Decoy walked home same as always, eager to report his daily findings to his master. He recalled an entire days worth of information that would surely please his maker, although a small chunk of that morning had gone missing from his memory. He disregarded it though; if he couldn't remember what had happened it probably wasn't important.
Deep inside his circuits, unbeknown to him, was the cause of his minimal amnesia. A small gray disk hastily attached to his visual receptors with nimble human fingers.
Completely unaware of the addition Dib had made to his hardware, Decoy returned home greeting Zim with a smile.
"At least you're on time today." The alien muttered "Report your findings."
"Sir, yes sir," Decoy shouted saluting "Today Ms. Bitters made us read the next chapter in our English text..." His eyes suddenly flashed, his arm dropped down, "It was a fun story about a bunny that almost got cooked into a pie..."
Zim stared, thrown off by Decoy's suddenly relaxing his stance and focus on the nonsensical and unimportant story plot. He hadn't noticed the flash from the robot's eyes since he had turned his attention away for a split second to glance at GIR whom had just run by.
"The lesson Decoy," Zim said slightly annoyed "Report the IMPORTANT data."
"Yes, Sir" The android continued, "we had to review for our spelling test tomorrow..." another flash from the eyes, "Supercalafragilisticexpieledosious!"
"Was that one of the words?" Zim cocked his eye.
Decoy looked around and shrugged.
"Idunno"
Again Zim hadn't seen the flash, he was hanging his head in thought at the moment.
"You don't know? You're supposed to know." Zim shouted "You're the one that's been going to school, not me"
"Sorry" Decoy moped lowering his head.
"I reprogrammed you last night so you wouldn't be distracted. All I want from you are the facts." Zim crossed his arms and angrily turned from the robot.
"But I did get the facts," Decoy protested "Today in math we..." another flash Zim didn't see "...we drew pretty numbers." The android swooned batting his eyes girlishly.
Zim turned back to his double. "Your report is faltering today" he paused to think "Perhaps you need more time to adjust to your new programming better."
"Mmmmaaaayyyyyyyybe." Said the copy.
Zim's hypothesis was wrong. He would have known this if he had noticed Decoy's momentarily flashing eyes. But the flashes occurred whenever he wasn't looking, which was because they were being controlled from a remote location many blocks away.
^^^^+++^^^++^^++^^++^^+
Dib sat in his room smiling joyfully at the screen of a laptop like device. He could see everything the decoy was seeing thanks to the camera disk he had connected to its visual circuits. It was almost too easy to install the disk, the robot's hardware wasn't that complex and besides he WAS a genius.
"There's no way you can hide now Zim. By this time tomorrow your threat to humanity will be no more." Dib smugly said pushing a button on the laptop. A freeze frame of the action appeared on the screen. He was getting so many pictures of Zim there would be no way he would ever be doubted again about the alien's true identity. All he had to do was wait for Zim to send his duplicate to school tomorrow, he would remove the disk, get the pictures, and sent them to the government or "Mysterious Mysteries."
"When I retrieve that disk tomorrow," he said confidently "There won't be a person alive who won't believe me!" He laughed a loud nerdy guffaw until he heard a loud knock on the wall.
"Shut up Dib!" He could hear Gaz yell from the next room. He quieted himself and returned to watching. Every time Zim wasn't looking directly at the "camera" a picture would be taken.
Nobody knew that each time a picture was taken the disk inside the decoy would spark. Inhabitability between earthling and Irken technology was causing short-circuiting inside the robot alien and each one of those short-circuits were becoming more intense.
^^++^^++^^++^^++^^++
"Any other information?" Zim asked, oblivious to any problems.
"They served bread and gravy for lunch today." He paused "And I think I was supposed to do something for somebody..."
Zim was quickly getting board with these childish responses.
"Uh, that's enough for today," he disconnected Decoy's speech "I'll give you some time to let your new protocol sink in."
"Yes sir!" Decoy saluted. His pupils suddenly shrank and his arm shot up raised straight in the air. He blinked a few times as his eyes returned to normal, looked at his still raised arm and wondered how it had gotten that way. Zim had already left the room and just missed seeing the spasm. The android duplicate remained paused, solitary in the middle of the living room until GIR, for no apparent reason at all, ran head on into its legs. The robots looked at each other, Decoy smiled.
"Wanna go play Frisbee?"
~*~*~*~*
Zim was in his lab for the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening, doing his usual research and experiments. He had been slightly miffed by the decoy's report earlier but he was certain that since it had been ordered not to interact as much as before it was merely not getting the same amount of information as the previous days.
What ever his train of thought had been on at the moment it was quickly disrupted by the sound of banging. Leaving his work to find the cause of this agitation Zim rose from the toilet to see Decoy repeatedly walk into the kitchen wall.
"Decoy, what are you doing?" Zim asked.
"Walking into the wall." Answered the double who collided with the barrier one last time before walking into the living room and sitting down less then five inches from the glowing TV.
"And why were you walking into the wall?" Zim followed.
"It was a commercial." Decoy replied not removing his glance from the television.
"Oooo-kay" Zim said, "Maybe I should shut you down for the night." He reached over for the android's utility pack.
"I don't like it when you shut me off!" Decoy snapped, pulling away and backing off.
"I don't care what you think about it so don't argue with me." Zim demanded.
"You never care about what I think." He counterpart whined "You only like to order me around."
"You're a robot, you're supposed to take orders."
"I don't wanna!"
Decoy crossed his arms, pointing his face up defiantly.
"What is with you Decoy?" Zim insisted "You're behaving so childish."
"I can't help being who I am. Why can't you appreciate me?!"
"What ARE you TALKING about?" Zim was now very confused. "You're acting completely INSANE!"
"STOP YELLING AT MEEEEE!" Decoy gave Zim a quick shove, pushing the alien to the ground. Zim felt the impact of the floor to his side as he watched his doppelganger rush to the front door. "If you don't like me then maybe I shouldn't be here!"
He ran outside into the cul-de-sac with a frightened angered pace. Gasping, Zim leapt to his feet running after his robot calling to it,
"Where are you going? Come back here! Decoy come back here, I order you!!!"
He didn't listen, he continued to run until he was completely out of sight. Zim stood at the doorway, without his disguise he could go no further. He could tell there was something obviously wrong with his invention, he needed to locate it before the problem could escalate.
"GIR!" He shouted back into the house.
"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!"
A faint squealing answered him. It grew louder as GIR came sliding into the living room riding on an upturned Frisbee. It glazed across the floor and skidded to a stop before Zim's feet, where the little info unit saluted.
"GIR, the decoy unit has run away." Zim altered his partner.
"Ooh, hope he brings me back something." GIR smiled, letting his tongue hang out between his metal lips.
"This is a bad thing GIR, the decoy appears to be malfunctioning. Running loose in its current condition it may cause damage to property, people, itself, or even worse the mission."
"Ohh, I hope he's wearing a helmet then." GIR said placing the Frisbee on his head like a fancy hat.
Zim sighed with frustration,
"Perhaps modeling the Decoy's info gathering matrix after yours wasn't one of my better ideas." He didn't want to dwell on how though, after all GIR was advanced according to the Tallest, and why would they lie?
"Nope, I guess not." GIR agreed dancing around in his new 'hat'.
"Suit up GIR," Zim commanded "We must locate the decoy post haste!"
"Whoohooo! Treasure hunt!" The unit exclaimed and ran off to get his dog suit.
Deep inside his circuits, unbeknown to him, was the cause of his minimal amnesia. A small gray disk hastily attached to his visual receptors with nimble human fingers.
Completely unaware of the addition Dib had made to his hardware, Decoy returned home greeting Zim with a smile.
"At least you're on time today." The alien muttered "Report your findings."
"Sir, yes sir," Decoy shouted saluting "Today Ms. Bitters made us read the next chapter in our English text..." His eyes suddenly flashed, his arm dropped down, "It was a fun story about a bunny that almost got cooked into a pie..."
Zim stared, thrown off by Decoy's suddenly relaxing his stance and focus on the nonsensical and unimportant story plot. He hadn't noticed the flash from the robot's eyes since he had turned his attention away for a split second to glance at GIR whom had just run by.
"The lesson Decoy," Zim said slightly annoyed "Report the IMPORTANT data."
"Yes, Sir" The android continued, "we had to review for our spelling test tomorrow..." another flash from the eyes, "Supercalafragilisticexpieledosious!"
"Was that one of the words?" Zim cocked his eye.
Decoy looked around and shrugged.
"Idunno"
Again Zim hadn't seen the flash, he was hanging his head in thought at the moment.
"You don't know? You're supposed to know." Zim shouted "You're the one that's been going to school, not me"
"Sorry" Decoy moped lowering his head.
"I reprogrammed you last night so you wouldn't be distracted. All I want from you are the facts." Zim crossed his arms and angrily turned from the robot.
"But I did get the facts," Decoy protested "Today in math we..." another flash Zim didn't see "...we drew pretty numbers." The android swooned batting his eyes girlishly.
Zim turned back to his double. "Your report is faltering today" he paused to think "Perhaps you need more time to adjust to your new programming better."
"Mmmmaaaayyyyyyyybe." Said the copy.
Zim's hypothesis was wrong. He would have known this if he had noticed Decoy's momentarily flashing eyes. But the flashes occurred whenever he wasn't looking, which was because they were being controlled from a remote location many blocks away.
^^^^+++^^^++^^++^^++^^+
Dib sat in his room smiling joyfully at the screen of a laptop like device. He could see everything the decoy was seeing thanks to the camera disk he had connected to its visual circuits. It was almost too easy to install the disk, the robot's hardware wasn't that complex and besides he WAS a genius.
"There's no way you can hide now Zim. By this time tomorrow your threat to humanity will be no more." Dib smugly said pushing a button on the laptop. A freeze frame of the action appeared on the screen. He was getting so many pictures of Zim there would be no way he would ever be doubted again about the alien's true identity. All he had to do was wait for Zim to send his duplicate to school tomorrow, he would remove the disk, get the pictures, and sent them to the government or "Mysterious Mysteries."
"When I retrieve that disk tomorrow," he said confidently "There won't be a person alive who won't believe me!" He laughed a loud nerdy guffaw until he heard a loud knock on the wall.
"Shut up Dib!" He could hear Gaz yell from the next room. He quieted himself and returned to watching. Every time Zim wasn't looking directly at the "camera" a picture would be taken.
Nobody knew that each time a picture was taken the disk inside the decoy would spark. Inhabitability between earthling and Irken technology was causing short-circuiting inside the robot alien and each one of those short-circuits were becoming more intense.
^^++^^++^^++^^++^^++
"Any other information?" Zim asked, oblivious to any problems.
"They served bread and gravy for lunch today." He paused "And I think I was supposed to do something for somebody..."
Zim was quickly getting board with these childish responses.
"Uh, that's enough for today," he disconnected Decoy's speech "I'll give you some time to let your new protocol sink in."
"Yes sir!" Decoy saluted. His pupils suddenly shrank and his arm shot up raised straight in the air. He blinked a few times as his eyes returned to normal, looked at his still raised arm and wondered how it had gotten that way. Zim had already left the room and just missed seeing the spasm. The android duplicate remained paused, solitary in the middle of the living room until GIR, for no apparent reason at all, ran head on into its legs. The robots looked at each other, Decoy smiled.
"Wanna go play Frisbee?"
~*~*~*~*
Zim was in his lab for the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening, doing his usual research and experiments. He had been slightly miffed by the decoy's report earlier but he was certain that since it had been ordered not to interact as much as before it was merely not getting the same amount of information as the previous days.
What ever his train of thought had been on at the moment it was quickly disrupted by the sound of banging. Leaving his work to find the cause of this agitation Zim rose from the toilet to see Decoy repeatedly walk into the kitchen wall.
"Decoy, what are you doing?" Zim asked.
"Walking into the wall." Answered the double who collided with the barrier one last time before walking into the living room and sitting down less then five inches from the glowing TV.
"And why were you walking into the wall?" Zim followed.
"It was a commercial." Decoy replied not removing his glance from the television.
"Oooo-kay" Zim said, "Maybe I should shut you down for the night." He reached over for the android's utility pack.
"I don't like it when you shut me off!" Decoy snapped, pulling away and backing off.
"I don't care what you think about it so don't argue with me." Zim demanded.
"You never care about what I think." He counterpart whined "You only like to order me around."
"You're a robot, you're supposed to take orders."
"I don't wanna!"
Decoy crossed his arms, pointing his face up defiantly.
"What is with you Decoy?" Zim insisted "You're behaving so childish."
"I can't help being who I am. Why can't you appreciate me?!"
"What ARE you TALKING about?" Zim was now very confused. "You're acting completely INSANE!"
"STOP YELLING AT MEEEEE!" Decoy gave Zim a quick shove, pushing the alien to the ground. Zim felt the impact of the floor to his side as he watched his doppelganger rush to the front door. "If you don't like me then maybe I shouldn't be here!"
He ran outside into the cul-de-sac with a frightened angered pace. Gasping, Zim leapt to his feet running after his robot calling to it,
"Where are you going? Come back here! Decoy come back here, I order you!!!"
He didn't listen, he continued to run until he was completely out of sight. Zim stood at the doorway, without his disguise he could go no further. He could tell there was something obviously wrong with his invention, he needed to locate it before the problem could escalate.
"GIR!" He shouted back into the house.
"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!"
A faint squealing answered him. It grew louder as GIR came sliding into the living room riding on an upturned Frisbee. It glazed across the floor and skidded to a stop before Zim's feet, where the little info unit saluted.
"GIR, the decoy unit has run away." Zim altered his partner.
"Ooh, hope he brings me back something." GIR smiled, letting his tongue hang out between his metal lips.
"This is a bad thing GIR, the decoy appears to be malfunctioning. Running loose in its current condition it may cause damage to property, people, itself, or even worse the mission."
"Ohh, I hope he's wearing a helmet then." GIR said placing the Frisbee on his head like a fancy hat.
Zim sighed with frustration,
"Perhaps modeling the Decoy's info gathering matrix after yours wasn't one of my better ideas." He didn't want to dwell on how though, after all GIR was advanced according to the Tallest, and why would they lie?
"Nope, I guess not." GIR agreed dancing around in his new 'hat'.
"Suit up GIR," Zim commanded "We must locate the decoy post haste!"
"Whoohooo! Treasure hunt!" The unit exclaimed and ran off to get his dog suit.