Summer had never ridden in a spaceship before. In fact, she'd never been in any kind of ship, boat, or plane. Now, she was traveling at warp speed into the clouds, and in her peripheral vision, Earth was getting smaller and smaller. Gripping her bookbag, Summer fought back the instinctual urge to scream. "WHERE are we GOING!?" she managed to spit through gritted teeth.
"I'll give you one hint," Rick smirked and pointed his finger upwards. "You might have noticed, Summer, this isn't just your average type of ship-it's a SPACE ship! It's ALSO one that I made with my own two hands, Summer! Did-did you know that?" Rick's voice was rising with excitement as he continued to exclaim, "I-I actually MADE this baby with my own two bare HANDS! That's RIGHT, SUMMER! I, I made it outta, outta a bunch of old, out of old junk I found, just lying around in the garage!"
"This thing is made out of JUNK?" Completely horrified by the notion, Summer immediately hugged the bookbag tighter to her chest, bracing herself for what she perceived as an inevitable impact. Meanwhile, the ship continued to rise, taking them higher and higher and higher.
"It's made of INGENUITY and POSSIBILITY, Summer." Rick tapped at the top of his head, his face filled with pride and satisfaction. "Two things which are absolutely ESSENTIAL, if you wanna make the impossible, er, POSSIBLE! Don't you realize how small Earth and all its little humans are in comparison to the rest of the intergalactic endless fishbowl of a universe? How small our little tiny universe is compared to ALL the universes that ever EXISTED and CONTINUE to be CREATED and EXIST until all ETERNITY!?"
He was shouting with a runaway enthusiasm, which was beginning to give her a headache. Summer's head was spinning. She gripped her bookbag even tighter in spite of all blood draining from her face, shuddering uncontrollably at the thought. "There's more than one?"
"Of COURSE there is, silly!" Rick shook his head, rolling his eyes at her in a chastizing fashion. "You think you know everything there is to know about reality? Well, you ain't seen NOTHING yet!"
The ship burst instantly through the clouds, quickly gaining speed, and suddenly the constant whistling of wind that had engulfed the ship previously quickly resided. Suddenly, everything was still...so completely quiet and still, quieter than silent winter snowfall. And when Summer dared to open her eyes, she couldn't look away, because the sight before her was so incredibly, immensely beautiful that it took her breath away. "Grandpa…" she whispered, awed. "You-" She gulped. "You weren't kidding…" she whispered hoarsely. "This is…." She faced Rick, taking in his smug expression. "...this is really actually freaking OUTER SPACE!" she exclaimed in utter amazement, and untamed exaltation.
"So what, you mean you didn't believe me?" Rick snickered with amusement.
"I don't really know what to believe….anymore…." Summer couldn't stop staring. All around her were stars, all different sizes and shapes and colors...an endless sea of stars populated by an endless array of planets, and nebulas, and solar systems, and milky ways. "It's actually really real…," she whispered hoarsely, "isn't it?"
Rick chuckled at her innocent reaction. "Yep," he grunted back at her with a shrug. "I don't have the chops yet to create something that complex….yet." And then, his grin grew even wider as he turned towards her, wriggling his unibrow mischievously. "Now," he exclaimed, waving his hand in front of the windshield, "for the even BIGGER surprise!"
Almost instantly, a floating platform in the middle of space appeared before them, one that was clearly inhabited by civilization. There was a huge orange planet-shaped sign with yellow blazing neon letters that displayed for all to see: "BLIPS AND CHITZ".
"What the…..freaking….hell?" Summer muttered, mystified. "What in the heck IS this place?"
"Can't you read Summer!?" Rick snorted in disgust as he whizzed them down towards the lone building, settling quickly in the parking garage. "This is BLIPS and CHITZ, dawg!"
"Blips and…" Summer blinked, in a complete and utter daze. "...Shits?"
"Not shits," Rick burst out laughing, "CHITZ! It's, like, ONLY the greatest arcade game in the multiVERSE, BITCHES!"
"Is this like…" Summer looked around at what appeared to be an average old parking garage. "Like a...a space mall, or something?"
"Open your MIND Summer!" Rick chastised, tapping her temple with his finger and groaning loudly. "This is the CENTER of ENTERTAINMENT in the ENTIRE FREAKIN' MULTIVERSE!" he practically hollered at the top of his lungs, twirling around with excitement.
"Grandpa, what-" Summer didn't have time to finish as he took her by the arm, pulling her from the car. She was tugged roughly across the parking lot to a plain metal door, much like you would see at normal multi-story parking lots.
But when Rick opened the door, Summer halted, staring before her in shock. The place was packed and full of noise-but that wasn't what got her immediate attention. All around her were multicolored...BEINGS...the likes of which she'd never seen before. They were in all shapes and sizes. Some with multiple appendages, others with very few. Some look liked gigantic squids, others looked like oversized slugs.
"Hooolly shit…" Summer couldn't believe her eyes. "Are you kidding me…." She couldn't take her eyes off of the spectacle. "Aliens ACTUALLY fucking EXIST…"
"YUP!" Rick spread his arms open wide. "Welcome to BLIPS and CHITZ, SUMMER! GO NUTS!"
"I-I can't believe it…" Summer muttered, swirling around in all directions. "This...this CAN'T be REAL?" Summer whirled around in awe. "I-I MUST be DREAMING, right? GRAND-pa-"
Before Rick could correct her on his preferred title, Summer had dropped to the ground, instantly falling unconscious.
Rick groaned out loud with embarrassment. Leave it to his own granddaughter to make a scene. An alien, the kind with multiple appendages that looked like gigantic squid, had taken note of new guest's fainting spell and was standing over her, jibbering nonsensically with concern. Rick joined his side, offering a little shake of his head, elbowing the alien playfully. "Earth girls," Rick smirked, "amiright?" Out of nowhere, he produced a packet of smelling salts, which he abruptly held up to Summer's nose.
"ACK!" Summer sat up with a start. "ALIENS!?-WHAT THE- HUH?!" She looked around wildly, and then when she saw Rick she froze, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "Did you DRUG me?"
"Really Summer?" Rick snickered. "What in the Multiverse would EVER give you THAT idea? C'mon," he tugged at her arm, "I got a, a real surprise for you." He pulled her up by the arm. "Roy 4 is here!"
"Roy what?" Summer managed as she was dragged by one arm across the floor.
"Roy 4! Only this time, Summer, get this-you're not playing Roy-you're playing his wife, REBECCA!"
Before Summer could insist that he explain himself, he had sat her down on an incredibly comfortable chair. In front of her was a blank, dark screen, which immediately piqued Summer's interest. Suddenly, Blips 'n' Chitz had disappeared, and Summer found herself in a young girl's bedroom, in her bed. Only she wasn't Summer anymore. She was a young girl named Rebecca, and she was waking up from the most horrible dream. This dream was like no other dream she'd ever had before. It involved losing her family and getting kidnapped by a crazy space grandpa. "MOMMY!" she screamed. Almost instantly, her mother was there and came over to the bed to comfort her. "Mommy," she wept as her mother held her, "I had the most HORRIBLE dream!"
"It was only a dream Rebecca," her mother consoled her with a hug. "Time to get ready for school!"
So Rebecca went to her first day of elementary school. She made friends, some that lasted through high school, and one friend named Clarissa that stuck with her through thick and thin, and followed her all the way to college. They lived in the same dorm room, and dated two boys who also went to the same college, that were also lifelong best friends. One was named Dave, the other was named Roy. She married Roy, and together they had a family. Her kids had grandkids, and she became a grandma. Then one day, she was driving everyone through town to go grocery shopping. A truck appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly the game had ended.
The helmet lifted, leaving Summer shaking and gasping for air. "NO-ROY! My HUSBAND! MY KIDS! Someone-ANYONE! HELP ME, SOMEBODY! PLEASE!" She was gasping and hyperventilating at the same time, and all the while frantically clawing at empty air, desperately still in the mindset of trying to swerve the car away from the oncoming truck, when she realized she wasn't in the car anymore, but in an arcade chair in an arcade room, surrounded by creatures, some the likes that nightmares were made out of. "OHHH-" Summer shook her head rapidly, horrified. "No, no no no no-NO!" She grabbed both sides of her head in shock, nearly ripping full fistfuls of strawberry-colored hair out in the process. "THIS ISN'T RIGHT!" Summer barked, whirling around in horror, looking for someone to accuse of taking her family away. "WHERE THE HELL AM I!?" She shrank away with terror when she saw Rick slowly approaching her, his neutralized expression seemingly devoid of all concern. "TAKE ME BACK!" she practically spat in his face. "I WANT TO GO BACK!"
"JESUS," Rick shook his head with disgust. "Get a GRIP, Summer-It's JUST a GAME!"
"I-I-I want to go back," Summer blurted, collapsing backward and shrinking into the chair as her entire body started to shake, hugging her knees to herself in a desperate attempt for some kind of comfort in the face of unimaginable loss. She felt like she was young all over again, waking up from a horrible nightmare to another horrible nightmare. Only her mother wasn't there to save her. Tears sprung from her eyes before she could stop them. "I-I WANT to go BACK!"
"OK…" Rick pinched the bridge of his nose, unable to restrain his annoyance. "I figured this might happen," he muttered under his breath, watching as Summer continued to hyperventilate. "Here, Summer. Take this."
"Wh...what-WHAT IS IT?" Summer demanded with terror, staring with eyes wide down at his palm-opened hand, which contained a tiny oblong-shaped bright purple pill.
"JESUS! Lower your voice will ya? And just TRUST me, OK?" Rick tilted her head back and dropped the pill in.
Almost instantly, everything slowed down and immediately felt fuzzy. Suddenly, Summer felt like she was floating in midair. "Mmmm," she murmured in delight, twirling around and around; the room kept moving with her, and it felt like she was on a carousel. "This….is...AMAZING," she exclaimed, "Grandpa...this feels soooo freaking GOOD!"
She was pulled aside by Rick who lowered his voice to a hush. "Now follow me," he instructed, "and we'll go get ice cream, and it'll ALL be OK again…"
"Funny looking creatures," Summer slurred, giggling loudly as she nearly bumped into a rather large alien, which chattered at her angrily and unintelligibly in defense.
"THIS way, Summer," Rick groaned as he quickly steered her towards the exit.
"What IS this place?" Summer gurgled, twirling around like a ballerina on one leg. "It's freaking hiLARIOUS!"
"FORGET about it!" Rick snapped, pushing her urgently towards the door. "Let's just GO!" With that, he shoved her out the door, ushered her into the spaceship, and sped off into the sea of sparkling starlight.
Summer woke as if from the longest dream she'd ever known, feeling like her head was twice its size. She must have nodded off on the way home because she didn't recall leaving the premises, nor did she remember fully arriving. She was still in the spaceship, but the spaceship was in the garage. "Home sweet home," Rick smiled looking satisfied as he switched off the ignition. "Welcome back, kiddo."
"Whaaaa…." Summer looked around groggily. "What….happened?" She tried to remember where they'd gone. "Were we just...in….outer space?"
"Temporary amnesia," Rick turned off the spaceship's safety locks with the flip of a switch. "That's a shame, kid...first time in space, too…" Rick shook his head with what appeared to be a genuine disappointment. "Happens to the best of us."
Summer stared at him in confusion, and suddenly shivered; memories of another life danced and floated before her in a distant vision. "My...my kids," she mumbled, her words slightly slurring in spite of herself. "Are...are they okay?" She looked around wildly. "Where...where are they?"
"It was just a bad dream, Summer." Rick jumped out and went around to open Summer's door. "C'mon, get yourself to bed….you got a full day at school tomorrow."
"School…?" Summer echoed, as she let Rick guide her out of the car, as if in a daze. "I already finished...school!"
"That's a girl." Rick rolled his eyes as he continued to guide her out of the garage and down the hall. It was a challenge because Summer was walking as though she were drunk. He knew the effects of the smelling salts would wear off as she slept. He led her directly to her bed, which she collapsed on, fully dressed, sinking back into a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep.
Author's Note: I don't approve personally of Rick's smelling salts, which removed Summer's memories of playing Roy 4 (much like "Morty's Mind Blowers", the eighth episode of season 4. I won't say more in case you haven't seen that episode). I personally thought it was one of the best of the season!