couch-surf?  Oh, sweetie.  I thought you’d found a job.”

Nancy sighed. “I thought so too.  But the company folded before they could even cut me a cheque.  If I’m out of here by tonight, I don’t have to make next month’s rent.  I have some money left, but it’s going to have to last me a while.  Maybe in the summer the tourist traps will be hiring.”

“That’s months off. So you’re moving on Valentine’s Day?  Wow, that sucks.”

“Don’t I know it.  C’mon, let’s get more of these boxes done.”

Marty kept busy moving boxes from the kitchen and then the bedroom into the space defined by the poles.  Nancy kept converting the boxes and labelling them, adding them to the pile that never seemed to grow all that much bigger.

Once just after Marty had set down a box, he heard Nancy make a strange noise, like half of a sigh.  He looked up at her, seeing relief on her face, soon replaced with mischief.  “What?”

“Oh, nothing,” Nancy said with a grin.  “Step out of there so I can reduce the box again.”

Marty did so, then frowned.  “Again?” he asked.

Nancy was too busy writing on the cube to answer, so Mike went back to the bedroom.  There were no boxes left, so he started pulling drawers out of the dresser.  Each was reduced in turn to a simple cube, labelled ‘Drawer of socks’ or ‘Drawer of panties’ as appropriate.  Divested of its drawers, the dresser wasn’t overly heavy, so he dragged it into the middle of the poles.

“Other than the bed, this is the last of it,” he said.

Nancy grinned at him sweetly.  “Cool.”  A moment later, she was standing a few inches to the left, and the room suddenly got a little darker as if the sun had just gone behind a cloud.

Marty peered at Nancy curiously, then shook his head.  “That was weird.”

“Did you notice something?”

Marty’s brow furrowed.  “I’m not sure...”  He did step quickly out from between the poles, however.  A moment later, the dresser was reduced to a simple cube.  Marty helped pack them all into a single box.

“So.  How do we move the poles into the bedroom?”

Nancy picked up the one with the control gem, and carried it into the bedroom.  There was a small plate on the bottom, perhaps a foot across, that helped stabilize it.  Marty shrugged, and picked up another.  He set it about six feet away from Nancy’s pole, on the other side of the bed.  She pointed out a small orange lamp at the tip, and had him move it back and forth as it went to yellow then finally to green.

While Nancy went to fetch the other poles, she asked Marty to pull the bed out from the wall so that it could be fully enclosed by the cargo converter.

The other two poles required even more fiddling and nudging before their respective lamps went green.  When they were done, Marty looked around.  Nancy had been directing him while he’d worked but he couldn’t see her now.  “Nancy?  Shall I do the bed now?”

At her muffled affirmative, he shrugged, and touched the gem just as he’d seen her do for a number of boxes.  It was only after the silvering popped up that he connected the dots.  Nancy’s muffled voice hadn’t come from outside the room, the odd-shaped lump under the covers had been...  “Crap!   Nancy?  Are you...”

Marty stared at the little white cube.  “Of course you can’t hear me.  I hope this works...”  He touched the cube, and the bed reappeared without a fuss.  “Nancy, are you OK?”

Nancy giggled and sat up. “Did you do it already?  Foo.  I didn’t feel anything.”

Marty sighed with relief.  “Is it safe to do that?  It’s one thing to shrink things, but... people?”

Nancy hopped out of the bed, and touched the gem once more.  The bed disappeared, becoming yet another simple cube.  She walked into the middle of the poles, picked it up, and wrote on it.  Then she tossed the cube to Marty, before answering.  “It’s safe, the manual said so.  Besides, I already tested it on you twice.”

Marty’s eyes went wide with realization.  “That time with the box...  You turned me into a cube?”

Nancy nodded, eyes sparkling with merriment.  “Yup.  Just for a few seconds, by accident.”

“The time with the dresser wasn’t an accident.  And you left me turned into a box for a while that time.  That’s why the light changed.”

Nancy’s grin got even wider.  “You weren’t a box that time.  Turns out this thing can change its contents into whatever you imagine, the box is just the default.”

“So what was I?”

“A skirt.  I put you on and wore you around the apartment for half an hour, doing the last bit of cleanup.”

“And I didn’t even feel a thing.”  Marty sighed.  “Pity.”

“What, you’d enjoy being a dress?”

“If I could feel, sure.  Snuggled up against those sexy legs?”

“I thought you’d be freaking out over it.  I know I am.”  Her grin faltered a little.  “Come on, it’s safe.”

Marty stared at Nancy as if she’d grown a second head.  “What?”

“Look, I have nowhere to stay.  No job prospects for months.  Just do it, and bring me back in June.”  The smile was distinctly forced, now.

“That seems such a waste.  I’d rather have you move in with me.”

“Why Marty, I didn’t know you cared.  I mean, we slept together a few times, but I didn’t think I meant that much to you...”

“You’re pretty enough, and nice.  I’ve done far worse.  The thing is...  God, I hate that it comes to this, but...  I don’t know if I can afford another mouth to feed.  The child support payments are brutal.”

“I know.  You’ve told me about it before.  Patty’s such a cutie, it’s a pity how her mom turned out.  Maybe... maybe I could move into Patty’s dollhouse?”

Marty reached for the green gem.  “That could work.  I’d still get to see you, and she’s not really keen on dolls now that she’s a teen.  So you’d be safe.  Um, you would be safe, right?  If the doll got damaged, you wouldn’t be hurt?”

Nancy shook her head, biting her lip in that cute way she did.  “No, I’ll be fine.  I’ll pay you back for the rental in June, too.  I’ve got enough left to rent one of these things a dozen times over, give or take.”  She stared at Marty’s hand, then gave a little wave.  “Do it.”

A flicker later, and a nine inch doll that looked just like Nancy was standing in the middle of the poles.  Marty looked down at it in wonder, then crouched down to get a closer look.  The doll put its arm up in terror and stumbled backward.  “Nancy?” breathed Marty in wonder.

The doll nodded its head, very slowly.  Its mouth moved, but no words came out.

Marty scrambled back to the post, and touched the gem again.  A moment later, Nancy was full size once more.

“I could move!” she exclaimed.  “I could see and hear and... well, it’d have been nice if I could speak, but...”

“Want me to try again, but thinking about speaking too?”

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Nancy squeaked nervously.  “Do it!  That’ll be the MicroMove guys to pick the unit up.  We’re out of time.”

Marty tapped the button, then went to let in a guy in blue coveralls.  When he got back to the bedroom he spotted Nancy dashing behind the closet door.  The MicroMove guy whistled softly to himself as he dismantled the rig.  The poles unscrewed from the plates, then folded in half.  A minute later the whole rig was packed neatly in a carry-bag, and slung over his shoulder.

“Pleasure to meet you,” he said, as he shook Marty’s hand.  “We also lease these things out by the month,” he added with a wink.

“How... how much?”

The mover named a figure that was quite a bit less than Marty’s rent.

“Huh.  I might just take you up on that.  Do they need to be recharged or anything?”

“Nope.  Most people generate more’n enough juice to run them.”

“OK.  It’s a deal.”

The mover pulled out a tablet, and handed it and the stylus to Marty.  “Just sign here, and we can get you set up with a monthly credit card charge.”

A minute later it was done, and the mover handed Marty the carrying bag for the cargo converter.  “Have fun!”  He left with a grin and a wave.

Once he was gone, Nancy darted out from the closet and stared up at Marty.  “What have you done?” she squeaked.

Marty crouched down in front of the doll, moving slowly so as not to startle her.  “I thought you might like to be real once in a while.  When Patty’s not visiting.”

“But you can’t afford that and to live here, can you?”

“Nah.  I’ve been thinking about moving into a basement suite near work, though.  It’d be quite a bit cheaper, and with this thing to store all the stuff I can’t let go of, it’ll be enough space.”

Nancy ran up to Marty’s leg and hugged it as exuberantly as a nine inch tall doll could.  “That would be amazing.  Will you let me use it on you once in a while, too?  I’d like company in that dollhouse.”

Marty laughed.  “Sure.”

There was another knock at the door, and Nancy squeaked.  “Oop, the landlord!  The key’s on the counter in the kitchen.  Hide me!”

Marty tucked a curled-up Nancy into his jacket pocket, then went to answer the door.  “Hello, Mr. Lidell.”

“Good evening, Mr. Fleischmann.  Where is Nancy?”

Marty ignored the squeak from his pocket.  “Nancy and I just finished packing up.  The keys are on the counter.  Will you be needing any help?”

“No, no.  Just a quick look ‘round to make sure everything’s in order.  Where shall I send her damage deposit?  She didn’t say.”

“Oh.  Uh, I think her plan was to crash with friends.  I can get it to her, though.”

“Sweet on her, were you?  Ah, it’s a pity to lose a nice quiet tenant like her.”

“And me, I’m afraid.  I’m going to have to give notice soon, an... opportunity has come up.”

The elderly man clucked his teeth.  “Moving somewhere to be with Nancy?  Can’t say I blame you, I have eyes.  Good for you, son.  How soon?”

“Well, you’ll have your hands full with Nancy’s place.  Next month?”

Mr. Lidell nodded.  “Fair enough.  Now go.  Have fun with her.  It’s Valentine’s Day, after all.”

Marty grinned.  “It is, at that.  And a good one, this year, finally.”   With the carrying bag for the cargo converter over his shoulder, he picked up the box of white cubes that represented all of Nancy’s worldly possessions.  He waved to the landlord, and scooted across the hall to his own apartment.

Once the door was shut behind them, Nancy scrambled up out of his pocket and climbed up to meet Marty face to (tiny) face.  “Did you mean that?” the doll-woman asked, clinging to his collar.

“Yes.  Want me to set up the cargo thingy so we can go out to a restaurant?”

“I’d rather stay in with you.”  She leaned in and gave him a tiny kiss on the cheek.

Marty turned his head, and kissed Nancy’s face, making her sputter and giggle.  “Sounds like fun to me.  Can you eat like that?”

Nancy shrugged.  “We’ll find out, I guess.”

Marty had become, by necessity, a fairly decent cook, so while the meal he made for the two of them wasn’t anything fancy, it did smell pretty good by the time he was done.  He set down two plates on the kitchen table.  One normal sized one for himself, and one from the dollhouse for Nancy.  He’d even managed to find a fork and knife her size.  A tiny dollop of spaghetti and a corner of a meatball went onto her plate.  

Nancy sat directly on the table, crosslegged, and stared up at Marty with a smile on her face.  “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

Marty tipped his glass to her.  “And to you, too.”

They ate quietly for a time.  Nancy cleared her plate quickly, and Marty offered her a forkful of his dinner.  Nancy daintily nibbled a few bites off of it, barely denting it, and watched in awe as what looked like a shovelful of food went into his giant mouth.

Once they were both done, Marty suggested some ice-cream for dessert.  Nancy suggested that they share a bowl, rather than messing up Patty’s doll things further.  The way her eyes bugged out as she saw scoops of ice-cream bigger than her head going into the bowl made Marty grin.

“Want some whipped cream, since it’s a special occasion and all?  I don’t usually eat it myself, but I keep some in the fridge for when Patty’s here.”

“Sure,” said Nancy with the sort of mischievous grin that Marty hadn’t seen since before she got reduced to doll size.  The moment Marty’s back was turned, she ditched her dress and hopped up into the bowl of ice cream.  While he was digging in the fridge, she draped herself over it artfully.

Marty stared at her in surprise as he returned with the whipped cream.  Surprise at just how anatomically correct his little doll was, paired with more than a little lust.

Nancy grinned saucily up at him.  “Make with the whipped cream, already!  My backside is freezing!”

Marty shrugged, and with a matching grin he did so.  He made sure to cover Nancy from knees to shoulders.  Then he set the can aside, and leaned down to lick it all off again.

Before he got halfway, Nancy was squealing.  Part of that was the cold, so he scooped her up into his hands and started in on her seriously.  The warmth of his hands made her moan happily, and what he was doing with his tongue made those moans grow much louder.  By the time Marty was done, Nancy was making all sorts of delightful noises, so he carried right on until she sung out and shuddered in his hands.

“My god,” breathed Nancy once she could manage a coherent thought.  “If it’s going to be like that, I’ll stay like this forever.”

Marty grinned.  “Tempting.  I could send the cargo converter back...”

“No!”  Nancy shouted at the top of her tiny lungs.

Marty raised his eyebrow, curiously.

“I...  That was amazing.  I’ll happily spend time like this.”

“But?”

“But the idea of not being able to go back to normal terrifies me,” Nancy admitted, softly.  “I had steeled myself to it, saying it was only a few months, and that I could trust you.”

“You can.”

“When you decided to lease it, though...  I was so relieved.  I’m not ready to face the world like this without having that security blanket.”

“So should I set it up now?”

“Maybe tomorrow.  Just having it here is enough, for now.”

“For now?”

“Well...  Remember what I said I’d turned you into, earlier?”

Marty’s eyes widened, and at Nancy’s scale the expression was so broad that it made her giggle.  “If I can be an aware and alert doll... maybe you can be an aware and alert dress.  Or perhaps something else?”  She teased the ball of his thumb with her hand.  “Something more intimate?  Maybe you’d like to spend the nights curled around these legs you find so alluring?”

Marty licked his lips.  “I...  The idea is scary.  I’d be so helpless.”

“Don’t you trust me?” Nancy asked, letting the tiniest bit of hurt into her voice.

“Yes.  Still scary.”

Nancy teased her hand up Marty’s thumb.  “I’m sure I can make it worth it.  C’mon, lets go to bed.”

“Already?  It’s early yet.”

“Didn’t mean to sleep.”

“Oh... Oh!  But you’re so much smaller than me.”

Nancy grinned up at Marty saucily.  “Bet I can still get you off.”

Marty chuckled.  “Bet accepted.  If you win, I’ll be your underwear tomorrow.”

“And if I lose?”

“Then you’ll be my underwear.”

“Oooh, win-win.  But I’m going to win, even if I have to use my whole body to do so.”

She did, too.

After a shared and sudsy bath to get them both clean once more, they finally made it to bed to sleep.  Marty offered to set up a bed for Nancy in the dollhouse, but she insisted on sleeping with him.

“But what if I roll over in the night?  You could get squashed.”

“No worse than when you grabbed me at the end there.  Didn’t hurt at all, whatever I am it’s tough stuff.”

Marty winced. “I said I was sorry about that.”

“And I accepted your apology.  And your five offers to let me turn you into whatever I want.  I’m going to take you up on all of those, you know.”

Marty sighed ruefully.  “I know.  Am I going to need to use up some of my vacation time next week?”

Nancy grinned toothily.  “Oooh, yes.  I’m going to wear you all week!”

“And that idea makes you happy?” asked Marty softly.

“Very happy.  I promise I’ll make it fun for you too.”

“Then I’ll call in first thing tomorrow, and be your Valentine’s Day gift for the week.  Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetie.”

“Mmm.  You too.”