“It’s getting hot in here,” Kai whispered, as he reached toward the neckline of his white tank top and began slowly ripping it off, the fabric jaggedly splitting to reveal his bare chest. “Aren’t you hot, Minji-yah?” he asked, as his fingers danced down the buttons that lined Minzy’s shirt.

“I, erm, I…”

Beeeeep. Beeeeep.

The noise of the intercom startled Minzy awake from her fantasy. She sat up wide-eyed and red-faced, the dreamy image of Kai still lingering in her mind.

A robotic voice emanated from the intercom speaker then. “Announcement. All star passengers report to the bridge. Incoming message from Commander Yang Hyun Suk. Repeat: All star passengers report to the bridge. Incoming message from Commander Yang Hyun Suk.”

The intercom then beeped twice again, indicating the end of the announcement.

“Why are you blushing like that?” Bom asked, as she sat up in her bed with her arms still wrapped around her stuffed hippo. “Oh! Did you have another dream about Kai?”

“What? No!”

“Details! I want details!” Bom tossed her stuffed hippo aside and swung her legs over the side of her bed, her eyes all lit up as she stared at Minzy.

Minzy blushed harder. “Aish, Bommie! I wasn’t dreaming about Kai! I was dreaming about… about…”

“About Kai,” Bommie said, giggling. “You’re his fangirl!”

“I am not!”

“Yeah you are! Just admit it!” Bom suddenly gasped as she stumbled on an idea. “Oh my god, you should write a ty fanfiction story about him!”

“Why in the world would I do that?!”

“Because you’re his fangirl!”

Minzy hid her face in her hands. “Aish,” she mumbled. “Can we just forget it? Anyway, we have to go. Didn’t you hear the announcement? We can’t be late again.”

The boys were the first ones to arrive. They stepped out of the elevator pod on the seventh floor, all sleepy-eyed, and flashed their ID cards at the securitybot. The securitybot, like all of the other robots that worked on the ship, was made of a hard white plastic, had two glowing red dots for eyes, and spoke in an auto-tuned staccato-like voice.

“Good.Morning.Big.Bang,” the securitybot said.

Seungri and Daesung were the only ones awake enough to respond. “Good morning!” they cheerfully said.

They entered the bridge, which was stark white from the bright fluorescent lighting, and made their way through the rows of navigational consoles, where the crewbots worked, until they reached the very back.

The captainbot was standing in the back, looking over the bridge with its white plastic mechanical arms folded against its chest area. It had one distinguishing feature from the other robots: a black eyepatch that it wore due to an accident that occurred on the first day of travel, which involved Daesung and a flying bowl of hot ramen.

As the boys approached, the captainbot stared at them with its one glowing red eye. “One.Minute.To.Announcement,” it said, before walking down through the bridge and sitting in the center seat.

Daesung cringed. “Do you think Captainbot is mad at me?”

“You threw steaming ramen at it and short-circuited its freaking eye!” G-Dragon said. “So, erm, yeah, probably.”

“I didn’t throw it! Well, I did, but it wasn’t on purpose.” Daesung pouted. “I tripped and it just flew out of my hands.”

“It kind of looks like a pirate now with that eyepatch,” Seungri said. “I bet it dreams about revenge, Daesunggie. You should be careful.”

Daesung’s mouth fell open.

“Don’t listen to them,” T.O.P. said, rolling his eyes. “Robots don’t feel emotions.”

Daesung sighed and stared past the busy robot activity to the front wall of the bridge, which was entirely windowed, revealing the deep black space outside the ship. “I kind of miss the sun,” he quietly said. He noticed then that Taeyang was wearing sunglasses. “Erm, Youngbae? What’s with the shades?”

Taeyang was rubbing his forehead, trying to massage away his hangover. He squinted from behind his sunglasses. “These fluorescent lights are killing me.”

G-Dragon chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Taeyang asked, slightly irritated.

“You know what they say, Youngbae. If you e too much, you can go blind.”

“Wha–?”

G-Dragon shrugged. “I’m just saying… looks like the symptoms might be kicking in.”

“Is that true?” Seungri asked, suddenly worried. “Can you really go blind from… from that?”

T.O.P. shook his head. “Aish, my life,” he mumbled.

“Thirty.Seconds.Remaining,” the captainbot announced.

G-Dragon mindlessly looked back at T.O.P. and then noticed the pink bunny slippers he was wearing. “Why do you always walk around in those ridiculous slippers?” G-Dragon asked.

T.O.P., who was grumpy, as he hadn’t yet had his morning coffee, arched his eyebrow at G-Dragon and flashed him an evil look.

“Yah, why the attitude?” G-Dragon asked.

“These slippers represent a contradiction!” T.O.P. said.

“Oh no, here we go…” Daesung said, face-palming.

“I’m making a statement,” T.O.P. said. His black robe parted a bit as he lifted his leg to show off one of the floppy bunny heads attached to his slipper. “See this bunny…?”

“How could we miss it…” G-Dragon mumbled.

“Society says that pink means soft and cute and feminine, just like these fuzzy bunnies. Well, I’m standing in defiance against something as abstract as a color representing the female gender. I’m putting my foot down! Erm, literally…”

“Yeah, yeah,” G-Dragon said.

“Plus…” T.O.P. bashfully looked down. “They’re really comfy.”

“Aha!” G-Dragon pointed at him and laughed. “That’s the real reason you’re wearing them, isn’t it!”

CL and Dara entered the bridge at that moment and quickly made their way to the back where the boys were.

“We miss anything?” Dara asked.

“Yeah,” Seungri said. “Tabi wants to be a girl and Youngbae’s going blind from mast–”

Taeyang punched Seungri in the arm. “Yah! Seriously?”

“Five.Seconds.Remaining,” the captainbot announced.

CL nudged Dara. “Where’s Bommie and Minj?” she whispered.

Dara bit her lip and shrugged.

Just then, the communication screen was lowered in front of the windowed wall, blocking their view of space. The screen flashed from white to black and then opened to a visual of Hyun Suk sitting behind his desk back in Seoul. He looked angry.

“Yah, Jiyong!” Hyun Suk yelled, his voice as clear as if he was right in the room with them. “Because of you, I had to spend three hours on the phone trying to get Seungri’s ID card replaced.”

“What?” G-Dragon glanced back at Seungri, who quickly looked away.

Hyun Suk flipped through some papers on his desk and then read from the top sheet. “Rest Station Star-Six-Delta is about three hours away. You’re going to have to stop there and pick up Seungri’s new card at the Galactic Union satellite office.”

Bom and Minzy rushed into the bridge then and ran to join the others.

“Yah, listen, all of you,” Hyun Suk continued, ignoring the girls’ late arrival. “This is your first time at one of these rest stations. Be careful. Do not buy anything from the aliens there. I’m serious. They’re just looking to exploit travelers. They won’t tell you if what they’re selling is bad for humans. All they care about is money. You hear me?”

“Yeah, boss,” they all said.

Hyun Suk raised his remote and pointed it at the screen, cutting off the signal.

The Big Bang boys and 2NE1 girls, all dressed and excited about leaving the ship for the first time, waited in the docking bay on the lowermost level, peering through the side windows as the ship pulled into the parking lot of Rest Station Star-Six-Delta. The rest station was situated, like all rest stations off that intergalactic highway, in an atmosphere-controlled dome on the surface of a floating space rock.

Bom saw that they were landing just beside the SM Starship and flashed a wide-eyed look at Minzy. “Oh my god!” she whispered, as she tapped her finger against the window. “Look, Minzy-ah! Your boyfriend’s here!”

“Shh.” Minzy grew red-faced again and looked around, hoping that the others hadn’t heard Bom.

As the ship’s bay doors opened and the ramp unfolded, G-Dragon, about to lead the way, glanced back at everyone. “Make sure you have your star phones on you,” he said. “I don’t need anyone getting lost.”

After walking down the ramp and through the quiet parking lot toward the lights of the station area, they began to see other travelers. It was the first time that they had seen aliens close up.

“Whoa, look at that one!” Seungri said, pointing to a plant-like creature with leafy limbs and no discernable facial features.

“Don’t point,” T.O.P. said, whacking Seungri’s arm down.

“That’s a Phytosian,” CL said, proud that her studies had paid off.

They turned out of the parking lot and stopped for a moment just before the station area, all struck by the chaotic scene they were about to enter. The station area, which was lit up in an array of rotating colors by a massive disco ball that hung from the center of the dome, looked like a vendor alley with stands full of strange goods lining both sides of the main walkway. The hundreds of different languages being spoken at once by the aliens crowded in the walkway, coupled with what sounded like ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” playing in the distance, was somewhat dizzying.

“Freaking ABBA?” G-Dragon said, laughing as he looked back at the others.

Seungri shrugged. “I kind of like it.”

“Me too!” Daesung said, as he hooked arms with Seungri, the two now skipping down the walkway to the disco beat.

Taeyang, meanwhile, gleefully rubbed his hands together as he checked out the female aliens in the crowd. “Should I take my shirt off?” he quietly asked, glancing at the others.

“Why would you want to do that?” CL asked.

“That way they can see my hot bod,” Taeyang said. He looked down at his loose t-shirt and wished that he had worn something tighter.

“You’re not here to pick up chicks,” Dara said. Worried now that G-Dragon might be on the lookout for girls, too, she rushed to his side and grabbed his hand in an effort to claim him as hers.

Bom and Minzy were trailing behind the group, whispering about the possibility of running into Kai.

“What are you going to say if you see him?” Bom quietly asked.

Minzy bit her lip. “Nothing,” she said. “We barely know each other.”

“Then why are you dreaming about him?” Bom asked.

Minzy didn’t know how to answer. All she knew was that she’d been dreaming about him ever since she saw him hip- his way through a recent performance of “Overdose.” She closed her eyes now and envisioned each of his hips as meant only for her.

Lost in her thoughts, she suddenly realized that Bom was no longer at her side. She whipped around, clutching her heart in relief when she saw Bom not too far behind her, seemingly drawn to one of the stands.

“What a delicious smell,” Bom said, as she wandered away.

“Come on, we’re not supposed to separate,” Minzy said, glancing between Bom behind her and the others ahead, all of whom were still walking toward the Galactic Union satellite office, unaware that Bom and Minzy had stopped.

“But that smell…” Bom said, as she continued cutting her way through the crowd to the sidelines where a stand full of glowing yellow corn had caught her eye. The golden aura surrounding the stand hypnotized her while the aroma seized control of her airways and overwhelmed every cell in her body. “I need… I need that corn,” she said.

The corn vendor was a Carnite – an alien species often mockingly called turnip-heads because of their purplish-tinted skin and the sprout of hair that grew out from the top of their heads. “Come, come,” it said, beckoning Bom forward. “I promise you that you have never tasted better space corn in your life.”

“Bom, don’t,” Minzy said, following her. “Remember what Papa YG said?”

Bom couldn’t remember anything. All she could think about was corn. Corn, corn, corn. Her eyes traveled over the bushels that lined the stands, each overflowing with the golden kernels. She wanted all of it – every bushel. And then she noticed that, just behind the Carnite, there were large sacks of corn piled up against the wall. “Oh my god so much corn oh my god,” she mumbled.

Minzy rolled her eyes and was about to pull Bom away when she suddenly heard someone call her name. She turned around to find herself face-to-face with Kai.

“Hi, Minzy-ah,” Kai quietly said.

“Erm, erm…”

“How’ve you been?” he asked.

Minzy gulped. “I, erm, I… fine.”

Kai smiled, his dark features softened by the dancing colors of the disco ball shining down upon them. “I was just walking with Kyungsoo and some of the Soshi girls and… well, I noticed you so… I just thought I’d say hi.”

“Hi,” Minzy abruptly said, biting her lip.

“Hi,” Kai said with a quiet laugh.

They both looked at each other shyly, their awkward silence filled in by the disco music. See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen…

Because they were both focused only on each other, they didn’t notice that just behind Minzy, at the corn stand, Bom had already tasted a sample from the bushels, her senses running wild for more.

“So, what’s your first tour stop?” Kai asked.

“Oh, erm, Splaarsh, I think?”

Kai recoiled. “Ew, you’re going to Splaarsh? That’s the planet they call the Slimeball, isn’t it?”

Minzy shrugged.

“Yeah, we’re skipping that one,” Kai said.

Minzy nodded, not knowing what to say.

“Well, maybe we’ll meet up at a different planet sometime,” Kai said. He his lips and then smiled a sort of curvy, flirtatious smile.

Minzy felt her legs shaking at the sight of this smile. She imagined Kai suddenly reaching for her waist, pulling her in close, real close as he confessed to her how much he wanted to ravage her body, and then laying his mouth on hers, his pout lips wet and their kiss messy as his hips began ing…

“Jonginnie, come ooooon!” D.O. said, appearing out of nowhere and tugging on Kai’s sleeve.

“Okay, okay, Kyungsoo-yah,” Kai said. He turned his attention back to Minzy then. “Well, bye.”

“Bye,” Minzy whispered. She watched him walk away, his body eventually lost in the crowd of aliens. Remembering Bom then, she turned around, but Bom was nowhere to be found. Minzy quickly dove into her pocket for her star phone and dialed Bom’s number.

“Hello? munch munch.”

“Unni?” Minzy asked. “Where in the world did you go?”

“Oh, erm, munch, I went back to the ship, munch munch.”

“What…? Why’d you just leave like that?”

“munch munch.”

“Are you eating something?” Minzy glanced over at the corn stand and then sighed heavily into the phone. “Unni, tell me you didn’t buy any space corn from that creepy turnip alien.”

“Okay, munch munch. I didn’t buy any space corn from that creepy turnip alien, munch munch. Erm, gotta go now! Bye!”

“Unni? Unni?” Minzy looked at her phone and saw that the call was disconnected. “Aish!” She stood in the middle of that walkway, not knowing what to do, as the alien travelers brushed past her on both sides. After a moment, she heard Seungri’s voice mixed into the foreign chatter around her and looked ahead to see him and the others returning from the Galactic Union satellite office.

“I wish they would’ve let me retake the picture,” Seungri said, pouting as he stared at his new ID card. “I hate my stupid face.”

“At least you’re human again,” Daesung joked.

Minzy decided not to tell any of them about Bom. After all, maybe the space corn was completely harmless. Maybe the worst that would happen is that Bom would just get another lecture from Master Hwang on proper nutrition during tomorrow’s workout.

Back on board the ship, Minzy walked to the room she shared with Bom not knowing what to expect but, at the same time, not really that worried. That all changed, however, the moment she opened the door. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

Bom was kneeling atop a towering pile of corn on the floor, ferociously shoveling the golden kernels into . Half-chewed pieces and a mix of saliva and corn juice dripped down her chin, staining her shirt, which was stretched around her distended belly so tightly that it looked as if the buttons would pop at any moment. “Minzy-ah!” Bom yelled, as she gathered two fistfuls of corn and threw them up in the air. “Look! It’s raining corn!” She laughed maniacally as she threw more corn in the air and held open underneath the falling kernels, biting and crazily at the air as she tried to catch them. “Oh no!” she suddenly yelled, looking all around her at the heaps of corn. “It rained too much!” She glanced at Minzy with somewhat of an insane look in her eyes. “Don’t worry, Minzy-ah! I know how to swim!” Still kneeling atop the corn pile, she now bowed down and dove headfirst into it, eating her way ever deeper until Minzy could only see Bom’s legs sticking up out of the pile and flailing about.

Minzy slowly backed out of her room into the quiet corridor as she continued to watch the insanity unfold.

At that moment, a cleanbot emerged from CL and Dara’s room down the hall and was now wheeling its cleaning machine to Bom and Minzy’s room. Normally, the cleanbots moved through the floors almost unseen, quietly maintaining the ship’s sanitation; however, upon seeing the space corn problem, the cleanbot was anything but quiet. It immediately emitted a loud siren – Bweeeeeeep, Bweeeeeeep, Bweeeeeeep – and then began behaving erratically, as if not programmed to deal with this level of mess. “Critical.Mess.Critical.Mess,” it said, as it threw its robotic arms up in the air, swinging them about in chopping motions. “Critical.Mess,” it repeated, as it then reached toward the control panel on the cleaning machine, skipping past the buttons marked and Super until it found the button it was looking for: Total .

A vacuum hose sprung out of the cleaning machine then with a roar so powerful it drowned out the siren. All that Minzy could see was a whirlwind of corn funneling toward the hose. But then Bom’s stuffed hippo got into the tornado. And then the sheets off the bed. And then the posters off the wall. And then, just when Minzy thought that it couldn’t possibly anymore, off went Bom’s clothes.

“Oh my god!” Minzy screamed.

Bom, now in just her underwear, frantically rolled around on the floor, searching for any surviving kernels. “My corn!” she cried.

“Level.Three.Tidiness.Achieved,” the cleanbot said, as the roar of the cleaning machine, as well as the siren, slowly died down. The cleanbot then began wheeling the machine away, leaving the girls in an uncomfortable silence.

Bom sat cross-legged on the floor, whimpering as she rubbed her swollen belly. “I think that space corn was addictive,” she quietly said. “Sorry for going a little crazy.”

“A little?” Minzy asked, still shocked by what had just happened. She stared at Bom’s half- body, eyeing her protruding belly. “Master Hwang’s going to kill you!”

“Oh no! Don’t tell him, please!” Bom quickly stood, but the weight of all the corn in her stomach made her teeter, and she then leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. “Oh my god, I think I’m going to die.”

“You’ll feel better after you poop,” Minzy said.

“Ew, gross,” Bom said. She pouted for a moment as she wiped the corn grease from . “Minzy-ah? You won’t tell Master Hwang, right?”

“Only if you don’t tell anyone about my Kai fantasies,” Minzy said.

Bom smiled. “Deal. Anyway, Kai’s gay, so they’re just silly fantasies.”

Minzy gulped upon hearing this news, her heart destroyed. “Erm, yeah, I knew that,” she said, lying.

“Yeah, I’m sure him and Kyungsoo get it on like every night,” Bom said, nearly snorting as she laughed. “Oh, you should work that into your fantasies! Like, you and Kai… and Kyungsoo! A !”

“Oh my god, Bommie!” Minzy covered her ears and dove onto her bare mattress, wishing the cleaning machine hadn’t up her sheets but happy to at least still have her pillow, which she now wrapped around her head, trying to block Bom out.

Bom waddled over, holding her belly. “Wanna read some Kaisoo ? You know, for inspiration?”