Yeah! I'm not is skool! I can work on.stuff! Actually, I'm still sick,
so don't start envying me yet. Okay. I don't own anything from Invader
Zim except myself, Kith. Thanks!
"So, um, what exactly is this 'wonderful' plan you've got, Kith?" Dib asked. As soon as the elevator had stopped, she had jumped out and dragged him over to a small computer desk. She had plunked him down and run off, leaving the nervous young man staring uneasily around the base. A moment later Kith had returned, slender arms piled high with techy stuff.
"Now, stay there and don't move," she commanded him. Dib swallowed nervously. Frowning in concentration, Kith had rummaged around in the pile of stuff until she came up with a syringe. Dib felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.
"I need your DNA so I can...adjust my computer to fit my plan," Kith explained. Dib nodded nervously. Carefully she stuck the needle in his arm and withdrew a small amount of blood. That done, she briskly walked over to the main console and placed it in a receptive slot. It disappeared, and a moment later a diagram of DNA popped up on the monitor. As she typed furiously, Kith explained what she was doing.
"All I want is to find some place quiet to live; none of this nonsense that comes with being the sister of one Tallest and the desire of another. If I can make Red think I'm not Irkanly 'appropriate' to keep around any longer, he'll leave me alone. That's where you come in." Dib felt a moment of indignation to learn that he was merely a pawn in her plan. "If I bring you and Zim to the party, everyone will think I've gone completely nuts! They'll leave me alone on the planet of my choice. What I'm doing now," and here she gestured to the screen and the DNA, "Is trying to rewrite your genetics to alter your physical form. That way, you can come onto the Massive without drawing too much attention."
"Now just a second!" Dib leapt up. "I think my body is just fine the way it is, thank you very much!"
"Well, aside from your head there's nothing that distinguishes you from any other human. What I'm doing is turning your human DNA, into...Irkan DNA."
"What?!"
"No no no, it's only temporary. I'll just save it as it was before and re- inject it into you after the party."
"WHAT?!"
Kith turned around and treated Dib to her patented double-barreled glare. "Are you or are you not my body-guard?"
"I--"
"Do you or do you not want to see the Massive?"
"But--"
"If you are my body-guard, then you will be expected to attend the party. Nobody but the Tallest know that you're human. This is the easiest way to let you come."
Easiest?! thought Dib frantically. This is genetics! This is playing God!
"So what?" Kith asked. Dib stared at her blankly.
"You heard that?"
"Yes."
Dib blushed violently. He stared at his hands and didn't say anything. Eventually the sound of keys clicking could be heard again, cutting through the uncomfortable silence like a multitude of swords. After a very long seeming pause, Dib spoke up again.
"Will I really get to see the Massive?"
Kith stopped toying and turned around. "Of course. Now come here." She beckoned to him.
Hesitantly Dib stood and walked over to where Kith sat at the computer.
"Sit there," she said, pointing to a seat next to her. Dib sat. Kith leaned over and secured his left arm to the chair, with straps at his wrist and elbow.
Panic flooded Dib. "What are you doing?!"
"Relax." She turned around in her chair to face him; in her gloved hands was a syringe filled with a green liquid.
Dib's panic intensified.
"What is that?!"
"Your new DNA. Now stop shaking; we don't want this to miss the vein."
Dib struggled to calm down. "But the party isn't for six months," he protested, clinging to his last hope.
Kith just injected the serum into Dib's arm. Only when the last drop was gone did she answer. "Well, I have two reasons to do this now. One, you will need time to react to the functions your new body provides. The functions fulfilled by your squeedily spooch, for one. Two, it's a precaution. If you get any further thoughts about turning Zim and me in, you will end up under the blade with us. After all, you need your own DNA to get back into your human body." This said, she released him from the chair and gave him a bag of chips. "Eat this. You'll feel better."
Dib clutched at the chips, breaking a few. "But--skool--"
"Here." Kith handed him a small black chip. "A holo chip, like mine. Don't get it wet. Although," she smiled, "soon you will develop a severe reaction to water."
Dib stared mutely after her as she went about tidying up her lab. "Oh, and Dib," she called, "Perhaps you should stay here tonight. The transformation will be...unpleasant. And in the morning, we need to give you and I.U.P. as well."
Dib's heart was once again flooded with emotion. ...Stay here tonight...Wait. "What's an I.U.P?"
Kith turned around and pointed to her backpod. "An Irkan Utility Pod." She pointed to an elevator in the corner. "Take that and turn left once you're upstairs. There will be a cot and a change of clothes. The little room in the corner of that room is the chalk room." At Dib's questioning glance, she smiled. "It's the Irkan equivalent of a human bathroom. Use it; in the morning you'll look like shit."
Dib nodded mutely and stepped into the elevator. Kith listened to his mind for a moment to be sure that he was in bed, and requested her computer to contact the Tallest.
Red flickered onto the screen. "Hey, Kith, ya miss me?"
"Not especially," Kith replied coolly. "I only called to say that if you want me to come to the party, and later back onto the Massive, you oblige my requests."
"Hey sure, whatever you want."
For a second Kith felt sorry for being so difficult for her brother; he really loved her, after all. Then she shook her head. Things had gone too far.
"I want to bring some...guests."
**********************************************************
Dib stumbled out of his room the next morning, yawning and sore all over.
"If this is how I feel, I must definitely look like shit," he mumbled groggily. He made his shaky way to the bathroom and raised his face to the mirror.
**********************************************************
Kith, down in her lab, was listening expectantly for the shriek that followed.
Two seconds later, a frenzied Irkan jumped out of the elevator. "You can't seriously have done this to me I thought it was some kind of joke what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Most of this was said in less than three seconds.
Kith regarded her spazing creation carefully. He was still much taller than she, around four feet. His eyes, strangely enough, had turned out to be an icy, crystal blue. All in all, not bad for her first real life-altering experiment.
She calmly walked over to Dib and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Gently she led him over to a table, where a brand new I.U.P. waited for him. "You need to be calm for this," she said. Dib nodded and took a deep breath.
Suddenly a long robotic prod-thing stretched down from the ceiling and drilled two holes into Dib's spine.
"AAHHH!! Oh the pain!"
A second later the arm withdrew, and Kith lifted the pod into the holes. Dib felt a strange sensation tickling the back of his brain.
"There will be a strange feeling in your mind." Kith explained. "That's the pod getting adapted to your body. Oh! I almost forgot; you need a SIR."
Dib cocked his sapphire eye at Kith. "A what?"
Kith gestured to MiKi, calm and trimmed in black. "A SIR; a Standard Information Retrieval unit. Only, keep it away from Gir."
Another arm lowered down from the ceiling, this time carrying a small folded SIR. Quickly it stood up and saluted Dib.
"Yes my lord."
Dib looked uneasily at Kith. "Um...what's it want?"
Kith smirked. "Give it a name, or a command. It will follow your orders."
"Alright...uh, Hex, go get my holo-chip from my cot."
The red-eyed SIR saluted again and disappeared up the elevator. Dib nodded approvingly. "Wow."
Kith tossed him an Original Poop. "Eat up. Breakfast."
Dib stared at the soda. "You have snacks for breakfast?"
"Uh-huh." Kith opened a bag of chips and crammed a fistful in her mouth. "Irkans practically live on what you deem snacks."
Hex returned from his errand. "Here, my lord!" He held out the chip. Dib took it from his outstretched hand.
"Thanks." He turned to Kith. "What do I do with this thing?"
She set her Poop down on a table and pawed through a drawer, looking for something. She seemed to find what she was looking for, and held up a pair of gloves. "Here; too many things on this planet, or any other planet for that matter, are harmful to Irkan flesh. These help." She tossed them to the startled Dib. Numbly he slipped them on.
"And the chip? I'm not wearing a sorry disguise like Zim's," he informed Kith hurriedly.
She laughed, a pleasant sound. "Of course not. I've already programmed it to mimic your human body, so no one will really be able to tell the difference."
Dib's disguise flickered into place, and Kith activated hers. Dib didn't say anything for a while after that.
As they were getting ready to go to skool, Dib asked Kith whether or not Zim knew about this whole thing.
Kith frowned at her boots. "His mind is blocked somehow. Extreme emotion tends to do that sometimes; I haven't told him, in any case."
Dib bit his lip.
On the way to skool, Dib caught sight of Gaz up ahead. He ran up to her.
She turned around and flicked off her GameSlave II. "Where have you been?" she demanded. Dib faltered, expecting anything except this. "I--I was--"
"Dad came home for an hour last night. He just wanted to get some fresh sheets, but you weren't there to see him. He was kinda upset."
Dib stopped walking. "Dad came home? He was upset, because I wasn't there? Really?"
"Well, duh." Gaz resumed walking. "Our family dinner is next week, you know. Don't miss it."
Dib stood there, pondering what he'd just heard. He didn't notice Zim walk up behind him.
"Hello, Dib. How are you? Feeling fine? Is your heart still beating?" He sneered.
Kith ran up to them. "Gee, thanks for leaving me. Hi, Zim."
"Hello. I was just asking Dib how he was feeling; he seems a little green," Zim said, throwing Dib's insult back at him.
Kith hid a small smile. "Actually, he looks a little green to me too." She checked to make sure no one was around, and then she turned off Dib's disguise.
Dib flickered into his Irkan body. Pale blue eyes regarded Zim's shaking form with mild interest. Dib turned around and revealed his pod to Zim. "I had a small operation last night. I feel like a brand new person!"
Zim spun to Kith. "What did you do?! That's not even authorized on Irk, and here you are turning stoopid little humans into glorious Irkan soldiers! What are you up to?" he asked suspiciously.
Kith explained her plan to him as she steered them to skool. She finished just as they walked into the classroom.
Zim stared incredulously at Kith. "Why on Irk would you want to stay here, instead of life on the Massive? I mean, first there's humans," and he waved at the class, "And then there's Irkans! Like us!"
Kith sighed and took her seat. "I really wouldn't expect you to know what it feels like to be regarded as a freak by your own people, would you Zim?"
A shadow of revulsion and pain crossed Zim's face. "You would be surprised." He took his seat.
Dib and Kith sat down as well, each thinking their own melancholy thoughts.
On a whim, Kith tried to sense what was going on in Zim's mind. Nothing. A maelstrom of gloom and dark red thoughts. She tried Dib's next.
Sadness for missing his father. Wonder at his transformation. Deep blue currents laced with shots of black and white. Love, for his dad, and Gaz, and herself.
Kith sat back, reeling in shock. He--before she made him Irkan! She shuddered, imagining what it must have felt like to have Zim find out his feelings, even before Dib himself knew! Ewww....
"And no matter what you thought before, you are all doomed. Doomed to be doomed forever in a pile of stinky doom!" Ms. Bitters droned.
Kith raised her hand. "Ms. Bitters."
The serpentine head snaked over. "What do you want, you DOOMED little girl?"
"I, uh...hafta go to the bathroom. Yeah, that's it."
"Go, then."
Kith gathered her things and ran out the door. Dib stared after her, wondering what was upsetting her. His gaze met Zim's, and they both looked away.
Yay!! Look at me being done! I haven't really decided where to go from here, so write! Give me ideas! Boo yah! Wow.that fever has affected me more than I though.please review!
"So, um, what exactly is this 'wonderful' plan you've got, Kith?" Dib asked. As soon as the elevator had stopped, she had jumped out and dragged him over to a small computer desk. She had plunked him down and run off, leaving the nervous young man staring uneasily around the base. A moment later Kith had returned, slender arms piled high with techy stuff.
"Now, stay there and don't move," she commanded him. Dib swallowed nervously. Frowning in concentration, Kith had rummaged around in the pile of stuff until she came up with a syringe. Dib felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.
"I need your DNA so I can...adjust my computer to fit my plan," Kith explained. Dib nodded nervously. Carefully she stuck the needle in his arm and withdrew a small amount of blood. That done, she briskly walked over to the main console and placed it in a receptive slot. It disappeared, and a moment later a diagram of DNA popped up on the monitor. As she typed furiously, Kith explained what she was doing.
"All I want is to find some place quiet to live; none of this nonsense that comes with being the sister of one Tallest and the desire of another. If I can make Red think I'm not Irkanly 'appropriate' to keep around any longer, he'll leave me alone. That's where you come in." Dib felt a moment of indignation to learn that he was merely a pawn in her plan. "If I bring you and Zim to the party, everyone will think I've gone completely nuts! They'll leave me alone on the planet of my choice. What I'm doing now," and here she gestured to the screen and the DNA, "Is trying to rewrite your genetics to alter your physical form. That way, you can come onto the Massive without drawing too much attention."
"Now just a second!" Dib leapt up. "I think my body is just fine the way it is, thank you very much!"
"Well, aside from your head there's nothing that distinguishes you from any other human. What I'm doing is turning your human DNA, into...Irkan DNA."
"What?!"
"No no no, it's only temporary. I'll just save it as it was before and re- inject it into you after the party."
"WHAT?!"
Kith turned around and treated Dib to her patented double-barreled glare. "Are you or are you not my body-guard?"
"I--"
"Do you or do you not want to see the Massive?"
"But--"
"If you are my body-guard, then you will be expected to attend the party. Nobody but the Tallest know that you're human. This is the easiest way to let you come."
Easiest?! thought Dib frantically. This is genetics! This is playing God!
"So what?" Kith asked. Dib stared at her blankly.
"You heard that?"
"Yes."
Dib blushed violently. He stared at his hands and didn't say anything. Eventually the sound of keys clicking could be heard again, cutting through the uncomfortable silence like a multitude of swords. After a very long seeming pause, Dib spoke up again.
"Will I really get to see the Massive?"
Kith stopped toying and turned around. "Of course. Now come here." She beckoned to him.
Hesitantly Dib stood and walked over to where Kith sat at the computer.
"Sit there," she said, pointing to a seat next to her. Dib sat. Kith leaned over and secured his left arm to the chair, with straps at his wrist and elbow.
Panic flooded Dib. "What are you doing?!"
"Relax." She turned around in her chair to face him; in her gloved hands was a syringe filled with a green liquid.
Dib's panic intensified.
"What is that?!"
"Your new DNA. Now stop shaking; we don't want this to miss the vein."
Dib struggled to calm down. "But the party isn't for six months," he protested, clinging to his last hope.
Kith just injected the serum into Dib's arm. Only when the last drop was gone did she answer. "Well, I have two reasons to do this now. One, you will need time to react to the functions your new body provides. The functions fulfilled by your squeedily spooch, for one. Two, it's a precaution. If you get any further thoughts about turning Zim and me in, you will end up under the blade with us. After all, you need your own DNA to get back into your human body." This said, she released him from the chair and gave him a bag of chips. "Eat this. You'll feel better."
Dib clutched at the chips, breaking a few. "But--skool--"
"Here." Kith handed him a small black chip. "A holo chip, like mine. Don't get it wet. Although," she smiled, "soon you will develop a severe reaction to water."
Dib stared mutely after her as she went about tidying up her lab. "Oh, and Dib," she called, "Perhaps you should stay here tonight. The transformation will be...unpleasant. And in the morning, we need to give you and I.U.P. as well."
Dib's heart was once again flooded with emotion. ...Stay here tonight...Wait. "What's an I.U.P?"
Kith turned around and pointed to her backpod. "An Irkan Utility Pod." She pointed to an elevator in the corner. "Take that and turn left once you're upstairs. There will be a cot and a change of clothes. The little room in the corner of that room is the chalk room." At Dib's questioning glance, she smiled. "It's the Irkan equivalent of a human bathroom. Use it; in the morning you'll look like shit."
Dib nodded mutely and stepped into the elevator. Kith listened to his mind for a moment to be sure that he was in bed, and requested her computer to contact the Tallest.
Red flickered onto the screen. "Hey, Kith, ya miss me?"
"Not especially," Kith replied coolly. "I only called to say that if you want me to come to the party, and later back onto the Massive, you oblige my requests."
"Hey sure, whatever you want."
For a second Kith felt sorry for being so difficult for her brother; he really loved her, after all. Then she shook her head. Things had gone too far.
"I want to bring some...guests."
**********************************************************
Dib stumbled out of his room the next morning, yawning and sore all over.
"If this is how I feel, I must definitely look like shit," he mumbled groggily. He made his shaky way to the bathroom and raised his face to the mirror.
**********************************************************
Kith, down in her lab, was listening expectantly for the shriek that followed.
Two seconds later, a frenzied Irkan jumped out of the elevator. "You can't seriously have done this to me I thought it was some kind of joke what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Most of this was said in less than three seconds.
Kith regarded her spazing creation carefully. He was still much taller than she, around four feet. His eyes, strangely enough, had turned out to be an icy, crystal blue. All in all, not bad for her first real life-altering experiment.
She calmly walked over to Dib and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Gently she led him over to a table, where a brand new I.U.P. waited for him. "You need to be calm for this," she said. Dib nodded and took a deep breath.
Suddenly a long robotic prod-thing stretched down from the ceiling and drilled two holes into Dib's spine.
"AAHHH!! Oh the pain!"
A second later the arm withdrew, and Kith lifted the pod into the holes. Dib felt a strange sensation tickling the back of his brain.
"There will be a strange feeling in your mind." Kith explained. "That's the pod getting adapted to your body. Oh! I almost forgot; you need a SIR."
Dib cocked his sapphire eye at Kith. "A what?"
Kith gestured to MiKi, calm and trimmed in black. "A SIR; a Standard Information Retrieval unit. Only, keep it away from Gir."
Another arm lowered down from the ceiling, this time carrying a small folded SIR. Quickly it stood up and saluted Dib.
"Yes my lord."
Dib looked uneasily at Kith. "Um...what's it want?"
Kith smirked. "Give it a name, or a command. It will follow your orders."
"Alright...uh, Hex, go get my holo-chip from my cot."
The red-eyed SIR saluted again and disappeared up the elevator. Dib nodded approvingly. "Wow."
Kith tossed him an Original Poop. "Eat up. Breakfast."
Dib stared at the soda. "You have snacks for breakfast?"
"Uh-huh." Kith opened a bag of chips and crammed a fistful in her mouth. "Irkans practically live on what you deem snacks."
Hex returned from his errand. "Here, my lord!" He held out the chip. Dib took it from his outstretched hand.
"Thanks." He turned to Kith. "What do I do with this thing?"
She set her Poop down on a table and pawed through a drawer, looking for something. She seemed to find what she was looking for, and held up a pair of gloves. "Here; too many things on this planet, or any other planet for that matter, are harmful to Irkan flesh. These help." She tossed them to the startled Dib. Numbly he slipped them on.
"And the chip? I'm not wearing a sorry disguise like Zim's," he informed Kith hurriedly.
She laughed, a pleasant sound. "Of course not. I've already programmed it to mimic your human body, so no one will really be able to tell the difference."
Dib's disguise flickered into place, and Kith activated hers. Dib didn't say anything for a while after that.
As they were getting ready to go to skool, Dib asked Kith whether or not Zim knew about this whole thing.
Kith frowned at her boots. "His mind is blocked somehow. Extreme emotion tends to do that sometimes; I haven't told him, in any case."
Dib bit his lip.
On the way to skool, Dib caught sight of Gaz up ahead. He ran up to her.
She turned around and flicked off her GameSlave II. "Where have you been?" she demanded. Dib faltered, expecting anything except this. "I--I was--"
"Dad came home for an hour last night. He just wanted to get some fresh sheets, but you weren't there to see him. He was kinda upset."
Dib stopped walking. "Dad came home? He was upset, because I wasn't there? Really?"
"Well, duh." Gaz resumed walking. "Our family dinner is next week, you know. Don't miss it."
Dib stood there, pondering what he'd just heard. He didn't notice Zim walk up behind him.
"Hello, Dib. How are you? Feeling fine? Is your heart still beating?" He sneered.
Kith ran up to them. "Gee, thanks for leaving me. Hi, Zim."
"Hello. I was just asking Dib how he was feeling; he seems a little green," Zim said, throwing Dib's insult back at him.
Kith hid a small smile. "Actually, he looks a little green to me too." She checked to make sure no one was around, and then she turned off Dib's disguise.
Dib flickered into his Irkan body. Pale blue eyes regarded Zim's shaking form with mild interest. Dib turned around and revealed his pod to Zim. "I had a small operation last night. I feel like a brand new person!"
Zim spun to Kith. "What did you do?! That's not even authorized on Irk, and here you are turning stoopid little humans into glorious Irkan soldiers! What are you up to?" he asked suspiciously.
Kith explained her plan to him as she steered them to skool. She finished just as they walked into the classroom.
Zim stared incredulously at Kith. "Why on Irk would you want to stay here, instead of life on the Massive? I mean, first there's humans," and he waved at the class, "And then there's Irkans! Like us!"
Kith sighed and took her seat. "I really wouldn't expect you to know what it feels like to be regarded as a freak by your own people, would you Zim?"
A shadow of revulsion and pain crossed Zim's face. "You would be surprised." He took his seat.
Dib and Kith sat down as well, each thinking their own melancholy thoughts.
On a whim, Kith tried to sense what was going on in Zim's mind. Nothing. A maelstrom of gloom and dark red thoughts. She tried Dib's next.
Sadness for missing his father. Wonder at his transformation. Deep blue currents laced with shots of black and white. Love, for his dad, and Gaz, and herself.
Kith sat back, reeling in shock. He--before she made him Irkan! She shuddered, imagining what it must have felt like to have Zim find out his feelings, even before Dib himself knew! Ewww....
"And no matter what you thought before, you are all doomed. Doomed to be doomed forever in a pile of stinky doom!" Ms. Bitters droned.
Kith raised her hand. "Ms. Bitters."
The serpentine head snaked over. "What do you want, you DOOMED little girl?"
"I, uh...hafta go to the bathroom. Yeah, that's it."
"Go, then."
Kith gathered her things and ran out the door. Dib stared after her, wondering what was upsetting her. His gaze met Zim's, and they both looked away.
Yay!! Look at me being done! I haven't really decided where to go from here, so write! Give me ideas! Boo yah! Wow.that fever has affected me more than I though.please review!