Chapter Seven: The Irken, the Human
Note: During this chapter, a word will appear that you will not recognize. That is because the definition is given below:
Old Language*--A language that many species of aliens (including the grays, the Falish, and several others) used to communicate before mastering telepathy.
Zim awoke, in a daze. He had been kept forcibly on the Falish ship for weeks now, being experimented on. After much abuse, he'd lost the green in his skin in trade for a pale blue, and he looked very weak. His crimson eyes glowed menacingly and looked as though they could penetrate lead with their hard, persistent glare.
At the hands of the Falish, his fate was nearly sealed. However, no matter how bleak or concrete his suffering seemed, he would NEVER accept death as unavoidable. The Dib hadn't succeeded in getting him on an autopsy table, but his mother had. It was scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday. For now, they gave him severe electric shocks, killing him slowly so as to make sure that he'd be dead within the next four days. They were literally draining the life out of him.
"You," Zim muttered as Dib's mother walked by to check up on how far the process had come along. "You...ika!" 'Ika' is a word that, when addressing a Falen, is derogatory. Its literal translation is 'squid', from which the Falish originated. Calling a Falen 'Ika' would probably be close to the equivalent of saying 'ape', though it is considered more offensive, like calling someone a monster.
"Ika, am I? Zim, I've known what you've been doing on Earth. You idiotic tokage!" 'Tokage', to the Irkens, holds a similar meaning. "You've tried to devastate the planet Earth and attempted to kill my only son countless times! Don't think you can escape my knowledge! I can sense your fear, Zim. Your memories you bring back to your conscious mind for recollection come to me as well. You fear what you've feared this whole time. You fear death, Zim."
"No! No Irken invader fears death!"
"Then what do you propose you fear?"
"My mission's failure!"
"Zim, there never was a mission. Admit it: you're a laughingstock. Look at me!" Zim did, and knew with utter certainty that she was right. The Falish had the incredible ability to probe into a creature's deepest hidden thoughts they weren't consciously aware of and bring them out into the open, and at sight of their immensely mysterious gray-brown eyes one can tell if they are lying or speaking absolute truth.
"I will never allow you to destroy me with your pitiful mind tricks."
"But you already have. You scowl at me in resistance, and yet you weep with self-pity on the inside."
"You are mistaken. I do not weep inside me. I'm afraid that your Falish senses are beginning to weaken. I can tell: it is YOU who is weeping inside, and has chosen to interrogate me for the sole purpose of seeing me suffer to make yourself feel like you've done something productive. You want to avenge Dib in order to relieve yourself of your sadness. That, my Falen friend, is exactly right, and you know it. Do not deny the truth."
"I admit it, Zim. You are correct in your thinking. But do you know what my son's name means in the Old Language*?"
"No. What?" Zim asked sneeringly.
"It means 'One Who Sees'. This is an odd coincidence, ignorant tokage, for he was the only one to see through your pitiful disguise."
"You have changed the subject. What do you fear?"
"I fear for my son. They are hunting him down, and he is in grave danger. Zim, I will soon give them this message I give you: There will be two injuries and a death among you three. It is a message that I received through a vision, and that is why I must make sure that you die. If I do not have you killed, either my son or his dearest and only friend will die. I cannot have either. You must die."
"The Tallest would never have it. Even if they don't care about me anymore, they would be outraged at such an infringement."
"We've already contacted your rulers. They are fine with it, and told me that they figured you were a defective anyway." Zim gasped. "It seems we're ahead of schedule. Your autopsy will begin in a couple hours, and I will invite my son to watch you die."
Zim waited apprehensively for the next couple of hours, still slowly dying, and soon Dib was brought into the room. Mel waited behind.
"Who does it look like won, ZIM? Finally, I get to see you scream in pain as you admit failure. And, best of all, I've got my camera, and Mel has agreed to videotape the whole thing! Well, see ya!" He turned and headed for the observation room to wait a couple minutes more.
"Dib-worm!" Dib swerved around.
"Yeah?" he asked irritably.
"I will live through this. The autopsy will be delayed unless you do something, but I won't tell you what it is. And, if the autopsy is delayed, your precious Mel will die, and I will go free."
"How should I believe that?"
"If you value her life, you will."
"Why did you just tell me that, then?"
"Because you are far too slow to figure out WHAT to do, and you'll know long before it happens that her death will occur, and it will be very painful. I'll let you think about that." Dib left, and told Mel what he had said. They shrugged it off, and entered the room once more. A laser beam was concentrated at Zim's head, preparing to kill him.
"There will be a delay, due to difficulties with the laser. Please wait patiently," a voice said. Dib gasped, and rushed Mel out of the room and into the viewing room next door.
"I thought you didn't believe Zim about that."
"I didn't. But I can't take any chances. We'll just stay here and watch it."
"We won't be able to record or take pictures from here though! You'll have no evidence!"
"The evidence isn't as important. The important thing is for Zim to die and us to live."
"Why don't you go back in there and take pictures? I'll stay behind the protective glass."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Thanks!" He ran into the autopsy room, where it was about to begin. The deadly laser beamed on Zim's head, but when he closed his eyes, it was shown that he had lead shielding on his eyelids. The beam bounced forward towards Dib; his mother screamed out. Instead of hitting him, it reflected off of his glasses, and went through the viewing glass. It struck Mel in the forehead.
"NO!" She was immediately rushed to hospital quarters; they tried hooking her up to life support and administered an antidote to repel the effect of the laser. Both Zim and Dib received minor injury from the laser, but nothing serious. Radiation infected Mel's system, she was very sick, and she was dying slowly and painfully. Everything Zim said was coming true. "Why did it go through the glass?" he asked of his mother.
"She was holding up the video camera to try to tape, and apparently the lens attracted the laser."
"It's because of me...all because of me... If I hadn't fixed the camera up so she could record from there, she would be unaffected...that laser should've hit and killed me."
"Don't say that! You feel so guilty, but it's not your fault!"
"Zim was right...he told me that there would be a delay and she would die. If he hadn't told me, if I hadn't been stopped, I wouldn't have heard him...if I had chosen to ignore him, I wouldn't have moved her into the viewing room, and she would still be alive."
"She still is alive."
"I know, but...he's been right about everything else."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of it." She walked into the room where Zim was in, but he was nowhere to be found. "Where did Zim go?"
"He probably transported himself back there...I've got to get back to Earth. Keep me updated on Mel."
"All right. Here's a communications watch. It will show you her life signs and if they improve or decline, and you can speak with her on it."
"Thank you." In an instant, he was outside of his house, and he saw Zim running into the bushes. "ZIM! Get back here!" Dib chased the alien as he tried to escape to his house, and when he came within range of tackling Zim, the Irken activated his mechanical legs. Glancing at his watch, Mel's life signs were steadily declining. "Don't worry! I'll kill Zim, and you'll be okay. I promise." She acknowledged him by blinking her eyes a couple times, and he continued his pursuit.
Zim was already in his base now, and getting in would be difficult. He avoided the gnomes and attacked his nemesis without even thinking about it. Mel's life signs were down by 50% more. She was dying, and fast. While caught off guard, Zim threw Dib to the side and aimed a ray gun at him.
"Say your prayers, Earth-monkey!" Mel's life signs down by another 5%. At this rate, she'd die in about three minutes.
"Kill me, Zim. If I can't kill you, at least she'll live."
"No, Earth-monkey. I won't kill you. I'll injure you just enough so that you won't be able to do anything for the next few minutes. Then, you can watch her die."
"No!"
"Oh, yes, Dib. Yes..."
"If you aren't gonna kill me, I'm going to have to get myself killed."
"Where are you going?!"
"To get hit by a car."
"No! You're going back to the Falish ship!" Zim pressed a button, and Dib found himself next to Mel's hospital bed. Another 10% down. Her health had decreased 75% total.
"Mom! Please! You've got to kill me! Or she'll die!"
"I could never do that to you!"
"Please! I NEED TO!"
"You can't give up. There must be another way."
"No! There isn't any other way!"
"There must be!" 10% more. Mel was almost dead.
"Wait! There's one other option!" Dib lifted her in an upright position, and lifted her eyelids to inspect her eyes. "I can help her." He placed his hands on the sides of her head, and the room was enveloped in bluish light. Within ten minutes, she fell backward, and everything returned to normal. The room was completely silent.
A minute or so later, a commotion was created, and the Falens were rapidly speaking, this time aloud and not telepathically.
"Ktch qe...Ce Dib zxinh voceh! Ghuqa qe...Ce Dib voceh! Ce Dib voceh! Suekail!" Their voices seemed rasped, for the Old Language was rarely used anymore. Mel's life signs began to return to normal. Though Dib did not know this language, he understood them, due to their telepathic nature. They said, roughly translated, "The child...he is the one who fulfills powers! The prophecy...he fulfills it! He fulfills it! It is true!" Mel awoke, and saw that the Falens were crowding around Dib.
"What's going on?" she inquired, demanding to know. He was dragged out of the room, and headed into the operating area. Several of the Falish doctors began taking out numerous tools for operation, and Dib was frantically trying to get away from the table and the restraints that bound him. It was to no avail. Just as one of the doctors lifted a knife to his head, Mel ran into the room, Dib's mother right behind. Mel concentrated her focus of energy to the surgical equipment and directed it to the walls.
"Kai qi Kivoc!" one of the scientists shouted.
"Kai qe Kivoc, vhe," she replied. Apparently, they thought she was something called 'Kivoc', and Dib's mother had just confirmed it. "Ktch dseq! Pya!" The guards immediately released Dib, who leapt out of the table and onto the floor.
Getting a good look at the Falish for the first time, Mel realized that Dib didn't look Falish at all. The Falish males, which were everybody but Dib's mother, had grayish-blue skin, large, gray-brown eyes, large foreheads, and had typical slit mouths. Their bodies were extremely thin, but still very tall and strong. Not one of them had any hair, nor did anyone require glasses or have skin such as his.
"Dib, what do you think is going on?" Dib turned to Mel, stunned to see her alive, for he'd thought her dead, and yet she was perfectly healthy, standing right there in front of him.
"I don't know, exactly. They said something about a prophecy I was to fulfill and said you were a Kivoc, whatever that is."
"I've had something I should've told you a long time ago, Dib, but I was afraid to. I know what a Kivoc is."
When one sees the future and find it unpleasing, they attempt to stop it from happening. However, their actions to prevent something from occurring more often end up being the very cause.
--Invader Mel's Diary of Perception.
Note: During this chapter, a word will appear that you will not recognize. That is because the definition is given below:
Old Language*--A language that many species of aliens (including the grays, the Falish, and several others) used to communicate before mastering telepathy.
Zim awoke, in a daze. He had been kept forcibly on the Falish ship for weeks now, being experimented on. After much abuse, he'd lost the green in his skin in trade for a pale blue, and he looked very weak. His crimson eyes glowed menacingly and looked as though they could penetrate lead with their hard, persistent glare.
At the hands of the Falish, his fate was nearly sealed. However, no matter how bleak or concrete his suffering seemed, he would NEVER accept death as unavoidable. The Dib hadn't succeeded in getting him on an autopsy table, but his mother had. It was scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday. For now, they gave him severe electric shocks, killing him slowly so as to make sure that he'd be dead within the next four days. They were literally draining the life out of him.
"You," Zim muttered as Dib's mother walked by to check up on how far the process had come along. "You...ika!" 'Ika' is a word that, when addressing a Falen, is derogatory. Its literal translation is 'squid', from which the Falish originated. Calling a Falen 'Ika' would probably be close to the equivalent of saying 'ape', though it is considered more offensive, like calling someone a monster.
"Ika, am I? Zim, I've known what you've been doing on Earth. You idiotic tokage!" 'Tokage', to the Irkens, holds a similar meaning. "You've tried to devastate the planet Earth and attempted to kill my only son countless times! Don't think you can escape my knowledge! I can sense your fear, Zim. Your memories you bring back to your conscious mind for recollection come to me as well. You fear what you've feared this whole time. You fear death, Zim."
"No! No Irken invader fears death!"
"Then what do you propose you fear?"
"My mission's failure!"
"Zim, there never was a mission. Admit it: you're a laughingstock. Look at me!" Zim did, and knew with utter certainty that she was right. The Falish had the incredible ability to probe into a creature's deepest hidden thoughts they weren't consciously aware of and bring them out into the open, and at sight of their immensely mysterious gray-brown eyes one can tell if they are lying or speaking absolute truth.
"I will never allow you to destroy me with your pitiful mind tricks."
"But you already have. You scowl at me in resistance, and yet you weep with self-pity on the inside."
"You are mistaken. I do not weep inside me. I'm afraid that your Falish senses are beginning to weaken. I can tell: it is YOU who is weeping inside, and has chosen to interrogate me for the sole purpose of seeing me suffer to make yourself feel like you've done something productive. You want to avenge Dib in order to relieve yourself of your sadness. That, my Falen friend, is exactly right, and you know it. Do not deny the truth."
"I admit it, Zim. You are correct in your thinking. But do you know what my son's name means in the Old Language*?"
"No. What?" Zim asked sneeringly.
"It means 'One Who Sees'. This is an odd coincidence, ignorant tokage, for he was the only one to see through your pitiful disguise."
"You have changed the subject. What do you fear?"
"I fear for my son. They are hunting him down, and he is in grave danger. Zim, I will soon give them this message I give you: There will be two injuries and a death among you three. It is a message that I received through a vision, and that is why I must make sure that you die. If I do not have you killed, either my son or his dearest and only friend will die. I cannot have either. You must die."
"The Tallest would never have it. Even if they don't care about me anymore, they would be outraged at such an infringement."
"We've already contacted your rulers. They are fine with it, and told me that they figured you were a defective anyway." Zim gasped. "It seems we're ahead of schedule. Your autopsy will begin in a couple hours, and I will invite my son to watch you die."
Zim waited apprehensively for the next couple of hours, still slowly dying, and soon Dib was brought into the room. Mel waited behind.
"Who does it look like won, ZIM? Finally, I get to see you scream in pain as you admit failure. And, best of all, I've got my camera, and Mel has agreed to videotape the whole thing! Well, see ya!" He turned and headed for the observation room to wait a couple minutes more.
"Dib-worm!" Dib swerved around.
"Yeah?" he asked irritably.
"I will live through this. The autopsy will be delayed unless you do something, but I won't tell you what it is. And, if the autopsy is delayed, your precious Mel will die, and I will go free."
"How should I believe that?"
"If you value her life, you will."
"Why did you just tell me that, then?"
"Because you are far too slow to figure out WHAT to do, and you'll know long before it happens that her death will occur, and it will be very painful. I'll let you think about that." Dib left, and told Mel what he had said. They shrugged it off, and entered the room once more. A laser beam was concentrated at Zim's head, preparing to kill him.
"There will be a delay, due to difficulties with the laser. Please wait patiently," a voice said. Dib gasped, and rushed Mel out of the room and into the viewing room next door.
"I thought you didn't believe Zim about that."
"I didn't. But I can't take any chances. We'll just stay here and watch it."
"We won't be able to record or take pictures from here though! You'll have no evidence!"
"The evidence isn't as important. The important thing is for Zim to die and us to live."
"Why don't you go back in there and take pictures? I'll stay behind the protective glass."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Thanks!" He ran into the autopsy room, where it was about to begin. The deadly laser beamed on Zim's head, but when he closed his eyes, it was shown that he had lead shielding on his eyelids. The beam bounced forward towards Dib; his mother screamed out. Instead of hitting him, it reflected off of his glasses, and went through the viewing glass. It struck Mel in the forehead.
"NO!" She was immediately rushed to hospital quarters; they tried hooking her up to life support and administered an antidote to repel the effect of the laser. Both Zim and Dib received minor injury from the laser, but nothing serious. Radiation infected Mel's system, she was very sick, and she was dying slowly and painfully. Everything Zim said was coming true. "Why did it go through the glass?" he asked of his mother.
"She was holding up the video camera to try to tape, and apparently the lens attracted the laser."
"It's because of me...all because of me... If I hadn't fixed the camera up so she could record from there, she would be unaffected...that laser should've hit and killed me."
"Don't say that! You feel so guilty, but it's not your fault!"
"Zim was right...he told me that there would be a delay and she would die. If he hadn't told me, if I hadn't been stopped, I wouldn't have heard him...if I had chosen to ignore him, I wouldn't have moved her into the viewing room, and she would still be alive."
"She still is alive."
"I know, but...he's been right about everything else."
"Don't worry. I'll take care of it." She walked into the room where Zim was in, but he was nowhere to be found. "Where did Zim go?"
"He probably transported himself back there...I've got to get back to Earth. Keep me updated on Mel."
"All right. Here's a communications watch. It will show you her life signs and if they improve or decline, and you can speak with her on it."
"Thank you." In an instant, he was outside of his house, and he saw Zim running into the bushes. "ZIM! Get back here!" Dib chased the alien as he tried to escape to his house, and when he came within range of tackling Zim, the Irken activated his mechanical legs. Glancing at his watch, Mel's life signs were steadily declining. "Don't worry! I'll kill Zim, and you'll be okay. I promise." She acknowledged him by blinking her eyes a couple times, and he continued his pursuit.
Zim was already in his base now, and getting in would be difficult. He avoided the gnomes and attacked his nemesis without even thinking about it. Mel's life signs were down by 50% more. She was dying, and fast. While caught off guard, Zim threw Dib to the side and aimed a ray gun at him.
"Say your prayers, Earth-monkey!" Mel's life signs down by another 5%. At this rate, she'd die in about three minutes.
"Kill me, Zim. If I can't kill you, at least she'll live."
"No, Earth-monkey. I won't kill you. I'll injure you just enough so that you won't be able to do anything for the next few minutes. Then, you can watch her die."
"No!"
"Oh, yes, Dib. Yes..."
"If you aren't gonna kill me, I'm going to have to get myself killed."
"Where are you going?!"
"To get hit by a car."
"No! You're going back to the Falish ship!" Zim pressed a button, and Dib found himself next to Mel's hospital bed. Another 10% down. Her health had decreased 75% total.
"Mom! Please! You've got to kill me! Or she'll die!"
"I could never do that to you!"
"Please! I NEED TO!"
"You can't give up. There must be another way."
"No! There isn't any other way!"
"There must be!" 10% more. Mel was almost dead.
"Wait! There's one other option!" Dib lifted her in an upright position, and lifted her eyelids to inspect her eyes. "I can help her." He placed his hands on the sides of her head, and the room was enveloped in bluish light. Within ten minutes, she fell backward, and everything returned to normal. The room was completely silent.
A minute or so later, a commotion was created, and the Falens were rapidly speaking, this time aloud and not telepathically.
"Ktch qe...Ce Dib zxinh voceh! Ghuqa qe...Ce Dib voceh! Ce Dib voceh! Suekail!" Their voices seemed rasped, for the Old Language was rarely used anymore. Mel's life signs began to return to normal. Though Dib did not know this language, he understood them, due to their telepathic nature. They said, roughly translated, "The child...he is the one who fulfills powers! The prophecy...he fulfills it! He fulfills it! It is true!" Mel awoke, and saw that the Falens were crowding around Dib.
"What's going on?" she inquired, demanding to know. He was dragged out of the room, and headed into the operating area. Several of the Falish doctors began taking out numerous tools for operation, and Dib was frantically trying to get away from the table and the restraints that bound him. It was to no avail. Just as one of the doctors lifted a knife to his head, Mel ran into the room, Dib's mother right behind. Mel concentrated her focus of energy to the surgical equipment and directed it to the walls.
"Kai qi Kivoc!" one of the scientists shouted.
"Kai qe Kivoc, vhe," she replied. Apparently, they thought she was something called 'Kivoc', and Dib's mother had just confirmed it. "Ktch dseq! Pya!" The guards immediately released Dib, who leapt out of the table and onto the floor.
Getting a good look at the Falish for the first time, Mel realized that Dib didn't look Falish at all. The Falish males, which were everybody but Dib's mother, had grayish-blue skin, large, gray-brown eyes, large foreheads, and had typical slit mouths. Their bodies were extremely thin, but still very tall and strong. Not one of them had any hair, nor did anyone require glasses or have skin such as his.
"Dib, what do you think is going on?" Dib turned to Mel, stunned to see her alive, for he'd thought her dead, and yet she was perfectly healthy, standing right there in front of him.
"I don't know, exactly. They said something about a prophecy I was to fulfill and said you were a Kivoc, whatever that is."
"I've had something I should've told you a long time ago, Dib, but I was afraid to. I know what a Kivoc is."
When one sees the future and find it unpleasing, they attempt to stop it from happening. However, their actions to prevent something from occurring more often end up being the very cause.
--Invader Mel's Diary of Perception.