Red twitched in his bed, clutching the sheets to his chest. His slender body tossed and turned underneath the fine sheets. His face was drenched in a cold sweat, his breathing deep and fevered. In his dreams, a giant Amber was pursuing him. Her smeet-feet were as big as cars. Red dived sideways to narrowly avoid being crushed by a foot.

As he lay on his back, terror written across his features, the dream Amber grinned evilly at him. Too late, he realized that she was standing over him and had no diaper on. "NOOOOOOOO!" Red screamed, throwing his arms over his face as the final weapon descended on him.

Red sat bolt upright in bed, grabbing at his night robe and gasping desperately for air. "I have to get rid of that smeet before I go insane!" he whimpered, throwing himself back down amidst the piles of rich pillows. "But if I do, Purple will immediately suspect me… oh, what do I do?" he moaned dramatically, rolling over and burying his face in the sheets.

Meanwhile, Purple tucked lavender sheets up underneath Amber's chin. Her tiny thumb as in her mouth as she happily sucked, safe inside her smeet crib. "Sleep tight, angelkins," Purple cooed. "Have lovey-dovey dreams of pretty things, my little sweety-weety kins!" It was enough to almost make the servant staff loose their cookies.

Purple sighed. Red had been almost non-existent over the last few days, and had been giving Purple a very obvious cold shoulder when the two had been together. He couldn't believe Red's behavior. Just that day, he'd pointed out that someone had been donuts and Red had shrugged and said, "Yeah, so?"

Purple threw himself down on his bed. "Sir, will you be needing anything else?" his servant asked.

"No, you're dismissed for the night."

"Thank you, Sir," the masked-faced Irken said, bowing politely and exiting.

As soon as he was alone, Purple wept.

Amber waited patiently until her mommy was sound asleep, then extended her tiny spider legs and escaped from her crib. She knew mommy was sad because red-eyed not mommy was being mean. Even a smeet could tell that much, and downloading a piece of Purple had made her a super-smeet so to speak.

Amber skittered down the hallway, her tiny spider legs clacking on the metal floor. It was time for all non-security Irkens to be in bed, so no one even noticed as her tiny, dark form passed like a silent spirit down the halls. Somewhere in the part of her that belonged to Purple's memories, she knew what door she was looking for.

Finding it, Amber pressed in a code a smeet shouldn't have logically known. Peeking her tiny face in the door, she looked back and forth. Except for the fact that it was decorated in reds and oranges, it looked just like her mommy's room. Everything was laid out the same.

That made things easier on Amber. She crept over to Red's bed, leaning over him. He was making funny noises in his sleep and smelly water was coming out of his mouth. Icky, thought Amber as she wrinkled up her antennae.

Unfortunately, the not-quite-asleep Red chose that moment to open his eyes. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Red screamed.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Amber screamed, bolting for it.

Red grabbed up a baseball bat that he kept around from his high school days. "That's it, I'll teach you to invade my personal room!" he howled, tearing down the hall after the frightened Amber.

Red chased Amber over hill and over dale. Well, actually, he chased her up and down pretty much every floor in the Massive. He was finally gaining on her, within inches of grabbing her, when his hoverbelt let out a sick noise and a puff of smoke. The poor, overworked thing quit.

"Oh, crap," Red muttered as he fell heavily upon the ground. The shock of the impact from his body traveled up and into an impossibly ill-stacked pile of boxes. The boxes tipped forward.

Red let out a cry as one landed on his back, sending a tingle up his spine and into his brain. He tried wiggling out from under it, but couldn't wiggle more than a few inches to either side. His spider legs were trapped in his pack by the weight of the box, which seemed to become heavier with every moment. He could hear mechanical things and bones in his back and chest cracking, sending shooting pains through his body.

"Help me! Someone help me!" Red called desperately, knowing it wasn't going to do any good. He was down in the fifth storage bay, where the health food snacks were kept. They only went down there to feed prisoners. He could be down there for months before anyone found his body, starved to death.

"HEEEEEELP ME!" Red sobbed, clawing at the metal ground.

Hanging above by her legs, Amber frowned. The last hour's chase was still fresh on her little mind. This was NOT her friend that was down there, sobbing in pain and begging for help. Amber stuck out her tongue at Red and turned tail on her mechanical legs, heading for the door.

She only made it as far as putting her hand the knob before her small conscience over took her. But what could she DO? There was no way she could lift that box, and she didn't know how to operate the lifting crane. Think, Amber, think, there has to be something you can do!

Amber did what she did best in a tight situation. She sat down and cried.

"Great," Red muttered. "Like that'll really…"

"What's that unholy noise?" a security officer moaned, slamming open the door and stomping into the storage bay.

"HELP! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP ME!" Red screeched.

"Who's down there?" the officer asked, suspicious. "A thief?"

"No! A box fell on me when I was… trying to catch a run away smeet."

"Oh Gods! Are you hurt?"

"Don't ask me a stupid question like that and get help!"

Within a few hours, Red had been freed from under the box, and was lying in the royal hospital, his body covered in bandages. His legs were both in casts and his right arm was suspended in the air.

Purple, holding Amber, frowned at Red. "You owe Amber your life, Red! One of your ribs was so broken it almost punctured your spliver!"

"It was HER fault I was down there! She was in my room without permission, provacating me to pursue her and thus causing my horrid injury."

Purple smiled. "Poor Red. Provacate isn't a word. It's pro-voke."

"Provoke!" Amber chirped. Red glared viciously at her.

"That smeet… you mark my words, Purple, I'll get her! One day, I'll get her!"

Purple smiled. "I'll worry as soon as you're out of traction. For now, I've got some work to do. Watch Amber for me while I go…"

"No way! Purple! Puuuuurple! Purple! Puuuuurple!" Red cried, his voice going up a pitch with annoyance. Amber, sitting on his non-functioning legs, grinned broadly at him and made a loud tooting noise.

"Eeeeeew! Someone change her! I'm gagging in here, gas attack! Someone… anyone? Nuuuuuurse! I can't reach the call buttooooooooon…"

The End.