Chapter 11
Preparations
The room got deadly quiet after Zim had announced his plan. Rogue, still sitting at the table, just stared aimlessly at the Irken for what seemed like a long period of time before voicing her opinion.
"…That…is the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say."
"WHAT?!" Zim screamed back. "How dare you! What makes you think-?"
"Its just DUMB!" Rogue interrupted. She jumped off the chair and got into his face. "Not to mention suicidal!"
"UH?" Zim uddered.
"Do you know what the Tallest would do if they saw you NOW?" Rogue said. "They would most likely KILL you on the spot. They think you're dead already…"
Zim was silence for a moment. "…I don't get it."
Rogue growled under her breath. "I was send HERE to KILL you, remember? But I DIDN'T kill you, so if they saw you now…get it?!"
"Then they would be anger at you, not me." Zim said, pointing his finger in Rogue's face.
"That doesn't matter. They would be ticked at BOTH of us!" She said. "If I were you, I'd never show my face to them again…"
Zim crossed his arms and walked into the living room, thinking to himself. Rogue didn't even bother to ask him what he was ploting now. She felt that it wouldn't matter anyhow. She stood in the kitchen doorway and watched him pace back and forth on the floor, now mumbling to himself.
'…He's so dease." Rogue thought. 'What make him think that he even has a chance with the Tallest…? …Idiot.' This got her thinking about her own problem. '…I have a better chance with them then he does…'
Suddenly, Zim stopped and grinned widely. Rogue looked at him with a peculiar expression.
"YOU!" He pointed toward Rogue.
"ME??" She said, more puzzled. "What about me?"
"YOU have all that firepower! I told you before, lets join forces! YES! It's foolproof!" Zim rubbed his hands together, smiling more.
But Rogue wasn't that happy with that request. "…Ok, one, I don't want to team up with you, and two, I would like to settle my own problems on my own, thank you." She said "thank you" with a cynical way.
"You WILL join me!" Zim said.
"You can't make me!" She shouted back. "You KNOW I can still kill you…and it won't be for the Tallest…" She gave him a death glare. "I'm warning you…DON'T cross me…"
Zim considered that and kept his mouth shut. The female assassin started to make her way to the front door, but then stopped. Without even thinking, she looked back at Zim, and the moment when he saved her from the lethal rain came flying back in her mind.
'…He doesn't even know…' She thought. '…Should I tell him? …Nah, I'd be wasting my breath…'
She placed her hand on the door knob and was about to turn on her human look, but again, something stopped her midway.
'…I go back…the Tallest will get rid of me… If I leave now and never go back…I'll be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life…' She shook her head, trying to get the thoughts out, but it didn't work. Zim's selfcentered request was starting to look more and more inviting.
"…Ugh…" She turned around and faced Zim. With a heavy sigh, she answered, "…I know I said you can't force me to join you, but…the circumstances look grim for me too. …I'll agree with this plan, but if ANYTHING goes wrong, you are on your own. I don't care what happens to you…"
"…EXCELLENT!!" Zim cheered. "Together, we'll face our new enemy, and taste the sweet revenge!"
Rogue sighed. 'I wonder if me even caught what I said at that last part…'
"GIR! Get in here!" Zim said. The little SIR tottered in, fell on his face, but got right back up and saluted to his Master.
"YES, MY LORD!!" He said.
"Get to the Voot chamber and start the preparations for the mission! We have to be ready ASAP!" Zim commanded. Gir skipped off toward the lab while Zim continued to get all psyched up over the whole thing.
"…Hey, you want to see the Tallest, right?" Rogue spoke up.
"Didn't I JUST say that?" Zim said, turning toward her.
"Then you want to go to the Massive." Rogue said. "But that overgrown ship is continuously on the move, you know. The Tallest haven't been off that thing for months."
"So what are you saying?" Zim asked.
"If we want this thing to work, we first have to know just where the ship will be by the time we get there, that's all I'm saying." She said. "Besides, I doubt your ship is fast enough to get to the Massive in a matter of days…"
Zim stared into space, knowing right off that was true. It took SIX months for him and Gir to get from Irk to Earth in the first place. "…Hmm…a slight problem…"
"Slight? Maybe. …But I think I know a way to fix it…" Rogue said. Zim gave her a curious look.
"Before we really get ready, we have a little trip to make, to the woods outside this city." Rogue said with a small grin on her face.
"The woods?" Zim said. "There isn't anything there…"
"That's what you think." Rogue said. "I crashed there when I came here, so the remains of my ship should still be in that area. We can use the scrap to kick up your voot so it's faster, better, stronger. Get it?"
"Umm…you crashed landed?" Zim said. He suddenly remembered that "falling star" he saw on the day Rogue came into the classroom. "…Aaah, so that was YOU falling in the sky."
"Yes, it was…you saw that??" Rogue said.
"…And you crashed…"
"…Yeeeah…"
Zim started to chuckle.
"What's so funny?!" Rogue shouted.
"You didn't check this planet's gravity, did you?" Zim asked.
"…I…" Rogue was quiet for a second. "…You just shut up!"
~It was evening as the roof of Zim's house opened wide and the voot came hovering out of it. Both Zim and Rogue were inside; Gir was left behind to look after the base for the short period of time.
As they flew under the early night sky, they finally got a glimpse of the trees that made up the woods outside the human metropolis. Zim slowed the engines down and started to look for Rogue's crash site.
"…There! It's right there!" Rogue pointed down toward an area where the top of the trees looked burned to a crisp. Zim hovered the Voot over the spot and softly floated down.
The front hatch opened and both aliens jumped out to witness one heck of a crash site. Not only were the tops of the trees burned, but so was the ground where Rogue's ship came down. It looked like it just drop straight downward, covering a small area. Pieces of ship were everywhere. Some were hanging in the trees!
Zim stared at the sight then back at Rogue. "…How?!"
"Uh? 'How' what?" Rogue asked.
"How did you survive THIS?!" Zim said.
"…I got a FEW cuts and bruises I guess…" She answered.
"…You're more then Irken…" Zim said with awe.
"That's enough sightseeing." Rogue said. "We have to start salvaging this before it get's too dark. Come on."
For the next few hours, the two Irken took whatever was still operational. There were still some portions left of the engines, the communicate system, and the hyper XL system, which Rogue said what made her ship go extra fast.
"Hey! Whats all this?" Zim found a set of metal boxes all clumped together.
"Oh, those are just some extra storages units I use sometimes." Rogue said as she carried a large piece of equipment to the voot. Zim's eyes widen watching her carry that thing like it was a feather. "But get them anyway, we might need them."
Zim looked over the boxes. A few were burned alittle from the crash, leaving some holes in them, but he figured they were still good. Placing his hands underneath one, he tried to lift it up, but with no luck. It felt like it weighted a ton. He couldn't move it an inch.
"Need help?" Rogue said. Zim looked up and Rogue was at the other end of the container. With one hand, the cybrog lifted the side of the metal box with Zim still hanging onto the the other end.
*OOF!*
"…What was that??" Rogue stopped and looked around.
"What was was?" Zim asked. He dropped down and looked around. "…I don't see anything."
"…Uh…I could have sworn I just heard something…" Rogue said.
"Your mind is playing tricks. Or maybe it was a Earth wood beast." Zim said, trying to sould like he knew what he was talking about.
"…Um…aw well. This ought to be for what we need." She walked to the back of the voot and placed the metal container along with the rest of the stuff. "Anymore, and the Voot might get too heavy to lift off."
"Let's go then." Zim said. They got into the Voot and left the crash site.
~Back at the base a few more hours later, Rogue, Zim, and Gir were in the Voot repair bay wrapping up the finishing touches on Zim's ship. Rogue was installing on the hyper XL into the ship's mainframe, Zim was finishing an extension area on the back of the Voot, and Gir was helping by staying out of the way.
"The mainframe is all set, Zim." Rogue said. She hopped out of the cockpit and walked around to the back. "You hear me? I said-"
"I heard you…" He said, welding metal on the ship.
Rogue made a scornful face. "…Well, that just leaves for what you're doing, and we'll be all set, right?" She started walking away before Zim could answer that with a "yes".
The female Irken went back to the front and sat there to wait. There were three seats in the Voot now; two in the front and one big one in the back. Right behind the back seats there was a small walkway that headed toward a backroom where supplies could be held. Like what Rogue said, it was bigger and better.
Rogue breathed a sigh and looked upward at the wire filled celing. She still wasn't sure if she made the right choose going with Zim's brain dead plan, but it was too late to back out now. She was the one that said they were in the same boat now…so maybe she had herself to blame for him cooking up this whole "mission".
Suddenly, Rogue felt something tap her on the shoulder. She jumped and turned away, only to see Gir in the back seat.
"ARE WE THERE YET?!" The robot screeched.
"…We haven't LEFT yet…" Rogue said. She sat back in her seat, "…Do we REALLY have to bring that 'SIR'?"
"It is done!" Zim's voice boomed. "We are ready!" He ran over to the front and jumped into his seat.
"Hold it." Rogue said. "We should check and see if the hyper XL is gonna work first."
Zim looked at her like she just ruined his moment of glory. "…Fine."
After returning the mean look, Rogue pressed a button on the panal that said in Irken writing, "START XL SYSTEM TEST". A launch tube opened above them and the hover started to slowly drift up through it. But in the blink of an eye, the Voot suddenly shot like a bullet up and through the house roof, heading into the Earth's atmosphere!
Zim and Rogue were screaming as Gir was loving every second of it. Before the ship could reach space, Rogue slammed on the "EMERGENCY STOP" button. The Voot helded so fast, it threw Gir out of his back seat and smashed him against the glass shield. They were JUST where the Earth's ozone layer was.
"…Uuuuh…what do you think…?" Zim said, still shaking.
"…I think the XL needs some adjusting…" Rogue answered, trembling too.
"AGAIN!!" Gir screamed.
"NO!!!" They shouted back.
~It was back to the base before the trip could really start. Rogue worked on the hyper XL for another hour or so before she knew what was wrong.
"…No wonder…the GERO mechanism got loosen during my crash…that's what made it go all crazy…" Rogue said.
"Can it be fixed?" Zim asked.
Rogue looked up quickly, not knowing he was watching her the whole time! "…Yeeeah, it's a simple fix, really. I'll be done in about a half hour."
"…I think we better wait till the sun starts to rise before we go…" Zim said before walking off. Rogue stopped and looked back at him.
"What? Why? It would be better if left during the night, right??"
"…I have a few things to do in the lab before we leave." Zim answered. He then left Rogue alone with the Voot.
"…Is something bothering him…?" Rogue said to herself.
~In the main lab, Zim sat down in his chair and stared at his computer screen. He wasn't really doing anything, he was just…thinking. His mind was mentally preparing itself. He knew this trip was not going to be easy. What he, and Rogue are going to do would be considered senseless to others. But to him, it was all he could do to try and satisfied a small but growing hate he began to have for the Tallest.
"…Computer?"
The computer blinked and answered, "Yes, Zim?"
"…I am heading into space tomorrow, and…I am not sure when I'll be coming back…" Zim hung him head for a moment. "…So…my only command I want you to follow is this: If I do not return in a matter of months, or lets say within a year…I want you to shut down all functions in all of the base and then I want you to shut down as well…"
"…For how long?" The computer asked.
"…For good…" Zim answered.
"…Master…?" The computer worded.
Unknown to Zim, just inside the elevator doorway, Rogue had heard the whole conversation. For the first time since she's been on Earth, she was speechless.
'…Zim…' She thought as she went back down to the Voot bay level. "…You know you might not come back, don't you…?" A uneasy feeling suddenly gripped Rogue's gut. She clutched her abdomen. "…What? …Why do I feel…so bad for him…??"
TBC…………
Preparations
The room got deadly quiet after Zim had announced his plan. Rogue, still sitting at the table, just stared aimlessly at the Irken for what seemed like a long period of time before voicing her opinion.
"…That…is the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say."
"WHAT?!" Zim screamed back. "How dare you! What makes you think-?"
"Its just DUMB!" Rogue interrupted. She jumped off the chair and got into his face. "Not to mention suicidal!"
"UH?" Zim uddered.
"Do you know what the Tallest would do if they saw you NOW?" Rogue said. "They would most likely KILL you on the spot. They think you're dead already…"
Zim was silence for a moment. "…I don't get it."
Rogue growled under her breath. "I was send HERE to KILL you, remember? But I DIDN'T kill you, so if they saw you now…get it?!"
"Then they would be anger at you, not me." Zim said, pointing his finger in Rogue's face.
"That doesn't matter. They would be ticked at BOTH of us!" She said. "If I were you, I'd never show my face to them again…"
Zim crossed his arms and walked into the living room, thinking to himself. Rogue didn't even bother to ask him what he was ploting now. She felt that it wouldn't matter anyhow. She stood in the kitchen doorway and watched him pace back and forth on the floor, now mumbling to himself.
'…He's so dease." Rogue thought. 'What make him think that he even has a chance with the Tallest…? …Idiot.' This got her thinking about her own problem. '…I have a better chance with them then he does…'
Suddenly, Zim stopped and grinned widely. Rogue looked at him with a peculiar expression.
"YOU!" He pointed toward Rogue.
"ME??" She said, more puzzled. "What about me?"
"YOU have all that firepower! I told you before, lets join forces! YES! It's foolproof!" Zim rubbed his hands together, smiling more.
But Rogue wasn't that happy with that request. "…Ok, one, I don't want to team up with you, and two, I would like to settle my own problems on my own, thank you." She said "thank you" with a cynical way.
"You WILL join me!" Zim said.
"You can't make me!" She shouted back. "You KNOW I can still kill you…and it won't be for the Tallest…" She gave him a death glare. "I'm warning you…DON'T cross me…"
Zim considered that and kept his mouth shut. The female assassin started to make her way to the front door, but then stopped. Without even thinking, she looked back at Zim, and the moment when he saved her from the lethal rain came flying back in her mind.
'…He doesn't even know…' She thought. '…Should I tell him? …Nah, I'd be wasting my breath…'
She placed her hand on the door knob and was about to turn on her human look, but again, something stopped her midway.
'…I go back…the Tallest will get rid of me… If I leave now and never go back…I'll be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life…' She shook her head, trying to get the thoughts out, but it didn't work. Zim's selfcentered request was starting to look more and more inviting.
"…Ugh…" She turned around and faced Zim. With a heavy sigh, she answered, "…I know I said you can't force me to join you, but…the circumstances look grim for me too. …I'll agree with this plan, but if ANYTHING goes wrong, you are on your own. I don't care what happens to you…"
"…EXCELLENT!!" Zim cheered. "Together, we'll face our new enemy, and taste the sweet revenge!"
Rogue sighed. 'I wonder if me even caught what I said at that last part…'
"GIR! Get in here!" Zim said. The little SIR tottered in, fell on his face, but got right back up and saluted to his Master.
"YES, MY LORD!!" He said.
"Get to the Voot chamber and start the preparations for the mission! We have to be ready ASAP!" Zim commanded. Gir skipped off toward the lab while Zim continued to get all psyched up over the whole thing.
"…Hey, you want to see the Tallest, right?" Rogue spoke up.
"Didn't I JUST say that?" Zim said, turning toward her.
"Then you want to go to the Massive." Rogue said. "But that overgrown ship is continuously on the move, you know. The Tallest haven't been off that thing for months."
"So what are you saying?" Zim asked.
"If we want this thing to work, we first have to know just where the ship will be by the time we get there, that's all I'm saying." She said. "Besides, I doubt your ship is fast enough to get to the Massive in a matter of days…"
Zim stared into space, knowing right off that was true. It took SIX months for him and Gir to get from Irk to Earth in the first place. "…Hmm…a slight problem…"
"Slight? Maybe. …But I think I know a way to fix it…" Rogue said. Zim gave her a curious look.
"Before we really get ready, we have a little trip to make, to the woods outside this city." Rogue said with a small grin on her face.
"The woods?" Zim said. "There isn't anything there…"
"That's what you think." Rogue said. "I crashed there when I came here, so the remains of my ship should still be in that area. We can use the scrap to kick up your voot so it's faster, better, stronger. Get it?"
"Umm…you crashed landed?" Zim said. He suddenly remembered that "falling star" he saw on the day Rogue came into the classroom. "…Aaah, so that was YOU falling in the sky."
"Yes, it was…you saw that??" Rogue said.
"…And you crashed…"
"…Yeeeah…"
Zim started to chuckle.
"What's so funny?!" Rogue shouted.
"You didn't check this planet's gravity, did you?" Zim asked.
"…I…" Rogue was quiet for a second. "…You just shut up!"
~It was evening as the roof of Zim's house opened wide and the voot came hovering out of it. Both Zim and Rogue were inside; Gir was left behind to look after the base for the short period of time.
As they flew under the early night sky, they finally got a glimpse of the trees that made up the woods outside the human metropolis. Zim slowed the engines down and started to look for Rogue's crash site.
"…There! It's right there!" Rogue pointed down toward an area where the top of the trees looked burned to a crisp. Zim hovered the Voot over the spot and softly floated down.
The front hatch opened and both aliens jumped out to witness one heck of a crash site. Not only were the tops of the trees burned, but so was the ground where Rogue's ship came down. It looked like it just drop straight downward, covering a small area. Pieces of ship were everywhere. Some were hanging in the trees!
Zim stared at the sight then back at Rogue. "…How?!"
"Uh? 'How' what?" Rogue asked.
"How did you survive THIS?!" Zim said.
"…I got a FEW cuts and bruises I guess…" She answered.
"…You're more then Irken…" Zim said with awe.
"That's enough sightseeing." Rogue said. "We have to start salvaging this before it get's too dark. Come on."
For the next few hours, the two Irken took whatever was still operational. There were still some portions left of the engines, the communicate system, and the hyper XL system, which Rogue said what made her ship go extra fast.
"Hey! Whats all this?" Zim found a set of metal boxes all clumped together.
"Oh, those are just some extra storages units I use sometimes." Rogue said as she carried a large piece of equipment to the voot. Zim's eyes widen watching her carry that thing like it was a feather. "But get them anyway, we might need them."
Zim looked over the boxes. A few were burned alittle from the crash, leaving some holes in them, but he figured they were still good. Placing his hands underneath one, he tried to lift it up, but with no luck. It felt like it weighted a ton. He couldn't move it an inch.
"Need help?" Rogue said. Zim looked up and Rogue was at the other end of the container. With one hand, the cybrog lifted the side of the metal box with Zim still hanging onto the the other end.
*OOF!*
"…What was that??" Rogue stopped and looked around.
"What was was?" Zim asked. He dropped down and looked around. "…I don't see anything."
"…Uh…I could have sworn I just heard something…" Rogue said.
"Your mind is playing tricks. Or maybe it was a Earth wood beast." Zim said, trying to sould like he knew what he was talking about.
"…Um…aw well. This ought to be for what we need." She walked to the back of the voot and placed the metal container along with the rest of the stuff. "Anymore, and the Voot might get too heavy to lift off."
"Let's go then." Zim said. They got into the Voot and left the crash site.
~Back at the base a few more hours later, Rogue, Zim, and Gir were in the Voot repair bay wrapping up the finishing touches on Zim's ship. Rogue was installing on the hyper XL into the ship's mainframe, Zim was finishing an extension area on the back of the Voot, and Gir was helping by staying out of the way.
"The mainframe is all set, Zim." Rogue said. She hopped out of the cockpit and walked around to the back. "You hear me? I said-"
"I heard you…" He said, welding metal on the ship.
Rogue made a scornful face. "…Well, that just leaves for what you're doing, and we'll be all set, right?" She started walking away before Zim could answer that with a "yes".
The female Irken went back to the front and sat there to wait. There were three seats in the Voot now; two in the front and one big one in the back. Right behind the back seats there was a small walkway that headed toward a backroom where supplies could be held. Like what Rogue said, it was bigger and better.
Rogue breathed a sigh and looked upward at the wire filled celing. She still wasn't sure if she made the right choose going with Zim's brain dead plan, but it was too late to back out now. She was the one that said they were in the same boat now…so maybe she had herself to blame for him cooking up this whole "mission".
Suddenly, Rogue felt something tap her on the shoulder. She jumped and turned away, only to see Gir in the back seat.
"ARE WE THERE YET?!" The robot screeched.
"…We haven't LEFT yet…" Rogue said. She sat back in her seat, "…Do we REALLY have to bring that 'SIR'?"
"It is done!" Zim's voice boomed. "We are ready!" He ran over to the front and jumped into his seat.
"Hold it." Rogue said. "We should check and see if the hyper XL is gonna work first."
Zim looked at her like she just ruined his moment of glory. "…Fine."
After returning the mean look, Rogue pressed a button on the panal that said in Irken writing, "START XL SYSTEM TEST". A launch tube opened above them and the hover started to slowly drift up through it. But in the blink of an eye, the Voot suddenly shot like a bullet up and through the house roof, heading into the Earth's atmosphere!
Zim and Rogue were screaming as Gir was loving every second of it. Before the ship could reach space, Rogue slammed on the "EMERGENCY STOP" button. The Voot helded so fast, it threw Gir out of his back seat and smashed him against the glass shield. They were JUST where the Earth's ozone layer was.
"…Uuuuh…what do you think…?" Zim said, still shaking.
"…I think the XL needs some adjusting…" Rogue answered, trembling too.
"AGAIN!!" Gir screamed.
"NO!!!" They shouted back.
~It was back to the base before the trip could really start. Rogue worked on the hyper XL for another hour or so before she knew what was wrong.
"…No wonder…the GERO mechanism got loosen during my crash…that's what made it go all crazy…" Rogue said.
"Can it be fixed?" Zim asked.
Rogue looked up quickly, not knowing he was watching her the whole time! "…Yeeeah, it's a simple fix, really. I'll be done in about a half hour."
"…I think we better wait till the sun starts to rise before we go…" Zim said before walking off. Rogue stopped and looked back at him.
"What? Why? It would be better if left during the night, right??"
"…I have a few things to do in the lab before we leave." Zim answered. He then left Rogue alone with the Voot.
"…Is something bothering him…?" Rogue said to herself.
~In the main lab, Zim sat down in his chair and stared at his computer screen. He wasn't really doing anything, he was just…thinking. His mind was mentally preparing itself. He knew this trip was not going to be easy. What he, and Rogue are going to do would be considered senseless to others. But to him, it was all he could do to try and satisfied a small but growing hate he began to have for the Tallest.
"…Computer?"
The computer blinked and answered, "Yes, Zim?"
"…I am heading into space tomorrow, and…I am not sure when I'll be coming back…" Zim hung him head for a moment. "…So…my only command I want you to follow is this: If I do not return in a matter of months, or lets say within a year…I want you to shut down all functions in all of the base and then I want you to shut down as well…"
"…For how long?" The computer asked.
"…For good…" Zim answered.
"…Master…?" The computer worded.
Unknown to Zim, just inside the elevator doorway, Rogue had heard the whole conversation. For the first time since she's been on Earth, she was speechless.
'…Zim…' She thought as she went back down to the Voot bay level. "…You know you might not come back, don't you…?" A uneasy feeling suddenly gripped Rogue's gut. She clutched her abdomen. "…What? …Why do I feel…so bad for him…??"
TBC…………