Remembering myself, I quickly turned the knob back up to hot, but not fast enough to avoid an unpleasant sprinkling of cold water that briefly flushed through the pipes. At least I managed to avoid the awkwardness of having to fully start the shower again while my flatmates wondered what I was up to. Once the hot water resumed, I cleaned my asshole thoroughly per Dr. Yamamoto's instructions. The shrink ray's timing signal wouldn't come through properly, he said, with any debris blocking the receiver plug. As I was painfully aware, the results of a malfunction had the potential to be both horrifying and deadly.