You guys are so patient and amazing, so here's another chapter. Don't be shy to review what you read!!

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Eleven sighed and scratched his tummy, giggling when it tickled a little. The glowing blue orb hung with a purpose around the smeet's neck, but he still didn't know what that purpose was. Many Irken databases described the heart of the universe as a beautiful jewel that was protected by the Guardian. It was common knowledge, however, that most of the databases were translated incorrectly.

Eleven frowned and held the orb between his thumb and finger, "What do you do?" he asked to himself, "Are you the heart… or am I?"

ZiM's hologram stared at the smeet, "You're not doubting yourself, are you? ZiM will be displeased if you are doubting yourself!!"

The smeet smiled, "No… I just wonder is all…"

Eleven let the orb fall back onto his chest, its warm glow seeming to melt the young Irk's heart. ZiM watched the smeet carefully, and finally plopped down beside Eleven to observe him closer.

The smeet frowned, staring at ZiM's concentrated gaze, "Um… why you so close?"

The hologram put his hands on his hips, "ZiM is merely determining whether or not you are sad!! For sadness would be bad."

Eleven shook his head, "I'm not sad," he stared down at his lap, "Just… so confused…"

"About everything you knew?" ZiM mused, "Or about everything you thought you knew?"

The smeet climbed down from the break room's giant couch, "Both," when his feet touched the floor he looked back up, "I knew I was powerful, but… they never told me what I was supposed to do."
ZiM stared down at his smeet, his responsibility and laughed, "ZiM will not have you speaking about purposes!! It only makes you feel worse afterwards. And besides," the hologram jumped off the couch, "you gave ZiM a purpose."

Eleven smiled, "I guess…"

A loud cough caught both Irk's attention and turned to the break room door where Tak leaned, staring with interest at the both of them.

"I just came to tell you," she started, "that the Tallests didn't really like what you thought of them. Doesn't mean they're not listening."

Eleven's antennae perked with confusion and ZiM just edged his way between Tak and the smeet.

The purple-eyed female smirked, "While they disliked the manor in which you spoke, they've already started making plans for vacations days for working Irks."

Eleven's blue-eyes glittered, "Really?"

Tak smiled, turning to ZiM, "Mind if I steal the smeet from you?"

ZiM glared, "ZiM does. He goes nowhere!!"

The purple-eyed Irk shook her head as Sizz-Lorr came out from behind her and simply lifted ZiM out of the room.

ZiM was not quiet about it, "Hey!! ZiM was GUARDING here!! Put ZiM down you idiot!! I AM ZiM!! The ultimate destructive invader and ultimate smeet-sitter!! RELEASE ME!!"

Sizz-Lorr growled lowly, but said nothing else.

Tak watched them leave and then turned to the smeet, smiling, "So, Eleven," she paced around the blue-eyed Irk with her hands behind her back, "what do you think of me? Personally, professionally, either or. Am I innovative? Strong? Cunning?"

Eleven shivered, "Umm…"
The purple-eyed female approached the smeet slowly, "Well?"

Eleven gulped and took a deep breath, "You hold onto grudges too much," Tak's smile disappeared, "You… blame other people for your problems. When ZiM destroyed part of Devastis, did you every stop to think that maybe you were already a little late? You wouldn't have made it to the testing even if ZiM hadn't trapped you. His little… altercation… just gave you someone to blame."

The smeet held his breath as Tak thought this over. Her eyes seemed to get darker as she glared at him, but then suddenly lightened up.

"As much as I dislike to admit it, you're right," the purple-eyed Irk sighed, "I do hold a bit of a grudge against people… but I never use revenge against those sort of people."

Eleven glared, "You said you were gonna come back!! What did you mean when you told me and ZiM that?" the smeet paced angrily, "You were gonna come back and bring donuts?!"

Tak smiled, "So you can read me…" the female's claws gently gripped the smeet's shoulders from behind, "Who else can you read?"

-

Tak pointed to probably the twentieth Irk that had passed them so far, "Him?"

Eleven sighed, "Insensitive, egotistical, brash but a little on the safe side, doesn't like taking risks that he knows may end badly," he turned to the female, "Can I go now?"

Tak shook her head, pointing to another Irk, "No. Her?"

The smeet glared, sighing angrily, "She's sensitive but well rounded and likes to help people," Eleven growled, "NOW can I go?"

Tak mauled it over, "Oh… fine, if you so wish."

The smeet jumped down from the ledge Tak had confined him to and began to scamper off, but turned around at the last minute to see the Irken female staring off into space, sadly.

Eleven stared, cocking his head to the side as he slowly strolled back up to the female, "You're unhappily bored," Tak didn't look down at him, "You're bored in this place and, as much as you agree with the Tallests, you find yourself surrounded by intellectually crippled Irks."

Tak laughed, hard and loud, finally looking at the smeet, "ZiM was right," she jumped down beside him, "It's cute when you explain things so intelligently. Yes," the female sighed, "but as much as I try, I can't seem to find anyone willing to have a remotely intelligent conversation…"

Eleven frowned, both at her comment and in thought, "What about Skoodge?"

Tak scoffed, "He's too narrow minded…"

The smeet sat at her feet, "Have you ever talked with him?"

The female knelt next to him, "No, but he's still inept and gullible. I'd be lucky if I even got an intelligent phrase out of him!!"

Eleven stood, "I'm sure he's not all that bad," the smeet dusted off his shirt, "Try speaking to him some time. Maybe you'll find that you were wrong about him."

The smeet left the female where she knelt and began to wander. He had no idea where ZiM had been taken or where Dib was staying. At this point, he was all by himself.

Eleven sighed, mentally scolding himself for not asking Tak where ZiM was. The smeet shivered. He could get lost in this ship.

Someone cleared their throat from behind the wandering smeet, and Eleven turned around, eyes wide.

Tallests Red and Purple stared shyly at the smeet, "Uh," Red started, "Hi…"

Eleven cocked his head, "What's wrong?"

Purple scratched the back of his head and began to lead the smeet down a corridor, "We'd actually like to speak with you. Tak tells us you're very good at understanding people and we were hoping you'd be able to get something from pictures."

Eleven's antennae perked, "What kinds of pictures? Of who?"

Red quickly hovered over to a large maroon door and opened it, "Pictures of the enemies mostly. But also a few of the 'former' crew."

Eleven peeked inside the room. There was a small stack of photos on a large gray desk and a few simple chairs scattered around the room. There was a window that showed a perfect view of the cloud of stardust the Massive was passing. The smeet nodded and proceeded in, jumping onto the chair closest to the desk and set his hands on the desk to help him see.

"Where do I start?" he asked.

Red picked up the stack and paced around while looking through them while Purple closed the door, "This is to be private," the red-eyed tallest said, shuffling through the deck of photos, "Anything you find probative on someone can't be discussed with anyone."

Eleven stared, "You do know every time ZiM connects to my back, we share information."

"Except with ZiM," Purple replied quickly, "It's inevitable that he'll learn about it eventually."

Red nodded, "All right, I'll accept that," he hovered back towards the table, setting down a picture, "What can you get from this one?"

Eleven stared and brought the photo closer to him, "That's Chi… She's obsessed with someone on her ship," Eleven eyes closed in thought, "He's in your photo stack and he knows that she has feelings for him, but won't return the favor…"

Purple came up from behind the smeet, "Good, this is good. Can you tell us anything more?"

The smeet nodded, "She's knows she's in way over her head. Chi thought that she would just fight you, win and it would be done with…"

Red shook his head, "But then Reep showed up."

Eleven nodded again, "Yep," he slowly opened his eyes, "You got any more?"

The red-eyed tallest set down another photo, "Him?"

The smeet's eyes widened and he actually picked up the picture, "It's S.S.," it was a blown up video feed of the Irk's face, "… He hates Chi…"

Purple frowned, "I thought he worked for her."

Eleven nodded, "He does, but he hates her… Hates her with a passion. I'm trying to read him… but it's really hard, it's kinda like he's blocking me out…"

Red and Purple stared worriedly, before the smeet spoke again, "He's the one Chi likes. That's definitely one of the reasons why he hates her so much."

The purple-eyed tallest took the photo and handed it back to Red, "That's good enough," he took another photo from the stack, "This picture was taken from a book. It's supposed to be the Irken gods," he set the photo down, "Can you tell us anything about them?"
Eleven glared hard at the photo and it started to melt, "I could sit here and lie to you two, telling you these three are the greatest things to have inhabited the universe, but that would be wrong," the photo began to bubble, "They're jerks and self-centered meanies," he pointed to the white-eyed Irk, "Caz," then the black-eyed, "Zac," then the gray eyed, "Shadow," he looked up at the Tallests, "I know them personally. They visit every birthday to remind me of what I am… or supposed to be. ZiM hates them more than I do cause when I needed help they were no where to be found…"

Purple's antennae drooped, "Sorry."

Red dropped another photo in front of the smeet, "Here's another one," Eleven's eyes widened as he stared down at the photo, "It's Reep, what can you-"

"He's doing something bad," the smeet whimpered, "It's something really, really bad."
Purple squeezed the smeet's shoulders, "It's O.K. It's just a photo right now."

Eleven's eyes watered, "He's planning something big and horrible and it's gonna kill everyone. Everyone's gonna die and no one will be left. No people no stars no planets, nothing!!"

Red leaned next to the smeet, "Can you tell what it is?"

The smeet whimpered again, "He's gonna use the heart to do it. He's gonna use the heart of the universe to kill everyone!!"

Purple gathered Eleven up and glared at the photo, "We need to prepare for an attack. If he wants the heart, he'll have to fight for it."

Red nodded and the three of them quickly exited the room, the smeet clutching the orb on his chest tightly.

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I'm going to be going back to school soon, so chapters will be coming less and less. The story will not have died, so don't worry. R&R, if you please.