It had been nearly eight hours, but now the counter was finally on the last ten seconds. Dr. Wentworth had taken the time to practice pushing buttons on the keypad without accidentally mashing any of the other buttons. It had taken most of the time that they had been trapped inside the lockbox, but he was pretty close to mastering the skill. Or at least he wasn't as completely terrible at it as he was before. Mastering it was still a reach.

At last the clock reached zero and the shrill beeping sound came to a stop. The abrupt silence was a merciful relief after the pounding their eardrums had taken for hours on end. As it was, they were both experiencing a persistent ringing in the ears, but it was still an improvement on the relentless squawk they had been enduring.

Now that the lockbox had reset Dr. Wentworth attempted to input the code once again armed with the confidence of nearly eight hours worth of practice. He immediately hit the wrong button and the keypad displayed the error message.

"Blast it!" he shouted.

"Are you sure you can't just tell me the code?" Eustace asked. "I promise I won't mess it up. And you can wipe my mind afterwards if you want. I'd be okay with that."

"Never!" Dr. Wentworth shouted. "This code is one of my most carefully guarded secrets and it will never pass my lips! Also, I do not possess a mind wiping device, but that is a great idea. I will have to build one after we have returned from the other universe. Are you paying attention, Eustace? You just witnessed me come up with another brilliant idea! You should feel honored to have been in the mere presence of my awesome brain power at work. No, I just need to concentrate and I shall succeed in opening the lockbox. Now do please be quiet. I need absolute concentration to complete this task."

He stuck the tip of his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and furrowed his brow as he reached forward to input the code again. He got the first three numbers correct, but then he accidentally bumped the wrong button and the error message came up again.

"What kind of sadistic cretin would build such a nefarious contraption? These keypads must have been invented by the devil himself! Well, Eustace, I'm afraid this is it. I have one last chance to open the lockbox before the keypad shuts down again for another eight hours and that infernal beeping returns."

"Just go slow and steady," Eustace said. "I believe in you, sir."

"I would feel much less pressure if you weren't hovering over me," Dr. Wentworth scowled.

"I would be happy to leave, sir, but there's kind of nowhere to go."

"Would you please stop running your mouth? This is a highly delicate operation I'm attempting here." Dr. Wentworth made sure to cover up the keypad and ever so slowly typed in the code. He got the first three numbers in correctly once again. It all came down to the last digit. He focused on it and breathed deeply. He attempted to become one with the digit. Slowly, slowly, he extended his index finger and barely touched the button. So far, so good. He applied extremely gentle, almost imperceptible pressure to the button until at long last it gave way.

The light turned green and the door to the lockbox swung open.

"You see that, Eustace? Never doubt the skills of a brilliant mad scientist such as myself. Now, quickly! Fetch that remote control and get back in here!"

Eustace scampered out of the lockbox and accidentally bumped the door on his way out. It swung shut behind him with an audible click.

"You fool!" Dr. Wentworth's muffled voice came from inside the lockbox. "Now look what you've done! I shall have to input the code once again." There was a brief pause followed by the quiet beeping noise that indicated an error. "Blast it!"

"Uh, sir?" Eustace called out. "I'm in possession of the remote control. I could fire up the machine and we could still travel to the other universe. At least it would get you out of that lockbox for the next ten hours."

"Yes, but are you forgetting we are going to trade places with two individuals in the other universe. If you activate the machine now, one of the individuals will materialize inside this lockbox where I am, but the other one will materialize where you are and thus be free to run amuck in my laboratory. I cannot have that. Especially after the utter mess those last two hooligans inflicted in a mere ten minutes. No, it is imperative that we both leave from inside the lockbox."

"Or, you know, you could just go alone. Then only one individual would swap places with you and he would be inside the lockbox. And I could keep an eye on things out here while you're gone."

"That would require changing the parameters on the machine and I cannot allow an unskilled intern such as you putting their grubby mitts all over my invention and adjusting dials willy-nilly. You might send me to a universe filled with nothing but athletes. I shudder at the thought. No, I'm afraid I must get this lockbox open again and you must join me inside with the remote control. Only then can we make our excursion. I have succeeded in unlocking the lockbox once. Therefore, it stands to reason I can do it again. Let me just attempt to input the code one more time." There was another brief pause followed by the error beep. "Blast it! How can they expect anyone to operate these insidious devices? They've been designed to be nearly impossible to use!"

"Take a deep breath and try one more time," Eustace called out. "Take as much time as you need. You can do this, sir."

Eight hours later after the keypad reset itself and the horrendous beeping noise came to a halt, Dr. Wentworth finally got the lockbox to open once again.

Eustace had found a pair of earplugs and had managed to doze off, so he wasn't aware that the alarm had stopped and he didn't hear Dr. Wentworth calling him. He was finally roused back to wakefulness once Dr. Wentworth crawled out of the lockbox and came over and slapped him.

"Sleeping on the job, eh? That would come out of your paycheck, except for the fact that I'm not paying you anything. Ah, whoever came up with the concept of unpaid internships is almost as brilliant as I am. But nevertheless, I am highly disappointed in you, Eustace. Your instructors at the community college will certainly be hearing about this, I can assure you. But we have no time to waste! Let us return to the lockbox and, at long last, travel to the other universe. For those of you with short attention spans, let me remind you that we will swap places with two individuals from that universe, we shall be gone a total of ten hours, and when those ten hours are up we will return to the lockbox from which we departed."

"Who are you referring to about short attention spans, sir?" Eustace asked. "I'm the only one here and I remember all of that stuff. We just discussed it before you trapped yourself in there for the past eight hours."

"I am referring to you, you nitwit. Your attention span is obviously lacking since you can't even recall that it was you who trapped me in there, not I."

"But you could have let yourself out at any time if you just input the code correctly."

"Silence! Nobody could input that code correctly on the first try. It's impossible, I tell you. But I have no wish to waste time arguing. Let us be off. And for Copernicus's sake, do not forget to bring the remote control this time!"

"I've got it right here, sir. It's not going anywhere."

They climbed back inside the lockbox and sealed it shut once again.

"Okay, the last sixteen hours have been frustrating, to say the least, but now we shall spend the next ten hours on a wondrous adventure to explore the multitudes of mysteries and amazement that await us in another universe. Hand me the remote control and we shall begin our grand journey!"

Eustace gave him the remote control and he pushed the big red button that activated it.

And nothing happened.

"What the-?" Dr. Wentworth sputtered. "Why isn't this thing working?"

"May I take a look at it, sir?" Eustace asked. "Ah, here's the problem. No batteries."

"I told you to pick up some triple A's the last time I sent you to the market!"

"I did, sir. I gave them to you while you were working on the machine. You set the package down on your workbench. I figured you would take care of it when you were ready for them. I assume they're still sitting where you left them."

"This is unbelievable!" Dr. Wentworth shouted. "I shall have to input this code into this accursed keypad once again and you shall have to retrieve the batteries! Well, no sense wasting any more time. Let's do this!"

Eight hours later, when the keypad finally reset again and the horrible beeping sound had stopped, Dr. Wentworth finally got the lockbox to open once more. Eustace crawled out and fetched the package of batteries. He made sure he was able to open the package up and once he was convinced he could access them, he returned to inside the lockbox.

"Before we close the door, is there anything else we're forgetting? Anything at all?"

"The batteries are installed. We have the remote control. This should be it. Close the door, Eustace."

The door to the lockbox slammed shut and Dr. Wentworth pushed the big red button on the remote control.

Once again nothing happened.

"Dagnabbit!" he shouted. "I don't understand. The machine has already worked once. We travelled to another universe! And now there are fresh batteries in the remote control! Why have we not journeyed to the other universe?"

"Just a question, and I don't mean to cause any offense here, sir, but did you turn the power on to the machine itself?"

"No," Dr. Wentworth said. "No I did not."

"Well, you can't blame me for this one, sir. You won't let me touch the on button."

"But it is your fault because you failed to remind me. Rest assured, this shall also be reported to your instructors at the community college. Allow me to just input the code one more time and then I shall get out of the lockbox, power up the machine, return to the lockbox, and then we will finally be off."

Eight hours later, once the keypad reset itself and the ear splitting alarm had stopped ringing, Dr. Wentworth finally input the code correctly and was able to open the door to the lockbox. He made sure the machine was plugged in and turned on. Just to be on the safe side he ran a diagnostics test on the machine. That took three hours on its own, but it was worth it once the sheet of paper printed off that stated all systems were most definitely a go.

There was no doubt whatsoever. Everything was ready. All he had to do was get back in the lockbox and activate the machine with the remote control. They were definitely going to travel to another universe this time.

He pushed the big red button on the remote control and there was a loud buzzing sound and the walls of the box started to waver and then they disappeared completely. There was a sensation of speed and motion. This was it! It was working! They were travelling to another universe!

The sense of motion came to an abrupt halt and they found themselves in a small dank room. It was poorly lit, but they could see a couple of straw mats in the corners and there was a small metal toilet that was completely clogged up and overflowing. Additionally the ceiling seemed to be leaking as numerous drops of some sort of cold, foul smelling liquid kept dripping on their heads.

"Where are we?" Eustace asked.

"We are most definitely in another universe," Dr. Wentworth said. "But I cannot determine precisely where in the other universe we have manifested."

"Hey, look, we seem to be wearing some sort of orange jumpsuits. I think we might be in jail."

"This room does seem to have a cell-like quality to it. No matter, I shall get the attention of the warden and I'm sure he will release us."

They yelled at the top of their lungs until their voices gave out, but nobody ever came.

"It appears we are going to be stuck in this cell for the next ten hours until the machine returns us to our universe. In the meantime, I call dibs on the flea infested straw mat that's slightly further away from the disgusting toilet."