At five years old, Ilk already showed signs of her father's intellect and prowess in combat.
By that age, birthed smeets have learned how to walk and talk fully and you could say they are the equivalent of a ten year old human child. When she turned ten (Irken) years old she would start attending the Academy, be given a PAK and train to become a soldier.
Given her unique circumstances, though, she was pretty far behind in the skill department compared to the students she would find there, who were all made in the smeeterie and had already been given the basic knowledge and programming in their PAKs, plus they spent their first ten years training and not lunging round in the Massive with a parental figure.
Well, she didn't really lounge around.
She understood the expectations everybody, her father included, had for her precisely because she was the daughter of one of the Tallest, who was also considered a prodigy back in his Elite days; sometimes she wasn't sure of that, though, given how nowadays he and uncle Purple didn't do much other than eat snacks and order the shortest ones around, but they had simply mellowed out due to their positions.
Most of her time was spent training the basics of combat, warfare and many other things with some of the best crew members in the Massive, and she learned everything with exquisite skill. The 'general knowledge about Irk-thingy (yup, she had as much trouble with words as daddy)' would be downloaded unto her brain when her PAK was inserted, so they left that aside for later.
But nevertheless she liked to read and learn on her own account.
It was then that she realized something peculiar.
Where was her mother?
In the beginning she didn't even know what the word meant. She found it casually after studying several species, and finding the word 'mother' in most of the articles and information. Curious, she looked for the definition.
'A female of any species in relation to her child or children'.
That got Ilk thinking. Her dad was around, but she had never met any female who to call mother. Turns out you usually need two Irkens to make smeets. Even in the smeeteries, one needed both male and female DNA to create embryos, which in turn became smeets.
This meant she simply had to have a mother, otherwise where would she have come from?
Ilk found it odd her dad had never talked about a motherly figure or even touched the topic at all, and she had never brought the topic up because she hadn't known. Uncle Purple hadn't mentioned her mom either.
"Is something on your mind, sweetie?" Red asked her that night, slurping on a soft drink with one hand while holding a doughnut in the other.
"I'm okay, dad." Ilk died, taking a bite from her own doughnut. She was still doubting whether she should ask him or not, not sure of how he'd react.
"Come now, Ilk. You know you can ask me anything, sweetie." Red insisted, bending down a bit to pat his daughter's head gently.
Okay, if he put it that way, here it comes. "Do I have a mom?"
Red did a perfect spit of soda that ended up on the floor and coughed a few times, even dropping his doughnut (which Bob quickly grabbed and ate before the Tallest could notice). "W-What?" he asked.
"Well, I've been doing some research and I found that you need a male and a female to make… smeets. You are here, but I have never seen my mom around here and you never talk about her. I mean, I have one, right?"
Oh Irk. OhIrkohirkohirkohirk.
"W-Why, of course… You do have a mom, sweetheart…!" Red panicked, unsure of how to answer and trying desperately to find a way out of the topic (or conversation, if it was possible).
One of the scientists approached. "My Tallest, you're needed at-"
"Oh, right! I'll be right there in a second, sorry sweetie, I'lltellyoumoreaboutmamalater okay?Seeya!" With that, Red darted out of the cafeteria, leaving a very puzzled Ilk, scientist and Bob behind.
Once he was sure he was out of Ilk's earshot, Red gave a groan of dismay and frustration. Of all the times she had to ask that question…
What was he supposed to tell her? The only things he knew about the female who birthed Ilk was that her name was Kit, she was a scientist and she died at childbirth. It was pretty common for that to happen since the Irken body was not used to birthing anymore. Usually it could be prevented thanks to the medical technology, but something must have failed for Kit to have died.
Would that be enough to satisfy her curiosity? What if she wanted to know more? How would she react if she learned he only took her in because he didn't have a choice?
This was before, of course! He did love and care for his daughter even if sometimes he had a bit of trouble expressing it. But would Ilk see it that way?
Why did she grow curious just out of sudden? She had never wondered about her mom before, so he never told her about Kit's fate, thinking it wasn't that important. He was starting to regret not researching about that Irkenette when he had the chance; it had been five years since her death and her PAK had probably either been given to another smeet or discarded if it was deemed a Defective.
As he walked into the meeting room, where Purple and many other high-ranking Irkens were awaiting him, the former noted he was worried. "Are you okay, Red?" he asked, taking a slurp from his soda.
"She's finally asked the question."
"You mean the one involving the test tube and the cold, unfeeling robot arm?"
"No. The 'M' question."
That was all Purple needed to know; he glared the other Irkens. "All of you, out."
"B-But My Tallest…"
"Now."
The crew-members walked out of the meeting room, and once they were alone Purple locked the door so they wouldn't be interrupted. "Okay, you say she's asked the question?"
Red nodded. "Apparently she researched about biology and figured out you need two to make a smeet. Then she got curious and asked me if she had a mom."
"What did you tell her?"
"What do you think?! I couldn't just tell her no!"
"Okay, let's calm down! Did she ask you anything else about her?"
"No, one of the guards came to tell me about the meeting, so that gave me an excuse to go, but what am I going to tell her when she asks next time?!"
"What do you know about the female?"
"Other than what I already told you? Nothing!"
Purple shrugged and took a slurp of soda. "I wouldn't like to be in your shoes."
Red rolled his eyes. "You're the perfect opposite of helpful."
While her father was at the meeting, Ilk decided to resume her investigation regarding her 'female parental unit'.
Clearly she was not on the ship, otherwise she already would have met her or she would have come and say 'hi, honey, i'm your mama'.
That could only mean she was back on Irk. But if 'mothers' were supposed to be ridiculously possessive of their kids during their first years of life, why had she sent her through space and to her father in the Irken Armada, possibly the most dangerous place for a little smeet?
"Hey, Bob."
Bob startled awake from his posture and looked turned to the 'princess'.
"Hi, Ilk, how can I help you?" he asked kindly. She was, frankly, the only Irken in the goddamned ship who was actually nice to him, something he appreciated deeply.
"I wanted to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Do you casually know anything about my female parental unit?"
"Oh…" Bob looked away. "Sorry, but I think only your… dad knows about that."
"The thing is I'm not sure he'll want to tell me judging by the reaction he had when I asked him directly."
Bob was momentarily speechless. He had almost forgotten Ilk was a birthed smeet, but she did not know it. She had no idea how the Irken usually created smeets and she researched the natural way, which in turn led her to wonder why she had no 'mama'.
Should he tell her? Would he be thrown out of the airlock for doing so? Oh, well, Ilk was so smart the Tallest would probably think she just found out herself.
"Ilk, there's something you should know about the Irken people. Our people," Bob said, quickly glanced around to make sure the Tallest weren't nearby and whispered hurriedly. "We do not reproduce naturally anymore."
"What do you mean?" Ilk asked curiously.
"As you probably know by now, the Empire is mostly a military force, and every military force needs soldiers. But since the natural reproduction takes too long in… well, you know, eventually the Control Brains started using DNA splicing and cloning to create smeets faster and who could report for duty as soon as they were bonr," He gathered courage to say the next phrase. "However, you are… especial."
"Especial?"
Before he could find a way to answer, Purple's voice roared through the speakers. "BOB! REFILL, NOW!"
With a sigh of dismay Bob moved towards the doorway and down the corridor, leaving Ilk with more questions instead of answers.
Wait a minute, she could always check her own DNA in the databases (she accidentally found about it overhearing some scientists discuss) and see whose DNA was used to make her.
She headed towards her father's chambers to fetch the tablet; she had her own, but it lacked many features and limited her access, the DNA databases included. She took Red's data pad from under the pillow (not a very good hiding place, by the way) and opened the app she was looking for.
Welcome to Irk's DNA Databases. Please insert an eyelash, salivation, blood or any part of your body to continue.
A tiny needle emerged from the corner of the data pad. Ilk pressed the tip of her fingerprint against it just enough to draw a tiny bit of blood, which the needle absorbed before retreating back into the data pad.
A few seconds later, the results appeared.
Name: unknown
Height: unknown
Rank: undefined.
Female Parental Unit: Kit
Sperm Utilized for Fertilization: Tallest Red.
P.D.: Please report to the Control Brains for proper analysis and registration as soon as possible.
Okay, that is weird. Bob mentioned Irken didn't reproduce naturally anymore, and yet here were the names of both her parents. She pressed the link to Kit's profile to see her information.
It was then that she found her mother was dead, but what she found perplexing was the cause of death.
For the first time in his life Red wished the meeting wouldn't be over soon. The longer it took, the more he could prolong his pending talk with Ilk. But sadly it was dismissed after two hours and he realized he had no choice but to go look for Ilk, trying to come up with a believable excuse as to why he hadn't told her about her FPU.
He found her in her bedroom, lying down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. When she did that, it meant she was thinking about something. She lifted her head to look at him, and for a moment he was afraid she'd snap. But oddly she said nothing, she merely dropped her head back down.
"Hey," Red greeted her, but again she didn't react. Now he was certain she was mad at him. "We have a pending conversation…"
"Don't bother," Ilk said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I know it."
His squeedily-spooch squirmed. "You do?" How could he forget she was smarter than all the scientists in the Massive mixed together in a blender?
"I checked the DNA databases."
There was a moment of awkward silence as Red tried to say something, anything. Ilk got ahead of him, though.
"How was I born?" she asked sadly. "I don't come from a smeeterie, do I?"
Red made a mental note to find whoever had talked to her about that to throw them out of the airlock. "No," he said sadly. It would be futile to try to lie to her. "You were born naturally."
Naturally… Like, she grew inside a female's body and then came out, costing the female's life in the process, but that wasn't really her fault, right? "I guess you never knew my… mother?"
Again, Red shook his head as he went over to sit down at the edge of her bed. "No. She got an artificial insemination and my DNA was randomly chosen. You arrived here a few days later after it happened because as your father, I had an obligation to you. "
A part of Ilk was sad; this meant she'd never get to know her mother and the DNA Databases didn't have any pictures. It was more out of curiosity than anything.
Father and daughter just stayed in silence for what seemed an eternity, neither knowing what else to say.
"Did you have any parents?" Ilk finally asked.
"I wouldn't call a cold, unfeeling robot arm a parent, but sadly it's the closest thing most Irkens have to one." Red explained.
To his surprise, Ilk hugged him.
Though she wasn't the size of a tiny fruit anymore (she was the normal size for a smeet-child now), it would be a while before the growth spurt kicked in and made her taller, which would determine where she'd stand in the Irken society.
"Then I'm lucky to have such a nice dad."
Red smiled and returned the embrace. "And I'm lucky to have such a wonderful daughter…" he whispered. Even though you did drive me nuts sometimes when you were tiny.
His antennae twitched when he heard something behind the door; he had the feeling as to what was happening. Red silently signaled Ilk to be quiet as he crept towards the doorway and pressed the button to open it.
Purple fell to the floor, Tenn landed on top of him, Skoodge landed on top of both, and many other eavesdroppers fell on top of the three.
"Get off me, you weight a ton!" Purple snapped.
"It's Skoodge, not me!" Tenn protested, defending her weight.
"Who's kicking my butt?!"
"Sorry, My Tallest…" Skoodge whimpered.
Ilk tried to contain her laughter. Red coughed impatiently, calling the attention of the all the eavesdroppers. They looked up at him nervously.
"Hey, Red!" Purple chuckled nervously. "So, how did it go?"
Red merely crossed his arms. "Didn't you hear through the door?"
Ilk couldn't help but smile at the sight, overall when all the shorter irkens, drones and navigators scrambled to stand up and get away. She might not have a mother, but she had a family… a very weird, big and entertaining family.
This was bound to happen eventually, right? I mean, by common sense you need TWO to make a smeet, and given Ilk seems to have gotten both her parents' smarts.