A moral being is one who is capable of reflecting on his past actions and their motives - of approving of some and disapproving of others.

~Charles Darwin

Heavy raindrops spattered against the cracked pavement of Chicago, resonating through the thin alleyway. I glanced at the Earth's night sky and saw the moon was nearing the horizon. I knew I had to get off this planet before it was too late.

Hands shaking, my breath at a panicked rate, I pulled out a damp rag and tried to wipe away some of the dark blood staining the concrete. The salty smell was getting to my head, my heart pounding violently. My mind screamed adrenaline fueled thoughts, haunting me with guilt.

This isn't right, I'm not a murderer... That cruel bastard never said I would have to... oh dear god, can they see me? Am I still safe? I have to get out of here, I have to get out of here NOW. I hear footsteps... Okay, don't panic, they probably won't see you...

The sticky substance refused to leave the ground. I groaned in frustration and decided nobody would see the body here anyway. Hopefully. I grabbed what I came for and sprinted through the alley, away from the mangled corpse. The water splashed against my footsteps. When I occasionally saw a person walk by in the corner of my sight, I would panic and go hide. Unlike the invader, I was unprepared for my visit. I had no disguise. When they eventually left, I would continue to run through the streets with the silvery orb in hand.

I finally reached my ship and jumped in. Daytime was nearing. I rocketed into the air, getting away from the surface as fast as I possibly could. When I was finally in space, I sat back in the soft chair and took a deep breath. I'm safe. I turned my attention to the shiny trinket. Examining it curiously, I turned it around in my hands. I never studied irkens much, so I knew very little about them. From what I did know, this appeared to be some sort of bio mechanical hard drive. Efficient, but unnecessary. Dropping the curious device on the deck, I set a course back to the Resisty's ship. According to the computer, the trip would take a few hours. I decided I would take the opportunity to get some well deserved rest.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

"Get up, it's time for skool!"

I moaned and rolled over in my bed, fumbling to turn off my alarm and find my glasses. When the room came into focus, I was met with an enraged Gaz glaring over me.

THUNK.

"Ow!"
"I said to get out of bed!"

She left the room, grabbing her GS2 from my bedside table on the way out. Muttering under my breath, I stepped out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen, grabbing some toast.

Dad's head went floating through the room. "I love you son-[KSHH]make sure to eat your vegetabl-[KSHH]ave a good day at skool." And off it flew.

I wolfed down my toast and started my journey to the skool. I took my usual route, smirking as I noticed puddles from the rain last night. The sky was still grey with rain clouds. I imagined Zim paranoid it might start raining again and gave a small chuckle. That's when something made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Gaz... do you smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"It almost smells like..." my eyes went wide with worry. "blood."

"It always smells like that around here. Hurry up, we're late."

I figured out the direction the smell was coming from, and found myself morbidly curious to see its source. But when I glanced into the dark alley, I gasped and retracted from shock. Laying disfigured on the pavement was a short irken...

"Z-..Zim? Are you okay?" I called, not sure if I actually cared or not.

No response.

I took a step closer, feeling slightly nauseous from the sick display in front of me. I called out again, a little less confident.

"...Zim?"

"Good job, rookie. I'm impressed." Lard Nar said, tossing the PAK up and down in his hands. "So tell me, do you know what this is?"

I did my best to sound professional, ignoring my nervousness.

"I think so... it keeps their memories, right?"

He chuckled and stepped down from his chair, pacing back and forth in front of me. "Far more than that, actually. Not only can this hold MEMORIES of an irken life, but it also carries powerful weaponry, tools... And something called the 'watermark'. Imagine a watermark in a book. Invisible to the naked eye, but it appears when you shine a light through it. It's stored on the INSIDE of the paper..."

I was standing as tall as I could, perked up with interest. "Go on..."

"The watermark defines the irken, explains the mind inside the body to themselves and to others.. It's exactly what we need. A personality. Honestly, I didn't expect you to pull this off on your own..."

"So... does that mean I'm in?"

"You impressed me. I have to say, that's not common around here. I hereby declare you an official member of the Resisty. Besides," he faced me and held out a hand. "it's nice to have another vortian on board."