Blitz and Chitz was shiny, fun, and happy – completely unlike the Smith family's life. Rick watched Morty and Summer playing an arcade game. It bored Rick, but the kids liked the bright lights and loud noises, and it distracted them from their father's absence, if they cared at all. He wasn't sure that they did, and he wouldn't blame them if they never missed Jerry. He certainly wouldn't.

Rick took a long drink of vodka from his flask. Other Ricks were doing the same, and a few waited in line for the Roy machine.

The kids seemed to be having fun. Children are so resilient, he thought. Good thing too. I need to get back to work.

A Rick brought in a Jerry and headed toward Jerry Day Care. Idiot Jerry, Rick thought. I can't believe he caused me so much trouble. Why couldn't Beth have married someone useful? A physicist or even a geologist would have been useful. Could use a geologist on an alien planet. Most boring scientific discipline ever, but useful.

He looked around for Beth. There were no Beths here, not from his universe or any other. He'd seen the rare one occasionally. Beth was a constant, just like the rest of the family. Jerry ruined things, Morty was his shield, Summer was an annoying but intelligent teenage girl that occasionally proved to be a useful low level lab assistant, and Beth was the stable one with the house, the one that failed at life. It was how things worked in almost every dimension.

But not this one. The Beth in this dimension had died, which was unusual, and Summer seemed unusually intelligent and head-strong. Beth seemed different in this dimension as well, but he wasn't sure it was in a good way. She really lost the lottery on her Jerry. They were almost always useless, but her's was one of the most pathetic Jerry's he'd ever met.

Beth seemed more alert in this universe. She was a drunk, just like every other Beth, but she was sharp, like Summer. He had the feeling that she could have been more than the average Beth.

Rick took another long pull on his flask, turning it up to get the last of the vodka.

"Alright kids, I'm out of l…urp…liquor. It's time to go," Rick said.

"Aw, do we have to?" Morty said. "I'm winning."

"You are not," Summer said.

"I'm going to find your m…mother," Rick said. "I'll be back. Just s…stay out of trouble."

Morty and Summer ignored him as they began to play again.

Rick knew where she'd be. He left the bright lights of Blitz and Chitz and went next door to one of the few other businesses on the asteroid, a large and yet still dingy building with no sign. It didn't need one. A bar was a bar on any planet, and any Beth could always find a bar.

It was dark and smoky inside, with the typical bar look – pool table, bar with annoyed bartender, chatter and bad jukebox music. He wondered if the blob of blue goo on the floor near the bar was alien blood or just a spill no one had bothered to clean up.

He was the only Rick in the room, which wasn't surprising. None of the other Ricks drank like he did, at least none he'd ever met. Sheep don't need to forget that they're sheep, he thought. It's the rams locked in with them that need something to help them through the day.

He took a pull at his flask, only to remember that he'd run out.

Most of the people in the room wore Blitz and Chitz uniforms. If I had to cater to kids all day I'd be in here all the time too.

Beth was at the bar. He saw her from behind, but he could tell from her slumped posture that she was depressed. He couldn't see her face in the bar with her head hung low. She didn't look up or she would have seen him in the mirror.

He groaned. I do not want to deal with her whiny ass, he thought. He decided to play a game of pool instead and deal with her later. The kids could wait.

Beth on the other hand was trying to forget her life and decide how to change it at the same time.

She looked down at her half full glass of wine, marred with a dark red lipstick stain. She wasn't wearing lipstick. Beth wiped the stain off with a napkin and downed the glass in one long gulp. She signaled the bartender for another when she noticed a woman in the mirror.

She was standing about 5 feet behind Beth, watching her. She was wearing a tight brown leather outfit with yellow goggles and thigh high yellow boots, with a hood drawn over her head, pulled down to hide the left half of her face. Beth stared at her. She couldn't make out her features, and the effect of the hood and goggles made her look almost insectoid.

A young woman was with her, obviously fearful and glancing between Beth and the newcomer.

"Well, imagine meeting you here," the woman said. The last time Beth had heard that voice it had been warm and comforting, but now it was harsh and sarcastic.

"Mom?" Beth asked the leather-wearing woman. "But you're dead."

Beth wasn't stupid, but she was drunk, which amounted to the same thing. If she was sober she would have noticed the reserve and distrust in her mother's voice.

"You shouldn't be here. You're meant to stay on Earth."

"What? You've been gone since I was 15 and that's all you have to say? Where have you been?"

"Wherever I wanted to go," her mother said. "I'd ask where you've been, but I know. There are millions, billions, who knows how many Beth Sanchez, and they all live the same basic life. All failed medical personnel of some sort, all married to a useless drip of a man, and all terrestrial." She spat the word as if it were a curse.

"I'm not a failed medical person," Beth said.

"Ha! You'd be the first Beth not to be," her mother said. "I've tracked so many of you all over the universes, Beth, and I've only met a few that made it into space, and none of them did much with their lives. I never met one that left Earth unless Rick took her. How did you get here?"

"But why did you leave?" Beth asked, ignoring the question.

"Isn't it obvious?" her mother asked. "To get away from you."

"Then why did you track me?" Beth asked. "You must love me to have followed me like that. You do love me, don't you?"

Her mother laughed and pulled out a gun. It was an odd, silver gun like Beth had never seen.

"If I loved you I wouldn't have traveled through the universes killing all of your other mothers," she said.

Beth looked in disbelief at the gun. "Mom? But…"

"I can't have you giving away my secrets," her Mother said.

Beth closed her eyes, tensing for the pain that she knew was about to come. She expected the sound of a bullet, but instead she the sound of a scuffle, and then the sharp buzz and pop of a laser gun.

She opened her eyes and saw her father between her and her mother.

"Miranda?" Rick asked, his voice husky and strained. He fell to the floor on his knees, and Beth saw that her Mother was holding the gun at stomach level. She hit Rick in the head with the butt, knocking him out.

Beth bent and opened Rick's shirt, ignoring her Mother as she checked Rick's wound. Blood began to flow. Lasers shouldn't cause bleeding. The wound should have been cauterized, Beth thought, and she suddenly felt even more lost. She had no idea how anything worked away from Earth, or what sort of projectile had caused the wound.

"Well, that's unfortunate," Miranda said. "It would have to my Rick, wouldn't it? None of the others could have seen me. I made a camo screen so they couldn't."

"Mom! How could you?"

Her mother pushed her out of the way and pulled a small tube out of her purse.

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen," she said. She pulled the cap off and shook it, spraying a stream of a pungent, oily substance onto the wound, which stopped bleeding. "If it didn't hit any organs he'll be fine – probably."

Beth stood, her fists clenched. "I don't know what's going on here, but I want some answers!"

Her mother rolled her eyes. "You're still as annoying as I remember," she said, before striking Beth across the side of the head with the gun.

Beth woke in a sparsely furnished room, with two beds and odd equipment that she assumed was for medical use. She wasn't sure. She didn't see anything like an IV drip, but a strip of metal across Rick's head showing a pulse as well as other vitals. A ball hung suspended in the air with needles sticking out of it, and she could tell that there were cabinets, but she saw no handles of any kind.

She had been left unrestrained, but Rick was handcuffed to the bed. She isn't taking any chances, Beth thought. When she checked his pulse, Rick's eyes opened slightly, and he looked at her in drugged confusion. Beth wondered what her mother had given him.

"Beth?"

"I'm here Daddy."

His eyes closed again, and Beth began to search the room. The door was locked from the outside, which wasn't surprising.

Beth heard someone unlocking the door from the outside, and she stepped in front of Rick protectively. Her mind raced, but she couldn't think of anything to do.

She was both relieved and disappointed when it wasn't her mother who opened the door. Instead a young woman with wide, frightened eyes entered the room. She was thin, with a pixie haircut and a round face and soft green eyes that made her seem approachable.

"Oh," the woman said. "I don't think you should be out of bed so soon."

Beth stepped toward her with her fists clenched. "All I wanted was to be with my family, and I've lost my husband, my children, and my father is injured. What's going on…" Beth looked at the nametag. "Parabola?"

"I don't know anything about that," Parabola asked. "Captain Miranda just told me to look after you. I don't know her plans."

"Captain Miranda?" Beth said. "You mean my Mother?"

"I don't know. She the Mother to a Beth, but I don't know that it's you. There are an infinite number of Beths."

"What does that even mean?"

"There are just infinite Beths," Parabola said. "It's just how the universe works."

Beth glanced past Parabola toward the open door, and she considered pushing past her, but she couldn't leave her father behind.

"That doesn't answer my question. Why did she shoot my father and hit us both in the head and bring us here?"

"Well," Parabola said, glancing toward Rick. "I know who he is. The Captain was angry about being found out. She didn't say anything about you."

Beth felt tears welling up in her eyes. "Nothing?" she asked.

"No," Parabola said, "but she wasn't here long. There was something she had to take care of."

"What was more important than dealing with family that she shot and abducted?" Beth snapped.

"I don't know. She doesn't tell me things when emergencies are happening, just gives directions."

"Great. So you're useless."

Parabola looked down. "Don't say that," she said. "It isn't my fault that I'm here. No one tells the Captain no."

"So you're here against your will? That's just great. Is anyone here willingly?"

"Her crew – some of them," Parabola said. "They needed a medical person, so they just took me." She looked at Beth with pleading eyes. "If you're her daughter, can you help me?"

"Why should I help you?" Beth asked.

Beth's mother stepped into the room. "Yes, why should you?" She glared at Parabola. "What have you been telling her?"

"N…nothing ma'am," Parabola said. "I was just…"

"I know what you were "just", Miranda said. "Get out. I'll call you if I need you."

"Yes ma'am," Parabola said, and she hurried out. Beth heard her shoes clicking on the floor outside, and she wondered how she hadn't heard her mother.

Miranda walked to Rick on boots with sound muffling soles, ignoring Beth. She looked down over him and chuckled. "Not how I thought it would happen."

"How what would happen?" Beth asked.

"Hmmm? Are you still here?"

"Yes I'm still here! What happened to you?"

Her mother turned to Beth and looked at her silently for a full half minute, until Beth looked away in embarrassment.

"He happened," Miranda said. "That's all you need to know. I couldn't get away from either of you."

"But you did," Beth said. "I need to know what happened. I had to live with Aunt Erma since I was 15. Dad left and didn't come back for 20 years."

"You did alright though," Miranda said. "You're not a failure at all, are you? I mean, you're a successful surgeon with a good husband and happy home life, and not at all a medical flop with a Jerry."

"I…"

"That's what I thought. It's all your fault."

"What's my fault?" Beth asked.

"This," Miranda said. She pulled back her hood to reveal a disfigured face. Half of her face was still attractive, with long, flowing hair and a blue eye. The other half of her face was a scarred mess, with a cloudy white eye. Her hair was completely gone on that side, and her scalp had the same red blotchy scarring.

"I didn't do that!" Beth said.

The hateful look Miranda shot at Beth withered her soul. "You really don't remember do you?" she asked.

"Remember what?" Beth asked. "Say something I can understand, for God's sake!"

"You were the worst thing that ever happened to me," Miranda said. "You worthless…"

"Stop," Rick said.

Beth and Miranda both looked toward him. His eyes were clear and his voice strong.

"How are you even awake?" Miranda asked. "I shot you up with enough drugs to drop a horse."

Rick laughed. "Yeah. Th…thanks' for the hook-up, but I have more tolerance than most Clydesdales. Now leave my daughter alone. None of this is her…urp…fault."

"Oh really?" Miranda said. She pointed to her ruined face. "I know that it was your chemicals, but she was the one that…"

"Stop!" Rick yelled. "Your problem is with me! I didn't even k…know there was a problem. I saw your corpse. What happened?"

"You saw what I wanted you to see," Miranda spat.

"Let me out of these chains!" Rick said. "This is insane!"

Miranda laughed. "You're one to talk about sanity. If it wasn't for your insane research none of this would have happened."

She pulled her gun and put it to Rick's head. "I ought to kill you for what you did to me."

Rick snarled at her. "Do it! Do it you fucking b…urp…bitch!"

She lowered the gun. "Who am I kidding? As if I could ever kill you."

"You gave it your best shot earlier," Rick said.

"That was a reflex," Miranda said. "I couldn't really kill you. You had to become suddenly paternal and get yourself injured."

"Oh, now you're going to get all…urp…emotional on me?" Rick asked. "You weren't unstable when you were y…younger."

Miranda laughed. "Is that what you think? I can't kill you because I need you to reverse the process you began. I still don't know what was in that beaker, but it changed me. I'm keeping you alive to fix me, and then I can kill you."

"Ah, now it makes more sense," Rick said. "I've dealt with people like you before. I just don't understand how my sweet little h…h…housewife turned into such a colossal bitch."

Neither of them noticed the sobs escaping their daughter as Beth buried her head in her hands, but Beth felt a hand squeeze her shoulder. She opened her eyes to see Parabola's own expressive face. "I don't think they'd notice if we left," she said. "Let's get some coffee."

Beth had seen only a tiny bit of life outside of Earth, and she gawked at everything they passed.

"Somehow I thought a spaceship would be cleaner," she said. The metal walls were tarnished and stained, and the floor was strewn with bits of litter. Lights flickered overhead, and a sour garbage smell filled the air.

"It wasn't like this when we took the ship," Parabola said, "but the Captain likes to have as few crew as possible. I guess no one really cares enough to clean the place."

They reached a cafe. "I guess these are the same all over," Beth said. It looked more like a school cafeteria than a cafe, and it seemed as if it might have been built to serve dozens of people.

Parabola bought them both tubes with a brown liquid, which she pulled from a shelf on the wall that held various tubes and packages.

Parabola took two cups, shook the tubes, and cracked them. The brown liquid poured into the cups and somehow filled them almost to the brim, making twice as much as Beth saw in the tubes.

Everything is different here, she thought.

She took a sip of the hot "coffee" only to find that alien coffee had a bit of a sour taste. She sipped it anyway, so she could focus on something.

When she put the cup down Parabola took her hands in her own, cupping them. "Your hands are shaking," she said.

Beth almost said that she really needed a shot of whiskey, but she felt an unusual sense of embarrassment. She never cared what Jerry thought of her drinking, but she didn't want Parabola to know.

"I haven't seen my Mother since I was 15," Beth said, "and the first thing she did after all this time was try to kill me."

"Oh no," Parabola said. "She was just angry."

"I don't see how that's any better."

"She does stuff like that sometimes," Parabola said. "She just gets angry and does some crazy things. It isn't personal. Sometimes she shoots before she thinks."

"So my Mother is a murderer?" Beth asked.

"Yes, and a thief too," Parabola said. "It's hard to believe you're her daughter. I mean, I've met lots of Beths, but you're different."

"She wasn't always like that," Beth said. "When I was a kid she used to sing. That's what I remember most. When my Father was away she would sing."

"And when he was home?"

"They were talking, laughing together. They seemed happy. I don't know why she's acting like this. You've known her a long time?"

"Yes. She drags me on her "adventures" as she calls them. She won't tell me why. I've seen her kill the other Mirandas. Most of them are dead by now anyway, but the rest are just nice stay at home moms. They don't even know what their Ricks do."

"Why would she kill them?" Beth asked.

"She never told me, and I only asked once. She's severe if she gets angry."

"How severe?" Beth asked.

Parabola pulled her hair back so Beth could see the side of her neck. A long scar ran down it. "Don't cross her," Parabola said. "I learned that quickly."

Beth traced the scar with her finger. "It's so hard to believe that my mother did that. Why did it happen?"

"I tried to interfere the first time she killed another Miranda. She just killed the woman anyway and sort of slashed at me with a knife. She barely even looked at me while she did it. It looked easy, like a practiced skill."

Beth shuddered. "Why would you stay?"

"Don't you think I've tried to leave? She always finds me. I don't know how, but I think I might have a tracking chip in me or something. Whatever it is doesn't show up on x-rays."

"We have to get Dad loose," Beth said. "He'll know what to do."

"We can't!" Parabola said. "He's as bad as she is. He's a terrorist!"

"Don't be ridiculous," Beth said. "He's a scientist."

"Beth, how well do you know your father?"

The old insecurities kicked in. All the times he came home injured but wouldn't go to a doctor. All the times that Morty told crazy stories that she'd dismissed.

I can't be blamed for that, she thought. All children lie. When I get home I'll have to…

Her memories had been fuzzy because of the concussion her mother had given her, but she realized with a start that her children were alone on another planet, or moon, or whatever.

"Oh my God!" she said. "My children are still at Blitz N' Chitz!"

"No," Parabola said. "I made sure they got home ok. The Captain wanted me to leave them there and let other Ricks figure it out, but I convinced her that she didn't want more Ricks involved. I came back. She would have found me anyway."

"Oh thank you," Beth said. "I can't believe I forgot them, but I couldn't remember what happened before very clearly, just the basics."

"She hit you pretty hard," Parabola said. "I'm sorry. We're lucky this ship has such advanced medical technology. The ones she steals are usually less well equipped."

"With them safe all I have to worry about is getting Dad free and escaping."

"Beths are so smart," Parabola said. "I know you'll get us out of here."

"You think I'm smart?" Beth asked.

"Every Beth I've ever met was some sort of medical person. I didn't get to study much past basic med school, and on my planet that's just not much. I have to hope that the medical bays of the ships we're in have mechanized medical equipment. I mean I know how to work on wounds, but you… wow. I can't even imagine what it must be like to spend your entire life helping other people and animals."

Beth blushed brightly.

"I've seen Beths that were nurses, pediatricians, vets, Army medics. I've never even seen another one of me out there – well, I did once, but she died. What do you do?"

Beth dreaded the question. "I'm a horse surgeon," she said, ready for the inevitable questions. Couldn't you be a real surgeon?

But Parabola squealed. "I love horses. I've never met a Beth that was a horse surgeon!"

Beth didn't feel the need for a drink for the first time in years. "I like horses too," she said. "When we get back to Earth I'll show you where I work."

"Then you'll help me?" Parabola asked.

"I'm not sure I can help myself in this situation, but if I can get out of here I'll take you with me."

She gulped her tepid coffee for the caffeine if not the taste. "I feel better. We should go back and find out what's happening with my parents."

The ship was silent except for the hum of machines in the interior. "Where is everyone?" Beth asked.

"The ship is advanced enough that we only have about 10 people running it. At this time of night most of them are probably asleep. There would usually be a huge crew, but they were a research vessel, and the Captain doesn't care about such things. She just rigged it with weapons and shut off the labs."

When they opened the door to the med bay the soundproof nature of the room meant they were hit with a shock wave of cursing and screaming as soon as the door's seal broke. Neither of her parents noticed her, and Beth watched as they fought in a way she'd never seen before. They fought like she'd fought with Jerry.

They stood almost nose to nose, so Beth guessed that somehow her father had talked her into releasing him.

Parabola slipped her hand into Beth's, and she gave Beth an encouraging smile. It chased away the gloom settling on her and gave her courage.

"Stop it!" Beth yelled. "Just stop!" She yelled loudly enough that both of them turned to her in surprise.

"I don't care what happened. This is insane. Either kill us or let us go, but this can't continue forever."

Her mother slapped her across the back of her face with the back of her hand, sending Beth crashing to the floor.

Rick was on her Mother in a moment, pushing her away from Beth and against the wall, but Miranda was watching Parabola, who stood holding Miranda's gun in shaking hands.

"Oh, put that down, idiot," Miranda said. "You can't do that. You'd be stuck out here in space forever, alone."

Rick pulled the gun out of her hands. "Tie her up," he said.

Beth tied Miranda. "I'll kill both of you," Miranda spat. "All three of you," she said, glaring at Parabola.

"Beth, take your friend there and find…urp…find a way off this ship. Wait for me."

"What are you going to do with Mom?" Beth asked.

"I'll follow. I'm sure one of her crewmates will find her and let her loose."

Beth hesitated.

"It will be fine honey," Rick said. "I just have a few things I want to say to her privately."

They weren't far down the hall before Rick caught up with them. Beth stopped. "Dad, what did you do?"

"I told you," Rick said. "I had a few th…things to say to your Mother."