Corrupted Memory
By: 99Alien-Freak99 & Xmimi89eR
Rate: T
Story will contain: blood/ violence/ anorexic/ depression/ strong language.
(ZaDr!)
Disclaimer: We do not own invader Zim, but we own the story and idea.
English is our second language, my apologies if there are any mistakes.
Our stories do not contain lemon.
-XXX-
Deep in the Membrane's house, sat a raven-haired boy, his hair-lock moving slowly with the wind coming from his window, he sat on his bed, arms folded on the edge of the open window, a cigarette in his hand, he'd inhale the toxic smoke to his lungs then exhale, letting it out after it hits his organs; ruining them just for a moment of... what should he call it? Happiness? Maybe calmness would be a better name.
Amber eyes gazing upwards at the night sky, stars shining on his round glasses. It wasn't summer vacation yet, but he still liked to stay late, so the young adult had nothing to do but rethink how pointless life could be. As years pass by, even with bullying and humiliating, he still held to his beliefs, still thinks there's something humans don't know about, or rather doesn't want to know about. He sighed heavily, almost hissing at how stupid his people could be sometimes.
He knew something was out there, right there between the stars, far away from their solar system. New planets, maybe. Maybe even new races, who knows. Aliens.
Just the thought of this gave him a slight hope but also fear. What if these aliens wanted to destroy his planet? And with humans carelessly not believing in them, then Earth would be an easy target.
But what if they came here in peace? Everyone will see that he was right, that paranormal things do exist, all of them! ...But who is he kidding? They could see an alien and just say it's a kid in a Halloween disguise. It's just pointless.
But that didn't stop him, even after finishing high school and being in college, he still wanted to prove he was right, to prove it to everyone. Everyone who ever laughed at him would regret it, he'll be famous, everyone will take him seriously!
Yet again, did it really matter? They're too stupid and will always stay that way.
After finishing his cigarette, he turned it off by moving the tip on his window edge, hearing a small hiss coming from it before throwing it away, not closing the window, the 20-year-old sat heavily on his computer seat, glancing at the radar he had since a long time, something to detect ships that may get close to Earth, or any weird things closing to it. It was a handmade device he had since the fifth grade, only upgrading it with every passing year.
He never got tired of turning it on, though his computer needed to rest sometimes, he really didn't want it to explode on his face; so he usually use it at night, just to stare at the stars and hear whatever thing that may exist in there.
He sighed, it was getting late, even though it's a weekend, he still needed sleep. Standing up, he was about to turn his laptop off again, disappointed, when a beeping sound could be heard from his headphones. Amber eyes shot to the screen, there was something new in there.
Sitting quickly, he put the headphones on, flinching at the loud noise, a unique sound. On the screen was a flashing red file, blinking. That file wasn't there before.
Feeling anxiety sneak to his spine, he clicked the odd-looking file. A red screen with a weird black symbol appeared, looking like it's loading, then the symbol was replaced with words, weird words that glitched for a moment before it was translated into English.
Irken S.O.S signal.
Ship code: VC-99356
Location: N-S-68001528-553081 (5kpc)
Being unable to help require you to resend this to The Massive.
The boy named Dibson Membrane, known as Dib, frowned his eyebrows, leaning to take a better look at what he was reading. The letters were shaking and glitching every two seconds.
"A SOS signal?..." he murmured, rereading it. "This can't be right, someone's probably messing with me." He hissed, hating that anyone would give him false hope. Can't they get the hell out of his hair? even when he stopped talking about the paranormal, the other kids- he can't even call them adults- still liked crashing his dreams. What a wonderful life.
"Irken...? What in the world?"
This can't be someone's prank... he thought to himself, writing down the location. These numbers seem like they mean something, they're not just blindly written.
"N-S-68001528-553081..." he hummed in thoughts, then something clicked, that is a location! If he learned something from hacking into NASA then this is a right location, though it seems far. So far away...
An alien spaceship?
But that can't be it, right? It's... no not impossible just-... too good to be true? Can this actually be real? He truly didn't want to rise his hopes up, because he knew they'll crash in the end.
He looked at the clock: 2:36 AM... maybe he'll check on it tomorrow, it's not like it will disappear.
Just to make sure, he grabbed his phone and took a photo. Just in case. Then got under his sheets, thoughts of what aliens may look like, will he ever see one?
Dreams clouded his mind, dragging him to a deep sleep.
-XXX-
"Come closer..."
Small feet dragged themselves, feeling insecure, afraid.
"Good..." said the tall one to the left, "Turn around."
"Yes, m- my tallest..." he looked at their faces, both blurry, their movements were slow, everything seemed too dark to see.
The small Irken's eyes shot open, waking up with a gasp, his skin was sweating, heart pounding inside, he stood on his knees too fast everything began to spin. Panting for a moment, he checked his PAK, wanting to see how long has he been sleeping...
F- four days?!
He can't be this tired! Right? He wasn't injured, or-...
Maybe his people sleep that long...
Do they sleep at all? That didn't sound right to him.
Gloved hands found their way to his head, it hurt so much, he felt lightheaded, white dots appeared in his sight. He was hungrier than before, mouth dryer, and his eyelids were too heavy, it seemed his PAK was doing this to save his power, just like the ship.
Shifting slightly, he was too tired to do anything but sit in the corner, it's not like he can do anything anyway, trying his best not to look at the windshield, he was too afraid of the darkness outside, as if looking at it, it may swallow him alive, killing him; it's not like he doesn't feel dead anyway...
Would I ever go home?
Where is home?
Does he have a home at all? That big X didn't make him feel welcomed...
A loud noise made him jump, the ship blinked red light as the hologram came to life again, demanding his attention. With fearful eyes of what that was supposed to mean, the Irken stood on tired legs, holding at the walls as he made it to the pilot seat, he sat there with a tired huff and looked at the screen, not knowing what's happening.
After typing slowly, he noted it wasn't a warning; thankfully, he's not going to die...
What is it then?
Searching with self-taught, he managed to remember something useful, using it, the hologram screen turned slightly pink.
'SOS SIGNAL HAVE BEEN DELIVERED AND READ.'
He blinked, Someone saw his signal? His signal had reached someone! He couldn't help the small smile that danced on his lips, at less now someone knows where he is, they'll come for him, they'll save him! He won't be alone anymore!
But why haven't they answered yet...?
Can they answer at all?
What if they didn't want to help him...?
Oh no. Anxiety and depression sneaked to him again, putting a heavy weight on his shoulders, no they can't just leave him, he needs help, he wants to go back home...!
Tears flowing down, face heating up with newfound anger, they can't ignore him! They just can't, he won't let them! Typing quickly, he decided to send more SOS signals, two more should catch the others attention!
His anger started to fade, leaving him broken with tears, his mouth twitching while his legs and arms were shaking, his PAK was humming to cool down his nerves. Falling to the ground, the Irken had nothing to do but to go back to his spot in the corner, and hope that he'll see daylight again.
Sleep sounded good right now.
-XXX-
The week went by for Dib, he ignored the 'SOS signal' claiming it might be fake and just decided to focus on college, it was his first year and he really wanted good grades since summer vacation is on the door, and with all the exams and long teachers and professors talks it didn't give him space to see what the hell is that signal about.
But it's still was bugging him.
With the location being real, and the fact his race's too stupid to come up with a prank like that, his paranormal investigator side was curious, it didn't let him sleep well at night.
He laid in bed, staring at the ceiling, his computer was open just in case something happened like that time. It glowed blue light in the room, it made him calm.
Sighing, he flipped to the side, and closed his eyes, deciding if anything happened he'll see it in the morning.
He slept for five hours, it was almost time for school when he heard a beeping noise, his hand shifted to turn off his alarm, clicking it, but the noise didn't stop so he clicked it again this time harshly, his eyes began to open with an annoyed sigh but then he froze. That wasn't his alarm clock!
The beeping noise stopped for a second then restarted making Dib jump to the computer, almost falling in his bedsheets, he felt lightheaded after standing too fast.
"Shut it off, Dib!" Gaz screamed from her room.
Dib flinched and plugged his headphones, then put it on his head, he grabbed his glasses, settling them in the bridge of his nose, staring at the weird language as it glitched and translated to English.
It was the same message, but two of them.
Irken S.O.S signal. (1)
Ship code: VC-99356
Location: N-S-67001324-552778 (5kpc)
Being unable to help require you to resend this to The Massive.
And:
Irken S.O.S signal. (2)
Ship code: VC-99356
Location: N-S-65001088-551054 (4.6kpc)
Being unable to help require you to resend this to The Massive.
It almost looked the same but no, the location was different, almost as if it was-... closer. He adjusted his glasses, looking at the clock, it was still five in the morning, he got time to see this through.
Getting his blue sketchbook out, he wrote the same locations, then the location of Earth, his brain was a little fuzzy but he tried his best to solve this, where ever this signal was coming from, it's far, and whoever sent it shouldn't be human. And this... inhuman was in danger, asking for help and Dib was the only one capable of doing that.
After a two-page long math, he hacked into the SOS signal, maybe there's a chance he'd call that ship, or at less get more information, just to be sure it wasn't a fucked up prank.
The system was hell hard to hack into, even harder than NASA, it frustrated him but also made him hold his breath, nobody can do a system like that, it was written in a completely alien language with strong codes and firewalls. He was surprised it didn't blow up his computer.
'ACCESSIBLE ENTRY'
"Yes!" He whispered/screamed, feeling like a genius at the moment, if that was an alien spaceship, then god did he just hack into it?! Wow!
The ship's files opened, most of them were corrupted, glitchy, or also blocked. Not having time to hack any more, Dib began to search in the files, waiting slightly for it to translate to English.
Voot Cruiser
Ship code: VC-99356
State: under repair (paused)
Rank: Invader Voot Cruiser
Model Code: OS-670
Owner Code: Z-22-014986355
Dib's expression turned to fear, "Invader? Cruiser?" The alien is an invader with a warship! And he's close to Earth- not too close but! "Oh no..."
But... the ship is under repair, right? That means it's broken somehow, is that why that alien was asking for help? Maybe if he helped them then they'll leave his planet alone! Or maybe they won't... but he had to try, maybe he'll finally be able to see a real alien! His childhood dream!
Is there a way he could send them a message? Maybe a transmission?
He typed and opened other files, searching for anything that may get him in contact with the alien. "Alright, let's see..."
'COMMUNICATION'
This should be it! He clicked it, waiting some more for it to load, it seemed a little glitchy in here too.
Communication lines:
Transmissions: 4,6k times. Unable to reconnect to service.
Incoming transmissions from the tallest: 3 times. Unable to reconnect to the service.
Outsider planets transmissions: 566 times. Unable to reconnect to service.
Insider planets transmissions: 63 times. Unable to reconnect to service.
Outgoing SOS signals: 5 times. Connection available.
Ingoing SOS signals: 8 times. Connection available.
Incoming messages: 44 times. Connection available.
Outgoing messages: 744 times. Connection available.
Dib frowned, almost everything is unavailable, all broken... but at less he has the messages one on, he still had a chance of knowing the truth! To see for himself if that was an alien!
Leaning forward, he hacked quickly to the messages file, it wasn't that hard with a half-broken firewall and the fact he was a hacker.
A red window opened, something that looked like an old computer messages app. Looking at the keyboard, he clicked one, eyes studying the screen, the letter was entered! It works!
He thought about it for a moment, what should he write? He had a lot of questions.
(Who are you?)
It was the first question he wrote, who was he? He needed to know!
(Who are you? Why do you need help?)
He added, wanting a one-go message.
(Who are you? Why do you need help? Where are you?)
With this, he pressed the button that said: Enter.
And waited. Not sure if his message will reach the alien, if it did then he was sure the other will respond since he needed help.
"Dib! School starts in ten minutes! Move your ass!" Gaz screamed from downstairs.
The boy gasped, ten minutes?! Shit-
Changing his pajama quickly, he ran downstairs with his black backpack, not bothering with breakfast.
END OF CHAPTER TWO!
AF: now we're with the Dib! I really like naming him Dibson for some reason, it just fits since his sister is named Gazlene.
I hope you enjoyed, any reviews are highly appreciated 3!
This was Alien freak, signing off.