Once they reached the outside Zeke decided it was high time to part ways with Sweaty Jim. His mind was set on the matter despite being invited back to his pad to watch home videos he had shot of various women's restrooms. Zeke thanked him for the grog and made up the excuse that he had an early morning piano lesson and was terribly sorry that they couldn't hang out longer. This didn't seem to bother Sweaty Jim too much as he appeared perfectly content to spend some alone time with his videos. 

Zeke breathed in the cool night air as he walked away and felt a deep sense of relief over his narrow escape. He realized he was still quite drunk and had to think for a moment as to where the hotel was located. He was feeling a bit tired and hoped he could slip back into the room and sleep for a while. Surely Sarah and Vance must be asleep themselves by now. At least he hoped so. 

The world was still spinning a bit and he could hear a distinct ringing in his ears from the loud music in the club, even though he hadn't been exposed to the full force of it for very long. Nonetheless he felt giddy, both from the alcohol as well as the adrenaline rush of running for his life.  

He had a fairly good sense of direction, even while drunk and he remembered the Galloping Centipede Inn wasn't located too far from Ned's Discotheque so he was able to find it without too much difficulty. 

Unfortunately what he didn't recall so well was his room number. He had kept the room key when he had been unceremoniously kicked out, but it didn't seem to feature the room number anywhere upon it. "Hmm," he muttered aloud to himself as he entered the hotel lobby. "Nobody at the front desk. Shit. Was it room 530 or 350? I think there was a three and a five in it. Maybe."  

He had more difficulties with the elevators, being too drunk to properly time his exits, so he took several trips up and down before finally stumbling out on the third floor. He walked up to the door of room 350 and placed his ear against it. He heard a soft female voice counting. "Sarah must be awake," he thought to himself. "Well, at least it doesn't sound like she's moaning. Maybe she's just counting sheep trying to fall asleep." He decided his sleepiness was too great to worry about pleasantries so he tried the doorknob. It was unlocked and twisted in his hand. The door swung open revealing a naked hippopotamus woman with large jiggling floppy breasts doing aerobics. She let out a scream and flung a lamp at Zeke's head. Luckily he was able to close the door in time and he heard it smash harmlessly on the other side. "Oops. Maybe it was room 305." 

He wandered back down the hall until he came to room 305 and again placed his ear against the door. This time he heard multiple male voices talking so he concluded that he had the wrong room again. But just as he was about to pull his ear away he overheard a gruff voice say something that caught his attention. 

"That accursed Dr. Octavius is going to be a keynote speaker, but he'll be well protected. We need to deal with him ahead of time, but his whereabouts are completely unknown. I need you boys to tear this city apart. We must find him!" 

"Don't worry, Trevor. We've got feelers out all over the city. He'll turn up." 

"He'd better. If his little scheme succeeds this place will be overrun with tourists before you know it! We can't let this happen!" 

Zeke shifted his weight against the door, trying to find a more comfortable position to eavesdrop, but the door wasn't closed all the way. It swung open and he stumbled into the room. 

It was much larger than his own room, but most of the space was taken up by a long oval-shaped table that had numerous legs, apparently in keeping with the whole centipede theme. The table was surrounded by twelve creatures of numerous sorts all dressed in the standard Hawaiian shirt ensemble. They appeared to be in the midst of some sort of middle of the night meeting. The talking stopped abruptly and all eyes turned on Zeke as he drunkenly tottered into the room. 

"Hello," Zeke said sheepishly. 

"Who the hell are you?" asked a rather ugly creature who somewhat resembled a warthog. "Are you here for the convention?" 

"Uh, sure," Zeke said. "Is this it?" 

This caused some puzzled looks to pass among the creatures. "Well, it doesn't officially begin until tomorrow," offered an orange dragon finally. "This is just a pre-convention meeting for those of us with a... vested interest in the proceedings." 

"I see," Zeke said ponderously. 

"Are you a local?" asked a creature that could only be described as a pink slimy blob.  

"Of course he's a local," shot back a squid with antlers. "He's wearing a Hawaiian shirt. The real question is if he's for or against toe nail clippings." 

"Well, are you?" questioned the blob. 

"Toe nail clippings?" Zeke repeated, biding for time. "Gee, uh, you know there's good arguments on both sides. All I know is I can't stand that damn Dr. Octavius. No sir. Whatever side he's for, well, I'm dead set against it. No good stinking tourists! Who needs them?" 

"He's one of us, boys," said a creature sitting at the far end of the table who appeared to be mostly a gigantic mouth with very sharp teeth. It had a couple of eyes sticking up on top of its head on small antennae-like stalks and a small, but oddly muscular body. It appeared to be the leader of the group. "Allow me to introduce myself," it continued. "I'm Trevor Mastodon. And what might your name be?" 

"Zeke," he said tentatively. Somehow when he had heard the name Trevor Mastodon before he had pictured the bearer would be somewhat elephantine.  

"Have I seen you somewhere before, Zeke?" Trevor eyed him somewhat suspiciously. 

"I don't think so. Maybe at some sort of anti-tourist rally?" 

"Maybe so," Trevor nodded. "You look familiar somehow. But it doesn't matter. Would you care for a cigar? Or a drink?" 

"Sure," Zeke said, figuring after all the alcohol he'd already consumed, a little more couldn't hurt. 

The cigar that was presented to him lit itself and had a pleasing musky aroma. Trevor poured him a drink in a small glass and dropped a couple of crystals in it that apparently functioned as ice cubes. 

Zeke accepted it and took a sip. It had a bit of a kick to it, but wasn't too bad. He took another sip.  

Before too long he was hooting and hollering and slapping creatures on the back like they'd been friends for years. "I'll tell you guys what, you know what I like about this guy right here?" he indicated the pink blob. "What's your name again?" 

"Percival," it responded. 

"Right. You know what I like about good old Percy? This guy's not afraid to just be himself. Even all ugly and slimy though he may be, he just lets it all hang out. I love this man." He took a puff off the cigar and walked around the table. "Trevor, baby, how's life treating you these days?" 

"You know what, Zeke?" Trevor responded. "You've got spunk. I like that. You're going to be a good addition to our cause." 

"Damn straight I am!" Zeke shouted. "Say, you think I could have another one of those drinks?" 

"Sure," Trevor chuckled as he poured another one. "Now if you wouldn't mind having a seat, we do have some business we need to discuss." 

"Whazzat?" Zeke slurred. "Are you sayin' I'm talkin' out of order? No, you're out of order, buddy! Nah, I'm just kidding. You're okay." 

Trevor stared at him with a slightly less jovial look in his eyes. "May we continue?"  

"Oh yeah, don't mind me," Zeke said. "Carry on." 

"Well, anyway, as I'm sure you're aware we are definitely in favor of toenail clippings, the theory being that if the toenails are clipped off, Quartzwater City will henceforth be impossible to locate for outsiders." 

"Uh, I'm afraid I'm not following you on that one, Trev," Zeke spoke up. 

Trevor glanced over at him with a mild state of surprise. "You did say you were familiar with Dr. Octavius?" 

"Oh yeah. Yeah. I can't stand that guy. All he's interested in is getting chickens to have sex with monkeys. But as for me, I just wanna hook up with his niece." 

"Ah, yes, the obnoxious little girl. We'd like to get rid of her, too," Trevor said and then paused and eyed Zeke suspiciously. "How do you happen to know about her anyway?" 

"Huh? Oh, I've known her for several years now. She's staying in this hotel, as a matter of fact." 

This caused a wave of murmurs to pass across the table.  

"What? What's the big deal?" Zeke asked. 

"Octavius's niece is here in Quartzwater City?" Trevor asked. "This is distressing news. Well, she's going to have to be eliminated. Preferably violently." He burst out in a bout of evil laughter. The creatures around the table started laughing as well.  

"Ha! That's a good one!" Zeke slapped his knee and laughed before the implications of what had just been said began to sink in. He realized it might be a good idea to keep his mouth shut. But then his bladder began to bother him. "Could you hold on for a minute? I have to take a whiz." 

He stood up and opened a nearby door. He almost let out a scream when he saw what appeared to be three human bodies hanging from hooks. A second glance revealed that they weren't human bodies, but rather human costumes, and very familiar looking ones at that. They wore identical trench coats and dark glasses and had matching crew cuts. In fact they looked exactly like those three strange men who had unceremoniously burst into Dr. Octavius's lab the other day. In a strange way, things were starting to click. 

Realizing he had accidentally walked into the closet, he walked back out, hoping that nobody had noticed his mistake. No one looked up from the table so he located the bathroom and began to relieve himself. The toilet, oddly enough, seemed fairly conventional although it was shaped like a large centipede with its mouth open. 

Running the facts through his mind he realized that he could be in great danger if these guys figured out he was Dr. Octavius's lab assistant. But on the plus side they obviously knew of a way to get to Earth from here, so he breathed a little easier knowing there was a way back home. But first he needed to figure out what to do about Trevor Mastodon and his cronies. And what was the deal with toenail clippings, anyway? 

He finished his business, flushed the toilet and washed his hands before returning to the main room. He took a seat and tried to make sense of what was going on. After some more vague talk about toenails, Trevor noticed he had returned.  

"Ah, there you are Zeke. We've realized you're going to be very important to the cause indeed." 

"Oh yeah?" Zeke gulped trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice. 

"Yes. We have an extremely important task in mind for you, my friend, and I'm certain you won't fail us. We would be very disappointed if you were unsuccessful. Very disappointed indeed. You might even call it a test of your loyalty to our cause." 

"Uh, okay," Zeke said. "What is it?" 

"Well, it's very simple." Trevor paused for dramatic effect. "We need you to locate Octavius's niece and kill her. And of course if you fail, we'll have no choice but to kill you." 

Zeke looked around at the various eyes that were staring at him intensely and let out a little whimper.