Summary:
For Dib Membrane, his life felt like it was a stained-glass variation of the truth. Like a puzzle whose end picture was the complete opposite of what it should have been. He never knew why he felt this way; his life was perfect. What could be wrong about it? Perhaps it had something to do with the awry feeling that would wash over him whenever he stepped foot into his father's lab. Or maybe it has something to do with those stray fragments of what could possibly be memories. Or by some chance, it had something to do with the small green-skinned man that made Dib's chest tighten and his brain hammer against the skull of his totally normal-sized head.
Dib had to bite down the inexplicable urge to call him an alien. How silly of him. Everyone knows that aliens don't exist.
(An alternative universe in which Dib a 23-year-old non-believer working with his father in his lab and Zim is a wanted space criminal.)
Author's Note:
Hey, ItsAstroAtlas here! I just want to let you guys know that I SUCK at writing and I'M SO SORRY that this is not that great. This is an idea that popped into my mind and I wanted to try out. Also, this chapter hasn't been edited yet since I'm not entirely sure if I want to keep going with this or if I should delete it. AND, I sort of just gave up halfway through, so expect a sudden drop in the writing. I might come back to fix this one this one day. If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns for this fanfic be sure to let me know here or on Tumblr! With that said, would you kindly enjoy your day?
Most people would have been hysterical with fear at this sight, but he was captivated.
Perhaps his father was right; he was insane.
He treasured and adored their unworldly beauty, selfishly wanting to keep this rarity to himself. To him, he believed they should be kept a secret; a mystery that shouldn't be exposed to the world. It wasn't like the world wanted to see them anyway. They were too ignorant to see their loveliness like he could.
And it never mattered how many times he had seen them before, he always found himself entrapped by their charming and brilliant ruby color. They allured him, greedily stealing all of his attention whenever he gazed into them. Their vibrant red grounded him to the edge of the bed where he sat, reassuring him that he was actually there; that he was actually staring into those two round circles; and that they, to his disbelief, were actually staring back at him.
Dib Membrane couldn't feel any luckier.
Up close, he could see a sprinkle of sparkles scattered throughout their round sea of scarlet, enhancing their overall stunning appearance. They radiated with warmth and familiarity against the cold cast of faint sapphire moonlight peering into the room. Their soft glow pierced through the blackness, bringing forth a sense of comfort and reassurance. It was a type of solace insisting that among the darkness was an ally who would be there to accompany him when he thought he was alone. The type to imply that he would not have to continue being burned by the flames of his problems that have been scorching his heart. They were silent supporters that whispered gentle, easing promises declaring peace and denoted how everything would be okay.
And perhaps by some slim chance, everything would be.
However, the brimming compassion coming from these ruby-colored beauties was flawed. They were never created to be sympathetic and tender. Within their glossy redness, it was possible to see that they possessed a desire for destruction and pain. There was a glint of smirking amusement at the idea of feeling needed by others, especially those who were deeply troubled. Dib could also see a glimmer of humor when those beauties saw the sight of a shattered heart that had been beaten and bruised. They thrived on the feeling of being sought for desperate guidance and pathetic consolation: as if they were some sort of savior that was placed onto a pedestal by those aching for companionship. Uttering sweet nothings would take no effort from them for all they had to do was shimmer among the darkness, granting a false sense of security to lost souls like Dib. Who's to say that the twinkles glistering in the their glassy redness weren't clear reflections of the tears staining the faces of people they had hurt?
In spite of their intended cruel nature, Dib was still enamored with them. He still believed they were ever so enticing even if, amidst their own kind, they were as dull and as common as stones one would find outside by the sidewalk. For him, these red circular gems were as precious as diamonds.
But, the question is raised; what were these things that had, unbeknownst to themselves, stirred a raging fire within Dib's heart that refused to be extinguished?
Why, they were eyes that didn't have irises and pupils. At least, that is what Dib had finally come to determine as his most rational conclusion. Of course, he denied this answer because there was no biological way these things could be ocular organs.
Dib had spent countless hours browsing the web, looking for any medical condition that had left a human being or animal with solid colored eyes; solid red colored eyes to be exact. Each time, Dib he had come up empty-handed and only more confused than he was before as more questions swarmed in his head: What were these things? Why did they glow in the dark? Were they human? Why did they appear before him? Were they dangerous? Had he actually seen them or were they just a figment of his imagination? Why is he so attached to them if he didn't know what they were? Why did they always calm him down?
Why couldn't Dib forget the memory of them?
All those questions had been curious, whispered wonders that had once unfazed Dib when he wasn't given an answer to them. However, as time went on and Dib started seeing the memory more and more, these murmurs became roaring shouts in his mind. They implored him, urging him to seek for a suitable reply that would satisfy his hunger for knowledge about these things that had started to leave him up at night.
At some point, Dib had become desperate for any logical response. He thought of them as flashlights, nightlights, lightbulbs, bright neon disks, and even as a strange type of glow-in-the-dark stars. Once, he was on the verge of thinking these gentle luminescents as neon sunglasses his sister probably wore one night in his room until he saw them blink. Since then, Dib was a strong believer that they were eyes. Of what creature they belonged to, he didn't know. But what he did know was that they didn't belong to a human being.
Was he crazy to think that? Probably, but Dib would rather be crazy then in denial about this.
What had surprised Dib was how after accepting the thought of these ruby beauties to actually be ocular organs, he quickly started remembering other things within that memory. It had shocked him because while Dib believes he had once seen these ruby eyes when he was younger, he's not entirely sure. Whenever this memory comes back to him, it's always hazy and blurry. Dib could only describe it like a constant overlay of T.V. static placed over the recollection, preventing him from seeing it replay. And whenever he had tried to focus all of his attention on it, attempting to recall any more details, the image eluded him, kicking him out of his own memory. Dib hated it. Being teased about seeing something so beautiful but being denied the ability to learn more about it aggravated him. Yet, nothing was more infuriating than the throbbing migraines that fleeting memory would leave him as punishments for trying to dig deeper.
However, with the newfound permission the evocation granted with allowing Dib to see more of the memory, he managed to remember a significant amount of information. He could remember a ghostly sensation of a clawed hand cupping his cheek, the faint smell of something burning in the air, the taste of salty tears on his lips, and the indistinct silhouette of another person who looked like they could be human. As of today, much to Dib's disappointment, that is all he could seem to recall besides those charming eyes.
Those eyes. God, were they gorgeous. If he could, Dib would love to crawl into them and forever live inside them if it meant he would always be surrounded by their elegant splendor. Obviously he can't do this, so Dib thought of just carving out the eyeballs from this creature and preserve them in a container in his office. However, he eventually decided against it because of the chance of damaging them during their extraction. Of course, he would try his best to be careful and take it slow, but he just didn't want to risk it. Another idea came to mind of finding this creature alive and locking them away in a cage in his home so that he would always be able to see those eyes whenever he wanted. Although, the idea of someone finding this being in his home and taking it away to study it alarmed him. Dib didn't want anyone else to study this being; didn't want anyone else to see it; he saw them first, they revealed themselves to him. If Dib really wanted this red eye phenomenon to be showed off to the world, then it would be he who would do it on his own terms. He would be the one to research it, experiment with it, and expose it with his name as the founder because Dib needed everyone to know, that even after his death, this spectacle of bewitching delight was his; they belonged to him.
Okay, it's official; he really was unhinged.
"Dib, stop!"
Dib was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of his father's voice and snapped back into reality, blinking a couple times to readjust his vision. Immediately, the overwhelming sense of feeling out-of-place consumed him, making him realize just how much he hated being in real life and reminded him how much he loved losing himself to his thoughts. Whenever he was conscious, Dib felt like he was in a weird state of being in a dream and being in reality. Every feeling was dulled; every sight a bit blurry; every word said was slightly muffled; every smell weakened; and every situation felt surreal as if it was and wasn't happening. Dib felt like his life wasn't connected properly as if he was a wire that wasn't connected properly to its source.
In a way, Dib thought he was constantly being submerged by someone into a pool of water, although while he could still breathe, it was hard to do so. Every breath took too much energy, every movement of his lungs too heavy and slow. Someone talking was muddled speech happening from above the water's surface and no matter how much Dib shouted at them to pull him out, no one heard him. He tried to swim up to free himself, but the hands pushing him down prevented him. Their strength was much stronger than his since he had spent years struggling and his body was finally giving in to the weight of the water surrounding him. At some point, Dib had stopped fighting this feeling. He let himself stay underwater and when those hands noticed his surrender, they let him go, letting Dib sink deeper and deeper into the watery abyss below him. Dib doesn't know how far he sank.
He deemed the idea of his soul exiting his body to watch everything go by like normal was actually plausible considering how disillusioned he felt. And the worst part about this whole experience was that this was a feeling Dib knew all too well and is something he's dealt with for years.
Once Dib's eyes refocused, he saw his mug overflow with coffee, which he was still pouring more into, on the counter before him. The dark liquid to spewed out of the container and everywhere on the marble surface, creating a much bigger mess. Startled by the disorder he was still making, Dib jumped back, letting go of the coffee pot in the process.
"Oh, shit!" Dib cursed, watching in horror as the glass container exploded on the tile floor, scattering the shattered pieces in various directions before his feet. A sickening silence filled the break room as Dib stared at the broken pot with pursed lips, already feeling dread at the upcoming lecture and migraine he would get later in the day. Behind him, Dib could hear his father clearing his throat, a sense of disappointment interlacing within the sound. Dib doesn't let his father down very often, so he would know what it sounds like when Professor Membrane was unhappy with him.
"Dib—" Professor Membrane started.
"I'm sorry!" Dib exclaimed, bending down to pick up the pieces. He reached for the nearest stray glass. "I'll clean it up right now."
"No, son, there's broken glass. You'll—"
A hiss of pain escaped Dib's lips as he quickly retracted his hand, seeing a thin stream of blood flow down the tip of his index finger. Professor Membrane sighed.
"—cut yourself."
"Sorry." Dib stood up before making his way to the sink, turning on the water and then positioning the wounded digit underneath the running faucet. He felt as though he made the whole thing a little worse just by trying to clean up the mess he made. It was pretty stupid of him to even consider the idea of picking up shards of glass with his bare hands. He knew he shouldn't have tried because they have janitors who they pay to do this, but Dib never liked the idea of having others do things for him, especially if was fixing problems he caused.
When Dib heard the sound of low, fuzzy humming coming from the entrance to the hallway, he didn't even have to look to know that his dad's business associates had floated into the room. Despite his father being the founder of Membrane Labs of Science and Technology and Dib personally working for the organization for five years, he has yet to see these people in real life. He's gotten so used to seeing them within their blue-tinted monitors, almost forgetting that these were real people who actually have torsos and legs.
"Membrane-sama, we heard a crash. Is everything okay?" a Japanse man said as his screen glided over to Professor Membrane. Behind him, a small flock of other hovering displays with various faces followed.
"Oh, we're fine. My son just happened to have his head in the clouds again and I startled him, causing him to drop the coffee pot." Professor Membrane gestured to the shambles of what was left of the container on the ground. The group turned their screens to see the mess and they all broke out in concerned mumbles as they shook their heads.
"How terrible."
"What a shame."
"How could he waste such good coffee?"
Dib tried his best to ignore these comments as he shut off the water and dried his hand. He turned to face his father and felt his chest tightened at the concerned and anxious look Professor Membrane had given him when they made eye contact. Granted, half of his dad's face was concealed by his lab coat and his eyes were shielded by his goggles, but Dib knew his father and he could figure out what kind of emotion his dad was experiencing by now. He sort of had to know how to read his father's expressions since he worked alongside him everyday for nearly 12 hours at a time. Dib shifted his gaze from his dad to the floor before he walked over to the break room's digital control panel that was mounted on the wall, looking for the button to call for a janitor.
"Your son sure is a bit of an airhead, isn't he?" A random woman in the crowd of monitors asked. Professor Membrane chuckled heartily.
"Yes, well, that's what happens when you study anything relating to astronomy!"
An eruption of laughter came and echoed throughout the room, filling Dib's ears with the seemingly mocking sound. He glared at the array of buttons on the panel, feeling anger and embarrassment flooding throughout his body. So what if he decided to go into astronomy and work on astro-physics, astro-biology, and whatnot? It was his fucking life and it was the only option that appealed to both him and his dad. Space always interested Dib, and against all the various sciences that his father had offered him to study, it was the one that he felt like he would actually sort of enjoy. The universe was full of mysterious unknowns and there was so much of it out there that was just waiting to be explored. But sure, continue to laugh at his apparently stupid college degree and career choice in it.
Amongst the noise, Dib's hearing picked up his father's chortles right before he cleared his throat.
"I do, however, apologize for Dib's abestmindness. He underwent a tragic head accident a couple years ago that makes him go insane from time to time."
Once Dib had found the "Call Janitor" button, he tapped on it before turning around to stare at Professor Membrane with cold, narrowed eyes. "I told you before already," He walked over to where his father was standing near the counter which he was mindlessly wiping down due to Dib's mess. "I don't go insane, I just zone out and see these weird memories."
"Son, we discussed this," Professor Membrane interjected, a gloved index finger raising up to shake disapprovingly at Dib. "Those are not memories. Those are nothing more than—"
"Hallucinations," Dib finished with a dejected sigh, eyeing the spilt coffee on the counter. "Yeah, that's what I meant to say. I see weird hallucinations. Not memories." Dib looked up to Professor Membrane and could see his father's eyes crinkle at the edges through his goggles, leading Dib to assume that he was grinning at his son's acceptable answer. Dib tried to force a grin back but he was pretty sure it came out as a small, pathetic, crooked smile.
While Dib did strongly suspect that those "hallucinations" were memories, he didn't try to go against his father. When he first started to have these recollections he did tell his dad about it. In fact, Professor Membrane was the first person he told. He had hoped that the man would have answers to why he suddenly started having memories of things that defied all natural laws and normalities when he woke up from his week long coma all those years ago. For instance, Dib could have sworn he remembered being on the planet Venus, using it as a spaceship to fight another planet; Mars, he thinks. Then there was the memory of being turned into bologna in some abandoned house surrounded by ravenous canines. There was also the memory of when the entire Earth was about to be destroyed by some black hole thing called a "florpus" (or was it called a farpous? Flapous? Florpious? Whatever.) until a tiny, floating, purple moose saved it. He also recalled a giant Hamster named Poopi (or something that) demolishing the entire town. However, Dib thinks that last recollection could have just been from a Japanese movie he once saw.
Yes, Dib is fully aware of how crazy it all sounds. Trust him, he knows. However, he didn't realize this until well after he walked up to his father and explained in detail about all the things that Dib had "remembered." With each confident word that spilled out of Dib's mouth, Professor Membrane eyes shone with more displeasure and disapprobation. Somehow, Dib felt wrong to believe the things that he was saying. He was 19-years-old and a freshman in college at the time, he shouldn't have even considered any of these things that seem so childish and obviously made-up to be true. These memories were just as blurry and hazy as the recollection of those ruby-colored eyes he adores so much, and just like that memory, all of these memories never had a beginning or and end to them. They were clips of moments in time, forever stuck on replay in his mind, unable to reveal anymore than what Dib was able to see. So when he was nearly done describing his memories to his father, although albeit less sure of himself now, Dib wasn't surprised to hear his dad exclaim "Son, none of those things ever happened."
In spite of this answer, Dib strangely felt compelled to defend his memories, exhorting his dad to believe them, even if Dib wasn't fully believing them himself. But there was just no way that these recollections weren't real. They were too random and gave Dib too much of an adrenaline rush for them to be made up by his imagination. When his father shook his head and dismissed his son, Dib went to his sister, Gaz, who ignored his presence and avoided him like the plague, refusing to listen to a word he had to say. Talking to the students in his classes didn't seem to help either, all of them brushing Dib off as him being more insane than usual, which confused him. He had no memory of most of his teenage life so he didn't know if he insanity was part of his behavior. In fact, he seemed to be missing memories from throughout his life up until now. That head injury he suffered from must have been near life-and-death for him to forget about half of his life. But what perplexed Dib about the accident was how if it was so dire to cause this much memory loss, why was he up and walking within a week from when the injury would have occurred?
Nonetheless, that's beside the point. Dib had memories, or what he thought were memories, that no one believed. So, he gave up on them and pretended they were randoms dreams, or visions, or even hallucinations as his dad said. He ignored each recollection he had as he went through university and post-college, never telling anyone about them. He instead focused on his studies, wanting to graduate as quickly as possible and start working at a higher level in his father's lab, which he ended up doing right as he turned 23. On the night of his graduation celebration, a tired and slightly buzzed Dib came home to his apartment late and decided to let himself wind down by staying up and watching something on T.V. for a while. He didn't plan to land on a channel rerunning an odd and poorly funded reality TV show titled, "Mysterious Mysteries," but when the episode for the night focused on the universe and the possibility of alien existence, Dib, who knew almost everything about space and who had also grabbed a beer from his fridge to get drunker, thought it would be good for a laugh to watch.
And it was a good laugh. Dib was unable to stop snorting and chuckling at the sheer stupidity that radiated off the show as he lounged around on the couch, taking sips of his alcohol from time to time. He found himself smiling softly, however he wasn't sure if it was from constantly laughing at the idioticness of "Mysterious Mysteries" or from the sense of warm nostalgia he experienced while viewing it. This was weird to Dib because he doesn't remember ever watching it so he brushed the feeling off as maybe seeing it when he was younger and lost the memory of doing so. Yet, even with this reasoning of having seen this show before, Dib wasn't prepared to see what he saw next on his T.V. He had just come back from his kitchen after grabbing another beer and upon stepping foot into the living room, he heard what appeared to be his prepubescent voice coming from the television. As his eyes locked onto the screen, Dib's heart stopped as he saw himself at a young age, sitting next to some green-skinned kid on the show. He didn't hear what was being said, nor did he focus on the green child, Dib only kept his eyes on his younger self, a swarm of questions corrupting his mind but only one he actually cared for having an answer to:
What the fuck was he doing on T.V. for some shitty ass show?
As Dib gawked at himself, the camera cut away from him to the green child, and the kid, as if sensing the newfound attention on him, turned his gaze from the anchor to glare at the camera, lower lip protruding out a bit.
Dib's blood ran cold at the icy scowl that pierced his heart like an icicle had ran through the glass screen and into his chest. That expression felt personal; almost as if it was directed towards him and not the camera-man himself for placing the audience's full attention on the green boy. But what had Dib done to make the kid so upset at him? Was he the reason they were both on T.V. all those years ago when the show was still running? Who even was this kid?
A sudden flash of vibrant red circles broke Dib out of this thought process, startling him enough for him to drop his beer can onto the floor. He gripped the sides of his pulsating head, feeling each throb of his brain pushing against his skull as the image of those ruby-colored eyes appeared before him. He fell to his knees, pain overloading his head with each pounding thump. The memory came back so unexpectedly and kept phasing in and out of his vision, making it difficult for his mind to register just what the hell he was looking at. Dib wasn't sure how long he had spent doubled over in pain when he looked up from the floor, hands falling limp in his lap after clutching his head for so long. He soon realized that the "Mysterious Mysterious" show was no longer playing and it was instead a rerun of "The Angry Monkey" show, making Dib think that it must have been almost half an hour of sitting in pain.
Dib didn't really care that he missed the episode with him in it. If he really wanted too, he could always look it up later. Right now, he needed to figure out what that image with those ruby-colored things were. Of course, he didn't tell anyone about the new memory. Dib already knew no one would believe him. He was on his own with this. And somehow, this feeling of being a lone wolf in this situation, filled Dib with a sense of normalcy he didn't know he could experience. He felt as though he was so used to being alone when he was younger that he thought that maybe he should still be alone.
Fast forward eight months later to when Dib dropped a coffee pot onto the floor and his dad is bantering with his business colleagues in the same break room as him. Dib believes he knows the feeling of loneliness all too well and while he might be used to being alone in a room full of people, he still hates experiencing this god awful feeling.
"Alright," Professor Membrane said, breaking off from his chain of cheerful laughter. "Should we move back into the conference room and continue our meeting?" He asked the group of floating monitors.
"Yes," spoke the Japanese man. "Let's go do that."
"Wonderful. Follow me."
With that, Dib's father escorted the screens out of the room, leaving Dib standing by himself. He glanced at his overfilled mug and decided he didn't want coffee anymore, bargaining with the option to just grab a bottle of water from the fridge. A couple strides later and Dib was standing in front of the now opened refrigerator, reaching over to grab the bottled H2O when he stopped in his tracks. Two Ruby Red apples were perched on the top shelf among the drinks. Why they were in the fridge didn't matter to Dib, but he saw that they didn't have a sticky note with the name of the owner on them, so he took one before grabbing his water.
After shutting the refrigerator door, Dib looked over the apple as he walked over to rinse it off in the sink, noticing how it shone the same way those ruby-colored eyes did in the light. In fact, they were probably the same scarlet as those eyes, just less vibrant and more dull. Once the fruit was properly cleansed, Dib shook off the excess water on it, admiring the apple until the idea of it being one of the ruby eyeballs popped into his head. A sadistic grin materialized on Dib's lips.
"I wonder if those beauties would be heavy or light?" He wondered out loud to himself, tossing the apple into the air before catching it in his hand. It felt the weight of the fruit, pretending he was holding the ocular organ in his palm. Then, he pressed it to his lips, closing his eyes at the contact. "Would it be slimy and squishy or more of a glassy solid?" Dib mumbled to himself, his smile widening before he opened his mouth and took a bite of the apple. He didn't even try to ignore the idea of the red skin of the fruit being the ruby-colored eyes' sclera and the apple's juices belonging to the eyeball as well. Dib opened his eyes before he stared at the exposed antique white color, giving himself time to chew and swallow the food in his mouth so that he could savor the taste. When he was done, his eyes narrowed at the bitten apple, head tilting to the side with a smirk on his face. "Would it bleed the same ruby red if it was cut open?"
"Dib!" Professor Membrane called out, scaring Dib as he reentered the room. "Come into the conference room. You need to be present for this."
"Oh, right!" Dib cleared his throat, quickly wiping the smile off his face and tossing those ideas out of his head. "Coming!"
With that, Dib is out of the break room and making his way down the hall towards the Membrane Conference room. On his walk there, several workers in lab suits turned to face Dib as he strolled by, nodding their heads and greeting him with "Good afternoon, Mr. Membrane" or "I hope your day is going well, sir." It never failed to amaze Dib as to how everyone is so kind to him just because he's Professor Membrane's son and because he's also their boss. It makes him wonder if they genuinely care about him outside of their business and work relationship. Probably not, because if Dib decided he wanted to tell people about his strange memories, he knows people would just brush him off as "insane." If they really liked Dib, they would support and believe in him, right? Right.
So for as long as Dib possibly can, he'll keep putting on this act of how he cares about these people in the public eye because in all honesty, he really doesn't. He couldn't give two shits about them, he just wants to look good for his father's sake and the sake of the organization. He hasn't done anything to make people adore him like they do, which makes him to assume that these people would turn against him the moment he acts out of what is expected of someone who is the heir of Membrane Labs; a place of real science and out-of-the-box thinking for global improvement. Which working here, by the way, left Dib to quickly learn that focusing on anything that is outside within the realms of science as they know it is heavily discouraged, condemned even. Innovative thinking is expected at Membrane Labs, yet way too much of imaginative thinking is not. It is recommended to be a realistic visionary, but not an abstract fantasist. This explains why Professor Membrane dissuaded Dib from astro-sciences such as cosmology and astrology so that he could practice more concrete subjects such as astrophysics and astrobiology. The phrase, "the sky is the limit" is taken quite literally at the lab, enforcing the idea that everyone should be motivated to do something sky high that could change the world for the better but anything aimed further than that will cause disorder and mayhem.
Dib Membrane, however, hates the ideology his father has established in his organization because to him it's a load of bullshit that prevents the human race from improving even more. There's a whole universe out there to explore, but they're forced to stay within their Earth's atmosphere because it's safe and our comfort zone and there's nothing really out there? Says who? His dad, the supposed genius of the world? The man rejects anything that doesn't make sense to him. Dib loves his father to death, but he won't follow through with that teaching when he takes over the lab. He's going to think of the craziest, wildest, most unbelievable ideas for global improvement and people are going to support him, because when it comes down to it; don't tell Dib Membrane the sky is the limit when there are footsteps on the fucking moon.
But anyway, Dib digresses. When he turned the corner to enter the conference room he didn't expect to hear his father's booming voice.
"Son!" Professor Membrane greeted loudly. "Come, take a seat next to me."
Dib glanced over to the only seat next to his dad at the head of the rectangular table that didn't have a monitor hovering over it. He walked over to the open spot, feeling anxious of the eyes coming from the monitors that followed his every movement. Just as he sat down in the chair, placing his snack and drink down in front of him, Professor Membrane spoke up.
"So what was it that we were discussing again?"
"We were going to talk about junior's new passion project." Some random screen said.
"Ah yes," Professor Membrane turned to face his son, everyone in the room doing the same thing. Dib mentally noted how he hated being in the spotlight nowadays. It was easier to blend in when he was still in high skool and working as a newbie in the lab. "So what is that you've been working on again? I know we talked about this before, but it seems to have slipped my mind."
Dib shifted in his seat, throat clearing. He didn't expect to talk about this today. His first meeting about this project was on Monday and he hasn't spoken to anyone outside of his work group about it since its proposal in the spring. It didn't help his nerves that he didn't have any of his project's plans or had rehearsed how he was going to lead the meeting.
"Uh, I thought we were going to have a meeting about this on Monday?"
"Yes, but for now just give us a little sneak peak about it. Some of our friends here might not make it to the conference."
Dib looked around the room, smiling faces and emotionless eyes stared back at him. He reminded himself that those were real people on the screens.
"Well," Dib chuckled weakly to himself, not knowing how to start. "As some of you may know, my project was proposed in back in March and since then, we've made tremendous progress. We have already finished the blueprint stage and have moved on with building the foundation of—"
"Could you tell us what it is you're making?" Someone asked with a thick arabic accent. Professor Membrane sure did have friends all over the world.
"Yes, sorry," Dib shook his head, cursing himself. "I was getting ahead of myself. I'm in charge of creating the first space cruise ship that would allow us to travel around Earth, our moon, and hopefully, Mars."
At first, the room was silent as the people in the monitors looked at one another, eyes wide at Dib's plan. Then, Dib felt his face heat up in embarrassment as they plunged into laughter. After some time, Professor Membrane stood up from his seat and quieted the room, voice firm and booming.
"Alright, that's enough!"
"We are sorry, Professor," spoke the Japanese man through his final chuckles. "It is just that, why would anyone want to go out to space? Is it not boring and empty like they say?"
"It's not boring!" Dib exclaimed, hands slamming down onto the table's surface as he pushed himself up to stand, his chair falling over behind him. "Our solar system is small compared to the rest of the universe yet it could be full of valuable resources and crucial information that could help our way of life! My cruise ship would be able to stop on the moon and Mars and people would be able to walk on them!"
"But, Junior, have you not heard? Mars disappeared years ago. Astronomers haven't been able to find it since."
Dib stopped moving, his blood running cold as the sudden static memory of him watching Mars fly into the Asteroid Belt took over his mind. With wide eyes, he looked over at the Japanese man.
"W-what?"
"Mars cannot be found in its orbit."
"N-No," Dib shook his head, denying the new information he was receiving. "A planet doesn't just...vanish! It's there, you guys just aren't looking in the right place! It's there! It has to be!"
"Professor Membrane," A Hispanic women who sat across from Dib spoke up, turning everyone's attention to her. "Are you really letting this boy be in charge of space travel when he didn't even know Mars no longer exists?"
"It exists!" Dib interjected. "It has too! If it didn't, why is no one talking about its sudden disappearance? Why didn't they cover it in the media or tell me when I was in skool?!"
"They didn't want the public to panic," The women explained. "Plus, who cares? It's Mars, it's not like it mattered."
"What?! Of course it mattered! Mars was the only planet we could live on besides Earth!"
"Why would we ever want to leave Earth? We already have everything we need to live comfortably here."
Dib smacked a hand against his forehead, feeling himself lose his patience. Just as he felt himself about to burst from the lack of care these people had, his dad cleared his throat.
"Everyone stop. I was a part of the group that attended Dib's proposal conference and gave him the go ahead. After some time explaining the benefits of this plan, Dib pointed out how good it would be to make a cruise ship that went out in space. Besides the money profit, it could be educational for children on field trips or for students seeking to being astronomers like Dib when he was still in university. And it would still be a cruise ship, so travellers would still be pampered as if they were on a very long vacation. The only difference between this cruise ship and a traditional one is that this one is in space. However, that is only the surface of what this space cruise ship has to offer. We can discuss this more on Monday. For now, let us just talk about something else."
As Professor Membrane continues to speak, Dib sighed heavily, moving to pick up his chair again. Before he sat down, he glanced over at the spanish women in front of him. She smiled slyly at him with a wink, making Dib's blood boil.
"Puta estúpida," Dib swore in spanish. He rarely spoke it since his family spoke English at home and at work, but after a culture project he did in high skool, he thought it would be cool to learn some of his mexican roots, including the language.
The hispanic woman's smile dropped immediately which was replaced by a snarl. Dib held back a laugh. He knew he shouldn't be severing business ties before he even took over Membrane Labs, but he couldn't resist. She really was a stupid whore.
The rest of the meeting went by rather quickly and Dib didn't even notice that it had cut into the night. When everyone was floating out of the room, Dib had peered out of the room's many windows and noticed how the sun had already set beyond the horizon, making him wonder how long they've been talking about various current and new projects. He had hoped to spend a little more time on his cruise ship before he went home for the weekend, but he guessed he would just have to come in earlier on Monday to make sure he got everything ready.
"Son," Professor Membrane called, walking over to place a hand on Dib's shoulder. Dib looked up from his seat, watching his dad shift his weight from one foot to the other. "Listen, I'm sorry that they didn't take your project seriously."
"It's fine, dad." Dib said, brushing his father's hand off his shoulder before standing up. "It's not the first time people thought my idea was stupid." Dib pushed his chair in and picked up his empty water bottle along with the apple core to go toss it in the trash. "I'm used to this."
Professor Membrane stayed silent for a while, probably searching for the right things to say. Eventually, he spoke, words coming out slow as if they were testing the waters.
"Yes, but...Why do you deal with this? The backlash? No one really supports your passion project, in fact, I didn't either at first. Why a space cruise ship? Why astronomy? You're a brilliant inventor, Dib, yet you chose to dedicate your time to something that is based on loose ideas and theories. There is no guarantee that you would even succeed in travelling far into space, let alone Mars."
"Dad," Dib sighed. "I really don't want to hear this from you too."
"I'm sorry, Dib, but I want to understand. Even with everyone against you, you keep going with this project. Why?"
Dib shrugged, not really knowing how to answer that. To be honest, he didn't really know why he was doing this either. Something inside him told him that he should go out into space and look around, search for something that was waiting for him to go and get it. From the moment he recovered from his head injury, he was drawn to the night sky and looked at it with hope and wonder in his eyes. Looking up at the darkness of the night and dreaming of finding that thing gave Dib a small sense of clarity. As if space was somewhere he was suppose to be. For once, he felt somewhat in tune with his body and his surroundings. His indistinct and suppressed sensibility felt sort of fixed. Dib could feel things to an extent and he believed he was alive. Space reassured him that he was real and that he existed and Dib, couldn't be happier with this feeling. Of course, astronomy never made him feel as clear as those ruby-colored eyes did, but the sensation was similar. Dib started to think that in some way, those eyes were the ones who were waiting for him up in space somewhere.
So when his dad asked him to change his university major to something besides parapsychology (which he didn't understand why he had chosen in the first place), Dib chose astronomy. Since then, Dib had waited for the opportunity to go explore into space and when that opportunity came in the form of building a cruise ship, Dib was ecstatic. Each day that he spent working on his ship made him feel closer to finding the thing that kept leaving him up at night to stare at the stars just a little longer before going to sleep.
"I just want to, dad. Is that so hard to believe?"
Professor Membrane sighed heavily, shoulders slumping a bit.
"Yes. Yes, it is, Dib. You're going to be in charge of Membrane Labs soon and I need to know that you're going to be making smart investments and lead great projects. I let you do this project in the hopes that you understand what you will be dealing with once I'm gone. These people will look up to you for guidance and they can't follow someone who they think is delusional, has his head in the clouds, and does things just because he wants to."
Dib rolled his eyes, but nodded his head in understanding. He hated talking about himself with his dad because it always led to these types of disagreements.
"Okay, fine, don't worry about it. I promise you that once this project is over, I'll stop with the daydreaming and actually start to focus on my job like you want me to. By that point, I would have already finished the ship, travelled into space, and found what I would have wanted to find."
"And what is it that you are looking to find in space, son?"
Dib mentally slapped himself. This is what he gets for revealing too much. He can't let his dad know that the only real reason he wants to travel into space is to look for someone who had red-colored eyes that probably doesn't even exist.
"Nothing!" Dib replied quickly. "I'll just find myself. I'm a little lost right now, so I think I'll find myself when I go in space. It's pretty calm up there so it could be therapeutic, y'know?" Dib let out a feeble and unconvincing laugh as he walked backwards from his father and moved towards the door. "Anyway, I should go. It's kind of late and Tak is probably waiting for me in the lounge and I don't want my butt kicked for taking too long again."
Professor Membrane lit up at the mention of Tak, forgetting the previous discussion they were having.
"Tak? Well, it is rude to keep your little girlfriend waiting. You should hurry and go then."
Dib tripped over his own feet but caught himself from falling over. His cheeks flared a light pink.
"Dad! She's not my girlfriend! Why do you keep saying that?"
"Of course she isn't," Professor Membrane laughed, obviously unconvinced at Dib's words. "Aren't you a little old to be playing this denial game? How does your girlfriend feel about you lying about this at this age?"
Dib bit the inside of his cheek as his fingernails dug into the palm of his hands to keep himself from screaming. There was no use to keep denying it at this point. Dib had played along with this idea for a while to protect his sanity before and that's probably the reason as to why his dad thinks they're dating. However, he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up.
"Dad, we're not dating. I'm not even entirely sure I like gir—"
The slam of an opening door cut Dib short, making his flinch and jump away to avoid getting in the way of whatever it was that came into the room. When he looked to see the person who now stood in the middle of the room, fuming and seething, Dib gulped dryly in fear.
"Oh, fuck." He whispered to himself.
"Membrane, you bloody little shit!" Tak swore, her british accent lacing into each word that left her mouth. She looked around the room to spot Dib but when her eyes locked on Professor Membrane, she quickly put on a happy, polite act. She walked over to him, hand coming out for a handshake, which he took. "Hi there, Professor Membrane. You look well. I apologize for the rude entrance, but I'm looking for your son. Have you seen him around?"
"Of course, he's right over there."
With a pointed gloved finger, Professor Membrane exposed Dib who was standing next to the door, trying to hide behind a fake tree-like plant. Tak refocused her warm gaze from his father over to him and he watched her expression turn into something more sinister.
Well, shit. Time to write that will early.
Every step Tak took towards Dib made him recoil back into himself and he quickly found himself wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him whole right then and there. Falling into the fiery depths of Hell seemed much more desirable than dealing with an angry Tak. When Tak finally approached him, she pushed the plant away before grabbing Dib by the collar of his lab coat, yanking him down to her level. Up close, Dib could clearly see the minor details of her facial features. He could describe them, but he found that he wasn't good at focusing on details when there was a pissed off woman in his presence with a perfervid purpose of skinning him alive for whatever reason she saw fit.
"I've been texting and calling you for the past fucking hour! Where have you been?! Your shift ended a long time ago!"
"Really? What time is it?"
"It's 10:38." Professor Membrane said, looking at the watch on his robotic arm. It was a last minute gift Dib had given him for his last birthday.
"Listen, Tak," Dib spoke, hands reaching up to gently pry her hands off him. When he saw that her grip was as strong as steel, he gave up. "I was in a meeting that ended up being dragged out a bit. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were waiting for me this whole time."
Tak stared sharply at Dib, looking for a hint that would usually gave Dib away when he lied about something. When none presented itself, she sighed and let him go, taking a few steps back to let him breathe in his new freedom.
"Next time, a text would have been sufficient in letting me know you weren't coming."
"You should have just left without me, Tak."
"I could have, but then I realized that you were the one who fucking drove me to work today, you arse."
Oh yeah, that had been a thing. Whoops.
Dib pursed his lips, feeling stupid for forgetting something like that.
"I'm sorry, should we go then?"
"Say no more," With that, Tak walked out of the conference room and into the hallway, leaving Dib to stare at his father who heard their entire conversation. When Dib opened his mouth to say something, his dad shook his head.
"Just go. She's already upset as it is and keeping her waiting any longer would not be good for you."
Dib nodded at his father's words and bidded him a goodnight before, he too, walked out of the room to eventually meet Tak in the lobby. Together, they walked out of Membrane Labs before making their way out towards the parking lot. Looking around, Dib noticed how there were few cars in the lot meaning that most of the workers had gone home already and those inside were probably a part of the cleaning staff along with his father. Dib frowned at the thought of his dad as he got into the car with Tak and started it. While he didn't like to disappoint his father, he tried his best to never let him down when it came to anything but him. Most of Professor Membrane's displeasure rooted from Dib and his antics and because of that, Dib wasn't close to his dad. Well, he was; he was comfortable talking to him about anything and enjoyed working alongside him, but how can someone be truly close to someone else if they can't talk openly about themselves? When Dib could, he steered the conversation away from himself when he spoke to Professor Membrane. It always seemed as though talking about Dib left his father feeling dissatisfied with his son's life choices, even if they just so happened to be picked by his dad. But that wasn't his father's fault, no, it was Dib's because he's not doing exactly what his father wants him to do with these life choices.
"Dib, are you alright?" Tak asked, noticing the sudden dejected mood that had started to transmit off of him.
"Fine."
Without a glance in her direction to see if she had her seatbelt on, Dib put the vehicle into gear before driving out into the main road. Dib loved driving at night; it soothed him. There weren't many cars around to annoy him and it was always quiet. A roll of the window allowed Dib to feel the cold fall air enter his car and caress his skin, leaving goosebumps in their paths. As the wind danced with his hair, Dib smiled softly to himself, feeling a sense of peace replace the heavy weight that had left his shoulders. Leaving work at night always left Dib feeling lighter, clearer even. It wasn't that he hated his job, on the contrary, he thought his work was fun. Although, there was no denying that he was drunk on the cleansing sensation his body experienced when he drove away from the lab.
"Are you going to star-gaze with me tonight?" Dib asked.
"Dunno'," Tak replied, head tilting to rest against her closed window. "It took you an awful amount of time to get off work and I don't feel like spending time with you right now."
"Understandable."
The two fell quiet, filling the silence with soft music that was flowing out of the radio that was playing. Neither of them paid attention to it.
"Are you mad at me?"
"What do you think?" Tak replied coldly, turning her head over at Dib. "This is the fifth time you've done this in the past month."
"You could always drive yourself." Dib arched a questioning brow, eyes glued to the road ahead of him.
"And waste gas money? No thanks." With a scoff, Tak leaned her forehead back against the cold glass like before.
Dib glanced over at the dark blue-haired girl, watching as the passing street lights lit up her face and created a reflection in the glass, allowing Dib to see the angry look she had on her face. The orangey light from the street poles casted their warm glow over Tak's figure, making her hair appear almost purple. Suddenly, Dib had a thought that quickly verbalized itself, making him curse himself for not being able to keep his mouth shut.
"Sometimes you remind me of Gaz."
A fast head turn from Tak made Dib instantly regret saying anything. He wasn't close to Gaz, so talking about her always made him feel uneasy. He was afraid of saying the wrong things about her, which he often did, made him feel like an awful older brother who didn't know a thing about his younger sister. The only thing he did know about his sister was the she had purple hair and seemed to always be upset with him when they were kids. He didn't know much beyond that. Then again, after Dib's accident, he tried to reach out to her, but she kept to distance. They rarely spoke since.
"Gaz? Your sister Gaz?" Tak asked, leaning forward towards Dib as if to hear him correctly.
"What other Gaz do we both know?"
Tak shrugged before settling down back into her seat, arms crossed. It was quiet again before Tak spoke up.
"So how is she?"
There it was. It wasn't a question Dib knew the answer to, so he went with the most generic one.
"I think she's doing okay. I heard that she's coming on Wednesday, by the way."
"No way. Is she really?"
"Yeah, I think she is." Dib said with a nod, glancing over to see a grinning Tak.
"Hell yeah, I love that girl. It's been forever since she and I last hung out."
Dib smiled to himself. He loved seeing his sister and best friend get along, even if it meant that they excluded him from everything they did and had the habit of pulling pranks on him when he was least expecting it. Regardless, he still loved that they were great friends, even with the little amount of time they had together.
Pretty soon, Dib made it to Tak's house. After dropping the girl off and saying their goodbyes, Dib started making his own way home. It was a pleasant ride by himself and before he even knew it, he was at his house. Dib lived on the outskirts of the town, vauling solidarity and privacy more than anything. Yes, he did hate feeling alone, but he enjoyed the feeling when it was Dib who made himself feel that way.
The house itself was almost identical to his father's house, which was expected when it was Professor Membrane who came up with the blueprints of the building and paid for its construction. Personally, Dib didn't have the urge to buy a house just yet, but as a combined gift for his 23rd birthday and graduation, his father presented him with the idea and Dib, being unable to say no to his dad, agreed. A couple months of construction later and Dib is now living in this replica of a home. He didn't mind it, honestly. It was nice to have a hybrid of a lab and a home to himself.
Dib wandered into his house, making a beeline for the fridge so that he could start the beginning of his weekend ritual of being halfway to blackout drunk. After collecting a couple of beer cans and stuffing them in his lab coat's deep pockets, Dib made his way to the second floor where he could climb a ladder to access the roof. Once he was there, he made his way over to the safe that was up there, opening it to take out his laptop and compact telescope. Dib did have a giant observatory telescope, but he didn't like the loud sound it made as it opened up the ground and rose all the way up from the underground lab to ground surface. Plus, Dib loved being a little closer to the night sky.
After setting up his telescope, his laptop, and his foldable lawn chair, Dib sat back and took a few minutes to just relax and drink some of his beers. It was comforting, the night silence. While it was leading into the cold fall season, he could still hear the faint chirping of crickets within his backyard. From up on the roof, Dib could see stray glows of the lightening bugs that drifted into his yard, making them seem like little moving stars. Dib would miss these calm summer nights. Once it started moving into September, he would have to cut back on the star-gazing due to the weather. It wasn't that he couldn't tolerate the cold, it's just that he didn't want to risk getting himself sick and missing out of work, making his father upset.
Soon enough, Dib had drank about two cans before he decided that it was time to actually use his telescope to look at some planets and look for certain, smaller constellations. As Dib turns the dials on the device, he looking into the telescope to see how focused it was when he saw something burning through the lenses. Dib pulled back, blinking, before he looked again to see the burning object appear closer.
"What the…?"
Dib turned his head upwards, eyes widening behind his glasses as he saw something shining up in the air, rapidly descending. At first, Dib grinned because he knew it was a meteor that was falling towards Earth and would soon be examined later on in the week once someone found where it landed. Then, as realization consumed him, it dawned on him that the someone who find where it landed would be him because it was heading straight for him.
"Fuck!"
Dib fell out of his chair and braced himself, body forming into a ball as his arms shielded his head. Dib knew that there was no time for him to run away, the explosion and flying debris would still kill him. So he waited during those couple of seconds brimming with pure dread, silence, and waiting before the collision happened. Dib thought of his life, feeling that it was over and now would be the time to think of all the good times he had. When he came up with very few of those moments, he grew mournful of it. On the bright side, there would be no one to upset when he was taking too long to give them a ride home; no one to disappoint anymore; no one to criticize him for his interest in astronomy; no one to brush him off about his insane memories.
A flash of red eyes popped into his vision. Dib's heart sank.
He never had the chance to find that person. No one would ever see those eyes again, including him. He would gladly continue living his miserable life if it meant he could have the opportunity to see them once more. He would endure a whole lifetime of feeling submerged in water if he could meet this person even for a minute. To stare into their eyes and tell them how beautiful they are felt like it would make Dib happy enough to die without any regret.
They were so gorgeous, those ruby-colored eyes. As Dib thought about them there, curled up on the roof waiting for his demise, he felt a sense of peace. He felt like he would be okay. They were so reassuring; so stunning. They gave Dib a will to live and he adored them. They were breathtaking and Dib loved them. He loved them so much. He wanted to be consumed in their splendor and he wanted to consume them. They were so utterly and magnificently—
Dib didn't get to finish his sentence when a sudden impact cuts him off. The sound of an erupting explosion travels throughout the sleeping town, followed by a deafening and sickening silence.