Zim growled in frustration. Enslaving the humans would have been a perfect success if it were not for that one female.
"She does what?" he shouted at the cowering drone.
"Laughs and sings while laboring, sir," the drone whimpered. "We've tried everything we can to stop her, sir. Even kill her! The equipment is always broken when we try to be rid of her! No one knows why."
"Fool! I will deal with this one myself," snarled Zim.
Meanwhile in the prisoners' pen, Lil was teaching the others to read Irkish. She wrote a phrase in the dust.
"Can anyone tell me what this says?" Lil asked.
Just as the guards came in, everyone answered in unison. "All Irkens are defective scum!"
"Good! Looks like some defects are here right now," Lil smiled at the enraged guards. "What is it this time, Irken defects?"
The guards just growled and forced her up.
"Continue practicing!" She yelled before exciting.
Lil was thrown at the feet of Zim. She got up and dusted off before addressing him.
"You're not so tall," head cocked, she remarked.
"Guards, dismissed," Zim shooed the guards with his hand. "I will teach this one not to mess with a superior force."
Lil looked at him in the eye. "Human spirit can never be broken. I can get used to anything and then make fun of it."
Zim ignored her. "I find it suspicious that whenever we try to be rid of you, the equipment is broken. How do you do it?"
Lil smiled. "I would rather leave that to your imagination. I find that self torture is often times worse than the actual physical kind. It may be that you have a traitor within your ranks, your own robot is more loyal to me, a spy, perhaps, or maybe just pure luck. You'll never know for sure. And that thought will eat away at whatever sanity you've developed."
"Did you know that Scientists are opening up a new field of research?" Zim said slyly. "It studies hybrid species."
"Yes, I did know this. I know more than you could possibly imagine. I know that you were once a scientist yourself, and then you became an Invader, then a Food Service Drone, then an Outcast. Now you are Tallest among the Irkens. Now you have power over your enemy and it destroyed the balance. The balance is righting itself as we speak. Your power will be your downfall."
Zim's eyes narrowed. "Such promises for one so weak."
"Not promises, guarantees. You know not about my strength. But continue on with this new field. I enjoy acquiring new knowledge and this seems to involve me otherwise you would not have brought it up."
"You are correct in your assumption that it involves you. You will provide Irken/human hybrids to study."
Lil scoffed. "Ridiculous. Such a thing is almost impossible. Irkens cannot survive in water and humans are water based. My spit could be used as a weapon against you. Besides, the zygote would be seen as an invading cell since it is not human and be killed by my immune system before it has a chance to develop."
"We have ways of preserving the smeet."
Lil met his eyes once more. "You know, I wasn't sure if I was going to have you die or not, but I've made my mind up now. You're defiantly dying and I think I'll have Skoodge replace you. He's much nicer."
Weeks had passed since Dib last saw his friend. He kept up the lessons and the songs, just as she told him to do. He remembered what she said when he asked why she did all this.
"Have you ever heard of the Greek story called 'Pandora's Box'?" she had asked.
"Ummm…no."
"Well the gods gave a human named Pandora a box and they told her never to open it. She was so curious that she did open it and all the bad things in the world like poverty, greed, and sadness came out. When it was all over, only one thing was left in the box. Hope. The lesson about human nature the story tells us is that humans can get used to anything, live in the worst of circumstances, but they can deal with all of that as long as they have hope. That's why I sing and laugh in slavery. It gives the others hope and that's all they need to be happy."
It had amazed Dib then how serious Lil really was. "Seems kind of silly that you would put up with the Irkens' punishment just to give us hope in a hopeless situation."
She got an odd far off look in her eyes. "Nothing is hopeless."
Dib knew the green eyed girl well enough by now to know that something was coming. He decided then and there that he would help fill the others with hope.
"Hey! Irken scum! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries!"
"What's an elderberry?" one guard whispered to the other.