The Infinity Box (Tourist Trap Book 3)

Chapter 1

Dr. Octavius held a blue wire and a red wire a few inches apart from each other. "I wonder what would happen if I touch them together?" he said aloud.

Nobody was in the room to respond to his question, so he decided to go ahead and find out. A blast of sparks shot out and singed a large dark spot in the wall. "Note to self: Do not touch the blue and red wires together. Unless, of course, I decide to change the nature of this experiment to some sort of spark-shooting weapon. Hmm. It probably won't do much against those automatic assault rifles the kids are using these days."

The front door swung open and he looked up to see his assistant Maurice shambling in with a couple of large paper bags from the Mad Scientist's Depot. "I'm back, sir. I've got the flasks and beakers you wanted. Oh yeah, also the bag of assorted fish heads."

"Did you get the crazy glue?" Dr. Octavius asked with a worried look in his eyes.

"Oh yeah, I got that, too," Maurice said.

"Hold these for a moment, would you?" Dr. Octavius said as he handed him the two wires. "Uh, try not to touch them together." He ran over and began digging through the bags until he found the little tube of crazy glue. "Perfect! This is just what I need to put the finishing touches on my mind switching machine."

He ran over to a little metal box perched on a nearby table. It had a couple long cables attached to it that connected to two helmets. There was a loose label on the back of the metal box that had been irritating the hell out of him. He glued it into place and patted it down. "There, that ought to do the trick. Now we can test out the machine! Maurice! Get over here. I'll need you to put on one of these helmets. You can set those wires down in the meantime. Now where is Zeke? We'll be needing him to don the other helmet so I can switch your minds into each other's bodies."

"Uh, Zeke's been missing for several weeks, sir," Maurice said.

"He has?" Dr. Octavius said. "I could have sworn I had him milking guinea pigs the other day."

"No sir," Maurice said. "That was me. It was supposed to be Zeke's job, but he wasn't here."

"Did he call and tell us he was going to be absent?" Dr. Octavius asked.

"Uh, no. He just didn't show up for work one day and he hasn't come in since."

"That boy has a really terrible work ethic," Dr. Octavius said as he shook his head. "I'm not sure why I keep giving him second chances. Well, nothing to do but demote him, if he ever shows his face around here again. He's probably out boozing and whoring it up somewhere."

"Yeah, it occurred to me that he might have slipped through the doorway to Quartzwater City to go hang out with his friend Max. But I talked to Earth Milosh. He hasn't seen Zeke in weeks either and he checked with Quartzwater City Milosh and Zeke hasn't turned up there either."

"This sounds like a good old fashioned mystery," Dr. Octavius said.

"Maybe we should contact Max," Maurice said. "Isn't he some sort of detective?"

"No need to get him involved. I'm sure Zeke will turn up eventually. Not that he's all that important anyway. In the meantime I'll just have to swap your mind with a different test subject. Luckily I just got in a new shipment of chickens."

"Er, chickens, sir?"

"Chickens are noble birds, Maurice. Why, Esther was one of the finest individuals I've ever met. She decided she'd rather stay in Quartzwater City than come back here and help me with my experiments, and I respect that. In the meantime I'd like you to meet Pauline." He picked up a nice plump chicken and held it in Maurice's face. "Don't be shy. The two of you are going to be very closely interconnected soon, once your mind is inhabiting her body and her mind is inhabiting yours."

"Nice to meet you, ma'am," Maurice said as he attempted to shake her wing. "Now about this switching minds thing. It's just, well, Sarah and I set our wedding date for next weekend."

"Oh yes, I haven't forgotten," Dr. Octavius said with a chuckle. "I'm footing the bill, after all. But don't worry I'm looking forward to seeing you bethrothed to my niece. It should be one heck of a party."

"Yes, sir," Maurice said. "It's just that I think Sarah might be a little upset if my mind is stuck in the body of a chicken on our wedding day."

"I'm pretty sure that won't happen," Dr. Octavius said. "But then again, this is untested highly experimental technology we're dealing with here. The good news is that's more than a week away. I'm sure I can hammer out any bugs by then. Now be a good boy and put on the helmet."

"Well, okay, sir," Maurice said as he took a seat next to Pauline the chicken. Dr. Octavius put the helmets on each of them and ran over to the little metal box. He pulled a small lever on the side of it. At first nothing happened, but then a bright flash of light filled the room.

It took a moment for Dr. Octavius's vision to return, but when it finally did, he was delighted to see Maurice squatting on the ground with his hands tucked under his armpits. He was flapping his elbows around and bobbing his head back and forth as he waddled around. Occasionally something on the floor would catch his attention and he'd peck at it with his mouth. Pauline, on the other hand was sitting on the chair with a worried look on her face.

"Maurice? Are you in there?"

The chicken bawked.

"I see. Your chicken vocal chords are unable to form words here on Earth, so you're probably trying to tell me you are in there, but I can't understand you. How about, you Pauline? Are you inside Maurice?"

Maurice also let out a clucking sound.

"Hmm. I think that's a good sign. Pauline's probably not thinking in English, so she probably can't communicate with me through Maurice's body either. Perhaps a little excursion to Quartzwater City might be in order, just so we can make sure."

There was a knock on the front door, which caused Dr. Octavius to let out a loud sigh. "Why must I always be interrupted just when my experiments are getting interesting? Come in!"

The door opened and a woman with sandy blonde hair and glasses poked her head in uncertainly. "Dr. Octavius?"

"How can I be of assistance, young lady?" Dr. Octavius asked. "Wait. Are you selling girl scout cookies? I certainly hope so. Those caramel delights are simply marvelous."

"Uh, I'm a little old to be selling girl scout cookies. But now that you mention it, I could really go for some thin mints right about now."

"Oh, yes. Those are delicious, too. As are the lemon ones. Not to disrespect the little peanut butter sandwich cookies, because those make for a tasty treat as well. I'll have to remember to order a few boxes of every flavor next time they come around." He got a dreamy look in his eyes and he stared off silently into space for a moment.

"Um, excuse me?" the woman said. "I was actually hoping to find Dr. Octavius. Are you him?"

"That would depend on who wants to know," Dr. Octavius said. "You weren't sent here by Dr. Wentworth, by chance were you? That would be just like him. Sending some pretty young thing to distract me with her talk of delectable girl scout cookies while he pulled off some zany scheme behind my back."

"No, I don't know who Dr. Wentworth is. I'm looking for Dr. Octavius. I understand you might be an expert in alternate universes. Specifically, you might know how to travel to them?"

"I might know a thing or two about that," Dr. Octavius said. "Who did you say you were working for again?"

"I'm not working for anyone," she said. "Something really weird happened to me several weeks ago and I thought maybe you could help me. My name is Danielle, and I read about you in a book this guy left at my house."