Space is more boring than most people realize. They assume it is filled with fascinating aliens and planets and such. It takes absolutely forever to get anywhere though. We had only been out here for a few hours and the Earth still loomed behind us, almost daring us to turn back home.
Dib had taken the controls and carefully steered us through the black. His hands were twitchy, but still he pulled at knobs and levers with grace, as though it were some kind of procedure he'd memorized long ago. His eyes were locked in furious concentration and all I could do was sit and watch.
I knew that Dib was giving a tremendous mental effort to simply be here, but I still couldn't help but wish he'd go faster. Zim was already a week ahead of us and if we didn't go faster we'd never catch up. There wasn't much that I could do about it though.
All I really could do about it was sit and stare out the window at the empty spaces between the stars.
It hadn't occurred to me before then all of the problems with my plan. Zim could have been at just about any place in any direction, any distance from here. He wouldn't have been hovering just outside of the atmosphere, waiting for me to ask him what the hell was going on. He could have been anywhere. We could have been stuck up there for years.
I didn't want to be stuck up there for years.
Dib kept quiet as he smoothly piloted us through the black. I almost felt bad about dragging him along. There were so many buttons and knobs on the control panel though; I wouldn't have even been able to lift it off the ground by myself. Plus, I would probably go insane out here alone.
Something was bothering me though. Dib had said that if we looked for Zim…that "they" would kill me and everyone else. I had no idea who "they" was, but I knew that this wasn't like my brother. Dib would normally jump headfirst into danger, especially if it meant stopping Zim. A simple death threat wouldn't have stopped him.
There were still some things that were unclear about this whole situation, but other things were finally starting to come together. The more I got involved, the more I wondered if I really wanted to know.
Dib had to get back to normal though. I would make sure of it.
Even in this one week, he'd already improved. He'd even spoken, as hard as it was to believe and even if it wasn't coherent. He hasn't said a word since then though.
I think that after a little while he really did start trying. There were moments where it looked like he really wanted to say something to me, but the sounds seemed to be stuck in his throat, choking him until they killed him once again.
If Dad saw him now, he'd just assume Dib had gone off the deep end one and for all and throw him away completely. Dad only cares about his reputation. What would the other scientists say about him if they knew he had a crazy son? What did they say already?
It must be so hard for Dib to just be himself. Sometimes I wonder how he goes on everyday.
Again, it's one of those many things I'll never say to him. We may be close, but we're not that close. It's none of my business, just like my life is none of his.
There was a faint beeping noise coming from the control panel. I glanced over, trying my best not to look very interested.
On the radar screen, there was a small dot. It was a dot that looked extremely insignificant in the scheme of things, but it was the first thing we'd found all day. Also, a small arrow pointed at it, with one of those funny Irken symbols.
I was thankful, but Dib didn't really look like he cared. He may have though. After all, he stared at that radar screen for an awfully long time. Blindly, he reached up for a small lever and yanked it as hard as he could.
We soared. I was thrown back against the wall awkwardly and the stars zoomed by us. Dib adjusted easily and worked the controls even more vigorously than before. There was a fierce fire in his eyes that wasn't there previously and hadn't been there for over a week.
I was a little annoyed at him. He could have warned me before going into hyper drive.
It felt as though it would take only minutes to catch up now, but that wasn't the case. Even at light speed it was still several hours before we got any closer to the little dot of a ship. We still had a long trip ahead of us.
Great…
Whenever I tried to look out the window it gave me a headache. The stars were blurred and falling rapidly through the black. I had to force myself to keep my eyes in the cockpit and wait.
Wait.
Wait.
…It was an agonizingly long and silent wait.
I wished I had my GameSlave 2, or even my crayons. I wanted something to do while I was stuck up here.
What I should have been doing though was planning. The two of us were heading into unknown danger and we had no idea what we would be in for. We really should have had at least some plan of action, or at least a way to quickly get away if we ran into unspeakable horrors.
What can I say? We were stupid kids.
Several hours inched by and I felt like I was just going to wither away. We really hadn't planned ahead. We didn't have any food or water or anything at all.
None of this seemed to bother Dib, however in his current mindset he seemed to only be able to concentrate hard on one thing at a time. Personally, I was glad he didn't take his mind off of driving and crash us into a meteor.
The radar screen had been slowly beeping for hours now and I really wanted to smash it until only bits of wire remained. I held back that urge though, even as the beeping got faster and louder.
That dot that traveled along the screen had gotten considerably larger. I automatically assumed that it was a small planet, specifically the one where Zim was being held captive.
I was wrong, yet again.
Once we had finally reached its location, we discovered that it wasn't a small planet. Actually, it was a just really big spaceship. Fake barred windows stared out at us. There were Irken symbols scrawled along the sides and it was a drab grey color. It must have been at least five times the size of the school, and probably more.
" Well," I said, trying to break the silence we'd created years ago, " This is it."
Dib didn't respond. With his twitchy hands he slowed our ship to a halt and began to stare out at Zim's prison. The radar bleeped loudly in the background, which only suited to magnify the quiet around us.
Without warning, Dib started the ship once more and slowly drove us around the side. He was careful to make sure that no one would notice our presence, even in the dark shadow of the mammoth spacecraft in front of us.
I was still having trouble believing that something so huge would be able to even move.
Dib made a sudden sharp turn and I was sent flying once again. Before the opportunity arose to yell at him for it, I glanced out into what I thought was deep space. It wasn't though. There was artificial light and a seemingly endless opening.
I barely felt us fly foreword as I stared out around us. Dib gracefully guided us into what looked like a cargo hold for their ships. It amazed me that he had been able to find it, even in the state he was in. I was certain I could have done it in a matter of minutes, but Dib wasn't in the best state of mind, making it even more impressive.
There were rows and rows of spacecraft of all shapes and colors and purposes. Some of them almost looked like they were too big to fit out the door, which shut itself on our way in.
That made me worry. Was it a way to keep air in or keep us locked inside?
I didn't have long to think though. Dib parked us near other ships similar to ours and popped open the windshield. His shaky hands pulled him up and out of our vessel. He stood looking absolutely terrified. There wasn't within my sight to be scared of though.
Flinging myself out and shutting the windshield behind me I turned to Dib. All I received from him however was a blank stare.
" Well?" I said impatiently, " You seemed to know the way in. Now where's Zim?"
Dib gazed around the room, staring at random places as though he were looking for him. I smacked my forehead. We'd just taken almost a twelve hour ride to God knows where and I didn't feel like putting up with this crap. Besides, he'd been fine the entire way here.
" We should split up." I said in a way that signified that it wasn't a suggestion but an order, " We'd probably find him faster."
Honestly, I just needed some space for a few minutes. Twelve hours of Dib, mentally stable or not was more than I could handle.
Dib shook his head violently when I finally dawned on him what I was saying. His cold fingers grabbed my hand and pulled hard. He didn't want me to go.
It was kinda cute in a little kid sort of way, but I'd never admit it.
" Dib, I'll be fine." I sighed.
As I pulled my arm away from him an unexplainable shiver shook through me; there was something wrong there. There was something bad happening. I ignored this feeling though and turned to leave.
" We'll meet back up here after, alright?" I said, taking just a small peek back at him.
His eyes were glued to the floor in uncertainty. His feet shuffled back and forth in repetitive motion and his arms crossed behind his back.
If he nodded or said "Okay," or just fell over in a bloody heap I didn't know.
I was already gone.
(A/N: Thanks for all of the great reviews. I love everyone's ideas about what happened. One question that keeps coming up though is if this fic will turn ZADR. As much of a ZADR fan as I am, I'm going to have to say no on that one. I had originally planned out the story to be pairingless and it is probably going to stay that way. Since this story mainly focuses around Gaz and her feelings and thoughts, I think it wouldn't come out as good if I tried making them reveal their own feelings through her eyes. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, I'm just saying it strays away from the point of this story. ZADF is most definitely possible though. : ) Please R&R and the next chapter will be up hopefully sooner than this one was.)