The last two weeks had been somewhat fulfilling. Oh sure there were the questions, the subtle criticisms now of your supposed life choices. A couple of barbed conversations. But all in all, meals with the family, movie nights, and your work gave you some sorely needed moral strength. You were still gonna go through with your plan, modified and now with different goals, motivations, and you were certain you were much better prepared. Additionally, if you managed to make it the next 6 months, documenting every day and philosophizing on the larger issues that micro life has on both the individual and possible benefits to society, you would certainly consider publishing your findings and revealing the tech to the wider world. You'd definitely show your family all the pictures and the journal first, justify your decision to quit your job and being absent for 6 months.
If you survived...you grimaced.
On that front, the last two weeks had been absolutely essential. You most enjoyed working on the shelter. It was a 2.5 inch tall cylinder, with a diameter of 1.5 inches. To your 1/3 of an inch tall form it would appear about 44 feet tall and 26 feet at its widest. Of course, it would be almost entirely underground, with only a metal hatch and the top of the surprisingly sturdy concrete structure visible to the outside world. You had been working on its amenities throughout the first week, growing it to dollhouse sized in your room and filing the stores, providing tools, a bed, wiring, etc. It was like building a model home, something you had done growing up several times. Two AAA batteries resided in the bottom, to provide emergency power should the solar panels on the roof be damaged. Finally you closed it up, welded the openings and shrunk it down to appropriate size.
The suit had been much more difficult. If super suits were easy, everyone would have one. It wasn't even that super. Despite the shrinking technology, you had to rely almost entirely on existing tech in making it. It wouldn't have even worked at full size. Its design was completely dependent on being small. It provided small boosts to jumping power, speed, and the armor could absorb greater falls than his knees would, the armor provided some protection from impacts. the elements, and even limited protection from some of the creatures he was about to share a world with, but he wasn't Iron Man. The final additions were a small parachute, due to his small size a large one would not be needed in any fall, the air currents sharing a much greater share of the load, and a grappling belt.
He had only gotten the day before he was scheduled to leave. The family had a send off dinner, tears were shed, hugs were had, hands shaked. It helped him finalize his altered plan. He couldn't do to them what he had tried two weeks ago. The more he thought about it the worse it made him feel. He was going to live in their backyard, unprepared, lying to them for months, trying to survive not just the elements, but them. His dad had made him mow the lawn just last week. He had hesitated before starting it up, worried, absurdly he knew, that he might be killing some other tiny adventurer. Of course, he knew this was pure nonsense. Only he had the tech, and if by some miracle someone else had managed it, why would they be in HIS backyard. Still, it was not as preposterous as it had been only 2 weeks before. After finishing the mowing, he had noted a couple of places he would have been able to build a shelter out of the way of the mower. Mom's garden, the dirt patch in the corner. But if he was caught out here at any time the mower was used, which was just about every week, he'd be a goner. It wasn't fair to his family, that if he did die that one of them may be the cause, however unknowingly. It wasn't fair that if he did not survive, his last memories of them wouldn't be this meal, but as enemies, terrible forces of destruction that he had to work every day to overcome, or scurry in fear from under them. Plus, practically, any place with high human traffic would necessarily entail hundreds of additional dangers that weren't to be found in the wilds of the nearby forest you used to run and bike in.
The next day he departed, sad but hopeful of the future. He had almost told them of his insane plan, but he couldn't afford to. If they knew their son was bug sized a couple of miles away, fighting for his life, well they'd never let him leave. One last tearful wave and he was gone. He had the Uber driver he'd called drop him off near the trail head. He wondered when or if he'd next see a human being. The glade he had in mind was about a hundred feet off the main trail. He's spent many days in summer eating lunch there, or climbing the large oak tree there. This trail wasn't particularly well traveled either. No more than a few people a day would use it, and even fewer would leave the path. Maybe he'd journey over to it one day, to catch his first sight of a giant, but for now he made his way down the trail. Recognizing the spot where he'd gone exploring from and found the glade, he made his first steps into the wilderness. A couple of minutes later he entered the glade. The sun shone through a large gap in the canopy, a single large oak tree dominated the higher side of the glade, a small stream bubbled up from the earth not far down the small slope from the tree's base. A small pond lay at the bottom of the slope, with various small bushes and grass populating the rest of the glade. You do some quick surveying of the area and decide the best bet it at the base of the tree, between two large roots, not far up the slope from the brook. Protected from the elements, offering access to the tree and to water, up a slope so away from flooding, its as perfect as it gets. You remove the cylinder that is to be your new home for 6 months from your backpack and gently place it in a small hole you dug. After packing in the dirt around it, you remove the suit from the backpack and begin putting it on. Once finished you take a big gulp of air, "Tiny Survival: Second Attempt" you state matter of factually. You hit the red button on the shrinker, and once more sink nearly instantaneously into another world. The world below.
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