“Captain, what are your orders?!” barked the man with the horned snout.
Bobby stared at the creature with a confounded look. Just a few moments ago, the young man had been hanging out with his friends at the beach, doing whatever it was that teenagers did whenever they got together. Now, he was on what appeared to be the bridge of a space ship with an assortment of strange-looking creatures including a very angry rhinoceros.
“Our shields are failing, Captain! What’s your order?” insisted the beast, his gaze fixed on Bobby.
It was the mushrooms, or rather the extract Tim brought to the party- psylosicin something or other. Bobby had told him he didn’t want to take it, but Tim had been pestering him about it all night. Surely, his mischievous friend had found a way to spike his food or drink with the stuff, and now he was having these wild hallucinations.
The ship shook and leaned to the side.
“Shields down! Fire or hold, Captain?”
Fire at what? All Bobby saw on the screen was the stars.
“Captain!” the beast called out.
“Ffffire…?”
“Fire!” shouted the rhinoceros.
A red glow appeared on the display. The ship turned sideways until a familiar blue orb came into view and centered on the screen.
“Oh dude, wait-“
A blinding flash, and then a sizzling beam of light shot forward and struck the blue planet. The ship shook and dipped as in the wake of a wave.
Afterwards, only the broken planetary pieces floated in the empty space.
All eyes from the crew stared at him in silence.
“War is victory! Victory is war!” shouted the rhinoceros, and the crew broke into cheers.
“Well done, Captain!” said the creature thumping him on the chest with his meaty fist. “Battle demands decisive action, even against one’s own!”
“Yea, I guess,” said Bobby.
“Ha! You humans crack me up! So much humility! It is a strange but honorable trait. I’ll be in the war-room for debriefing.”
Bobby walked up to the giant screen and watched the floating pieces of the planet. Surely, he would come out of this bad trip soon. All he had to do was wait until the effects of the drug wore off.
He felt something heavy fall on his shoulder.
“Congratulations, Captain,” said what looked like a woman with an octopus head. “You were so brave!”
“Oh, it was nothing really,” said Bobby.
One of her long appendages wrapped around his arm. “I’ll come to your quarters later for a private celebration,” she said and squeezed him with her tentacle.
He stood there and stared at the giant screen.
“Whoa, dude…”
