Author's Notes: Well, I suddenly had a mood to write some Invader Zim stuff, and decided to use that mood to work on this fic. Hopefully some of you guys are happy to see this story again. I might work on a future fic that has more of the tone of Invader Zim, but I still really like this one because of the world and characters I can explore and develop :)

Chapter 9

Tasting Freedom

Kee Wai followed the mysterious Vortian named Vio Mah through the streets of this strange new planet she found herself on, her son swaddled in the black cloak her supposed new friend had given her. Kee Wai had never been outside of her home country before, let alone another planet! Everything here was bright, but in a sickly commercial way.

The aliens came in every shape and size imaginable, and they all seemed to be in a hurry to get nowhere. Every place on the planet was the same, a place that sold food. Nothing else. Kee Wai could tell that was an Irken influence, because Irkens tended to be very single-minded in what they believed a planet was good for.

"What planet is this, ma'am?" Kee Wai asked her guide.

"You don't know?" Vio Mah snorted judgmentally, "How could you travel to a planet and not know what or where it is?"

"I was hiding in the cargo hold of a ship," Kee Wai explained, "My son and I escaped Vort. Are you an escapee too?"

"No. I've lived here all my life," Vio Mah told her.

"Yes, but um...where is here?" Kee Wai asked again.

"Foodcourtia," Vio Mah replied curtly, "Keep your voice down! We can weave between the taller species to get to the hideout, but you must not bring attention to yourself around Irkens. This planet has gotten pretty lawless since it became a neutral territory."

"Neutral? So the Irkens won't arrest me just for being a Vortian?" Kee Wai asked hopefully.

"No, but trust me, that doesn't matter," Vio Mah replied cryptically, "Just try to look inconspicuous."

"I've never heard of Foodcourtia. What species are native to this planet?" Kee Wai asked curiously.

"Native?" Vio Mah scoffed, "Hah! That's rich. This planet was a barren rock before the Irken Empire turned it into a commercial hub. Now it's the city where fleshy alien meat sacks show up to fulfill their basest desires. Food, drink, sex, gambling, you can find it all here on Foodcourtia...if you know where to look. I don't know how you survived reentry, but you're not getting off this planet for another 17 of its years. This is the most important time of the century for Foodcourtia: the Foodening."

"That mean shell guy said something about that," Kee Wai recalled, "What is the Foodening?"

"It's a holiday where restaurants are at peak efficiency," Vio Mah explained, "It's also when races across the stratosphere show up to snack and gorge themselves. I was a little girl during the last Foodening. My parents were so happy then. The bakery had so many customers..."

Vio Mah stopped in the middle of a busy sidewalk, looking far away and seeming to forget that she was leading Kee Wai to safety. Kee Wai considered going on without her, but she had no idea what she was doing and needed Vio Mah to help her. Kee Wai gently shook the other Vortian out of her stupor, and Vio Mah continued walking without addressing her behavior.

"Are you okay?" Kee Wai asked softly.

"It's nothing. Just..." Vio Mah sighed deeply before she said, "...my father died less than a week ago. My mother and I were forced to flee for our lives after a group of Irkens attacked us."

"That's horrible!" Kee Wai gasped.

"Yeah, it was," Vio Mah replied bluntly, "I still remember...they came in through the front door, calm as could be. I was already on high alert since I had recently..."

"Had recently what?" Kee Wai pressed.

"I had...well, I had a fight with an Irken customer just the day before," Vio Mah explained, "I feared that I had angered him enough to warrant retaliation. Apparently I was right. There were four Irkens, and one wore the uniform of a snackey cab driver, just like my customer. After they were all inside my shop, they blocked the exit with chairs. I could see they were there to do us harm, so I ran upstairs to warn my parents. As I reached the top step, I could hear their PAK legs skitter across the tile floors below, and I knew they were following me. They shouted slurs against my species and pulled out blasters from their PAKs. One of them tackled me, and the other one found my father. They..."

At this point Vio Mah had to stop talking to collect herself. She didn't want to cry in front of a stranger, but she had been through something she needed to talk about, and there was no one else to share this story with. Perhaps another Vortian, a former prisoner at that, would understand.

"...They tied me up, and my father as well. They laughed as we struggled in the energy restraints. One of them used his PAK leg to cut my face, and then laughed when my father begged him to stop. They told us that we would both die for daring to pollute Foodcourtia with our alien stench. I had never seen my father look so desperate in his life. He promised them anything they wanted if they would let us go. He even said we would leave Foodcourtia and turn ourselves in on Vort. I don't think he meant it, but I can't ask him now."

"It's a good thing you didn't," Kee Wai told her, "Vort is nothing but a giant death prison now. We were lucky to escape."

"So was I," Vio Mah replied, her voice small and melancholy, "The lead Irken told my father that they would let one of us live, on the condition that he swear loyalty to Irk and the Tallest, as well as saying that Vortians were inferior in every way. My father was a proud man once, but I could see it in his eyes as he looked at me. He was willing to trade Vort's pride, and his own, just for my safety. He said every word they told him to say, and he agreed to everything they told him to agree to. It didn't matter though. They showed him no mercy. They shot him right in front of me, and as he died they taunted him by saying they would kill me next. They never got the chance though."

"What happened?" Kee Wai asked, engrossed in the tale.

"My mother happened," Vio Mah replied, smiling for the first time since the story began, "She had been hiding behind the couch the entire time, and when their backs were turned she popped out with a taser. We, um, kept it around in case of unruly customers. There used to be a pub next to our bakery. She managed to shoot all four Irkens before they could get to her. When they were short-circuited from the extra electricity she freed me, and together we ran. We were able to pack very little since we didn't have much time. One thing Mom did before we left however was place my father's body on the couch. She knew he would want to be comfortable, if there was any feeling left in his body at all."

Kee Wai knew the dead couldn't actually feel comfort, but she didn't say that to Vio Mah. In a way Vio Mah and her family reminded Kee Wai of old world Vortians. They were community oriented, suspicious of outsiders, and believed in treating the dead with the same considerations as the living. Vortians had become peaceful and lazy due to having their every need met by technology, but old world Vortians were fearful and hard working creatures that were perfectly willing to hurt those that attacked their neighborhoods.

"We're almost there," Vio Mah announced, "Our hideout is under a Plookesian taffy store. I warn you though, we'll have to cross at an intersection close to an Irken peace keeping facility. If they see us, we're probably dead."

"Got it," Kee Wai nodded, on high alert already.

Kee Wai readjusted Dun Lard as they walked, which caused the Vortling to shift uncomfortably. Kee Wai was having trouble holding onto her son as he squirmed in her grasp, and by the time she managed to calm him down she had already walked across the street. There was just one problem though. Vio Mah was nowhere in sight. Kee Wai had lost her guide!

"Oh no..." Kee Wai keened softly, "Where did she go?"

Kee Wai looked around the street, but all she saw were aliens. Most of them were taller than her, with glass helmets and robotic suits. Clearly this district was very popular with whatever species this was. She stumbled around trying to find Vio Mah, and grew more and more anxious as she realized she was hopelessly lost. Without the hideout Vio Mah spoke of, Kee Wai didn't know where she was supposed to go or what she was supposed to do.

"Hey, you there! Vortian!" An Irken shouted when he saw her, "You there! Stop in the name of the Irken Empire!"

Kee Wai's breath caught in her throat. They knew she was a fugitive from Vort, she just knew it! She had to get out of there, and fast!

Kee Wai ran away, holding her son against her shoulder so she wouldn't lose him. Just as she feared, the Irken set off an alarm from within his PAK and gave chase to her. That sound wasn't just loud and annoying however...it was attracting other Irkens!

Turning one corner after another with no sense of where to go, Kee Wai could feel her leg throb as the wound threatened to open again. She had to think of something or else risk being captured, tortured, and most likely killed by Irken authorities. Dun Lard started bawling due to the sounds of the sirens, and Kee Wai couldn't help but feel that the two sounds were in perfect harmony despite how loud and terrifying both were.

Dun Lard continued to cry, so Kee Wai stroked the back of his neck to calm him down even as she continued to run away. That spot held a lot of stress on a Vortian due to their large head size, so massaging it helped Vortlings go to sleep. Sure enough, Dun Lard stopped crying and his eyes grew heavy. The rocking motion of Kee Wai running also likely contributed to his sleepy feeling.

As Kee Wai turned another corner to a dark alleyway, she finally got an idea for how to evade the Irken guards. She pulled the black cloak off Dun Lard and draped it around both of them. She then pulled a rotted melon out of the trash can and stuck it on top of her head, allowing it to peek out of the cowl of the cloak. If her plan worked, then the Irkens wouldn't recognize her.

One of the Irkens rounded the corner and ran straight toward her, but Kee Wai didn't run away. She had to look like an innocent alien that didn't know what was going on. She just hoped Dun Lard didn't start crying again.

"You there! Alien stink! You see a Vortian run by here?" The Irken demanded to know.

"Why no sir, I did not!" Kee Wai responded by deepening her voice, though it still sounded too squeaky in her opinion, "What is a Vortian?"

Oh, wait! What if that question is too stupid? Kee Wai berated herself. Are there aliens that don't know about Vort? Oh, dooky! Why didn't I pay closer attention when my colleagues talked about their intergalactic vacations!?

"Vortians are small and have large horns on their heads," The Irken explained, "They are bipedal and make a half-braying half-screaming noise when they experience pain. This Vortian is a fugitive from a prison complex and should be considered annoying and dangerous. Any information on her whereabouts will result in no reward, but withholding such information will result in severe punishment. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Kee Wai replied in her fake-deep voice, "I'll keep on the lookout, sir."

"See that you do," The Irken replied gruffly.

The Irken then turned away to leave, but then as a last minute thought turned back to the cloaked alien.

"Oh, and a word of advice?" The Irken said haughtily, "Lay off the extra meals. Your head looks like a Gooraash melon. Heh heh...edi-morphs."

The Irken walked away, but Kee Wai didn't immediately run. She waited a moment to make sure that no one was coming back to arrest them. While sitting wrapped up in that cloak she looked down at her son. He looked so thin, and it was only now that she realized that might not be normal. She never had a child before him, so it didn't occur to her, but the Irkens might have starved her child. She had to find him something to eat quickly, and at that moment she was grateful to have landed on a planet practically made of food.

As she went through the alley to the next street over, she saw a taffy shop with lots of tall metal-suited aliens. Was this where the hideout was? She wasn't sure how many taffy shops there were, or if those aliens were Plookesians, but it was the closest thing to a lead she had, so she had to follow it to see where it led.

She walked across the street to the taffy shop, but before she could open the door an alien walked by and stepped on the cloak she was wearing, causing it to rip away from her body. Her Vortian self revealed to the world, she stood frozen with her hand grasping for the doorknob, an object both very close and yet seemingly so far away.

"There she is! Get the Vortian!" An Irken soldier shouted as he pointed her out.

Kee Wai squeaked and tried to quickly grab the door, but she was forcibly held back by an Irken grabbing her wrist. She briefly looked into the cold purple eyes of her attacker, and saw only her reflection in a pool of contempt.

Unwilling to let the monster take her and her baby, she pulled to try to get control of her arm. The Irken pulled harder, and Kee Wai dug the tips of her legs deeper into a crack in the pavement. She wasn't about to give up, not when she had come so close to tasting freedom. She wanted so badly to grab the door, but she couldn't afford to drop Dun Lard, so instead she struggled to free her other arm.

Finally, there was the sound of a snapping chain, and the Irken stumbled backward into the road; stopping traffic and causing several snackey cab drivers to yell. Kee Wai realized that the Irken had pulled on her locket bracelet until it broke, and the green menace was still holding onto it. Oh well, no time to dwell on that now. Kee Wai ran into the taffy shop and hid under a table without really thinking through her plan any further. For whatever reason, the Irken didn't follow her inside.

She struggled to catch her breath again as she sat there cradling her son. She felt guilty, because she had actually forgotten that she was wearing that bracelet. It had been a gift from Sol Ban when they were dating, and she never took it off. When she was first arrested she hid the treasured keepsake under her tongue to prevent the Irkens from taking it. It should have meant even more to her now that Sol Ban was dead, but oddly enough she didn't feel that upset about it. She had her son, her beloved's true legacy, so a mere trinket didn't really matter at this point.

Kee Wai walked further into the shop, a smallish dark place decorated with grey wood and with merely a single display counter filled with taffy. Everything looked deserted save for a single alien at the counter wearing one of those navy blue metal suits. She only just now noticed how small the alien piloting the mech suit actually looked.

"Oh, hi!" The cashier greeted her in a friendly and casual way, "What kinda taffy you looking for today? Maybe some Hockenberry or some Bloog Gum?"

"Have you seen a purple Vortian female in here?" Kee Wai inquired, "I was supposed to follow her, but I got lost. She said she could hide me."

"Uhhh...no. Nothing like that," The cashier drew out his words awkwardly, "You want some soda? We carry Gloop's and Shmoopinga. Both are very popular on Irk."

"I'm not an Irken, I'm a Vortian," Kee Wai pointed out.

"Oh," The cashier replied dully, "Well then would you like to go to my basement?"

That one threw Kee Wai off. On Vort that kind of invitation held generally ominous or sexual connotations, but she didn't know the customs or habits of this alien's race. He could be trying to entrap her and her son, but he could also simply have more taffy stock in the basement. He certainly didn't have a lot of room in the upper floor of his shop. Perhaps his people were subterranean. Then again, it could be dangerous. What if he wanted to sell her, rape her, or kill her?

"Um, why do you want to go to the basement?" Kee Wai asked nervously.

"I want you to meet my friends," The cashier replied.

He was still smiling, and seemed at ease. She couldn't figure out anything from his face or body language, especially given he was wearing a mech suit that gesticulated for him. Now she really wished she had stuck close to her fellow Vortian.

"Are your friends...um, how many are there?" Kee Wai stammered, unable to formulate anything more coherent than that due to fear.

"I dunno. We Plookesians ain't very good at counting. I heard some species really care about that. Ting Ting says Vortians love numbers, but we Plookesians don't care so much."

Ting Ting. That sounded like a Vortian name! Perhaps Kee Wai wasn't in danger. She also remembered that the species she was looking for was called Plookesian. She might be in the right place after all. Deciding that uncertainty was better than trying to evade the Irkens outside, she took a deep breath and faced her fate.

"Okay," Kee Wai said, her voice barely above a whisper, "I'll meet your friends in the basement."

"Great! You're gonna love it here!" The cashier exclaimed, making Kee Wai flinch with the sudden change in volume, "We got all kinds of taffy!"

Gulping and clinging to her son tightly, Kee Wai followed the large alien to what could either be her salvation, her doom, or a weird as Blorch sales pitch.

The Plookesian lifted a piece of floor away that turned out to be fake, and descended the creaky wooden staircase. For such an advanced alien race, she was surprised they still had enough trees for wood. Trees weren't a feature on every planet, but Vort was blessed enough to have some. Apparently so was the Plookesian home world, whatever it was called.

When they made it down to the basement, Kee Wai saw several aliens of different species huddled around a crate that served as a makeshift table, eating something that looked like taffy. A couple other aliens sat around other empty crates looking sullen and crushed. Kee Wai wondered what she had walked into.

"You!" A familiar voice barked, "Where did you go? I turned my back for two minutes!"

"I'm sorry, Vio Mah," Kee Wai apologized, "I don't know how I lost you. Is this the place you were talking about?"

"Yeah," Vio Mah confirmed, "This shop belongs to Crayg. He's been a friend of the family for years, and he also hides those on Foodcourtia who have crossed the Irken Empire."

"Yep, most of the time Foodcourtia sends their criminals to prison camps," Crayg, the Plookesian, explained, "During the Foodening it's worse though. They have a special complex around here that's kinda like a giant mall security prison. Problem is, once an alien goes in there, they never come out. So, I hide people. It's not like this shop gets a lot of Irken customers anyway. Irkens hate the smell of my shop. Probably why I can't sell that blasted soda. Hahaha!"

"I really am grateful to you for your help, Mr. Crayg," Kee Wai told him sincerely, "My son and I have a chance to start over thanks to you. Hopefully someday he can grow up in a world where he's wanted, and not treated like a disease just for existing. If you need any help around here, I'm willing to work."

"Ah, don't worry about it," Crayg replied easily, "There's some meat flavored taffy on that crate there. Help yourselves!"

With that Crayg ascended the stairs back up to his shop, as much a sentry as a cashier. For the first time since the invasion of Vort, Kee Wai felt safe.