Essay/Term paper: Apocalypse at the nuclear plant

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Definition Essays

Apocalypse at the Nuclear Plant


Pete pulled up to the familiar sight of cooling towers overshadowing his car as he parked his car next to the multitude of his coworkers. His day began just like the others. If there was any plutonium to be expected, he was damn sure he would be the one to inspect it. He walked past George the security guard, asked him how he was doing even though he didn"t really give a rat"s ass how he was, he was just a friendly person. As he strolled down the corridor to the area in which he worked, he noticed something strange. There was not as many people buzzing around the hallways, hitting on the women workers, or even hanging around the coffee maker. "Must be another layoff meeting," he thought to himself as he slid his access card into the slot and the door opened.
"Thank god you"re here!" his boss, Jarvis explained. Pete checked his watch. "Am I late?" he queried. "No time for that, no time for that damnit!" Jarvis seemed very upset about something to say the least. "Well, what is it?" Pete asked with a look of haste swimming across his face.
Jarvis lead Pete over to the main testing area. "We discovered this late last night. Seems one of the plutonium pieces is…," he paused with a gulp, "changing."
"Changing?!?!"
"You better believe it because it took me an hour to comprehend what is going on."
"What exactly IS going on?"
Jarvis explained in his own special slightly whiny voice that he chose to break out only in large meetings but decided to give Pete the thrill of hearing now. One of the experimental pieces of plutonium had become so unstable that it had actually began changing form. It had undergone it"s daily blast of gamma radiation when something went wrong. Like the incredible hulk, it was growing larger at, what would seem not that bad to the person uneducated in nuclear physics, but to the trained mind, it was preposterous. Pete stepped closer to the pulsing hulk of plutonium which was encased behind radioactive-proof glass. He was speechless, dumbfounded, and yes, a little shocked.
"Where on earth did you get that?" Pete questioned Jarvis, his voice reaching out and grabbing him by the throat, leaving him speechless. Jarvis took a deep breath, let out a sigh and interjected, "That"s the whole thing, Pete, we don"t know where it came from."
"What, was it a prize in a fuckin" cracker jack box?!"
"No, you don"t see…"
"Did you save up enough Marlboro miles?"
Just then the door to the lab slammed. Eight men in white lab coats proceeded to march throughout the laboratory, inspecting the glowing hulk. As Jarvis was walking over to the men, Pete closely looked at the hunk of plutonium that had "just appeared". He started to motion over to Jarvis, who seemed to be consumed in his ass-kissing second self with what Pete assumed to be government scientists. He slowly strode backwards, taking the full 20 feet high and 10 feet wide mass into full view. He knew there was something very peculiar about it, but he couldn"t quite place it. All he knew was that he was going to be leaving work early today, he would not be one of those deranged scientists that risked his life for the sake of science.
Pete walked over to Jarvis, ready to hand in his resignation, when something happened. What that something is, though, will not be revealed at this time. OK, you got me, I"ll tell you. As Pete was about to tell Jarvis that his time with the company was up, there was an ear-popping crack which came from the center of the lab.
"Holy Jesus Christ!" Jarvis was the first to see the hole which had developed in the center of the mass of plutonium. There was a faint glow coming from the hole. As the crowd of government scientists, Jarvis, and the lab workers looked on, Pete snuck out of the lab with great haste. As soon as he was past the door, he bolted down the hall toward the door. Just then there was a loud screaming explosion coming from the way he had just came. He whirled around to see his boss" upper torso plastered against the wall. It just slumped down with a loud squishing sound. He didn"t turn around again. As he passed the guard at the front door, he just yelled "Get out while you still can!" and took off for his car parked somewhere in the humongus parking lot. Every day he spent at least 10 minutes wandering through the multitude of cars, searching for his. Many times he had found a car that looked like his, tried to get in, sometimes setting off annoying car alarms, and one time the key even worked, but he didn"t realize that he was in the wrong car until he had noticed how clean it was.
He darted past opening in the barbed wire fence which had loomed too long over his workplace. In his glasses he could see the reflection of explosions and felt the earth shake every few seconds with the force of what he thought was a major earthquake.