“I guess we should calm our nerves, and our throats, after that hot tea,” said Artemus, giving James a wink too small for Audra to notice, “Luckily our hip flasks were on our clothes when you shrank us. They’ve grown small too.”

“I know what you mean,” said Jim, “We won’t be long, Audra. Do you mind waiting while we refresh ourselves?”

“I’m sure it would be fun to watch you two small men drinking,” said Audra, and lay down with her head on the pillow resting sideways to face them.

James West and Artemus Gordon unscrewed the lids of their hip flasks and drank Artemus’s recreated version of the French speed formula.

“She looks frozen,” said Artemus.

“And she didn’t hear you,” said Jim, “It must have worked. After what she’s put us through, she owes me this method of making sure.”

James West walked across the pillow, past the cage and pressed his face against Audra Barkley’s lips. Though they were motionless in what was, to her, a brief instant in time, to James West they were a sensational facial feature to the touch.

“Come on, Jim,” said Artemus, “I know that Loveless and Mrs Barkley are most likely relatively frozen in time too, but we need to get to that size antidote before this wears off.”

From the edge of the bed, James West loaded his rope gun and fired the miniature spear up to the shelf containing the antidote, which took the rope with it. Fastening the other end to the bedpost, he and Artemus began to climb the rope, turning back occasionally to look at the pretty frozen Audra Barkley, to check that she was not stirring.

“To her this is all an instant in time,” said Artemus, “which will be over the moment this stuff wears off. If she catches us before we reach the antidote, we may not get another chance.”

James West reached the shelf first and took the antidote and gave some to Artemus as well. They clung to the rope while they grew, until they were large enough to jump to the floor.

“What happened?” said Audra.

“It’s worn off,” said Jim, “We’d better go and get Loveless.”

“Mother!” screamed Audra.

Before they could find Miguelito’s room, they were faced with a rifle toting furious Victoria Barkley in the upstairs hallway in a night dress.

“First you threaten my fiancé, then you attack my daughter. Well you can both leave this house the way you came,” said Victoria.

At gunpoint, James West and Artemus Gordon were led back to the living room and forced to pass through the painting and back to the interdimensional painting that Loveless had left in his latest hideout on their own earth.

“We’ll just have to wait until they go to bed and then go back, this time with our guns drawn,” said West.

They gave the Barkley women an hour to fall asleep on the other earth, and then focussed on the painting. They tried to make the journey again for nearly another hour, making four attempts in all; but felt exceedingly hot every time they tried, and had to keep giving up.