The Next Generation

Chapter seven: Revelations from the past!

Xat's POV

I was flying towards our destination, I was flying towards Earth. Yin was on the seat next to me, the poor thing was already fast asleep, whatever did those Scientists and guards do to her back on the massive? I wonder. But I wasn't about to wake her up, she deserved this sleep. I instead focused on heading towards Earth. I gazed to the back of the cockpit, there he still sat on the far-right corner, never taking his eyes from me, those strange orange eyes. I shifted my focus to the control panel in front of me, I activated the autopilot, so that I could start a much-needed conversation with my brother. I stood up from my seat and walked towards Rog. I sat a few meters away from him, he fixed his gaze on me. "Since the day where everything changed, don't get mad I won't speak out what happened back then, I know it hurts you and I am sorry that I ignored it and even that I trivialized it. Well, since that day I have seen you change…to the worse. It hurts me so much that you, my loving brother changed into this monster of sorts. But I never imagined that you would seriously hurt Yin or me, let alone both of us." I looked over at Rog, he was visible affected by my words, he looked hurt…by himself maybe. "Why was it so important to you if there were cameras present on the massive?"

Then I've seen something I would have never expected to see, Rog looked very scared and even sad, it looked like he was about to cry. Rog everted my gaze now looking at the wall. "Because of him." Rog then turned towards me again gazing deep in my eyes. "Mom never told you the truth about me, she always held back."

I frowned at that, I was confused. "I don't understand, aren't you my brother, or what truth exists that she didn't tell me?"

"Yes, I am your brother but I am not 45 years old like you think. I am…289 years old."

I couldn't believe what I just heard. "What do you even mean by that? You are 45 years old, we always celebrated your birthday, all of our friends congratulated to your 20th 21st and so on birthday. I mean it would be impossible for you to be that old. The life expectancy of Irkens is about 90ish." I didn't like that my brother was lying to me, which purpose did that serve?

Rog shook his head, once again locking his eyes on mine. "Allow me to explain it as best as I can. Xat, how do you explain my eyes? Mom's eyes were yellow, dad's eyes were red. Your eyes are red, Yin's eyes are yellow and mine? Mine are orange, how do you explain that?"

Was Rog really that dull? "Well, if you mix red and yellow you get orange, so that's no big scientific secret."

Rog stood up, still fixed on my gaze. "That is correct, but you would never achieve this mix on a smeet which was born in a tube. The birth through a tube has many advantages to regular birthing, however there can never be a mixing of eye colours of both parents, it's either her eye colour, that's how Yin got her eyes, or his eye colour, that's how you got your eyes. But me, I was born with orange eyes, do you know what that means? That means I was born natural."

I was in disbelieve, that could not have been. "That's impossible, I read about the last natural birth, it happened 400 years ago. We abandoned it after it almost eradicated most of our species."

Rog shook his head, showing his disapproval of this story. "The last Irken that was natural birthed were my smeets. The one you were just talking about was our own mother, she was naturally born, our father was naturally born as well. That is why they were able to birth me."

I wasn't quite grasping this whole story, it just didn't make any sense, why would our parents give a normal birth to Rog, but Yin and I would be received via a tube? "Even if I would believe you, which I don't. Why were you the only one of us three to be born normally?"

Rog seemed heartbroken, he stared at the floor, slowly sliding down the wall he was leaning on until he sat on the ground. "Because it was outlawed 300 years ago. Our parents couldn't take the risk of losing their own smeets and even though it was outlawed they wanted a bigger family, yet they wouldn't take the risk of getting caught after they received me. I should've taken this lesson from our parents instead of finding Sira and mating with her. But it seemed just so precious, the life we had, the emotions we've felt for each other, for our smeets, the…everything." Rog slowly fazed me.

"So…you are illegal is basically what you are saying? That's crazy, I don't believe you, why do you feel the need to state all those lies?" Rog sighed an stood up again. He reached behind his back, I scooted away from him fearing the worst. Rog however took off his pak and let it fall to the ground. "Okay, you want to kill yourself to proof a point? That is just stupid, even for your standards."

He eyed me from top to bottom. "What liquid was it that you threw on the guards back on the massive?"

Rog was talking in riddles, I couldn't predict him anymore, then again, I was never good at predicting him anyway. "Water, it was water. It's poisonous for Irken, but you know that, every Irken knows that by now."

"Do you still have a few drops?"

I squinted my eyes at Rog. "Why do you care? Oh, I know…so that you can throw it at me, is that it? You finally want to get rid of your sister, I can't believe that you would even think about something like that."

Rog rolled his eyes. "No, I won't do that. Just get it and throw it at me and you'll see what happens."

I shook my head standing up while doing so. "You are really nuts, you know that? I won't kill you just because you ask me to, you know? It just bugs me immensely that you would rather die than to admit that you just fed me countless lies."

Rog was about to raise his voice as a balloon struck his right side, it popped on impact making Rog instantly wet. "What the?" I followed the direction from where the balloon came from, Yin threw the balloon on Rog. "Yin! Are you out of your mind? You just killed our brother." I was furious, I did not have a single sane person in this family left. I was about to strangle the life out of my sister.

"No, I didn't, just look at him." I turned my gaze towards Rog who was seeping with the dangerous liquid, he however wasn't sizzling, nor was he screaming in pain or dissolving in to a puddle on the floor. "You didn't die, Rog. You are just wet. And neither is not wearing your pak harming you." I was completely dumbfounded, I couldn't believe it. "You were speaking the truth about being naturally born, didn't you?"

Rog's antennas sank flat on his cranium. "Yes, I was. I have to tell you so much about our family and myself."

Yin and I exchanged a deep and hearty look. "It takes us at least 3 hours before we reach our destiny. So, I guess there is more than enough time for you to elaborate, Rog."

I nodded my head at Yin and then took a seat in the Pilots chair signalling Rog to start with his story. Rog in return took a seat in front of us, he crossed his legs and started to explain.

Rog's POV, Past:

As you see, you were right when you said that I was illegal, Xat. 400 years ago, it was totally normal for Irkens to be born naturally, back then there was no equipment for smeets to be born out of tubes. Our species wasn't weak because of that, neither did the natural birth cycle eradicate the Irken race, no. The Tallest wanted to change our race, not for the better however, but for the worse. As you stated correctly before, Xat, Irkens do only live for about 90 years, however this is only true for Irkens born out of tubes. Naturally born Irkens have a live expectancy of around 400 years. The question now is, why would someone trade off 400 years of their people for only a fourth of that time? There are many reasons as to why that is. First of all, time and servitude are crucial for the Irken military and the empire. For example, a natural pregnancy lasts for about 6 months give or take a few weeks, a tube-based pregnancy lasts only for about 4 weeks and the creators of these tubs don't require healthy women for the reproduction process. Servitude is also rather important for a race that wants to take over the universe. A tube-born Irken does not have emotions, they can't be blindsided by friendship, family or…love. The only thing that they know is their glory for the tallest. Another big advantage is that the Irkens are able to join the military at age 6, that's when they are fully grown and able to serve their leaders. It takes up to 14 years until naturally born Irken are old enough to enlist in the military.

However, there are also big disadvantages such as that individuality is lost in each of their Irken Soldiers. So, a lack of genetics means that they are only able to be good at certain aspects of the military. The scientists tried to counter that affect by requiring genetic samples from naturally born Irken, so that they have a variety of possibilities for their new soldiers. Another problem of the tube birth is that the Irkens require paks to stay alive. Studying these problems and advantages took time, so did fixing crucial problems with the tube-birthing. That also meant that 150 years ago still a majority of the Irkens in society and military were naturally born.

I was a General on the armada back in the old imperial days. I served under imperator grey and imperator black, the last of the Ren dynasty.

Back in the present:

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a sec." Yin interrupted me, so it looked like I had to clarify a few things. "The Ren dynasty? The one that ruled Irk for over 12.000 years, that Ren dynasty? And you were a General on their mothership. You were a pioneer for all future invaders, you were on board the massive that started the intergalactic conquests?"

I put my arms behind my back and leaned on them while nodding to Yin. "Yes, everything you just said is correct. I was one of the first Irkens to place the imperial flag on another planet, planet Vort to be exact."

Yin and Xat exchanged a look in disbelieve. "How could you and our parents keep this a secret from us? How did the entire Irken race keep this a secret? You must've been a hero for our race, how come they never mentioned you in the military?"

"Oh, but they did! Just not for that long. You see as soon as the naturally born Irken slowly died out and lost their purpose in society and for the empire, every little detail of their existents was wiped from society. They even changed history so that they could tell the people that natural born Irkens, or defectives as they called them, almost destroyed Irk and that's the story you two are familiar with. I wanted to tell you about our parents and me, but mom & dad held me back. They pleaded with me that I shouldn't tell you the secret, for your sake. Because pretty quickly after the last imperators died and Miyuki and Spork took the throne everything changed. With the new imperators new titles rose…the tallest and with them an entire new society was built from the ground up. They hunted the natural Irkens to extinction, that's the reason why mom & dad didn't want me to tell you about us. You would've been hunted as well." I averted my gaze to the ground, the next part wouldn't be that easy to articulate. "…and that is the reason why our parents died…the real reason. They were hunted by the tallest and…killed." I was about to cry, I miss my parents so much, even though it was a long time ago.

Xat however was in denial, she stood up from her chair, screaming at me. "THAT IS A LIIIIE! Don't you ever tell lies about mom or dad! They were killed during a mission, they were heroes." Xat was obviously and understandably upset, I couldn't look into her eyes. I can only imagine what it must've felt like to be told that your heroes didn't die a heroic death, but that they were hunted by their own species. It was simply horrible.

Yin was equally as shocked, however she was also a very rational thinker and I always knew that the reason for our parents death never sat right with her. She stood up and put a hand on Xat's shoulder. "Sis, I think Rog is also right about this. They must've been hunted."

Xat angrily wiped away Yin's hand. "You too? Listen, Yin. Our parents died serving our empire, the empire of Miyuki and Spork not the empire of those two dorks we currently have as our leaders."

Yin in response gently took Xat's face in her hands and made her look in her eyes. "Listen, think about it, Xat. Our parents died just one day after they tucked us into our bed at night. Rog is not the brightest star in this universe, he fed us this lie of our parent's glorious death on the planet Jolet, so as to protect us and to make it easier on us. But would you seriously consider just for one moment, that our loving parents wouldn't have told us, their little Irken smeets, about a mission on an enemy planet on the evening of their departure?"

Xat's features softened, she sank to her knees and started to wail. Yin took her in for a big embrace. I could only watch them, I let my head hang in shame, I knew it was wrong for me to lie to them all those years, but I wanted to protect them, I always tried that. After some time Xat composed herself again, she looked at me sniffing. "I get that you promised our parents that you wouldn't tell us. But why now, why would you tell us that right now?"

I dusted of my pants and stood up. "Because of him. He's the reason why I was so paranoid about being seen on any camera."

Now Xat and Yin were confused again. Yin turned to me. "Who? Red? Purple?"

I snorted at that. "Do I look like I am intimidated by any of those drooling fools? No, he is the head scientist on the massive, he is the reason for my suffering. He killed my family, my wife and my two smeets." I fell to the floor crying, God I hated to cry in front of my sisters, however it was too painful, this memory was haunting me every day of my life.

Xat's POV

Rog seemed to be petrified of this scientist, it was very frightening to be exact. It is really strange and intimidating when you see the man you grew up with, someone who was always the hard unamused type of guy, the guy that would kill anybody if they messed with his family, in this state. I mean he literally raised my sister and me for 5 years until we were old enough to start our own life and during this process, he was the only one who knew how our parents really died and still he wouldn't tell us, why? Because he wanted to protect us, such a burden he had to lift. Then he started his own life, found himself a wife and started a family with her, they had two beautiful smeets. After that his life was taken from him, his wife and smeets were killed and he went nuts. He was a hardened criminal when I found him on the deserted planet of…I don't even know what planet that was. And this Man who went through so much was afraid of a single scientist, why? "I fail to understand, Rog? You hopped on board with us both to find a guy that ripped your antenna out so that you might smite him with your wrath. And yet you do not wish to face the man who killed your entire family, why?"

Rog was shaking visibly, I thought he was about to faint. "Why? Because he is the devil, you don't have any clue what he did with my family and me. He hates the naturally born Irken, he would go through any length to fulfil his hatred towards us and I witnessed first-hand what that means. I don't even know if he's still alive, but I do not dare question it. He is older than you two, he is about 75 years old. I was planning on waiting for him to die and then move forward from there."

I threw my hands in the air. "What a pathetic plan, I thought you of all Irkens wouldn't be intimidated by anyone, wouldn't you agree, Yin?"

I turned towards my sister after asking for her approval, however Yin was equally as shocked and petrified as Rog. "No, I understand Rog perfectly. I know of whom he is talking about. And it would make sense for him to hunt the remaining natural-born Irkens. He is a perfectionist and he won't stop until he has what he is looking for." Yin all of a sudden turned towards me, she took a hold of my shoulders. "Xat, his name is Smert, he is the head scientist on the massive and he has an unlimited budget, so it would be easy for him to search for Rog and us." Yin faced the floor for a split second, she faced me again. I looked in her bright yellow orbs. "Smert created Xiz, Xat. We need to steer clear of planet earth or otherwise Smert will find us and him. Oh no." Yin couldn't deactivate the autopilot and change our course, because right in front of us was the bright blue orb, our destination, planet earth. "We are already here…" Yin let her head fall on the command board of the Cruiser. "We are in big trouble…" We all stared at the planet in front of us. Somewhere on Earth was Xiz and I needed to find him and bring all of us to safety.

AN: Hey yall, I am back. I needed to rewrite this chapter because my computer shut down and I couldn't retrieve the original Chapter, so this one is entirely different. But seeing as I wrote the chapter 6ish years ago, I couldn't remember the original one even if I tried.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope I will be back in a jiffy, the next chapter will be about…well you will see and I promise you that you will be seeing it soon. I finally found my way back towards writing stuff I care about and I want to keep this story going.

Fun Fact (Just for the ones that are interested.) I am currently writing a book about the world of invader Zim, it takes place in the past not the present. This story is about a medievalish society on Irk. In the book there are two empires fighting for dominance on Irk. One of those empires finally won against the other, this empire is the empire of the Ren dynasty. So, this will heavily influence the story going forward.