Something I don't really see explored often in IZ fanfics is what the Irkens were going to use Earth for if Zim had ever conquered it. Most fics I find, it's either in the midst of invasion or it's just kind of destroyed since The Tallest just sorta expected him to die on the way there. Given it was going to be a glorified gas station in this fic; I wanted to try and figure out how that would actually happen? What it would look like is an idea that wouldn't leave my head! Shorter chapter; but forgive me! The world is already screaming a few months into this year; we're allowed to take it slow!

Enjoy!

Part 44: Plans

The tiny robot jerked and twitched on the table. It started spinning in its petri dish.

"I don't think the path finding is working…" Dib says. Zim sighs, clicking the remote signal off.

"This is harder than I thought it would be."

"You expected it to be easier?" Dib asks. Zim was nodding and Dib gave one good bark of a laugh. "I decided to try this because I knew it wouldn't be! I wanted a challenge!"

"Zim's not opposed to challenges," Zim defends. He uses his detail tweezers to open up the tiny panel on the robotic. "This one is simply harder than anticipated."

"I think part of the issue is it's ability to orient itself. We should install some sort of compass mechanism so it knows if it's upside down, right side up, and what direction it is. If it doesn't work; we'll just start from scratch again."

"Attempt seven at that point," Zim muses. He glances to the small petri dishes containing their past models. He found it helped to hold onto the failures—so he was less likely to make a repeat in the design.

Dib started spinning the pen in his hand as he pulled out his sketch book. He was part way through a new design when he looked up and pursed his lips.

"Hey, Zim?"

"Hm?"

"You said Earth was going to be a glorified gas station—"

"You said that."

"—But what does that exactly entail?" Dib asked. Zim set the precision instruments down, putting the robotic back together for their new attempt.

"Exactly what it means. I'm not sure what you mean by that, Dib."

"Like… Ok, I know it's something of a morbid fascination, but, I wanted to know what it would have looked like." Dib admits. Zim raised an eyebrow at him.

"It is quite a morbid fascination; but, I can see why you would be."

Zim set the robotics to the side, his PAK relinquishing the tablet. Dib took his seat next to Zim at the table. Zim flew through what Dib could only equate to apps before his fingers stopped on one and a hologram popped up. It was Earth, rotating in the air. Zim swiped at the hologram, the image shifting as if he swiped a picture away on the tablet, to a planet bring visited by ships. The surface was broken up, the beams of teleporters filling the space between the holes. Dib could see alien technology at the center, keeping the core intact. Dib gave up trying to wrap his head around that fairly quickly. It was, to put it mildly, above his current paygrade. What he was really interested in was the teleporters and the stations that he figured were fueling stations. Dib pulled the tablet, and the hologram, closer.

"Well?"

"It's… how is it still retaining a gravitational pull for the stations I see?" Dib asks.

"It's got a considerably lowered gravity, given the amount of mass that was removed." Zim explained, turning the hologram. "But, the core is compressed, to heighten the density. Just enough to keep gravity in play. It is troublesome for many species. They don't leave their ships. Irkens would come out and refuel for them, locking their ships down until payment goes through, and then they are released."

"I had always wondered how that would have worked. With flying ships and all that…" Dib mused. He watched the footage and cocked his head. "Is this an existing fueling station?"

"It is. It's what Earth likely would have looked like."

"…It looks dead."

"…Dib-stink… with the Armada's Organic Sweep combined with the alteration of gravity, that is to be expected. It's a massive shift in each planet's natural order."

"I know that!" Dib says quickly. "I just… I don't know what I was expecting. Something more… futuristic?"

"…Dib, each species will have their own phases of design. "Futuristic" is neither what Irkens were going for in these designs, and not the same as how humans will interpret it. Is it not just 'opposite of the past'?" Zim asks. Dib snorts.

"I guess that's how you can put it." He says. He swipes through other examples, noting small subtleties in how the designs would shift based on size or the planet's shifting temperaments. Dib hummed. "Is it common for planets to have a tilted axis?"

Zim hummed a long time. "Yes and no. I don't believe that anyone has really cared to see. But, there are indeed planets with a balanced axis. Earth is tilted, and that contributes to your strange weather patterns."

"They're considered average to us."

"You live here."

"…Fair point." Dib says, sticking his tongue out. He sighed, leaning back in his seat. He tilted his head. "It's not very aesthetically pleasing."

"Dib, are you trying to ask if you can do one better?" Zim asked suddenly, a slight chuckle in his voice. Dib glowered and blew a raspberry; but he was also nodding. Dib grabbed his sketchbook.

"It could look so much better!" he hissed.

Zim barked a laugh, clicking the tablet off and storing it back into the PAK. Dib was furiously sketching while Zim tested the robot again. It still wasn't working. He sighed and relinquished this model to the failures. Dib paused in his rapid sketching and looked up.

"What's an Organic Sweep?" he asked. Zim's antennae twitched.

"When the Armada kills every inhabitant of a planet with a sweep of… well, it's something of a laser, I suppose. After that, any living inhabitants are forced into slavery to the Empire. Non-sapient are killed," Zim said, before Dib could even ask. "Planets are given their purpose after that. Blorch is a parking structure planet. If nothing else, Earth would have been a leeway station."

"So, a literal pit stop!" Dib screamed. Zim snickered at his intense anger. "MY PLANET IS BETTER THAN THAT, ZIM!"

"Well, I see that NOW," Zim said, struggling not to laugh. Dib was smacking the table. Zim wasn't sure if he should intervene or not—he honestly wasn't sure what Dib was doing if he were honest—so he just watched as Dib lost his mind on the sheer INFERIORITY of what would have been Earth's fate. Perceived fate. "If they came at all."

"I would have liked to see them try," Dib yelled. "Wait, no—"

Zim had no doubt Dib would have made a dent in the Armada's forces. If nothing else, he'd have at least found a way to destroy a portion of the primary ship. And if not THAT, Dib would have at least gotten one shot in. Zim had no doubts about it. He watched him ramble on and on, letting him process out his own thoughts on the matter, as he walked around the table. Dib would pick up random tools, just to hold something. Zim had picked up on the odd quirk rathe early on in their friendship. As a result he had become accustomed to actually storing the more dangerous equipment where it was meant to be when Dib was over. Funny how he finally organized his own things in his own labs just because he didn't want one human to accidently set off a laser blast. One that would have blown a hole in his base, but still.

Zim leaned in his chair, listening and watching Dib work himself out across the lab. He rested his head in his hand, coughing to get Dib's attention. Didn't matter if Dib thought Zim was sick with something or if he got the hint, it got him to shut up for precious few seconds.

"Dib, just design something already."

"..I WILL!"

No doubt about it since he'd already started, Zim knew. The source of this strange inferiority complex was a mystery; but it was entertaining.