Author's Notes: I hope I do this right since I'm trying to post this in a parking lot using free wifi from one of the stores... don't get rid of the old internet service before the new service is properly set up. I found that out the hard way.

Mistakes and Consequences

"So um... do you have family... somewhere?"

Asking questions shouldn't be this hard... but he wasn't sure exactly how Invader families worked... It would probably be less awkward to ask Sevai about these things, but the more talkative Invader had been gone for a while already.

There had been a bunch of sudden activity a little while ago.

He'd seen a few Invaders dressed like Sevai and Kosiker walking quickly through the halls. All of them were heading in one direction.

There had been an announcement over some kind of PA system in a language he didn't understand... it probably had something to do with what was going on though.

Kosiker kept frowning and he seemed more tense than he'd been before.

They were sitting near the doors of a dining hall since standing in the hallway earlier hadn't been a very good idea... there were too many people moving around out there right now.

Laes' head only reached the Invaders' mid-sections, so he was easily overlooked. He would probably be trampled if he got caught up in the commotion.

He was glad there was no risk of getting pushed around right now while he was sitting trying to eat the small piece of panna Kosiker had given him. It was small enough to fit inside his palm, so he was eating it as slowly as he could.

"Just because you represent your species, it doesn't give you the freedom to ask questions about our home planet..." Kosiker stated, crossing his arms and turning his face away.

"Ah... so... you have family on your home planet then...?"

"That is none of your business."

"I have parents on mine," Laes continued, undeterred. "It's just the three of us now..."

He was used to having one sided conversations.

"I don't remember asking for this information."

Kosiker kind of reminded him of Darden... except Kosiker hadn't threatened him with bodily harm yet.

"Yeah... sometimes I just talk for the sake of talking... don't mind me..." he nibbled a bit on the bread.

Why did it have to taste so good?

He was going to get fat if he kept eating it. Also his organs were probably going to fail... that would probably happen before he got fat.

Kosiker suddenly stood up from the table.

"Follow me. Now."

"Um... ok...?" Laes agreed.

It wasn't like he really had much of a choice.

He slid off his seat and followed Kosiker who was already near the doors. Once they passed through them, Laes had to hurry to keep up with Kosiker's long strides as he shoved the rest of the bread into his mouth.

The hallway wasn't as busy now.

It became clear why when they entered the control room.

Many Invaders were gathered there at the base of the stairs leading to Kachori's chair.

The Invader's commander was standing on the second step so she was a head above everyone else.

"Again, I'm asking everyone to remain calm..." Kachori insisted. Her wings became visible, and she spread them out. "There is no reason to jump to conclusions... this was likely an honest mistake."

"You are always defending him," one of the female scientists stated, pointing an accusing finger at her. "There is no reason he should have the position he has."

"He should be imprisoned!"

"Take away his technology!"

"I realize everyone is upset, but this is my expedition, and I will have order here," Kachori's wings vibrated, creating a low hum.

The group of scientists quieted, and her wings became still.

"Now... Sevai... tell us exactly what happened..." she spoke, turning to the scientist who was facing the group of angry Invaders.

Then Laes felt a hand on his shoulder.

He glanced up at Kosiker who was looking down at him with a blank expression on his face.

"We need to leave."

"Oh um... sure," Laes agreed, and he turned to the door.

"I didn't mean for this to happen..." Sevai said; his voice quiet.

Laes couldn't help but try to catch another glance at him.

Sevai was standing in front of too many Invaders to get a clear look...

"I just... I forgot to turn on the echo receiver..."

"Why would you have it off in the first place?" Someone demanded.

Oh shoot... this was his fault wasn't it?

Laes' felt a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach. That was guilt settling in...

He shouldn't have asked Sevai to turn off his technology just because it made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Everyone knows that while there are different races on board our ship, the echo receivers need to be kept on at all times," another scientist insisted.

"Sevai... why did you turn it off?" Kachori questioned him softly.

Laes could feel Kosiker pulling on his arm now, but he couldn't say nothing, could he?

This was his fault.

"I... I had a headache earlier so I turned it off..." Sevai replied.

The Invader was taking the blame... why would he do that?

"I forgot to turn it back on when I went to speak with the Irken... it's completely my fault and I will accept whatever consequences you decide..."

That was the last thing he heard before Kosiker dragged him out of the room.

The Invader towered over him with a scowl, and Laes shrank away and raised his hands defensively.

"When I tell you to leave, you leave right away," Kosiker told him in a strong tone.

"Yes... leaving... got it..." Laes responded, forcing an uneasy smile. "Sorry... I will um... leave faster next time..."

"You are staying in Sevai's room correct?"

"Yes..." Laes responded, biting his tongue to keep himself from rambling on about everything and nothing.

"I will return you there for now..." Kosiker decided as he began walking through the hallway.

Laes followed after him at a safe distance. He was starting to get used to not getting punched in the face, but he still didn't want to take any chances.

Kosiker didn't enter Sevai's room. Instead he waited just outside the door until Laes was inside before leaving.

Lard Nar was lying on the bed on top of the covers. He was probably actually sleeping since he'd been doing that more lately, plus the reintegration process was pretty draining.

Laes imagined it was even more draining for people who couldn't sleep or eat properly.

The former leader of the Resisty seemed to have all of his fingers back, but there were still scars on his arms...

Laes decided to climb into the bed since it was very comfy and warm and there was nothing else to do really.

Sevai didn't keep a lot of extra things in his room, just a desk and a chair and a small shelf with a few writing devices stacked on it.

...

The next thing he remembered was hearing pained whimpering noises and short shallow gasps.

At first he thought it might be Lard Nar, so he sat up just as Lard Nar did.

Then he realized the sounds were coming from the floor.

It was Sevai... the Invader's long robe-jacket was gone, and his silver uniform looked dishevelled. His wings were out; they were trembling. He was curled in a fetal position with his eyes squeezed shut in pain.

"Sevai...? Are you ok...?" he asked as he moved closer to the edge of the bed.

The Invader didn't respond. His body seemed to jerk occasionally, almost as though he'd been electrocuted... maybe he had been electrocuted.

"Laes... here..." Lard Nar spoke, holding out a pillow. "Place this under his head."

"Yes, ok, right," Laes responded as he took the pillow and slid off the bed.

There was no blood so he was able to think clearly. He crouched down beside Sevai and raised the Invader's head a little...

There was also no technology... the Invader's headpiece was gone and his face was pale.

Sevai groaned and tried to pull away, but his body wasn't working properly. It looked like he couldn't control his movements very well.

"Sevai... it's me, Laes... I'm trying to help you ok?" Laes told him, hoping his words might calm the Invader down.

Laes carefully slipped the pillow underneath Sevai's head before letting go and placing a hand on the Invader's chest. There was no technology here either... had he removed it?

The Invader's whole body was shivering, and his arms and legs twitched every so often.

"Put this on him," Lard Nar's voice rose over his own thoughts and observations.

He turned to his former cellmate who'd rolled most of the blanket into a ball.

Laes stood up and hurried to accept the blanket which he placed over Sevai.

"What's wrong with him?" he asked, feeling more than just a little concerned.

Of course Lard Nar couldn't know the answer either, but maybe the other Vortian could offer a few ideas...

"I would say electrocution but..." the other Vortian frowned a little in thought. "Those are bruises aren't they?" he questioned, pointing at the Invader's antennae.

Laes' eyes widened. There were dark purple bruises around the stocks of both Sevai's antennae.

How didn't he noticed this...?

"Bruised antennae wouldn't cause this kind of reaction... would they...?" Laes asked, sounding just as unsure as he felt.

He'd seen Zim get his antennae caught in a machine before. It looked like it hurt, but the small Irken had quickly made a full recovery after he managed to release himself.

"It would explain why they always wear their technology," Lard Nar reasoned. "It protects them."

"I guess it would also explain their high levels of paranoia..."

If their antennae were really this sensitive, of course they'd be overly cautious when meeting other races.

Then someone phased in by the door.

It was Kachori. She hurried to Sevai's side and dropped down to her knees.

"Sevai... I'm sorry..."

"What happened?" Laes immediately questioned, and she turned to him with tears in her eyes.

"This was the punishment the counsel decided..." She spoke as she carefully touched Sevai's face. "Unfortunately I don't have the power to revoke their decisions... otherwise this wouldn't have happened."

Laes was quiet for a few moments. Maybe this was the wrong time to bring it up but...

"Is Sevai Chakri's father?"

Kachori shook her head.

"No... Kosiker is her father. Sevai is my... what would you call it? My interest? The one I like the most?"

"Is there anything we can do for him?" Lard Nar asked an actual helpful and practical question.

Kachori sighed as she brought her hand to the side of his head. She stared down at his face for a moment before rising to her feet.

"He isn't allowed any pain relief during this time. The only thing I would ask you do is to encourage him not to walk for a while. When our antennae get injured we lose our sense of balance... Sevai knows this, but he's always been one to push himself too much."

"How long will his balance be affected?" Lard Nar questioned.

"If I had to guess based on your planet's time-scale, I would say two days... maybe a bit longer," she tapped her invisible technology that was attached to her head. "I need to return to the control room before they question my absence."

She gave Sevai a parting look before vanishing from the room.

"Laes... I think we should give Sevai some space... when he wakes up he'll likely be confused and disoriented."

Lard Nar lay back down on the mattress and sighed.

"We're strangers to him and he's in a very vulnerable state..."

"Yeah... alright," Laes agreed as he climbed back onto the bed.

Then he realized Lard Nar had both his eyes now.

"Your eye is back," he commented happily. "That's great."

Lard Nar covered it with his hand. "It still feels a bit strange... but it's nice being able to see properly again."

"You'll have depth perception now."

"Yeah."

Lard Nar lowered his hand away from his face. Then he carefully lay back down and closed his eyes. The scars on his arms were still there even though the Invaders replaced his missing eye and his fingers.

"Why didn't you ask them to remove those scars?" Laes questioned.

His former cellmate didn't say anything for a while. Then after a stretch of silence he responded, "I wanted to keep them... I want to keep all the scars I have..."

"Why...?"

"There's no point in removing them..." He grasped one of his arms and held it close to his body. "Whether they're there or not, I'll still have them..."

Laes was expecting Lard Nar to say something about revenge or something.

He glanced down at his own arms. The marks he had from the Irkens were almost completely gone. If he was lucky there wouldn't be any scars at all.

"How long do you think we've been here?" Lard Nar suddenly asked.

"Oh... um... maybe two days?" Laes gave it his best guess.

He hadn't really been paying attention, but he was sure he'd slept for at least a day.

"Your parents are going to start worrying about you," he said as he let go of his arm and glanced over at Sevai who'd become quiet and still. "As soon as things get cleared up here, we should request they return us to Vort."

"My parents aren't really worriers," Laes admitted.

He let out a sigh.

His parents never really worried about anything. They always accepted things how they were and never really concerned themselves with fretting or getting worked up because something went wrong.

"But it would be nice to go home... I mean... to the ruined prison that was built over our homes," Laes awkwardly joked.

"I lived in a dorm inside the research station..." Lard Nar remarked. Then he added: "It feels like it was blown up a long time ago..."

"I think almost all of our research stations were blown up, weren't they?" Laes asked.

"The Irkens left only one of them intact... since they had Vort itself, I'm not sure why they bothered."

He was going to say 'no one knows why Irkens do what they do,' but instead something completely unrelated came out of his mouth.

"Irkens kind of look like the Invaders, don't they?"

Lard Nar's eyes met his. "Now that you mention it... there are some similarities."

"They could be distant cousins or something."

It was also possible that the Invaders just happened to find an alien species that shared some similarities to themselves.

Irkens and Invaders both had antennae, big eyes, and the Tallest were about the same height. The Invaders were a blue-green color, and the Irkens were a solid green.

It wasn't common for species who had similar physical characteristics to not be somehow related, but it was a big universe and it did happen occasionally... then again, Irkens were part machine, so it was also possible the Invaders just manipulated Irken DNA a bit and replaced other parts with technology which made them look more Invader like... but why would they do that?

For science likely... yeah. People had done crazier things for the sake of science.

While he was thinking about this, Lard Nar laid back down on the mattress and closed his eyes.

"Are you going back to sleep?" Laes asked him curiously.

This was probably the most sleep Lard Nar had gotten in a long while. He really needed it.

"I'm just lying down until the dizziness subsides," Lard Nar responded.

"You should try to sleep a bit more before you go back to never sleeping again," Laes remarked in a light-hearted tone.

Lard Nar smiled. "I'll try."

Laes lay down beside him and looked up at the ceiling. He clasped his hands together and rested them on his chest as he continued to stare at the empty whiteness above him.

Random Remark:

Something has gone wrong in the hive! Panic!