The paper, if you could call it that, was in dire need of editing. They printed the rough draft on the printout reader on the computer- only for the text to show up in pictograms that looked eerily similar to Wingdings.

"Are you kidding me!" Aggie exclaimed, ripping the dot paper from the matrix printer. "Now what are we going to do?"

"Get a typewriter, I reckon." Fiddleford replied. He stood up from the office chair and stretched. "We've been here long enough anyway. Do you want to go back upstairs?"

Aggie nodded, and they took the elevator back to the main floor.

Fidds went to check on Ford, only to find him sitting in a circle of lit candles, his legs crossed on the floor, his arms raised. He was meditating again.

"Looks like he's not coming back to earth for a while," Fiddleford whistled.

They let Ford have his piece and made their way to the kitchen.

"How much of the weird stuff do you know about this place already?" Aggie asked as she poured a glass of water for each of them.

"I've been to the spaceship, and the woods." Fidds pointed out. He accepted his glass and drank it in one sitting. He placed it on the counter. "What else is there?"

"The lake has monsters, or so I've been told." Aggie replied. She took a sip. "And there are the subterranean dinosaurs."

"Golly, dinosaurs? Now that's something. Shame I never went into paleontology, I always did have a fondness for the scaly critters." Fiddleford looked contemplative. "Guess it runs in the family, Tate is wild for them too."

"I thought you had a doctorate in chemistry and mechanical engineering?" Aggie asked curiously.

"Don't forget robotics and biotechnology." Fidds added cheerfully, putting his hands in his coat pockets. "It's not twelve, but not too shabby."

"I only have two, so consider me impressed!" Aggie replied. Aggie finished her glass and placed them in the sink.

He shrank at the praise. "Well, it's easy to forget when you're surrounded by these super science types, they're always trying to one up each other."

"I prefer practical experience to be honest," Aggie declared. "Come on, let's go for a walk."

They grabbed a flashlight, the Polaroid, the grappling hook, some rope, a few bottles of water and their raincoats. Aggie stuffed them in her bag. As they made plans for a light walk outside, there wasn't any need to be too prepared. Aggie opened the door and they aimlessly strolled outside. They walked into the woods, close to where the flying dinosaurs hunted.

She examined the treeline, and ran her fingers over the bark. "Sap. We're almost there."

She walked over to the entrance of the abandoned church. Fiddleford followed her curiously. Aggie grinned. "Want to see a T-Rex?" She asked.

"Is he the pastor?" Fiddleford asked jokingly.

"Probably not. Sounds slightly blasphemous anyway." Aggie grabbed the rotted door and pushed it to the floor.

They spent the afternoon wandering the caves, narrowly avoiding dinosaur attacks, taking photos, and having a fun adventure. After narrowly avoiding the pterodactyl, they decided to call it quits and climb back up to the surface.

As Fidds flipped through the stack of photos in his hand, Aggie could see he was grinning.

"These are incredible! Has Ford ever thought about writing on this?"

"Not in his field," Aggie shrugged. "Plus, he's been a bit one track lately."

Fidds laughed. "You don't have to remind me. I think I would have gone stir crazy myself, cooped up with him in that house. At least I have you to talk to. No idea how Ford spent five years here by himself."

"That, I can understand. If I could get away from everyone, never have to interact with the outside world ever again, I would." Aggie said as she looked at the clearing, trying to find her bearings. "We went this way, right?"

"Think so. But, thanks. I definitely needed this."

"Should we head into town to get a typewriter?" Aggie asked.

"So we have the budget for one?" Fidds asked.

"Well…we could steal one?" Aggie suggested.

"What, just walk into a Radio Shack and stuff it in your jumpsuit?"

"Speedsuit. And I mean, where else would we find one? Dumpster diving behind offices?" Aggie asked skeptically. Fiddleford considered it.

"I brought my laptop from home. Give me some time, and I can try to connect it to our printer in the basement. It should be quiet enough."

"A laptop?" Aggie asked.

"It's a tiny computer. It's so small you could place it on your lap! Heats up something fierce though."

"Neat."

When they arrived back at the house, Ford was sitting at the kitchen table, hunched over a cup of coffee. As soon as he saw them walking into the kitchen he glowered around them.

"Where the hell were you two? I was worried sick!" Ford shouted.

"We went out for a walk." Aggie replied, putting away the items in her bag. "We went to see the dinosaurs. Fidds took pictures!"

"And what made you want to take an unsanctioned non-work related expedition? Don't you know how dangerous that was? Both of you could have gotten yourself killed and I would never have known what happened to you!" Ford berated them. "Honestly, Dr. Davis. I'm disappointed in your recklessness."

"We aren't robots, Dr. Pines. I don't know about you, but some of us need some outside enrichment every now and then. Spending all our time on this portal isn't healthy!" Aggie shouted back. "Back me up, Fidds."

"Aggie does have a point."

Ford looked at his friend with betrayal etched on his face. "Et tu, Brute?"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Aggie replied. "Look, we're on schedule. All we have to do is write that paper on the portal, and we're good to go."

"Paper?" Ford asked. "Who said anything about a paper?"

"The university board? Or else you lose your grant, remember?" Aggie asked back in frustration.

Ford stared at her blankly.

"You couldn't have possibly forgotten!" Aggie exclaimed, grabbing her hair in frustration. "They sent that letter a week ago!"

"Has…it been that long? How much time has passed?" Ford muttered. He sounded so tired.

Fiddleford placed his hands on Ford's shoulder, allowing the smaller man to lean on him in support. "Maybe you need to get some rest there, buddy. Aggie and I can take care of this."

"We can't let anyone know about the portal," Ford protested, pushing Fiddleford away. "No one can know!" He looked crazed, like a wild animal as his eyes darted across the room.

Fiddleford and Aggie exchanged looks of concern. "Okay," Aggie agreed, trying to placate him. "We can write on something else. Buy some time until we're ready."

Ford relaxed, and Fiddleford guided him up the stairs.

"That's it, buddy. You're doing a good job!" Fidds cheered, before realizing he was treating his friend like a small child. "Sorry, force of habit."

"I think it's necessary," Aggie replied as she helped carry Fold up the stairs. They grabbed both sides of him, essentially dragging their exhausted, but still petulant friend to bed.

"Let go of me, I'm not tired." Ford complained.

They ignored him. Aggie opened the door to Fords room as they dragged him the last few feet, using his weight to push him onto the bed when they let go. They took off his shoes and socks, and his overcoat, folding it neatly on top of the dresser. Fiddleford got out a pair of pajamas, and after some meek protests, allowed them to change his clothes.

"We'll check up on you in an hour, but for now you've got to sleep." Fiddleford declared. "Doctor's orders."

"You're not a medical doctor." Ford protested.

"Don't care, you're still going to bed, or…no jellybeans for you."

"Jellybeans?" Aggie asked, folding her arms.

"He can't get enough of them. They don't have the kind he likes here, I brought a suitcase of them with me. But only I know where they're located." Fidds said triumphantly. He knew that would get him riled up, but there was nothing coming from that end of the room.

"Goodnight, Ford." Aggie said, waiting for something.

No response. Ford was already fast asleep.

Later that night, Fidds created his own word processor from scratch for his laptop, and they typed out a new paper on their dinosaur outing from that afternoon. Aggie brought out a bottle of wine she'd bought on her way over here and they uncorked it, letting their creativity flow as they got drunk.

"Not portal worthy, but it should get us published somewhere," Fidds declared.

"We could write the other one too," Aggie suggested.

"Ford won't be too happy about that."

"Ford's not the only one on this project, we are a team." Aggie replied. "If we want to keep our funding, we have to write about the portal, the dinosaurs won't cut it. So why not write about what we know, and maybe just say it's theoretical. It's not like we know yet if it's going to work anyway."

Fiddleford looked skeptical.

"Do you want to show them all? Stick it to the super science types?" Aggie asked rhetorically. "All their money, all their arrogance, and we were the ones to figure out dimensional travel! We don't even have a fancy lab, we did it from the basement of a log cabin."

He looked pensive. "You might have a point there. Alrighty, let's show them what we've been up to."

They rewrote their rough draft from yesterday, and spent the rest of the night editing. By morning, they printed the papers out, placed them in a Manila envelope and sent it to the mailbox.

"I hate papers, I'm glad that was over." Aggie declared. She stretched her arms out. "Ugh, my back is killing me."

"Not as fun as the practical stuff, that's for sure." Fidds agreed blearily, as he took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. He yawned.

As soon as they headed inside, they collapsed on the sofa and fell asleep.

Aggie woke up to find herself in a maze of doors, in a never ending hallway.

"Hello?" She asked, she only heard an echo- until the echo turned into a high pitched laugh.

A yellow triangular figure in a top hat appeared in front of her, his singular eye large and looming.

"You shouldn't have done that, kid. Now, you're in big trouble."

"What do you mean?" Aggie asked nervously. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am!" Bill shouted. All the doors opened at once, each of her memories playing from inside, loud and overwhelmingly. Aggie closed her eyes and covered her ears.

"Hey! Look at me!" Bill shouted. He snapped his fingers and the doors closed, leaving them in complete silence.

"So, what are you going to do to me?" Aggie asked.

"I could have Fordsy kill you." Bill said casually. "But it might be just as fun watching him spiral from your betrayal. He's already so fragile, something this big could make him lose grip of reality altogether."

"No! I was just trying to help!" Aggie protested.

"By thinking you know best?" Bill asked, floating right in front of her. "I can see why you two like each other, you have a lot in common."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it," Bill dismissed, floating away. "You know, that paper is not going to stay within the university, it's going to spread. And guess who else is wanting to get their grubby little hands on the portal?"

"Jonas could make his own if he wanted to." Aggie argued.

"Not him. Rand."

Aggie's eyes widened.

"Bingo. Yes, you are an idiot." Bill snapped his fingers, and the doors disappeared.

"What do I do?" Aggie asked.

"Not my problem." Bill replied.

Aggie woke up, this time, back in the living room. Fiddleford was still asleep on the other end of the couch, judging from the light, it was probably noon. She ran over to the mailbox, but nothing was there. It was too late, now they would have to wait abs face the consequences.