Bad Trip

They came for me late in the morning, without warning and without mercy.

Terrifying, half machine, half human, their laser eyes slicing through the air.

I was taken deep into the bowels of the ship, where I was put face down on a table. A long metal probe was inserted under my ribs and deep into my body. The pain was quite intense, but they continued without any sign of emotion.

I could feel tubes being inserted into me and hear the unintelligible exchanges between them, as I was gradually assimilated into the Collective.

Then, as quickly as they arrived, they disappeared and I was alone.

After the effects of the morphine derivative wore off, they explained I had a catheter in my back, draining excess fluid from the under-performing kidney, and that with luck the stone would break up and disperse.

That's a relief. I thought I was going to wake up a drone!