Food for thought

While you tried to make sense of what had happened, you began to feel a bit light-headed. Was it another effect of the detoxification process? Before long, the dizziness was increasing, and from the corner of you eye you saw one of the consoles in the lab begin to flash some kind of warning.

"I don't feel well," you said.

The Grey doctor took a quick look at the console and then replied, "Your energy supply is almost exhausted. You need to eat immediately." His hands waved over a nearby panel and soon a familiar cylindrical container emerged which he picked up and handed to you.

Although the thought of drinking yet another liter (34 ounces) of semen collected from your male shipmates on the Odyssey would have previously been extremely revolting, the whirling wooziness that was taking hold of your body seemed worse. Without hesitation, you grabbed the container and put the top of it into your mouth.

Immediately, you felt the liquid begin to pump through the container's tube into your mouth. In case this batch of sperm tasted disgusting, you braced yourself for a potential gag reflex. Surprisingly, it didn't taste bad. In fact, it was...entirely different. As more of the liquid pumped into your mouth and down your throat, you tried to assess the taste. It seemed very sweet and not bitter or salty at all. Was this semen? It couldn't be. This was a brand new flavor, one that you could easily develop a craving for. The Greys must have managed to concoct an alternate, and you wouldn't actually need to drink semen anymore. That's a relief.

As the fluid reached the alien power source in your stomach, you felt extremely alert, as if you had just woken up. Once again, it also seemed as though time slowed down around you, but this time it was lasting longer. For several seconds, it felt as if you were the only one moving in the entire room. Not only were your senses heightened, but everything in your mind became crystal clear. With this newfound lucidity, all the details now coalesced into obvious patterns. You had a eureka moment and realized that...

<SNAP>

Suddenly everything was back to normal, and you were left with an overwhelming feeling that you'd just forgotten something important. As the final drops of liquid oozed out of the container into your mouth, you pulled it away and asked, "What happened?"

The Grey doctor seemed confused by your question. "You have consumed the necessary quantity of semen. This should be sufficient for another four hours."

"No, I mean the time shift. When the...wait did you say semen? It tasted completely different this time," you added.

"Similar to your previous meal, it was a mixture of the semen packs from your ship. There could be minor differences due to the individual sources."

It was shocking that the flavor could be so different from before. Mixing packets across various crewman should have had an averaging effect. How was it possible that this mixture tasted so much different? And what about the time shifting? "When the, uh...semen reached my internal power converter, it felt like time slowed down around me. Is that normal?"

The Grey doctor had a briefly perplexed expression before he turned and looked toward another console. After examining several menus and scans, he turned back and explained, "There is an unexpected side effect of your power converter. When the processing sequence restarts, a chemical byproduct is briefly introduced into your bloodstream. Due to your unique human physiology, this chemical causes your neurons to send signals significantly faster than normal, especially in your brain. As your sensory functions speed up, it will likely feel like everything around you is slowing down. However, the chemical quickly breaks down into harmless particles which your body will absorb, so there is no danger."

Based on the doctor's explanation, each time you drank semen, you'd experience heightened awareness and increased brain activity. As you pondered the implications, you wondered if there might be a way to harness this somehow. However, before you could dwell on that, there was another matter that needed attention first.