Chapter 6

"Ideas"

The planet Dirt was the most disgusting planet that Tak had ever seen. She shivered at the horrid sight. The planet was cluttered, smelled awful, and had rats scurrying through the mess.

Tak was shoved out roughly by the slave driver, and Rain struggled, limping over into the Medic station. Tak just stared at it all, eyes wide. Just what was this planet for it to have so much trash in it?!

Another, much older janitor glared at her, "What are you standing there looking around for? Get to work!" Tak turned on him angrily, "Excuse me?! What right do you have to order me around?!" The janitor's gaze hardened, "Oh! You must be new!" His voice sounded friendly, so Tak relaxed, but just as quickly, he grabbed the front of her Invader uniform. "You listen, and you listen good. I didn't work here for twenty years to have some filthy Invader wannabe screaming at me and thinking that she's something important! I'll get something straight right now! Just because you've had soldier training, doesn't make you better than anyone else here. I catch you trying to slack off again, and I'll kill you. Got it?!"

Tak's eyes widened, "I damn well don't think that! I just got here! I wasn't slacking off. Now get away from me you old useless bag of bones! Before I kill you!" "Kill me?" The elderly janitor laughed, "You couldn't kill a rat. In fact, you're small enough to be eaten by one. You're hardly more than a smeet! I could snap your tiny neck in a second!"

" Then do it!" Tak hissed through clenched teeth. "My life is ruined! You may as well just end it now..." The old Irken shook his head, "I'll let you live. Just for the sheer enjoyment of watching you suffer in your miserable attempts to be anything more than a puny defective. Now, GET TO WORK!" He turned and went back to his station.

Shooting him one last glare, Tak turned away, cleaning up around the ground. This place was disgusting. It was one thing she just could not stand. She was very confused as to what in her life she had done to deserve this.

Tak finally cleared out one spot, her full mind at least keeping her occupied while she cleaned up. More trash began to be flung where she just cleaned, and she lifted her head, seeing a few janitors, throwing their trash right where Tak had just cleaned.

Sighing heavily, Tak took a moment to settle her anger, before lifting her head, "Uh... Excuse me... Um, you guys are throwing your trash into my space..." One by one, Janitors lifted their heads, glaring at her, and some yelling at her to shut up, others yelling profanities at her. A few were just ignoring her, throwing trash into her spot anyway.

Growling softly, Tak began cleaning again, until she had finally cleaned up the space that she had been assigned to that day. She sighed, slowly turning to go into one of the small, filthy dorms that the janitors were assigned to. Thankfully, they were personal, which meant no roommates.

Just before she could turn to hers, a hand went onto her shoulder, and Tak turned to see a tall, overweight male Irken standing over her. He was a janitor as well. "Where do you think you're going, smeet?" Ignoring the fact that he called her a smeet, Tak glared, "I finished my job for the day, I'm going to bed."

The overweight male laughed, "No you aren't. You just got here. You only finished early because we already started before the slave driver dragged your ass here. You can finish my job. Then my buddies' job, then you can go to bed, alright lady?"

Tak bared her teeth, "I will do no such thing. Leave me alone!" Angered, the male grabbed her by the throat, then pulled her inches to his face. "Alright, I won't be polite. The rest of us have worked all day. I don't give a shit who the hell you are, and I don't care if you want me to leave you alone. You will do that work, and then I will let you live, got it?!"

Tak nodded desperately. He had closed off any means of her getting oxygen. Her chest began to burn, and her heart was pounding in her chest. He smirked, "I'm glad we had this little talk. Name's Bull. Who are you?"

"T-Tak..." She choked out. Bull dropped her onto the ground. "Great to meet you, Tak. You can be my little slave from now on. Any time I need you, you will report directly to me, no matter what sort of work you are in the middle of doing. You will do exactly as I tell you. Do you understand?!"

Tak bared her teeth, about to refuse, when he grabbed her throat again and squeezed it tightly Tak gagged, and he squeezed it tighter, "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!" "Y-yes..." She coughed out. Bull dropped her again. Then dropped a shovel onto her chest, causing her to grunt.

Bull smirked again, "Thank You,Tak. You are too kind... Too kind for your own good." He walked away with a smirk, and Tak just stared at the ground, shivering. She slowly turned to where Bull's spot was, and began cleaning it up... Her body was aching now, and her throat was burning from the suffocation that he put her through.

As she cleaned, she thought for a moment, 'Why can't I be the one who's dead? I've gone through enough as it is... Nothing could possibly make my life worth living at this point... Damn that Zim... It's all his fault... This whole thing is all his stupid fault... I hate him... I HATE him!'

If it wasn't for Zim, none of this would have ever happened. She'd have passed her test... She'd of been making good of her young life... She'd fulfill her promise to Sam... But now... That chance was well out of her reach. 'I wouldn't be here if... If Sam were alive... She'd have made sure that I was safe... She'd have saved me from the testing pod... She would have made sure I passed my test...'

Tak now tried to fight tears as she worked. What had she done wrong... She had supposed that karma just loved to abuse her. Everything seemed to hate her... Seemed to be out to hurt her... 'And I thought Zim would have cared to help me... He seemed kind enough... the night that...' Her thoughts trailed off.

She finally finished the extra work, then limped to the disgusting little dorm that she was assigned to. It was just one tiny room, with a mattress in the corner, and a bathroom. She just laid down on the filthy mattress, not caring what happened at this point... She may as well have been sleeping in a slimy dumpster, it would be no difference. She coughed on dust, then curled up, shaking.

A movement caught her attention in the corner of the room, and a huge, plump rat began running towards her. Screaming, Tak sat up, inching into the corner as it scurried over onto her mattress and cornering her. Tak pressed herself in the wall, mentally slapping herself for being frightened of a puny rat, but she was already upset as it was, and this certainly didn't help her.

Tak moved to get up and move from the mattress, when the rat bit her on the hand, then ran away, into a crack in the wall, "OW! You damn little shit!" She examined the bite on her hand, spotting blood running down her hand. She stood up, kicking the crack in the wall where it disappeared. She then laid back onto the mattress, falling asleep.

Tak was woken roughly by a pounding on her door. "WAKE UP, SMEET! YOU HAVE WORK TO DO! NO SLEEPING LATE!" It was the elderly janitor. Tak slowly sat up, looking at the bite on her hand, it burned a bit, and was now purplish in color. "Ugh... Dammit..."

She stood up, walking outside. The filth seemed to get even worse in broad daylight. Her arms were aching from working yesterday, and her back hurt from the hard mattress. Bull appeared behind her, and turned her around. "Good! I thought you'd be eaten by all the rats! What was your name again? Eh, I'll just call you slave."

Tak glared at him, "My name is Tak. Do not call me a slave!" Bull's smile vanished, "You try and defy me again slave, and we'll have a repeat of last night. I'm sure you don't want that." Tak sighed, "Fine... What do you want?" Bull shrugged, "We're about to eat."

Relief flooded through her. She hadn't eaten since before her failed test yesterday, and she was damn near starving. Bull smirked, "Which is why you have to give me your food." Tak glared at him, "I will do no such thing! I haven't eaten since-"

Bull slapped her hard across her face, "I don't give a shit when you last ate! I'm hungry, and you are my slave. You will eat, when I say you can eat. Now go get some food, and give it to me." Tak glared at him, "And what if I don't? What are you going to do, sit on me?" The overweight Irken grabbed her throat again. "If you don't, I'll fucking beat you so hard, that you won't be able to stand."

With that, he roughly threw her into a pile of trash. Tak got up, limping over to get some food. In an instant she though of just eating it, and sneaking off to the other side of the planet, but she was assigned to this side, and the last thing she wanted to do at the moment was bring any sort of attention to herself.

She quickly brought Bull her food, and he snatched it from her, quickly eating it. He then turned to her, "Alright, You get to work." Tak turned without another word. She had been assigned to a pile of old equipment and machinery. Not much better than dealing with trash, but it certainly was less disgusting. There were a lot of things around there. Broken weapons, run down ships, robot parts...

As Tak stared at it all, something began to form in her mind... 'If I could just get away... Repair one of these ships...' The thought left her mind, but like other ideas, it kept coming back the more she cleaned up. The more trash was thrown at her... The more Bull hurt her... The idea became more and more inviting.

Another thing had been nagging at her... Loneliness... She had become aware of it the moment Rai stopped talking to her... The point that Tenn became afraid of her... She was lonely... What was it that an Invader needed? There was a ship of course... Equipment... She looked at all the dismantled robot parts, and another thought formed in her mind... 'A SIR unit... I could build one... out of these parts... It would at least keep me company...'

Knowing exactly what she wanted to do, Tak gathered together a bunch of SIR unit parts and put them into the storage port of her PAK. She then quickly got back to work before Bull could notice anything. As she worked through the day, plans ran through her mind, by nightfall, she'd get to work creating herself a SIR unit. The idea became so enticing. Then at least she'd feel like a real Invader... At least a little... And at the very least... It would give her a companion... A loyal companion that wouldn't betray her, like so many others did to her.

At the end of the day, Tak was exhausted, not to mention starving. Bull had taken every bit of food she was given that day. Not bothering to speak with Bull, she crept back to her filthy dorm. She locked the door, then quickly pulled the SIR unit parts out of her PAK. She turned the light on and pulled a welding tool out of her PAK.

She pulled out pieces of paper and a pencil and began scratching down blueprints of what she wanted her SIR unit to look like. She had decided to give it a large extendable right claw, drawing half of the Irken insignia on it's head. Once she was satisfied with the design, she walked over to the parts on the floor.

She then got to work, welding parts together, wiring around the robot's head and chest. She put together the extendable claw, wiring it to it's back and attaching other parts. As she worked, Tak noticed that she was quite excited. She'd finally feel a bit better. It was a step closer to escaping this hell.

As she finally finished, Tak sat back, admiring her work. All she had to do, was activate it, and it would be alive. As she thought for a few moments, she reached over, powering the robot on. It's eyes flickered red, and it shut down... Then it's eyes glowed a bright red, and it stood up, looking up to it's master.

With a small smile, Tak stared at her creation, "Hello... Mimi."