I don't remember falling asleep, but I guess I must've, because, later that night, I woke up to be greeted by more darkness than I thought could possibly come to gather in on place. That, and... a warm, intriguing smell coming from an object very close to my face.

I was afraid to touch it at first, thinking that it might be an appealing smelling acid that, if I were to put my hand into it, it would disintegrate me. Then I began to wonder if maybe I was outside, and this was what this planet's winds felt like. Perhaps I had dreamt the whole thing after the ship crashed? Perhaps Pax and I were outside with the ship and all had turned out well for us.

I tested this theory by moving one of the antenni atop of my head. No… this was the same cold surface that I had felt before. I sighed hopelessly, scowling at myself for being foolish enough to even hope that everything was alright. To even hope that anything was alright, at that. I was still a prisoner of this boy… this Dib who was keeping me down here.

Finally, curiosity found its way into my fingers, and I caught my hand inching forward to whatever it was giving off the pleasant warmth and smell. My hand closed around an object that was hard on the outside, but the inside caved easily. How ingenious, I thought, moving my hand around on the object. A vulnerable, malleable substance shielding itself with an outer crust… You could win a war with something like this. My elbow bumped against something else as I drew the object nearer to me.

I reached out my other hand, closing it around something long and narrow with coldness to it. The inside rattled when I picked it up as if it were a pod holding cargo.

Momentarily, I dropped the warm shielded device to run my hands along the glassy surface of the narrow pod. I found that one end of it stayed the same width, while the other end fanned out into a sort of head. Along its side was a switch, which I fingered for a few more moments before moving it into a different position. A beam of light came out of the larger end.

I drew back quickly, not expecting this, but did not stay in shock for long. I moved the beam around the basement until I found the crusted object again, and got a good look at it. It was a tan-ish color with ridges and a crack here or there, showing through to the white insides of it.

Beneath it was a sheet of paper with letters inked into it; strangely enough using the same characters that we had back on Irk. The note read:

Liv,

I didn't want to wake you, so I left this stuff by you. I guess you've found the flashlight by the time you read this, unless you waited until morning. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know not to be scared, you impose no threat to me, so I won't be telling your secret.

I've also left you some bread, because I figured you must be hungry. Anything else that you need, I can help you in the morning. You're safe where you are now, and I don't want you to feel like a prisoner.

See you in the morning;

Dib.

I read the note over and over again, not too satisfied by what Dib had given me. He didn't mention anything about where Pax was, and, although he had assured me that I wasn't a prisoner, he never said I was free to leave.

That wasn't good enough for me. I didn't plan on sticking around until morning until I could help it. I dropped the paper and lifted the tan object, "bread" as Dib referred to it as. He had mentioned something about hunger, which I linked to the conclusion that this inspiring device was edible.

I lifted it to my lips and took a small bite of it, but as soon as it hit my taste buds, I spat it out. This was nothing compared to the rich foods of Irk! How could humans even pass this off as food?

My squeedily spooch complained again, and I felt weak from hunger. Well, I thought slowly, trying to lay the thought out in a neat sentence. I suppose that anything is better than starving... I closed my eyes and took another bite. It had not gotten any more desirable in the last 10 seconds.

II shivered and bit it again, and then again, until I was choking the entire thing down. By that time my stomach was so sick from the ghastly taste that I couldn't feel the hunger. Now hunger was looking like a blessing.

I stood up stiffly and straightened myself out, the way that a proud Irken should. Whether I liked it or not, I was now an invader here. A peaceful invader here by accident, nontheless, but still an invader.

I swept the beam of light over the room, bringing each spot it hit to life for a few moments. I skimmed over some old parts of machinery, and a chest with a lable on it that I didn't have time to read. There were some storage boxes with strings of lights spilling out, and then came an empty corner. Empty... except for a little robot that I had grown quite attached to.

I ran over to Pax's body, which had be discarded in a nook once more. His eyes were dim and lifeless, and he looked tense as if he were in the middle of a battle. I reached behind his neck and turned him on like I had done only a few times before.

The fans inside of him purred to life, and his soft blue eyes sparked on. "Liv?"

"Shhh," I said, and he looked up at me. "They could be listening," I whispered. When he only looked at me questioningly, I continued. "I'm being held down here by an Earthling, and I plan to leave. It's only best if we're gone before any proof is found that we're here. Who knows what they do to invader's here?"

Pax's eyes widened at the word "invader", it seeming to shake him. I understood why: he'd been raised from a microchip being told he would do nothing beyond make weapons. Exploring an unknown planet all on his own? That must be hard to even think about.

"Come on," I said, back up, and Pax stood up as quietly as possible, although I could still here the nuts and bolts rattling in his head. I cringed and stole a glance towards the door, wondering how advanced the hearing of these Earthlings were. Nothing was there.

I shined the flashlight alond the side of the wall, where I saw nothing new from what I had observed early. I looked over the machinery, thinking that that might help me out of here, but it was only a motor, two rusted poles, and another item that I couldn't place.

I sighed, disgusted by the results that I had had so far and moved the beam of light over to the chest. Then I stopped, my hand trembling as I stared. A window! Right above the chest was a lovely, square window that was levelled with the ground. "There," I whispered to Pax, who was already making his way towards it.

I followed him immediately, pausing as I came to the chest and looking up at the window. I would have to stand on the chest, but once I was free I could...

What would I do once I was free, I began to wonder. Where am I to go, and what if I'm captured? These Earthlings didn't exactly seem like the "We welcom all" type, considering that I was locked in a basement at the hand of one of them.

"Are you coming?" asked Pax as he fiddled with the latch on the window. It wasn't locked, and he soon had drawn it open. Then he looked back at me, a look of concern spreading through his face. "Liv?"

I shivered and looked down, moving the beam to the chest like I was inspecting it. "You go. I'll be right out."

Pax nodded. "Alright..." He climbed out on his hands and knees. I stared down at the chest for a few more moments, expecting the piece of tape and the characters inked into it that served as a lable, reading "Mom".

That word wandered through my head for a few more moments as I tried to decipher the meaning of it. Nothing we had on Irk, that was for sure. I gave a deep before stepping up onto the chest. A mistake, I soon realized, yet at the same time, it was brilliant.

I fell right through the wood, getting attacked by an army of splinters as I landed on my butt with my head sticking out of the chest's newly acquired hole. Pax, looked down, alarmed, but I was laughing.

"I'm alright," I giggled briskly, pushing up on the lid of the unlocked chest to allow myself to stand up. I shuffled around, trying not to crush the objects on the inside, but finding that if it wasn't one thing I was stepping on, it was another much more fragile and/or expensive thing. Finally, I just stopped moving and stared at the mess I had created.

Something about the things in this chest made me uncomfortable and curious. There was a photo under one of my heels of a man with slick black hair holding the hand of a boy which I guessed was a younger version of Dib. Next to him was a woman with pretty purple hair that fell in curls around her face as she smiled into a bundle of pink blankets with a pair of hands reaching out towards the woman. She was hugging the blankets close to a bright red poncho with a low dipping hood that you could see she had just brought down, because it was still cradling some of her hair.

Pax tapped on the glass of the opened window and motioned for me to hurry. I sighed, suddenly brought back to the matters of the real world. I stepped onto the walls of the chest and hauled myself up, then, with the help of me wriggling and Pax dragging me by the antenni, I broke free.

I stood up, but immediatley tripped due to the fact that I wasn't used to walking in these gravtitaional standards, and that something had gotten caught around my heel.

I looked back, and gasped when I saw what it was: The very same cloak that the woman had been wearing in the picture. It must have been in the chest, and I hadn't noticed it getting caught around my heel. But all the same, looking at the hood, I widened my eyes. Finally something had come out lucky for me.

It was growing light as Pax and I ran blindly down yet another alley, trying to devise a plan as to what we could possibly do. Already, we had retraced our steps twice, and I was quickly growing sick of this planet. I kept the hood of the red cloak down to cover my eyes so that someone who looked at me couldn't see my antenni or wide pink eyes, but I could see through the stitching enough to figure out what was in my way. Of course, that didn't assist me in seeing around corners.

I took a sharp turn and smacked full on into somebody else. I was able to keep my footing before I fell to the ground, but they weren't to fortunate. A leash that was attached at one end to a dog flew out of their hand and the landed on their back.

I coughed, trying to clear my throat. "Sorry," I said quickly. I hear Pax skid to a stop just around the corner behind me, trying to stay out of view of the Earthling. "Sorry..."

"Sorry?" asked the kid that I had knocked over. He opened his eyes and lifted his head with a vengeful fire in his eyes, as if he were so proud that even a simple mistake like knocking into him was punishable by death. "I do not except your pitiful human apologies!"

"I…"

"Silence," ordered the kid as he stood back up and reclaimed the leash. He stood as straight as an Irkin soldier, looking at me until I felt like I was under a microscope, and shrinking more by the second. Then he reached his gloved hand over and, before I could step out of the way, pushed me back.

"There," he announced proudly, as if he had just succeeded a great accomplishment. "I am now winner of all and no human can ever…" He stopped, mid-sentence and stared down at me in surprise. I looked back up at him just as hard, feeling a wind weave though my antenni. Wait… how could I be feeling the wind if I had on the…

The poncho's hood had fallen off.

The kid raised a hand and pointed at me in surprise, and I had expected him to shout something like, "Monster!" or "Alien!" or just plain scream. Instead, he said something that caught me totally off guard.

"Irkin!"

XXXXXX

Okay, I'm sorry that there was, like, zero action in this chapter, but I didn't wanna make it too long. Please tell me how you like it, and be honest. If you hate it and think I'm being totally cliche, just come right out with it. Don't keep your thoughts to yourself, because every little piece of advice helps!

Oh, and if you're thinking right now that I'm totally going against the description by how Liv feels about Dib at the moment, just remember that this is only the second chapter. Things can change drastically! It all depends on how I feel (like right now, for instance. I have a horrible headache and I want to go read my book, but I HAD to get this out of the way so I can focus on a chapter of another story that my friend, Rainy, is waiting very patiently for...). Anyway, please stick with this story, and don't give up hope on me. If you took the time to read this through, then you are awesome and deserve a hug. Okay, thanks for reading and then listening to me rant about my life in this author's note.

Ciao! :D

-Journalist793 (Aka, Invader Amy)