Abducted
Everything was blindingly white for some reason... hold on... why did everything smell so good? It kind of smelled like flowers or something...
His father's team had gotten the water back on but even if everyone had taken a shower it shouldn't smell this flowery.
His eyes were open. He was pretty sure of this because he wanted to close them. He tried turning his head, but he couldn't move for some reason.
Oh no... maybe his spine suddenly decided to make him paralyzed for life. Getting impaled was too much for his body to take after all... but then he'd had some movement up until now... why couldn't he turn his head at least?
He tried moving his fingers... Nothing.
He attempted to blink. That wasn't working very well.
Why couldn't he move?
There was something attached to his head too. Wires...? There were wires. What could have...
Invaders! His brain screamed the obvious answer.
No no no.
He tried harder to move and was met with just as much failure as before.
How!? Why?
He'd been walking with Lard Nar and then suddenly... he couldn't remember.
Had he been teleported? Had Lard Nar been teleported?
At least he wouldn't have to eat that mushy grey tasteless goop... but no matter how horrible that substance was it would still be better than being in this situation!
There were voices, but he couldn't understand anything they were saying.
He tried to speak but no words came out. His throat must be paralyzed too. Or his tongue. Did that mean he couldn't swallow? Was he going to drool on everything?
Cripes... why was everything so bright? Was he even still on Vort...?
How far away could he have possibly been taken?
Pretty far probably considering he'd been unconscious again.
Had he been unconscious, or was that just a time space thing messing with his brain?
Usually he didn't remember fainting, but he could at least remember waking up most of the time.
"There, he should be able to understand us now."
Ok... it sounded like one of the voices from before was now speaking his language... or Irken. He had to think about it for a second. No, that was definitely the Vortian language.
With their translator technology it didn't really matter if they learned Irken, though most Vortians still had to learn some of that language anyway, just in case their technology failed probably... but then Irkens had their PAKs which could translate any language so wasn't learning their language kind of pointless?
That wasn't the only pointless thing he learned in school now that he thought about it.
"His thoughts are all over the place... do you think he'll be able to hear us?"
"Vortian, calm yourself. If you understand me think: 'yes I can understand.'"
He would have liked to think that, but right now he was focusing on how bright the lights were. He couldn't see anyone, but he could hear them.
Also his brain was still freaking out about not being able to move.
Then the lights dimmed and he could see the Invaders standing over him. Their voices sounded masculine, but he couldn't tell if they were girls or not because he'd only ever seen Chakri in her disguise, and she was small... and... was she even a she?
She looked and sounded like a young female Vortian so he just kind of assumed.
The Invaders looked even more vibrant green-blue than the old grainy video showed. Their antennae were longer than an Irken's, but they were the same black colour.
Their antennae also seemed to come from their foreheads which was kind of different.
They didn't appear to have wings, but then it was possible they had lost them over the many years they'd been absent from this part of the universe.
Where had the Invaders gone? Why were they back? How many were here? Why were they here?
He had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he was currently too paralyzed to make any words come out.
"Chakri's reports said these creatures were intelligent, but I'm beginning to question that assessment..." one of the Invaders remarked.
Its voice sounded female, and it seemed to be holding something in its hands which it let go of.
The thing began floating beside this Invader.
"We should just dissect it and be done with it."
"Why do you always have to bring dissection into everything you do?" one of the not female sounding ones asked. "There are other ways to learn about people besides cutting them open and removing their brain."
A brain? Oh no. This was even worse than the severed head paranoia he had before...
A brain in a jar. What could he do as a brain in a jar?
He couldn't even be a proper prop in a horror house like that. All he could do was become food for those brain eating worm parasites.
"This Vortian has a sense of humour."
No he didn't... this was a legitimate concern.
"Don't worry about her," the second male sounding Invader remarked. "She always wants to cut things open to learn about them, but we have laws against that now."
"Our laws only protect intelligent life forms," the female sounding Invader reminded the other two.
She was also a bit larger than the others were, and more colourful.
Maybe she really was female then.
They were the ones that laid eggs in... oh Galre... he needed to think about something else right now.
The killer death planet. Getting eaten by those giant flying worm creatures. Almost exploding on Foodcourtia. Anything but that... please brain.
"He knows about the implanting process. No wonder he's panicking," the first probably male one spoke. "Paralyzing him is just making his anxiety worse."
Were the Invaders reading his mind right now...?
"It needs to be paralyzed if we want to safely remove that device," the one called Delarla insisted. "Also the connections from its legs to its spine appear to have been severed. That will require the other machinery."
"Let's get started then," the first one to speak said. "Since we already have him under our paralysis, I suggest we test his organs for degeneration."
All of them started moving around...
He wasn't sure how but he was suddenly lying on his face for some reason.
Hold on... where were his clothes? Didn't they teleport his clothes with him? What if his parents find his clothes lying somewhere back at the prison and they get worried and start asking people to keep an eye out for their "naked son?"
Oh no... they would do that too.
"We took them off here, so stop thinking that nonsense," Delarla stated in a grumpy sounding tone.
Cripes. They really were reading his mind. Hopefully he wouldn't think anything too embarrassing... although it was kind of too late to worry about that probably.
"You know he can't help what he's thinking about," the first guy remarked.
"You too Sevai, be quiet."
Laes wasn't too sure how he ended up floating, but he was definitely floating above the table now, and he still wasn't able to move.
If he fell he'd smack face-first into the table. He wouldn't be able to catch himself. He also had no idea what the Invaders were doing.
"It's a standard internal foreign object extraction. There's nothing to be concerned about," the Invader who hadn't been named yet briefly explained.
He felt a small pinch near his spine. Then there were vibrations. Was that a low dose of electricity just now?
"There. That was pretty painless wasn't it?" Sevai said, holding the small metal device with flashing red lights for Laes to see.
"The Irkens placed this inside of you... it was working to stimulate some movement, but it wasn't working adequately enough to not cause you discomfort. We are going to rework your nervous system between your legs and spine, and also reconnect these to the neural pathways in your brain. That will get you moving like new, or however that expression goes."
As Sevai spoke the nameless one began placing something on the metal table. There were wires attached to it and it seemed to somehow plug into the table without actually plugging into a plug? The cord just kind of dissolved into the metal surface somehow.
Sevai handed the Irken device over to Delarla who took it to a smaller table and placed it in a small see-through containment unit. Then he made some motions and Laes found himself being lowered onto his back.
Whatever they'd put on the table felt soft and almost hot actually. Then there were more vibrations from his legs to his head. Something was also pressing against his spine.
Then something was jammed into his abdomen.
His mind raced in circles.
It should hurt, but he didn't feel pain. What was that? Was it an egg? Oh Vort please don't let it be an egg...
"We're taking some samples," Sevai told him.
The Invader was holding his head, grimacing.
"There's no need to panic..."
Then Laes felt two pricks: one in his neck and the other in his arm.
"I am going to remove our paralysis toxin and replace it with a serum that will increase and speed up your body's natural healing capabilities. This particular mixture should also recognize the inactive nerves and give them a boost which, with the help of the current, will restart them fairly quickly," Sevai explained. "We're using the heat to direct your immune system to the place of your injury."
Knowing what was going on made him feel a bit better. Slowly his movements started to increase. His fingers twitched and he was able to blink much more consistently than before.
"You're releasing it too early," Delarla insisted. "There are rules and protocols for a reason."
"By the time he is able to sit up, the treatment will be done," Sevai told her. "He seems non-violent enough to warrant some leniency. He has not thought about attacking us since he's been here."
"It has attacked an Irken before," Delarla stated.
"It was in self-defense."
"And you don't think it wants to defend itself right now?"
Were they talking about that time he accidentally managed to stab Darden?
That hadn't been a fun experience... The energy dagger somehow managed to get stuck in the Irken's armour, leaving him completely defenceless.
If the Tallest hadn't stepped in he would have probably been hacked to pieces.
"It also has positive thoughts about the Tallest," Delarla remarked a bit more strongly.
"Yes... but anyway you look at it, the Tallest have helped him before."
"And why have they been helping you?" Delarla's voice lowered as she loomed over him.
I'm pretty sure they only helped me out because they think I'm funny. Was funny. I'm really not that funny though.
Plus the Vortians used to be allied with Irk. That might have helped a little bit maybe. Really though, Tallest Red and Purple were both strange and unpredictable, and staying away from them was probably the better idea.
Laes squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to look into hers anymore.
His planet and Irk would probably still be allied if that space worm... if Zim hadn't turned it into that thing...
Zim. He had Invader programming. So did Bann. Did the Invaders have something to do with that or was it something that had been left over from a long time ago?
In any case, he was pretty sure Vort's government officials wouldn't have agreed with the Tallests' "Impending Doom" idea, but since their economy had become so dependent on Irken interests, he couldn't say that his people wouldn't have gone along with it anyway.
Vort also had a pretty good foreign exchange program though. People from all over the galaxy would pay a lot of monies to study science and engineering in Vortian schools.
There were also quite a few who stayed and became qualified personnel in their labs and research stations.
In that way the economy might not have completely tanked if the Irkens cut-off their funding, but there sure would have been a lot of job cuts...
Of course having a horrible economy would have been better than not having a planet anymore.
They were gone...?
Darden knelt down and touch the floor where Laes and Lard Nar had last been standing. It was cold, and there hadn't been any flash of light, so whatever took them hadn't emitted a lot of energy. His eyes narrowed as he stood up and looked around. Had anyone else seen them disappear?
The Vort-child Laes had been talking to earlier was looking at him from across the room.
No one else seemed to have taken notice...
He decided to speak to Ryter about what he'd witnessed.
Surprisingly the former prison guard didn't have the Vortling with him. Instead he seemed to be on standby for Veena who had one of the reprogrammed soldiers hooked up to her computer again. It was the same soldier: the one whose PAK hadn't been badly damaged.
It seemed despite Lard Nar's best efforts there was no way to revive a PAK once it had lost all of its power like that. Hooking it up to the computer and trying to restart it with currents hadn't worked.
At least the Vortians had a model of a PAK even if the data inside was gone.
"I need to speak with you," he said to Ryter as he stopped a few steps away.
Ryter glanced over at him. "Right now?" he questioned, uncrossing his arms and standing up straight. He gestured at the unconscious Irken lying on the floor.
"If he gets up, I need to be here to knock him back down."
"It's fine," Veena spoke without looking away from the monitor. She was typing again, and she had a scowl on her face. "I'm still trying to get in, so I can't access anything that would cause him to wake up."
"And what if he wakes up on his own?" Ryter asked, flicking an antennae forward.
Veena stopped typing long enough to hold up a large wrench.
"I'll knock him in the head with this," she replied, not sounding the least bit worried.
She placed it back down on the desk and continued to type.
Ryter sighed. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
No matter how confident that Vortian acted, there was no way she would be able to bring down an Irken soldier on her own.
Darden led the former prison guard away from the noisy activity in the cafeteria.
Once they were part-way down a dark and empty hallway he stopped and turned to the other Irken.
"Laes and Lard Nar disappeared a few moments ago," he said.
"Disappeared?" Ryter repeated, frowning.
"They were both walking through the cafeteria and suddenly they were gone," Darden stated.
He wanted to hear the other Irken's opinion on the matter.
"Hm..." Ryter's eyes narrowed and he rubbed his chin. "Are you sure you just didn't lose sight of them? We are in a room full of Vortians."
Darden glowered at Ryter who raised his hands in self-defence.
"Lard Nar wasn't wearing prison clothes," Darden reminded him.
"Right... and they both vanished at the same time?"
"Yes, but there was no light or heat... nothing that would indicate they were transported somewhere else."
"Interesting."
"I'm looking for your opinion on this."
"Well..." Ryter rubbed the back of his head and glanced down at the floor for a moment. He was frowning in thought. "Did anyone else see anything?"
"Only that girl Laes had been talking to earlier."
Ryter looked up at him again. "Shouldn't you talk to her about it?"
"Why? She's a Vort-brat and hardly worth speaking to."
"I'm going to have to disagree with you," Ryter remarked, and his antennae flicked back. "Even at a young age Vortlings are known to be quite intelligent."
"I am aware of this..."
"Then go talk to her." He clasped Darden's shoulder and smiled. "Maybe she saw something you didn't."
He turned around and started walking through the cracked and broken hallway towards the cafeteria.
"That's all you have to say about it?" Darden questioned him.
Ryter abruptly stopped walking, but he didn't turn around.
"If they disappeared, there's nothing we can do... you know that," he responded as a matter of fact.
Then he stepped out into the cafeteria, probably intent on rejoining Veena.
Darden balled his hands into fists and punched the wall.
He didn't want to accept there was nothing he could do. He had been tasked to protect Laes for Tallest sake... protecting one Vortian shouldn't be this difficult.
Standing around wasn't an option right now. He needed to find them.
Rubbing his sore hand, he ground his teeth together and closed his eyes. He was angry at himself even though he knew there was nothing he could have done to stop whatever had teleported the Vortians away.
"Are you ok Mister?" someone asked, and his eyes snapped open as he turned towards Chakri who was peering down the hall at him.
"Yes..." he replied, letting go of his injured hand and straightening his posture. "I'm fine."
His eyes narrowed at her. She had also seen Laes and Lard Nar disappear.
"Did you see two Vortians vanish earlier?" he asked, rubbing his cheek.
It's not like he had anything to lose by asking.
"Yes," she replied with a knowing smile. "Mother took them away."
"Your mother took them?" Darden asked, scowling. "Why?"
"Because I asked her to," the small Vort-thing responded, clasping her hands behind her back. "Your people broke them. They need to be fixed."
"Where are they right now?" Darden asked as he approached her.
She pointed up.
"They're in mother's ship. You can't see it. You can't see our technology."
She lowered her hand back down.
"Don't worry. Your friends seem nice. Mother doesn't hurt nice aliens; only mean ones."
Laes would probably be fine then... that Vortian didn't seem to have a mean bone in his body...
His antennae fell and his eyes widened slightly.
Lard Nar had led a rebellion... but that didn't mean he was a naturally violent person. Besides, if these strangers were the same ones who reprogrammed the Irkens then they probably wouldn't take offence to the Vortian's resistance.
There were a lot of questions he should be asking, but he already knew there was a race of aliens with superior technology that seemed intent on reprogramming Irkens.
He knew they had to be nearby, and whatever had teleported Laes and Lard Nar wasn't something he would be familiar with or have any knowledge about.
It also sounded like this Vort-brat was one of these creatures..
"Where are they?" He asked.
He was standing in front of her now, looking down at her as she stared up at him.
"Can you take me there?"
"I can," she remarked. "But you'll be reprogrammed."
"That hardly matters to me."
He would have self-destructed by now if his self-destruct button was still working. The only purpose he'd been given after he killed Bann was to protect Laes, but he also felt protective of Lard Nar.
"I need to know they're ok. Once I know that, your people can do whatever they want with me."
"Well ok... but you really will be reprogrammed," she said as she touched her arm.
A silver device appeared.
She spoke into it, in a language his PAK couldn't translate.
Suddenly he felt lighter.
Then he was standing in a foreign room that didn't appear to have a door.
Random thought: And the Invaders finally appear in chapter 24! ... Just how long did I make this fic? ... uh oh.