Lard Narr got up unsteadily from the floor, wiping tears away from his eyes. He would have to find Zim and convince him to come back. It wouldn't be easy, both the finding and convincing, but he would try anyway.
He needed to know where Zim had gone. He wouldn't stay on Vort. Irkens weren't liked much, and Bij was too conspicuous. If Zim ran into anyone who recognised Bij, they would both be sent back home. It had happened before, and he was sure that Zim would have learnt not to do it again. At least, not three times. Maybe.
He frowned. Who would know where Zim had gone? Maybe that scientist he called occasionally. What was his name? 777, or something?
He walked over to the communicator and looked up the previous called people, calling the number labelled "777." A purplish Vortian picked up. 'You're not Zim.' He said.
'Are you 777?'Lard Narr asked.
'I do have a name. I'm not just 777.'
'So you are 777.'
'Yes.' 777 replied. 'What do you want?'
Lard Narr was a bit taken aback by the attitude. He was usually respected by Vortians and other species as well. 'I wanted to know if you had spoken to Zim lately.'
777 perked up a little. 'Why? What did you do to him?' 777 respected what Lard narr had done for the vortians, and everybody else that the Irkens had subjugated; but he didn't approve of how he treated Zim. Zim often called 777 asking if he would help him and the smeet get away, and for other things.
'What?' lard narr asked. 'I didn't do anything to him; he ran away. I thought you might know where he would have gone.'
'How would I know? He's been going on about leaving for years, but he's never told me anything specific. And if he had, I wouldn't be telling you.'
'Years?' Lard narr asked. But Zim had always been so happy, or at least content. He had never seemed to be about to run away.
'Yes. Now, I need to eat, so...' he trailed off, hinting at Lard narr that the conversation was over.
Lard Narr hung up, then thought for a bit and placed a call to his office. Even though it was late in the day, somebody would be there.
'Hello, Lard Narr.' a pretty young Vortian answered his call. 'What are you calling for this late?'
'Hi, Rekk Naeir. I was just calling to see how much more leave I could take.' He watched her spin around to face a computer screen and type for a bit. By Vort she was cute. If she was just a bit older and he didn't have Bij to look after, and now Zim to find, he would have taken her home and made her scream in pleasure.
'You have two months of leave left, but you know nobody would complain if you took more. Why are you interested; has something happened?'
Lard narr nodded. 'It's Zim.'
'Another miscarriage?' She asked.
Lard Narr winced. It wasn't a secret that Zim had had two unsuccessful pregnancies since they had had Bij. They were compatible enough to create an embryo, but it usually didn't survive past three months. Bij had just been a one in a hundred chance creation. It always hurt him, the thought that his carelessness or forgetfulness had not only caused Zim to go through pain, but also caused another of his offspring to die. 'No. He's run away and I need to get him back. I don't think two months would be long enough to find him.'
'Oh.' She said. 'I'm sorry. Maybe you could get someone else to find him?'
'No. I need to apologise directly to him.'
She frowned, thinking of a way that Lard Narr could look for Zim without getting fired for being too long from work.
Lard Narr concentrated hard, trying to not stare at her. She was so cute when she frowned, and got a little crinkle on her forehead. He shook his head to distract himself from those thoughts.
'We could send the reports to you directly. You don't need to be here to read the notes, and you can always send your final copies back to us.'
Lard narr nodded slowly. The reports were all in electronic form anyway. Only really important things were written on paper, and even those could be sent via teleport. 'I'll take the two months leave. When those two months are up, I'll contact you with my contact details so I can work and search.'
She typed all those instructions into the computer. 'Goodbye, then. I expect we'll see you in two months then.'
He nodded, said his goodbyes and turned off the view screen. Now he would have to try and figure out where Zim had gone.
--
After an hour of thinking, he had narrowed the choices of where Zim would have gone to two locations; Irk and that strange planet Zim had mentioned years back; Irth. Lard Narr decided he would go to Irk first, because it was closer than Irth, and it would be easier to find him there, using contacts he had there. He yawned loudly. He would go to Irk first thing in the morning. For now, he would sleep.
- -- -- - --
This was shorter, but I made it longer, and it seems to flow easier now. I'm happy about it.
This is the last of the chapters that I've already written, so the next one may take some time to get out.