Inside, Angel has no trouble at all claiming a few of the many, many empty seats. Heh. He surveys the crowd, and spots Wesley sidling in to take a seat near the back. "At least I got better seats than he did," Angel thinks. Fred, Seidel, and Gunn wander in. While Seidel introduces Fred to his colleagues, Gunn takes a seat and tells Angel, "I'm gonna need simultaneous translating on this thing. You know, like the president with the Russians, but just give me the highlights." Angel cheerfully agrees, then points out that he doesn't understand any of it himself. Gunn asks, "Will you tell Fred that? If she thinks we're both stupid, I won't stand out as much." Aw, poor Gunn. The lights dim, and Seidel and Fred approach the podium. Hang on, Fred just told us that she was going to speak in between two other bigwigs. And yet she's going first. Plus there's nobody else even on the stage, although there are several empty chairs. Is this all a big hoax, like the grant presentation in "Lisa Gets an 'A'" on The Simpsons?

Seidel introduces Fred, saying, "There have been many recent insights into string theory, but few have so elegantly tied together the disparate threads as the one you will hear tonight." Get it? String theory and threads! Physics humor! Yeah, you're not missing much there. Gunn and Wesley both look pleased by the compliments Seidel is heaping on Fred. Angel, already bored, looks around just in time to see Lilah entering the room.

Fred starts her speech. We watch Lilah watching Wesley watch Fred. Read that again and you'll understand it. Angel looks back just as Lilah pulls out her cell phone and leaves the auditorium. He ponders this development. As Fred goes on, and on, and on, the camera moves up to show us the morphy magic of a portal opening above the stage. The entire audience spots it pretty quickly, and begins gasping. Fred looks up just in time to see a bunch of long snakey things with pointy beaks reach through the portal and wave around. Seidel makes a run for it as a snake wraps around Fred. Gunn and Angel race to the rescue. Oh, and Wesley, too, I suppose.