Nather’s End

Nathers was suspicious. But then, that was his general bent – always suspicious of everyone and everything. Which is why he moved his company’s R and D to the high desert at an abandoned airstrip.

Nathers was also brilliant, if eccentric. He hoisted his heavy probe/connector, with its six inch bundle of electrical cables toward the large concrete pad on the center of the floor. Banks of machines with guages trembling upon them encircled the pad. The roof of the metal building he worked in was lost in shadows, but he frequently looked into them, expecting some spy or interloper to appear.

The concrete pad was a necessity, covering a very deep hole, which had been created when Nathers first experiment had given it’s first surprising results.

The end of Nather’s probe/connector was an awful sight. Bright metal corkscrews extended out of it at odd angles, along with linty metal wire mesh pads and oddly colored metal foils, all crumpled and dirty. Electricity, in many forms and frequencies, fairly dripped from the probe’s many endings. Nather’s hair stood on end, a phenomenon that he hated, but he was safe enough in his overlarge rubber waders, which were suspended from his narrow bony shoulders.

Suddenly, as he brought his probe with its heavy cable close to the center of the concrete pad, the heavily padded objects in the center began to glow – and disappear! Nather cackled in glee, trying to jump up and down in his heavy waders. He dropped the still smoking probe and tiptoed over to where the objects – heavy industrial equipment and household appliances – had been.

Carefully, while bringing in front of his face a series of small lenses, he knelt down and pulled out a pair of tweezers, whose ends were wrapped in soft tape. He appeared to be picking up something very small and fragile from the surface of the concrete pad.

Unnoticed behind him, someone had approached, and was waiting patiently at the edge of the concrete pad.

Nathers got up and turned – and screamed, dropping whatever it was that he was cradling in his hand. The person stepped forward, into the light. it was only John, Nather’s assistant.

“Don’t EVER do that!” Nather’s exclaimed, holding his chest with a free hand, looking around carefully to see where his treasures had gone. “Now get out your magnifiers and help me look for these things.”

John never said a word, being used to his boss’s ways. Both got down, and presently an inventory was taken and all the objects, now greatly reduced in size, were taken over to a nearby bench.

“Some of these might have been crushed in the fall from my hand, if they hadn’t been properly wrapped in heavy padding first.”

“But you still have no way of knowing if they still work, since you haven’t figured out how to get power to them, right?”

“No, John, ‘I still have no way of knowing if they still work!’ Said Nather, mimicking John’s slow, quiet speech. “Go get the dolly and wheel some more appliances and equipment over to the center of the pad, and make sure they are well padded!”

John shuffled off to comply, lifting his two-way to give Nathers a blow-by-blow of his activities in the back of the building, which Nathers ignored as background noise. He was instead, intent over his many guages and their readouts.

John, with his two-way in his shirt pocket, and both hands on the dolly, wheeled a large refrigerator onto the concrete pad. As he passed the probe, there was a momentary flash of light. A bright hissing could be heard, and then John and the fridge were gone. Nathers had been changing some of the settings on his consoles, and never noticed.

After a while, Nathers came around to the pad, and looked at the empty space in front of him. He made a wry expression and picked up his two-way. “John! Why haven’t you brought anything to the pad yet!”

The two-way crackled, and John answered, “I’m down here!”

Nathers didn’t understand his comment, and began to walk toward the center of the pad himself.

“Don’t move! You’ll step on me! I’m down here with the appliances I brought!”

Nathers froze for a moment, and a gleam came to his eye. “You mean you and the things you brought to the pad are SHRUNK?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

Nathers began to cackle again, and to jump up and down, when a light from an opened door caught his eye. A man appeared, in an expensive suit. It was the President of the company Nathers worked for!

“Mr. Bodeen! What an honor for you to come here to see what I have invented…!”

The big man put his hands on his hips, and scowled fircely. “What is the meaning of all this! You haven’t cleared this research with our legal department, you fool!”

Nathers cringed, “What do you mean?”

I mean that another company already owns all this technology and has completed all the research. More than that, they own all the patents that pertain to it. Don’t you read ANYTHING!”

Nathers stammered, “But I work in secret, and only when I have completed my research shall I show it to anyone. Who owns this technology? Who beat me to the research?”

“It’s a big corporation out on the West Coast. If you poked your head out of your project once in a while, you would have caught on to this. Now pack all this up and come back to Corporate. We have to deal with all this mess now.”

Nathers, seeing THE END of all his work, cringed even more. The two-way crackled to life, “But what about me?”

It was John, of course.

Mr. Bodeen grabbed the two-way from Nather’s unresisting hand, “Who is this?”

“My name is John. I work as Mr. Nather’s assistant. I’m afraid I’ve been shrunk down with all this equipment and appliances. Please watch where you step!”

Mr. Bodeen’s face softened. “That’s alright, John. How would you like to work for a new company, and make use of your new talents?”

Nathers did not hear the rest of the conversation, being drowned in his own soon-to-be fate. His head reeled! All this work – for nothing! He gnashed his teeth against his fist.

He caught the end of a conversation between his boss and John, “…one of their technicians will be sent out here to bring you to one of their manufacturing plants. You will find them a great group of people to work for.”

“M, M, Mr. Bodeen! Who are these people who perfected this super miniaturization? What is their company called?

Mr. Bodeen looked surprised. “You don’t get out at all, do you? Its Apple Computer. They just released their first mini products – a computer and a flash player, using their perfected and patented new miniaturization process, and built by tiny people, just like John. Their new computer is called the Mac Mini. Their new flash music player is called the iPod Shuffle.”

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