[ARTHUR MIZZENMAST is in a mid-range restaurant, facing the camera and emoting with his hands.]

MIZZENMAST: And, of course, any visit to Alpha Centauri wouldn’t be complete without a plate of Qin’Xai mindworms. You can get them anywhere, but the floating city of Jxr’Nn is famous for its particularly vivid mindworms.

[DINERS are enjoying plates of weakly twitching, bright-blue MINDWORMS at the restaurant. Their exposed feathery gills make a wet sucking sound as they go down the hatch.]

HUMAN DINER #1: The mindworms here are great. I’ve had them other places, but the hallucinations aren’t anywhere near as vivid.

CENTURIAN DINER #1 (subtitles): I ENJOY THE FLAVOR AND THE FACT THAT THEY ARE STUNNED ENOUGH BY COOKING THAT THEY CANNOT TAKE OVER MY NERVOUS SYSTEM OR LAY EGGS.

MIZZENMAST: Since Alpha Centauri is a crossroads of cultures and cuisines, a lot of interesting flavor combinations have arisen. Like adding a little cardamom to the illusory world created by a mindworm, or mixing some curry powder into the nutrient slurry that helps the worms sustain illusions that seem to last for lifetimes?

HUMAN DINER #2: Spicy hallucinations are my favorite! It may seem like 50 years on the inside, but that’s just how Mom used to make them!

CENTAURIAN DINER #2 (subtitles): I ENJOY THE TRACE ELEMENTS THAT THEY ADD TO MY SYSTEM AND THE MENTAL IMAGES ARE A DIVERTING DISTRACTION FROM MY PATHETIC DAILY EXISTENCE.

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