Crow and Tom slowly struggled through the air ducts.

"Crow, get your butt out of my face!" Tom grunted.

"I don't have a butt!" Crow retorted. "Man, it's hot in here!"

Then coolness swept over them.

"Ahhh… There's a cooling breeze," he said.

CLUNK! WHOOSH!

Tom and Crow stopped and looked down toward the source of the ominous noise.

"Please tell me that was your stomach," said Tom.

"I DON'T HAVE A STOMACH!!!" Crow roared.

Tom's arms began to flap in the new wind. The racket grew louder until…

WHOOOOSH!

Tom and Crow, now terrified, were propelled like rockets by the onslaught of cooled air. They smacked hard—BONK!—into corners and ricocheted among the walls, pushed ever higher by the roaring wind. They soon got the hang of it, however, and began to enjoy the breeze at their backs and the thrill of the ride.

"Here come the world-champion extreme snowboarders, up for their final run of the day's competition!" Tom narrated in his Mighty Voice. "The sky is clear, the air is crisp, and this is one slick course, ladies and gentlemen, not meant for lightweights. The champs surf, cutting in and out of flags and over treacherous moguls, never even breaking a sweat! Woooo-hoooo!"

In a corridor on a high floor, another Acme Air Conditioning Service technician puttered around a duct on which he was working. He had just finished screwing the grate back into place when he heard a strange squealing sound coming from the system, and he leaned his ear against the plate, trying to figure out what it was. The noise grew louder and louder until…

SPANG!

The startled technician was thrown back to the floor. He opened his eyes to see an impression newly molding into the metal. He couldn't be sure, but it looked very much like a bowling pin had just been jammed into the air vent. This wasn't right. He backed away slowly, then turned and ran as fast as he could.

Crow's abrupt stop put stars in his eyes.

In fact, it knocked his eyes out!

As Crow felt around for his ping-pong ball eyes, Tom chuckled.

"Crow, I think you just got faced," he commented.

"Aw, ram it up your hoverskirt," Crow retorted.

Once Crow got his sight back, they continued on through the tunnels. There was still a chilly breeze. They remembered the warmness of the SOL before it was destroyed.

They stopped occasionally to peer through the ceiling grates that separated them from the offices below. They saw people at computers, cartons of dry goods piled high, even a showroom full of racks of what they'd all be wearing next season, but no Mike. They pushed on, getting colder by the minute.

Then finally, they saw something through the grates…

Mike remained strapped to the table as Dr Erhardt checked things off on a clipboard.

"Do you now, or have you ever had any achiness in your tentacles?" Dr Erhardt asked.

"I don't have tentacles," Mike said dully.

Dr Erhardt mumbled as he wrote this down.

"Head ever come off?"

"No, I don't think so."

He wrote more stuff down.

Neither of them noticed the air vent suddenly, swing open, and two robots lowered a rope and slowly climbed down.

Dr Erhardt leaned closer to Mike.

"Any gingivitis?" he asked.

"No."

Dr E wrote some more stuff down.

"How about dandruff?" he asked.

"Well, I had a little a few years ago, but it—"

"OH, WHO CARES?!? IT'S SHOW TIME!" Dr Erhardt shouted, throwing the clipboard aside and typing things into a computer.

Mike sighed to himself.

Suddenly, a giant nozzle-like objected lowered itself above Mike's head.

"Whoa, wait a minute! What's that thing?" Mike demanded.

"I dunno. Here we go!" Dr E said happily.

He guided the nozzle to lower itself right into Mike's head.

"Like that! Yes! Excellent!"

But just when Dr E was about to press the button…

"Wait! Wait!" Mike shouted.

"What is it?!" Dr E shouted back.

"Are you sure this is covered by my HMO?"

There was a pause.

"Hmm, good question. I'll check."

Dr E removed Mike from the machine and got to work.

As Mike waited, Crow and Tom suddenly appeared beside him.

"Mike!" Tom whispered.

Mike looked up happily.

"Guys!" he whispered. "You're alive! Where've you been?!"

"You don't wanna know," said Crow.

"Crow, you try to cut through these straps," Tom said quickly. "I'll unlock the door so Joel and that Dr Solomon can get in."

The Bots set to work.

Crow ducked under Mike's sheet and started to chew at the straps.

Tom hovered over to the door.

Dr E returned to work.

"Good news!" he said. "You're covered by ten dollar co-pay!"

He began to reapply the nozzle.

"Now then, if you experience any unpleasantness, please alert me. I would hate to miss it!"

Then he noticed the movement under Mike's sheet. He quickly removed it.

Crow and Dr E stared at each other.

"Do you mind?!" Crow protested.

"Oh, excuse me," Dr E said.

Crow covered himself back up again.

There was a silence as Dr E started to work again, but then realized who he had seen.

"Wait!"

He yanked the sheet back again.

Crow was staring right back at him again.

"You!" Dr Erhardt screamed, shouting at him.

"You!" Crow screamed.

"Oh, dear lord!"

Tom suddenly appeared.

"Somebody call?" he joked.

Dr E looked at him.

"And you!" he screamed.

"Me?!" Tom asked, jumping back.

"What are you doing here?!" the three of them asked.

Mike stared.

"You all know each other?" he asked.

"That's Larry! Dr Forrester's original assistant!" Crow cried.

"He's the one who helped shoot us into space in the first place!" Tom added.

"Yes!" Dr Erhardt shouted, leaping back. "And as much as it pained me, I deserted Clay when he gave himself top-billing on our experiments!"

"You were only around for about the first thirty or so," Crow said.

"Oh, details! Now stand aside! I must remove this man's brain!" Dr E shouted.

Crow and Tom exchanged glances.

Outside, Joel, Dr Solomon, Gypsy and Cambot were coming down the hallway.

Dr Solomon looked at the sign next to a door.

"Brain Removal Room. This is the place," he said.

Joel and Gypsy looked inside the window.

"Oh my…," said Gypsy.

"What in the world…?" Joel asked.

They could a dark-haired man with glasses being attacked by two robots.

Meanwhile, Dr Paul was leading the President down a hallway.

"This is big, Mr President," he said as they walked. "I think we should alert the White House."

"I'll be the judge of that," the President said sternly.

Dr Paul nodded. "As always."

They walked through a door.

Mike was trying hard to break free while Tom and Crow attacked Dr Erhardt.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Joel, Gypsy, Cambot and Dr Solomon entered.

"Dr Erhardt?" Joel asked, stunned.

"Whoa!" said Gypsy. "I did not see that one coming!"

Dr Erhardt managed to hurl Tom against the wall long enough to see them.

"Oh, Joel!" he said cheerfully. "I see you escaped! Oh, by the way, DAMN YOU!!" he shouted, shaking his fist.

Tom immediately bonked him on the head with his hoverskirt.

"Ow!"

"Uh, excuse me!" Mike said, raising his head up. "Is anyone gonna help me?"

"Oh, sorry," said Joel.

Joel and Dr Solomon started to unstrap Mike and get him to safety.

Gypsy immediately went to assist Crow and Tom.

And by assist, I mean, she swung herself into Dr Erhardt and knocked him through the air.

"Whoa!" Dr Erhardt shouted.

"Ooh…," said Crow and Tom, watching.

In a room with a screen drawn over a giant window, Dr Paul led the President to the window.

"And now, sir," he said. "I give you…the thief and threat…to Gizmonic Institute…and the possibly…the world."

He lifted the screen up to see into the next room.

Smoke filled it.

Dr Paul and the President stared into it.

Suddenly…

WHAM!

They jumped back.

Dr Erhardt had just been slammed into it by Gypsy.

Fortunately, through all the smoke, none of the Bots could be seen.

There was a pause as Dr E just stared at them.

"Release…me…," he moaned, and he slowly slid down the window.

Dr Paul and the President stared at each other.

"Uh…," Dr Paul said slowly.

"Actually, his statement was pretty much correct," said Joel.

They whipped around.

Somehow, Joel, Mike and Dr Solomon, with Cambot hovering at their side, had gotten inside the room.

Dr Paul growled.

"You…!" he snapped, attempting to attack them, but the President held them back.

"What are you talking about?" the President asked.

"Sirs, let Mr Nelson and Mr Robinson explain themselves," said Dr Solomon.

Mike stepped forward.

"Mr Gizmonic President, sir," he said, "the man you saw just get slammed into that window is the real thief of the Satellite of Love."

Dr Paul stared angrily at him.

But the President watched him carefully.

"Care to give us any evidence?" he asked.

Mike motioned towards Joel.

"Cambot, c'mere, boy," he said.

Cambot flew over towards Joel.

Dr Paul lost patience.

"Oh, we're wasting time here!" he roared. "Sir, do we really have to listen to this?!?"

"Innocent until proven guilty, Dr Paul," the President said calmly.

Mike grinned.

Joel held onto Cambot and started his work. He opened a keypad that had been concealed on the round robot's back, and started to press some buttons. Then, he found the option he was looking for, and pressed a button.

"Rewind," he said.

A high-pitched noise of a tape being rewound was heard.

"Okay, get comfy, everyone," said Joel. "We've got eleven years of history to track back over."

Everyone immediately sat down and waited.

Joel watched the video play back on a little screen he had opened up on Cambot's back.