Chapter 14 – Unlikely Political Refugees

As Zim woke up the next morning, it took him a few minutes to remember where he was. As the room came into focus in the dull light of dawn, it all came rushing back to him. He glanced over at Dib and Gaz, still asleep on his right and GIR, curled up in a ball, hugging his unattached arm and snoring softly.

He stood up and turned to look at his mate. She was sleeping soundly on the sofa-bed. He couldn't help thinking that she'd never looked more beautiful. He noticed her stomach had already returned to normal size – the extra- flexible Irken skin had reverted back to normal not long after the egg was laid.

Remembering the egg, he crossed the room to where they'd set it down the night before, wrapped in the blanket. He knelt down beside it, amazed. 'My children are in there,' he thought, putting a hand on the smooth surface. It was still warm – a good sign. But it wouldn't stay that way if they left it out in the open air for too long.

He heard a soft murmur behind him and turned around. Zia was waking up. He hurried back to her side. "Good Morning," he said, "How're you holding up?"

"I've been better," she admitted, "But I feel a lot lighter."

She smiled at him and he felt his heart melt. She really was glowing that morning. "I love you," he said.

Without a word, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a kiss. They broke apart quickly when the sound of someone clearing their throat broke the silence. Dib was awake and looking at them quizzically.

Zim cleared his own throat, blushing.

"Good morning, Dib," Zia said.

"Huh?" Dib said, a little flustered, "Oh, um, hi."

Gaz was the next to wake up. She yawned and stretched, and then looked up at her brother. "What am I doing in your – oh yeah. Never mind." She turned to say something to the Irkens, but GIR cut her off.

"I'm hungry!" he said, waving his unattached arm in the air, 'What's for breakfast."

"Robots don't eat," Gaz told him.

"GIR does," Zim said, "Don't ask how. The technical aspects are just too complicated to explain." He puffed out his chest importantly.

"Oh come on," Dib said, "He's just crazy! There's nothing advanced about him."

"What is for breakfast?" Zia asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Let's go find out," Gaz said, "Come on, Dib." She grabbed her brother by the ear and tugged him out of the room with her.

When they got downstairs, Prof. Membrane was sitting at the kitchen table, with APU!!

"I've never seen such an interactive toy before," Membrane was saying, looking into APU's head with his x-ray laser-pen.

"I've already told you, sir," APU said, frustrated, "I'm NOT a toy. I'm a scientifically programmed robot. And I'd like to know where I am."

"DAD!!" Dib cried, "What are you doing with that??"

The Professor looked up. "Oh hello, son, daughter," he said, "I found this toy of yours on the floor last night. It was broken, so I fixed it."

APU recognized Dib and Gaz. "What am I doing here??"

"That's not –," Dib started to say, but Gaz stepped on his foot – hard. He yelped in pain and began hopping around the kitchen, holding his foot.

"Yeah, thanks, Dad," Gaz said, "I'll just take Dib's toy back up to his room." She grabbed APU by the arm and quickly led him away, flashing her dad a false smile. At the staircase, she told him, "Zim and Zia are upstairs – the room at the end of the hall."

Confused, APU headed up the stairs. Gaz turned back towards the kitchen, but Dib was already coming out, holding a tray of toast and juice. "I've got breakfast – and Dad's not too suspicious yet. Come on," he said.

So they both headed after APU.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that same moment, across town, the teachers of the Skool were holding a meeting…somewhere other than at Skool. They were all gathered into one big room, which wasn't good to begin with, but they all seemed angry. The crowd grew quiet as Ms. Bitters floated creepily up to the podium.

"We're all here today," she growled, "Not because I invited you – I think you're all horrible. But because the Skool board has crossed the line by cutting our wages." The crowd erupted into angry shouts. "SILENCE!!" Ms. Bitters shouted, and the teachers fell silent again, "Now we have something else to hate besides children – the Skool Board. So we're not showing up on Monday!"

"YEAH!!" the crowd cheered.

"Substitutes are idiots unless we leave them notes!" a teacher in the front row shouted.

"Yeah!" yelled another, "They'll be forced to close the Skool!"

The teachers all laughed evilly. And their evil laughed was heard all around…um…the place where they were… (If I told you where, I'd have to kill you – don't make me do that, I don't want to).

* * *

So the teachers went on strike (nice plot device, no?). It was in all the papers the next morning, and there was mass child-celebrating and parent- complaining. It was also very good news for Zim and Zia, who didn't yet risk going out in the open, and Dib and Gaz, who didn't know how much longer they could hide them before Prof. Membrane got suspicious.

The papers were unclear as to how long Skool would be closed, so they took advantage of the time that they had. They kept the egg hidden in the oven, which no one at the Membrane household used anyway. That afternoon, Zim fixed GIR's arm while Zia explained to APU what had happened after he'd been blown to bits. He was still angry about that, but he let Zia continue her recap without blowing his top.

"And that's about it," she finished.

APU nodded, "I see," he said, "I'm sure that it was not the evening you intended, eh?"

"Not at all," Zia agreed, "But it's all right. At least it's over."

"And what about you, Mistress?' he asked, "How has your body been readjusting?"

"I'm fine," Zia insisted, but APU began a scan of her body anyway. When he was satisfied with what he saw, he switched back to normal vision.

Zim finished with GIR, "There – how's that?"

GIR spun his arm around in a crazy circle. "Yay! Thank you, Master!" he cried, hugging Zim around the middle, "I'm as happy as a taco!!"

"Uh huh…" Zim said, and then turned to Zia, "How soon do you think you'd be able to make the trip back to the base?"

Zia looked surprised, "Why?" she asked, "do you think it's safe to head back already?"

"I don't know – I'm asking!" Zim said, "I'm just saying, the Dib-thing probably won't tolerate us being here much longer."

Zia nodded. "But the Shyra Jasten's still out there. Believe me Zim, I've dealt with bounty hunters before – and they don't give up easily."

APU interjected, "Mistress – requesting permission to scout out the base. You know, see how badly it's damaged, if that infernal probe droid is poking its circuits where they don't belong…"

"Go ahead," Zia said, "But be careful." APU saluted and started off, but Zia stopped him, "Oh, and bring back the incubator tube I built."

"Of course," APU said, and marched off.

"Bye-bye!!" GIR waved after him.

Once he was gone, Zim turned to Zia, "When did you have time to build that?"

Zia shrugged, "You didn't think I just watched TV for the past two weeks, did you?"

"Oh. I guess not. Good thinking," he said, hopping up onto the sofa-bed next to her and sighed, "I just hope the Tallest get here soon. I'll be glad when this whole bounty hunter mess is over."

* * *

Out in the middle of space, a small refugee transport glided through the inky blackness. At the window on the side, Purple stood watching the stars and planets go by. He sighed and looked over at Red, who was sleeping in his chair. He turned back to the window, wishing he had someone to talk to.

They had been traveling for a few days now and things were getting kind of boring, which made Purple all the more nervous. Even in his younger days he had always been unnerved by the calm that almost always preceded the storm. And the storm that was waiting to break this time might be one of the bigger ones they'd have to face.

Red didn't want to admit it, but they both knew that the death threats they'd received were serious. It had actually been on the Council's advice that they'd fled, heading to Earth. It made Purple feel good know that the people still worried about them. He'd never mentioned it to Red but he couldn't help feeling that they were doing a lousy job as Tallest.

Of course, he'd always been the sensitive one. But he couldn't help wonder why moral among the people was always so low. He'd tried to tell Red what he'd found out a few times, but Red didn't seem to care. All the power had gone to his head and there seemed to be no turning back.

Purple hung his head and sighed again. He leaned against the cool glass, having thoroughly depressed himself with his wandering thoughts. Red slept on.

* * *

APU dashed through the chaos-ridden streets towards the base. The chaos was due to the whole teacher-strike mess, but APU didn't care enough to notice. His main concern became visible as he rounded the last bend. What was left of Zim's house was attempting to repair itself. It hadn't gotten very far, and there were now three probe droids circling the area.

Seeing the droids, something in APU's mind snapped (most likely, it was the part that GIR had added as a special touch). With a war-cry distinctly like Zim's he pulled out all of his weapons and opened fire on the droids! They each hit the ground seconds later, smoking pieces of space-trash.

He smiled, quite satisfied with his work. Then he entered the base. It was just as ruined on the inside as it was on the outside. He glanced around sadly at the wreckage, and vowed revenge on the bounty hunter at the next chance he got. The elevator was still working, and it took him only a few minutes to find the incubator tube. He carried it out of the base, and picked up the three smoking droids off the yard as well. With his arms full, he marched back to Dib's house.