Behind The Tube Glass
By alien freak And Xmimi89eR
story may contain gore/blood/violence/strong language
rating: T
ZaDr/ZaDf
Hello hello!
I hope the previous chapter caught your attention. i'm really excited about this, and that means i'll stay all night like a zombie writing it :D
English is my second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.
disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim.
LOADING ENTRY THREE...
SAVE CHANGES?
Y/N
YOUR CHANGES HAVE BEEN SAVED.
999999
Dib woke up at the sound of his phone ringing, shifted to a sitting position, there were some saliva on the floor, he blinked, and shifted his glasses back at the bridge of his nose, thinking it all may be a bad dream, even though one side of him wished it wasn't,
He looked at the phone screen and found it was Gaz, he answered, trying to make his voice normal but failing horribly, "h- hello?" He heard his sister sighs from the other end, "finally!" She yelled, "i've been trying to call you for the last hour, you scared me, you moron!" The last hour? He looked at the time and found it was 1:06 PM, he tried remembering when did he fall asleep, and why he was sleeping on the floor, he then held his breath, he could see the green/blue glow from behind him, "where have you been?!" Gaz asked, Dib looked behind him slowly, he was afraid he may faint again, and here it was, it wasn't a dream then, the alien had folded his hands, knees close to his chest,
"I-... i think i fell asleep, sorry, I didn't sleep last night..." he heard Gaz sighs again, "don't do that again," she paused, "so found anything interesting in the lab?" She wasn't really interested in knowing, but only wanted to know how her brother felt,
Dib looked around for a little, "not much..." he knew that won't stop his sister from asking another question, so he spoke again fast, "you remember the picture we took with dad six years ago?" He asked, "umm, which one?" She then remembered, "ooh, the one where you smile like an idiot? Yeah, I remember, what about it?" He laughed a little, "yeah that one, well..." he paused, "it was dad's desktop background..." the other end went quiet for a moment, "oh..." he heard her whisper, Dib tried changing the subject, "what happened to that game salve, do you still have it?" He asked, "huh- oh, of course, i do," said Gaz, "i have a full collection of the game, heh," Dib could hear the sadness in her cold voice, "well, see you later," said Dib after a while of silence, "k, bye."
"Bye."
He hanged up, then sighed, he was lost in thoughts when he heard clicks on the glass behind him, he looked back and saw the alien gazing at him, Dib got up at shaky legs, feeling weary, and having a headache from sleeping in the cold, hard floor.
Stepping closer to the huge tube, "so you weren't some crazy dream, huh?" He said to himself, looking to his side, the alien gave him an unimpressed look, then leaned a little down to draw letters like before, Dib looked back at the green alien,
'Your dad' the wet thin finger drew, the letters disappeared after two seconds,
'Lab man?' Dib looked confused for a moment, then it clicked, "oh- yeah he's my dad," the alien gazed more, then hugged his knees to his chest, looking afraid, he pushed himself at the far part of the tube, his cheeks against his knees, antennae flat at the back of his head,
Dib blinked at the sight, did he do something wrong? "Hey, you ok..?" He felt weird asking an alien such a question,
The alien shook its head, eyes shut,
"What's wrong?" Now he felt STUPID for this question, the alien was inside a huge tube, wires attached to his body, and god knows how long he was in there, of course, that was what's wrong!,
"I won't hurt you..." what did that mean?
The alien peaked out at him, studying the human's face, he didn't seem to be lying, for now.
He freed one hand, to draw letters, not meeting Dib's eyes,
'Your dad hurt me'
Dib's eyes went wide, his father won't hurt a fly, maybe he was a workaholic, but hurt something? The alien must be lying,
"I don't believe you..."
All he got was a hard glare from the alien,then it hid its face with its knees (now he knew what his father said about it being a male or female, but he didn't care now)
Dib got the paper from the floor and ran out of the room.
He wanted answers, he needed them now, before he could do or think of anything stupid, he sat fast at the chair in front of the main screen, and clicked on the first entry, 'ENTRY NUMBER ONE'
'LOADING...'
Another screen opened showing his father, he looked a little younger, maybe the video was one or two years old,
'Entry number one, i've found something... i was heading back home, when i saw something falling from the sky, it was late at night so no one saw it but me, it landed close to my company. I wanted to see what it was, so i walked to it, and then i saw... a ship, it was big, yet small, only for one pilot, it was round, colored in purple and pink'
A smaller screen showed a weird-looking space ship,
'That's how it looks like, everything felt like a dream, but it was true, i had found an alien space ship, and not only that, when i got closer to it, the windshield was broken, a half lifeless body hang outside of it, some pink liquid that I assumed was blood, was everywhere, the alien device, the one on his back was broken'
"So it's 'he'...the alien is a male?" Dib said to himself,
'I got him back at my lab and cuffed him to one of the examinations tables, wounds were all over his body, after a few hours most of his wounds were healed, it was an amazing sight, then he woke up, when he did i heard loud noises coming from his "backpack" the alien spoke with a weird language I couldn't recognize'
Another video popped up, showing the alien wearing a pink and red, with black pants, gloves, and boots uniform, screaming at the professor with another language, he looked angry and scared, his voice glitching in a more robotic way,
'After I spoke to him, he looked at me, then said words in English'
"I D- D- D- DIDN'T COME HERE TO INVADE YOUR S- S- STUPID PLANET, IT WAS A MISTAKE, RELEASE ME!" the alien voice glitched,
Dib flinched at the loud scream, then blinked at the information, by a mistake? So he wasn't some evil alien that wanted to kill humanity?
'I would have believed him, but he was... a discovery, I couldn't just let him go, i ran examinations on him; for example: his blood was pink, and sugary sweet, it was thick, and slightly burns the human skin'
Dib thought if his father had touched the alien's blood,
'Right now is day five from my discovery'
The professor stepped aside, behind him was the alien, flat on the examination table,
'Today i will see if he gave reactions at the follow liquid'
He held about six small tubes, first one full red bloody color, the other was yellow, Dib couldn't tell what exactly it was, the last one had something like water, the other were black and pink, the pink one seemed to glow,
'In the first test, i will attach the alien's skin with human blood'
He went closer to the table, taking some blood then put it on the alien face, the alien hissed but didn't react much,
'The second test, i will attach oil with the alien's skin'
He put the oil, the alien didn't react at all, but gave a disgusted look,
'alright, in the last test, i will use water'
Dib watched with interest, the professor released the water on the alien, Dib swore he saw smoke coming from his face, the alien screamed in pain as if the water was some kind of burning acid,
"HEY HEY STOP IT STOP!"
the professor stopped, then give a 'hmmm' at the new discovery, and put the water away, and started writing in his folder in hand,
'hmm, i guess that will be it for entry one'
he got closer to the computer then the screen went off saying:
'REPLAY'
'NEXT' / 'PREVIOUS'
Dib pressed 'next'
'LOADING ENTRY NUMBER TWO...'
the professor appeared on the screen,
'This is entry number two, it's been seven days since i have the alien, for today's tests, i will take some of his blood'
the 'lab man' got closer, holding a needle, and stabbed it in the alien's wrist, pink blood fill the needle, the alien flinched-
Dib paused the video, he needed fresh air,
999999
Dib grabbed a cup of coffee and went behind the building, his thoughts were so messed up, he hated that his father kept the whole thing a secret just for himself, he hated how the alien took his time instead of staying with his own kids, he wondered how long it's been since he found the alien, he wondered if the alien has anything to do with his father's death.
"hey, kid, you okay there?" a man asked him,
"hm, yeah, i'm fine"
"heh, first time working in a place like this?"
Dib nodded, "well, i don't blame you, this place does have its own dark side," he paused to get a segregate out, "i get out here from time to time to smoke, want one?" the man afforded, Dib shook his head, "i don't smoke," he said,
"lucky for you," the man walked to the other side of the building, out of Dib's sight, he looked back at his empty cup of coffee, and decided to head and get a new cup, and get back to the lab, he still had things to watch.
999999
the boy stayed in the lab for the next 7 hours, listening and watching the entries, he learned some things about the alien from his weird father's tests, from the alien allergy to water and meat, and his fear of germs, to his ability to see in the dark, how his antennae pick the slightest sound, and how his wounds heal fast.
it was weird how his father started calling the alien 'it' or 'subject' instead of 'he' but he explained something about his gender that Dib didn't catch, that there was no proof if he was a female or a male. the alien now was naked, he kept saying something about how disrespectful it was for an elite to be naked in front of a filthy human, and that made his father interested in knowing what an elite was,
'LOADING ENTRY NUMBER TWENTY-SIX...'
his dad appeared, behind was the alien, his 'pack' was attached to an electricity tube; in entry four about a week after his arrival, he became so lifeless, which made his father realize that even the alien needs to eat to stay alive. the explained that if he wasn't going to get anything to eat through his mouth, then the 'lab man' has to attach his 'pack' to an electricity supply, Dib was surprised that his father had actually agreed without thinking that maybe it was a trap.
'...in this entry, i'm seeking answers, if the 'it' didn't submit, i will have to force 'it' using water'
that was new from the physical tests, Dib thought,
'i have a list of things that i want to know'
the alien was in a sitting position,
'alright, the first question is: what is your race called?'
the alien looked at him with an unimpressed look, "w- w- w- what makes you think i'll tell you?" the alien snapped,
the professor held something like a water gun, water drip from its end, the alien's eyes went wide, "I WILL NOT BE C- C- CONQUERED!"
his father pressed the trigger and shot water in the alien face, smoke came out, the alien screamed, "STOP, STOP! I WILL T- T- TELL YOU, QUIT IT!'
'good' his father stepped back,
"my r- r- race called irkens, i'm an irken"
he wrote that down, 'good, you told me before that you came here by an accident, how?'
the alien stayed quiet for a moment, "i was a- a- attacked"
'by who?'
"a race called the meekrob"
'why?'
"..."
the professor sighed 'the third question is: does your species have any intentions of the earth?'
"my race doesn't even know about this d- d- dirty planet, it's useless, we don't need it,"
'i see, next question is: what is that device on your back?'
"First it's c- c- called a PAK, P. A. K." he said like it's the most obvious thing in the world, "it's like a s- s- second brain, a computer, a weapon, and like i said before, i - c- can not live with it,"
'if it's a weapon, then why didn't you use it against me?'
"ISN'T IT OBVIOUS?!, IT'S B- B- B- BROKEN!" he snapped, glitching more,
'i- i see..' the professor wrote more in his file, 'what's your home planet like?'
"it's a military planet, oh you just wait, when they know about this, their irken elite, trapped in this planet, the tallest will blow this whole dirtball to million pieces, and it's a- a- all your fault," an evil smile on his face,
Dib swallowed, what did his father put earth into...?
'...could you tell me about you...?' his dad sounded like an unsure man, more like trying to change the subject,
"hmm, what do you want to know about me, how amazing i am? heh," he said with high ego in his voice,
'well, your um, name, gender, maybe age..?' he didn't sound interested in knowing, but seems to be drowning in his own thoughts,
"well sure," the alien smirked, "i am Zim, male as you c- c- can see from my perfect body, i'm seventeen irken years old, and One hundred and seventy-four earth years old" his head high up, still smirking, the last information amazed Dib, but his father seemed in another place,
'hm- good... end of this entry.'
the screen went black, Dib could see his reflection, then the same words appeared:
'REPLAY'
'NEXT' / 'PREVIUOS'
Dib was exhausted, his eyes red from staring at the screen for hours, it was already dark outside, he stood up and looked around the lab, his mind was on the edge of blowing up, but still, he thought he could go and see the alien again, Dib took a deep breath and stepped in the examination room.
he walked to the cold and darkroom, and saw him, but the alien was...sleeping? in his father's entries, he said that the alien doesn't sleep, but sometimes his 'PAK' shuts him down to save power. Dib got closer, then stared at the sleeping 'irken'
he drowned in his thoughts, he felt a little sad for the alien, but he can't just let him go, right? he will tell his 'tallest' and earth will be in great danger, but maybe he could make a truce with him, Dib could free him, and the alien will have to promise not to tell on earth, but how could he know that the irken will stick to his words? Dib stared pacing back and forth, humming his thoughts under his breath, when a knock woke him up, he looked back at the alien, who was awake now and knocking on the glass, demanding his attention,
Dib stood in place, looking through his shoulder, the alien gave him a questioning look, Dib stared, now that he thought about it, he knew the alien was sick, and weak, if he just could fix his PAK then maybe the irken would trust him,
When he got closer, the alien pushed himself back against the tube, his antennae flat in his head, Dib remembered when the alien told him about his father, and how he reacted the same as last time he saw him, 'Zim' was scared, and Dib can't blame him, the boy was still halfway through the entries his father recorded, and for now, the entries became more and more...sick. He couldn't imagine what his father may have done.
Dib held his hands in the air, showing them to the irken, like saying 'i'm unarmed' but even this didn't get the alien to calm down,
"I've seen some of my dad's records..." Dib started, "and um... i don't have any interest in doing the same..." if Dib was fourteen, he'd want the alien open right here, right now. But he wasn't that kid anymore, he still wanted to know what was inside of the irken, but seeing such a sight made him sick.
The first time he saw him, the irken didn't seem that scared, but rather confused, but when he knew that the professor was his father, Dib assumed that the alien thought he'd do the same, hurt him, just like the 'lab man' did.
The alien stayed in place, still not trusting Dib's words.
He sighed in defeat, he'll need to work on that.
"Whatever..." he rolled his eyes, and decided he won't get anything more from the alien for now, shifting his weight on the other leg, and moved away from the tube, he still has to listen to more entries; even though, with every next entry he watches, the tests become more and more savage.
He crossed through the tables and sat down in the chair, cheeks in hand, and elbow in the chair arm, even after two cups of coffee, he still felt exhausted, maybe because he was emotionally tired, he sighed again, and clicked the next entry,
'LOADING ENTRY TWENTY-SEVEN...'
Dib then paused it before it even starts, eyes half-closed, heavy breath and legs that feels like noodles, "maybe i should go back home..." he told himself then looked at the time, 9:22 PM, he'll still have to come back tomorrow, he still had the whole huge lab to discover, and that was enough shocks for one day, he didn't want anything now but to sleep before his not-a-big head explodes, he yawned, yep, sleeping will solve his headache, the alien isn't going anywhere, and won't talk to him now either, so there was no need to hurry.
The lab was cold, and Dib would work on the high white lights, it hurt his eyes, and maybe next time he'll wear a sweater; he turned off the computer, and stood up, walking towards the main door while taking his lab coat off, the main door opened with a hiss, he entered the waiting room, it was much warmer than the lab now that Dib came to think about it,
once stepping outside, the door closed with a click letting Dib know it was locked, he leaned to zip his pack and get his trench coat out, he missed how warm and familiar it was, tossing the lab coat in the pack, he got his trench coat out and slid his arms in it and gave a sigh, then zipped the pack close, and put it in his shoulder; he turned around and give the waiting room one last glance before stepping out and towards the elevator.
999999
Dib arrived home around 10 PM,
he missed how warm his apartment was, it had technology here and there, but Dib sometimes likes normal stuff people put in their houses, and since he and his sister were quite rich, they could buy anything they want, and now that their father is dead, they had all the money anyone would dream of, but they still liked small things, and still like the old gross pizza place and the 'krazy taco place' too.
He threw his pack on the ground, and went to take a shower, a shower was a good idea after the crazy day he had; in the bathroom, Dib fill the tub with warm water, and got in, only half his face showing, his hair-lock laid wet in his face, he could see his blurry skinny knees in front of him, he hugged himself tighter, then drowned himself,
he does this often when he wants his brain to stop thinking and focusing on his breath, and it usually works, but not this time, Dib squeezed his eyes shut, he wanted all the voices in his head to leave him alone, after a minute he gasped for air, disappointed that his thoughts still danced inside his brain, he shifted his hands and put them on his eyes, he hissed as the water he was in started getting cold, reminding him that he spent almost an hour in the tub, he sighed and got out, taking his white towel and placed it in his hips, And didn't even bother to look at the mirror since he knew he looked like a zombie, he went from the bathroom to his room, and closed the door even though nobody was home besides him,
Looking in his drawer, he got out some gray boxers, a black shirt, and some white socks, and slide them on, it felt good to be in new clothes that didn't have the lab smell, he really begin to hate the color white now for some reason, just about closing the drawer, he saw something shining for underneath the clothes, he gave a confused look and leaned down to see what it was, his eyes went wide as his hands caught an old looking object, it wasn't any object, it was his old 'paranormal investigation bag' he couldn't remember when was the last time he opened it, but probably about five years ago, he remembered how the kids bullied him because of it, so he stopped taking it with him, afraid that the kids may come back and punch him or step on him like they always did, in that time he slowly forgot about it, with his schoolwork, and how sometimes he wanted to impress his father and stop 'embarrassing' him,
Of course, Dib never gave up on his dream, but it was buried under work and fear of being judged by his father.
Dib felt its surface, it had some scratches here and there from the times when he runs for his life from the bullies, he hugged it tight to his chest, he missed that determined kid in him, he wanted him back, he wanted to feel excited about paranormal things like before, he wanted to go back and chase after big-foot and vampires when he was young, he didn't have a proof, but now, now he was in charge of the biggest proof the world may see, if he could turn the alien to the government the bullies and all the people will stop calling him crazy and insane, they will see him as a hero, he, Dib Membrane, will be the savior of earth, everyone will remember his name, and...
His thoughts stopped, his younger self wanted fame just to impress his father, but, what father now, his dad is dead, there is no point in doing so. All his good thoughts were replaced by rotten ones, he didn't want fame, he didn't want people to believe him and remember him, all he wanted now was his father.
Even though his dad was always at work, he was still his dad, and he loved him, he wished he said that to him before it is too late. A flashback of the irken's scared expressions played in his head, he wasn't a monster to turn the broken little alien to heartless people, right?
After all, the alien wasn't here to hurt humans, and he was his father's discovery, his father kept him a secret for a reason, and Dib won't go and ruin everything, now, that's he's the only one who knows about the alien, only he knew that he didn't mean harm to the earth, and only he will cut him open if he had too.
this is the end of chapter 2, i really wanted to make it longer, but i thought i should end it here, i'm already working on the next chapter, so it may come out a few days after this one, and i'll try my best to make it longer.
this is alien freak signing off.