A/N: This chapter's rating is a T for lots of muck, mentions of human and alien bodily hygiene and waste functions in a cramped spacecraft (I never saw a bathroom on any Irken ship, and nobody can hold it for days of travel), and some close quarters decontamination. Tak's confession to Dib toward the end brushes on some dark edges. I won't be too descriptive, but I feel I am taking a risk here. So please be kind when you review. No flamers please.
Dib is OOC due to the fact that writing a good Dib character is beyond me. I'd appreciate it if perhaps after I've finished this story someone could help rewrite this chapter so that it could be what it should be.
There was an actual point to the muck other than being gross because Irkens seem to have a major thing about being clean, but I've kept the muck as neutral as possible. Just don't think about it and you'll be fine. Tak is probably very OOC to reflect what she's been through. Zim may have been in his own prison, but Tak has been in her own reeducation camp. It was much, much worse. Even downright traumatizing for an Irken. A human could possibly adapt and cope with the conditions in this chapter, but it would still be damaging. Skoodge would have shrugged it off. But an Irken as proud and as elite as Tak? (We want her on the 'good' side right? This is the price.) You might want a tissue.
Thanks to the last reviewers: MojaveRuler151, Kazehana23, Zerg170, EduTorresD, Catgirfireflare and memmek10k. Thanks to EduTorres for pointing out some errors I let slip through, as my most productive state is sleep deprivation. Don't ask me why.
Logistic Specialist Roz flew her Fast Courier Ship through the atmosphere down toward the surface of the world below her. The hold was empty, and she had been heading back to Irk when the call to change course for a high priority run came in. Then she got a call from Beed.
She hadn't seen or heard from him since he and Lim were suspended, but hadn't questioned the disappearance. They just worked at the same logistic center after all. He had said he needed a favor on this particular run. Or rather his Lady did.
To say that Roz was shocked to learn that the Beed was now one of a Governor's Own was an understatement. To hear that he was currently leading the unit nearly blew a few neurons.
When Beed asked if she wanted to be included in an operation, and relayed his instructions, which mostly comprised of being a lot less observant than she was, he also made her an offer which sealed the deal. Lady Gaz would specially request Roz to fly all courier runs to and from Earth.
The truth was that Roz was one of the few smallests who actually liked her job. Most of the time it was boring, making short trips here and there delivering packages. But for the long distance super-express runs she got to use the wormhole drive. Only Fast Courier Ships had them. They used up so much power even in standby mode that ships equipped with them could not mount any weapons or defenses. The wormholes opened were also very small, so anything larger than a delivery ship couldn't use them. Totally useless to most Irkens. And most Irkens did not like flying through a wormhole.
Had Roz been human, she would have been labeled a roller-coaster junkie. And the wormhole drive was the fastest roller-coaster in the universe. So the offer of being the sole courier assigned to a planet so far away and remote that even people in the farthest reaches of space never heard of it was intriguing to say the least. She'd almost sell her own PAK for such an assignment. Almost.
She landed her ship at the specified coordinates in the darkness on an empty city street. Empty except for a very large package wrapped in decorative paper and a large bow tied around it sitting at the curb. It's shape was not much of a disguise by any stretch of the imagination. In fact it was down right obvious.
Roz pulled out the tow cable from the rear of her ship and attached the clamp to the front of the 'package.' Sometimes packages were too large to fit inside and had to be towed.
However, Fast Courier Ships were assigned only for very high priority packages or packages for high priority people. Tow ships, the slowest in existence except for the Voot Cruiser, were for hauling wrecks and broken down ships back to bases. Those were categorized as the lowest priority jobs. Courier pilots were supposed to turn these sort of 'requests' down cold and report the attempted abuse. So Roz hooked up the 'package' to the rear of her ship, thumped twice on the rounded front of said 'package,' and climbed back into her own ship.
Roz powered up and carefully rose up into the sky. Once out of Earth's atmosphere and past lunar orbit where gravity was much weaker, Roz pulled a lever and activated the wormhole drive. This trip would be flown with a very large counterweight strung behind her ship.
This is going to be epic! thought Roz.
Dib, stuck in a mostly unpowered ship completely covered in wrapping paper, including the canopy, and being towed through a wormhole by a thrill seeker delivery pilot did not think it so. In fact he felt the worst case of car sickness ever. But he kept telling himself to be thankful. While Tak's ship was the fastest ship flying across space, a wormhole drive vessel could tunnel through space, saving months of travel time. Months he did not have to spend. He was just sorry the canopy was covered so he couldn't record the trip on his camera. And sorry for the nausea as well.
A while after the twisting and turning stopped and Dib's nausea finally quieted down, his communications system squawked to life. This part of the plan for sneaking into Dirt's atmosphere was Zim's contribution. Dirt may have been a garbage dump planet, but there was still Irken technology down there, even if it was trash. "Logistic Specialist Roz on approach vector two-seven. Here to make an orbital drop."
"Logistic Specialist? This is Dirt Orbital Control. We don't see many Courier Ships out this way to drop something."
"No kidding. I'm already past my shift and some Taller wanted this piece of art dropped, and I quote 'where the suns do not shine.' Apparently it's from Blorch."
"Blorch art? No wonder he called a courier in to get rid of the thing. I've heard you can go blind just by thinking of looking at it. We've got just the place. Grid one-seven by four-zero."
"Understood."
Dib waited blindly as the minutes passed. Then he both heard and felt the tow cable detach from his ship. On cue he pressed a button on his communications panel when he heard the next transmission. "Orbital Control. I'm reporting a release malfunction. Tow cable snapped. Projected impact is grid nine-five by zero-six."
Dib cursed Zim as he read the Earth translation of the piggyback transmission. But he had to admit it was pretty clever for Zim. Anyone who picked up on the hidden signal and reading it down in the control facility would not question a private joke aimed as some poor janitorial drone. Only someone who knew them could interpret what it really meant. Of course that did not mean he was laughing either.
"That is bordering the sewage zone, but I don't see that as a problem. It's not like anyone is going to ask us to return Blorch art. You are clear to depart."
"Great. Hope I never smell this place ever again."
"Ha ha, like we've never heard that one before."
A beeping caught Tak's attention as she stared out of her pod as she often did. At first she just thought she was just hearing things again. Sometimes creaks and pops of the pod's hull as it heated up during her local day could sound like the beeps of instruments when one needed it to be bad enough. Then she realized it was a beeping, from what remained of the communications system. She looked at the display. It was flashing a text message. It was in Irken script.
Dib stinks. He will stink more in five minutes. Go outside and you can probably smell him.
Tak left her respirator on the floor of the pod, opened the hatch and looked up into the sky.
The wrapping paper surrounding the ship disintegrated as it hit Dirt's atmosphere and Dib at last had a view outside. Gun cameras were now rolling, documenting an alien world. It was mostly a fiery view right now as Dib powered up the navigation support systems and warmed up propulsion to minimum power. Ionized plasma from the reentry would confuse any readings picked up from the standby level energy signature of Tak's ship. The craft stabilized as Dib followed directional instructions indicated by icons as his Heads-Up-Display lit up on the canopy while the ship dropped in freefall.
Unfortunately Dib had forgotten one small thing. Cargo space was a premium, and water was both heavy and bulky. So why not store as much as possible inside himself? A logical solution. So Dib had drunk as much water as he could before he was sealed inside the ship. He had neglected to consider the side effect of that.
So now Dib was dancing the crossed legs dance in his seat as his altitude dropped. At twenty thousand feet the main engines kicked on and the ship sped quickly to the coordinates provided. Dib, being Dib, had secretly hoped to make a dramatic entrance. Well, it probably would be dramatic, but not the way he had intended.
Tak heard the soft whine of an engine and looked toward the sound. As first she saw nothing, then a speck. Then it began to grow. Tears ran down her face. Someone was coming for her! Then there was recognition. She knew that ship! The rear central spike-shaped nacelle had been removed to install a shallow cargo pod, but it was definitely the same ship. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever witnessed as Tak's ship, not bearing a single mark to indicate the damage it had taken over Earth, came down out of the dull sky and hovered inches above the muck thirty yards away its creator.
But my ship had been destroyed over Earth! Tak thought to herself. It can't be real! I must be hallucinating after all this time.
Then the rear hatch of the cargo pod popped open and a mostly familiar figure from her past in a black trench coat swung out holding onto the hatch door and one foot on the hatch's ledge, most of his body leaning way out into midair. Then, back turned, he promptly relieved himself into the muck as quickly as he could.
Tak ran back into her pod. Clearly her mind had finally cracked.
As he choked on the stench and tried to make himself presentable again after nearly wetting his pants, Dib heard the footsteps splattering away and turned his head to see a brief glimpse of movement disappear into an encrusted, broken down and much dented pod.
Dib muttered about the timing of his bladder as he pulled himself back into the rear hatch and tied plastic garbage bags around his shoes and legs, and flung his black trench coat up and over the crowded cargo space, lamenting about forgetting to bring a gas mask. He didn't think he'd ever forget that smell. Like it was imprinted directly into his brain. And Tak had been here for seven years!
He slowly trudged toward the pod, holding the edge of his shirt up to his nose in a vain effort to block the smell. He, being raised in a city, tried not to think about what he was walking in. Dib mildly called Tak's name as he approached. He only heard mumbling. The human reached out to the edge of the open canopy and looked inside.
The holographic human disguise he was familiar with had been broken long ago. An Irken form was nearly laying on her side in her chair that took up most of the space inside. But there was no mistaking the person Dib had once known and shared laughs at Zim with so long ago. Filthy, trembling, her uniform long ago taken a threadbare and horrifically smudged look. It was difficult to tell what color that uniform had originally been. The inside of the pod almost looked like it had been abandoned for decades. "Tak?" Dib quietly called into the pod.
"Go away! Your not real!" Tak yelled, staring into a corner.
"Oh, Tak. What have they done to you?" Dib whispered to the broken soul before him. He stayed for a moment. It appeared that he would need to sedate her at least a little, but the square patch in his pocket that Zim had given him was to be directly applied to the skin. Tak was filthy, and who knew what would be absorbed? Not that it probably made much difference at this point, but Dib didn't want to take any more chances.
Dib put his knees up on the ledge leading into the pod and leaned his body in carefully. Red Irken eyes had always haunted his thoughts of alien invasion, but these eyes were purple. The human reached in and, slowly so as not to startle, cupped the dirty Irken face before him. "I came, Tak. I'm here. I'm real. It will be okay now."
Those solid purple eyes flicked in his direction, wary of trusting the too real vision. "Tak. I want to give you something that will help calm you, but I have to clean a spot first." He fingered one of the sealed moist toilettes in his pocket. He pulled it out and opened it. "This is all I have in here. It's a bit wet, so it will burn your skin a little. I'll do what I can to minimize it."
There was barest nod of the head, and eyelids closed. Dib dabbed a small spot on her neck below the jaw line, wiping the moisture away with a torn of piece of his shirt with each swipe. It took time, but a cleaner, if rather irritated, spot was showing. Dib took a corner off of the sedative patch in his pocket and placed it on her neck. It didn't appear that knocking her completely out would be necessary.
"Okay, Tak. You just rest easy for a few minutes. I have to go back to the ship and get things set up. I'm not leaving you. I'll be right back."
Dib left the Irken form in the pod and walked back to the ship. He pulled out the inflatable wading pool and began to blow it up. It took awhile using only his own queasy exhalations, but eventually it was done. He put it directly below the rear hatch of the ship. Dib went back for Tak.
He found her staring back at the open canopy of her pod, waiting for him to reappear. As if apprehensive that he had vanished like a mirage. "I've got things setup out there," he told her.
Dib reached over her, pulled Mimi down and placed the robot in her arms. Then helped the Irken girl out of the pod. He noticed that she wasn't wearing gloves. Those had worn away long ago and her hands were caked with grime. She hadn't grown much, and he stood an entire foot taller than she did. When he saw her limping Dib picked her up, carried her down and placed her carefully in the wading pool, getting his own clothes dirty in the process. He removed her boots and flung them away. Dib then took Mimi and placed the SIR unit in a garbage bag, sealed it carefully and placed it inside the ship's cargo space. Then he hauled out five-gallon containers of cleansing gel and began pouring it into the pool.
As more cleansing gel was poured over her shoulders, back and legs, Tak finally spoke up. "Dib? Is this really happening?"
"Yes, Tak. We're getting you out of here," the human said as he sloshed cleansing gel up over her scalp and rubbed with a clean washcloth.
"Tak. Um, your uniform. Its, uh… I have a set of clothes in the ship for you, but I need to get you cleaned up."
The Irken girl merely nodded. "I was going to die here, to be forever buried in… in… as if they thought I was…sewage too," was all she said, so very quietly.
Dib hesitated for a long while. It became obvious that Tak was no longer functioning enough to do much. Apparently she had been enduring this environment and her own thoughts for so long, it became all she had. Now that the end was near, she could only shut down so her broken soul could find some much needed rest in the care being attended her. Dib set his own mind to detach from what was happening and carefully, with utmost human decency, removed the remains of the once proud uniform and peeled away the partial sedative patch on her neck.
He winced as he saw the evidence of past and recent sores and skin infections. Irkens healed fast, but in this environment and poor nutrition it couldn't keep up. Dib poured more cleansing gel into the washcloth and began wiping Tak's face, neck, head and very gently her antennae, pausing when she began another coughing fit. He rubbed cloth and gel down her back and thin legs. He scrubbed her PAK until it shined, but he would need dental tools to get around the access ports. Those were jammed shut. His voice nearly broke when he saw her deformed toes from breaks that healed incorrectly, the swollen knee. Dib worked more gel deep into her bare hands and feet. He began to tear up as he cleaned her clearly seen ribcage and sunken abdomen. He afforded her with every speck of dignity and decency he could muster within himself as he cleaned and wiped and poured. Dib had brought thirty gallons of cleansing gel, nearly Zim's entire supply. It took up close to a third of the hold space in the ship. He wouldn't stop until he used all of it.
Tak's purple eyes watched him through all of this. The gel on her face was covering the tears as this human tenderly and intimately bathed her from antennae to toe.
Once she had seen this dirt species as lower than her own. But she now knew what filth in reality was in a way that was permanently scarred into her mind. As she was washed, her antennae covered in gel, Tak for the first time in seven years no longer smelled the stench around her. She could only smell a cleanliness her ill-treated mind now associated with human.
Even in her current state, Tak could feel herself changing within.
Dib helped the Irken girl up on her feet and wiped the residue off with a towel. He sat her on the ledge of the rear hatch of the ship and helped her get in her new white sweatpants. Dib had to cut and tear a hole with a pocket knife for her PAK in the matching sweater before it too could be worn.
As Tak sat in the rear compartment, Dib examined himself. His own clothes were soiled now too. He sighed. As the Irken watched, the nervous human stripped down to his underwear as he stood in the pool, left his soiled clothes on the ground, and wiped himself down with the moist toilettes that had been in his pockets. When he had finished he slid past Tak in the crowded hatch, opened a blue duffel bag and changed into new clothes within the congested entrance next to her. Then the human shut the hatch with them jammed inside.
Dib crawled over water jugs and bottles, bags of trail mix, clothes and other necessities and backed into the access port to the cockpit, grabbing a couple of bottles on the way. He took a bare Irken hand and helped her climb over the top of the piled cargo and into the small cockpit as well. He asked Tak to close the small access port behind them. She was able to manage that much. The cockpit was a tight fit for one, let alone two. Dib sat in the pilot's chair and Tak planted herself sideways in his lap. He unscrewed the cap off of one of the bottles and handed it to her.
It was a plastic container of honey. Tak began to guzzle it down as fast as she could.
Dib pulled it back. "Easy! Easy! Tak, take small sips so your system can adjust. If your body goes into shock I can't do anything about it here. We have time, Tak. Plenty of time. It will be okay. I promise."
He released his grip on the honey bottle as Tak slowed down her intake of the nourishing thick liquid.
As Tak fed, she looked around the familiar ship. Very little had changed. Some instrument panels that had been damaged had been replaced, some switches and knobs added. But it was her ship. The one she had designed and built with her own hands right here on Dirt so long ago.
The purple eyed Irken put the bottle down for a bit, and wrapped her arms around Dib's neck and buried her face into his shoulder. Tears of relief and a host of other things ran down her cheeks and into his shirt as he held her in return. Even her antenna wrapped around his hairy scalp and took in his scent as she clung to her clean human. She finally allowed herself to accept that it was indeed real. That her ship, her home had come for her. That she was at last home.
"You came for me," she finally said.
"I had to, Tak. I just had to." Dib whispered quietly. "I wouldn't be able to rest knowing you were like this. Now, let's get you out of here."
Tak knew she was in very bad shape physically, mentally and emotionally. In fact she was a rock bottom wreck of an Irken. But no one would do what Dib had done for her. And not just the part about giving her a lift off of the planet either. She had only heard about these sort of actions one could do for another. It barely existed in her own culture. Now she knew from her own experience its wonder. So she opened up to her rapidly changing instincts.
She held her honey bottle close as Dib reached back and strapped the two of them into the chair. Her ship leapt into the air under the human's control and, engines whining, streaked out of the atmosphere as Gaz's part of the plan went into effect.
As the dull sky faded to the blackness of space, Dib leaned forward and Tak adjusted her obscenely light weight so he could reach the notebook sitting on the instrument panel. Sensor indicators bleeped a warning of pursuit as they raced away.
Dib corrected his course, guided by the navigation support program, and pressed a few buttons on the communications panel. He began broadcasting, reading appropriate phrases Gaz had written in the notebook.
"Mother Goose, Mother Goose. Elvis has left the building. The King lives. Family of sleepy fangirls wants an autograph." Dib calling Doomwind. Successful departure with Tak onboard. Tak's medical condition is stable. Pursuit of four to six space superiority craft but trailing behind.
A voice responded after a few long seconds. "Jack and Jill, Jack and Jill. Go down the beanstalk. The blind mice are running. Humpty Dumpty is on the wall." Doomwind acknowledges Dib has Tak. Proceed at maximum speed to Irk system. Escort ships are on the way. Medical support standing by on your arrival.
Lim had been sitting at the controls of her Spittle Runner inside one of the Doomwind's individual spacecraft bays for three hours. She was wearing her new light body armor inside the cockpit. Then the lights in the bay suddenly changed color to blue and the final flight plan came in. Lim powered up her Spittle Runner, and the armored space doors slid open to reveal the stars. A row of five lights near the outer doors flashed downward, then all five lit up at once.
The Irken smallest rammed the throttle to full military power. Ten Spittle Runners catapulted out of their bays in sequence as they executed their first combat launches. They sharply turned to a new course, surging away from the larger vessel as their transponders squawked an Irken Intercept ID code. Or roughly translated: Get out of the way or get run over.
Lim laughed as she piloted her ship. Oh my new job is AWESOME! she thought.
They were nearly twenty-eight hours into their flight with another thirty minutes until they were supposed to meet their escort. It was an interesting flight to say the least. And it wasn't due to the five Irken craft trailing them. They would never catch up, and the distance was increasing quickly with each hour. It was due more to the fact of being unable to open the access portal at the rear of the cockpit. The cargo pod was a last minute modification to the ship, and the aft portal turned out to be normally locked down for safety during flight since behind it was usually another nacelle filled with technology dealing with very high and dangerous energy states. It was designed to be opened only for repair work, not clambering around the ship.
Which meant that there was absolutely no privacy. It was surprisingly welcome at first, and was so for most of the trip. Such as when Dib was napping with a rescued Tak curled up with him in the chair. When he talked about old stories of Zim's foiled plots and schemes. The repair work Dib tried to do to the ship. He only briefly mentioned that Gaz had to finish fixing it for him.
It could be a little strange when Dib had to clean himself. Humans sweated water, shed skin cells, and collected oils and other natural grime. So Tak would have to scoot over to one side of the chair as Dib stripped his shirt to clean his upper body, put it back on, then do the same with his pants to clean his legs and feet as his face turned deep red. She tried to give him his needed privacy, but it fascinated her to see him not be burned by the moisture. In fact it made his skin shine.
Much worse was later when Dib had to answer Nature's call. The bio-recycling unit was not designed for human use. Another one of those things that somebody neglected to think of. Actually Gaz was probably laughing herself sick about it by now.
They had maneuvered around as best they could so Dib could turn his back while sort of crouching on his half of the seat with an empty water bottle. It was extremely embarrassing the first time. Dib kept apologizing until Tak told him to stop it.
Then they discovered that Tak had to go. Only Irkens did not pass water like humans did. More of a pink goo. Fortunately she could use the bio-recycler. If she could get to it, that is. That led to interesting gymnastic maneuverings within that cockpit.
The strange thing was after the first twelve hours had passed, Tak was getting very used to all this. She kept telling Dib that it was okay whenever he apologized.
She returned to her curled position with Dib in the chair a bit cross. "Dib, stop saying 'I'm sorry.' I am getting tired of hearing you say that. I am okay with all of this."
"You are?" Dib asked.
"Look at me, human," Tak requested.
The human looked down into her purple Irken eyes. Antennae reached forward and nestled into his bangs as she cupped his jaw. "Dib, you do not bother me. Our closeness does not. It is strangely comforting to me, even though it shouldn't. It should upset me greatly. Maybe because I was alone and could only smell overpowering filth for so long. Maybe because I am unwell by any Irken standard. Dib, you have seen me. You have washed me. Every part of me. You helped dress me. You are just trying to stay sanitary now. So stop apologizing. It is no longer necessary between us, not for me."
Tak put her head into his shoulder. "Dib, they did not send me enough food. I had to hunt… things that crawled in the filth. There was nothing clean. I had to eat their dirty meat. It burned so much. I vomited more often than not. Things I've had to do… Dib. This here, now, is a paradise for me. Do not apologize for necessary things. Nothing of me has been hidden from your sight. Do not feel you must hide yourself to shield me in these confines. It is no longer necessary. Not between us. I sense something changing. I don't know what, but it is not a bad thing. Not to me."
Dib did not know what to say to this. Trying to eat meat explained her emaciated appearance, the cracked and blistered lips and raspy voice, how she could hardly force herself to eat anything solid that Dib had brought, and a host of other things. Because Tak looked in really bad shape. He had no idea how her mind had been affected, but knew there was no danger here. Not from her. He'd just have to play it by ear and follow Tak's lead.
Like not pushing her on trying to eat solid food rather than feeding from the honey bottle. She had been conditioned into anxiety about solid food. But really Tak's body knew what it needed. Dib would listen as well. There was only a little more than a full day more to this flight. Then Tak would be able to get the medical care she needed.
And after being jammed in a cockpit like this with the alien girl he had rescued for over a full Earth day, Dib was himself at ease with her presence also.
A voice was heard over the speakers. "Attention Dirt pursuit craft. This is Dark Wool Two. We have you on our sensors. You are ordered to break off and return to base. This has been an unscheduled exercise to test your security readiness. We have found it to be pathetic. You will have one month to rectify your amazing display of uselessness before a formal report is made to the Sector Governor. The vessel you are pursuing is now under our control and will be escorted back to Irk."
"Dib? Who are they? Back to Irk? They'll send me back to that cesspool!" Tak began to tremble in her traumatized phobic response. Her irrational mind could not bear the thought of going back to that horrible place and she was too weak to resist. "Don't let them take me back. Please, Dib. Please kill me first."
Dib's large heart broke for the fractured soul in his arms. The human held on tight to the Irken, rocking back and forth. "Do not fret, Tak. You are safe now. It's all part of the plan. Those are my sister's personal guards coming for us. She sent them to guide us back to her ship. No one else knows you're here. Her ship is orbiting Irk for supplies. You're safe, Tak. You're safe."
Tak could hardly believe it. "Your sister has a ship? Irkens obey a human's orders? I don't understand."
"Neither do I, but Gaz has some influence going on right now. I was there when she called her ship to ask about a rescue mission for you. Tak, they were willing to conduct orbital strikes on every installation on the planet if Gaz gave them the go ahead."
Tak didn't know what to think. Right now she felt like she didn't want to.
With the escort ships behind it, Tak's ship flew across the Irk planetary system. Dib's video camera kept running, taking in the view. The planet Irk was surrounded by a pink atmosphere and rings much like Saturn. Ships for every mundane task were everywhere. Then he saw the armada.
It was huge. So many formations stretching as far as the eye could see. Swarms of Spittle Runner interceptors and the next-generation of space superiority craft that replaced them, the heavier but slower Shuvvers. There were formations of Ring Cutter attack craft and Ripper patrol corvettes. Viral Tank class cruisers dotted the traffic around Irk. Then there was the Massive. Dib's camera caught it all and Tak's ship gathered sensor readings.
As he took in the sight, Dib realized just what Zim had always meant when he bragged about the Armada and why he was so determined to bring it to Earth. It sunk in just how small his victories over Zim really were. I must have been insane to think a lone eleven year old boy could have stopped something like this, Dib thought. His hold on Tak tightened. Had they wanted it, Earth would have been theirs. One kid trying to stop something like this would have been like a mosquito standing in the path of dozens of speeding cement trucks. And this was just part of their space fleet!
It also emphasized just how unsupported and alone Zim had been the whole time. It made very real the meaning of Zim's being banished to Earth with a fake mission.
The two of them traveled on in silence until they approached the third moon and a very different style of ship slowly grew into a long and slender form. "Is that it?" Tak asked.
Dib nodded, keeping the camera steady. The long shape continued to grow. He hadn't really comprehended when Gaz said she had bought a ship. She no doubt didn't either. This was no rusted out, on its last legs, defenseless freighter conversion. It felt unreal the power his sister now had at her disposal should she choose to wield it. What grew before them was a well preserved, purpose-built warship pretending to be a transport.
They were approaching what appeared to be a spaceship version of a wet-navy supercarrier. His sister bought herself an operational, honest-to-god, full-blooded spacecraft carrier. It was huge!
A voice over the communications system brought him back to unreal reality. "Jack and Jill, this is Mother Goose. Landing bay is clear. Follow Dark Wool Two. She will guide you through the approach pattern. Bring it in slow and easy."
Dib sent an acknowledgement. "Jack and Jill copies."
Dib video taped several bay doors in the side of the large vessel open up and most of their escort begin to slowly back inside. One ship banked to the right and flew far past the end of the ship. Tak's ship followed. The Spittle Runner ahead of them lined up on the hollow landing deck running down the center of the ship. He set aside the video camera. The gun cameras would capture the rest of the flight. As the two small craft entered the hollow space filled with red light, Dark Wool Two slowed down to a hover and made contact with the deck. Dib followed suit, only more clumsy. He returned to his video camera as Tak continued to watch.
One of the large doors on the inner sides of the chamber opened and tractor field emitters activated, pulling the two ships inside an airlock. The outer doors closed, atmosphere blasted in, and a set of lighter inner doors opened. Another tractor beam in the far chamber pulled the two ships into the large maintenance bay. With a bump Tak's ship came to a stop.
"Jack and Jill, Mother Goose. Bay is secure. Queen of Hearts says to, and I quote, 'stop taking stupid pictures and see to Jill.'"
Dib turned off the video camera, and let his hands ran over the instruments. The main systems of Tak's ship powered down. "Mother Goose, ship is secure. Jack and Jill signing off."
Tak's ship finished powering down, and the canopy raised up, letting in fresh air. Well, that is to say fresher recycled air. Dib unlatched the straps to their seat as very short Irken figures entered the chamber. Most of the Irkens walking toward them had ruby eyes, but there were also lighter red, pink, a few light purple and even one blue set of eyes. One figure in a bio-hazard suit began unloading the bottles and wrappers in the cockpit for disposal while several more suited figures began loading a power cart with gallon jugs of water and the rest of Dib's necessities from the rear hatch. Others began spraying the hull with liquid and vacuuming it back up off of the deck.
Two of the Irkens were in body armor with sidearms holstered. The Spittle Runner next to Tak's ship opened it's cockpit and another small Irken jumped out, also in body armor. She ran over to them.
"You are Dib and Tak? I am Sentinel Lim, second commander of Lady Gaz's Black Sheep guard." The Irken tossed out a salute to the pair. "Welcome aboard the flagship Doomwind. Tak is now officially under the protection of this vessel and the Black Sheep. No one has realized she is missing, and we will not advertise she is aboard. We will get you to the medical bay and private quarters as soon as you and your belongings have gone through decontamination. We have it set up over there." She pointed to a portable washing station that was being rolled in their direction. "You have been provided escorts while on board. They will guide you wherever you need to go, but your movements will be restricted. We will be loading heavy cargo modules on board over the next week, and cramming as much as we can in any spare space we can find. Lady Gaz would be most unpleasant if either of you were run over by an automated grav lift."
Dib stepped out of the decontamination shower dripping wet, his latest change of clothes clinging to him. Well, at least he was the cleanest he had ever felt in his life. Being surrounded by all these Irkens made him really nervous, but it helped to think of them as Gaz's Irkens rather than just Irken. Sort of like a relative's pet wolf verses one in the wild looking for dinner. He could hear the continued spray in the next shower that Tak was using.
"Dib?" A blue eyed Irken, with very curly antennae and wearing body armor stepped up to him. "I am Yat. I was assigned to be your escort. Your packaged supplies have been through decontamination and moved to your quarters. I can take you there whenever you are ready."
Tak's head appeared past the curtains of her shower dripping wet from the spraying solution. She was glaring at Yat. "You stay away from him or I will crush you!" she hissed like a viper. "I will tear your fingers off one by one and make you eat them! I will scoop out your-"
The escorts began to finger stun grenades at their belts. But mostly they were shocked and backed away.
"Tak!" Dib interrupted, also shocked by the sudden outburst. "What are you doing? They're here to help!"
Tak tossed her arm over the curtain as well, exposing a bare shoulder and pointing at the other escort. "He can show you to your quarters. I won't let her near you. I won't allow it!"
Dib went up to Tak. He had to reach down and pulled her death glare away from Yat and up to his own face. They really didn't need an incident. "Tak, what difference does it make?" He forced himself to ask in a soft voice hoping it would calm her down. It seemed to work. "They're just doing their job." He took her bare hand and brought it down so she wasn't pointing anymore. "I don't think they'll hurt anybody."
She looked back up at Dib. "I... I don't know. I just know I don't want her following you around. I don't know why. Maybe I'm just being irrational. I know I am unwell." She sent her antennae forward into his damp hair, taking in the scent of squeaky clean human. Seeking the smell that her mind found reassuring.
"Okay, Tak. Why don't you finish in there, and I'll help you walk down to the medical bay. I know your foot gives you trouble." he suggested. It's weird that she keeps probing my hair with her antennae. But then she's spent all that time down there. I was there for only an hour and my brain can still imagine the smell. Of course I'd probably be stuffing my nose in the closest bag of potpourri I could find if I were her, and my hair is probably the closest thing to it on this ship with all the decon it's been through.
Blue eyed Yat watched this, and took a few steps away and popped a communicator out of her PAK. "Sentinel Lim? Request permission to trade places with Sentinel Flom here. Yes, I know we're both watching the visitors. He's right here standing next to me. But I think we have a problem with Tak."
Lim found them in the spacious medical bay. It had been renovated up to Irken standards very recently, and Tak was still lying on the exam table surrounded by technology with Dib and a technician standing nearby. The two escorts were standing outside the door as had been requested. Not an unusual thing for the medical bay. "Bio-technician Pean. How are things proceeding?" she asked.
The technician looked up. "We have already begun the initial treatment program. Some will have to wait until tomorrow as her PAK is still jammed. It will require very detailed cleaning that we could not accomplish with a decontamination spray. She has significant numbers of parasites in her system, and that is being dealt with now so she can breathe easier. There is severe malnourishment, damage to her upper digestive sections, and a large amount of muscle loss due to insufficient nutrients and the need to fight off infection. There are skin lesions remaining, but those were already tended to by the human. Also some sensitivity loss to her antennae. The toes will have to be fractured again at some point so that they have a chance to mend properly. We will do that under sedation during her next PAK maintenance cycle. When those bones have healed, the knee joint will fully recover once the strain of an unnatural walk has been removed. But that is just the physical aspects."
The technician continued in a much quieter voice, drawing the others away from the resting Irken on the table. "She has not received any PAK maintenance since arriving on Dirt. That's at least seven years. Tak will require extensive time plugged in to a PAK support unit. Possibly weeks. But with her needing nutrition and building her back up physically, that will have to be broken up daily. But until we can access her PAK, we won't know how much or to what extent she needs in that area. It is clear that Tak will be out of commission for a long time. Perhaps as long as a month or two. In the mean time I have collected sedatives to help her rest without a maintenance cycle, but we need to get her PAK cleaned and open soon."
"Very well," Lim said to the technician. "If you are finished, you may be excused." The bio-technician left the room. Lim looked at Tak. "I can show the human to his quarters if you want."
"No you won't!" Tak hissed again. There was fire in her purple eyes. "I'll burn-"
"Very well," the smaller Irken interrupted. "Dib, Sentinel Flom will escort you to your quarters now. I must begin debriefing Tak in private."
Dib nodded sleepily and left the two Irkens alone.
Lim pulled up a chair, but remained a safe distance from the Irken before her.
"You have threatened Governor's Own soldiers twice now in a short amount of time. This can not be allowed to continue."
Tak looked back up at the ceiling as she lay on the slightly angled table. She was still in her human sweater and sweatpants. Occasionally she would be lightly jabbed with something from a mechanical arm or some beam of light would shine into her body. There was a constant soft beeping of machines.
"I couldn't help it. I don't intend to, Sentinel Lim. I know I am not being rational, but-"
"I believe I understand, Tak." Lim told her. "You were both confined in a very small space for two days. I must ask some questions now and I suspect the answers will be difficult for you. But the safety of this ship and personnel require that we have this discussion."
Tak nodded her head.
"I have reviewed your record, and there is no need to discuss your assignment to Dirt." Lim went on. "It is not imaginable for me. This concerns another matter. First of all, we expected you to require much more decontamination. You also arrived without your uniform and in these human clothes. You were unsoiled."
Tak began. "The human brought a makeshift cleansing pool with him and clothing. My uniform was no longer a uniform, but waste I used to cover myself during my assignment. The soiled articles we were wearing at the time are still on Dirt."
"So you were able to cleanse yourself onsite?" Lim asked. "That was a reasonable plan."
"Not exactly."
"You will have to explain."
Tak took a breath. "When Dib came for me, I thought I was hallucinating. That I had lost my mind. I was no longer functional, to do things for myself. Dib had to clean me. He was the one who had to remove my uniform. He was the one who washed me for nearly an hour. He was the one who dressed me."
"You mean you were- He saw you-?" Lim couldn't finish the sentence.
The Irken lying on the table nodded.
Lim felt herself grow sick. Irkens did not do this. Not ever. They were always covered from the neck down except in very private cleaning. "That must have been a horrible experience," was all she could say.
"No, it wasn't. " Tal confessed. "I consented to his attention, was grateful for him cleaning me with his own hands. I was unable and needed to be clean. The human dressed me in new clothes that he brought with him. But he dirtied himself to wash me clean, so he had to do the same to himself."
Lim stopped her. "Okay, Tak. Now, did you feel something change when this happened? Something new?"
Tak nodded.
"So you questioned it I suppose? Dismissed these things? Denied it? Fought them?"
Tak shook her head. "No. I opened up to it. When we were in my ship leaving Dirt I embraced it. Wanted more. I don't know what it was. When my antennae probes his hair Dib smells clean. This reassures me. I need clean."
Lim shook herself. "Governor Zim and Lady Gaz sent us details of human biological necessities so we could make arrangements. It is all very disgusting. But you were in that ship for two days with him. There was no place for privacy. He had to- in front of you." Lim shivered inside herself.
Tak again nodded. "He was very embarrassed, and turned his back each time. But I reassured him that his doing so no longer bothered me. If it were anyone else I think I'd be hysterical, but him… his constant apologies were really getting on my nerves."
Oh dear, thought Lim. This is much worse than I thought.
"Tak. You're dependent, aren't you? On the human?" the smallest asked.
The purple eyed Irken on the table looked at her with a confused look. Lim went on. "You need to reassure yourself with the human's scent at times. Maybe even crave it if too much time passed. You go into a rage whenever another female goes to attend him. In your mind there is little or no difference in your bodily functions and his own, is there? That's why it didn't bother you in that tiny ship. You're whole system is tuned into his. If he planned to leave tomorrow without you, you would go into a panic or go berserk trying to go with him. Because your instincts are saying you can't be separated for long."
Tak just looked at her with wide eyes. How does she know what is happening better than I? she thought.
Lim spoke on, answering the unspoken question. "My rightful Taller and Lady is human, and bonded to an Irken. We have researched this to some extent so we may take this into account in our duties. You show all the signs of having completed the bonding process. Tak, I'm sorry to inform you that you are now an unbound mate to a human."
Tak did not say anything for a long while. When she did speak it was in a quiet voice. "My PAK is no doubt damaged from neglect, and I deserted from an assignment again. My PAK's designation is a Dookie Manager. I can earn no monies, for no Irken will employ me. Non-Irken planets would only kill me on sight. There is no place for me. I am completely destitute, unable to even order a single snack. And now if I am away from the human too long I would sink into madness, wouldn't I? From being compelled to seek out his human scent if he was unavailable? I am going to be deactivated."
Lim let out a loud laugh. Tak looked at her with a puzzled look.
"Tak, girl you fit in right here. We all should have been deactivated. None of us are what our PAKs say we are. I am compelled to obey orders from my Human Taller over any Irken one. But more importantly, I want to."
She went on. "While they were planning your rescue, Beed asked Lady Gaz about our unit designation. She said that like her and others, we're misfits. The undesirables. Those seen as having less or no value in their society. That this is why we are called her Black Sheep. None of us fit in. We may not have the training, but we have smarts and a host of abilities from our previous occupations. We'll tear up anybody who speaks ill of our human Lady. I have to include Governor Zim too, but that's just part of the job for my Lady.
"Look at me, Tak," Lim said as she finished. "I'm just a smallest, supposed to be stuck with the lowest possible job they could dump me in, but I'm now the second commander of a Governor's own, a flagship and a spacecraft squadron. You, with your abilities and resourcefulness could do very well here and on Earth. In the mean time you need to take it easy so you can recover."
There was silence for a while before Tak spoke again. "I'm going to have to speak to Dib."
"Yes, and more than speak to him. Be patient with the human. You will have to explain what has happened to you, what you need from him. And not scare him."
"I know. I am not a smeet, just unwell," Tak said, a bit annoyed.
"Very well. I will change assignments so that none of the female crew are aimed at Dib," Lim informed her. "As for your status regarding the human, you have to deal with that and soon."
"I have no monies for the order," said Tak. She was nervous about that part. Humans were much more complicated than Irkens were in this matter.
"There was a discretionary fund opened up for Doomwind's role in the operation to retrieve you. I think we can categorize this invisible drop as part of the operational expense," Lim told her. "In the meantime I'll put a four hour sedative patch on you so you can rest." Lim placed a blue patch on Tak's neck.
"Sentinel Lim?" Tak asked. "Once my PAK is open, will you allow the repair of my holographic disguise? There is only one pattern I want to use. It may help the human- I mean Dib- adjust. He does not respond to Irkens well."
"Most aliens don't." Lim agreed. "As for the holo-disguise, we shall need approval to repair such a device as well as the SIR Unit. That one may not be salvageable. However from what I've seen of the human, he may uneasy around the rest of us but he seems very at ease with you so far."
Dib awoke to the sound of a long, nonstop buzzing in his small quarters aboard the Doomwind. It seemed one of the bad things about staying on a ship full of aliens who only needed a few hours of sleep every two or three days was that they had absolutely NO idea about a human's need for a good third of a day of blissful unconsciousness. Especially after two days of trying to sleep in a cramped spaceship with an alien girl on his lap.
The human groaned as the buzzing continued and he hauled himself out of the unstable hammock that threatened to deposit him on the floor. Dib put on his glasses and eventually opened the door to stare out into an empty hallway. Then his sleep-hungry brain remembered to look down.
Being around Irkens was unnerving, but fortunately Doomwind was a big ship with a small crew in more ways than one. The tallest of these smallests only came up to his bellybutton. That they followed his sister (and Zim) helped with his unease. These people were different from maniacal Zim. Different than he had imagined and tried to research. They were still Irken, but not the utterly bloodthirsty monsters he had imagined. It was the Tallers and Tallest that were really the problem.
So Dib was only uncomfortable at the sight of the slightly familiar Flom at human gut height. Was gut height better or worse than neck height? Dib was too tired to decide if being struck in either spot with Irken claws was worse. But with all the 'training' his fights with maniac Zim had given him, Gaz's Irkens didn't look to be a major threat nor even hostile.
He ran a hand through his mussed hair. "Yes?" he asked his escort.
"Tak is asking for you in the medical bay. She requires your assistance with further decontamination."
Dib just acknowledged with half closed eyes and followed Flom down the corridor.
Flom brought a pajama wearing and barefoot Dib to the medical bay where Yat was standing guard outside. As Dib went inside Flom spoke to him. "We have been instructed to allow no one entry until you and Tak are finished. We will remain out here."
Dib stepped into the room and the door closed behind him. The portable decontamination showers had been moved back into a corner of the room. Tak was sitting on the examination table in her white sweatpants and sweater. A small box and a tray of little picks and other tools lay beside her.
"Dib, I am unable to reach my PAK, and the access ports must be attended to. It cannot wait, but they are jammed with contaminated material. This will have to be done in the decontamination shower."
"Can't the technician or someone help?" he asked yawning. It was a bit personal what she was asking considering it wasn't an emergency. Plus he had many bad experiences with getting to close to a PAK.
"No. I might- If someone else tried I might attack them. You are the only one here that would be safe," she tried to explain.
Dib sighed and opened the door leading out into the corridor. "Flom? Can you go bring my clothing bag down here please?" The door closed again and Dib went over to Tak to make an examination.
On the surface, her PAK was shiny again, but around all the crevices, the edges around the access ports and around where it attached into her back was a solid crust. Almost like glue after it had cured. This would not be easy.
A buzz brought Dib back to the door where he took his blue duffel bag. He rummaged through his duffel bag for more underwear as he didn't have many changes of clothes. At this rate he should have brought some swimming trunks.
Tak moved into the shower with the box and tools, and closed the curtain behind her. White garments were deposited outside on the floor. Dib once again stripped down to his underwear and handed a set through the curtain after calling for her attention. He was just glad she didn't have the upper girly parts to worry about covering. What had happened down on Dirt had been under emergency conditions. Dib was even less comfortable now, but there was a job to be done and apparently Tak would only allow him to work on her PAK.
He heard the solution spray turn on and begin to rain liquid inside. "Okay, Dib. I'm ready." Tak called out.
Dib poked his head inside the curtain. Tak was sitting on the floor of the shower wearing the set of his underwear he had offered for decency. Her back was toward him, giving Dib space to work on her PAK. The tools and box were tucked in the far corners. Blue solution rained down, soaking her and running down her green skin.
He took a breath and stepped inside, focused his mind on the job at hand and joined her on the floor. Dib instantly became soaked by the warm fluid raining down his own bare skin. She scooted forward, giving him more room in the small area, Dib took one of the picks from the tray and began digging at her PAK.
Dib distracted his mind with thoughts of all the alien technology around him, how he had gotten footage of alien planets, the Armada and even the Massive. He did not want to think about the mostly bare Irken girl before him. The girl who bore the ravages of her time on Dirt. Her misshapen toes and scars of past infections on her shoulders, arms, legs and back. The emaciated frame that showed too many bones and too little flesh. At least her blistered mouth and the fresher infections that had marked her skin had healed. He did not want to see her as he was everything else. He wanted to see her as a person, not from an investigator's or scientist's viewpoint. Well, maybe not quite at this particular moment considering they were sitting in a decontamination shower together. Especially with her in this condition. She deserved better.
"Tak?" he called quietly as he worked. This was going to take forever. "How much of the solution is available?" he asked.
"The solution is recycled, filtered and reused almost immediately. It will not run out."
They sat there quietly for nearly an hour as Dib worked with small picks and tools to remove the crusted material from her PAK.
"Dib? Does it bother you that I'm Irken?" she suddenly asked.
The human wasn't sure how to answer. "I am nervous around most of them. Guess it bothers me knowing what Irkens do. It's hard not to see them as an enemy knowing what they can do to me, my family and my planet. But I guess I'm getting pretty used to your Irken form now. It's hard not to when we've been like this almost constantly these past few days."
There was silence again. So Dib spoke up some more. "When you first came to Earth, I liked you. You listened when I talked about my paranormal work, and we both liked seeing Zim make a fool of himself and get doomed. After that? I don't know. I guess I had a few years to get used to the idea. I never really held it against you now that I think about it."
A thick chunk of crust broke free with a loud crack and went down the drain. There were a few more cracks and scrapes.
"You have done much for me. You care for me even though I am Irken," Tak commented.
"Tak, seeing you like this hurt me. I had to do something," was all Dib said.
Tak turned enough so she could look at Dib behind her. "Dib, we need to discuss something. About what happened down there."
He continued his work, but eyed her expression quickly. "I know it was bad, but-"
"Dib, shut up."
The human stopped his work and looked at the Irken girl before him. She nodded for him to continue picking, which he did. "You know I am unwell. That I was in a much worse state down on the planet when you found me."
"I know, Tak."
"Dib, you bathed me when I couldn't. I was very vulnerable. I needed clean so much, I needed to smell clean rather than filth. And you were clean. I needed to embrace it. Dib, I started changing and I welcomed it." Tak turned around to sit facing Dib.
He looked in her face as blue rain poured down on them both and circled the drain between them. "Tak," Dib said as he put tiny tools down in the tray, "you needed care. Help. To crash and be picked up."
"Dib, you must understand. Irkens do not do what you did for me. When you washed me I started bonding," the Irken nearly cried out.
The human just stared at her for a moment. Sitting like this in a shower was not a comfortable place to talk about bonding with a girl of any species. But as his fore-mind tried to catch up, the back of his mind wondered what would happen if he tried to leave.
Tak continued looking at the drain between them, blue solution running down her green skin. "When you took me in our ship, I needed to take in the smell of clean so much. I needed to probe your hair with my antennae, needed the smell of clean human. I felt myself changing and welcomed it. I didn't know what it was, Dib."
The Irken paused before she spoke again. "I was very damaged, and this was not the natural process of an Irken. Few of us understand what happens. We are not educated about it at all. Dib, I didn't fight it. I didn't even try. I embraced the change."
Tak brought her hand to her lap. "Please do not run from me yet. I want you to understand."
Dib finally opened his mouth. "You mean, like what Zim and Gaz are in? That kind of bonding?" he asked in near shock.
Tak shook her head and looked at Dib. There was a tear in her eye. "I don't think so. I only saw a brief moment of them during the last broadcast to degrade Zim for Irken amusement. Theirs appears to be mutual. A more natural process. If you could call it that. Dib, something went wrong with me. I completed the process by the time we got to this ship. It's supposed to take months and years, not hours."
She went on before Dib could think of a response with his suddenly jelly-like brain. "I get jealous and threatened when female Irkens show you attention, even if it's just in doing their assignments. I feel the need to run my antennae over your face and hair as your scent reassures and stabilizes me. Even crave it if too much time passes. If I were to be separated for too long, I would eventually go mad trying to get back to you. But you, you don't Dib! Don't you understand? I'm dependent on you now. I can't ever break free or even want to. My system is now tuned to your scent, your bio-chemistry. I wasn't even bothered when you had to expel waste on our ship! Dib, something in me recognizes you as my mate. But I know I am not yours."
Tak began to back up into a corner. "My mind is all backwards and twisted around. Much worse that they know. I'm not just unwell, Dib. I'm sick. They can't find out. They'll either take me away and deactivate me or save themselves the trouble and toss me out the airlock. Dib, I associate humans with clean. Irkens are filthy. My own kind are dirty to me. Almost repulsive. I feel a need to get away from Irken kind. I need human." Tears began to flow freely as Tak's broken soul opened up to her mate.
Dib was shocked, stunned, and all manner of other things. But as he watched and listened, he came to understand why Gaz had done what she did. Her need to take care of Zim when he had broken down. And perhaps a little of why she was with him. For while Dib did not love Tak, he cared for her broken soul very much. Enough to rush to her rescue at the drop of a hat. Enough to trust Irkens he hadn't met yet on the word of his sister and lifelong enemy. To allow him to travel blindly through wormholes on a tow cable, outrun pursuit ships, and run clear to Irk of all places. To seek help on a ship full of his sister's Irken guard. To bathe alien waste off of her body with his own hands when all she was capable of was watching him with those solid purple eyes. To hold her when she trembled in trauma induced irrational fears, and let her run her Irken antennae through his hair when close- oh crap.
It wasn't in the romantic form, but there was something there. Like some seed that had been planted long ago and remained dormant until he had seen her distress message. It compelled him to rush in headfirst like an idiot knight on horseback.
The human slid forward and around the Irken girl to hold her as the decontamination shower continued to run over them. He brought her close in comfort, Pak resting against his bare chest.
"Dib, they don't know. They can't find out. The sewage ship captains would try to hit me with their drops. I know they did. They hit my pod eighteen different times. Once I was inside and was almost buried alive in muck. The first three years I was so outraged I wanted get at them. To rip them up. I started seeing those captains as Crap People. Dib, I ate meat. I had to try. But as I was hunting for those things in the muck, I started to imagine them as those sewage captains. It was the only way I could hit back. Then one day I realized I had almost slipped into madness when I thought about one of those sewage ships finally crashing nearby where I could hunt them down and turn them into the crap I knew them to be."
Tak began openly crying at this point, and Dib shifted his body so that he could cocoon the girl as he tried to wrap his arms, legs and head around her. Antennae reached back and touched his face, ears and ran through his hair. Dib was tearing also.
The girl tried to keep going, but her voice was breaking. "Dib, I almost went over the edge. I saw, Dib. I almost saw myself feeding to convert them into crap out of revenge. I had to turn inward and die inside. To turn into an empty shell. I had to surrender, Dib. I had to accept my fate. That I was my people's latrine. That I would never leave that place. Then after so very, very long, you called. You came, Dib. You came for me. My human came for me."
After that Tak couldn't relate anymore, but it was enough. In fact it was too much. Too much for any one soul to bear.
Dib was weeping too, but also for different reasons. It wasn't the place that had broken Tak. It had nearly driven her into psychosis. To save her sanity, she had reached down inside herself with intent and broke her own soul.
He remembered on the flight away from Dirt when the Black Sheep ships warned off the pursuit from Dirt. Tak had nearly freaked, and was asking Dib to kill her before allowing her to be sent back. She hadn't been asking to be spared more of that horrid experience. She was begging him to save her from madness if that was the only way.
Dib now saw that not all Irkens were the same. He could not forsake this one. He knew that he had to help this girl. And he'd spend the rest of his life doing so if that's what it took. To help her come back from the brink, to rescue her when the haunted and cursed memories returned. To always bring her back home.
He reached up with his hand as they sat under the cleansing spray of the decontamination shower and began lightly rubbing Tak's green alien scalp and back over her antennae, murmuring reassurance. They stayed like that for almost an hour.
When they had sufficiently recovered, Dib went back to cleaning her PAK. It took a long time, but one by one the access ports were cleared and her PAK gleamed like new. He reached up and turned off the shower.
"Thank you," she said. Tak slowly turned around in the small space until once more she faced Dib. Her hand reached over to the forgotten box. Tak brought it over and into her lap where she opened it.
The Irken withdrew a thick looking and mostly familiar necklace. It was a different style and was made of a dark purple metallic weave.
"Dib, I know that you being my mate does not make me yours. But I have bonded completely. Please help me do this one thing," she asked, gesturing for Dib to hold the necklace.
He held it up with two hands and Tak let go of it. She scratched a minor cut on her palm with a clawed fingernail. Some dark blood oozed out. Not a lot, but enough. She touched her palm to the necklace's sphere and it changed color. Dib was still holding it as Tak brought her head forward. She paused, then brought her hands to meet Dib's and helped him bring the bonding necklace to her throat. It snapped into place around her neck and the clasps fused together.
Tak brought out the matching necklace from the box and put in in his hands. "Thank you, Dib. This one is yours. You can do whatever you want with it. Keep it in the box or throw it in a star. It's up to you."
Dib wasn't looking at it. He was looking at the one around Tak. There was a small smile on her face which was wet with tears. Happy that she was to be seen as bonded by others, if not accepted by her mate. It didn't look wrong, and actually matched her eyes.
"I can't do that," he said, putting the matching necklace in one of her hands.
He didn't watch her expression as three Irken fingers closed around it. Then he reached over to the other alien hand, and helped one of those fingers scratch a small cut in his own palm. Dib offered his hand to the girl before him as he brought his forehead down to hers.
"I'll adjust. Just be patient with your slower paced human. Okay, Tak? I'm just starting my own process here."
Hands reached up and Dib felt a weight settle, first in his palm, and then around his neck with a click and a smell of fused metal. He looked up into happy Irken eyes. Her mate had accepted their bond. Thin green arms reached out and embraced the human.
In the narrow space, Dib helped Tak out of the decontamination shower to change back into pajamas rather than just stained blue underwear. He led her back over to the examination table. She climbed on to it wearing her donned white sweatpants and sweater, and laid down on her side exposing her cleaned PAK. Access ports clicked open for the first time in so, so many years.
Dib opened the door to the medical bay and called in one of the escorts. "Flom? Could you please help Tak start her maintenance cycle? She's overdue for a long and good one."
Flom entered as Dib returned to Tak and took a position with her on the exam table facing her. As two cables snaked down and plugged into her PAK, Dib reached over and brushed the green Irken face with those solid purple eyes. Antennae reached over and combed through his hair.
Flom returned to his sentry post outside the room quietly. Dib placed his arm over his new bondmate and settled in closer. She looked happy being so close to her mate's clean smell.
Dib knew it had been stupid, even beyond stupid. That there were probably thousands of reasons why not. And he'd never hear the end of this from Gaz. But he had been hooked back when he saw her broken on Dirt. Tak was also biologically dependent on his own now. Forever. Dib just couldn't bear to turn her away. His heart would never allow it. If the paranormal was to be his career, why not his personal life too? Besides, he already had an Irken brother-in-law. May as well return the favor and give Zim a sister.
The two very weary bondmates drifted into a well deserved, much needed, and very clean slumber.
A/N: Just to avoid confusion, Dib has accepted Tak more on a basis, not out of romantic love, but of a romanticism sort of caring. Sort of like when a nurse gets too attached to a patient.
Romanticism (n): idealization, fantasy, nostalgia, soft focus, rose-tinted glasses, invention, idealism, naivete.
Sounds a lot like Dib, doesn't it?