Lenny was busy drinking his day away whilst watching the holo-recording of a colleague dissecting a person's brain when suddenly, the room rocked side to side pushing him against the wall.
Lenny checked the label from the liquor he's drinking, and he's pretty sure he didn't pick something from the top shelf of his hidden stash. Or maybe he's just too drunk to see things clearly. Either way, the world around him is flipping upside down which made him puke all over the wall.
Then there was only darkness after that - and maybe the smell of his rancid vomit.
Just as he woke up, a vision came to him. In it, a being robed in a fabric of pure light looked at him with disgusted eyes. The being spoke no words but conveyed its thoughts in some sort of telepathy. Gifts from the cosmos, born from the chaos gods of the universe, and Lenny was lucky enough to receive such grace. With mere thoughts alone, he could send his mind to another person's body and control it from within.
Lenny thought of asking questions, but he got the gist that all of this is just one hell of a trip. Maybe one colleague spiked his vodka with some Terran shrooms or Icathian LSD - or some fucked up concoction one could make in the lab. Lenny kept his silence and let the being of light strobe into pure nothingness.
With the light gone, Lenny woke up in the coldness of the medbay table. He looked to the side and saw the service bots already cleaning the wall's painting made from this morning's breakfast.
---
Lenny never really leaves the medbay except for going to his quarters or eating whatever the ship's chef cooked up. He expected that the food would be your usual military-grade schlop - but he was relatively surprised to taste the opposite. The kid's got one hell of a culinary career after this. Lenny wished he had half the kid's motivation and passion for the career he picked.
As for Lenny, sure he finished and aced three medical PHDs in the juvenile age of 45, but all of that was due to the pressure his father put on him. Now that he's dead, it got him thinking whether all of this was worth it? Thinking about the answer just puts him under a mental strain so he drinks instead. And he drinks a lot. His colleagues are surprised why he is still alive while keeping his original liver. Lenny is asking that himself.
Anyway, Lenny walked to the canteen where the rest of the ship's crew are talking about the recent events.
"I'm glad you got the message we sent you Doctor Lenny," Jeremy, the ship's captain said.
Lenny doesn't remember seeing any letter. He's just here to see what the chef cooked up.
"Oh... Yeah... Right... The letter. Yes. Yes. I got it."
"So back on topic. Kyle, is there any damage to the ship?" Jeremy asked.
"A few of the ship's navigation systems are fried from heaven knows what. We can still map 10 light-years around us but beyond that, we're flying in blind. Also, the lightfold system is severely broken. And our communication systems too. In summary, the Astra is fucked but we're still alive so there's that."
"Good to know. How about you Dr. Lenny, are you going to add anything to the topic?"
Lenny looked around, "Is somebody injured?"
Everyone looked at each other but none stood to say their injuries.
"I have nothing more to add."
"Good. Meeting adjourned."
Today's lunch is just omelets and fried rice. Theo is still shaken up from the electrical storm so this is what he could make given his current circumstance. Nevertheless, the meal is tasty enough for Lenny to grab a second serving which he brought to the med-bay. If his father was here, he'd be smacked for bringing contaminants to the bay. But guess what? He's not and Lenny could eat whatever he wants on the med-bay table.
While eating, he could not help but remember the hallucination he's had. Given his past experiences, he doesn't usually remember his visions. He could remember the feeling he has while experiencing them, but not quite as clear as what he has right now. He could remember it clearly like the being is still whispering its gifts in his ear.
"Control," a thin voice whispered.
"Mind,"
"Take"
"Cosmos,"
With these words swirling in his mind, now slightly believing them to be true - Lenny thought of making a stop to these delusions by following the being's instruction.
Think of one person and it will be Lenny to control. As such, who did Lenny think of?