Chapter 1: Introduction
It was a glourious summer’s day outside, but inside Nexus Labs, Samantha Roberts was a world away. Her state-of-the-art laboratory, a gleaming glass and steel edifice nestled amongst large modern office block in an industrial part of Silicon Valley - it was a haven for scientific research and innovation.
Today's presentation was to a small audience of awe-struck colleagues: Dr. Roberts stood tall in front of her newest invention, fresh from a successful feasibility demonstration. Before her sat an intricate laser setup, the product of years of tireless research and sleepless nights.
The high-intensity laser beam was held in a sleek, silver case, attached to which was a monitoring system displaying a series of settings and power levels.
"This laser beam can change the molecular structure of a target," Dr. Roberts explained to her rapt audience. "Specifically, its capability to rearrange matter can alter the size of an object. It's an exciting development for our field, with potential applications in solving global hunger."
Her words hung in the air, and the room filled with a hush of wonder. Every visitor leaned in, hanging on her every word.
The thought of molecular size manipulation by a beam of light was almost fantastical—almost unbelievable. The ambitious junior scientist Tina Cousins, who stood at the front of the small group, lifted her short blonde hair back from her shoulders, riveted by the visuals on the screen. Her clear blue eyes sparkled in the laboratory's light, curiosity burning within her.
Her mentor, Dr. Roberts—tall, slim, with long brown hair and green eyes—had always been inspiring.
She was the epitome of intelligence, compassion, and dedication. Her love for science, particularly the laser technology, was infectious. And now, she held within her hands the potential to change lives on a global scale.
In the back of the room, though, Tina silently contemplated her own intrusive thoughts. As Dr. Roberts’ protégé and a junior scientist herself, she had assisted Dr. Roberts on the project. However, her fascination with laser technology veered off in a different direction than solving global hunger.
Dr. Robert’s spoke for a short while before the moment of truth in demonstration arrived. Samantha moved towards the silver case and double checked the settings, calibrations and power levels were correct. Her demonstration was going to take an enormous amount of power. Placed on a metal table in front of the silver box encasing the laser beam was a single orange for the impending demonstration.
Samantha checked the key settings one final time, including a display that read “x 2.0”, drew in a deep breath and activated the laser.
The beam generated flickered to life. A focused light emanated, intensifying and pulsating radiantly before neatly surrounding the surface of the orange. The air in the laboratory filled with a damper hum, indicating that something extraordinary was happening at the subatomic level, a process invisible to the naked eye.
Her colleagues watched with baited breath, unaware of the surprise they were about to encounter.
As the laser kept humming, a faint but noticeable reddish-pink glow appeared around the orange, undulating to the rhythm of the laser's pulsating light.
Suddenly, the orange skin started to pulsate itself as it looked like the fruit underneath the skin was trying to push through. Then, the orange started to grow slowly bigger, rearranging its molecular structure. The skin of the fruit stretched, and the insides grew before everyone's eyes. The transformation happened smoothly, almost serenely. The once ordinary piece of fruit turned into an object of awe and inspiration.
The orange continued to grow larger until it reached a size around twice of its initial shape and that is when the surrounding glow died down.
Samantha turned off the laser beam to conserve the immense amount power that was required for the demonstration.
She looked around the room with pride, seeing her colleagues in complete awe of the newly doubled-sized orange. The tense atmosphere after the laser's activation had devolved into a collective gasp, followed by a moment of stunned silence.
Awestruck, Tina's jaw dropped as she looked at the fruit. Her breath hitched as she struggled to take in the sheer visual impact of the magnificently enlarged, bulging orange.
Its doubled size looked breathtakingly seductive - the kind of awe-inspiring sight one might expect from a revealing encounter with a temptress, rather than a simple scientific demonstration.
Entranced, she couldn't help but toy with the delicious thought of how the laser beam's unique abilities could apply to other things, including, dare she think …human bodies. It was a blasphemous daydream, she knew, but heat crept up her neck and flushed her cheeks just the same.
The thrill of imagining such a capability sent her pulse quickening as her heart thrummed excitedly in her chest.
Tina's eyes remained locked on the colossal fruit, steadily growing heavier with the weight of her wicked thoughts. As she pondered, Samantha caught her young protégé's expression of wonder, if somewhat absentmindedly. The lascivious look in Tina's eyes sent a tiny frisson of unease snaking down Samantha's spine, but she quickly shook it off.
Tina couldn’t help herself but reach forward and grab the enlarged orange and feel its new weight and size before passing it around to the group. Each colleague was amazed at what they were seeing and feeling.
They looked at Samantha with wide eyes filled with admiration. And for Tina, the ambition and excitement building in her were bubbling over. Her eyes twinkled mischievously as she thought about the potential misuse of her mentor's invention, unbeknownst to anyone else.
Passing the colossal orange between colleagues, the thrill of touching and examining this seemingly ordinary object of science illuminated countless possibilities for their scientific futures.
With the destruction now over it was time for Samantha to lock down the lab and head downstairs for some celebratory drinks with the dozen colleagues.
As glasses began to clink in the downstairs meeting room, Samantha was so beside herself with joy and the overwhelming congratulations from others that she hadn’t noticed that Tina wasn’t amongst the group.
Tina has secretly stayed behind in the lab and had overridden the alarm settings so that her movements wouldn’t trigger the security system.