"All right, now if I could just get the two of you to resume your seats we can get your minds switched back," Dr. Octavius said.

Maurice in the chicken body let out a bawk, while Pauline in the human body also bawked.

"What's that now? I can't understand either one of you. Perhaps we need to travel back to Quartzwater City so I can converse with you? Wait, that would be silly. We just left there. Unless... Do you want to go back and have a chat?"

Maurice in the chicken body shook his head vigorously and plopped himself down on the stool. Pauline in the human body bent over and pecked at the ground.

"Here, let me help," Sarah said as she grabbed Pauline by the arm, led her to the stool, and placed the helmet on her head. She turned and placed the other helmet on Maurice's head. "All right, we should be all good to go. Let's get these two back in their proper bodies."

"Yes, yes, I'll get right on that," Dr. Octavius turned and banged his knee on the large lockbox that was sitting in the middle of the room. "Blast it! Where did that thing come from anyway?"

"It was sitting on the porch when we got back, remember?" Sarah said. "Lothar said it was simply marvelous and asked you to drag it inside."

"Yes, I remember that. Who left it on my porch in the first place? And where did Lothar go?"

"I'm right here," Lothar said as the door to the box flew open and he emerged from inside it. "I don't know who left it, but they've blessed us with a massive gift, that's for sure. This thing will be perfect for my 'infinity box,' as I like to call it. I thought I was going to have to build it from scratch, but now the majority of work has been done for me. I simply need to rig up the door to lead to an empty universe, beef up the containment field around it, and then attach a few sensors to the outside of the box so the entity that will inhabit it can interact with this universe if it so desires. Then we'll be in business. Oh, also for some reason somebody put a post-it note on the inside of the box. It reads 'Good luck getting out of this thing. At last vengeance is mine! Ha Ha! Dr. W.' I haven't the foggiest notion what that's about. Especially since it was ridiculously easy to open the door to the box. A mere matter of creating a four digit code and then punching it in."

"Hmm," Dr. Octavius said. "Truly a mystery to boggle the mind. While it delights me that you have a solid lead on dealing with this Vance unpleasantness, do you think we could find another place for this box to inhabit in the meantime? It's right in the middle of the floor and it's interfering with my work."

"I would scootch it into the corner, but I kind of tweaked my back earlier when we were dragging it in here," Lothar said. "Therefore I will be completely incapable of assisting in any way, shape, or form in regards to moving it again."

"Well, I can't possibly be expected to do it," Dr. Octavius said. "This is what lab assistants are for. They can't just sit around and be lazy all the time. No, they need to earn the poverty wages we pay them!"
"Yeah, it's too bad Dennis isn't here. This would be a perfect job for him. Unfortunately I haven't seen hide nor hair since he disappeared into the sewers before Vance blew up your lab."

"And Maurice can't help me while his body's still trapped inside a chicken." Dr. Octavius tapped his chin with his index finger as he thought. "You know what? I was fairly indifferent before, but I suddenly feel highly motivated to get this young man back in his proper body. Are you ready to do this, Maurice? Lothar and I have some backbreaking grunt work we need you to do! Oh boy!"

Maurice in the chicken's body let out a pathetic little squawk. It was too late to turn back now.