Before long the clear, white void James and Nicola were standing in began to fill and take form. Walls surrounded them, a cold hard floor materialised beneath their feet and furnishings began to appear as if from nowhere.
"How is this happening?" Nicola exclaimed before she suddenly seemed to vanish.
"Nicola?!" James called out helplessly after his apparently absent friend.
But she was nowhere to be seen as he cautiously searched his newly created surroundings. He was now stoof in a laboratory that resembled something out of a science fiction movie more than anything he'd seen in real life. It was a cold, clinical looking place with various futuristic looking gadgets stored or set up around the room. As he searched for his friend he caught his reflection in a mirror and was somewhat taken aback to see himself dressed in a plain white laboratory uniform and wearing a pair of glasses he didn't usually need. His hair had been gelled back in a neat and precise way he didn't think suited him. So did he work here? Or did he own the place?
"Hey James! Over here!" a muffled but familiar voice interrupted such speculation as he ran over to find his friend.
James' eyes widened in surprise and confusion when he located Nicola. She was standing fully naked behind the clear, glass door to some kind of containment unit. It looked like it was attached to a machine, with various dials and buttons he could make no sense of. On a sheet of plain paper at the top of this contraption someone had scrawled the words 'Transmogrifier Version Three" in big black letters that looked like his hand writing.
"Nicola, are you ok?" James asked his friend.
"Never mind that, just stop gawping and get me out of here!" the nude girl whined.
"I don't know how?" James admitted picking up a nearby clipboard and trying to make sense of his notes.
"It's not rocket science, it's just opening a door!" Nicola was becoming increasingly frustrated "There must be a button or something?"
There was. Seeing a big green button at the side of the door James obligingly pressed it to release his friend. The machine suddenly and unexpectedly sprang to life, but the door imprisoning Nicola remained tightly sealed.
"Transformation process initiated" a computerised voice announced from above "sixty seconds to complete subject form change"
"What the fuck?!" Nicola panicked as she began banging helplessly on the impenitrable walls containing her "what have you done?"
"I don't know!" James began hitting the green button again, but that didn't seem to do anything.
"Fifty seconds to subject transformation" the computerised voice announced helpfully as the container Nicola was stood in began to light up.
"Don't worry, I'll fix this!" James promised, though he had no idea how.
"You'd better!" Nicola bit her lip nervously as she looked up to see some kind of simister looking device moving into place above her.
"Forty seconds to subject transformation" the emotionless voice reminded James as the machinery around Nicola made an ominous whirring sound. How was he going to get her out of this?