Note: I'm very sorry I haven't been updating as consistently as I used to. For one thing, I found that finishing homework before writing on FanFic helped solve my sleep-deprivation problems, and for another, I've been very sick for a couple of days. So thank you all for your patience in the matter.

…………………………………………………………………….

"…monitor his condition and report!"

"…--ed boy's a biiiiiig sleepy-head…"

"…any minute now, unless he's avoi…"

Like sand bags on my eyes… Bile rose in Dib's throat. He dissected me again, didn't he? Heaving with all his strength he cracked one eye. All he could see was… cyan?

A scream ricocheted through his skull.

"AIIEEE! Master, he's alive! He's alive!"

"I know that, GIR."

"No, I mean he wakeded!"

"Oh, let me see."

GIR's face was replaced by Zim's.

"Dib! Are your audio units intact?"

Dib pried his jaws apart. "Wa—"

Zim yanked his antennae and swore. "Oh Irk! I should have known you'd need…" his lips curled in disgust, "Water. But I administered it all to you on the journey to Irk. There's none left!"

Dib closed his eye. His tongue lay swollen in his parched mouth and a vicious headache pounded at him, both signs of dehydration. I can't last much longer without—

"Heeey, master, looky here!"

"Not now, GIR, I'm trying to think."

"Aww, you don't wanna see me do a whale?"

"No."

"But I can spout water an' everything!"

"GIR I said… water? you brought water?"

"Yepp!"

"Where did you keep it?"

"In ma belly."

"Let me guess," Zim groaned, "You left my toolkit at the base."

GIR giggled and a splash of water hit Dib's face.

"No GIR! We mustn't waste it, the Dib needs it."

Claws gently pulled his lips apart and water flowed in. It was tepid and tasted like metal, but he couldn't remember a sweeter drink.

…………………………………………………………………….

Weeks passed. Dib had mostly recovered from his operation, but he would not speak to Zim. The alien had given up trying long ago and resigned himself to the cockpit, maintaining a steady course for earth. Dib kept to the cargo bay, trying to hold his sanity together with GIR as his companion.

I should talk to him, say something.

Like what? Dib snorted. Hiya, half brother, thanks for babysitting me and nursing me back to health!

He no longer thought Zim had dissected him again, GIR had set him straight on that. But the confusion would not go away, and he doubted it ever would. The last thing he wanted was to talk to Zim when he couldn't even figure out what was going on in himself.

…………………………………………………………………….

Zim scowled at the controls. The monitor had been bleeping at a flicker of energy for the last hour, but Zim couldn't figure out why.

It's not enough energy to be a ship, but it looks like it might be some kind of life form. But what kind of life-form flickers in and out of being?

"Zim?" Startled, Zim spun around to spot Dib, leaning against the doorway.

"Dib! I wasn't expect… You didn't… I was just… I didn't mean…" Appalling! With one word he reduced me to stuttering! Glaring fiercely, he snapped, "What do you want?"

Dib slid quietly into the co-pilot seat and said, "I'd like to see her again."

"Who?"

"My M—Invader Stok."

Zim sighed. "This nostalgia is incomprehensible to me. Look Dib, any Invader declared a traitor to Irk, including me now, has all record of him or her wiped out, except a recording of their execution, and that is buried so deep in the control brain that only the Tallest can have access."

"There's one place they forgot." Dib smiled faintly.

"Forget? An Irkin would never overlook something so important!" Zim insisted.

"No Zim, they did."

"Fine, you know-it-all dirt-smeet, what did the mighty Irkin Armada overlook when they erased Invader Stok's existence from the face of the universe?"

"My memories, Zim."

Zim's mouth opened and closed several times. Irk! I hate it when he's right.

Gentler than before, he turned Dib's head and found the hole. Reaching into a pouch at his belt, he pulled a chip out and eased it into the hole. Dib winced, but kept silent. Zim typed a few commands into the control board, then leaned back as the viewscreen began displaying Dib's memories of Invader Stok.