Egon, Peter and Winston gathered around the trap with absolute confusion plastered on their faces. There was no sign of distress, no sign of destruction and more importantly no sign of Ray. It was quiet and the air was still in the aftermath of the call. The woman Winston had saved was unconscious but seemed to be unharmed by the altercation.

Peter took a knee beside the trap next to Egon and gave it look over, his inquisitive eyes narrowing with anger. "Egon, this isn't one of our normal traps."

"No. This is the prototype Ray and I had been working on."

The curator of the museum came rushing down the corridor and toward the Ghostbusters. Upon seeing his assistant in Winston's arms he let of a deep sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! Is she alright?"

"Yeah," Winston answered softly as he tightened his grip on her limp body. "But you may want to call an ambulance and get her to a hospital."

"Right away! Thank you so much!"

While the curator raced off to the nearest phone to call for help the three Ghostbusters slowly followed behind. Egon picked up the prototype and held it at arms length as he mentally pondered the entire situation that had just unfolded unexpectedly before his eyes.

"Egon, what's going on? What the hell kind of trap is that?!" Peter demanded in a foul tone of voice. "Where is Ray?"

"Unknown." Egon replied with a whisper. "This trap isn't a traditional trap."

"Then what KIND of trap is it?" Peter pressed with an increasingly bitter aggression.

"It was meant to act as a doorway. One that would transport the ghosts from the plane of the living over to the plane of the dead."

"It's a... transporter?" Peter sounded as skeptical as he was angry. "Why in the hell would you test that thing out in the field? What's the matter with you?"

"I hadn't planned on field testing it, Venkman." Egon's voice increased in volume and practically mirrored Peter's own aggression. "Ray had made the decision on his own, I was unaware of his intentions until it was too late."

"Stop!" Winston demanded firmly. "Yelling at each other isn't going to solve anything. Let's get back to the firehouse and figure this out. Together."

A cold floor and an even colder sensation of slime was all that Ray could feel as he laid weakly alone on the ground of an unknown location. Laying partially on his left side and stomach he was left prone and defenseless in the unknown room. While fully conscious and aware of the waking world his entire body was exhausted by the draining effects of the ionized energy that had transported him from his universe and into the next. Helpless and without his colleagues to watch his back Ray could only lay vulnerable and frightened until he found the strength to move.

'Guys?' Ray thought to himself, hoping that maybe on some level his friends could hear his voice. 'Where are you? Where am I? Is this... Is this what death is like?'

In the distance the sound of two muffled voices approaching his location sent a shiver of dread up his already icy spine.

'Who's that?' Ray asked himself in a frightened panic. Despite the distance one of the voices somehow sounded familiar to him. 'Is he a friend or foe?'

Closer and closer the voices grew louder and their footsteps heavier. A large door creaked open and two figures walked into the room where Ray was laying all alone.

"Hey! What's that?" A male voice with a slight Midwestern accent asked as he and his partner approached Ray's body laying on the floor. "It's a person! Where'd this guy come from?"

Ray wanted desperately to speak, relieved to hear the voices were speaking a language he understood and were most likely human, but his voice was gone thanks to the complete weakness that had overwhelmed him psychically. 'My name is Dr. Ray Stantz, can you help me?' His unspoken plea of course went unanswered by the two men. 'Why do I know your voice?'

Two warm fingers pressed against Ray's neck to check for a pulse. "He's alive." The familiar voice confirmed as he ran his hand down the back of Ray's head, neck and spine to check for any sign of injury. "But he's covered in slime. Looks like the same stuff that we found flowing under the streets last fall."

"We should find a way to keep him warm." The second male voice, one with a slight New Yorker accent, decided as he took a small meter from his belt and scanned Ray's body. "His vitals are weak but stable. Hm, his core temperature is lower than normal. Must be from the slime."

'Are you using a scanner? Is it a PKE meter? I have one, too!' Ray wanted to desperately to communicate with his potential saviors but his voice wouldn't respond. 'What's going on?'

"Hey, check it out!" The second voice began wiping slime from Ray's upper arm sleeve revealing the iconic 'no ghost' patch sewn onto the sleeve. "Man, he's one of us!"

'One of... you?' Ray wasn't expecting that kind of reaction. 'A Ghostbuster?'

"I don't know him." The first voice confirmed as he carefully unclipped the proton pack from Ray's back and slipped the straps free from his shoulders. "But his look and his equipment is pretty close to ours."

"Copy cat?" The second voice asked as he handed the meter to his partner so he could check Ray's arms and legs for injury himself.

'Hey!' Ray was a little offended by the accusation. 'I'm not a copy cat, I'm the real deal!'

"No, I don't think so." The first voice concluded as he finished scanning Ray's pack carefully put his hands under Ray's chest and turned him over from his stomach so he could lay on his back. "If he was a copy cat then his equipment would look EXACTLY like our own. This looks like a completely different model, yet it has the same frequency as our own packs."

"Where did he come from then?" The second voice asked as he placed his warm hand down gently but firmly in the center of Ray's chest, wiping the slime from his name badge. "Stantz." The sensation of warmth was very welcomed by the freezing engineer. "He isn't having any difficulty breathing, I'm going to check his pupils."

'Yes, I'm Stantz! From New York!' Ray mentally screamed to the men who had found him. 'New York! New York! Dr. Stantz!'

Gently the second voice lifted Ray's eyelids one at a time and shined the light from his small penlight into his eyes. "Normal pupils."

'Ouch.' Ray hated the painfully bright light that had just flashed into his eyes. It was bright enough to prevent him from seeing the faces of the men who had found him. 'I'm so sick of bright lights...'

The first voice sat in silence for a moment before responding to the all important question his partner just asked. "Based on the level of the residual PKE lingering on him, I'd say it's entirely possible he came from an alternate plane."

'Alternate plane?' Ray pondered enthusiastically. 'The prototype! It worked! It sent the ghost AND me to another plane! But... This isn't the plane of the dead... is it?'

"Should we call an ambulance?" The second voice asked as he took his hand from Ray's chest. "Aside from a little hypothermia he doesn't seem to be injured. We could take him back to headquarters and take care of him ourselves."

"Yeah, we'll take him with us." The first voice decided. "If we took him to the hospital that might cause more problems and raise more questions. Besides, he seems to be the source of the reading we picked up on. Easiest bust on record."

'Never been busted before.' Ray quipped to himself. 'Better hope Peter never- Oh man, I hope the guys are okay!'

"Come on." The first voice slipped Ray's pack up onto his shoulder before putting his hands firmly under Ray's arms and sat him in an upright position. "Let's get him out of here."

"No problem." The second voice took Ray's arm and hefted the unconscious man up and over his shoulders to carry him 'fireman style'. "There should be a blanket in the back of the car."

"Sometimes it really pays off to keep that old ambulance up and running." The first voice joked. "Too bad we're running out of parts."

"And funds."

Back at the firehouse the three returning Ghostbusters exited Ecto-1 in uncomfortable silence. Egon took the prototype trap and locked himself away in his private lab to run an analysis on the device, while Peter chose to isolate himself up in the bunk room until he cooled off. Winston had the misfortune of telling Janine about what had happened during the call, which of course caused the loyal receptionist to put in for some overtime so she could stay at the firehouse and help the guys in anyway she could.

After an hour or so Winston knocked on the lab door and requested to enter. "Egon, need some help in there?"

There was a brief pause of silence before Winston heard the lock click and the door open. "I'm alright."

"Did you find anything out?" Winston was dying to know what happened to Ray but didn't want to ask any uncomfortable questions. "Like what the pulse was that came from the trap?"

"I have been attempting to identify the exact energy signature that had been emitted but I've been able to find anything conclusive."

"And Ray?"

"I'm quite certain that Ray is still alive."

"But... where?"

Egon didn't offer any suggestions, he kept quiet as he returned his attention to the trap on the table.

"Right. I'll let you alone to work, but if you need me just call."

"Thank you Winston." Egon was truly appreciative of the offer, but his mind was too preoccupied to full convey his feelings.

"Need some coffee?"

"No. I'm fine."

Winston knew that Egon was just as shaken by the ordeal as the rest of them. Egon had always been a master of keeping his emotions in check, never letting fear or doubt affect his judgement; but even he had his limits. Despite all the jokes that Peter cracked about Egon's personality the physicist was just as human as the rest of them.

"Okay, yeah." Winston pulled the door shut behind him as he left, grateful that he didn't hear the lock click as he walked away.

Janine was sitting at her desk unsure of what she should be doing at the moment. As soon as Winston approached she engaged him in conversation, desperately needing to feel useful. "How is he?"

"He's blaming himself." Winston whispered discreetly. "But he didn't do anything wrong. Ray decided to test the trap without telling anyone. It was all an accident."

"I know that." Janine had worked with the guys long enough to know that they were never careless with their equipment or tests. "I just wish Egon would stop trying to bear the entire weight of the world on his shoulders whenever something like that happens."

"It'd help if Peter came down and worked with him, but he's still hot. As soon as he cools off I'm going to talk to him."

"Good. Dr. V won't listen to me, let alone listen to reason." She put her hand on Winston's arm. "Hopefully he'll listen to you!"

...to be continued...