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Description
This is part of the world created by Chris in his “Opportunities for Growth” series at www.deviantart.com/gogomechy . He was good enough to let me write this one. It's a standalone that mostly takes place in Russia.

You can read his part 1: www.deviantart.com/gogomechy/a… and part 2: www.deviantart.com/gogomechy/a…

_______

She joined the program three days after her fourteenth birthday. The school said her genetic tests were good - outstanding in fact. They said it would be a good opportunity for her to do something good with her life. Something a lot better than hoping for average. There was a full week of coursework and tests. Medical and psychological. The psychological tests were the worst part. IQ, personality, stress and judgment they said. The judgement ones were spooky. On one they give her a doll and a story to act out telling her to think of it as alive . All the time the man in a doctor’s coat scribble away as she talked. Tatianna just guessed most of the time, but somehow she managed to pass..

Deep down inside she didn’t want to do it. She got her height early and was self conscious. The other students bullied her and the boys called her a giant. This would just make that true. But she had deeper worries. Papa was out of work for over a year and was working odd jobs to support the six children. Her older sister Olga had taken work as a maid to help out. Somehow she had to help and this would be a lot of money for her parents. And if she did well there would be university in three years all free and cheap housing and food for the rest of her life. The agency couldn’t guarantee the final result. They said there weren’t many side effects other than girls responded more strongly than boys. So much that in Russia only girls could receive treatment. Some had become national heroes. Everyone knew the story of Anya Alexeev saving the twenty three fire fighters.

It was a lot to think about. As she waited for the results she was torn between not going forward and helping her family. In the end it kept coming back to helping them She was just an average girl. A tall girl, but average and unlikely to make a stellar living. And even if she did it would be years away. No - she could help them now. She had talked herself into being happy when they told her she was an excellent mental candidate. It was then they told her she’d be sterile too.

At first it knocked the wind out of her. All of the women in her family had children. It was part of what women did. The big part they told themselves. She asked to take a walk and argued with herself. It was then she started to think about sex and that there wouldn’t be boys her size. Actually she had been thinking about it a lot. Hormones had been raging in her for awhile now and she had already been close - very close - with a boy in her school. But helping her family was more important now. Finally she heard herself say: ‘But if there weren’t any boys it wouldn’t matter, would it?’ As if that would end temptation. She walked back and hugged Papa and Mama and signed. Papa looked relieved and even proud, but Mama wept as they signed their part.

The next day she was on the train for the twenty hour trip to Saint Petersburg. Kirov was so far out. She’d change in Moscow. Normally such a trip would be exciting, but fought off tears thinking about all of them. Would she still be Tatianna to them afterwards? She had only been on the train twice before and those were short trips. Was this her last? Only the smallest could still fit. She hoped she’d only make three meters. She could live with that and her family would still be helped. There must be things a three meter girl can do. Maybe she could even marry a boy and they could adopt. Drifted off to sleep with that image in her mind.

The complex was in an isolated region about fifteen kilometers from town. Strange looking was an understatement. It looked like it was built on an old industrial site with some Soviet-era buildings from the fifties and sixties, but there were several other buildings that caught her eye. Some were normal but there were dormitory style buildings of various sizes. Some looked about twice as big in each dimension as you expect and one that was just enormous. A simple building with a door as tall as a four story building. Making it odder were the normal sized windows. The normal sized buildings looked like they were built for dolls, but the illusion was shattered when two giant girls walked out of the huge dormitory. Tatianna went into what looked like an old classroom - all her size - for orientation. As is the way with something so foreign everything seemed bewildering. She learned she was one of eleven new girls joining over six hundred who were at various stages of progress. There would be a new batch - a new class - every two weeks. The girls ranged in from normal to about ten meters but the instructor said most wouldn’t see four. A few were taller, but they were taken to specialized camps geared to their heights. The taller girls here were friendly, but they were too tall. She felt like a doll in their presence. Maybe if she was lucky she wouldn’t have to worry about getting that big. The odds seemed in her favor, but she didn't know she was marked for an experimental treatment.

There were many uniformed normal sized people. Some military, some police, and others she couldn’t tell. She assumed, but didn’t know if the government paid for all of this. It had to be very expensive. And if they paid for it, what did they expect? The contract said she would have five years of service after college or at nineteen if she didn’t go to college. It seemed like a good deal in return for helping her family, but she wondered.

As the week progressed, Tatianna got used to the patterns. There was a lot of physical strength, aerobic and agility training. It was intense, but fun. At home she loved gym class and now she had two hours a day with good trainers. They all stressed the importance of being in top physical shape during the growth period. They were told if they didn’t make fitness goals they’d be sent home without the stipends and treatments. Her parents would still get some money, but it wouldn’t be enough.

Then the academic part. Each class was about the same age - at least to a few months - so they were all in the same classes. Math, science, russian, english, art and history. There were even tutors. Her schedule didn’t leave much time for making friends, but most of the girls seemed nice and everyone was in the same boat. There would be school work all the way along until she was seventeen and then she might qualify for university or go directly into service.

The treatments began six weeks after she joined the program. On treatment day she reported to the clinic and waited while three other girls went before her. Then she had fifteen minutes of counseling and another fifteen to think about it before signing the document giving them permission. There would be no turning back. She thought about children and thought about her mother and aunts. There was so much work and you needed a good husband with a good job. She was one eighty centimeters. Not many boys would be interested in someone that tall. They liked the girls who had big boobs and stood like one sixty or one sixty five. She picked up the pen and signed in each of the five locations.

A doctor in a white coat walked her to what looked like a normal examination room. He told her because of her special genetics she would be a special protocol. It was safe, but very different and she would grow faster than the others. She felt sick hearing that, but there was no turning back. He didn't tell her it that it would be repeated every six months if it was successful. It might be a way to break thirty meters.

“Take everything off and put this on” he said handing her a pink smock.

She had never worn anything like it. Open at the back with laces to tie, but at least it covered her. The air was hot and stale. She sat and looked at the sterile place wishing her Mama was here to hold her hand.

He knocked before entering. He looked about her father’s age and maybe five centimeters shorter than she was. Most of his hair was gone, but his jolly smile and voice reassured her,

“We’ll get your baseline measurements so we can watch your change. First your height” he said pointing to the familiar vertical column attached to the wall.

Reaching up he lowered the measuring arm on her head and turned on a display.

“Good posture now - straight and tall!”

She straightened up and he adjusted the measuring arm a bit.

“Excellent posture! One hundred and seventy nine point four.” he said ask he wrote on a sheet. “now onto the scale”

She thought she was one eighty, but this was close. At least he didn’t make a negative comment like almost every else. She stood on the scale and forty eight point two appeared the display. Again she wasn't lectured about weight. Next came temperature, blood pressure, looking into her eyes and ears and checking her reflexes.

"Good reflexes. That'll be fun when you're larger"

A nurse came in and cleaned a spot on her left arm with alcohol before preparing a series of syringes.

“There will be three shots first. The first will sting a little, but the other two aren't bad.” the doctor said as the needle went in.

“These will make it hurt less and prepare your body. The main treatment will be though an IV. Have you ever had one before?”

She shook her head.

“They aren’t fun and this one takes an hour. I can bring headphones if you like. Now follow me.” the nurse said as she walked to the door.

They made their way down a hallway to a door marked “TREATMENT ONLY” The doctor caught up while the nurse tapped in a code. The room was mostly bare room with a padded recliner chair next to a metal stand that held a plastic bag with a liter or two of some kind of fljuid.

She sat down as the doctor took a metal case from a little refrigerator. The nurse strapped her left arm down.

“Comfortable?”

She didn’t answer.

Now the doctor and nurse took off their shoes and pulled on bright yellow contamination suits just like the movies. Then booties. She was getting nervous..

“Don’t worry.. it’s safe. This is just a precaution for us. We do it for everyone.” the nurse said as she put on her helmet. “Here are some headphones and an iPod.” The doctor put their shoes in a locker and came opened his writing pad.

The nurse pushed a large needle in near her wrist. It stung, but wasn’t as bad as she had thought. A tube from the needle went to a bag that looked like it had water in it There was a little blue box halfway down the tube with a readout on it. The doctor injected it with something he had taken out of the metal box and flipped a switch on the box.,

“It's pumping the treatment now” he said writing something down. “I’ll come back forty five minutes and add the next part. Then we pull the needle a bit later and you can go to your dorm and recover.”

'Recover' wasn't the kind of word Tatianna wanted to hear. She fumbled one handed with the iPod to find something she liked. It felt like her arm was freezing. Time seemed to crawl. She tried to tell herself how good this would be for her family.

Finally the ordeal was over. The needle came out and both of them pulled off their helmets and contamination suits. The doctor scribbled away as the nurse untied her arm.

“Some girls don’t feel well for a day or two so go back to your room and try to sleep. They’ll bring food and fluids later. I can't stress this enough. You have to eat and drink everything even if you don’t feel like it. Go ahead if you can still fit more. We've never had problems with girls putting on weight." He paused and smiled "well. . you know..."

The nurse took her back to the examination room.

“Put on your clothes and you’re free to go to your dorm.”

Within an hour she felt sick. Climbing up onto the bed she closed her eyes and tried to stop the spinning. No luck, but at least it was slightly better when her eyes were closed. Getting the two dinners they brought down was hard, but she managed. Both of her roommates looked just as sick. No one wanted to talk and somehow everyone fell asleep. By the next morning she felt almost normal except for aching joints and being chilly. The meals seemed big, but she was managing. On the second day her clothes were fitting poorly. On the third she was given some new clothes and sandals. They were loose-fitting and ugly, but her old clothes were too tight. And finally classes and physical training started again.

There were others in the same program. She had started out very tall for a girl, but it ran in her family. Her mother was one seventy five and her father over one ninety. She could tell she was getting taller faster than the others. With her changing size she was having problems with coordination. Even walking had become something she had to think about. Her bed was too small. They told her she had received a new protocol and she had grown just under twenty nine centimeters in seven days.

Everyone in her class moved to the next larger dormitory - B Block. In all there were five sets going to E Block for the ten meter girls. Everything was enormous. It was easier for her to climb up on the furniture than the others, but eventually even this would be too small for many of them. There was a supply of uninteresting clothing from others, but she was needing changes more often. Most of the others in her class were growing two to four centimeters a week. She was doing that in a day! There were some very tall older girls at the center. They told her she might be taller than any of them - maybe taller than the girls at the special camp. Thinking about that made her ill. If she had known..

At the end of the first month she stood just under three meters. Adults seemed like children to Tatianna now. This was much worse than when she got her growth spurt three years ago. And she was constantly chilly and her bones ached. At least the nausea hadn’t returned. They had her eating six meals a day. It seemed all she did was sleep, eat and exercise.

It was a holiday for her second month, so the formal measurement was at the start of the ninth week. Now she was four point forty meters and all of her peers were less than half her height. She’d be moved in with the taller girls in the older classes. She got to talk to a social worker almost every day now, which made her feel better. They told her it was still just under twenty nine centimeters a week. Another girl had gone over thirty last year, but it only lasted six weeks.

The week twelve and sixteen measurements were as expected. Around week twenty her growth moved her from Block D to Block E. Everything seemed so big in E again and the girls were so much older. At this rate she’d only be here a month and a half and then she’d have to move out entirely. The stress was hard to bear. She didn’t have much in common with them and some seemed jealous of her fast growth. Some wanted to be super tall. She got in trouble for pushing over a tree out of frustration. Later a police officer was called when she lifted her physical trainer up face to face in an argument. This was too hard, but the road only went one way. There was no way she could shrink back to normal.

She was now in counseling three hours a week and doing yoga too. Yoga most definitely wasn’t her thing, but she tried anyway. Instead she spent a long of time practicing balance and tossing weights to get back her coordination. Slowly it seemed to return. On paper things were going well and plans were being made for her eventual transfer. At the same time she was becoming increasingly depressed as her friends got smaller and smaller. She has not idea how much longer this would go on and started to lose sleep. Even a giant can feel powerless.

Tatianna stood seven sixty at the twenty-fourth week - nearly a half year. The physician looked confused - she was supposed to be about eight seventy five by now. Tatianna already knew it had slowed or stopped. Clothes weren’t changing like before . It was easy to tell, but everything else stopped getting smaller too. And the chills were gone - she was finally warm again. For the next two days she endured a battery of tests before being told this was as tall as she’d get.

Inside she celebrated. Life seemed too difficult for the nine meter twenty year old who had befriended her. She had overheard the head doctor say they were hoping for at least four years - maybe six - of this growth. That would be unimaginably awful. People - her family - would be insect sized. Stopping had other benefits. She was no longer constantly cold and she could eat normal, at least for her, sized meals. She’d be transferred for assignment and a new school. And she could begin to use the clothing stipend now that clothes would fit for more than a week.

A week and nothing new, then another and soon two months had gone by. Paperwork and bureaucracy they said. At least she had school to keep her busy. Finally the instructions came. She was to move to North America to the US or Canada until she was eighteen. Dealing with teenagers was difficult and Russia had decided it wasn’t worth working with non-growing teenagers. The scientists were going back to the drawing board. Tatianna was the fourth failed attempt and getting her out of the country would help the political survival of the Director General of the Applied Human Growth Lab.

It was both exciting and terrifying. America! At least she could speak English fairly well.

A few days later she followed a truck to the docks and stood on a large pallet that was hoisted into an open cargo hold. It held a few shipping containers in it, but had an open area longer and wider than she was tall. A container with food and another with fresh was were lowered in and then sanitary and medical supplies. A normal sized Canadian nurse would travel with her.

They changed ships in Copenhagen and then the ten day deadly boring voyage across the Atlantic to New York City. She spent most of her time studying English with the nurse.

Less than twelve hours after making port she was finally standing on firm ground. Waiting and nervous in a new dress and cute shoes for the first time in about forever it seemed. Just after sunrise at the stop about two city blocks from the loft she would probably call home for the next few years. This part of the city was cleared for giants to eight meters - the tallest allowed in the city without escort. There were a few people, but they tried to act as if she was a normal teenager. Maybe in a few months they wouldn’t have to act.

It would be a blue car. They told her the make and model, but she didn't know cars and it wasn't like she could see the name. She was supposed to follow it to where her classes would be.

Nervous and homesick, she silently stood in the increasing tinted sunlight. Mama and papa said they would visit for her fifteenth birthday. She hoped to find a video screen to chat with them. She was especially missing her younger sister Ekaterina. People said they looked just like each other except for their hair color. They were only a year and a half apart and quarreled and wrestled a lot, but now they were apart she missed all of that. They'd never be able to wrestle again. She shifted to thinking about New York rather than home. What would the other students be like? Would they bully her? Would she find a friend? Would she meet boys who could deal with her?

She felt exposed. There was a man waiting at the bus stop. He seemed to be ignoring her, but he had to notice. She didn't know what to do with her hands. She had that cross at home. Holding it was comforting even though she didn't know if she believed in a God. But it was back in Russia and it'd be too small anyway. Maybe she could find something else. Nervously she shifted her weight.

“Hey! Stay where you are!” she heard from below and to her right.

She tried to not move. She was good at that, but had to get better. The jogger ran behind her.

“Thank you!” came the women’s musical voice. “I’m Liz…”

Liz was on her other side now. She had forgotten to respond, but tomorrow if they met.

Soon enough a blue toy car with flashing lights slowed as it approached. A little arm waved to her from the driver's side. Watching carefully she stepped onto the street and followed. Maybe she could make this work.

__________

The more detailed 4000 pixel final render goes to donors.

Description
This is part of the world created by Chris in his “Opportunities for Growth” series at www.deviantart.com/gogomechy . He was good enough to let me write this one. It's a standalone that mostly takes place in Russia.

You can read his part 1: www.deviantart.com/gogomechy/a… and part 2: www.deviantart.com/gogomechy/a…

_______

She joined the program three days after her fourteenth birthday. The school said her genetic tests were good - outstanding in fact. They said it would be a good opportunity for her to do something good with her life. Something a lot better than hoping for average. There was a full week of coursework and tests. Medical and psychological. The psychological tests were the worst part. IQ, personality, stress and judgment they said. The judgement ones were spooky. On one they give her a doll and a story to act out telling her to think of it as alive . All the time the man in a doctor’s coat scribble away as she talked. Tatianna just guessed most of the time, but somehow she managed to pass..

Deep down inside she didn’t want to do it. She got her height early and was self conscious. The other students bullied her and the boys called her a giant. This would just make that true. But she had deeper worries. Papa was out of work for over a year and was working odd jobs to support the six children. Her older sister Olga had taken work as a maid to help out. Somehow she had to help and this would be a lot of money for her parents. And if she did well there would be university in three years all free and cheap housing and food for the rest of her life. The agency couldn’t guarantee the final result. They said there weren’t many side effects other than girls responded more strongly than boys. So much that in Russia only girls could receive treatment. Some had become national heroes. Everyone knew the story of Anya Alexeev saving the twenty three fire fighters.

It was a lot to think about. As she waited for the results she was torn between not going forward and helping her family. In the end it kept coming back to helping them She was just an average girl. A tall girl, but average and unlikely to make a stellar living. And even if she did it would be years away. No - she could help them now. She had talked herself into being happy when they told her she was an excellent mental candidate. It was then they told her she’d be sterile too.

At first it knocked the wind out of her. All of the women in her family had children. It was part of what women did. The big part they told themselves. She asked to take a walk and argued with herself. It was then she started to think about sex and that there wouldn’t be boys her size. Actually she had been thinking about it a lot. Hormones had been raging in her for awhile now and she had already been close - very close - with a boy in her school. But helping her family was more important now. Finally she heard herself say: ‘But if there weren’t any boys it wouldn’t matter, would it?’ As if that would end temptation. She walked back and hugged Papa and Mama and signed. Papa looked relieved and even proud, but Mama wept as they signed their part.

The next day she was on the train for the twenty hour trip to Saint Petersburg. Kirov was so far out. She’d change in Moscow. Normally such a trip would be exciting, but fought off tears thinking about all of them. Would she still be Tatianna to them afterwards? She had only been on the train twice before and those were short trips. Was this her last? Only the smallest could still fit. She hoped she’d only make three meters. She could live with that and her family would still be helped. There must be things a three meter girl can do. Maybe she could even marry a boy and they could adopt. Drifted off to sleep with that image in her mind.

The complex was in an isolated region about fifteen kilometers from town. Strange looking was an understatement. It looked like it was built on an old industrial site with some Soviet-era buildings from the fifties and sixties, but there were several other buildings that caught her eye. Some were normal but there were dormitory style buildings of various sizes. Some looked about twice as big in each dimension as you expect and one that was just enormous. A simple building with a door as tall as a four story building. Making it odder were the normal sized windows. The normal sized buildings looked like they were built for dolls, but the illusion was shattered when two giant girls walked out of the huge dormitory. Tatianna went into what looked like an old classroom - all her size - for orientation. As is the way with something so foreign everything seemed bewildering. She learned she was one of eleven new girls joining over six hundred who were at various stages of progress. There would be a new batch - a new class - every two weeks. The girls ranged in from normal to about ten meters but the instructor said most wouldn’t see four. A few were taller, but they were taken to specialized camps geared to their heights. The taller girls here were friendly, but they were too tall. She felt like a doll in their presence. Maybe if she was lucky she wouldn’t have to worry about getting that big. The odds seemed in her favor, but she didn't know she was marked for an experimental treatment.

There were many uniformed normal sized people. Some military, some police, and others she couldn’t tell. She assumed, but didn’t know if the government paid for all of this. It had to be very expensive. And if they paid for it, what did they expect? The contract said she would have five years of service after college or at nineteen if she didn’t go to college. It seemed like a good deal in return for helping her family, but she wondered.

As the week progressed, Tatianna got used to the patterns. There was a lot of physical strength, aerobic and agility training. It was intense, but fun. At home she loved gym class and now she had two hours a day with good trainers. They all stressed the importance of being in top physical shape during the growth period. They were told if they didn’t make fitness goals they’d be sent home without the stipends and treatments. Her parents would still get some money, but it wouldn’t be enough.

Then the academic part. Each class was about the same age - at least to a few months - so they were all in the same classes. Math, science, russian, english, art and history. There were even tutors. Her schedule didn’t leave much time for making friends, but most of the girls seemed nice and everyone was in the same boat. There would be school work all the way along until she was seventeen and then she might qualify for university or go directly into service.

The treatments began six weeks after she joined the program. On treatment day she reported to the clinic and waited while three other girls went before her. Then she had fifteen minutes of counseling and another fifteen to think about it before signing the document giving them permission. There would be no turning back. She thought about children and thought about her mother and aunts. There was so much work and you needed a good husband with a good job. She was one eighty centimeters. Not many boys would be interested in someone that tall. They liked the girls who had big boobs and stood like one sixty or one sixty five. She picked up the pen and signed in each of the five locations.

A doctor in a white coat walked her to what looked like a normal examination room. He told her because of her special genetics she would be a special protocol. It was safe, but very different and she would grow faster than the others. She felt sick hearing that, but there was no turning back. He didn't tell her it that it would be repeated every six months if it was successful. It might be a way to break thirty meters.

“Take everything off and put this on” he said handing her a pink smock.

She had never worn anything like it. Open at the back with laces to tie, but at least it covered her. The air was hot and stale. She sat and looked at the sterile place wishing her Mama was here to hold her hand.

He knocked before entering. He looked about her father’s age and maybe five centimeters shorter than she was. Most of his hair was gone, but his jolly smile and voice reassured her,

“We’ll get your baseline measurements so we can watch your change. First your height” he said pointing to the familiar vertical column attached to the wall.

Reaching up he lowered the measuring arm on her head and turned on a display.

“Good posture now - straight and tall!”

She straightened up and he adjusted the measuring arm a bit.

“Excellent posture! One hundred and seventy nine point four.” he said ask he wrote on a sheet. “now onto the scale”

She thought she was one eighty, but this was close. At least he didn’t make a negative comment like almost every else. She stood on the scale and forty eight point two appeared the display. Again she wasn't lectured about weight. Next came temperature, blood pressure, looking into her eyes and ears and checking her reflexes.

"Good reflexes. That'll be fun when you're larger"

A nurse came in and cleaned a spot on her left arm with alcohol before preparing a series of syringes.

“There will be three shots first. The first will sting a little, but the other two aren't bad.” the doctor said as the needle went in.

“These will make it hurt less and prepare your body. The main treatment will be though an IV. Have you ever had one before?”

She shook her head.

“They aren’t fun and this one takes an hour. I can bring headphones if you like. Now follow me.” the nurse said as she walked to the door.

They made their way down a hallway to a door marked “TREATMENT ONLY” The doctor caught up while the nurse tapped in a code. The room was mostly bare room with a padded recliner chair next to a metal stand that held a plastic bag with a liter or two of some kind of fljuid.

She sat down as the doctor took a metal case from a little refrigerator. The nurse strapped her left arm down.

“Comfortable?”

She didn’t answer.

Now the doctor and nurse took off their shoes and pulled on bright yellow contamination suits just like the movies. Then booties. She was getting nervous..

“Don’t worry.. it’s safe. This is just a precaution for us. We do it for everyone.” the nurse said as she put on her helmet. “Here are some headphones and an iPod.” The doctor put their shoes in a locker and came opened his writing pad.

The nurse pushed a large needle in near her wrist. It stung, but wasn’t as bad as she had thought. A tube from the needle went to a bag that looked like it had water in it There was a little blue box halfway down the tube with a readout on it. The doctor injected it with something he had taken out of the metal box and flipped a switch on the box.,

“It's pumping the treatment now” he said writing something down. “I’ll come back forty five minutes and add the next part. Then we pull the needle a bit later and you can go to your dorm and recover.”

'Recover' wasn't the kind of word Tatianna wanted to hear. She fumbled one handed with the iPod to find something she liked. It felt like her arm was freezing. Time seemed to crawl. She tried to tell herself how good this would be for her family.

Finally the ordeal was over. The needle came out and both of them pulled off their helmets and contamination suits. The doctor scribbled away as the nurse untied her arm.

“Some girls don’t feel well for a day or two so go back to your room and try to sleep. They’ll bring food and fluids later. I can't stress this enough. You have to eat and drink everything even if you don’t feel like it. Go ahead if you can still fit more. We've never had problems with girls putting on weight." He paused and smiled "well. . you know..."

The nurse took her back to the examination room.

“Put on your clothes and you’re free to go to your dorm.”

Within an hour she felt sick. Climbing up onto the bed she closed her eyes and tried to stop the spinning. No luck, but at least it was slightly better when her eyes were closed. Getting the two dinners they brought down was hard, but she managed. Both of her roommates looked just as sick. No one wanted to talk and somehow everyone fell asleep. By the next morning she felt almost normal except for aching joints and being chilly. The meals seemed big, but she was managing. On the second day her clothes were fitting poorly. On the third she was given some new clothes and sandals. They were loose-fitting and ugly, but her old clothes were too tight. And finally classes and physical training started again.

There were others in the same program. She had started out very tall for a girl, but it ran in her family. Her mother was one seventy five and her father over one ninety. She could tell she was getting taller faster than the others. With her changing size she was having problems with coordination. Even walking had become something she had to think about. Her bed was too small. They told her she had received a new protocol and she had grown just under twenty nine centimeters in seven days.

Everyone in her class moved to the next larger dormitory - B Block. In all there were five sets going to E Block for the ten meter girls. Everything was enormous. It was easier for her to climb up on the furniture than the others, but eventually even this would be too small for many of them. There was a supply of uninteresting clothing from others, but she was needing changes more often. Most of the others in her class were growing two to four centimeters a week. She was doing that in a day! There were some very tall older girls at the center. They told her she might be taller than any of them - maybe taller than the girls at the special camp. Thinking about that made her ill. If she had known..

At the end of the first month she stood just under three meters. Adults seemed like children to Tatianna now. This was much worse than when she got her growth spurt three years ago. And she was constantly chilly and her bones ached. At least the nausea hadn’t returned. They had her eating six meals a day. It seemed all she did was sleep, eat and exercise.

It was a holiday for her second month, so the formal measurement was at the start of the ninth week. Now she was four point forty meters and all of her peers were less than half her height. She’d be moved in with the taller girls in the older classes. She got to talk to a social worker almost every day now, which made her feel better. They told her it was still just under twenty nine centimeters a week. Another girl had gone over thirty last year, but it only lasted six weeks.

The week twelve and sixteen measurements were as expected. Around week twenty her growth moved her from Block D to Block E. Everything seemed so big in E again and the girls were so much older. At this rate she’d only be here a month and a half and then she’d have to move out entirely. The stress was hard to bear. She didn’t have much in common with them and some seemed jealous of her fast growth. Some wanted to be super tall. She got in trouble for pushing over a tree out of frustration. Later a police officer was called when she lifted her physical trainer up face to face in an argument. This was too hard, but the road only went one way. There was no way she could shrink back to normal.

She was now in counseling three hours a week and doing yoga too. Yoga most definitely wasn’t her thing, but she tried anyway. Instead she spent a long of time practicing balance and tossing weights to get back her coordination. Slowly it seemed to return. On paper things were going well and plans were being made for her eventual transfer. At the same time she was becoming increasingly depressed as her friends got smaller and smaller. She has not idea how much longer this would go on and started to lose sleep. Even a giant can feel powerless.

Tatianna stood seven sixty at the twenty-fourth week - nearly a half year. The physician looked confused - she was supposed to be about eight seventy five by now. Tatianna already knew it had slowed or stopped. Clothes weren’t changing like before . It was easy to tell, but everything else stopped getting smaller too. And the chills were gone - she was finally warm again. For the next two days she endured a battery of tests before being told this was as tall as she’d get.

Inside she celebrated. Life seemed too difficult for the nine meter twenty year old who had befriended her. She had overheard the head doctor say they were hoping for at least four years - maybe six - of this growth. That would be unimaginably awful. People - her family - would be insect sized. Stopping had other benefits. She was no longer constantly cold and she could eat normal, at least for her, sized meals. She’d be transferred for assignment and a new school. And she could begin to use the clothing stipend now that clothes would fit for more than a week.

A week and nothing new, then another and soon two months had gone by. Paperwork and bureaucracy they said. At least she had school to keep her busy. Finally the instructions came. She was to move to North America to the US or Canada until she was eighteen. Dealing with teenagers was difficult and Russia had decided it wasn’t worth working with non-growing teenagers. The scientists were going back to the drawing board. Tatianna was the fourth failed attempt and getting her out of the country would help the political survival of the Director General of the Applied Human Growth Lab.

It was both exciting and terrifying. America! At least she could speak English fairly well.

A few days later she followed a truck to the docks and stood on a large pallet that was hoisted into an open cargo hold. It held a few shipping containers in it, but had an open area longer and wider than she was tall. A container with food and another with fresh was were lowered in and then sanitary and medical supplies. A normal sized Canadian nurse would travel with her.

They changed ships in Copenhagen and then the ten day deadly boring voyage across the Atlantic to New York City. She spent most of her time studying English with the nurse.

Less than twelve hours after making port she was finally standing on firm ground. Waiting and nervous in a new dress and cute shoes for the first time in about forever it seemed. Just after sunrise at the stop about two city blocks from the loft she would probably call home for the next few years. This part of the city was cleared for giants to eight meters - the tallest allowed in the city without escort. There were a few people, but they tried to act as if she was a normal teenager. Maybe in a few months they wouldn’t have to act.

It would be a blue car. They told her the make and model, but she didn't know cars and it wasn't like she could see the name. She was supposed to follow it to where her classes would be.

Nervous and homesick, she silently stood in the increasing tinted sunlight. Mama and papa said they would visit for her fifteenth birthday. She hoped to find a video screen to chat with them. She was especially missing her younger sister Ekaterina. People said they looked just like each other except for their hair color. They were only a year and a half apart and quarreled and wrestled a lot, but now they were apart she missed all of that. They'd never be able to wrestle again. She shifted to thinking about New York rather than home. What would the other students be like? Would they bully her? Would she find a friend? Would she meet boys who could deal with her?

She felt exposed. There was a man waiting at the bus stop. He seemed to be ignoring her, but he had to notice. She didn't know what to do with her hands. She had that cross at home. Holding it was comforting even though she didn't know if she believed in a God. But it was back in Russia and it'd be too small anyway. Maybe she could find something else. Nervously she shifted her weight.

“Hey! Stay where you are!” she heard from below and to her right.

She tried to not move. She was good at that, but had to get better. The jogger ran behind her.

“Thank you!” came the women’s musical voice. “I’m Liz…”

Liz was on her other side now. She had forgotten to respond, but tomorrow if they met.

Soon enough a blue toy car with flashing lights slowed as it approached. A little arm waved to her from the driver's side. Watching carefully she stepped onto the street and followed. Maybe she could make this work.

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The more detailed 4000 pixel final render goes to donors.