-sigh- Feel sorry for me. I have to do the third chapter of a lot of things all over again! Well…at least this one is written down…here it goes…

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Chapter 2: A New Name, A New Beginning

The red Tallest turned at the sound of the door opening. The boy stepped up to the large window, mouth gaped in soundless awe. He knew his guide, the Tallest, and the other Irkens in the room were watching his every movement. Something stirred inside the boy, but he did not know why. It was a mix of awe, rage, excitement, and hatred.

"Um…" the purple Tallest began. They boy turned, questions burning like the hottest blaze in his amber eyes. The rage spilled out of him and his mouth began to form heated questions.

"What's going on?" he exclaimed. "Why can't I remember anything? What's my name…?" His final question was spoken more solemnly, but his eyes continued to burn.

"You are a prisoner," Tallest Red explained, "that is all you need to know."

"What is my name?" the boy repeated, more intensely than before.

The Tallest hesitated. They dismissed themselves from the surrounding Irkens and talked to each other. The prisoner imagined what it they could be saying. Finally, they turned back to the boy.

"If we tell you," Tallest Purple said, "you'd remember."

"So…" Red thought for a while. "You're new name is Var…"

The boy nodded. Var… It seemed to have a meaning to it. Was his new name significant to why he came here? (A/n: Hint…Var means sight; sense…that may be significant…READ ON!)

"Now, Dem will show you around," Tallest Red motioned to a short Irken that seemed to have been waiting a while. Var walked over to Dem. He was shorter than Var and had large, red, eager eyes. Dem smiled and showed Var to a door leading out of the bridge.

Once outside, Dem let out a relieved sigh.

"I'd never been so nervous in my life…" Dem said, mostly to himself. "Come on, Var, the smeet room is near by."

"Smeet?" Var asked.

"They're baby Irkens," Dem gave Var a small smile. He looked exhausted. "My twin sister works there!"

"But…you're so young!" Var exclaimed. "Should you be working?"

"Oh, so you remember some things, huh?" Dem asked. A playful smirk spread across his face.

"I remember some things…" Var said, his cheeks growing warm with embarrassment.

"Well. I'm actually one hundred and fifty," Dem said, smiling with pride.

"Do you know how old I am?" The thought of not knowing his own age somewhat frightened Var. He shook his head at the thought to get rid of it. Suddenly, he was aware of the unfamiliarity and fear in the pit of his stomach. He felt sick and closed his eyes for a second. Dem must have noticed; he hesitated to reveal the answer.

"I believe," Dem finally said, "that the Tallest mentioned this to me. Ah, yes! They said you were about ten. Hm…pretty young, huh?"

Var looked at Dem with confusion. All the Irkens showed no sign of age, even Dem. They all looked young and very healthy. Dem was as short as, Var would guess, a five year old. Something in his mind told him that these "Irkens" were unnatural and unlike him. He realized that he did not exactly know what he himself looked like, but there were now reflective surfaces around to test any theories that developed inside him.

"Are you all right?" Dem asked. "You're pulling some weird faces…"

Var shook his head of the frightening things that were growing in there. "N-no…" he stammered. "I'm fine. My stomach just doesn't feel right…"

"Oh…that's right…" Dem said, a look of realization coming across his sympathetic face. "Your kind eat, don't they? I guess you're hungry…" Dem paused. "We're here…" Var watched Dem as he placed his hand on the scanner. It was then that he noticed that Irkens, as different and strange as they were now to him, had three fingers. He looked down at his own and counted five. Dem's words echoed in Var's mind…Your kind

The door opened suddenly and Var's mouth was gaped again. There were so many splendid things on this ship!

The whole room was filled with what looked to Var to be some kinds of pods. On each pod was a face that seemed to be sleeping. The face was blue and the eyes and mouths were all red in color.

"Isn't it a splendor?" Dem asked. "Kit and I love this area the most."

Suddenly, a face on a pod near to Var and Dem changed its color. The face itself stayed blue, but the eyes and mouth opened to a smile and changed from red to green. Var leaped back.

"Made it just in time!" Dem exclaimed, eagerly.

"Huh?" Var's voice cracked slightly.

"A smeet is hatching!" a girl Irken, same height as Dem, rushed over, a pen and pad in her hand. Var looked over her shoulder. He realized, with a jolt, that the pad was actually a holographic clipboard. Var looked at the newcomer.

Kit looked just like her twin, except for her antennae, which were slightly curled at the tips. She wrote down information quickly in a language Var had never seen before. Irken, he concluded. She had an air of determination about her and her eyes revealed her joy. Var admired her as she wrote in the strange language faster than he ever would.

Suddenly, two robotic arms came down from the ceiling and one pulled out the "hatching" pod. The other arm held onto the other end and, together, the two arms cracked the pod open like an egg.

"It's a female!" Kit squealed. The arm zapped the Irken and placed one of the back-pack-like objects on its back.

"That's a PAK," Dem explained to Var. "Irkens need those to survive."

The arm zapped the smeet once again. No response from the little creature. Var looked on as it continued to attempt to revive the poor creature. The whole room seemed to be holding its breath.

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Oh noooo! Poor little smeet! Read on to see what happens!!