Part 11: How the Universe Was Made

Dib looked over at the stack of homework on the coffee table. It was difficult to see from his position upside down on the couch, but the stack of books was still prominent. He sighed dramatically, letting his head lull against the sofa. Zim peered at him from one book he had perched on his lap.

"Is Dib-stink ready to begin again?" he asked.

"Begin what? You watching me torture myself with midterm papers? You and your stupid cheating computer," Dib grumbled.

"Zim is keeping himself busy," he said, holding up the book.

"You're reading '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' not doing homework," Dib spat. Zim chuckled. A throaty noise that had put Dib on edge at first, but didn't faze him once he'd learned it was different from his usual 'evil plan' chuckle and meant he was enjoying himself.

"Zim doesn't need to learn human homework, he did enough schooling on Irk."

"Speaking of, I want to know more," Dib said.

"There is little more to learn of that topic, Dib-stink," Zim says plainly. "Do not use Zim as a means to procrastinate your own work."

"Uuuugh."

"Or make those odd noises. Gaz will do what you call 'giving you hell'," Zim pointed out. Dib grimaced. Gaz was in her room, for now. But he didn't want her coming down just yet. She'd been surprisingly unfazed at Zim coming over on the regular and not trying to kill her brother.

"I'm so braindead from homework right now. Distract me. Can I hear more about your planet's religion?" Dib asked. "Like, how does it say the universe was made?"

"Why does Dib-stink insist on asking Zim such insufferable questions?"

"Oh, come on! I haven't asked a question in weeks!" Dib pointed out stubbornly.

"Yes, Zim was enjoying the lack of interrogation," Zim teased. Dib flipped himself back into a proper seated position.

"So, does it say It created it all like most of the human gods did?"

"Not quite," Zim began, flipping a page. "Your prominent religion states your 'god' created everything in a very short time. That is what Zim assumes, as the concept of time is a construct for species to make sense of happenings around them."

"Don't start a lecture on time theory, stay on track," Dib joked, leaning back onto the couch. Zim smirked.

"It had the forethought to create science in its wake to make the universe function without falling into disarray and eventually non-existence," Zim explains.

Dib furrowed his brow. "Soooo, did it create life?"

"In a sense," Zim said. He let Dib stew in the half-answer until he saw he was about to burst and finished. "It let the universe 'roll', as you say. It allowed the chemical reactions to take place, the series of events to unfold, and the elements to form around It. Every that is came from Its forethought to create such complex actions and reactions. It has little hand in much else."

"That's a merging of science and religion!" Dib exclaimed. "I can get behind that, maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Well, it sounds more like your species is worshipping science or the universe as a whole. 'It' is everything around you," Dib explained. "That's how I'm understanding it."

Zim blinked and looked up from his book. "Is Dib-stink forgetting the part that It can split into a multitude of forms and therefore must be physical in some aspect?"

"No. For all I know that could have been misinterpreted and was a metaphor for It being everything in the universe," Dib explained confidently. Zim looked up from his book, letting it fall flat on his lap.

"Zim… has not thought of it that way before," he admitted. "Hm. It would be an interesting conversation to have if Zim had a fellow Irken to contact who was willing."

"You don't?" Dib asked, grabbing his books to start his work again.

"Zim has few contacts, and fewer who would be so willing admit such a taboo as openly discussing our belief system," Zim explains. "As well, Zim is an outcast to Irken society."

Dib frowned at the statement. "Well… I'm an outcast to my society so… we have that in common. We have some solidarity in that regard."

"Does Dib-stink no longer commune with this 'Eye' group, then?" Zim asked.

"I stopped a while ago," Dib admitted, chewing on his pencil as he read. "They never took me seriously. What was the point? Plus, you and I were fighting less and I didn't want to tell them much about you as the years went on. I'm pretty sure they'd revoke my membership if they knew I was friends with an enemy."

Zim didn't respond, even when Dib laughed at the notion that he was an enemy at their current standing. He hummed to himself, fiddling with the page of the book. Dib hardly noticed, engrossed in his work in a matter of moments.

"Humans have such high imagination," he mused.

Zim shut the door to his base behind him. The slam of the door went unnoticed, causing him to look around the base's main room. He moved to the kitchen, finding it empty as well.

"Computer. Where is Gir?"

"A rave," was the dull response.

Zim gave a click of his tongue and moved for the lab. It figured the robot was dancing again. Zim found himself more grateful Gir was intelligent enough to keep wearing his disguise when he left than when Gir was able to find his way home without destroying anything.

Zim fell into the recesses of his base, book in hand. When he reached a room he didn't use often he discarded the book on the center table. He wasn't nearly as far in as he had hoped he'd be. Zim made a mental note not to blame his ability to read 'English', as his PAK had downloaded every language on the planet. He knew the reason was that he had been distracted the last half of his visit at Dib's residence.

"Computer, start up Zim's record," Zim ordered.

The computer did so with no response. Zim had intended to begin writing immediately, but found himself unable to articulate the correct words. He looked over that the book. It was… different to have a form of entertainment that wasn't the television or live entertainment available on Irk. Aside from portable content downloaded to his PAK for his training, Zim hadn't seen a physical form of data in years. And, certainly, none that was used solely for entertainment.

Zim had been confused when Dib had first explained the concept of 'fiction' to him. But he soon realized that it was a similar process to how weapons were conceived. He hummed, taking the controls and moving to the start of the record.