Space…

There's still a lot of it.

At the moment, a small spaceship was flying away from Earth, and the two small aliens that inhabited it were looking forward to returning home.

They had taken Calvin's advice and gone to Mexico. They had swapped out their usual outfits for flowery-shirts with the sleeves swinging limply back and forth. They wore straw hats and had flip-flops on their tentacles.

"That was a most excellent holiday," Galaxoid said pleasantly.

"Indeed," Nebular agreed. "We should go again next year! I quite enjoyed the beverage named 'Shirley Temple'."

"And hang gliding! Earth's lighter gravity really intensified the exhilaration of flying through the air, hanging onto the handle bar by our teeth!"

"It was so kind of them to let us keep them after that."

As they were trying to get the warp drive working again so they could be home within a few hours, they noticed that the picture of Earth on their screens seemed to be changing.

"Wait," Nebular announced. "Our computers indicate a change in the planet as a whole."

Galaxoid used a flip-flop wearing tentacle to press a button, and they watched as the image expanded.

They watched in amazement as the blue, white and green planet changed into different colors, including red, pink, purple, yellow and black.

"What's happening to it?" Nebular asked.

"I'm not sure," Galaxoid murmured. "I wonder if this is natural."

"Nothing in our data gathered on the planet's natural state suggests that anything like this would happen."

The Earth continued to change color, and streaks of lightning seemed to be flaring up around the planet, all over varying colors of their own. Dark red clouds billowed in all directions, contradicting the laws of physics as they crossed over each other, and they flashed with white light once in a while.

The two aliens were becoming a wee bit concerned.

"That's not right," Galaxoid said quietly. "Either they're having some sort of fluctuation in weather patterns, or someone is doing something to the planet."

"We must consult the Earth Potentate," Nebular suggested.

Galaxoid nodded and approached the computer. He proceeded to typing in commands, still wearing flip-flops on his tentacles, and began to scan the planet.

A few seconds later, it beeped triumphantly.

"We have him!" Galaxoid said triumphantly. "According to this, his life signs are emanating from within a large hill close to his home. We'll head there and speak with him."

"Inputting the coordinates," Nebular replied.

Within a few seconds, the ship was turning around and heading back towards the planet below, which continued to fluctuate and spasm with energy as they dove into the red clouds that continued to churn menacingly.


The rain that was pouring down over the city obscured the night sky. It was the soggiest night to have ever graced existence in years. The sewers roared with the sound of a torrent surging through its underground tunnels, not that anyone was around to notice.

No one except for one man…

He walked down the sidewalk, smoking a cigarette as he wrapped his trench coat around himself tightly. His fedora was badly battered, and he had a bruise on his eye.

"I had been on a case. Not a decent case, but it paid well. The dame had wanted me to find proof that her boyfriend was dealing drugs in a back alley behind a deli that was downtown. Downtown was a dangerous place – drug dealers, black market, gambling and cock fights."

He rubbed his aching ribs. He wouldn't be surprised if they were broken.

"My name's Bullet. Tracer Bullet. I'm a private eye. My job is to investigate the crime and scum in our fair city and keep it safe for the average working stiff. I take my job very seriously. So seriously that I have to carry the unfunniest companion I could ever have – a flask of whisky.

He limped along, feeling weak.

"It was here in downtown that I made my mistake. Possibly the biggest mistake I could've made. Normally, I'm not one to make mistakes like this. I mean, we all screw up once in a while. I once let three broads who had blackmailed the mayor escape when they managed to see through my French Maid disguise. But it all evened out in the end. This was one of the biggest screw ups of my life, and I could never forgive myself."

He leaned against a building, trying to get his vision to focus.

"I knew downtown was dangerous, and I knew that it would only mean trouble. I figured: what have I got to lose? I've been smoking sense I was fourteen. I've been drinking bourbon since I was sixteen. I've been gambling since I was twelve. Odds are I would be dead by the time I was twenty. But I forgot something important – I have a partner."

He couldn't find the strength to walk anymore.

"Tiger Eye wasn't his real name, but it suited him to a tee. He had the tenacity of a tiger, the cunning of a cat and the eyes of a marble. He had been working with me for the past few years. I had gone to the trouble of covering for him when he ended up being the culprit in some dame's case. He'd broken into her house, but it turned out she'd had a few skeletons in her closet that the police were interested in, so I was willing to turn the other cheek and give him a job."

He began to fall to his knees on the pavement.

"Now I had gotten him involved in my screw up. Usually, we had each other's backs, but in this scenario, I had been determined to enter the most dangerous nightclub of all. This place was so violent that the fleas were too scared to go in. But I knew the culprit was inside, and he needed to be apprehended. Even Tiger Eye was trying to talk me out of it. It took a lot of arguing, but eventually, I talked him into it. We went in, asked for our man, and he and twelve of the toughest goons we'd ever seen descended on us. They had fists the size of Ohio, and they looked about as attractive as Pittsburgh."

He sat down, still leaning against the wall, his head swimming.

"I barely escaped with my life, but I did escape without a few teeth and about a pint of blood, and I was probably losing more. I tried to find Tiger Eye, but he was missing in action. I can't stand myself anymore. I don't deserve the hospital my body is crying out for. I need to find the cops. I need a SWAT team. I need someone more competent than myself to rescue Tiger Eye. He could be dead for all I know. And it's all my fault…"

His eyelids grew heavy.

"…It's all my fault…"

His head tilted forwards.

"…all my fault…"


"Wake up!" Hobbes suddenly shouted.

Calvin's head was still swimming, but he stared up at Hobbes, who was looking at him determinedly, his steely cat eyes boring into him.

"…Hobbes?" he managed to croak through his dry throat. "What… what happened…?"

"Are you okay?" Hobbes asked quietly yet urgently.

"… I think so… I have a throbbing headache."

"Don't worry. The medication should take care of that."

"What medication?"

Hobbes stepped aside and gestured to two figures on the other side of the room,

It was Galaxoid and Nebular, both back in their uniforms, complete with pointy hats.

"You are awake, Earth Potentate," Galaxoid remarked. "We are pleased for your recovery."

Calvin blinked heavily. "… What did you guys do to me?"

"We merely injected you with a serum that repairs all mental damage," Nebular replied. "Our friends from the planet Delfron gave us some."

"That bottle's been sitting in our medicine cabinet for nine passages of our sun. I'm glad we finally found a decent use for it," Galaxoid muttered.

"Can you guys get him out?" Hobbes asked, gesturing to the metal bands that held him down to the chair.

The two aliens looked around the lab curiously.

"Yes, this technology looks rather simple," Galaxoid said, sounding unimpressed. "We should be able to release him quite easily."

They went over to the main control panel and looked over the buttons, trying to decipher which ones were which.

Finally, they smiled triumphantly, and Nebular pressed down on a button.

The bands retreated back into their housing, and Calvin's arms and legs were freed.

Hobbes went over and unbuckled the helmet for the Imaginator and lifted it off of his friend's head.

"Wow," he said, sounding lightly amused. "That thing really screwed up your hair."

Calvin didn't even react. He was still staring off into space.

Hobbes had never seen his eyes look so hollow before. "Buddy? You okay?" he asked, trying to look into the pale blue orbs.

"… Where's Retro? What's he done?" Calvin asked blandly.

"He basically ransacked your brain and released every single creature in your head into the real world."

"He has altered the entire planet," Galaxoid said. "We saw it from above. While the planet's shape and basic geography is relatively unchanged – all your continents are still where they were – everything else has been changed into a nightmare."

"There are hideous creatures roaming around, by land, sky and sea," Nebular added. "Everything's a complete mess. This place used to be prime real estate!"

Hobbes sighed heavily. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Calvin said, slumping down in the uncomfortable chair. "And I don't care."

Hobbes turned to look at him. "That's it? That's all you have to say?"

"Yes."

"… Are you okay?"

"No, Hobbes, I'm not okay!" Calvin suddenly snapped. It was the loudest he'd been since he'd woken up. "I just got us both captured by an evil creep with a machine that can rip your memories out of your head and make them real, and he's used everything in my head to conquer the world, and I almost got us both killed! How the heck am I supposed to be okay?!"

"Well…," Hobbes said slowly, "usually when you screw up, you never seem all that bothered by it. You just blame somebody else for it and move on."

Calvin just slumped back into the chair, wearing the most depressed expression anyone had ever seen. "There's no one else to blame," he said quietly. "It really is all my fault. If I hadn't been so curious and just stayed in the house like a good boy, none of this would have happened. He lured us here, Hobbes. The light over the hill was just to get me curious enough to come here. If I'd just ignored it and stayed grounded, then we'd be safe at home, and the world wouldn't be a complete mess. It's all my fault. All of it."

There was a long silence that followed this.

Calvin just wallowed in self-pity, looking like he was going to cry.

Galaxoid and Nebular just stood there, not sure what to say.

Hobbes mulled over several different responses in his head, knowing that whatever he said would probably change the course of the entire fate of humanity.

Finally, he knew what to say.

"You're right. It is your fault."

Calvin's head came up, stunned. "What?"

"You're right. It is your fault."

Calvin didn't know what to say, so Hobbes kept going.

"It's your fault that humanity has been taken over by a madman in a basement. So you know what you need to do? You need to take responsibility for your actions, learn a lesson for once, and solve the problem. You got humanity into this mess, and now it's time to stop crying over spilt milk and get them out of it! You need to save the world, Calvin, from your imagination. All those creatures you dreamed up can still be defeated by you. We just need to think of a plan."

For a long moment, Calvin didn't say anything. He was just staring at his best friend in disbelief.

After a lengthy silence, he cracked a small tired grin.

"Thanks for saying 'we'."

Hobbes smiled and held out a hand.

Calvin took it, and he found himself being lifted out of the chair and into a big furry hug that seemed to re-energize him.

At last, he got down onto the floor and looked around. "Okay!" he declared, trying to reclaim his unshakeable and sometimes misplaced self-confidence. "Time to go to work! What do we know about the Imaginator other than that it can create things from the mind?"

"It also has a filter that makes everything it creates obey Retro," Hobbes said.

"Anything else?"

"It's really primitive," Galaxoid said suddenly.

"Indeed," Nebular agreed. "But it would still take a long time to figure out how it works."

Calvin thought for a long moment. "Okay… Well, we have one advantage."

"What's that?" Hobbes asked.

"They're creatures from my mind. I've literally seen them all at some point. I know their strengths and weaknesses."

"I see… And we're going to exploit all those weaknesses all on our own? Just the two of us?"

"Of course not! We've got Galaxoid and Nebular to help us!"

The two aliens looked momentarily startled, but they managed to pull themselves together.

"If you require our assistance, Earth Potentate, we'd be happy to help," Galaxoid said quickly.

"Enough with the 'Earth Potentate' stuff," Calvin said. "Just 'Calvin' will do fine."

"Very well, Calvin. What will you have us do?"

"Give us a ride. We need to add more to our little gang. I can think of three guys who might be willing to help…"