So you're in a room in the middle of nowhere. In the room is a machine with a screen an a handprint, which says "INITIATE TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE." It also says, "CAUTION: Do not operate machine before reading manual," which you notice about four seconds after your hand is firmly placed on the handprint (you're not one to bother with petty details, apparently). A few crackles of electricity later. . .and you're promptly knocked unconscious.

The good news is that when you wake up, the machine seems to have worked--you've obviously been turned into an animal of some sort (that is what you were hoping for, right? I mean, why else would someone just press a button like that willy-nilly?). You're pretty sure it's a fox, but you can't move much at all to see yourself. Honestly, you're mostly assuming you're a fox since the animal who has currently taken an interest in you is also a fox. Who also is either hiding opposable thumbs, or has a human friend who helped tie you up while you were unconscious (seriously, man, two different entities? And you just now notice you weren't alone? You're not very observant).

What you do observe is the screen on the machine (that you just couldn't keep your hands off) which is difficult to read now, between it being across the room and you being upside-down, but you manage to make it out: "WARNING: Memory not inserted during previous operation. Internal memory will only hold data 6 hours. If data is lost, transformation is irreversible. Return target within 6 hours to avoid loss of data. TIME LEFT: 01:26:01. . .01:26:00. . .01:25:59. . .01:25:58. . .01:25:57. . ."