The roads from Membrane Labs were a series of clear layers occupied by only a few cars, all put to shame by the professor's exquisite black vehicle, which prowled the roads like an alpha wolf amongst his pack. " . . . and to think we've not long progressed from cloning animals! My god, you've been a huge asset to the lab, son, and that's not just me saying so! Before you know it, human cloning will be available to the whole world!"
In the back seat Dib rolled his head upon his shoulders to relive the tension in his neck. He caught his father's eye in the rear-view mirror and smiled weakly. "You're too kind, Dad," he said wearily. On his lap he cradled several files of important documents and equations: the precious lifeline for reviving Zim's body. Since his twelfth birthday Dib had been taking work experience at Membrane Labs; at first just once a week, watching from afar and taking careful notes, but now he attended the lab thrice weekly and took part in the progression of the cloning project - Membrane Lab's greatest study. For the professor, Dib's interest in science was his greatest accomplishment; the knowing that his only son so desperately wished to follow in his father's footsteps - but in truth, Dib cared naught for science or the cloning of humans. It was another creature altogether he desired a clone of. Five years ago to the day, Dib had finally succeeded in creating several clones of Zim's Irken body: tiny little embryos, squirming inside their test-tubes, but Irken nonetheless. His delight was short lived, however, when he rushed to tell Zim.
It's no good, Zim had said, crushing Dib's hopes underfoot. My PAK has been linked to you ever since my body first died. My PAK has matured at the same rate as you have, Dib. You can't attach an adult PAK to a child's body, the PAK just won't accept it. It'll destroy the body.
Since then, the embryos had been put into deep freeze, unchanging, and a new goal presented itself to Dib - only this one seemed and even greater challenge than the last. Countless times Dib found an answer and tested it on an embryo, only for the tiny creation to wither and die there and then, or age and age until death stole it away. Dib had since lost track of how many new embryos he'd had to make, how many times his heart had died a little more in the face of his failure.
He closed his eyes, a single tear sprung to life. I'll bring you back Zim, I swear it. I'm so close, so close, but so very far . . .
" . . I don't believe it! What's SHE doing here?!"
Dib's eyes sprung open. The driveway of the house, usually unoccupied, now played host to a familar Ford Fiesta, sleak and pretty, but overshadowed by Membrane's Vauxhall Insignia. Cursing under his breath Membrane pulled up in front of the driveway and stormed into the house, Dib suddenly forgotten. Sighing, he gathered up his files and hurried after Membrane; he could hear the aggressive exchange long before he passed the threshold.
"You're blocking my way to the garage! And how'd you get in here anyway?!"
"I let her in, Dad. Duh." Gaz's voice echoed.
"And I'll move my car when I leave. Don't get your coat in a twist, Membrane." A familiar voice rang out, loving music to Dib's ears. He kicked his battered sneakers by the door and hurried over into the living room.
"Dib! It's been ages!" Like a lithe girl of twelve, Ros leapt to her feet and glided across the room to greet her son. Over the years Dib had grown to be considerably taller than his mother; he had to bend down several inches to hug her and kiss Ros's cheek.
"Hey Mom. I didn't know you were coming over," said Dib, almost lost for words, his expression a mass of bewilerment. So often he missed Ros when she called round, be him at the lab or tending some biazzar errand for Membrane. He gently eased out of Ros's embrace.
"I thought I'd surprise you. I don't need an excuse to visit my children, do I?" Ros tucked a lock of her strange purple hair behind her ear - her natural colour. A genetic mutation, by all accounts, just as some people were born bi-eyed. One that had bypassed Dib but inherrited by Gaz.
The sweet reunion was shattered as Membrane cleared his throat. "Why are you here?" he questioned Ros, quite sharply, Dib noted. Ros turned on her heels and met Membrane's gaze head on without a streak of unease.
"Well, as it's Saturday, I thought that I'd treat our two wonderful children to dinner."
"Sweet!" Gaz leaped across to switch off her X-Box. "I'm gonna go change." She rushed off up the stairs; evidently, Gaz had not been told this meal-out plan. Ros chuckled briefly, then turned to her son. "What about you, Dib? You're up for going out, right?"
Dib hesitated, his eyes flitting across to the large pile of work on the floor. "Um, well . . ." He couldn't finish; going out to dinner would certainly be nice, no question, but how long would they be gone for? How many hours of study time would he miss? He needed those precious few hours to study, to find a way to bring Zim back. His hesitation made Ros's smile falter.
"Didn't you say you needed to study tonight?" Membrane cut in smoothly, his eyes glistening. Ros's smile tightened further; it was his father's ploy that resolved Dib's mind.
"Yeah, I'll come," said Dib firmly. His gaze fell to the clock. "Just give me eight . . . no, ten minutes, 'kay?" He snatched up the documents and rushed up to his bedroom. The instant he was out of sight, Ros's smile vanished altogether.
"That was a cheap trick, even for you, Membrane," she spat, glowering like a savage beast but Membrane stood his ground, his nose in the air like an insolent child unwilling to surrender. "Are you really so petty," Ros raged on, "that you'd allow Dib to spend another evening locked in his bedroom, isolated, and pumping his body full of caffeine and sugar, just to get at me?"
"Don't be so childish," snapped Membrane. "The boy's a student. All students drink nothing but caffeine and isolate themselves to study. I did, and I know for a fact that you did too."
"Yes, we did," said Ros coolly. "But the difference is that neither you or I were diabetic, over thirty pounds underweight, or prone to seizures."
Her words were a slap in the face; striking hard across Membrane's cheeks and rising red to the surface. He had no witty reply or come back to give, he could only glower like a scolded child. " . . . He's not that thin," he murmured after a while.
Ros's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Open your eyes, you stupid man!" she hissed. "You'd see just how thin he is, if you were home enough. Oh yes, I know all about that," she put in, as Membrane flushed bright red. She laughed bitterly. "Did you think that I'm completely stupid, that I wouldn't find out about you leaving Dib and Gaz on their own all the time? How you can't even be bothered to cook for them? Microwave meals and take-outs everyday is no way for anyone to live!"
"They're grown-up, Ros, they can look after themselves." Membrane crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed into sharp lasers, wishing so dearly would pierce through to his ex-wife's skull. The sound of heavy platform boots clomped down the stairs, signalling Gaz's return. At once Membrane dropped his angry pose.
"Well, maybe if you hadn't adopted that attitude for another ten years or so, Dib wouldn't be having seizures three times a fucking week," Ros hissed, igniting Membrane's cheeks in a flurry of humiliation, moments before Gaz appeared. Like her ex, Ros abandoned her anger and rushed straight to Gaz with a smile upon her face, her rage naught but a memory. Her war was with Membrane; Dib and Gaz were blameless in the battle and though they were both adults, and Ros would never stand for them to see her and Membrane arguing.
Presently, Dib returned too, changed from his lab uniform into casual clothes. Behind his glasses his eyes were red and sore, as though he'd just been crying. Of this Ros saw but said nothing of it. She did not want to humiliate Dib with unwanted questions only for him to back out of the meal idea. Instead, she just smiled. "You guys all ready?" she asked, beaming as both Dib and Gaz nodded. "Great!" Ros linked her arm with Gaz's and again she spun around, back to her ex and beyond him, to the window viewing the drive-way and further still. "Oh, and Membrane? Could you be a dear and move your car? It's blocking my way onto the road."
Membrane flushed again, and stormed out.
"Hi there! We'd like one large peperoni pizza with a stuffed cheese crust, a chicken lasagne with green salad, not garlic bread, and . . . Dib?"
"Oh! Um . . ." Ripped so suddenly from his whirlwind of thoughts Dib's head snapped downwards to the vast menu of delicious choices, and he picked the first thing he saw. "Just a bowl of fries, thanks."
"Comin' right up." The pretty Chinese waitress smiled sweetly and departed with their order. The carvery restaurant was crowded with many different people; families, crowds of friends, couples young and old on date nights - though many of the younger generation occupied the arcade, which was attached to the restaurant. Gaz included, for she was never one to sit around bored - especially with arcade machines so close to her aching hands. She stood in easy sight of the table, but far enough to give Ros and Dib the quality time they so often missed out on. Opposite from her son Ros watched on as Dib's well practiced fingers flicked at the needle of his syringe, readying the drug inside. Carefully, he lifted the folds of his t-shirt and pushed the needle into the skin of his stomach, wincing at the pain.
Something gleamed in the light and caught Ros's eye. " . . . How'd you get those scars?" she asked curiously, working hard to control the concern in her voice.
Dib flashed his mother a strange look. " . . . From the needle," he said slowly. The syringe emptied the drug obediently into his system and Dib removed the needle with wordless relief.
"No, not those scars, silly. The two above it."
Dib's heart missed a beat. He shoved his shirt down again to cover his torso. "A-accident at Dad's lab," Dib muttered, enable to meet his mother's gaze. A part of him felt bad for using Membrane as his excuse; he knew that Ros would always believe the worst of her ex but even so, she did not look swayed.
"Are you sure? They look very . . . parallel, to be an accident." Ros raised a neatly trimmed eyebrow.
"Yes, I'm sure!" Dib snapped, striking hard against Ros. The guilt was a sudden vice upon his heart. "I'm sorry, Mom, I didn't mean to snap." Dib sighed; he reached across the table to squeeze his mother's hand. "I really did get them at Dad's lab, but it was ages ago now. Like, years ago. And no, it wasn't self-harm, if that's what you're thinking." Not the traditional kind, at any rate. Dib held a silent breath inwards, praying to a god he hated beyond bearing that Ros would cease her questioning.
Across the table his mother bit her lip, lost in thought, and she tactfully changed the subject. "So, d'you know what your plans are once you graduate from college?"
Dib stiffened slightly; he removed his clammy hand from Ros's. "Dunno. I'll probably just get a job at Dad's lab. Makes sense since I already do work placement there." And it's the best place for me to figure out how to age Zim's body . . . Behind Dib's eyes he saw only Zim's lonely PAK, waiting for him to hold. Even if he could not speak with Zim until tomorrow, he could still cradle the PAK to his warm chest.
Lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice as Ros's smile faltered some. "You know," she said, "and forgive me if I'm wrong, but I often get the impression that you don't really care much for science."
Behind his glasses Dib gazed through the corner of his eye, his expression blank, his heart hammering away like a mad thing.
"I know you're really good at science and all - more than good," Ros continued, "but your attitude towards it always seems so . . . I don't know. Lax almost." She did not fail to notice Dib's twitching uncomfortably. "And when I see you spending all your energy on something you don't care for it's . . . It's so painful to watch, Dib. Please, I need to know, why d'you continue to hurt yourself for something you don't really care for?"
Zim. Zim Zim Zim Zim Zim. But there was naught that Dib could say. He doubted that Ros could even remember his friend from way back when and even if she did, how could he possibly tell her the truth? How could he begin to tell his own dear mother that the reason he studied a subject he hated with a passion, the reason he neglected his health and appetite to the point which he suffered with seizures and diabetes, was all for Zim?
All that I do, everything I've ever done, and everything I do now is all for Zim.
And I can't tell Mom.
Dib closed his eyes and with it, he closed his heart to Ros's concern. "I . . . I'm sorry Mom, but I can't tell you," he whispered. "But I need you to believe me when I say that Ineed to do this. I need to more than anything else so please, trust me."Something appeared in the corner of Dib's eye.
When Ros blinked, it was gone. " . . . Okay. I trust you," she said.
Shortly, the food arrived, and with it returned Gaz to the table where she and Ros converted straight into conversation with a comfortable ease that Ros had not shared with Dib since he was five.
Normally Membrane parked his car in the garage, but the moment Ros had left the block with their children Membrane had parked his car on the driveway - his own indirect way of letting Ros know that she wasn't welcome in his home for long. As the hours ticked by Membrane found himself unable to focus on his work; instead, he lingered beside the window like an anxious child awaiting Dib and Gaz's return. Not that he missed them, of course - he rarely did, he just dested the thought of them being in Ros's care as oppose to his own.
Two-one to Ros this week. Damn that woman!
Presently, the familiar grumbling of Ros's engine crept up the road; Membrane leaped from the window lest he appear so anxious and he hurried to open the door for his children.
"Hey kids! Did you have a good time?" he called cheerfully, receiving naught but a grunt from Gaz and she and Dib rushed past him like he were a hat-stand, and up to their rooms in order to game and study.
"It was really nice, thanks," said Ros casually, lingering at the threshold. She had quickly recognised Membrane's non-verbal want for her to leave. But on the threshold she stayed, tapping her well manicured fingernails on the door frame. She bit her lip uncomfortably, seeking the right words. "Listen . . . what I said before we left? I'm sorry. It was uncalled for."
"So you should be," replied Membrane smugly. Primly, he ignored as Ros clenched her hand into a fist. Clearly, it stung her pride to apologise.
"But that doesn't mean I'm wrong," she put in briskly, "and you know it! Dib's health is very fragile; he needs constant watching and you being out all the time doesn't help."
Membrane lowered his gaze; he instantly distrusted where this was going.
"So," Ros smiled, "I had a thought. Maybe Dib should come live with me for a short while. Since I work from home I can keep an eye on hi-"
"No! It's out of the question!" barked Membrane. "He needs to be with me to study in peace, and your bratty clients with disrupt his studies."
"Do not call them bratty." Ros's eyes flared with anger and she bared her teeth; it was not a smile. "How dare you! And how dare you place yourpetty feud with me over our son?! If you wanna hate me then go ahead, but don't even think about neglecting Dib's health ov-"
"Don't flatter yourself, woman. Dib isn't 'fragile', as you so charmingly put it. He's just-"
CRASH!
The blood curdling sound of flesh and bone striking on a cold unforgiving surface, and suddenly Membrane and Ros were charging up the stairs to the source. On the threshold of her room Gaz stood motionless, her jaw agap. She knew of her brother's problems but never had she witnessed it before; never had she stood like frightened animal in a car light, watching on helplessly as Dib lay unconscious with foam spilling from his lips and his limbs flaring every which way, enable to escape his crushing whirlpool of torment.
Just for the record, I've had a seizure myself, and Dib's is based on my own experience. I hope you're enjoying the story as far; please favourite and review ;p
