"Do you have any idea what is going on? The tallest have been acting odd lately. And now they have the entire armada searching for some pod." A Tech said.
"Maybe the escape pod contains their girlfriends. Who knows?" A second Tech responded slyly.
"I don't think so. They began acting all weird since they visited the control brain. Maybe it said something that spooked 'em."
"Bah! What do we care? They are the tallest, they know what to do."
"Yea I guess your right. They are the tallest."
The two techs walking through the corridors of the Massive parted ways to their separate duty stations. The first tech made his way to the scanner console on the bridge where he was stationed. The bridge was abnormally quiet. The casual beeps and noises from the consoles were the only things breaking the silence. Both tallests locked themselves in their chambers days earlier only exited to inquire about the search for the mysterious pod. Examining the latest scanner reports turned up nothing for the tech. With a sigh, he continued the arduous task of scanning the area.
A hiss from the bridge door turned the tech's head away from his work. It was Red. The tallest's head darted in many directions after he entered, as though examining the bridge for an ambush. His lack of sleep could be seen in the bags of flesh welled beneath his eyes. He was hunched over, barely having the energy to hold himself up. Satisfied with the bridge's lack of enemies, he turned his attention to the scanner tech.
"Have you found it yet?" Red asked, his voice dry with insomnia.
"No Sir."
"Step up the search. I want that pod found."
"Yessir!"
Red turned to leave, looking over his back to see if anyone was sneaking up behind him. He was almost out the door when a bizarre beeping emanating from the scanner tech's console stopped him. With each pulse of the beep, Red's left eye twitched. The tech could be heard pushing buttons fervently and he soon yelled out his report to the tallest.
"Sir!! We found it!!" The Tech exclaimed.
Red's antenna perked up, and the tallest seemed to fill with energy that his sleepless days had sapped. Adrenaline replaced his blood and he flew to the scanner console with lightning speed , pushing the tech out of the way. Tapping buttons at a frantic pace, he put the scanner image onto the main view screen. His antenna drooped in amazement and his eyes grew large, sparkling with excitement. There it was, floating in the icy darkness of space, a single debris covered pod from centuries past.
"Get that thing into the ship now! Then head for Irk at maximum speed!"
Red yelled his command back to the tech while rushing out the door to Purple's room. Getting up from the floor onto which he was pushed, the tech complied.
Purple had been sitting in his darkened quarters alone since the incident with the control brain. The whole experience had traumatized him deeply, for his sense of security had been consumed by the Control Brain like a bag of chips. It constantly hounded his mind, haunting images and re-occurring pains in his skin kept reminding him of the incident o matter how he tried to forget it. He sat in a single armchair that faced a window peering into space. The arms of the chair were scratched up by the tips of his claws. In order to steady his shaking arms he dug his claws deep into the upholstery. Bags had formed under his eyes as well, and he had stopped blinking days ago. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the bright red demonic eyes of the control brain piercing him from his own mind.
Suddenly Red burst into the room with a scream of joy. This surprised his co-tallest and Purple jumped straight up from his seat in fear. Landing back in the chair, he cowered in a fetal position, incoherently muttering pleas for his life. Red floated over to his frightened friend and exclaimed the good news.
"WE DID IT PUR!!! WE FOUND IT!!! WE FOUND THE POD!!!" Red's arms were open, waiting for a hug of triumph.
Purple looked up at Red, the fear in his eyes melted away with tears of joy. Jumping up from his chair, Purple embraced Red tightly and sobbed slightly into Red's shoulder. Red was surprised by Purples little outburst of affection, it calmed Red to see Purple relieved of the demons that were plaguing him for the past few days. He gave his battered friend a reassuring pat on the back.
"Ok ok… enough with the hugging, people may get ideas." Red muttered, with a slight smile on his face. He set purple into the chair. "They are loading it into the ship now and we should be on our way back to Irk shortly. Get some sleep, you look like hell." smirked Red as he went to leave the room. Purple, having been silent the entire time finally spoke to his friend and co-tallest in a light and friendly voice.
"Back at ya…."
Red left for his bed chamber. Purple breathed a sigh of relief. Having the pod retrieved, Purple no longer felt fearful of the control brain's wrath due to failure. A great weight was lifted from his shoulders. With Red's announcement, Purple felt like the incident never even happened. He lay down on his bed, finally able to sleep.
Red hovered down the corridor feeling relieved. Coming down from his "high", his head drooped occasionally from his exhaustion only to quickly perk up again. His face was frozen with a smile that one would normally see on a happy drunk. It was finally over, the brain would get what it wanted, and he could go back to munching chips and harassing Zim. Red entered his lavish bed chamber. Only the subtle glow of the stars and ships outside the panoramic window provided light to the room. The low lights exposed the innards of the room. It was similar to Purple's, but there were more hi-tech toys like stereos and Irken game systems littering the room. Red hovered over to his bed and collapsed onto it, falling instantly to sleep.
Many hours later the two fully rested tallest found themselves being scanned at the Control Brain chamber door. The pod sat in front of them on a small hover platform, suspended inches above the ground. They entered the dark chamber alone, the heavy blast doors closed behind them. The only light within the chamber was the ominous green glow from the Control Brain's many eyes casting green illumination across the chamber.
"Ok you have your pod, our job is done." Purple said confidently.
Silence. Red and Purple eyed each other. Red spoke up now with earnest in his voice.
"Ahem, we have done as you asked. We leave you to your… experiments." Red turned to Purple. "Lets go, its probably sleeping or something." Both turned to leave, the pod hovering in the middle of the chamber. As they approached the door, the green light turned a crimson red, and the dominating voice of the control brain once again filled the air.
"Leaving so soon?" It said inquisitively. "Are you not a least bit curious at what is in the pod? Does it not fester within your minds, slowly eating away at you?"
Red and purple eyed each other again. The thought had not occurred to them about what was in the pod. They were to busy scrambling to find it to even contemplate what they had found. Purple felt eager to leave, despite his recovery from before, deep within his mind he felt the more distance between himself and the control brain, the better. Curiosity bit Red however. Now that the brain had mentioned it, he did begin to wonder about the contents of the ancient device. Red turned around and faced the brain.
"What is in the pod?"
"Come forward and take a look for yourself…."The brain said in a luring tone. The pod hissed and opened. A light from the many coils, tubes and cables that made up the ceiling illuminated the pod's contents. In the pod lay a beautiful female Irken. She looked young, but rather tall for a female. She must have been only slightly shorter than Red. Red just stared in awe, falling into a trance from her beauty. He moved his hand close to her, trying to caress her face. The booming voice of the control brain interrupted and startled Red, tearing him from the trance.
"Well now that I have shown you the contents, you have one more thing to retrieve."
"Dammit…"Muttered Purple, who was waiting at the door, hoping to get out before the brain requested anything else. Red had ruing his little plan to escape by look at the pod's passenger, giving the brain time to ask.
Movement in the ceiling cables could be heard and from that dark abyss a datapad dropped into Purple's hands.
"On that datapad are the exact coordinates of another pod. Have it brought here immediately. " With that last sentence, the Brain's eyes went green again and all was silent. The floor on which the pod was sitting sunk, carrying the pod into the dark depths below the Control brain chamber. Purple left, and stood outside waiting for Red, who had to take one last glance at the female in the pod before it disappeared beneath the floor. Red exited the room to find Purple waiting impatiently, his arms crossed and an agitated expression on his face.
"What the hell was that? Now we have to find another pod for this damn thing. "He threw the datapad at Red and turned down the corridor. Red bumbled, not expecting to have the pad thrown at him. He went after Purple, who was almost to the main elevator.
"You didn't even see her Pur…she was gorgeous." He said, finally catching up to Purple.
"Who are you taking about?" Purple responded, letting his agitation seep into his words.
"The girl in the pod! Didn't you see her?"
"There as a girl in the pod?"
"YES! Didn't you look?"
"No.." Purple felt a little left out that he didn't get to see the female that Red was raving about.
"I'll describe her to you…" On the lengthy trip to the surface, Red told Purple about the female's beauty. He sounded like the shy geek who's in love with the prom queen, trying to explain how much he loves her to Purple.
Deep underneath the floor of the control brain chamber, the female was stirring. The light hum of machinery. Then a hiss of some gas. The female awoke, her head aching as though her brain were far too large for her head. A light shined above her, blinding her sky blue eyes. She tried to get up, her legs and arms did not respond to her mind's command. She peered down the length of her body, nothing was holding her down. "Am I paralyzed? Why can't I move." she thought aloud. She soon got her answer.
"It is a temporary affect of suspended animation my dear." A voice stated from a dark corner of the room.
"That voice!" She thought; fear welling inside her soul. She could now lift her head, and peered into the direction from where the voice emanated. She saw two red glowing eyes staring at her. A metallic clank sounded. Then another. The eyes drew closer. A pair of robotic legs came into the light. Soon the source of the voice could be fully seen. A tall and lanky robot, unlike anything she had ever seen, approached her. A large clump of wires and cables were attached its head, the ends of which disappeared into the ceiling. It's body and face resembled an Irken. Its long and slender appendages were covered by smooth metal plating. Glowing a bright crimson red, its eyes glared at her, as thought there was a hint of life in them.
"Sleep well?" It said in a mocking tone. "It has been quite a while since I last saw your…pretty little face." The robot's soulless mechanical hand caressed her face. The voice instilled more fear into her. She knew all to well who it was. "You know how hard it was to find your pod after your…. wretched virus destroyed my computer system?" The voice grew angry. "Do you even realize how far back you set my operations?!.....A MILLENIA!" The robot slammed its fist onto the metal table sending a loud clang throughout the small room. The female jumped only slightly, she was still paralyzed. "I should just kill you right now…"A jagged blade flipped up from the robot's forearm. The female was sufficiently filled with fear. Even if she could move, she wouldn't be able to. The robot then seemed to calm and retracted the blade. "You are so much like your father it almost…. sickens me. Tis no matter, I have some… special plans for you, young Zera." From the arm of the robot a syringe exposed itself. It stung into Zera's arm, injecting a cold liquid into her veins. He vision blurred and she drifted into unconsciousness.
"Maybe the escape pod contains their girlfriends. Who knows?" A second Tech responded slyly.
"I don't think so. They began acting all weird since they visited the control brain. Maybe it said something that spooked 'em."
"Bah! What do we care? They are the tallest, they know what to do."
"Yea I guess your right. They are the tallest."
The two techs walking through the corridors of the Massive parted ways to their separate duty stations. The first tech made his way to the scanner console on the bridge where he was stationed. The bridge was abnormally quiet. The casual beeps and noises from the consoles were the only things breaking the silence. Both tallests locked themselves in their chambers days earlier only exited to inquire about the search for the mysterious pod. Examining the latest scanner reports turned up nothing for the tech. With a sigh, he continued the arduous task of scanning the area.
A hiss from the bridge door turned the tech's head away from his work. It was Red. The tallest's head darted in many directions after he entered, as though examining the bridge for an ambush. His lack of sleep could be seen in the bags of flesh welled beneath his eyes. He was hunched over, barely having the energy to hold himself up. Satisfied with the bridge's lack of enemies, he turned his attention to the scanner tech.
"Have you found it yet?" Red asked, his voice dry with insomnia.
"No Sir."
"Step up the search. I want that pod found."
"Yessir!"
Red turned to leave, looking over his back to see if anyone was sneaking up behind him. He was almost out the door when a bizarre beeping emanating from the scanner tech's console stopped him. With each pulse of the beep, Red's left eye twitched. The tech could be heard pushing buttons fervently and he soon yelled out his report to the tallest.
"Sir!! We found it!!" The Tech exclaimed.
Red's antenna perked up, and the tallest seemed to fill with energy that his sleepless days had sapped. Adrenaline replaced his blood and he flew to the scanner console with lightning speed , pushing the tech out of the way. Tapping buttons at a frantic pace, he put the scanner image onto the main view screen. His antenna drooped in amazement and his eyes grew large, sparkling with excitement. There it was, floating in the icy darkness of space, a single debris covered pod from centuries past.
"Get that thing into the ship now! Then head for Irk at maximum speed!"
Red yelled his command back to the tech while rushing out the door to Purple's room. Getting up from the floor onto which he was pushed, the tech complied.
Purple had been sitting in his darkened quarters alone since the incident with the control brain. The whole experience had traumatized him deeply, for his sense of security had been consumed by the Control Brain like a bag of chips. It constantly hounded his mind, haunting images and re-occurring pains in his skin kept reminding him of the incident o matter how he tried to forget it. He sat in a single armchair that faced a window peering into space. The arms of the chair were scratched up by the tips of his claws. In order to steady his shaking arms he dug his claws deep into the upholstery. Bags had formed under his eyes as well, and he had stopped blinking days ago. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the bright red demonic eyes of the control brain piercing him from his own mind.
Suddenly Red burst into the room with a scream of joy. This surprised his co-tallest and Purple jumped straight up from his seat in fear. Landing back in the chair, he cowered in a fetal position, incoherently muttering pleas for his life. Red floated over to his frightened friend and exclaimed the good news.
"WE DID IT PUR!!! WE FOUND IT!!! WE FOUND THE POD!!!" Red's arms were open, waiting for a hug of triumph.
Purple looked up at Red, the fear in his eyes melted away with tears of joy. Jumping up from his chair, Purple embraced Red tightly and sobbed slightly into Red's shoulder. Red was surprised by Purples little outburst of affection, it calmed Red to see Purple relieved of the demons that were plaguing him for the past few days. He gave his battered friend a reassuring pat on the back.
"Ok ok… enough with the hugging, people may get ideas." Red muttered, with a slight smile on his face. He set purple into the chair. "They are loading it into the ship now and we should be on our way back to Irk shortly. Get some sleep, you look like hell." smirked Red as he went to leave the room. Purple, having been silent the entire time finally spoke to his friend and co-tallest in a light and friendly voice.
"Back at ya…."
Red left for his bed chamber. Purple breathed a sigh of relief. Having the pod retrieved, Purple no longer felt fearful of the control brain's wrath due to failure. A great weight was lifted from his shoulders. With Red's announcement, Purple felt like the incident never even happened. He lay down on his bed, finally able to sleep.
Red hovered down the corridor feeling relieved. Coming down from his "high", his head drooped occasionally from his exhaustion only to quickly perk up again. His face was frozen with a smile that one would normally see on a happy drunk. It was finally over, the brain would get what it wanted, and he could go back to munching chips and harassing Zim. Red entered his lavish bed chamber. Only the subtle glow of the stars and ships outside the panoramic window provided light to the room. The low lights exposed the innards of the room. It was similar to Purple's, but there were more hi-tech toys like stereos and Irken game systems littering the room. Red hovered over to his bed and collapsed onto it, falling instantly to sleep.
Many hours later the two fully rested tallest found themselves being scanned at the Control Brain chamber door. The pod sat in front of them on a small hover platform, suspended inches above the ground. They entered the dark chamber alone, the heavy blast doors closed behind them. The only light within the chamber was the ominous green glow from the Control Brain's many eyes casting green illumination across the chamber.
"Ok you have your pod, our job is done." Purple said confidently.
Silence. Red and Purple eyed each other. Red spoke up now with earnest in his voice.
"Ahem, we have done as you asked. We leave you to your… experiments." Red turned to Purple. "Lets go, its probably sleeping or something." Both turned to leave, the pod hovering in the middle of the chamber. As they approached the door, the green light turned a crimson red, and the dominating voice of the control brain once again filled the air.
"Leaving so soon?" It said inquisitively. "Are you not a least bit curious at what is in the pod? Does it not fester within your minds, slowly eating away at you?"
Red and purple eyed each other again. The thought had not occurred to them about what was in the pod. They were to busy scrambling to find it to even contemplate what they had found. Purple felt eager to leave, despite his recovery from before, deep within his mind he felt the more distance between himself and the control brain, the better. Curiosity bit Red however. Now that the brain had mentioned it, he did begin to wonder about the contents of the ancient device. Red turned around and faced the brain.
"What is in the pod?"
"Come forward and take a look for yourself…."The brain said in a luring tone. The pod hissed and opened. A light from the many coils, tubes and cables that made up the ceiling illuminated the pod's contents. In the pod lay a beautiful female Irken. She looked young, but rather tall for a female. She must have been only slightly shorter than Red. Red just stared in awe, falling into a trance from her beauty. He moved his hand close to her, trying to caress her face. The booming voice of the control brain interrupted and startled Red, tearing him from the trance.
"Well now that I have shown you the contents, you have one more thing to retrieve."
"Dammit…"Muttered Purple, who was waiting at the door, hoping to get out before the brain requested anything else. Red had ruing his little plan to escape by look at the pod's passenger, giving the brain time to ask.
Movement in the ceiling cables could be heard and from that dark abyss a datapad dropped into Purple's hands.
"On that datapad are the exact coordinates of another pod. Have it brought here immediately. " With that last sentence, the Brain's eyes went green again and all was silent. The floor on which the pod was sitting sunk, carrying the pod into the dark depths below the Control brain chamber. Purple left, and stood outside waiting for Red, who had to take one last glance at the female in the pod before it disappeared beneath the floor. Red exited the room to find Purple waiting impatiently, his arms crossed and an agitated expression on his face.
"What the hell was that? Now we have to find another pod for this damn thing. "He threw the datapad at Red and turned down the corridor. Red bumbled, not expecting to have the pad thrown at him. He went after Purple, who was almost to the main elevator.
"You didn't even see her Pur…she was gorgeous." He said, finally catching up to Purple.
"Who are you taking about?" Purple responded, letting his agitation seep into his words.
"The girl in the pod! Didn't you see her?"
"There as a girl in the pod?"
"YES! Didn't you look?"
"No.." Purple felt a little left out that he didn't get to see the female that Red was raving about.
"I'll describe her to you…" On the lengthy trip to the surface, Red told Purple about the female's beauty. He sounded like the shy geek who's in love with the prom queen, trying to explain how much he loves her to Purple.
Deep underneath the floor of the control brain chamber, the female was stirring. The light hum of machinery. Then a hiss of some gas. The female awoke, her head aching as though her brain were far too large for her head. A light shined above her, blinding her sky blue eyes. She tried to get up, her legs and arms did not respond to her mind's command. She peered down the length of her body, nothing was holding her down. "Am I paralyzed? Why can't I move." she thought aloud. She soon got her answer.
"It is a temporary affect of suspended animation my dear." A voice stated from a dark corner of the room.
"That voice!" She thought; fear welling inside her soul. She could now lift her head, and peered into the direction from where the voice emanated. She saw two red glowing eyes staring at her. A metallic clank sounded. Then another. The eyes drew closer. A pair of robotic legs came into the light. Soon the source of the voice could be fully seen. A tall and lanky robot, unlike anything she had ever seen, approached her. A large clump of wires and cables were attached its head, the ends of which disappeared into the ceiling. It's body and face resembled an Irken. Its long and slender appendages were covered by smooth metal plating. Glowing a bright crimson red, its eyes glared at her, as thought there was a hint of life in them.
"Sleep well?" It said in a mocking tone. "It has been quite a while since I last saw your…pretty little face." The robot's soulless mechanical hand caressed her face. The voice instilled more fear into her. She knew all to well who it was. "You know how hard it was to find your pod after your…. wretched virus destroyed my computer system?" The voice grew angry. "Do you even realize how far back you set my operations?!.....A MILLENIA!" The robot slammed its fist onto the metal table sending a loud clang throughout the small room. The female jumped only slightly, she was still paralyzed. "I should just kill you right now…"A jagged blade flipped up from the robot's forearm. The female was sufficiently filled with fear. Even if she could move, she wouldn't be able to. The robot then seemed to calm and retracted the blade. "You are so much like your father it almost…. sickens me. Tis no matter, I have some… special plans for you, young Zera." From the arm of the robot a syringe exposed itself. It stung into Zera's arm, injecting a cold liquid into her veins. He vision blurred and she drifted into unconsciousness.