"Hello? Hello? Is this thing working?"

Polly Pigeon looked up sharply, open can of Chef Boyardee still poised above her microwave-safe bowl. No one was in her kitchen. It was as empty as that creepy old Scooby-Doo house she'd snooped around the other day.

"Polly Pigeon. If you can hear me, come to your microwave oven."

Her mouth open in shock, she complied, bowl and can still in hand. Displayed on the window of her microwave was an image of a man with fantastic hair and rather unfashionable glasses. She placed the items in her hands on the countertop.

"What?" she breathed. The man flashed a grin.

"Hello, Polly. How are you?"

She stared.

"Who are you? How are you doing that?" She looked around. "Larry, is this another one of your tricks?"

"Who's Larry?" the man asked innocently.

"Who are you?" she shot back.

"Yes, well, I suppose Larry doesn't matter, does he?" he muttered, cocking his head to the side. "Well! To answer your questions, I'm the Medic, and basically, I've remotely converted your microwave into a cathode ray tube. Don't open it or all the electrons will come flying out and that'll be bad for both of us."

"How were you able to…?" She was still wide-eyed with disbelief.

"Oh, I'm a 945-year-old alien genius. It wasn't that hard. But—" he leaned forward, "—that's not what's important."

"Wait, wait, wait. If, basically, my microwave is an old computer screen—and just a screen—how can we hear each other?"

He held up something large and made of metal that couldn't quite fit on the display.

"What is that?"

"Sonic handsaw."

"…Do you carry that around with you?"

"I have big pockets. Anyway. Polly, I've contacted you for a reason. You've seen them, haven't you?" His face was grave. "You've seen the Sobbing Seraphs."

A chill went through her as images of the stone statues flashed through her mind. Was that what they were called, then? She nodded hesitantly, not knowing if the Medic's question was rhetorical or not.

"And you've seen what they can do."

Something clicked inside her mind.

"Cathy!" she cried. "Is Cathy alright?" The last time she'd seen her friend was when they were at that statue-infested house…

"Yes, yes, she's fine, she's right here," the Medic assured her quickly. The familiar face of Cathy Canary filled the screen for a moment.

"Hi!" she said with a grin. "You'll never guess what happened! One of the seraphs got me and, like, totally threw me into the future! I would've wrote, like, a letter or something, but, like, you can't send letters back in time!"

"Um, yes, excuse me—" Cathy's face was replaced with the Medic's. "Polly, listen. The seraphs are incredibly dangerous, the most malevolent creatures in the universe, and I need you to help me stop them. This is how they work—"

Polly's eyes dropped to the bowl on the countertop. How long was this going to take? This 'Medic' had interrupted her lunch and she was deuced hungry.

"—throw you into the future and feed on the energy trail you leave behind—"

Mmm, feed. She wanted to feed. Her stomach growled.

"—they get too powerful, the entire universe will—"

Chef Boyardeeeeeeeee.

"—and reality will completely collapse. This is what you have to do—"

Her mind had wandered for far too long. Mechanically, she lifted her hand to press the button on the microwave—

"NOPOLLYWAIT—"

—and the door popped open. The sound jarred her out of her daze.

Oh. …Oops.

She stared at the open microwave stupidly, cringing at what she had done. After wallowing in embarrassment for a moment, she reluctantly placed her bowl inside, thinking "What's done is done" and she might as well eat.

She never got to, though, because before she could press another button, the universe imploded.