Stunned, Rick could barely think, barely move, as he got
smaller and smaller. Finally, it occurred to him that he
needed someone to help him. It had to be the chemical
fog that did this, but he was now too small to figure out
how to reverse it!
In fact, he was too small to even reach the countertop.
Worse, he realized, he was getting too small even to
climb up the basement stairs.
His clothes had long since fallen off of him as he bolted
for the stairs, hoping against hope that he was still big
enough to navigate them. The room loomed large as
he reached the bottom step. It was higher than he was
tall. Looking up at the cliffs the staircase had become,
he saw that the basement door was closed anyway,
and he knew that the crack along the bottom was
sealed because he had done it himself to save on the
heating bill.
Rick was trapped!