Bradbury Collection

Defective (Bradbury Week 12)

556 words

Martin Dugan sat in his limousine with a passenger who was riding along. They were on their way to a city about 80 miles away, to have lunch.

“Martin, how did you come up with all of this money? Two years ago you were just another 9 to 5 slob!”

“I manufacture and sell defective products to the United States military. My parents met at a concert in the 1960s, and they were very anti-military. I’m just keeping up the tradition! More soldiers have died because of my products over the past year than have been killed during the war!”

Just then, a big rig hit the limousine and both men were tossed out of the vehicle as the roof was ripped open when the limo flipped over and hit the railing of a bridge. The passenger and driver were safe and accounted for, but Martin was missing.

Martin stood alone in a table, about an inch tall. A blonde woman looked down on him.

“I am a harvester,” the woman said. “I’m from several centuries in your future. I am going to sell you at auction to the highest bidder.”

“Why did you select me?” Martin asked.

“Because you’re evil! What I’m doing isn’t legal, I’m selling you in the black market.”

“Why are you doing this?” Martin asked.

“I need money for college. This is my summer break, and I need money for food and lodging. Your body was never recovered, so I abducted you before you disappeared!”

Martin pondered what the beautiful woman had said to him as she piloted her time vehicle back to her future time. When she arrived in her own time, she parked in a hangar and carried Martin in a holder similar to a pet carrier. She carried it into an elevator and when she arrived on her floor, she entered an auction house.

Dozens of people were bidding on shrunken people of every race and background. Martin’s carrier was opened, and he was dumped out onto an auction block.

Bidding began, and Martin could see a display screen with the amount of the current bid. Before long, he was sold.

A blonde woman about 21 or so years old grabbed him, and placed him within a plastic jar with a lid that closed electronically.

Once at the place of habitation belonging to the college girl, Martin soon realized that she lived in a sorority. Other young college women of every race gathered around him to see him.

“That makes five of them, we should have enough for the contest!” said the blonde woman who had purchased him.

“Don’t forget the size inhibitor!” said a light completed African-American woman. “After we shrink him down to ant size, we don’t want him returning to normal size when we restore him back to an inch tall!”

A metal clamp was secured around Martin’s neck, and it was absorbed into another dimension. It was still there, but intangible.

“What are you planning on doing to me?” Martin asked.

“We’re shrinking you and some others down to ant size and seeing how fast we can swallow all of you. But don’t worry, you will all be vomited back up and you’ll be restored to an inch tall when we’re done!”

Martin had no choice but to accept his new fate, as the plaything of a group of domineering college girls.

The End