It turned out Dr. Wentworth had programmed his universe hopping machine wrong and it was actually more along the lines of thirty-seven hours before Eustace and he returned back to their home universe. During that entire time they had been stuck inside the squalid and dank little cell nobody had ever come to check on them or bring them any food or water. They had seen no signs of life other than the numerous fleas and other biting insects that inhabited the straw mats on the floor. Weirdly enough it seemed like a lot of the bugs were attempting to make small talk when they weren't gnawing on their flesh or sucking on their blood. One especially plump tick even seemed to be making a life insurance pitch before Dr. Wentworth squashed it, but he chalked this up to isolation induced hysteria.

Nonetheless, both he and Eustace were covered in multitudes of itchy, stinging welts and neither one of them had been able to sleep a wink due to the chattering bugs, uncomfortably hard floors, the leaky ceiling that continuously dripped on them, and the unfathomably foul stench of the toilet, which they never became accustomed to.

Additionally there were no clocks and no windows and thus no way to tell how much time had passed or how long it might be before they escaped. Also Dr. Wentworth didn't realize the error he had made while programming the machine so he mistakenly believed that they had only been gone for what admittedly felt like the longest ten hours that anyone had experienced ever.

"At least whoever those two hooligans we swapped places with will be stuck inside my lockbox this entire time," Dr. Wentworth croaked in a raspy voice at one point in the midst of their ordeal.

"I know," Eustace croaked back through his extremely parched throat. "You already said that five minutes ago. Also five minutes before that. And five minutes before that. And like three minutes before that."

"Liar!" Dr. Wentworth attempted to shout but it came out as more of a wheeze. "It's been at least seven hours since the last time I spoke. I know because I've been counting one mississippi two mississippi in my head."

"So have I, sir, and I promise you it's only been five minutes."

"Well regardless, the point still stands. Due to my foresight and ingenuity those people will be trapped in even more cramped quarters than we are currently. I wonder what they did to get sentenced to a place like this? They must be utter monsters!"

"Indubitably, sir," Eustace said. "Pure undiluted evil of the most contemptible sort, I'm sure. Thankfully you will have kept them well contained where they can't harm anyone in our world."

"Well, I'm sure it must be getting close to ten hours by now," Dr. Wentworth said. "We shall be returning home soon." At that point it had only been forty-six minutes. They would have this exact same conversation approximately eighty-three more times before all communication eventually degraded to a series of grunts and gestures.

If there's one thing time inevitably does, it's pass, even if it likes to take its sweet time about it. Exactly thirty-seven hours after they arrived everything suddenly started to get wavery, a turn of events they both initially believed to be a hallucination brought on by dehydration and sleep deprivation. But then there was an undeniable sense of motion and acceleration and suddenly they were back inside the lockbox.

"At last!" Dr. Wentworth attempted to let out an evil cackle but ended up coughing feebly instead. "We have returned home! Our mission was a resounding success!"

"Uh, sir?" Eustace said. "Did we leave the door to the lockbox open when we left?"

"No, of course not. Why would you even suggest such a ludicrous idea?"

"Because the door is standing wide open right now. Also it looks like the lab has been smashed to pieces again."

"What? That's impossible!" Dr. Wentworth shouted.

"I think those prisoners we swapped places with must have guessed your code and escaped the lockbox."

"That can't be so," Dr. Wentworth shook his head. "It must have simply sensed that we had returned and opened itself. I don't remember designing it to do that, but I wouldn't put it past myself to include such a feature. I am an evil genius, after all."

"Wait, do you hear that?" Eustace said. "It sounds like someone left the television on in the other room. I think the news is coming on."

"And in our top story, authorities are still trying to identify the two unknown assailants who went on an unprecedented spree of murder, destruction, and mayhem in the area for the past thirty-six and a half hours before seeming to vanish into thin air. Reports are still murky amidst all of the chaos, but eyewitnesses all seem to agree that the suspects appeared to be dressed in big fuzzy animal costumes reminiscent of sports mascots. Police are currently interviewing members of the local fringe community known as 'furries' for further information as to why these two individuals may have gone on their rampage. And now we'll turn it over to Chip with the weather report."

"Thanks, Carol. Ha ha, aren't people crazy? Dressing up like animals and murdering people! What will they come up with next? Anyway, I hope you've got your ice packs ready and your swimming pools full because it's going to be a scorcher out there today."

"Unbelievable!" Dr. Wentworth said. "My code was unbreakable! Nobody in a million years would ever guess it!"

"It wasn't 1234, was it?" Eustace asked.

"What? How did you know that? Have you been spying on me?"

"No, it was just a lucky guess. Sounds like those guys got lucky, too."

"Clearly there must be some malfunction with the door," Dr. Wentworth said. "Let me close it and put it to the test."

"Couldn't we wait until we're outside the box to do that?" Eustace said.

"Too late. But I'm sure we have nothing to worry about as the door will easily open agan. Observe." He turned the handle but it was securely locked. "Well, no bother. I will simply input the code and we shall leave." The error message flashed. "Blast it!"

"May I try to input the code, sir?" Eustace asked. "I don't see how it can hurt since I know it's 1234."

"No you may not enter the code! I have two more attempts and there is absolutely no doubt that I will successfully type the numbers in sequence. I will not sit here and listen to you doubting me, you untrustworthy little weasel!"

It was another long eight hours before the countdown reached zero and they were allowed three more attempts at entering the code. And it was another long eight hours after that before Dr. Wentworth finally agreed to let Eustace do it and they were at last released from the lockbox.