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"Likes
him?! Are you sure?"
"Yeah!
Just look at the way she's lookin' at him!"
"No
one likes that freak."
"Well,
she does, I know it!"
Shai
ignored the whispered comments from the kids at the table next to her and
continued staring at ZIM. She then stared at her food, not hungry in the least.
Dib, who was sitting next to her, was glancing sideways at her, and Gaz was
playing her GameSlave, oblivious.
The
date was two days after her arrival at Skool. After one day of trying to hide
her affection for ZIM, the news had traveled all over the Skool. From the
instant the morning rang that moment, all the kids in Shai's class were passing
their newest gossip back and forth. Shai wondered what Dib would think.
Now
it was time for recess. The cafeteria emptied out. Shai pushed her sunglasses
down onto her nose as she walked out into the hated sunlight. Even behind the
black, tinted glass the yellow-orange star's rays made her squint. Shai was
suddenly pulled back by a grip on her left shoulder.
Dib
was the one who pulled her back. There was no one around them, but from his
position in a corner of the fence, ZIM looked at Shai with a confused
expression.
"Shai,
what's going on?" Dib asked. "They're all saying you like ZIM. Did you
forget? He's an alien!"
The
girl diverted her gaze from Dib's. "I…I don't know. I just looked at him and I
just suddenly had affection for him," Shai muttered.
Dib
was silent for a time. Then, he said, "But you're going to help me, right,
cousin? If we team up, ZIM can't win! Come on, Shai."
Shai
looked Dib in the eye. "I…I will. This is just a little phase, I'm sure." She
tried to switch topics. "Now, after Skool, what do you say we work on your new
project? The one I saw on your desk?"
Her
cousin seemed satisfied with that.
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"Whoa. What the heck is this thing, anyway?" Shai commented as Dib reached for a screwdriver.
Dib
grinned. "It's a hovercraft. When ZIM captured me using a holographic
projector, I managed to download blueprints of his 'Advanced VootRunner' as he
called it. The prints were in some strange…alien-y language, so I had to modify
them a bit." He stared down at the meager makings of a hovercraft of some kind.
The
girl tossed her sunglasses aside. Here, encompassed by the wonderful glow of
machinery, she did not need them. They were in Professor Membrane's lab, since
he was out at his lab for the time being. She stared at the blueprints, made a
few quick calculations, and worked on the machine for a long time after Dib
went to sleep.
Since
when Shai went upstairs to sleep, it was nearly three in the morning, she did
not see the eyes looking on from the basement window above her…
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Dib
woke to the realization that he would probably get in trouble for leaving a big
hovercraft in his dad's lab. Stumbling down the stairs, tripping over his own
trench coat, Dib stared blankly at the spot where the hovercraft had been just
last night. Then, as the facts sunk into his foggy brain…
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
WHAT HAPPENED?!" Dib cried. As he circled the spot where his invention had
been. A minute later, Shai was jumping down the stairs. She stared,
openmouthed, at the hovercraft-devoid laboratory.
"…Where'd
the hovercraft go?" Shai muttered. She then realized with small consolation
that a piece of the craft had broken off, as planned for by her.
Walking
over to it, Shai surveyed the vehicle. It was red and about as big and
similarly shaped as a TIE Fighter from Star Wars. She has been very tired last
night; she hadn't had time to think of something exceptionally original. The
stubby little wings had two launchers each, both capable of firing super-sharp
spears. The windshield of the craft was almost black, for it was designed with
her eyes in mind. Shai hated sunlight, obviously.
"Dib,
c'mere and look at this," Shai called to her cousin.
He
walked over, muttering about failure and the doomed human race. He stared at
the red small vehicle thing that was capable of seating two. "What? That?
That is just scrap metal. I mean, I didn't make the hovercraft red."
Shai
narrowed her eyes and made an impatient noise. "No, Dib. This is an
auxillary ship-thing. I made last time after you went to bed. It was
programmed to fall off the main ship in case it took off." She paused. "I also
set a homing device on the main ship, so we can find the craft now. Get in. I'm
flying."
They
both climbed in to a glowing deep purple interior that was surprisingly comfy.
Shai poked the control and moved some more controls and they launched from an
opening panel in the wall. Within moments they were blasting through the sky
using a cloaking device, of course.
Dib
pointed to the screen displaying the homing beacon's location. "It looks likes
it's…whoa…in the desert, like a hundred miles from everyone."
The
girl considered this information. "His house is probably too small for two
ships, so he's maybe going to disintegrate yours out there into ashes. Let's do
it!" She pressed a button and they hurled off at double speed.
"Yes!
YES! While we're there, we can take out ZIM… and the Human race will be saved
from doom!" Dib shouted with glee.
Shai
was silent. Dib failed to notice.
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ZIM
was inside Dib's ship, which was pathetic yet rather intriguing. He had
deciphered his Advanced VootRunner's schematics and built this. But it
would all be a waste once ZIM blew it up out here in this endless stretch of
worthless sand.
The
ship, which he had heard Dib refer to as a 'hovercraft,' was more than that. It
was capable of matching three quarters the speed of the Advanced VootRunner,
and that was impressive…for a human stinkbeast. It was completely black. The
cockpit had an aquamarine glass shielding it on one side, and black metal
surrounding the rest. The interior glowed with shockingly bright green lights.
There were ski-like attachments on the bottom for surface-skimming and large
jets for cloud-surfing travel. A variation of a satellite dish was positioned
on top for a cloaking device. This, of course, could be sliced open with ZIM's equipment
for, although this flight technology was derived from the Irken's, it still was
a human cloaking shield. The end of the ship seemed to have held something that
broken off, but ZIM couldn't remember any of that, so it couldn't be very
important.
GIR
was inside Dib's machine, trying to get one of the screens to show TV programs,
but he was more wrecking the craft than getting the Scary Monkey Show. Since
the vehicle was preparing for inevitable doom, it didn't matter. ZIM had
brought GIR along because he wanted to help, but he himself had controlled
Dib's simplistic ship while also piloted his Advanced VootRunner, which was
parked nearby, with his new headset.
ZIM
was very proud of his Advanced VootRunner. The glass dome in front of the
cockpit was still present, and the insides still ebbed a strange magenta color,
but the VootRunner was significantly larger. There was an expansive cargo hold,
currently half-full of strange devices – flashing, glowing, and beeping – that
were very alien. A large, triangular mirror was positioned on the roof of the
cargo bay, shimmering. The mirror was his wonderful holographic projector,
useful for confusing Dib like on the other night. Two menacing black cables
shifted around, moving freely like snakes from their positions, one on each
wall of the outside of the ship. Another piece of Irken technology made even
better.
"GIR!
Get out of the ship! I am going to destroy it now… MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" ZIM
laughed maniacally as they walked from Dib's ship.
"Bye-bye
shippy!" GIR called to the black form in the sands.
Then,
suddenly, a voice rang out.
"Don't
touch my hovercraft, ZIM!"
ZIM's
head snapped up to see a red spacecraft streaking towards him, and his
excellent eyesight saw through the black glass informed him that both Dib and
the girl who 'liked' him, according to the class, were both in the
cockpit. The top slid open silently and Dib jumped out. The girl stared in, and
knocked his sunglasses onto her nose and watched.
The
boy charged ZIM and the alien cringed, but at the last second he leapt on the
top of his ship. Dib grabbed a spear – extra ammo for the launcher – and hopped
back down onto the sands. Holding the spear with its point facing ZIM, Dib
charged again, and his eyes said he wouldn't stop this time.
ZIM
was shocked that the human could do something so rash as to rush at him with a
pointy stick that he was basically rooted to the spot. The point, Dib, ZIM,
everything was rushing on at supersonic speed…GIR just rolling in the sand…
ZIM
shut his eyes just as the spear was on a direct route to his squeedily spooch.
But there was no pain. Carefully, ZIM opened his eyes and saw something sky
blue blocking his view of Dib.
Shai
had stopped Dib.
"Shai!"
Dib shouted. "What're you doing?!"
The
cousin smiled sadly. "I promised myself I would let my heart decide, not my
mind. I know you can't understand, Dib, but know that I still have great
admiration for you." She spread her arms open wide in front of ZIM in a
protective fashion.
Her
sky blue hair waved as she used her left foot to kick the spear from Dib's
hand. She then jumped up, and did a three hundred and sixty degree spin kick
and hit Dib square in the chin. He fell to the ground, unconscious. A flare of
shock from her actions flooded her face, but in an instant it was gone.
ZIM
said nothing. He turned, grabbed a laser gun, and shot Dib's hovercraft.
Setting down the gun, he took one step toward the Advanced VootRunner. Shai
heard his voice then.
"Come
with me, human," he called. She followed him into the Advanced VootRunner, and
GIR jumped into her arms for no reason at all, sand falling from his
compartments and tiny little joints. The hovercraft, she saw, was engulfed in
flame, but it then turned to ash and was blown away in the wind. The red ship
was still intact, waiting for Dib to recover and fly home.
A
vicious smile spread across ZIM's face. This human was, he now saw, the
relative of Dib. The similarity was uncanny. She had the same brilliance as
Dib, and she could be invaluable to his cause.
But
they both silently wondered what would happen next.