A quiet man, who bothered no one, the night watchman opened the door and looked around. The Bunsen burners were all turned off. Containers of various coloured liquids and powders were all capped and stored in their proper places. He switched off the lights again and went on his way. He saw nothing unusual. He saw only what he was paid to look at. Nothing else registered on his under-worked brain. He shuffled along the corridor, to his neat, little cubby-hole and put the coffeepot on to heat.
All was quiet in the lab. The slippery green creature was still growing and waiting. He needed more space now. Sitting in his cage, he hunched his back against the roof and gave a little push. A harder push and the metal snapped. The top flew off like the cork out of a champagne bottle. He stretched upward into the open. It felt good to see no bars around him. Now, he would stay and wait until he stopped growing. He was three feet long now. Compared to his former size, he was a giant. Still he waited … patiently … and silently.
********************
A short distance away, a group of girls had gathered in the recreation room to discuss an upcoming beauty pageant. In the same room, a chess game and a bridge game were also in progress. Others were reading or watching television. Work was finished for the day and it was time to relax. Their latest experiments had gone well and they deserved a break. Soon they would be able to begin the last phase of their work. It was slow going but it would be worth it all in the end. There was no hint of danger in the air.
********************
The lab is still quiet. The ugly green creature is no longer small. He has grown to a length of nearly twelve feet. His huge, bulging eyes rotate like periscopes on the top of his head. He flexes his limbs and stretches as much as possible. He feels confined in the lab now. It is time to move.
He hunches his back. His powerful legs push his body up towards the roof. The tiled ceiling splinters into bits. Fragments of the steel beams puncture his skin like so many splinters. But he doesn’t feel them. Or, if he does, he doesn’t seem to care. Slowly, he pushes his massive frame through the entire roof. He has become a fearful green giant, with a job to do. He must do it quickly. His time is short and he must get his revenge against those who had used him.
The watchman’s cup stopped halfway up to his lips. What on earth…? The night was suddenly filled with sounds like he’d never heard before. It was like something crashing, something huge. He shook his head in disbelief. It couldn’t be coming from inside the building. That wasn’t possible.
