Chapter 2
Thursday arrived at last. Professor Membrane was backstage, preparing himself and Dib.
"Son, put these clothes on. They look nicer." He handed Dib a fresh pair of the usual clothes, except the colors were brighter and there were less worn down.
"There's a changing room over there." Professor Membrane pointed to a door.
"Okay."
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you . . . Professor Membrane." The crowd roared with applause.
"Hello, mankind. Before I unveil my latest invention, I'd like you all to meet my son Dib." Dib walked out and everyone applauded harder. Dib smiled. They . . . they were cheering. For him! Professor Membrane gave the microphone to Dib.
"Son, is there anything you'd like to say?" Dib took the microphone with shaking hands.
"Uh . . . I'd just like to say thank you for letting me unveil this with you, Dad. Also uh, I want to thank you all for your support to my dad and his uh, inventions." More applause from the audience.
"Thank you, Son." There was genuine praise in the Professor's voice.
"Now, my latest invention . . . the Human Mind Stimulation Machine!"
Professor Membrane yanked a cover off the computer. It was a beautiful, metallic shade of blue. It had a lot of buttons and other things. Dib stared at the machine. It looked . . . well, it didn't look low-tech, tat's for sure.
"This machine right here is smarter than a human. What it does is it gathers all the existing information on the Internet. Then, it erases the false information and corrects it! I update the machine every week, so any new information that's posted online can be harvested and reviewed." The audience was mesmerized by every word.
"Any questions?"
"Yeah, is it for sale?" One guy asked.
"Oh, definitely not. This complex divide must be kept in professional hands. One glitch, and the computer could destroy us all!" Zim, of course, was hearing every word of this.
"Dad! What if Zim— I mean, what if someone tries to install a virus in it?" the Professor half-heartedly laughed.
"Oh, don't worry about that, Son. To do anything to the machine, you have to enter an extremely complicated password AND the machine also requires a DNA scan. It will be fine."
"Darn! So much for that," Zim said quietly to himself.
"Okay, so, at nine thirty tomorrow we are having a little breakfast thing where I will answer questions about the machine and you can get autographs from me. I'll bring my son along, too. Maybe I can convince him to study REAL SCIENCE! Would you like to attend, Son?" Dib shrugged. They WERE still on stage, and if he said no, people might of thought he was weird. Anyway, he wanted to go.
"Sure, Dad. I'd love to."
"Alright. See most of you at the breakfast tomorrow. Goodnight." He waved his hand in dismissal.
End of chapter 2