Chapter 26 – Missing Information
"Sir," an Irken technician stepped up to his commander's chair. He held his antennae low, nervous about the news he was about to deliver. He clenched the tablet filled with their findings.
"Have you found them yet?"
"N-no sir. All the primitive technology on the planet is disrupting our scans."
The commander turned his chair to stare straight at the trembling soldier. "Then why are you here?" Unnecessary reports were more annoying than anything else.
"Well we…. We've discovered an anomaly of significant importance. We thought it best to bring it to your attention." The commander sighed, tired of hearing his infirior's nervous stuttering and snatched the tablet.
"What is all this garbage?" He'd been trained to lead a fleet, not to understand the technological mumbo jumbo. The technician took back the tablet and quickly covered a smirk.
"Five years ago in one of our Vortian research facilities, an experiment was undergone to create an endless energy source."
"What about it? Everyone's heard about that failure. It caused the death of our great Tallest Miyuki."
"Yes well not everyone has heard about the 5 seconds when the machine worked."
"Get to the point."
The soldier flinched but held his ground. "For five seconds after its activation, the I.E.C.T. ran successfully. The energy it discharged was so much that the connected storage batteries were instantly filled and that's what caused the explosion. While it was running the machine let of a very distinct radiative signature."
"And?"
"And this planet has that same signature." The technician's eyes shone the more he explained. Somehow this backwater planet had a working version of the one thing that would could bring the Irken empire to complete victory over the universe.
A dark smile spread over the commanders face. "Call those humans back. Tell them they have 10 more of their minutes to return or we'll be sending a scouting ship into their atmosphere.
XXX
M remained slumped hopelessly against the door. How could he have been so stupid! Did he ever even bother asking Dib his side of the story? To think that this whole thing was caused by the paranoia of one man… that everything had been about that generator from the very start. No. Before the start. If Bill thought it was alright to blow up a city to keep aliens from getting ahold of it, what might he have done just to keep it from being activated?
"Damn it!" M slammed his elbow painfully into the metal door.
"What was that?"
M froze as a voice whispered on the other side of the door. "Hello? Is someone there?!" The voice didn't respond. "Please! You have to let me out! The city is in danger!"
On the other side of the door, both Gaz and Zim recognized the voice as M. Gaz took a step towards the door but, suspended from his pak legs, Zim grabbed her shoulder. He shook his head, making it clear that he disagreed with making contact with the human. Gaz pushed his hand off and called out, "M? Is that you?"
"Gaz?! What are you doing here?!"
"Exactly what I said. I'm here to get revenge. Tell me where he is and I'll let you out." Behind her, Zim smacked his palm cleanly against his forehead. The girl did realize that this was the same human that had tried to torture him less than a day ago, right?
"He's on his way to the city center. Now let me out!"
Gaz nodded and reached for the large latch that had been put over the door, but Zim grabbed her wrist. He snarled at the door. "Do you think we're stupid human! Why would you give up that information so easily?"
"The city is in danger! We don't have time for this!"
"Well make time, because there's no way in blorch I'm letting you out after what you did."
Gaz jerked her arm free, "What are you doing?"
"Protecting us. Did you forget this is the same human who was helping your enemy? This could very well be a trap." Gaz opened her mouth to argue but Zim wasn't finished. "If Bill really did kill your father, what's stopping him from doing the same to you or Dib?" Gaz closed her mouth. How was she supposed to answer that? She hadn't even thought through how she was going to take revenge on Bill to begin with.
When she failed to answer, Zim grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her down the hallway. Again Gaz wrenched her arm free. She ran back and pounded on the door, this time without making any moves to open it. "You know where he is, M! Tell me where Bill is!"
"You idiot!" Zim hissed, "Keep yelling like that and he'll hear you!"
"Answer me M!"
M took a deep breath. The alien… no… Zim was right. He was a danger to them. He'd done something horrible. There was no reason they should trust him. Gaz yelled his name through the door again. "I'm sorry." He spoke quietly; Gaz didn't hear him, but Zim's antennae were much more acute, and picked up the slight vibrations.
He apologized.
Zim scoffed. "Sorry doesn't cut it." Gaz stopped her banging as he spoke. "Why should Zim trust you?"
Let me talk to him.
"It's too dangerous. He is dangerous."
"Look I know I am and I know I hurt you! I was lied to and thought I was protecting my friends. I didn't know it was wrong!" M held his stomach supporting himself with his free arm as he turned to sit facing the door. At some point during all that banging, he had agitated his wound. It hadn't reopened but the pain cut through him in sharp breaths.
"You tried to kill Zim!" Let me talk to him! "Too dangerous!"
Gaz saw a small twitch in Zim's face. She'd been seeing it all morning. It happened when Zim switched between his two sides. The nice side, as she thought of the Zim she'd met on that first day back at her house, timid and fearful, was easier to reason with. She'd have better luck getting M's help if Nice-Zim were in control.
"It's okay, calm down."
"Silence stink-girl!"
"Zim." Gaz breathed deeply and calmly. She kept eye contact even as he rose up on his pak legs. "I won't let him out until you say so, and we need to know where Bill is."
She's right. … I'm going to talk with them.
The small voice wasn't asking anymore. Zim's strength calmed and withdrew. If it didn't yield it would be locked away again. It couldn't let that happen. How would Zim protect himself? Too many threats…
Zim blinked then lowered himself to the floor. He tilted his head with a small smile. "Alright let's talk. Where is Bill now?"
M blinked. Did that kid's voice just change… or… maybe just the tone of his voice. That's how he sounded before… When I was… M shook his head. Now definitely wasn't the time to worry about a kid, alien monster or not. "He's headed downtown."
"Why?"
"Peg."
"Who's that?"
"Not who," Gaz corrected, "What. The Propetual Energy Generator, also called PEG was my Dad's final invention. It was the reason Bill killed him." Gaz grit her teeth. Three years she'd heard about nothing other than that. Even Dib had stopped his crazy alien talk… well… not so crazy anymore, but still…
Zim couldn't help but laugh lightly. "Not possible. Infinite energy is a myth. It's unattainable."
For a moment Gaz returned to her usual self and glared irritated at Zim, "Nothing is impossible for my Dad."
Zim's eye twitched slightly. He cast his eyes down to his feet. "I know your dad created Minimoose, but even if he was a good inventor, infinite energy is inconceivable."
"And I suppose you would know better?" This is why kids are annoying. They always think they know everything.
The vents hummed filling the quiet. Zim's quiet grumbling could just barely be heard over it. "I'm part of a highly technological species, of course I would know better than a human!"
"Well your planet is stupid!" Gaz stomped her foot, hands clenched at her sides.
Zim jumped back a step and quickly covered his face with his hands. Over the past day and a half, spending time with the human girl, he didn't feel quite as afraid, but that didn't mean he wanted to provoke her by insulting her father. "W-What I mean is, the Irken Empire already attempted to build an I.E.C. and the result was a catastrophic failure which blew up half a planet and killed one of our planetary leaders," he explained as best he could.
Gaz opened her mouth to yell again but M's voice cut through, "How long ago was that?"
The seemingly-pointless question caused both kids to look at the door. Zim cocked an antenna, "f-Five years ago… I think." Zim quickly skimmed through the historical information saved in the memory banks of his pak. "Actually… comparing calendars, it would have been the third day of your year, five years ago. "
Gaz's eyes went wide. She stumbled back, shock flooding her features. "But that's…"
On the other side of the door, M nodded. "That was when Dib first started working with the Professor in the lab. They did nothing but crunching unintelligible numbers for the next two years."
"Huh? So what?" Zim murmured, failing to see the significance.
"So what?!" Gaz yelled, rounding on Zim. "Three years after that, the final construction of P.E.G. was completed!" Finally it was all coming together. In the end she'd been right. Everything. Her brother's crazy attitude. Her dad's death. All the events of the past weeks! They were the aliens' fault! "WHY DO YOU EVEN EXIST! YOU AND YOUR SPECIES! YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!"
She made a grab for Zim but he instinctively rolled to the side. "Wait! I wasn't even part of that experiment! I wasn't even born yet."
"Guilt by association!" she yelled, "Your species was stupid and you are to!" She failed another attack, growling when Zim leapt to hang from the ceiling. "In fact! I bet the reason you had all those stupid issues is because of that dumb explosion!" She yelled. She wanted to fight. She wanted to hit him! To be angry! Even M pounding on the door couldn't break the concentration of her fury.
Zim twitched. Was it possible? When exactly did that explosion occur… it couldn't have been that long before Zim's creation. Could all of Zim's emotional inadequacies be caused by an explosion nearly two stars away? But if that were so…
A confusing string of thoughts sped through Zim's mind. A never ending chain of questions, becoming ever more complex with each passing second. Zim's kind heart couldn't comprehend the fear and determination that propelled them, but slowly, a single understanding floated to the surface, leaving a feeling of doubt and concern in its wake.
The Irkens are a threat.
"GET DOWN HERE YOU BRAT! Let me punch you!" Gaz repeatedly jumped into the air swinging her arms out trying to reach her target.
Zim's wide pink eyes blinked hesitantly, as he returned to the moment. He looked up and down the hallway, suddenly seeing the situation from a new light. The new calm was confusing, and brought new priorities. Stretching out a cord from his Pak, Zim connected to the control panel of the door separating them from M.
Gaz stopped jumping and growled, "Now what are you doing?"
"We need to find Bill," he hesitated, "and contact Dib."
"Dib? Why?! He'll just make us come back!"
"Something's missing. I don't know what but there's something we're not seeing here. We need to talk to Dib and get all our facts straight." The door beeped and slid open. M had pushed himself to his feet.
"I agree with contacting Dib. We can go to the control room. We can use the computers there."
Zim nodded then looked at Gaz, "Ready?"
Gaz scoffed and folded her arms tightly. "I'm still pissed at you." Zim smiled and dropped to the floor. Despite what she said, she was no longer any threat to Zim. He nodded to M, and the group hurried down the hall.
XXX
Bill swore and slammed his fist on hard outer casing of the machine. A faint scorch mark was all that remained of the pounds of C4 he'd put in that hallway only moments before. Whatever this machine was made of, it certainly wasn't a common earth metal. "Now I know the real reason that Mothman needed so much approval from the Network."
With the explosives gone, the only remaining way Bill could think of to take down the machine would be to force it to self-destruct, and that would require hacking of several separate computer systems within the mainframe. If the Irkens didn't know about the machine before they definitely would after he turned all the systems on. Best not to waste time.
A/N: Wow! Dang guys I'm so sorry this chapter took so long! :(
I've been working on it slowly for quite some time. This story has gotten FAR more complex than I had originally intended, but I've seen the slight glow at the end of the tunnel. I now know the ending, just not entirely how to get there. I don't think it will take too much longer but again, I'm never sure.
I was told this story was too fast paced. Do you agree? I've noticed less comments on the recent chapters. Is that due to how long it takes for them to be published or are people just losing interest in this story? I don't blame you if you are... things are flipping crazy...
Also I know a number of you have been wondering about Zim's "split personality" thing, and I'm happy to report that it will probably be revealed in a short time, and DEFINATELY before the end of the story. Hope you're all still enjoying this! Have a good night! *passes out on floor due to lack of sleep from school*