[Axel3.14]

Of course, that would be the wisest option normally, but my doctor seems somewhat ignorant on the subject of athleticism.  He seems to think, for example, that muscle does not significantly effect metabolic rate!  As for the risk elements, your concern is appreciated, but my asthma is more often a severe inconvenience than a life threatening matter.  Weightlifting is per se a potentially perilous enterprise.  Weightlfters put themselves at increased risk for vascular rupture, cochlear puncture, myocardiopathy, or simply having heavy weights dropped on their body.  I just want to push myself without needing to sit for an hour afterwards…  😳

[Axel3.14]

In high school I knew a basketball athlete who seemed to be about seven feet tall.  She seemed quite friendly, but her legs were so long I wondered how she could succeed in sports with such a high center of gravity.

[Axel3.14]

Research indicates that physical programs have greater adherence and results when they are done with at least one other person. 

On another note, for an activity that involves very little speaking (talking interferes with VO2) it can be a good relationship builder.

[Axel3.14]

Everyone calls you a bodybuilder, but given your statements about your motivation, you sound more like a strength trainer.

Do you plan to go into bodybuilding shows?

[Axel3.14]

She looks delightful, though I suspect she may be taking steroids.  It would certainly explain the short stature and the inordinately heavy body, but I've never seen a steroid user looking so attractive either.  I wonder if she is endorsing any products now.  I might buy her cereal 🙂

[Axel3.14]

I wonder why a real gaming company doesn't try to buy these characters.  They've got immense sex appeal, chareacter depth, and general coolness factor.

[Axel3.14]

The rest of the day slid morosely by as Maria placed Tommy into his chair.  He wheeled himself with some effort to a corner, where he leafed through a book with vivid illustrations of various minerals.  Devoid of appetite, he skipped dinner and slept shallowly in his wheelchair, unaccustomed to upright repose.

     Tommy realized that life in his emaciated condition would be different, but he had not had an appreciation for the scope of how much his life would change.  His back was becoming increasingly uncomfortable; it was unbefitting for an athlete to remain seated for so long.  The morning brought the realization that he was in need of new strategies.  Not dextrous enough to transfer himself from the wheelchair to the toilet, he ended up with his face in the grime festooned bowl.  With a shudder, he used the toilet and tried to fling himself into the shower.  Unable to manipulate the dial reliably, he managed to scald, freeze, and nearly drown himself within a period of ten minutes.  After surviving the bathtub, Tommy found his body too exhausted to move, leaving his parents to find a twitching, sprained mass of their son some hours later with his head under an endlessly dripping faucet. 

     After a hand blocked the onslaught of hammering crystalline particles, Tommy felt a pair of hands lifting his trembling form.  He was wrapped in clothes that were at least three sizes too large for him.  Slumping in his chair, he realized his parents were chasitizing him. 

    "…very dangerous.  You should have asked for help.  What made you think you can do that by yourself."

    Tommy's face contorted, "Perhaps the fact that hundreds of people live with wheelchairs every day without being coddled by their parents like babies."

    His mother stormed out indignantly.  His father shook his head and sighed.  "Tommy, we know that you're still an adult, but that was very foolish."

Tommy was about to respond, but he was interrupted, "I'll put into terms I know you can understand.  Your current plays are no longer working; you need some new ones."

   "I know that!"

   His fother continued undaunted, "But you can't start doing new plays spontaneously!  You have to practice them, with your team."

    Tommy's ears perked. "Speaking of practice, don't I get some sort of rehabilitation training?"

    "That's right.  The first session is scheduled in two days."

    "Okay… how am I going to go to school?"

    " I thought you'd want to stay home today.  Maria can drive you."

    At school, Maria, left Tommy at the door.  "Where are you going?"  he squeaked suddenly.

    "I'm not a student.  I'll pick you up."

    Tommy looked down.  Maria bent down, hugged him, and whispered, "Don't worry, you'll be all right."  She then went to her car.

    The rise of confidence inspired by that remark evaporated as Tommy entered the crowded halls of his school.

[Axel3.14]

Thank you.  I am pleased that other people enjoy these as well.

[Axel3.14]

After the shock of reawakening, the next few days seemed peaceful.  I got an apartment and some second-hand clothes.  After all those weeks of nudity, garments felt alien.  Actually, everything felt alien, even though I had spent the last six years of my life at the institution.  It was now the best approximation of a home for me, now that the possessions of my parents had long since been auctioned off by the state. 

    Soon, the day arrived.  I paced outside the penitentiary, trying not to look at the people behind the barbed wire fence.  After a while, I found myself enveloped in shadow.

    "Hi, there."

    "Stephan- Arhh!"  I turned around, astonished by her appearence.

    "I see you've grown."  She smiled and tousled my hair.

    "You too…"  I stammered.  I estimated her height to still be eight feet, but she looked shorter both from the change of perspective and her thicker body.  Her hair was thick, lustrous and copious.  She used it as a cloak of sorts, since she was completely naked.  I hugged one of her unbelievably sexy arms, but I could barely get my arms around her bicep.  She looked down and laughed. 

"I was so worried about you."

    "Really?" 

   "I called at least twice a week." 

    "I had no idea."

    Stephanie giggled.  "I think I annoyed the dean.  At the trial, he depicted me as some kind of feral creature."

    "Was he testifying for you or against you?"

    She shrugged, thrusting her trapezius skyward.  "I think he was trying to prove I was insane.  I don't want to stay here anymore."

    "Okay, let's go."  I started walking back.  She accompanied me to the university, every step taken with her forearm across my waist. 

    She squeezed into her former office.  I studied her reclining figure on the now undersized couch.  "Have you been working out?"  I asked incredulously. 

   "Certainly, I idled my time by lifting weights in prison." 

   "I can't fathom that the facility had sufficient weights to accomodate your physical prowess."

   She nodded.  "By human standards, they didn't.  Normal humans need to exert themselves to their capacity to increase their musculature, but these grow at the slightest provocation."

   At that moment, she stretched her limbs to ther full length, closed her eyes and smiled.  "I'm so glad to be back."

   "I'm sorry that you were incarcerated."

   She sighed and had a pensive look on her face.  "Actually, I'm not."

   "Hmmm?"

    She wrapped her arms around me and planted me on her lap. "I had some important revelations in there."

    "Like what?"  I leaned back and placed my head on her bosom, which was actually a size Z pectoralis major with an inch of fat behind it. 

     "I learned… that I can't control everything."

   I stared until she continued.  "I can intellectualize it, but I had trouble getting a visceral grasp of the fact that no matter how much I process the data, how many times I test the machinery, or how many tracking devices I put on you, misfortunes will invariably occur.  Now that I've accepted this, I think I can control my emotions.  Thank you Eric."

     I stroked her soft brilliant hair.  "I'm the one who is grateful, you saved me.  Whatever happened to them?"

   She kissed my forehead.  "I would have done that for anyone.  I hate rapists.  I wanted to kill them all.  They were convicted by the school.  It seems the university doesn't approve of the mishandling of their billion dollar research subjects."

   "I never thought you to be so agressive."

   "Well, I was a victim of rape once myself."

   "I never knew."

   "That's why I thanked you.  You were patient while I came to grips with my feelings for you.  I appreciate your patience and loyalty, despite the fact that you really wanted me."

   "How did you determine that."

   "Come on! You were naked for all that time.  You didn't think I noticed?  In fact, you're doing it again right now!"

  I looked down and blushed." So I am."

   "Great!  I haven't had coitus in about a year."

     "Really?"

   "Correct.  I'm not a lesbian, and the guards wouldn't come close to me.  Did you know I'm bulletproof now?"

   "Interesting.  I hope nobody fires a gun at you, though."

   She snorted "At least in the literal sense.  Come on."

   And so I did. 

    Some time later, I got Stephanie her job back.  Actually she was my subordinate, but it was mostly a nominal difference.  We got married soon thereafter, and consummated the union on a bed decorated with starshield petals.  As the years passed and biotechnological progress overshadowed our pioneering endeavors, I simply became a man with an inordinately muscular wife.  The only reminder of the fiasco was an eight inch mechanical effigy of me that sat lifelessly on a windowsill.

Fin.

[Axel3.14]

By the time the shoe had stopped moving, I was in a dark closet.  Liberating myself from the viscous pink mass, I pushed the door aside and crept into the hallway, I inched along the corridor, not wanting to draw attention to myslef.  After a few minutes, I had reached the door.  I slipped out the mail chute.

    I realized that I stood in an engulfing shadow.  I looked up, and my gaze met that of a mystified soroity girl.  With a chilling rictus, she scooped me up and took me to a room in which a plethora of dishabbille girls were socializing.  All eyes turned to me in my nudity. 

    For the remainder of my life, I would never dredge up the details of what happened next, but I recall being passed around the sorority and committed to spend centuries in the dank, piscine nadir.  By the time I was rescued, my mind was numb.  Dozens of mangled but living bodies,  Stephanie's concerned visage, her solid, red-stained hand, her labored breathing, an approaching siren.  Such were the last sensations before I lost consciousness. 

    When I woke up, I found myself in a hospital, about a fathom tall.  I stood and walked in a daze.  The dean walked in and shook my hand.

    "Congratulations Eric!  In light of your services to the school, we are granting your application for a professorship."

    I felt my breathing rate and pulse accelerate.  "Where's Stephanie?"

    The dean blinked.  "You mean Miss Asperas?  We discharged her a week ago.  She brutalized a bunch of girls…  Horrible mess… the school was nearly sued.  She's due for parole next week.  I think she'd like to see you."

    I assimilated the data with increscent horror.  "How long was I out?"

    The dean shrugged.  "About a year I guess.  You didn't react well to the bodily reconstruction."

    "Am I human now?"  I looked at my unfamiliar hand.   

    This elicited another shrug, "Who knows?  You're viable and there wasn't any brain damage.  You should be happy for that much…"  The official muttered and stalked off.

    After thorough tests from the physician, I was declared healthy.  After a while, I was back on the campus.  I wandered through the old department.  Stephanie's former office now was labeled with my name.  Inside, the room was stripped of most of the furniture.  I sat down at the desk and ran my fingers against the surface fondly.  A person that I did not recognize walked in from the hallway. 

    "Hi there.  You must be Aaron."

    "My name is Eric!"  I nearly shouted.  She continued, nonplussed.  "Welcome to the staff.  Is there anything we can help you with?"

    "I wanna talk to Stephanie…"  I cried.

    "Oh, sorry, she can't be contacted until she's out of prison."

    "My family?  My roomate?"

    At that time I saw her face cloud over.  "You should read this."

    I accepted a newspaper cutout from her.  "Car collision… all three of them… dead?"  I babbled, and cried some more.

    The person put a hand on my shoulder.  "I'm sorry.  By the way, My name is Dana Gutterson, Professor of mathematics.  I want to help you."

    I hugged her cordially and drew back.  "Thank you…"  I muttered.  "Tell me something."

    "What is it?"

  "Where did I get these clothes?  What happened to my parents' properety?  How is Dr. Asperas faring?  Where do I sleep now?"  I plunged my face into my hands.

  "I think you need some rest.  I'll tell you later."  Dr. Gutterson left. 

    I turned out the light and looked at the hamster cage on the desk.  Iwished Icould crawl into it again.  I turned the light off and slept on the sofa, musing on the fact that I had been in a coma for a year, yet my mind felt so fatigued.

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