"I'm hungry," Dib grumbled as we tried to wind our way back to the ship.
"Me, too," Mom said.
"Me three."
"I'm not sure if there's anything even vaguely human here for you to eat, but I'm sure we could look," Zim said, peering around. "Tell me if you see anything that looks good to you."
"That over there looks pretty good," Dib said, pointing to a booth covered in slab-like, meaty looking red things.
"You don't want that, trust me," Zim said, stifling a smile.
"Why?" I asked.
"That's not food. That's lingerie for a species called the Gharghans."
"Oh," Dib said. Then, "I think I'm going to be sick again."
"You'll live. Come on, most of the food is over here, if I remember it right."
We followed him past what felt like miles of narrow passageways that all looked the same. I saw the most interesting things for sale. I could figure out what about three of them were for. We also saw a flasher, but she was so messed up I couldn't even tell what part I wasn't supposed to look at. Finally we reached some places that looked like they sold food. Well, food was maybe to strong a word.
"Oooh… They have mooshminkies," Zim murmured.
"What's that?" I asked a little unsurely. The thing looked like egg rolls, but I think pretty much everything in space is like an Every Flavor Bean: Don't judge on looks.
"There're really good. It's like meat and vegetables all wrapped up in noodle. Like the cross between egg rolls and Ravioli."
"Yum."
Zim leaned in conspiratorially.
"Plus they give you a quick high, but don't tell Gaz."
"Double yum."
I still hadn't forgotten about what I had heard, but I knew that we wouldn't make it ten minutes on this planet without Zim. There wasn't anything I could do, and I hated it. Zim got two of the mooshminkies, and handed one to me. I tried it and found it freaky, but still good. I tried not to think about what kind of animal this meat had come from.
Dib and Mom got something that looked like the cross between a sandwich and an explosion, and we ate while walking back to the ship. The mooshminky changed tastes every few minutes, and Zim was right, it did give you a quick high. There was a brief stop while I chased after some leprechauns, and another where Mom yelled at Zim for letting a kid get high, but I won't get into those.
Then there was the great bathroom adventure. There were port-o-potties, and about twenty of them. Approaching, we thought there were ten girls, and ten boys. Not so. There were twenty DIFFERENT KINDS OF BATHROOM! Amazingly, the girl and boy symbol looked the same as on Earth. Then there was a thing with about fifteen tentacles. Then there was a picture of a top hat, for some reason. I watched that door for a while, but didn't see anybody to use it. Ah, well.
When we finally reached the ship and found it refueled and ready to go again, I was trying to come up with some kind of idea on how to do anything. I don't know what Zim is doing with the Tallest, but I didn't want to be part of it. On the other hand, I didn't know how to warn anybody, either. As we took off again, I stared at the retreating planet, and was surprised to find that the normality of a week ago was more of a myth than a memory. I didn't want to hear the story again.
"Me, too," Mom said.
"Me three."
"I'm not sure if there's anything even vaguely human here for you to eat, but I'm sure we could look," Zim said, peering around. "Tell me if you see anything that looks good to you."
"That over there looks pretty good," Dib said, pointing to a booth covered in slab-like, meaty looking red things.
"You don't want that, trust me," Zim said, stifling a smile.
"Why?" I asked.
"That's not food. That's lingerie for a species called the Gharghans."
"Oh," Dib said. Then, "I think I'm going to be sick again."
"You'll live. Come on, most of the food is over here, if I remember it right."
We followed him past what felt like miles of narrow passageways that all looked the same. I saw the most interesting things for sale. I could figure out what about three of them were for. We also saw a flasher, but she was so messed up I couldn't even tell what part I wasn't supposed to look at. Finally we reached some places that looked like they sold food. Well, food was maybe to strong a word.
"Oooh… They have mooshminkies," Zim murmured.
"What's that?" I asked a little unsurely. The thing looked like egg rolls, but I think pretty much everything in space is like an Every Flavor Bean: Don't judge on looks.
"There're really good. It's like meat and vegetables all wrapped up in noodle. Like the cross between egg rolls and Ravioli."
"Yum."
Zim leaned in conspiratorially.
"Plus they give you a quick high, but don't tell Gaz."
"Double yum."
I still hadn't forgotten about what I had heard, but I knew that we wouldn't make it ten minutes on this planet without Zim. There wasn't anything I could do, and I hated it. Zim got two of the mooshminkies, and handed one to me. I tried it and found it freaky, but still good. I tried not to think about what kind of animal this meat had come from.
Dib and Mom got something that looked like the cross between a sandwich and an explosion, and we ate while walking back to the ship. The mooshminky changed tastes every few minutes, and Zim was right, it did give you a quick high. There was a brief stop while I chased after some leprechauns, and another where Mom yelled at Zim for letting a kid get high, but I won't get into those.
Then there was the great bathroom adventure. There were port-o-potties, and about twenty of them. Approaching, we thought there were ten girls, and ten boys. Not so. There were twenty DIFFERENT KINDS OF BATHROOM! Amazingly, the girl and boy symbol looked the same as on Earth. Then there was a thing with about fifteen tentacles. Then there was a picture of a top hat, for some reason. I watched that door for a while, but didn't see anybody to use it. Ah, well.
When we finally reached the ship and found it refueled and ready to go again, I was trying to come up with some kind of idea on how to do anything. I don't know what Zim is doing with the Tallest, but I didn't want to be part of it. On the other hand, I didn't know how to warn anybody, either. As we took off again, I stared at the retreating planet, and was surprised to find that the normality of a week ago was more of a myth than a memory. I didn't want to hear the story again.
This chapter is dedicated to Chineseisgreek2me, becuase they write good reveiws. And to Invader Kilia, killing me is one of those few things that piss me off and make me go on murdering rampages.
