[beeping]
[sustained tone]
[Klak] She's coding.
- Let's slice her open. - That's not procedure.
Procedure will kill her.
You might kill her.
- Wait. - [groans]
Let me cross-reference my notes.
Notes? We just watched her heart stop.
In the Aggle-ack infestation of 6004,
Drs. Gint and Rogna famously used a Sarin compound
to induce myoclonic seizures.
Meant nothing to me in med school,
means nothing to me now.
Ooh, you're brilliant.
Ah.
[groans]
- This will cause convulsions. - Which will squeeze it out.
If we're going to break the rules,
let's make it count.
Wow, you really just went for it.
Uh-oh, here comes my gill rash.
[sustained tone]
- [beeping] - [both sigh]
Hi, there. I'm Dr. Klak,
and this is Dr. Sleech.
You're probably disoriented,
but the point is, we nailed it.
That's right, you're gonna be just fine.
Oh, doctors, you saved my life.
- That's what we do. - Yeah,
'cause you were definitely dead.
[chuckles] Can you see my gill rash?
Not yet. Oh, there it goes.
♪ ♪
- [indistinct chatter] - [Sleech] Oh, it's true.
Once a band is uploaded to the Cloud,
all their music is about living in the Cloud.
I miss when their songs were about
wanting to be uploaded to the Cloud.
Doctor, please help. I'm half shorts.
I want my body back.
I'm half person. I'm aware of my existence now.
Please, return me to silence.
[chuckles] Please return her to my exam room.
I did not know they were running shorts.
[chuckles] Workplace teleportation accident.
I can separate them surgically or...
Sure, if you're trying to kill them.
Hi, Ovu. Why don't
you pop them in the bio-synth splitter,
and take them out when the shorts stop talking?
Then acid-wash the shorts to get out the bloodstains.
If the patient doesn't want them,
- I will take them. - Anyway,
I know we don't like their music anymore
since they can't relate to the impermanence
of existence, but surely...
[romantic music plays]
- Dr. Sleech. - Matt.
...but should we go to their concert?
I already got us tickets.
[squeals]
Dr. Sleech, Dr. Klak,
no needle will pierce this exoskeleton.
Frankly, I blame the patient.
Funny, Bognoth, because I blame you.
[speaking alien language] Hello! May I tickle you?
May thy web catch wet meat.
May wet meat rain upon us all.
Ah, thank goodness we were both here.
Interns. Today's failures, tomorrow's lawsuits.
Vlam seems smart. She's an intern.
You remind me of 1,200 years ago
when I lived undercover with a colony of rodents.
I was married to the Rat King.
Ah, great lover, great cook.
Really flexible tail.
Didn't see it coming when I slit his throat
in the middle of the night and overthrew his regime.
Oh, let's see.
[gasps] Based on your symptoms,
I'd say you're preparing to molt.
[clucks]
Beautiful once more.
I'm excited to see how she'll disappoint us.
[machine buzzes]
No.
[grunting]
[Matt] Dr. Sleech?
Want a snack?
I do.
Oh, ooh.
Oh, I get it. I'm the snack.
Well, there she goes.
[♪ Bob Crawford: "In My Dreams"]
♪ Mmm ♪
♪ In my dreams ♪
♪ You'll always be in my dreams ♪
♪ See you in my dreams ♪♪
[chuckles nervously]
[chitters]
[rodent squeals]
[sighs]
Klak. Klak's plants.
Whoa!
[relieved sigh]
- Doctors. - [both exclaim]
I have asked you so many times to wear a bell.
A case came in this morning that only
two delusional narcissists would attempt and, lo and behold,
they asked for you.
- Go on. - In a fun way or, like, a weird way?
- This is Glurg. - Hello.
This is Glurg's lump,
and this is the smiley face we drew on Glurg's lump
to make it less terminal-looking.
I helped myself to some hoof sanders.
Nice to meet you, Glurg. What are your symptoms?
I don't have any. I'm very happy.
Mmm. No one's very happy.
Especially not Glurg.
She has a history of severe anxiety.
We're going to insert a nanobot into your ganglia
to gather biodata.
[Glurg] Ooh, I love an insertion.
- You're gorgeous. - You're incredible.
Incredible? Gorgeous?
Life-threatening parasite?
Like looking into a mirror.
Wait a second,
is that thing gonna break open my head?
[both] Um...
[gasps]
[sighs]
Eh, sometimes heads break.
Glurg, you have an anxiophagic parasite
that eats and eradicates anxiety.
I've never seen anything that eradicates anxiety.
Anxiety. That's where I know you from.
You're the face of anxiety.
Your mom wrote all those books about your broken brain.
♪ ♪
Thinking about my mom before lunch makes it hard to digest.
Oh, God!
[grunts]
- No! - What was that?
The third time you've almost killed me this week.
Oh. Here comes my gill rash.
Ah, you're okay.
It only slightly impacted your left eye.
[moans]
This parasite is behaving like no organism I've ever seen.
Removing it will kill her.
If we leave it in there, at its current rate of growth,
that head is going to... Oh, what's the medical term?
Violently explode into a geyser of wet skull chunks.
Either way, the patient dies.
That's exactly what Dr. Azel said.
- Dr. Azel? - Dr. Azel.
They told me my hooves were in need
of professional grooming, and then refused to treat me.
That's why I borrowed your hoof thing-os.
Of course they did.
Their paychecks come from Nebula General.
Brought to you by UniYum.
[announcer] UniYum, it's Uni-licious.
Dr. Azel won't do anything
to upset their corporate overlords.
Mm-hmm. Azel sure is terrible,
but I guess we have to call them for a consult.
Klak, no. It's not worth it.
Please don't turn me in.
I came to you because I heard
you'll bend the rules to help people.
For science, not kindness.
[parasite growling]
Yeah.
Well, time to make a call we'll both regret.
[shouts]
So, do you want me to draw a hat on the lump?
Dr. Klak, Dr. Sleech, I have a ReStim patient
that needs a neurally immersive awakening.
Nice try, sad eyes.
We have an urgent consult.
- Try Dr. Plowp. - How can I help you?
Oh, don't worry, this sadness doesn't belong to me.
[howls]
Our resident empath.
Hide your feelings.
Sounds good. I respect you both
as my mentors and, as I am immortal,
I will be loyal to you until your inevitable death.
Oh, they're brilliant, aren't they?
I can feel your desire to impress them.
It's overwhelming, and a little scary.
Thank you.
Can you feel how nervous I am?
And how excited.
Would you like me to supervise you going inside his brain
to wake up his senses?
No, I can handle it.
Sometimes you have to just jump in,
like when I totally lost myself in that hive mind.
I was so many people for so long,
it took us a while to put we back together.
Oh, I-I missed what you said. I'm sorry.
There's a patient dying down the hall.
But he feels good about it. Oh, now he's terrified.
And he's gone.
Okay, you ready?
Every great doctor was new once.
So was every bad doctor.
[Sleech] Are you sure you want to do this?
We have a chance to cure anxiety.
We have to take it.
I mean, are you sure you want to call Azel?
They broke your heart.
Or did they just open it up
- for more love? - [groans]
Klak.
Doctor... Doctor...
I see you still have too many legs.
I see you still think being loud is being smart.
Why did you send us a death worm?
I didn't send it to you.
I tried to report it to the Galactic Health Unit,
but the patient left, and I'm too rich to chase things.
Report it?
Dr. Azel, are you scared of it?
It feeds on people.
We know nothing about it.
It's our duty as doctors
to be scared of it.
Plus the UniYum grant
keeps my hospital funded,
and news of this "death worm"
would hurt their new campaign.
[woman] Please pause your surgery
to enjoy a ten-second break.
[announcer] Try UniYum's new Worm-O's.
Break your skull with flavor.
[woman] Press 3 to order.
[murmurs]
Excellent plugging, Azel.
If you pursue this,
you could die.
Or worse, lose your licenses.
You see what an amazing research opportunity this is, right?
For someone qualified.
So why didn't you do it?
You used to take risks.
And now I take baths in liquid gold.
Trying to cure anxiety
will cause unnecessary pain and hope.
Report it.
That grant money...
Did you see how many machines they had?
Unlimited UniYum-branded stam-blasters.
Oh, the stam I could blast.
At least we don't have mid-surgery commercials.
The UniYum grant is setting medicine back.
[Sleech] Ugh, I know.
I want to win it so bad.
- Crunchy Screechies for lunch? - Ooh.
- Hey, Yog. - "Tinky-tosky,"
say the Creesky Cronchies.
- Could we have... - For the screechest of crunch...
- "The screechest of crunch." - ...the crunchest of screech.
- Um, you know what? - I shall gather for thee...
- I'd love to... - ...the most delicious of each.
Beautiful work.
I can't believe they make you
recite that every time.
Oh, no, they've asked me to stop.
Two orders of Crunchy Screechies.
If we turn Glurg in, the GHU will put her on ice
for a thousand years while they "research."
Everyone she knows will be dead when she wakes up.
Treating her now is more humane.
Treating her now breaks 83 laws.
But if we did, we could study the worm.
And if we study the worm,
- maybe we make a discovery... - [Screechies screeching]
...that wins us fame, glory, new matching lab coats,
and that grant.
They don't give the grant to lawbreakers.
What about Krag-9 Memorial Hospital
getting the grant for reanimating corpses?
- [screeching] - No one cares what you did
once there's a commodifiable discovery.
Plus, we might help people panic less around their exes.
No, no, no... [screams]
What if we inject the worm with a virus?
Make it sick.
Eh. Might infect the patient. Do we send in nanobots?
To slice it up then reconstruct it outside of her brain?
Might kill the worm.
- Aw. - [Screechie panting]
Aw, come on, I'm starving.
That's it. We starve it.
If we cut off the worm's food source,
then the worm will get weak and should be easy to remove.
So, we're doing this?
Against my every instinct.
You are as surprising as the Screechies are crunchy.
♪ They're crunchy, they're screechy ♪
[both] ♪ They're crunchily screechily crunched ♪♪
- [both laugh] - [panting]
[sighs]
Here we go.
Whoa.
That was a professional "whoa."
Huh?
[Vlam] Please, state your name.
Türvis?
Now, think of a place you like to be.
Hmm. Swingy Bench.
Whoa. This is my backyard.
I come out here sometimes to eavesdrop on my neighbors.
There's these Ciphhraxian Meatflies
who have constant drama in their nest.
They're really working on it.
[chuckles] I'm Dr. Vlam,
and you're ready to come out of cryogenic freezing.
Oh. Cool. What?
We're waking your brain up.
No way. That's so exciting.
Yeah, I remember reading about the trials for this
back when I was a doctor.
- [laughs] You're a doctor, too? - I was.
Uh, back before I was in eternal darkness.
I know what that's like.
I spent a few centuries buried in the Sands of Grauss.
[both chuckle]
Oh, colors are back.
Can you think of a smell you like?
[sniffs]
[gasps] Cinnamon creatures.
I love those.
Me, too.
Yeah, I skin and bake them once a week.
When I'm not frozen.
[both laugh]
- [rumbling] - Whoa!
Remain calm.
This is a standard reaction.
Sometimes, a patient's mind will reject a foreign presence.
Can I undo it?
I, uh, don't want to reject your presence.
I don't want you to, either.
It stopped.
Good. Hey, do we have to stay
in my fake backyard or can we explore?
Oh, head.
I know, my head grew a head.
It's horrifying.
Lucky for you, we've decided to treat your illegal worm.
Well, I'm going to lunch so I won't have to stand trial.
You know how you feel anxious,
and then the worm guzzles your glucocorticoid,
- looking for cortisol? - [chuckles]
We're going to use a sensory deprivation chamber
combined with sedation to reduce your anxiety.
The worm'll get hungry, we'll yank it out, maybe you'll live.
I wish I could keep it.
I just want to be happy.
Sometimes the best we can hope for is "not dead."
Whoa, look. It kind of looks like Bognoth.
M-Move your hand. I can't really see what you're doing.
Oh, sorry. Are those new scrubs?
Uh, no, they're yours.
Sleech.
[both shout]
It replenished its food supply.
By using Glurg's brain
to create what would make her most anxious.
[both shout]
Wow. [chuckles]
It looks so familiar.
Sorry.
Oh, yeah.
It's the monster from, uh,
the monster from that great simulation...
Knife Tentacles 3.
[laughs] Yes. It was so predictable, and yet...
Emotionally resonant, right?
When the dad chopped his own knife tentacle off
to stop himself from killing his son.
Oh, my God, I cried. And I threw up.
I can't believe this isn't making me anxious.
Oh! Oh, no!
Oh, God. Dad?
I left because of you.
Anyways, I'm gonna knife tentacle out your liver.
[sighs]
Glurg, listen to me, okay?
You don't have any anxiety
to help you make smart decisi...
I forgive you, Dad.
And I forgive you, Knife Tentacles 3.
[monster] Who wants a stab?
I don't want to knife tentacle anyone,
I'm just a disappointed father.
- [monster] I'm gonna knife you. - Klak!
Okay, we need to terminate it.
It's an arthropod with a...
with a protuberance of thoracic sclerites and...
- [phone rings] - Sleech, it's Azel.
Azel can't see this. Whoa!
Klak!
If this worm
created a manifestation with functional anatomy,
which would be incredible,
then applying pressure to that spot will stop it.
[grunting]
To what spot?
Stab it in the chest.
Well, I'd say that went pretty well.
Sorry, Glurg.
[chuckles] No worries.
On the plus side, I didn't answer Azel's call.
- Are you all right? - No!
Look at my perfect tail.
[gasps] What if we...
No. No new ideas until my tail grows back.
One of these days, I'm going to lunch,
and I'm never coming back.
[machine humming]
[both laughing]
[Türvis] I never expected to brain-print someone a river.
Life is so unpredictable, isn't it?
Yes. I just started a new career
for the hundredth time, and no matter how much I prepare,
I-I'm never ready for what life throws at me.
But once in a while, something unexpected
turns out to be...
Wow, you got the taste perfect.
I knew I liked your brain. Oh.
[Türvis gasps softly]
Hey, that's the last sense.
Touch.
- [rumbling] - [both exclaiming]
It's all under control.
All right, who's next?
Me.
Movie. Three words. First word... udder?
- The Detective from, uh... - The Time Travelers Accountant.
When Gazorg Met Yonkly?
So I Married a Sea Sponge?
- The Detective from Planet Jaga? - The Time Traveling Accountant.
Morgablap of Doom.
[shouting]
Knife Tentacles 2!
You got it. That was it.
[screams]
[Klak sighs] Maybe Azel was right.
Maybe this isn't worth losing our licenses over.
I know how important a potential anxiety cure is to you.
So much for the grant.
So much for impressing Azel.
Yeah, I understand wanting something
you wish you didn't.
[romantic music plays]
Yeah, the hope of things being good this time,
you know, it's just so tempting.
Did you just say...
[both] Tempting.
[both laugh]
[romantic music plays]
There's nothing in here about how to fix it.
I don't want my brain to reject you.
Me, neither. I've never felt like this,
and I've been alive for so many lifetimes.
I've had so many wives, so many husbands.
So many poly-compounds.
Many, many, many, poly-compounds.
And yet, I don't think I really knew
what connection meant until you.
It's slowing.
Maybe your brain just needs to think of me as familiar.
Tell me everything.
That's gonna take a long time.
Ah. The obvious way to tempt the worm
is with the scent of extreme anxiety.
And mine, not to brag, tests off the charts.
- [grunts] - [yelps]
This could actually work. Unless it works too well
and it kills me. Or we figure it out
and achieve incredible success.
I don't actually know if I can handle success.
What if we change? What if we make new friends?
But you know what, it's worth the risk,
because I love you and I want you to succeed
regardless of me.
Thanks for talking it through.
Let's risk my brain. [laughs]
[Sleech] Klak.
We're gonna save this parasite and we are gonna save Glorb.
Glurp?
Her name is Glurg, she has a close-knit family,
loves video games.
Oh, you're scarier than the worm.
We're going to tempt the worm out of Glurg's brain
using... ♪ Dun da da dun ♪♪
...my anxiety.
So, the worm will want to leave.
He'll wiggle right out.
No harm to the patient, no harm to the worm,
a safety barrier securely in place,
and therefore only a small chance
that it'll attach to Klak's brain
and stretch her skull until it splinters and cracks,
her gray matter dribbling out in rivulets
before the inevitable deluge.
Inevitable deluge. [nervous chuckle]
All right, Sleech, make me anxious.
That is your specialty.
Oh, think about Azel. Think about
trying to look sexy while removing
a six-legged pair of pants.
Think how easy that might be for other people.
People with six pairs of hands.
Or how about when your mom used the worst picture of you
for her book cover, and then wrote a chapter
about how that made you feel.
You shouldn't have flattened your fins before the call.
If you had that worm in your brain...
What if you poop your pants again?
Twice is a pattern.
[overlapping criticisms]
Every choice you make ruins your life a little bit more.
[overlapping criticisms]
Your greatest value to your mother
isn't as her daughter,
- but as her subject. - Huh?
[inhales sharply] Ooh, sorry.
I'm sorry. That one was yikes.
Sleech, it's wonderful.
Ahem. The worm is attaching to Dr. Klak's brain.
Let it attach. I need this.
Too bad, Klak, because I need you.
[panting]
- Klak, you have worm guts... - I'm aware.
...on your... Mmm.
Dr. Klak, a question.
Hi, Klak.
Flork. Flork.
As, um, Chief Surgeon
and President of the Board...
Oh, he loves to say that.
...we heard there was a novel parasitoid helminth in play,
and there are rumors you and Dr. Sleech
aren't reporting it.
Did Nurse Tup tell you that?
Nurse Tup tells him everything.
You know they were together?
Can you imagine, his passion, her spice?
You could make a tangy cocktail with that.
Hey look, I don't get paid enough
to keep secrets that damage my hospital.
It's already damaged.
Somebody needs to fix this.
Not me, but somebody.
There's nothing to report.
The guts from its dead body are all over my face.
Ooh, the color suits you.
Well, good. Good, good, good.
Last time you two went rogue,
half of my staff became invisible.
[chuckles] Oh, there's Dr. Hig now.
I'm watching you both.
Well, I'm not. I trust you. Bye.
It really undermines our authority
when you try to be their friend.
Dr. Plowp, it was incredible.
Being inside someone else's mind.
What a beautiful thing.
[groans]
Hi, Türvis. Welcome to the future.
You fell into a black hole,
and it took science about 1,200 years
to figure out how to put you back together.
But we did, and here you are, ready to rejoin society.
It's the year 14,002,
the universal religion is Yerzod,
and you're in the Ergulon Galaxy.
Oh, wow.
I didn't know you wore glasses.
Uh, have we met before?
Oh, you know, we accidentally decapitated a cinnamon creature.
Um...
"Nothing during neural restimulation
will be logged to the patient's long-term memory."
Oh, I just realized.
There are hundreds of new seasons
of my favorite show: My Lover, My Clone.
I know you're my clone, but right now,
I just need my lover.
I would say that.
Shut up and kiss me, me.
[passionate moaning]
You did a fine job.
I'll be sure to tell Dr. Sleech and Dr. Klak.
When I lived in the ocean during the Light Millennium,
we said "Thank you" by blowing bubbles.
[burbles]
I had Glurg's skull repaired by bots.
She was in stable condition, so I released her.
She's disappointed,
but at least we saved her from a life on ice.
We'll find medication that works for her.
Not as good as that worm. May he rest in peace.
Well...
What? How.
That's your signature stitchwork. You saved it.
Not exactly.
The good news is he's alive.
The bad news is he can't die.
Terrifying. I wish we could tell Azel.
We can't. We can't tell anyone.
Not reporting it puts our medical licenses at risk.
And everyone in the universe.
And the universe itself,
considering what this worm can do.
But imagine all the people it could help.
It could revolutionize mental health care.
It could change my life.
I know.
And you know the best thing it could do?
I know what you think it is.
It could win us that grant.
♪ ♪
Chirp.