Ok guys sorry for the short break. I accidently got blocked for a bit for not writing with the rules. Don't worry that won't happen again. Here's the next chapter! Sorry for leaving you hanging.
Chapter 35 - Emergancy Escape Doughnuts
"Back away from the door or I'll shoot your friend here!" Tak yelled through the heavy security door. Kark watched unable to do anything for either of their sakes, as Tak disengaged the locks and threw Dib bound and gagged into the room. "Honestly if I were you I'd leave him like that. Humans never were a species that knew when to shut up." Tak said as she retreated through the door.
Kark didn't move until the lock was re-engaged. Once it clicked into place she rushed over to Dib to remove his restraints. "Are you ok?"
"A little battered but I'll live."
"Good to hear cause we'll need to survive this if we plan to help Zim."
Dib sat still as Kark worked to remove the Irken wire restraints. It was something that could be quickly removed by a PAK but was a struggle without one. "So how did she get you?"
Dib sighed, "She lured me to a secluded area by making me think I was headed to meet with you…"
"That dookie… who is she anyway? She said she knows Zim."
"She does. She came to earth once to try and impress the Irken leaders. She tried to empty out my planet's magma core and fill it with snacks."
"Harsh."
"Yeah… Well Zim and I worked together to stop her. That was during the time he was still trying to take over the earth himself but it was also one of the events that allowed us to become friends in the end."
"Must be nice."
"Huh?"
Kark laughed. "Having friends you can count on. Hang on try and move your arm a bit here. Ok got it." She kept working to untangle the restraints.
"You don't have friends?" Kark almost burst out laughing at the look of concern on his face.
"It's not that unusual on Vort. The planet is so large that if you don't live in the cities you hardly see anyone. Most homes are self-sufficient, so unless something breaks there's no reason to leave."
"I guess that makes sense." It was nearly two hours before Dib was completely free from the mass of wires. Once he was finally free he looked around the whole room. "Oh Man this is cool! I finally get to see how Irkens are made! I wonder what pressing these buttons would do to mess up their species."
"Dib! This isn't a field trip. We're trapped remember?"
"Right. Yeah I know. You said you searched this place and there's no way out right?"
"Yeah?"
"Then there's no harm in me looking around." Dib didn't really let Kark argue with that logic. This was his one big chance to learn about Irken physiology. Zim had never been the sharing type. Dib started off by checking out the computers. Nearly all of them were turned off. The only active one had the controls locked.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to see if there's a way to open this computer. Maybe we could hotwire it like a car and get into the controls."
"The most technologicly advanced alien species in existence and you think you can hotwire they're computers?"
"Well yeah Irkens use the same type of operating systems as we do on earth so I've done it before." Dib put his weight into it and the back of the panel flew off causing him to lose his balance and fall on his butt.
"Do they really?"
"Yeah. I found that out when I hacked a robot Me that Zim made while trying to defend myself from an evil monkey." Kark came over to watch what he was doing.
"I see…"
After messing with several computer chips and nearly setting his shirt on fire with some sparking wires, Dib managed to get a response from the computer: Access granted, flashed across the screen.
"Alright! Now let's see what this computer can do." Unfortunately the system he managed to unlock was a closed circuit designated for monitoring and controling the development of growing smeetlings. "Oh… Well that doesn't help us much."
"Hang on. Maybe it can." Kark moved in and started looking at the different controls. "If we increase the growth of one of the pods maybe it will activate some of the other computers. Only problem is… I can't read Irken…" She paused to look up at Dib. So maybe having an active Irken there wouldn't be the smartest idea but it could work. He also moved in to start looking at the controls.
"I can read it. Though there are some words here that I don't know. Zulprodet… Oh hey! That's cool."
"What?"
"When I said it just now, my translator worked on my own voice."
"Ok so what's it mean?"
"Doughnut. But it's not really relevant to what we're looking for."
"Could you use it to get us some food?"
"Yeah I guess so..? Here I'll try." Kark watched fascinated as Dib quickly typed in some things. A giant tube stretched down from the ceiling and pointed at Kark. The pipe started shaking then dumped a pile of doughnuts on top of her.
"Oh tako…" Kark swore as the doughnuty goodness buried her alive.
"Kark! You ok!?" There was no response. "Kark?"
Her voice came out from the middle of the massive pile. "…These taste really good."
Dib laughed and helped to unbury her. "Sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it. Thanks for the food!" she said and went to eating. Dib was surprised how much the tiny alien could eat. She had consumed a baker's dozen by the time he found the program they needed.
"Ok this says there are three pods that are nearly ready. From the looks of it, I would guess that Tak slowed down the growth process so that none of them would finish while we were in here. If I can speed up the process maybe some of the other machinery will activate itself. The newborn Irkens have to go somewhere. That might just be our ticket out of here."
Kark didn't look as certain as Dib. "You want to hatch an irken? And what if it isn't all that friendly?"
"You have any better ideas."
"I do but I thinking about the aftermath was the reason I didn't use that plan before you got here." Dib looked quizzically at the Vortian. She just shrugged. He didn't question it any further for fear of the answer. And with that Dib set to work trying to understand the controls. It had been 'all or nothing' back when they first cleared the atmosphere. There was no escape this late in the game.